“You Need To…” When Everyone Else is Writing Your To-Do List

Let’s talk about those three little words that strike fear (and sometimes irritation) into every small business owner’s heart: “You need to…”

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve heard it more times than you can count.

• “You need to be on TikTok.”
  
• “You need to redo your logo.”
  
• “You need to sell merch.”
  
• “You need to hire my cousin’s nephew who just got into marketing.”
  

Suddenly, your to-do list looks less like a strategy and more like a group project where everyone else signed you up for the hard parts.

Here’s the thing: everyone means well. Your aunt suggesting you start a podcast probably thinks she’s being helpful. That customer telling you to carry oat milk in five different flavors genuinely wants to support you. But when you’re juggling accounting, hiring, inventory, and remembering to eat lunch… adding “You need to start an AI chatbot” to your plate isn’t exactly the priority.

The danger comes when other people’s “you need to’s” drown out your actual needs. You can end up chasing everyone else’s vision of your business instead of building the one you imagined.

So, how do you handle it?

1. Smile, nod, and filter.

Not every “you need to” deserves a permanent spot on your list. Think of it like spam email. Some gets through the filter, but you don’t hit reply all.

2. Ask: does this serve my goals?

Just because everyone says you need an app doesn’t mean your bakery customers want to download one just to buy muffins.

3. Remember: you run the business, not a committee.

When you’re the boss, your to-do list should reflect your strategy, not the latest suggestion. Otherwise, you’ll spend your days running in circles powered by someone else’s caffeine ideas.

At the end of the day, there will always be another “you need to.” But here’s the real truth: you need to trust yourself. Your business doesn’t grow because of every passing suggestion—it grows because of your focus, consistency, and knowing which advice to politely ignore.

So next time someone says, “You need to…,” you can smile, thank them, and add it to your “Maybe Someday” file. Right behind “Learn how to juggle flaming torches” and “Open a second location on Mars.”