“I don’t know what to do next” is something I hear often from the women entrepreneurs I coach when they reach a business crossroads. It might be the choice to scale up or stay deliberately small, to recruit a key member of staff or wait another six months, to launch a new product or double down on what already works, or even to sell the business or keep hold of it. These moments can feel paralysing, yet they are also a sign that your business has evolved.
With more than 1.6 million self-employed women in the UK according to ONS Labour Market data from 2024, the stakes are high. Women-led SMEs already contribute an estimated £85 billion to the economy, and the original Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship (2019) estimated that closing the gender entrepreneurship gap could add a further £250 billion. You can find more context in our Women in Business: Key UK Facts page. The question is: how do you move forward?
There is no universal answer, but there are practical ways to cut through the noise and make a decision you can stand behind. Below are five approaches I use with clients to help them get unstuck.
1. Take different perspectives
One of the simplest ways to test a big decision is to look at it from several points in time. Suzy Welch’s 10:10:10 framework asks: what difference will this decision make in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years? It is a quick way to separate an exciting but short-term opportunity from a choice that genuinely serves the long-term health of your business.
For example, pursuing a market opportunity abroad might bring a quick revenue boost, but over 10 months it could pull attention, cash and energy away from your core UK customers. By contrast, investing in a new CRM system may feel painful in the next 10 minutes, yet over 10 years it could transform how you serve clients and manage a growing team. Looking at the decision through these three lenses helps you avoid reactive choices and keeps your strategy aligned with where you want the business to be.
2. Work backwards from the outcome you want
When you face an obstacle from your current position, the path ahead can look blocked. A useful technique is to jump to the end point and work backwards. Imagine the decision has already been made successfully. What does the outcome look like? Who is involved? What has changed?
When I was planning to sell my own business, I struggled to identify the right buyer without broadcasting the sale. So I pictured the completion day: the sort of person signing the final documents, what they valued about the business and why they had decided to buy it. From that clear end point, I could map backwards to the steps that would attract that buyer, protect confidentiality and demonstrate value. This reverse planning works just as well for launching a new service, entering a partnership or planning a leadership handover.
3. Listen to your intuition
Intuition is not guesswork; it is the pattern recognition you have built up from years of running your business. A helpful question to access it is: “If I already knew the answer to this dilemma, what would it be?” Often the response reveals whether you are genuinely uncertain or simply avoiding an uncomfortable truth.
In coaching, I distinguish between an “unknown unknown” and a “known unknown”. An unknown unknown means you lack experience or information. If you have never written a marketing strategy, for instance, you may need training, a template or outside input before you can decide. A known unknown is different: you already have a sense of what needs to happen, but fear, perfectionism or the risk of disappointing others is holding you back. In those cases, the most useful question is not “what should I do?” but “what is stopping me from moving forward?” Naming the barrier is often the first step past it.
4. Ask for help from someone who has been there before
Few business decisions are entirely new. Someone in your network, sector or peer group has almost certainly faced a similar crossroads, and their hindsight can become your foresight. This is where mentoring and peer support become invaluable. Our guide to finding a business mentor explains what to look for.
A mentor does not need to mirror your industry exactly. Their value lies in helping you see options, test assumptions and avoid common pitfalls. In the UK, organisations such as local Growth Hubs, the Federation of Small Businesses and sector-specific women’s networks offer mentoring programmes, peer groups and practical advice. The original Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship (2019) found that only one in three UK entrepreneurs is a woman, while the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets 2025 report found that all-female founder teams receive just 2% of UK equity investment. These gaps make targeted support even more important. Peer networks can be equally powerful: fellow entrepreneurs from different sectors often spot patterns you cannot see because you are too close to the issue. You can explore current communities in our Women in Business Networks UK guide.
Do be selective about whose advice you take. Well-meaning friends and family may project their own risk tolerance onto your decision. Look for people who understand your business context, respect your goals and will challenge you kindly.
5. Take action, because indecision is costly
Staying at the crossroads too long can damage morale, cash flow and momentum. If a poor performer is left in post because the managing director cannot decide what to do, colleagues usually notice. They may have to absorb extra work, cover mistakes or watch standards slip, which can erode trust and productivity across the whole team. Customers can also sense drift: delayed product launches, unanswered enquiries and half-finished projects send a message that the business is unsure of its direction.
That does not mean rushing. It means setting a clear deadline, gathering the information you need using the steps above, and then committing to a route. Share the decision with your team, explain the rationale and agree when you will review progress. If the route turns out to be the wrong one, you can course-correct. A decision with a review date is almost always better than no decision at all.
Action steps for your next business crossroads
- Write down the decision using the 10:10:10 framework to test short-term excitement against long-term value.
- Describe the successful outcome in detail, then list the steps that lead backwards from it.
- Ask yourself whether you lack information or are avoiding an uncomfortable truth.
- Identify one mentor, peer group or network that can offer relevant UK business insight.
- Set a decision deadline and a review date before you commit.
Business crossroads are an inevitable part of ownership. They often arrive just as you are on the verge of something bigger. By shifting perspective, planning backwards, trusting your judgement, drawing on the experience of others and taking timely action, you can move through uncertainty with greater clarity and confidence.
