April 20, 2025 • 13 mins
It’s not the price of tools or courses that holds most creative businesses back—it’s the hidden cost of not doing marketing at all. In this wake-up-call episode, Charlotte breaks down the real toll of ignoring lead gen: on your confidence, time, money, and mental bandwidth.
In this episode, we cover:
•Why “busy now” ≠ “booked later”
•The mental weight of inconsistent marketing
•What happens when referrals dry up
•How a simple system can protect your pipeline
•Why luck isn’t random—it’s generated by momentum
✨ Feeling like this might be your moment? It is.
Check out kaffeen.co/llo and get your system in place before the 10th of May 2025.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are four ways I can help you attract more high-value clients—without the hustle:
📚 Start with my free book
Join 3,000+ service providers and agency owners who’ve downloaded Client Magnet: 97 Proven Strategies and Tactics to Attract New Business and Scale Your Creative Agency Revenue.
(It’s written for agencies, but packed with advice any service provider can use.)
👉 Grab it free: https://kaffeen.co/book
🚀 Build your lead system with LinkedIn Lead Liftoff
A done-for-you lead generation system that brings in high-quality leads from LinkedIn—no content, cold calls, or awkward DMs required.
We’ll build it, set it up, and show you how to run it in under 30 minutes a day.
👉 Learn more: https://kaffeen.co/llo
🎧 Tune into the podcast
Get honest advice, expert interviews, and actionable tips to grow your service business with more clarity and less noise.
👉 Follow here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7upjztW0B3hQi2YlHTVdNn
💬 Work with me 1:1
I work with a handful of clients each quarter to increase visibility, build authority, and land consistent £30k+ opportunities—with a system that runs on autopilot.
👉 Book a consult: ...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello.
Hello.
Welcome to the Kaffeen EspressoPodcast.
So you know what we never talkabout enough?
Not the cost of tools orconsulting or courses, support
or ads, but the cost of notdoing.
Lead generation of not doingmarketing, not doing sales.
(00:21):
Today's episode is a bit of awake up call, but in the best
way possible because if your newbusiness and your sales and your
revenue is looking patchy,unpredictable, or overwhelming,
there's probably somethingdeeper going on, and it's not
just about working harder.
It's about what happens when youdon't have a system in place.
So let's talk about theinvisible cost to your money,
(00:43):
your time, your mental bandwidthof not having consistent new
business opportunities, newclients, new leads coming in.
Okay, let's start with somethingI hear all the time.
We're really busy right now, butwe know we should be doing more
to bring in potential newclients.
Does that sound familiar?
You've probably said somethingsimilar.
(01:03):
I know shade is completelynormal, but here's the problem.
Busy now does not equal bookedlater.
So many service-based businessesride that rollercoaster of feast
or famine and then wonder whytheir growth feels so erratic.
It's not because they aren'tgood at what they do, it's
because they've never built amarketing system, a new business
(01:25):
system sales system to keep theright kind of work coming in
steadily.
Let's talk about the real costs.
And I don't just mean thefinancial costs.
I mean everything it takes fromyou when you don't have a clear,
repeatable lead generationprocess.
Cost.
Number one is mental energy.
There's nothing more drainingthan knowing you should be doing
(01:45):
outreach or showing up online orchasing business opportunities,
but not actually doing it.
That weight, that nagging guiltin the background, it saps your
creative energy.
It is a mindset drain I rememberfeeling like this.
It wasn't because we got reallybusy, it was actually because I
was on maternity leave and I wascoming back into a business that
(02:07):
had basically been dormant, justlike hibernating for an entire
year.
Now that was my fault.
I should have had my own systemrunning in the background.
I was breastfeeding and I hadanother kid already, and,
frankly, I was overwhelmed andjust trying to keep sane.
And I came back to a business.
It was like walking into anattic that nobody had been into
(02:28):
for 20 years.
I hadn't done enough to preparethe business for my return
because I literally hadn't hadthe time and capacity until my
son was in nursery and I wasoverwhelmed.
And, honestly frozen.
Like I didn't know where tostart.
