Stop Waiting to "Feel" Ready. You're Making It Worse.

Hello and welcome to Episode 338 of The People Powered Business Podcast.

You've known for two months, maybe longer, that you need to fire this person. You've rehearsed the conversation in the shower, in the car, a hundred times in your head. You keep telling yourself you'll do it when you feel ready, when the timing is right, when they've had one more chance. Here's the truth: that day isn't coming, and every week you wait, nothing is staying the same. It's getting worse.

I've been in business for 20 years, and I've spent most of that time helping business owners navigate what I call the mental game of being the boss. Firing someone, admitting a hire hasn't worked out, having the conversation that makes your stomach drop, none of it gets easier with experience. I still don't feel ready when I have to do these things, and this is what I do for a living. If I don't feel ready after 20 years of doing this and teaching other people to do it too, I can't expect you to feel ready either. So this week I wanted to call out the myth of feeling ready, because waiting for it isn't harmless. It's quietly costing you at every level of your business, and your team is watching you tolerate the thing you should have dealt with weeks ago.

In this episode I'm unpacking why readiness is a feeling, not a prerequisite, and why waiting for it means you end up making the call on someone else's behalf instead of your own. I share the three places I see this show up most in business: delaying a termination, refusing to admit a hiring mistake, and putting off a difficult conversation, plus the trap that catches most of us, waiting until we hit the point of explosion instead of dealing with the issue early, which is often when things get messy and expensive. Rehiring a role can cost you anywhere from half to three times that person's annual salary, so the wrong hire you're avoiding dealing with is more expensive the longer it sits there. I also talk about what doing it scared actually looks like in practice, because that's the reality for all of us, no matter how many times we've done it or how prepared we are. Preparation dulls the discomfort, it doesn't switch it off, and that's something worth knowing before you go in expecting to feel calm.

In this episode we cover:

• Why feeling ready is a myth, and what you're actually doing every time you wait for it
• Why admitting you hired the wrong person is good leadership, not failure
• Why delaying a termination isn't kindness, it's choosing your own discomfort over your team's wellbeing
• The explosion trap, and why waiting for the perfect moment makes the eventual conversation harder, not easier
• What doing it scared actually looks like, and how to prepare without needing to feel calm first

 Links & Resources:

• 💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett
• Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/
• Email me at [email protected]
• Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat

What this episode covers:

This episode is for business owners who are stalling on a hard decision, whether that's terminating an employee, admitting a hiring mistake, or having a conversation they've been avoiding. It explains why waiting to feel ready keeps the problem alive and usually makes it worse, and outlines what taking action before feeling ready actually looks like in practice.

Key insight from this episode:

There is no future version of a business owner who finds firing staff, admitting a bad hire, or having a difficult conversation easy. Feeling ready is not a prerequisite for taking action, it is simply a feeling, and waiting for it is often avoidance in disguise. The business owners who move fastest are not the ones who feel most confident, they are the ones who prepare well and act anyway.

What you'll take away

• Recognise when "waiting for the right moment" is actually avoidance
• Understand why admitting a wrong hire is a leadership strength, not a weakness
• See why delaying a termination affects team morale and performance more than the termination itself does
• Learn how to prepare for a difficult conversation without needing to feel ready first
• Build a simple approach for taking action before confidence arrives, not after