bigger isn't always better

A few months ago, I made a post on Threads that said:

"There's a lot of pressure for online business owners to quickly scale their income to six or seven figures, but honestly? I'd rather have a boring (aka steady, predictable, calm) business that works for my life. Who's with me?"

These were some of the responses:

• "A business built around my lifestyle, yes please!"
• "I'm with you! Slow and steady, working with what my energy levels can do"
• "Saaaaame!!"

Which means if you've been feeling the same way, you're definitely not alone.

The trending business advice I've seen in so many Instagram reels lately is all about going big - bigger launches, bigger sales goals, bigger products, bigger teams.

And I don't know about you, but that all feels overwhelming and not really aligned with what I'm hoping my business brings to my life.

What I'm trying to build is a business that is kind of boring. Something steady and predictable (like I wrote in my thread) that fits into everything else that's happening in my life. 

I've got more to say about that, but first, a reminder about the format of my emails. Ready, Set, Connect is a value-packed newsletter all about using your marketing to connect with your audience.

Each email includes three sections:

• Ready...this section has tips/resources/strategies for shifting your mindset about business

• Set...this section has tips/resources/strategies for effective relationship-focused marketing

• Connect...this section has something you can do right now to connect with your audience

Ready...(a mindset shift)

Here's the thing. In this season of sales, with Black Friday just around the corner, there's so much noise online about everything you should be doing for your business.

Maybe you've heard things like:

• "you have to sell courses or a membership in order to make real money"
• "selling digital products (like TPT products) isn't enough - you need a higher ticket offer"
• "you should start working with clients in order to make larger sales"

The things is....none of that is exactly true.

There are thousands or strategies for running a business, and all of them work.

That doesn't mean they all work for you. 

The secret is that there isn't a secret trick to succeeding in your business. It takes trying different things and collecting data and making decisions and taking risks to figure out the strategy that works for your business and for your audience. 

And in building your own strategy, you can choose to do less. It's okay to stay small on purpose, and to build a business that actually fits your life and your needs.

Set...(a sustainable strategy for your marketing)

On the topic of doing less, here's a few reminders that:

• you don't have to be everywhere in order for your marketing to be effective
• you don't need a viral moment (because honestly having 30,000 followers sounds exhausting)

ChatGPT wrote this catchy phrase for me once, and I think it fits here: you don't need mass marketing, you need meaningful marketing.

And while that phrase sounds a lot like ChatGPT with the parallel sentence structure and the double alliteration, it's catchy, and I still think its a fun reminder.

You don't need to do it all. Your audience is just as tired of the constant noise about everything they should be doing, too. 

It's okay if you post less. The connection you're making with your audience is more important than the number of times you talk to them, anyway.

(And I'm throwing in a little plug here to say that doing less and still having success is exactly the foundation of my Black Friday toolkit. If you want to make a Black Friday sale happen for your store, you just don't have the time to come up with how to make it work, then the toolkit is the solution for you.

And if that's not what you need right now, no pressure at all. Throwing a Black Friday promotion isn't required.)

Connect! (a quick challenge you can complete today)

Here’s something you can do today to connect with your audience:

Choose an Instagram post you posted more than 6 months ago that performed well (aka it had at least an average amount of engagement).

Post the exact same post again (yes, literally the same post.) If that scares you, you can update the caption and say something like: If you've seen this before, you probably needed to hear it again." 

Don't overthink it, just keep it simple. Your followers will not remember that you posted this 6 months ago.

If you try out this challenge, send me a message on Instagram @basicallyjamiejune and let me know how it goes!

Now of course, I have to tell you...

This is the last week that I'll be talking about the Black Friday Toolkit because Black Friday is coming soon.

If you're on the fence about whether or not a Black Friday sale will work for your business, just hit reply and let's chat about it

P.S. If you skipped to the end of the email, let me recap:

• There are lots of strategies for running a business, but not all of them will work for you
• Remove the pressure to post more often
• In the spirit of doing less, take something you shared more than 6 months ago and share the exact same thing again
• If you want to do less but still have a successful Black Friday promotion, grab my Black Friday Toolkit

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks! You can snoop on the exact process I'm using for my own Black Friday promotion.

And an important P.P.S.

If you're NOT interested in hearing about my Black Friday promotion, you can click here to opt out of my emails for the next few weeks, while still staying subscribed to Ready, Set, Connect after Cyber Monday.

Whatever comes your way during this busy season, I’m cheering for you!

Jamie