I promised you an article on real-life examples of 6-figure success without social media, but I have to give you a bit of context before I do because as much as I like to think that you are reading everything I write, that’s not likely.
In mid-2022, I started to notice a trend.
There were more coaches than ever online, more people using social media to try to get clients, but there was less engagement, and less coaches getting clients online.
Blame it on a saturated market.
Blame it on jaded customers who’d been burned.
Blame it on the rise of AI.
I blame it on the fact that the world was open again and people were no longer trapped inside and glued to their phones, which meant those online, social media in particular, had to step their game up.
I’ve spoken about this many times before, but to win with social media, not only do you have to be specific about your niche and target market, you have to be clear in your message. Bonus points if you can write a scroll-stopping/attention-grabbing hook and are entertaining or edutaining (that is not a typo).
There are a few other things that have to be in place, but if you’ve got those, you’re doing better than 90% of entrepreneurs trying to dance, lip-sync, and point their way to success.
However, if you don’t have those fundamentals in place, you have probably found yourself to be exhausted, frustrated and dare I say resentful at your results.
I have seen some smart, hard-working, amazing coaches post 5 times a week for months and sometimes YEARS and not hit 6-figures.
Which is a shame because I know there is an easier way.
That’s literally why I created the Minimalist Marketing approach, especially for coaches who have a niche and would rather focus on working with clients, than trying to become the next influencer or compete with professional content creators.
The problem was, people didn’t buy it. (Not the program, I’ve had plenty of clients in the program.)
Even as they excitedly enrolled, ready to learn how to do things differently and build a Minimalist Marketing plan that didn’t involve an unhealthy phone addiction, they were skeptical.
They’d never seen anyone be successful without social media because everyone seemed to be successful that they followed on the Gram.
And that’s understandable, seeing as though many of them started their businesses during the pandemic when we had no other choice, but there was and is a world where people make great money without relying on social media for clients.
I just needed to find them and tell their story since (obviously) you wouldn’t find them on social.
So I called some of my friends and asked them about their experience building their business to 6-figures (or more). I want to share their answers with you in hopes that it inspires you to look at social media differently and have the courage or permission to let it go if it is not lighting you up or leading to clients. (⚠️Look at your data first.)
Without further ado, here’s what five entrepreneurs making 6-figures or more without relying on social media had to say about the subject:
Katherine Sylvester
Doctor of Physical Therapy, teaches women how to use technology to make data-driven decisions about their health. She started doing this work to help Black women have better birth outcomes initially.
Revenue: approximately $160K
Years in business: 6 years.
Since you don’t use social media, how do you market?
Katherine hosts Period Parties where she teaches women about their periods and their bodies. This spreads the word, and a certain percentage of attendees become clients, book parties, and/or tell their friends.
She puts photos and videos of the Period Parties on her social media so people can see what they are like, but she does not post on a regular basis.
How do people find out about the Period Parties?
Katherine does presentations at conferences and organizations about her work, the mission, the data, and the results, where she talks about the period parties, which leads to bookings.
From 2021-2024, Katherine did one presentation A WEEK in classrooms, conferences, and in her community to spread the word about the importance of the work she was doing in her company, Operation Mist.
She also uses her podcast as a networking tool to interview others who serve the same group of people she does to make them aware of the various resources available to them.
Sara Townley
Pharmacist, helps people reverse Type 2 diabetes and get off their medications.
Revenue: approximately $150K
Years in business: 5 years
She no longer markets consistently and only spends 10 hours a week on client work, but when Sara first got into coaching, she wanted to focus on paid ads so that she could coach people globally and be totally location-independent.
This led to spending “an enormous amount of money” and not having much success attracting clients with paid ads the first two to three years of her coaching business.
Sara’s husband encouraged her to start a podcast so spent the next year focused on that strategy and stopped all paid marketing. Her podcast, the Diabetes Revolution, went to number one on Spotify in it’s category.
How do you use social media?
“I have posted when I make a podcast or post something that has been on my mind that I really feel I want to speak to in my community.
And oftentimes it has to do with my business because it’s just an extension of me. And so I might do that in a very inspired way, but it’s never like, ‘I need to make a post’.”
Tarryne West
She corporate coaching where she helps the organization figure out what’s going on with their teams or processes that are keeping their business from thriving and life coaching for women.
Revenue: approximately $300K
Years in business: 14 years
How do you get clients?
“Everything has been about getting in front of people…going to places where people who need what I have or know people who need what I have are congregating.”
She got her very first coaching client by going to a women’s event back in 2010 when she was still living in New Zealand and continued networking, doing good work with her clients, so that when she moved to the US, clients continued to refer their friends.
“Consistency is so important because you are building trust. If you’re going to one networking meeting every six months, then you’re probably going to be wondering why your business isn’t working.”
Now that she lives in a small town in the US with only 500 people, she gets 100% of her clients from word-of-mouth, which she attributes to asking for the referral.
“Just waiting around for someone to go, Oh, I know someone who might want coaching isn’t always useful. You’ve actually got to tell them, I would love for you to refer me. Here’s an incentive for referring me.”
She went on to say, “people don’t often do referrals spontaneously. And I know people think they do like if your coaching is just good enough, then people will tell everyone. They don’t.
You have to basically prompt them. And if you do it like that, there gets to be this tipping point where enough people within one network, one like social group will have heard of you and then it starts to become so much easier.”
How do you use social media then?
There isn’t a lot of strategy, there isn’t real intentionality, it’s literally, it’s kind of like a visual representation of my life and my brain.
