Confession of a Recovering Control Freak
I was a perfectionist. A control freak. There, I said it.
That’s why I couldn’t let go.
When I ran my web agency, it felt like everything circled back to me. Client emails waiting for my review. Design drafts I thought needed “just a little polish.” Project plans that didn’t feel complete until I weighed in.
Even when my team had things handled, I’d find myself stepping back in — tweaking, fixing, reworking — convinced I was protecting the quality.
On the surface, it looked like high standards. But really, it was fear.
➡️ Fear that clients would be disappointed.
➡️ Fear that mistakes would make me look bad.
➡️ Fear that not being in everything meant I wasn’t valuable.
So I clung to control, believing the lie that only I could do it best.
The cost?
Slower growth, longer hours, and exhaustion that followed me everywhere.
Perfectionism hasn’t disappeared — it still sneaks in from time to time. The difference now is I notice it. I can see that it’s fear showing up in disguise. And when I get curious about what’s really driving that fear, it loses its grip.
That’s the antidote: not fighting perfectionism, but understanding what’s beneath it.
👉 Where might fear be keeping you from trusting your team?
I’ll be sharing more soon about what I’m hearing from agency leaders on building a Trusted Team. In the meantime, if you’d like to talk through where perfectionism might be showing up for you, here’s my calendar.