The Invisible Forces That Matter More Than Any Business Strategy (And How to Get Them Working for You)

In This Article

• Why strategy alone will never get you to the level of success you want
• The invisible forces that are either propelling you forward or holding you back right now
• How to tune into the 4 energetic truths that changed everything in my business
• The mistakes that create energy leaks and keep you stuck (even when you’re doing all the “right” things)
• Real examples of what happened when I finally started listening to my intuition

Introduction

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing all the things, following all the strategies, but your business still feels stagnant and heavy, like you’re pushing a rock up a mountain, I think this post might change the way you look at everything.

For years, I was stuck behind what felt like a glass wall. I could see the success I wanted on the other side, but I couldn’t break through no matter how hard I tried. And the thing that eventually changed everything wasn’t a marketing strategy or a funnel. It was something invisible.

In this post, I’m unpacking the energetics of entrepreneurship: the invisible forces that are at play in all of our businesses, all the time, whether we’re paying attention to them or not.

You can watch or listen to this episode of the She Means Business Show here.

Why Strategy Is Not Enough

I know that as online business owners, so often when we feel stuck, we reach for strategy. What funnel should I build? What marketing tactic am I missing? What’s the visibility hack that’s going to change things?

And while strategy obviously matters (I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t), I genuinely believe there’s something far more important that we need to pay attention to first. It’s the energetics of being an entrepreneur. The invisible forces that cultivate or block our success.

I’m talking about your thoughts, your self-belief, your alignment, your boundaries, your intuition, your energetic leaks. These things are completely invisible. You can’t see them. But they are playing a massive part in your business every single day.

For me, when I was stuck going around in circles for years, feeling like everything was on the other side of a glass wall, the biggest force holding me back wasn’t a lack of strategy. It was my thoughts. I had this mantra running on repeat: “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” Every single day, I was hypnotising myself with that phrase. And because that’s what I was focused on, that’s what I kept experiencing.

The energy I was carrying was drained, heavy, stuck in a low vibration of lack and struggle. So guess what? Everything was a struggle. I felt like I could never do anything because there was this constant sense of unworthiness underneath it all.

In 2011, after rereading Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited and doing the funeral exercise (where you imagine what people would say about the life you lived), I had a breakthrough moment. I realised my life wasn’t going to change until I changed. Not my strategy. Me. The invisible stuff. Who I was being.

And once I started working on that, everything shifted. I went from feeling stuck and eventually running out of money to building a business that has generated tens of millions. Strategy was part of it. But the biggest shifts were the invisible ones.

The 4 Energetic Truths That Changed Everything

1. Success is a frequency you can tune into

I wholeheartedly believe this. Our energy, the way we feel, the thoughts we think, the words we say, all of it is either magnetic or repelling. And I believe the same goes for success.

When we’re stuck in doubt and scarcity, constantly focused on what we don’t have and what’s not working, we’re not on the same frequency as the success we want. We have to consciously tune ourselves to a different frequency.

For me, I’ve done this through connecting deeply with my imagination and my feelings. I visualise the things I want to experience before they’ve happened, and I allow myself to feel them in every cell of my body, as though they’re already real. When I was a teenager, I created a goal folder with a bottle of perfume inside that represented how I wanted my life to feel when I was successful. I would smell it and let the feeling of success wash over me.

It sounds unusual, but it’s actually grounded in how the brain works. When you tell your brain something on repeat, it starts spotting opportunities to make that true. When I shifted my thoughts around money from scarcity to abundance, random opportunities started appearing within weeks. One of them was a joint venture webinar with Amy Porterfield that generated about $2,000 in an hour. It came out of nowhere.

Action step: Decide how you want success to feel for you. Is it peace? Freedom? Excitement? Confidence? Then identify one thing you can do daily to welcome that feeling into your life right now. It might be a morning meditation, a visualisation practice, a song that puts you in that state, or a journal entry where you write about your future as if it’s already happened. Do it every day for 30 days and notice what shifts.

2. Alignment makes you magnetic

When we are truly, deeply aligned with ourselves, our vision, and what we want, we light up. And when we’re lit up, we become magnetic. Things flow. Effort is still required, but it doesn’t feel like pushing. It feels like momentum.