I didn't know how to put onefoot in front of the other in
(02:51):
terms of what I should be doingwithin my business.
I was not drinking my ownKool-Aid.
I was not doing the things.
I was like a rabbit in theheadlights.
Just so startled and not knowingwhere to start that I didn't do
anything.
As it turns out an absolutely.
Fabulous old client of mine, Ishouldn't say old previous
(03:14):
client of mine.
Gave me an opportunity to workon a project that was huge.
A giant project that he was alsoworking on.
So with one of his clients.
And it was exactly what I neededat that moment in time.
It was long, it was consuming.
It worked out really well.
Got an incredible result and itreminded me just how good I am
at what I do.
(03:34):
In a moment when I was.
Feeling frozen.
And that worked out fabulouslyfor me.
But in terms of what would havehappened to my mental energy had
that not been the case, I cansee, I would've spiraled.
I can see it would've been notjust a nagging guilt in the
background, it would've been acomplete burning through of my
creative energy to do anythingelse.
(03:55):
So that's a bit of an extremeexample.
And an example of where I shouldhave actually been doing what I
recommend.
But anyhow, maybe TMI.
But let's move on.
So cost number two are missedopportunities.
And without a system in place,really you're relying on, luck,
you are relying on referrals,random inquiries, people
stumbling across your site andduring quiet periods that luck
(04:18):
runs out fast.
So if your business has alwaysgrown on referrals, then.
Congratulations.
That is the best possible placeto be in.
It's fabulous working with justreferred work just as I did in
that moment that I justmentioned when I won that really
big client from a previousclient of my own.
(04:39):
And it feels so good to beintroduced into, the running,
the option to be joining aproject where you've been warm,
introduced into it, you'vealready got a leg up on the
competition who might bepitching for it.
Or maybe it's just a shootingand you get to just walk in
there and feel like, yes, Idon't have to convince anybody.
They we're already sure that I'mthe right person for this.
(05:00):
That is such a fabulous feeling.
But a lot of businesses thatI've worked with, that referral
system that they've depended onfor many years, it completely
dried up in 2024.
I dunno if you can relate tothat.
You might be one of the few whoactually did exceptionally well
during 2024 from referred work.
But I, what I saw were a lot ofbusinesses coming to me and
(05:25):
saying, we've never had to donew business before.
We always just had work comingto us they thought it was just
them.
They thought it was an isolatedthing.
'cause we don't often shareopenly with one another about
our struggles because we are,trying to keep up the illusion
that everything is perfect,especially in service-based
businesses.
Because we're offering ourskills to our clients.
And actually it felt to me a lotto explain to them that it
(05:48):
wasn't just them.
There were a lot of people inthat boat and that is not an
excuse.
It's not a permission slip to belike, okay we'll just wait till
that, to get through this roughpatch.
We'll ride this wave, howeveryou wanna describe it.
It is a wake up call to say youshould be doing more than just
waiting for referrals.
You should be doing more togenerate your own luck rather
(06:11):
than hand over your control tosomebody else.
So what I want you to thinkabout here is this statement.
The best opportunities usuallygo to people who are in motion,
who are visible, who arereaching out, who have something
simmering, who are generatingtheir own luck.
That is a thing you can actuallydo.
(06:31):
luck, is not something that justhappens to you.
You can becomedisproportionately lucky by
taking action.
In addition to what the universethrows at you.
You can actually generateopportunities for yourself.
So now I wanna move on to costnumber three, which is time.
And yes, it takes time to set upa system, what takes even more
time writing 20 cold dms a weekor try 100 posting content every
(06:57):
day in hope of traction orstarting from scratch every time
you need new clients.
Like literally you hand over oneproject, you submit on the
deadline, and then you literallyhave to go and look for new
clients.
And there is the lag periodbetween those two.
So a system saves you time, longterm, full stop.
That's just what it does.
(07:17):
Cost number four is yourconfidence.
So coming back to, you know mereturning from that second
maternity leave, when your leadsare scarce, you start
questioning yourself.
You lower your rates, you takeon red flag clients, you panic,
you spiral, all of the thingsthat I mentioned previously.
