You know that feeling when something's off in your business but you can't quite name it? Everything looks fine from the outside: good revenue, established clients, and a professional reputation. But on the inside, you're exhausted, resentful, and trapped in something you built yourself.

In this episode, I walk through seven signs that you might be in a cage business. From saying yes to work you don't actually want, to hiding your boundaries and then breaking them, to performing a version of yourself you don't recognise, these patterns are how cages get built, bar by bar, yes by yes.

I'm sharing my own stories from when I was deep in my cage business at 38, not because they're special, but because if you're feeling this way, you're not alone.

You can't change what you can't see. This episode is about awareness, recognition, and finally naming what's actually happening.

You're not broken. You're just in a cage....and cages have doors.

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I'm going to tell you something that might sound irresponsible: when your business feels heavy, the solution isn't more strategy or discipline, it's fun. I challenge the idea that you need to push harder as we head into December, and instead make the case for letting yourself actually enjoy what you're building again.

I share my own experience of optimising all the joy out of my business while trying to be strategic and professional, and how I'm reclaiming it through an unconventional December project: a 25-day Instagram advent calendar that prioritises enjoyment over optimal marketing strategy. I take you through the realisation that I'd been so focused on being strategic that I'd made my business heavy, and how giving myself permission to have fun again transformed everything.

You'll hear:

• Why fun isn't frivolous but actually strategic. It's how you bring yourself back into your business
• The pattern established founders fall into: starting creative and excited, then learning "the rules" and squeezing out all the personality
• How giving myself permission to be less professional and more myself led to the Quietly Disruptive movement
• Why you're stuck because you stopped having fun, not in spite of it
• A challenge to break one rule and do something just because it sounds fun

This episode is a reminder that when you're having fun, you show up as yourself rather than as a professional performance, and that authenticity is what makes you magnetic to the right clients. Sometimes the best way forward isn't more strategy. It's more you.

Join in the advent calendar over on Instagram: @beckybenfieldhumberstone

Want even more wisdom, inspiration and only good things?

• Follow Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read Becky's story and her eclectic background which involves model horses (#notatypo)
• Drop Becky a line and say hello.

In this episode of The Quietly Disruptive Business Podcast, I share a very personal story about losing my spark, not to burnout or comparison, but to AI.

I’d been using tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas and solve business challenges, thinking they would make me faster, smarter, and more productive. Instead, I found myself stuck in a web of options, overthinking, and doubting my own instincts.

I take you through the moment I realised that outsourcing my thinking had disconnected me from the very spark that makes my business mine. I share how I went back to basics, trusted my instincts again, and found clarity in the quiet, human ways of thinking and creating that no AI can replicate.

You’ll hear:

• Why tools and shortcuts can sometimes keep you stuck rather than moving forward
• How comparison culture can amplify self-doubt and lead you to overcomplicate
• The importance of trusting your instincts, and why your original ideas were likely the right ones all along
• How to regain your spark when you feel overwhelmed by options, advice, or “faster” solutions

This episode is a reminder that while AI can be a powerful tool, the real insight, creativity, and direction comes from you. Sometimes the best way forward is to slow down, reconnect with your own thinking, and trust yourself again.

Want even more wisdom, inspiration and only good things?

• Follow Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read Becky's story and her eclectic background which involves model horses (#notatypo)
• Drop Becky a line and say hello.