You know where you want your business to go. You have ideas💡, experience and a genuine ambition for what you’re building. So why does making meaningful progress sometimes feel harder than it should?
Running a business will always involve challenges. Difficult decisions, changing priorities and unexpected obstacles are part of the journey. But sometimes it feels as though there’s an invisible resistance between where your business is today and where you want it to be. Every step forward takes more effort than it ought to, and despite your best intentions and efforts, progress feels slower than you expected and wanted.
For a long time, I’ve noticed this pattern across different businesses. The causes were rarely the same. One business struggled with systems, another with decision-making, another with communication or competing priorities. On the surface, they looked like completely different problems. Yet underneath, they all had something in common.
There was friction.
More Than Just One Type of Problem
When I talk about Business Friction, I’m not referring to one specific issue. It’s not another way of saying you’re overwhelmed, disorganised or need better systems. Those things can all contribute, but they aren’t the whole picture.
Business Friction is anything that unnecessarily slows meaningful progress.
Sometimes it’s an inefficient process that’s costing you time. Sometimes it’s avoiding a difficult decision because there isn’t enough clarity. Sometimes it’s carrying so many competing priorities that everything feels equally important. Sometimes it’s simply trying to hold too much in your head.
The source of the friction can vary enormously. What matters is the effect it has. It makes moving your business forward harder than it needs to be.
Why the Name Matters
For me, giving it a name wasn’t about creating a new framework. It was about describing something I’d seen repeatedly but had never quite found the right words for.
The idea actually began at a networking event. We’d been asked to bring a prop that represented our business. My first thought was Vaseline or WD-40. It was a little tongue in cheek, but it made sense. They reduce friction and help things move more smoothly.
Then I found myself asking a different question.
What exactly am I helping businesses move more smoothly?
The answer wasn’t that I was lubricating businesses. What I was really doing was helping to remove the things that were making progress feel harder than they should.
In the end, I cheated and took two props. I thought the Vaseline would be the story. It turned out the sandpaper had much more to say.
It wasn’t a lightbulb moment. It was more like planting a seed. The idea stayed with me and, over time, grew into something that explained so much of what I’d been seeing across the businesses I worked with. 🌱
Recognition Before Solutions
One of the reasons I talk about Business Friction is because so many capable business owners assume the problem is them.
If progress feels difficult, it’s easy to conclude that you need to work harder, become more disciplined or find another tool, another planner or another strategy.
Sometimes those things help.
But sometimes they’re solving the wrong problem.
If you don’t understand what’s creating the friction, it’s easy to take a scattergun approach, hoping that one of those solutions will eventually make everything click. Occasionally it will. More often, it simply adds something else to manage, or it becomes a waste of both time and money.
Recognising the friction gives you a different starting point. Instead of asking, “What tool do I need?”, you can ask, “What’s actually slowing meaningful progress?”
The answer will be different for every business, which is exactly why Business Friction isn’t about putting people into boxes. It’s about understanding what’s getting in the way, so you can choose the solution that genuinely fits.
You’re Not the Only One
If you’ve recognised yourself in any of this, you’re not alone.
Business Friction isn’t a sign that you’re failing, incapable or somehow not cut out for business. It’s something that almost every business owner experiences at some point, regardless of their experience, confidence or success.
The important thing is recognising it for what it is. Because once you understand the friction, you can stop throwing solutions at the symptoms and start addressing the real cause.
And that’s where meaningful progress begins.