By Kim Brassor
One Voice Evolving: Better You, Better World

Let’s get to it.

This is not a communication issue.

This is a breach of trust.

What I Paid For vs. What I Got

I signed up for what was sold as a Done-For-You service. Turnkey. Vision-to-execution. High-end.

What I got?

Unfinished projects. Excuses. And a front-row seat to a messy remodel while still living in the house.

I wasn’t handed results, I was handed responsibility. I was expected to patch the drywall, manage the schedule, and smooth over the delays while still delivering on my own work.

They started strong with a new foundation. But lost their way in execution and deliverables.

I pointed out cracks in the foundation. They shuffled furniture and called it strategy.

They literally broke my pay flow, compromising income from a live contract. When I asked for accountability? I got “VIP Care” A.K.A. Emotional management long enough to salvage the sale rather than refund.

Let’s Name the Sales Pitch

They came in hot. Stellar sales energy. They knew what to say: Guaranteed ease. Support. Results. “We got you.”

But when it came time to deliver, I was the one holding the blueprint and the broom.

And the real twist? They wrapped it all in language of care.

Gaslighting doesn’t always yell. It often whispers. Especially in customer success scripts.

The Pattern Isn’t Personal. It’s Systemic.

I’m not here to drag a brand.

I’m here to reveal a pattern that disproportionately affects solopreneurs who don’t have six-figure runways or a team of 12 behind them. Especially those of us building from the margins—Black, Brown, neurodivergent, nonconforming, multiply-disabled, or otherwise outside the VC-funded norm.

We’re constantly told to “trust the process” while watching that process fail us.

And then tone policed to “just communicate” better when we name what went wrong.

This established sales funnel thrives on urgency. It profits off hope.

It counts on the fact that we’ll be too tired or too “graceful” to raise hell when things go sideways.

Build Your Foundation of Trust

Trust isn’t a pitch. It’s a structure.

And what we have here is not a lack of communication.

It’s a structural breach.

Let’s be honest:

They laid a new foundation alright. But the weight of building the dream exposed faulty workmanship and cracks began to show.

If I need to be my own general contractor from now on, so be it. At least I know who’s responsible for the foundation.

To the next service provider, consultant, or agency who promises the world:

Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way.

But know your lane and your limits.

Because here’s what I’ve learned:

Trust is an inside job. Trust and verify is how you build foundations that hold.

When I trust my own skills, my own instincts, I can assume competence and good intent when building with others.

I can build equitable, efficient teams.

I can set the vision and fill in the gaps.

But what I cannot do is the emotional labor of someone else’s unkept promises.

I cannot compensate for what a vendor should have built before ever calling themselves “DFY.”

I cannot do what they need to do to earn my respect, let alone my repeat business.

That’s not a me issue.

That’s a them issue.

💬 Been through this too? Drop a comment. Let’s name the pattern. Let’s protect our energy. Let’s build from truth.

When trust is broken—whether in business, faith, or family—it leaves a fracture that runs deeper than disappointment. It shakes our sense of safety, our ability to believe in what’s promised, and sometimes, in ourselves.

That’s why this next conversation hit home.

In this deeply honest and healing exchange, Kim Brassor sits down with Dawn Boullion, licensed professional counselor, trauma therapist, and founder of Embrace Your Brave, to explore how generational and religious trauma keep women silent—and how healing begins when we finally reclaim our own voice. Listen to it HERE.

About Kim

These two spaces—One Voice Evolving and Trouble With 12-Step—are really one project with two doors. Same voice, same mission: to call out the systems that keep us small, silent, and stuck.

Kim brings a rare mix of backbone and compassion to every space she enters. She’s not here to help you rise through the ranks of a broken system—she’s here to help you evolve beyond it.

On One Voice Evolving, she takes on family relationships, legacy, and the tangled lies of systemic racism that live in our bodies and our lineages. On Trouble With 12-Step, she shines a light on process addiction, recovery culture, and the ways dependency gets repackaged as discipline.

Different topics, same truth: the system is the problem.

We’re not here for resets—we’re here for full renovations. Rip out the lies, bulldoze the shame, rebuild on truth. And we’re doing it together, with no heroes required.