Escaping Shiny Object Syndrome: How to Stop Starting Everything and Finally Build Momentum

If you're a creative who feels like you're always starting new ideas but never finishing anything — this episode is for you.

Kaylie opens up about her personal experience with shiny object syndrome: bouncing between courses, tools, product ideas, and platforms (hello Canva templates, half-finished Etsy shops, and a Google Drive full of forgotten downloads).

In this honest and practical conversation, you'll learn:

• Why multi-passionates and overwhelmed creatives burn out trying to do it all
• The hidden cost of chasing every idea instead of building one thing well
• A gentler, more grounded way to grow a creative business that fits your season of life
• Why starting with your strengths (not trends) is the key to traction
• How to get clear on your best-fit income path — even with limited time

💡 Plus: Kaylie introduces her free Creative Clarity Challenge — a 3-day experience to help you finally choose a path, take action, and start seeing progress.

🗓️ Join the waitlist here: https://spellweavercreativehub.co.uk/creativeclaritychallenge263169 

📌 If you’re listening after May 23rd, 2025 — no worries! The challenge is now evergreen and you can sign up anytime to go through it at your own pace.

✨ This one’s for the digital hoarders, course collectors, burnt-out mums, and anyone building a business around real life.

Let’s stop chasing. Let’s build something that fits.

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Transcript

Kaylie Edwards (00:05)
Hey, lovely, it's Kaylie here. Welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast. Today's episode is for the creatives who feel like they're drowning in ideas, tools and tabs, but still not getting anywhere. We're talking about the shiny object syndrome trap. And if you've ever said, maybe this will be the thing and jumped into yet another strategy or product or...

income path, business model, only to burn out or abandon it halfway through. You are so not alone. I've lived this pattern hard over the past 10 years. Let's be honest, we've all been there. You're downloading Canva templates, scrolling threads, pinning income strategies, jumping into Etsy, printables, print on demand, maybe even planning a course or thinking about licensing.

You're gathering and learning and tweaking and planning, but nothing is getting finished or shipped or sold. You feel busy, but also like you're spinning your wheels. I say this with love. You're not unfocused you're just unrooted because your plan doesn't start with you yet. And today I want to share some real talk, including how I got myself out of it.

and how you can too. Especially if you're a multi-passionate, a mum or building a creative business around a busy life like I am.

Let me just paint a picture of my hard drive situation. I have hundreds of digital products saved from free bundles. have courses, workbooks, planners, guides, templates, mockups, paid and free, all things I downloaded thinking this might help me crack it. I've paid for more courses that I to admit. Some I never finished, some I started.

and quickly realised they weren't right for me or they were lacking something. I learnt little bits from many of them and a lot of them I will say have helped me with where I am today but few have actually helped me build a business that felt aligned or sustainable. And every now and again I'll search my OneDrive or Google Drive and find all these folders of downloads I forgot I had.

stuff I didn't even remember saving or that I never used and bless some of them are actually great but who has the brain space to dig through thousands of files when you're also juggling a toddler and a business and trying to yeah keep up with everything and then there's YouTube rabbit holes my god ⁓ I know them well

One quick video to look up something like how to sell an Etsy or how to create a mock-up turns into three hours later and I'm suddenly opening a new print-on-demand store, buying a new domain name and designing a whole new product I didn't plan to create. Over the past 10 years I've tried so many things. Dropshipping, lots of research, never launched.

Handmade candles took two years of over researching before I even started that business. And once I did, the joy got zapped by legal requirements, compliance, insurance, and the math, because yeah, I'm not great at math. Didn't like it in school, and I still don't like it now. And then there's courses, blogging, bundles, freelance, trying to be on all the platforms.

My downfall has always been my own research obsessed brain. I love learning. But sometimes learning becomes procrastination or procrasti-learning as somebody come up with. I can't remember who said that. ⁓ But it's so, so true. Before I start anything, I have to Google it. Is it legal? Is it worth it? Has someone reviewed it? What's the risk?

then suddenly it's two years later and I'm still thinking about launching something.

