You know the feeling. You’ve spent twelve hours straight fixing a client’s chaotic marketing funnel or debugging a complex piece of software that was held together by digital duct tape and hope. You’re the expert. People pay you the big bucks because you’re the best at what you do. But then you close your laptop, look at your own neglected website—which still says "Copyright 2022"—and realize you haven't posted on your own social media in six months. It's a classic case of the shoemaker's children go barefoot, and honestly, it’s a total productivity trap that kills growth.
It’s an old proverb with roots stretching back to the 16th century, likely popularized by John Heywood, who was a big fan of collecting these little nuggets of wisdom. The idea is simple: a craftsman is so busy taking care of everyone else that they neglect their own family, or in a modern sense, their own business infrastructure.
The psychology behind the barefoot kids
Why does this happen to the smartest people in the room? It isn't laziness. Most of the time, it's actually the opposite. It’s a mix of perfectionism, burnout, and the "billable hour" curse. When you’re an expert, your time is literally money. Spending four hours on a client project results in a deposit in your bank account. Spending four hours fixing your own broken internal onboarding process feels like... well, it feels like losing money.
We prioritize the person screaming the loudest. Usually, that’s the client.
The client has a deadline. They have expectations. They have a contract. You? You’re patient. You tell yourself you’ll get to your own brand "next week" or "when things quiet down." But let’s be real: things never quiet down for people who are good at what they do.
There's also this weird psychological barrier where we hold ourselves to a much higher standard than our clients. I’ve seen world-class designers stall their own rebrand for two years because they couldn't decide on a font. They would have fired a client for that kind of indecision. It’s the paradox of expertise. You know too much for your own good, and that knowledge becomes a cage.
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When the shoemaker's children go barefoot, your brand suffers
This isn't just a quirky personality trait; it has real-world consequences for your bottom line. If a potential lead visits your site and sees a "Latest News" section where the most recent entry is from three years ago, they don't think "Wow, they must be so busy and successful!" They think you’re out of business. Or worse, they think you’re disorganized.
I remember talking to a cybersecurity consultant who had some of the most sophisticated setups for his enterprise clients. He was literally protecting millions of dollars in data. One day, he got hit by a basic ransomware attack on his personal home office machine because he hadn't bothered to update his own backups in eighteen months. He was the shoemaker. His "children" (his data) were very much barefoot.
The hidden costs of neglect
- Loss of Authority: If you sell SEO services but your own site doesn't rank, why should I trust you?
- Operational Drag: Using manual, clunky processes for yourself while automating them for others wastes hours of your week.
- Burnout: It’s soul-crushing to build beautiful things for others while living in your own professional "shack."
Real examples of the proverb in the wild
Look at the tech industry. It’s notorious for this. You’ll find software agencies building cutting-edge AI integrations for Silicon Valley startups while their own internal payroll is handled via a bloated, error-prone Excel spreadsheet that crashes if two people open it at once.
Or take the world of professional organizing. I once worked with a consultant who specialized in decluttering corporate offices to improve workflow efficiency. She was a genius at it. But her own home office? You couldn't see the floor. She was so emotionally and mentally spent from making decisions for others that she had zero "decision capital" left for herself.
It happens in healthcare too. There’s a reason there are so many jokes about doctors being the worst patients. They spend all day diagnosing others and then ignore their own persistent cough because they "know the signs" and assume it’s nothing. Until it isn't.
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Breaking the cycle of the shoemaker's children go barefoot
So, how do you actually stop this? You can’t just "try harder." If that worked, you would have done it already. You need a systemic change in how you view your own business or life.
One of the most effective strategies is becoming your own "Client Zero." You have to treat your internal projects with the same level of respect, deadlines, and—crucially—consequences as a paying client.
Fire the bad client (yourself)
Wait, don't actually fire yourself. But do start scheduling your own work. If you use a project management tool like Trello, Asana, or Monday.com for your clients, you better have a board for your own brand too.
Put "Update Website" or "Fix Internal CRM" on the calendar for Tuesday at 9:00 AM. And here is the hard part: don't move it when a client asks for a "quick call." If you had a meeting with a high-paying CEO, you wouldn't cancel it for a minor request from someone else. You are that high-paying CEO.
Automation is your best friend
The shoemaker's kids go barefoot because the shoemaker is manual. If you can automate your own lead generation, your billing, or your social media posting, do it immediately. Experts often resist this because they think their own brand needs a "bespoke" touch, but "good and automated" beats "perfect and non-existent" every single day.
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Hire your own kind
This is the ultimate move. If you’re a copywriter, hire another copywriter to write your site. If you’re a financial planner, pay another pro to look at your books. It sounds redundant, but it removes the emotional weight and the perfectionism. It’s much easier to take advice from a peer than it is to give it to yourself.
Stop the neglect before it's too late
We've all been there. You're exhausted. You've given everything to the work. But your own foundation is cracking. The proverb of the shoemaker's children go barefoot is a warning, not just an observation. It’s a reminder that if you don't maintain the tools of your trade for yourself, eventually, you won't be able to use them for anyone else either.
Take a look at your own "shoes" right now. Are they falling apart? Is your LinkedIn profile a ghost town? Is your filing system a disaster?
Actionable steps to fix it
- The 10% Rule: Dedicate 10% of your weekly working hours—let's say Friday mornings—exclusively to "Internal Growth." No client work allowed. Period.
- Audit Your Own Tech: List the top three things you recommend to clients. If you aren't using them yourself, ask why. If the answer is "I don't have time to set it up," that is your first project for Friday morning.
- Public Accountability: Tell your audience or your peers that you're "retooling." Sometimes just admitting that the shoemaker's kids have been barefoot for a while gives you the social pressure needed to actually buy them some boots.
- Simplify the Scope: Your internal projects don't need to be your magnum opus. They just need to work. Stop trying to build the world's best version of your service for yourself. Build the "Minimum Viable Version" and get it live.
Start today. Not Monday. Not next month. Go spend thirty minutes on one thing that improves your own professional life. Your kids—and your sanity—will thank you.
Actionable Insight: Identify the one internal task you've been avoiding because it's "not billable." Block out exactly two hours on your calendar for tomorrow morning and treat it as a non-negotiable appointment with your most important client: yourself. Apply the same framework you use for customers to this task, including a clear definition of "done" to prevent perfectionism from creeping in. Once finished, document the time saved or the mental clarity gained to reinforce the habit of self-investment.