Stop Overthinking: Use AI & Alignment to Grow Your Business Faster
How many times have you sat on an idea — waiting to get the perfect website, the perfect funnel, the perfect offer — only to watch three months go by and now you’re bored with it? (Or worse… someone else launches something similar first.)
Been there. Done that. Still catch myself doing it sometimes.
In my latest Strategy, Solutions & Sanity episode, I sat down with Stephanie Sidebottom — a branding pro who’s gone from overthinking everything to building her business (literally) while she flies. We talked about what it really looks like to stay aligned in your business, how to avoid building a business you resent, and why AI is changing the game for entrepreneurs who want to move fast and stay sane.
Here are some big takeaways from our conversation.
1. Alignment beats perfection — every time.
Stephanie spent years trying to do things the “right” way. The agency way. The corporate way. The coach-approved way.
All it did was lead her to build something she didn’t even like. At one point, she realized she’d basically built a prison for herself. That’s when everything changed.
If you’re forcing yourself to run your business by someone else’s rules (or dragging yourself through things that drain the life out of you every day), you’re out of alignment. And here’s the simplest test:
✅ Are you excited to get to work on Monday?
✅ Do you feel momentum without having to hype yourself up?
✅ Are you genuinely energized by what you’re building?
If not — something’s off. You can’t overthink your way back to alignment. You have to experiment, try new things, and be willing to adjust as you go.
2. AI can help you move faster and make your business more human.
This might sound counterintuitive, but Stephanie shared how building her own personal AI tools actually made her more connected to what matters — not less.
She created a bot trained on her values, goals, personality style (even her Enneagram and Human Design if you’re into that sort of thing), and had it help map out a business direction that felt 100% aligned. It wasn’t just about automating work. It was about clarity and momentum.
And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Try this:
👉 Open ChatGPT (pay the $20, it’s worth it).
👉 Give it a quick bio: “I’m a small business owner who loves X, hates Y, wants Z.”
👉 Ask it: “What are 10 creative ways I could use AI to save time, grow my business, or make this more fun?”
You’ll get ideas that either spark something or make you realize you’ve been stuck in your own head for no good reason.
3. You don’t have to burn everything down to get back to loving your business.
Sure, sometimes you might. I’ve done it. Stephanie’s done it. But more often it’s smaller shifts that change everything:
Adjusting your offers to fit how you actually want to work.
Gamifying the parts of business you tend to avoid (like sales).
Using AI to help with the heavy mental lifting so you can stay creative.
Setting up micro-systems that let you build as you fly without chaos.
When you’re in alignment, you don’t have to push so hard. You’ll have energy to launch before you lose steam. You’ll stop hiding behind perfection. And ironically — you’ll grow faster.
Bottom line?
Stop overthinking. Start testing. Use the tools (like AI) to your advantage. And keep tweaking until it feels fun again — because sustainable business isn’t built on dread.
👉 Want more on how to make business simple, human, and actually enjoyable? Check out the full conversation with Stephanie on [YouTube / your podcast link].
And if you’re building something that feels heavier than it should, let’s fix that. Reach out, or drop a comment below.