When my maternity leave ended and I needed income fast, I didn't have time to keep experimenting. I couldn't go back to my old job. I couldn't sell physical products anymore. What I needed was something that fit my life now. Eventually I found my way back to what felt natural. Digital products, teaching workshops and courses, helping creatives find a business model that works for them. I'm still multi-passionate.

I still love art and hand making things and yes, I'd love to sell original pieces again someday but not in this season of my life with my son still not being in full time education. Right now I'm a mum to a toddler who's home with me most of the time and in at everything and if he wants attention he's gonna have to get attention because he will close my laptop whilst I'm in the middle of writing an email for a client.

or in the middle of editing a lesson. So yes, it's not ideal. I needed a business model that gave me joy and flexibility. And that's what I want for you too.

The cost of too many directions. When you're chasing every possible idea at once, you're spreading your energy so thin that nothing gets the momentum it needs. You're on five platforms, but not growing on any. You're halfway through three courses, but still unsure where to start. You've bought brush sets, fonts, mockups, templates, but haven't created anything with them yet.

or you have but they're quite generic and not actually based on your niche or your audience.

This is so common for creatives like us, especially if you're juggling motherhood, caregiving, your health or even just the mental load of trying to make this work on your own. It's not that you're doing it wrong, you're just trying to do too much without a clear anchor.

What to do instead? So what's the alternative to chasing shiny things? It's learning to pause and look inward. Instead of downloading another resource or joining another platform, you start with your creative strengths. Because you are the strategy. And that's exactly why I created the Creative Clarity Challenge. It's a free three-day experience designed to help

artists, makers and designers and other creative business owners who are multi-passionate but stuck. If you're juggling a handmade business, a digital product idea, maybe even dreams of teaching but you don't know which one to commit to, this is for you. This challenge is for handmade sellers juggling ideas and product types, artists stuck between physical work and digital potential, digital artists juggling half-finished projects,

creative educators unsure how to monetize their skills, course buyers, bundle collectors, download hoarders, mums and carers who only have tiny pockets of time and anyone who's burnt out from trying to do everything. If you're ready to actually choose a path, take action and start seeing progress, this challenge is your starting point. It's running live

Tuesday the 21st to Thursday the 23rd of May and includes daily videos, a workbook and a warm virtual nudge towards clarity. You can join the waitlist now and get everything the moment we go live. The link is in the description of this episode and will be in the show notes and if you're listening after the 23rd of May, good news, it will become evergreen.

You can sign up anytime and go through it at your own pace, in your own way.

Before we wrap up, here are a few things I've learned the hard way. And maybe they'll help you too, even if you're not ready for the challenge yet. Pick one platform and give it 30 days to 90 days of consistent energy before switching. Pick one income stream, not five. Print on demand, teaching, digital downloads. We'll figure that out together in day two of the challenge.

And done is better than perfect. A simple, not perfect product that gets out into the world is more powerful than a gorgeous idea still sat in your Google Drive. Stop collecting, start creating. You've got enough tools. What you need now is traction, and that comes from focus. And trust me, I know how hard it is.

I still have the urges where I want to set up a new print on demand shop with a new niche that I really like. And yes, it's difficult. Or a new PDF download that I've had a great idea for. Sometimes you just have to stop yourself and really think, is this the right time to do it now?

And lovely, you do not need to do more to be worthy of success. You just need to work with what's already in you and give it a little breathing room. If you've been drowning in ideas, unfinished courses and marketing tips that don't feel like you, this is your invitation to pause and reset. The Creative Clarity Challenge starts May 21st and I absolutely love to have you join me. It's free.

honest and built to help you get unstuck. Let's find clarity in your creative work. Let's stop chasing everything and start building one thing that feels sustainable, joyful and actually doable. Get on the wait list now and...

and the link will be in the episode description and show notes. You've got this, you don't have to do it alone, and until next time, keep creating, keep juggling, and most importantly, keep finding joy in the process.