When I started the Female Entrepreneur Association, I worked like a crazy person. But it never felt like work. It felt like fun. I was so aligned with what I was doing that the energy was contagious. And when we decided to launch the Create & Sell Accelerator for the first time, we pulled the whole thing together in a matter of weeks because the decision came in, the name landed, and I just followed the flow. That’s pure alignment.

On the other hand, I’ve done launches where I was out of alignment with what I was doing, and they flopped. I’d get off a workshop and think, “That just wasn’t good. It didn’t feel right.” And it showed in the results. Every time.

The way to get aligned is to give yourself space to figure out what alignment actually means for you. What lights you up? What feels true? What is your intuition telling you? And then trust it and go all in.

Action step: Ask yourself honestly: is what I’m currently doing in my business in alignment with who I really am and what I actually want? If the answer is yes, brilliant, double down. If something feels off or stale, pay attention to that. You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight, but acknowledge the niggle. Write down what alignment would look like for you in your business right now and identify one thing you could shift this week to move closer to it.

3. Boundaries protect your energy (and your success)

We can give so much of ourselves away. We compromise, we people-please, we say yes to things that drain us. And every time we do, we create energy leaks. Those leaks lead to burnout, to showing up with low energy, to dimming our light. And from that place, we’re not magnetic. We’re not in flow. We’re just exhausted.

I’ve learnt this the hard way. The times I’ve struggled most in my business have been when my boundaries broke down and I started saying yes to things I knew weren’t right for me. I’d overdeliver, people-please, ignore the niggles telling me something needed to change, and then end up with nothing left to give.

At the beginning of this year, I made one of the hardest decisions of my career. I acknowledged that a whole part of the business no longer felt aligned with who I was, and I let go of eight team members. It happened with love and care, but it was incredibly difficult. And the reason it had to happen was because I’d been ignoring that knowing for too long. Every time I’ve ignored those niggles, the situation has become fifty times harder the longer I left it.

I’ve found it helpful to shift from thinking about “boundaries” to thinking about “non-negotiables.” Energetically, a non-negotiable feels so much more powerful. Once you’ve decided on them, it’s easier to say no and easier to stay true to them.

Action step: Write down your top three to five non-negotiables for your business and your life. These are the things that are not up for discussion. Maybe it’s “I don’t work evenings” or “I don’t take on clients who don’t feel right” or “I protect Friday mornings for creative thinking.” Then look at where your current energy leaks are. What’s draining you? What have you been saying yes to that you know isn’t serving you? Identify one energy leak you can close this week and commit to holding your non-negotiables.

4. Your energy is your strategy

This is the simplest and most powerful truth of all. The way you show up, the tone, the presence, the energy you bring, that is what makes you magnetic. You’re either repelling people or bringing them in. And it has very little to do with your marketing plan.

When you show up as the true you, fully aligned with who you are and what you’re here to do, and you really feel it in every cell of your being, you can move mountains. I remember when I finally committed to starting FEA, it was like every part of me uplevelled. My energy completely changed. I became a different person.

And when your energy is low? That’s the signal to stop and ask why. What’s going on? Where are the energy leaks? Are you out of alignment? What truth do you need to acknowledge?

These invisible forces are at play in every moment of every day. They’re either working for you or against you. And you get to choose which one it is by paying attention, doing the inner work, and refusing to ignore what you know to be true.

Action step: Do an honest energy audit of your business right now. On a scale of one to ten, how lit up and aligned do you feel? If it’s below a seven, something needs to shift. Journal on these questions: where am I out of alignment? What am I ignoring? What truth am I avoiding? What would I do differently if I fully trusted myself? Then take one action this week based on what comes up. Even a small shift in your energy changes everything around you.

The Mistakes That Create Energy Leaks (And Keep You Stuck)

Mistake 1: Ignoring your intuition because following it feels hard

Why this is a problem: Your intuition is telling you something needs to change, but change feels scary, so you keep going with what’s familiar. The longer you ignore it, the worse the situation gets. Things that could have been a small course correction become a crisis.

The truth: The times I’ve struggled most in business have been when I actively ignored my intuition. Every time. And the times I’ve followed it, even when it was terrifying, things moved fast and flowed beautifully. Your intuition isn’t trying to make your life harder. It’s trying to guide you. Trust it.

