In 2011, Julie Bass, from Michigan, was facing jail time. Her crime? 👉🏼 Removing her lawn and planting a garden in its place 🤯

. . .

In the chronically thirsty state of California, spray painting your lawn to conserve water is the norm. Take it from LawnLift:

^ Purveyors of lawn paint are raking it in — no pun intended and no raking necessary when you spray paint your leaves green, too!

. . .

Growing up, like most suburban householders, my parents had this weird obsession with their lawn. There were constant arguments about who was responsible for mowing it and expensive sprinkler systems whose sole purpose was to keep it looking lush. 

The truth about lawns is they are pointless at best and, at worst, kinda wasteful. 

In the online business world, there are a lot of folks laying sod simply because it’s the norm. 

I like to call it ‘monoculture marketing’. 

Monocultures exist because of the human desire to control nature instead of work with it. We raze the forests, kill the undesirables, and plant seeds who’s fruits can’t procreate. We demand the land produces, without giving back, and the result is a planet with less than 25 years of viable topsoil remaining. 

I wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading right now because: 

1. What the bleep does this have to do with my business, anyway?
2. Holy downer, Chanti, who peed in your garden and told you talking about modern farming was “engaging”?!

But if you’re still here, I promise I won’t go full depressing nature documentary on you and I WILL tell you how this relates to your biz.

There are 4 sneaky ways the monoculture marketing mindset shows up in your business… 

1. The Story of Separation

Humanity needs stories just as much as we need other forms of nourishment. 

Stories help us make sense of ourselves and our world. The dominant story at play today is one of separation. Most of us are raised to believe that we’re separate from nature, often to the point that we’re made to distance ourselves from our own true natures. 

Here’s how the story of separation plays out in our businesses: 

First there’s an assumption that as leaders, entrepreneurs, and business owners, we’re somehow above and separate from our audience. 

I’ve witnessed this dynamic too many times to count with past clients and I gotta say — it’s hard to fault ourselves when this is what we’ve been modeled as a best practice. 

But this distance is so detrimental. 

It’s this sage-on-the-stage mindset that’s fueling so much cynicism in the world of digital marketing. So what’s the solution? 

Charles Eisenstein, who writes on the story of separation often, describes it as this: 

“We can choose another story — one of interdependence and connection. By doing so we become able to solve ‘impossible’ problems, from political polarization to global warming.“

Thich Nhat Hanh calls it “interbeing.” 

And the idea that we don’t exist independently from nature or each other can easily be applied to business. 

And yet, while you might read all of the above and think ‘duh’ — it’s still easy to operate this way without even realizing via an unconscious, separation-based playbook. 

Here are a few more examples of how it shows up… 

⇒ The idea that your business is entirely separate and distinct from your life, who you are, and how you best operate. 

⇒ Expecting people to make a big investment based on a funnel that ticks all the boxes (but doesn’t offer actual intimacy and connection). 

⇒ Thinking one strategy in isolation is going to solve all the problems. 

2. Plug ‘n Play, Spray and Pray, #slayallday

Plug ‘n Play: I love me a good template, but there’s a limit to the usefulness of an offer that promises to help you do all the things if you simply follow the formula. At a certain point, you need to build your own formulas — ones that match your audience, your offers, and your values. 

Spray and Pray: all the cold DMs in the world won’t amount to a warm feeling in your heart. We’ve all experienced it (and I’m not saying you’re a perpetrator)… being added to someone’s random ass Facebook group. The out of nowhere pitch to get in on ground level of some new MLM. None of it feels good and none of it is necessary. 

#slayallday: Hustle culture is the ethos embedded into monoculture marketing practices. It drains and depletes and fetishizes entrepreneurship to the point where we become totally disconnected from the bigger picture. (Can you tell I’ve been there?)

3. Numbers Over Humans

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase “it’s a numbers game” repeated by marketers and online business owners at all levels. 

Heck, I’ve definitely said it myself. 

It’s not that there’s no truth to such a statement. It IS true that the average conversion rate from lead to customer in, say, the online course industry, is typically around 1-3%. 

The conversation typically goes something like, “if you spend $10k on ads and your cost per lead is $10 you’ll have $1000 leads and 2% will buy your $997 course so you’ll make $20k!” 

^ and you’ll have done it using plug ‘n play templates, BONUS! 

Okay okay, there’s nothing wrong with knowing your numbers. The thing about it is, what do those conversion rates represent *beyond* money? 

To me they represent the potential for transformation. For someone to do or experience or change something they care deeply about. 

So WHY are only 1-3% of the pool of people who we could assume *want* that transformation actually saying yes to it? 

If we’re in the business of helping humans, we need to better understand them, and when we do that, the numbers conversation represents something so much bigger than our bank balance.

4. The Ass-Backwards Principles of “Deplete and Expand”

This ties into the numbers conversation AND spray and pray. 

Deplete and expand is the idea that you have to constantly grow your audience and find new audiences. 

Because otherwise you’ll wear your existing one out, or they’ll grow bored or move on, or otherwise “expire” for some reason. 

The status quo in the online marketing world is to treat the audience like it’s a tuna salad from the deli counter at the grocery store that you better gobble up (sell your stuff to) before it turns green in the back of your fridge. 

It’s weird, wasteful, and backwards even from a revenue standpoint. 

The reality is you don’t need a massive audience (strange words coming from a gal who’s helped many grow their lists by hundreds of thousands, but I’ve seen people with tiny audiences make more than those with massive ones), you need resonance and strategies for regenerative revenue. 

With those things in place, you can continually nurture your people and your own business from a quality over quantity perspective. 

So what’s the alternative?

Start building an ecosystem that prioritizes empathy, regenerative marketing practices, & principles that lead to perennial profit and sustainable success. 

I’m convinced that ^^THIS is the future. 

It’s what will help you remain resilient as we face an impending economic recession. 

It’s what will help you grow as a person and not just a business owner. 

It’s an acknowledgement of the inherent complexity and nuance involved in building a truly sustainable and successful business. 

It’s also exactly what I’m focused on doing inside of Fertile Ground and it’s for you IF… 

✅ You love to jam on strategy and level up your skills as a business owner, AND you’ve been in the game long enough to know that those things aren’t the *only* things. You’re here for all of it and you’re here to play the long game. 

✅ You’re not totally green to business — you’ve got an email list of at least a couple hundred and have at least one offer that you know converts, BUT for all that you’ve learned, you know there’s still room for growth.

✅ You’re passionate about what you do, and that passion shows in the high-quality of your work. Now you’re looking for a way to keep that passion alive by building something sustainable that energizes, genuinely excites you, and gives you the space you need to recharge.

✅ You’ve been doing this whole business thing on your own for way too long. You crave guidance and support from people who actually understand what you’re going through. 

✅ Whether you’ve yet to build your ecosystem or you’ve got a business that’s almost working — you’re feeling called to do something different. Whether it’s a big audience shift or a totally new offer, you know you need to make a BIG change. Lots of coaches will tell you to do what works, but the reality is you need to do what works for you.

✅ You want your actions and words to align. You’re ready for a massive transformation, whether that means shifting your audience or shifting the very foundation of your business and doing something totally different.

It’s part mastermind, part coaching program, part course, and part community of brilliant ecosystem builders. 

Want to know if it’s right for you? Apply here to book a free mini-ecosystem assessment session with yours truly and find out >>> 

To growing gardens instead of grass,
Chanti xx