But when opportunities areflowing in, when you're speaking
to people, even if you are notwinning those clients, you.
(07:40):
Feel like you are in motion,like you're taking action, like
things are happening and youmake better decisions.
You hold your boundaries, youchoose the right clients, you
charge properly.
Your confidence rises withconsistency.
And that's huge, particularly ifyou're a small business owner
because confidence is truly arollercoaster in a small
business.
(08:00):
And now I wanna talk to youabout why referrals are not a
system.
So again, just coming back toreferrals for a second.
They're great when they happen.
But they're not repeatable, andI really wanna underline this.
You cannot control when somebodysends work your way, and you
definitely can't scale based onthose good vibes alone.
Like I said, in 2024, I had somany clients tell me referrals
(08:21):
just dried up.
And it wasn't personal.
It was the market budgets gottighter, people stopped
recommending as freely, andagencies and consultants and
coaches who were relying solelyon referrals found themselves
scrambling.
I don't think I can repeat thatenough because I think it's a
real wake up call.
It's a real lesson as to why wecan't just hand over the
(08:41):
direction of our business tosomebody else's decision to put
in a good word for you.
So now I want to give you a, an,oh, sorry, my phone's going off.
So what can a simple system do?
You don't need a 40 step funnel.
You don't even need to know whatthe word funnel means.
You do not need to be anextrovert.
You don't even need to be onsocial every day, but you do
(09:03):
need.
A clear, simple, repeatable wayto find the right people to
start a natural nons, spammyconversation and to stay visible
while you do your actual work,while you work with your current
clients.
And that's exactly what we helpyou to build inside of LinkedIn.
Lead lift off.
It's not fancy, it's effective.
And most importantly, it workseven when you're busy.
(09:25):
It works when you're offline.
It works when you're deep inclient work and it saves you
from waking up one day thinking,oh crap, we've got new work
lined up.
So if you're sitting there andthinking, yeah, I probably need
to sort this out, now is thetime because we're offering
LinkedIn lead liftoff at thelaunch price of 900 pounds until
the 10th of May.
We are gonna build your entiresystem with you in just three
(09:46):
hours, no ads, no cold calling,no daily content, just a clean
automation powered process toget you in front of the right
people every single week.
In fact, a hundred of the rightpeople every single week.
And once it's set up, it runs inthe background and suddenly
you've got your evenings, yourconfidence, and your pipeline
back.
So if that sounds of interest, Iwant you to go check out all the
(10:07):
details at kaffeen.co/llo.
That's kaffeen.co/llo or you canjust find that link in the show
notes below.
And here's what I want to leaveyou with not doing.
Lead generation doesn't keepthings the same.
It makes things harder, and thelonger you wait, the more energy
you waste.
So let's just stop leaking timeand confidence.
(10:29):
Stop relying on luck and let'sget you a system that works so
you don't have to work as hard.
I'll catch you next week.
Bye.
Hello.
Hello.
Welcome to the Kaffeen EspressoPodcast.
So you know what we never talkabout enough?
Not the cost of tools orconsulting or courses, support
or ads, but the cost of notdoing.
Lead generation of not doingmarketing, not doing sales.
(00:21):
Today's episode is a bit of awake up call, but in the best
way possible because if your newbusiness and your sales and your
revenue is looking patchy,unpredictable, or overwhelming,
there's probably somethingdeeper going on, and it's not
just about working harder.
It's about what happens when youdon't have a system in place.
So let's talk about theinvisible cost to your money,
(00:43):
your time, your mental bandwidthof not having consistent new
business opportunities, newclients, new leads coming in.
Okay, let's start with somethingI hear all the time.
We're really busy right now, butwe know we should be doing more
to bring in potential newclients.
Does that sound familiar?
You've probably said somethingsimilar.
(01:03):
I know shade is completelynormal, but here's the problem.
Busy now does not equal bookedlater.
So many service-based businessesride that rollercoaster of feast
or famine and then wonder whytheir growth feels so erratic.
It's not because they aren'tgood at what they do, it's
because they've never built amarketing system, a new business
(01:25):
system sales system to keep theright kind of work coming in
steadily.