Mistake 2: Following someone else’s advice over your own knowing

Why this is a problem: You hand over your power to a coach, a mentor, or an expert because you think they know better than you. They tell you to do something that doesn’t feel right, but you do it anyway because they’re “further ahead.” And it doesn’t work because you were out of alignment with it from the start.

The truth: Other people can absolutely share knowledge and help you grow. But at the end of the day, nobody knows what’s right for you better than you do. If advice doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t right for you. Trust yourself. You are the expert on you.

Mistake 3: People-pleasing until you’ve got nothing left

Why this is a problem: You say yes to everything and everyone. You overdeliver, overgive, and over-accommodate until you’re completely drained. And then you show up to your business with nothing left to give, wondering why everything feels so heavy.

The truth: Protecting your energy isn’t selfish. It’s essential. You cannot serve anyone well from a place of burnout. Set your non-negotiables, close the energy leaks, and give yourself permission to put yourself first. Your business (and everyone in it) will benefit from you showing up in full, not in pieces.

Tools, Resources, and Practices to Support Your Energetic Work

For tuning into your success frequency: Start a daily visualisation or feeling practice. Spend five minutes each morning imagining your goals as already achieved and feeling the emotions that come with that. Pair it with a gratitude practice: write down three things you’re genuinely grateful for before you start your work day. This shifts your energy from scarcity to abundance.

For getting into alignment: Create space in your week for reflection. Even 20 minutes of journalling on “what feels aligned right now and what doesn’t” can surface truths you’ve been ignoring. Block it in your calendar as a non-negotiable.

For identifying energy leaks: Make a list of everything in your business that drains you. Be specific. Then next to each one, write down what you could do about it: delegate it, automate it, stop doing it, or have a conversation about it. Pick the biggest energy leak and address it first.

For building self-trust: Start small. Follow one intuitive nudge this week without overthinking it. Notice what happens. The more you act on your intuition and see positive results, the more you’ll trust it next time.

For reading: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber (the funeral exercise Carrie references), and books on the energetics of success and mindset by authors like Gabrielle Bernstein.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this just mindset, or is there more to it?

It includes mindset, but it goes deeper. Mindset is about the thoughts you think. Energetics is about the full picture: your thoughts, your feelings, your alignment, your boundaries, your intuition, and the energy you carry into everything you do. Strategy works best when all of these invisible forces are working with you rather than against you.

How do I know if I’m out of alignment?

You’ll feel it. Things feel heavy, stagnant, like you’re pushing uphill. You dread showing up. Your results don’t match your effort. You feel drained even when you’re doing things that should excite you. These are all signals. Pay attention to them rather than pushing through and hoping it gets better on its own.

What if I don’t trust my intuition yet?

Start by noticing it. Your intuition is always communicating, but you might be so used to overriding it that you’ve stopped hearing it. Begin by pausing before decisions and asking yourself, “Does this feel right?” Track when you follow that feeling and when you ignore it, and notice the difference in outcomes. Trust builds through practice.

Can energy work really replace business strategy?

No, and that’s not what this is about. Strategy matters. But strategy without the right energy behind it doesn’t work. Think of it this way: energy is the foundation, strategy is the structure. You need both. But if the foundation is cracked, the structure won’t hold.

How do I protect my energy when I have a team, clients, and responsibilities?

Non-negotiables. Decide what’s non-negotiable for you and communicate them clearly. Build systems that protect your time and energy rather than depleting it. And be honest with yourself when something isn’t working, because the longer you ignore it, the more energy it takes.

Your Energy Is the Most Powerful Thing You Have

Here’s what I want you to take away from this. These invisible forces, your thoughts, your alignment, your boundaries, your intuition, they are at play in your life and your business every single moment. And they matter more than any marketing strategy or funnel ever will.

When you start paying attention to them, tuning yourself to the frequency of what you want, getting into real alignment, protecting your energy, and trusting yourself deeply, everything changes. I’ve lived it. I’ve gone from stuck, broke, and crying on my bed to building a business that’s generated tens of millions. And the biggest shifts were always the invisible ones.

You are the magic. Your energy is magnetic. Step into that fully and watch what happens.

Carrie xx