Estimated read time: 4 minutes

I worship at the feet of FEEDBACK. 

Like damn, %FIRSTNAME%. 

You have no idea the energy boost and surge of ideas I got from reading the 206 responses I received from the audience survey I sent you last week. 

Some of what you shared was straight up shocking. 

Some of it was affirming that I’m moving in the right direction. 

All of it… as cheesy as this sounds, helped me clarify how I can be in deeper service to the brilliant humans in this here communiTEA. 

Sometimes I play a toxic brain game where I think “eh, what’s the point? There’s enough other people teaching how to build an online business, what do *I* really have to contribute?” 

Then I hear directly from people in my sphere of influence — what you’re experiencing, what you’re tired of hearing, what your goals are. 

And I KNOW those are problems I can help you solve. Directly, immediately, through my own lived experience. 

There’s all this hype around audience building (that I, of course, contribute to as someone who helps you do just that 👀) but there’s minimal hoopla around showing up and solving the problems of those right in front of you. 

WELL THE HOOPLA STARTS HERE. 

⭐ If you responded to my annual survey last week, you’ll be getting my templates for how to survey YOUR audience when they’re ready in the next few weeks. If you won a $$ prize, you’ll get an email from my team TODAY, so keep an eye out!

What you’ll learn in this article:

🍵💲 The ONE FUNNEL AWAY mentality is ☠️  What’s replacing it?

🍵💲 Social media is actually optional… no really.

🍵💲 The truth about how long it *really* takes to reach $5k/month consistently

This week’s tea:

Hate social media? Not as far along as you want to be? Viscerally turned off by oversimplified big promises? It’s not just you.

Of all the responses, there were 3 dominant trends…

Trend #1: There are MANY people making less than $5k a month who’ve been building their business for 2-5 years.

For some this is on purpose and all good. But for many, you’re frustrated and it feels like you should be further along. 

I won’t ply you with ideas or solutions. If you’re in this boat, you are being heavily marketed to all.the.time. Everyone’s promising you the final puzzle piece. It’s exhausting. 
I’ll instead give you this invitation so beautifully written by my friend Elyssa Jakim:

& I’ll remind you that people go to school for YEARS to learn how to successfully build and operate a business. 

& then years more flailing and failing and experimenting. 

If you’re learning, you’re winning.

Trend #2: If one more person tells you social media is non-negotiable you’ll flip a table

You do not *have* to use social media to grow your business, it’s an option, but it’s certainly not a necessity. 

Here’s what’s not an option… 

⇒ Getting in front of the people who want to pick up what you’re putting down. 

If you’re looking for ideas on how to extricate yourself from the social matrix — without throwing in the towel on visibility all together. Check out Bradley Morris’s class that covers 18 approaches on how.
I also LOVE this list of 20 marketing ideas that don’t require social media from Alexandra Franzen. 

Trend #3: You’re so sick of the BS and it shows

The “one funnel away” promise. The make 6-figures overnight free limited-time masterclass. The “do this one thing and everything will change” rhetoric. 

Can we take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate the complexity involved in building a sustainable business that’s profitable and centered around something you care about? 

I know there have been moments in my own marketing where I’ve overpromised and oversimplified and I’m so over it, %FIRSTNAME%. 

Nothing I teach works in isolation. 

I’m soooooper excited to lean into helping you build an integrated marketing ecosystem, let’s get it!

Sip on this…  

🧋Truer words have never been spoken – @jayclouse