Let's talk about the real costs.
And I don't just mean thefinancial costs.
I mean everything it takes fromyou when you don't have a clear,
repeatable lead generationprocess.
Cost.
Number one is mental energy.
There's nothing more drainingthan knowing you should be doing
(01:45):
outreach or showing up online orchasing business opportunities,
but not actually doing it.
That weight, that nagging guiltin the background, it saps your
creative energy.
It is a mindset drain I rememberfeeling like this.
It wasn't because we got reallybusy, it was actually because I
was on maternity leave and I wascoming back into a business that
(02:07):
had basically been dormant, justlike hibernating for an entire
year.
Now that was my fault.
I should have had my own systemrunning in the background.
I was breastfeeding and I hadanother kid already, and,
frankly, I was overwhelmed andjust trying to keep sane.
And I came back to a business.
It was like walking into anattic that nobody had been into
(02:28):
for 20 years.
I hadn't done enough to preparethe business for my return
because I literally hadn't hadthe time and capacity until my
son was in nursery and I wasoverwhelmed.
And, honestly frozen.
Like I didn't know where tostart.
I didn't know how to put onefoot in front of the other in
(02:51):
terms of what I should be doingwithin my business.
I was not drinking my ownKool-Aid.
I was not doing the things.
I was like a rabbit in theheadlights.
Just so startled and not knowingwhere to start that I didn't do
anything.
As it turns out an absolutely.
Fabulous old client of mine, Ishouldn't say old previous
(03:14):
client of mine.
Gave me an opportunity to workon a project that was huge.
A giant project that he was alsoworking on.
So with one of his clients.
And it was exactly what I neededat that moment in time.
It was long, it was consuming.
It worked out really well.
Got an incredible result and itreminded me just how good I am
at what I do.
(03:34):
In a moment when I was.
Feeling frozen.
And that worked out fabulouslyfor me.
But in terms of what would havehappened to my mental energy had
that not been the case, I cansee, I would've spiraled.
I can see it would've been notjust a nagging guilt in the
background, it would've been acomplete burning through of my
creative energy to do anythingelse.
(03:55):
So that's a bit of an extremeexample.
And an example of where I shouldhave actually been doing what I
recommend.
But anyhow, maybe TMI.
But let's move on.
So cost number two are missedopportunities.
And without a system in place,really you're relying on, luck,
you are relying on referrals,random inquiries, people
stumbling across your site andduring quiet periods that luck
(04:18):
runs out fast.
So if your business has alwaysgrown on referrals, then.
Congratulations.
That is the best possible placeto be in.
It's fabulous working with justreferred work just as I did in
that moment that I justmentioned when I won that really
big client from a previousclient of my own.
(04:39):
And it feels so good to beintroduced into, the running,
the option to be joining aproject where you've been warm,
introduced into it, you'vealready got a leg up on the
competition who might bepitching for it.
Or maybe it's just a shootingand you get to just walk in
there and feel like, yes, Idon't have to convince anybody.
They we're already sure that I'mthe right person for this.
(05:00):
That is such a fabulous feeling.
But a lot of businesses thatI've worked with, that referral
system that they've depended onfor many years, it completely
dried up in 2024.
I dunno if you can relate tothat.
You might be one of the few whoactually did exceptionally well
during 2024 from referred work.
But I, what I saw were a lot ofbusinesses coming to me and
(05:25):
saying, we've never had to donew business before.
We always just had work comingto us they thought it was just
them.
They thought it was an isolatedthing.
'cause we don't often shareopenly with one another about
our struggles because we are,trying to keep up the illusion
that everything is perfect,especially in service-based
businesses.
Because we're offering ourskills to our clients.
And actually it felt to me a lotto explain to them that it
(05:48):
wasn't just them.
There were a lot of people inthat boat and that is not an
excuse.
It's not a permission slip to belike, okay we'll just wait till
that, to get through this roughpatch.
We'll ride this wave, howeveryou wanna describe it.
It is a wake up call to say youshould be doing more than just
waiting for referrals.
