Letting Go to Lead: Why Doing Less Can Grow Your Business
What if scaling your business wasn’t about doing more? What if the real secret to growth was learning how to do less — and lead more?
This was one of the most consistent themes across 50 episodes of the Figure 8 podcast. The women who scaled to 7- and 8-figures didn’t achieve success by working more hours or micromanaging every detail. They grew by letting go.
What Makes Letting Go So Hard?
The Myth of more
In entrepreneurship, there’s an unspoken belief that hustle equals success. But that mindset leads to burnout, bottlenecks, and ultimately, plateaus.
On Figure 8, we heard a different narrative. Guests like Hillary Parnell (Ep 5), Marla Coffin (Ep 36), and Erika MacKay (Ep 18) shared how they broke through ceilings not by adding more to their plate, but by stepping back.
“Maybe I don’t have to be the one making the fall schedule, and that would free up two weeks of my life.” ~ Hillary Parnell
That shift is not about laziness. It’s about leadership.
Creating Systems and Growing in Delegation
Leadership is Architecture
True leadership isn’t about doing everything. It’s about designing the systems, teams, and culture that allow things to thrive without your constant input.
Marla Coffin realized this as she scaled multiple businesses.
“I had to figure out what only I could do, and delegate the rest.”
And Erika MacKay, who transitioned from founder-operator to business architect, summed it up powerfully:
“I had to stop operating in every room so I could build the whole house.”
How To Grow Your Business Without Burnout
Why Letting Go is So Hard
Letting go can feel like losing control. More often, it’s the only path to the kind of control that actually matters: clarity, vision, and intentional growth.
For many of us, we’re addicted to being needed. We equate value with doing.
Digging into growth requires us to flip that script.
Letting go is a skill. And like any leadership muscle, it takes time, reps, and support.
Questions to Consider:
What tasks or decisions are you still holding onto that someone else could take over?
What’s one area of the business you could step away from for 30 days without harm?
What would it look like to design your role around your unique strengths, not inherited habits?
Letting go isn’t just a productivity hack. It’s a leadership evolution. And it may be the most powerful move you make.
Next Up: Reinvention is Required — Even After Big Success