You should be doing more togenerate your own luck rather
(06:11):
than hand over your control tosomebody else.
So what I want you to thinkabout here is this statement.
The best opportunities usuallygo to people who are in motion,
who are visible, who arereaching out, who have something
simmering, who are generatingtheir own luck.
That is a thing you can actuallydo.
(06:31):
luck, is not something that justhappens to you.
You can becomedisproportionately lucky by
taking action.
In addition to what the universethrows at you.
You can actually generateopportunities for yourself.
So now I wanna move on to costnumber three, which is time.
And yes, it takes time to set upa system, what takes even more
time writing 20 cold dms a weekor try 100 posting content every
(06:57):
day in hope of traction orstarting from scratch every time
you need new clients.
Like literally you hand over oneproject, you submit on the
deadline, and then you literallyhave to go and look for new
clients.
And there is the lag periodbetween those two.
So a system saves you time, longterm, full stop.
That's just what it does.
(07:17):
Cost number four is yourconfidence.
So coming back to, you know mereturning from that second
maternity leave, when your leadsare scarce, you start
questioning yourself.
You lower your rates, you takeon red flag clients, you panic,
you spiral, all of the thingsthat I mentioned previously.
But when opportunities areflowing in, when you're speaking
to people, even if you are notwinning those clients, you.
(07:40):
Feel like you are in motion,like you're taking action, like
things are happening and youmake better decisions.
You hold your boundaries, youchoose the right clients, you
charge properly.
Your confidence rises withconsistency.
And that's huge, particularly ifyou're a small business owner
because confidence is truly arollercoaster in a small
business.
(08:00):
And now I wanna talk to youabout why referrals are not a
system.
So again, just coming back toreferrals for a second.
They're great when they happen.
But they're not repeatable, andI really wanna underline this.
You cannot control when somebodysends work your way, and you
definitely can't scale based onthose good vibes alone.
Like I said, in 2024, I had somany clients tell me referrals
(08:21):
just dried up.
And it wasn't personal.
It was the market budgets gottighter, people stopped
recommending as freely, andagencies and consultants and
coaches who were relying solelyon referrals found themselves
scrambling.
I don't think I can repeat thatenough because I think it's a
real wake up call.
It's a real lesson as to why wecan't just hand over the
(08:41):
direction of our business tosomebody else's decision to put
in a good word for you.
So now I want to give you a, an,oh, sorry, my phone's going off.
So what can a simple system do?
You don't need a 40 step funnel.
You don't even need to know whatthe word funnel means.
You do not need to be anextrovert.
You don't even need to be onsocial every day, but you do
(09:03):
need.
A clear, simple, repeatable wayto find the right people to
start a natural nons, spammyconversation and to stay visible
while you do your actual work,while you work with your current
clients.
And that's exactly what we helpyou to build inside of LinkedIn.
Lead lift off.
It's not fancy, it's effective.
And most importantly, it workseven when you're busy.
(09:25):
It works when you're offline.
It works when you're deep inclient work and it saves you
from waking up one day thinking,oh crap, we've got new work
lined up.
So if you're sitting there andthinking, yeah, I probably need
to sort this out, now is thetime because we're offering
LinkedIn lead liftoff at thelaunch price of 900 pounds until
the 10th of May.
We are gonna build your entiresystem with you in just three
(09:46):
hours, no ads, no cold calling,no daily content, just a clean
automation powered process toget you in front of the right
people every single week.
In fact, a hundred of the rightpeople every single week.
And once it's set up, it runs inthe background and suddenly
you've got your evenings, yourconfidence, and your pipeline
back.
So if that sounds of interest, Iwant you to go check out all the
(10:07):
details at kaffeen.co/llo.
That's kaffeen.co/llo or you canjust find that link in the show
notes below.
And here's what I want to leaveyou with not doing.
Lead generation doesn't keepthings the same.
It makes things harder, and thelonger you wait, the more energy
you waste.
So let's just stop leaking timeand confidence.
(10:29):
Stop relying on luck and let'sget you a system that works so
you don't have to work as hard.
I'll catch you next week.
Bye.
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