It is a hodgepodge of pictures of my duck and me and my garden, and then like an advert for the conference that I did a keynote at recently, or some random stuff that some of my clients have posted I’ve been tagged in.
Sometimes if I have something coming up, I’ll post it on there, or if I have one of those thoughts that I just need to rant to the world about thought that I’ve had, I’ll do it on there, but I’m not actively marketing any kind of product.
I don’t think about it as a sales tool, and I think that’s the difference. A lot of people think that Instagram are supposed to be a sales tool. You’re supposed to put something up and then people will just click ‘buy now’ immediately.
In my experience, that’s not been the case because I’ve not designed it that way.
I see my Instagram as a way for people to see more about who I am and get to know me, but I’m not actually selling to them.
It’s kind of like I imagine if people walk past my house and I invited them to come sit on my front porch and have a conversation.
Roberto Candelaria
Helps online entrepreneurs structure their business so they can use partnerships and collaborations to close the money gaps.
Revenue: Over $500K
Years in business: 15 years
If you did the math, Roberto started his business in 2009 when social media was barely a thing. So he marketed his way to 6-figures by speaking.
He said, “I spoke to local Chamber of Commerce. I spoke to local business resource groups. I Went to BNI. I was like if you have ears and you will listen, I will tell you what I do.”
For him, speaking was lead generation. Sometimes it was a lead that could become a customer, but sometimes it was the next referral partner.
Now he markets and sells his services mainly through affiliates, but that came from years of meeting people.
“A lot of people talk about affiliate marketing from the viewpoint of, go find four or five products that you can promote to your email list. But I’m like, why don’t you go find four or five people to promote you?
And so that’s why I’m so passionate about coaches about online business owners having their own affiliate program because if you’re the only one selling you, you’ll always be the only one selling you and if you’re not selling, nobody selling and so by having an affiliate program, you have the opportunity even if it’s one other person or two other people talking about you and selling your products and programs and services which means you’re not the only one selling.”
Since social media is not your primary way to market, how do you use social media?
Roberto uses social media to promote when he speaks at events. He also likes using them as a way to get feedback after one of his workshops and engage more with people that are already using his products, programs, and services.
“I wanna be clear that it’s not a customer service channel. It’s a hey, if you did something [after the workshop] and you wanna make sure I see it. I wanna celebrate with you.”
He also shares personal stuff like his dog, his family, his trips to Disney.
Roberto’s advice? “Take time to build relationships. Some people only talk to people If they’re paying them or if they feel they can get them to pay them.
There are some people where it’s just business.
There are some people that are meant to be your friends.
There are some people that are meant to be your clients.
There are some people that are meant to be your collaborators and referrers.
There are some people that will hit every single one of those boxes, but not every single single conversation needs to lead to a sale.”
Liz Wilcox
Teaches email marketing to business owners.
Revenue: approximately $500K
Years in current business: 8 years
How do you market since social media is not your primary strategy?
Email marketing
How do people find out about your email list?
A lot of visibility work through podcasts and private trainings.
She went on to explain, “if someone does something similar to me or a complementary business, I will come into their Facebook group or their membership or even put something on for their audience where I come in and I teach my strategies and at the end I always ask people to join my email list.”
How do you get those opportunities to teach in other people’s communities?
“At this point, I’ve just built up a great reputation. The more your email list builds the more opportunities you get, but very specifically, I have an email signature that asks. It’s like a P.S. Do you know anyone who has a podcast or an audience where Liz could come and speak? I get a lot of people from that also.”
That wasn’t always the case.
In the beginning, it was all about networking, getting into Facebook groups or showing up to the Zoom parties where people were networking and finding as many peers that we’re doing something similar so they could link up and do collaborations.
Liz says, “I knew podcasting was gonna be the way to go because I know I have a strong message. I’m a good public speaker and I know that if podcast listeners like the person that they are hearing, they will sign up for the email list.”
So she hired a podcast broker who guaranteed two podcast interviews a month. She was in a six-month contract and wasn’t making a lot of money so she used that as a source of accountability as well. She thought, “if this person is going to get me on podcast then I better start pitching myself as well.”
How did you pitch yourself?
Liz did not do any sort of cold pitching where you email the podcast host. She went on Podmatch.com, which is like kind of a dating service for podcast hosts to find the right people for their show. She got a lot of interviews there.
The first year, she did 40 podcast interviews, the next, she did 100.
And anytime she got on a podcast and the host complimented her on the interview, she would ask for referrals. This is how she was able to turn one interview into two or three interviews.
Nowadays it’s really just word-of-mouth. People will hear her on a podcast and email her directly.
Why do you think online entrepreneurs or coaches whatever use social media even if they hate it or they haven’t gotten results from it?
“Because they’re not being intentional with the actions they’re taking they’re just looking at what other people are doing, but they’re not really asking themselves, what would be my best course of action? What is actually going to move the needle today?”
One question Liz loves to ask herself is, what is the best money making activity I can make today?
The answer? You guessed it! It’s growing your email list.
Because she knows based on past data that the more people she has on her email list the more money she going to make.
“I find that people who focus on social, especially in those first few years are looking at some of the big names. You know those seven-figure entrepreneurs who have a team that are posting on social media for them or if you see them on their Instagram stories it’s because their team is doing all the behind-the-scenes stuff. And so this person thinks, I need to be doing that too.”
She notes that they have the privilege to be on social media because they have a team behind them because they have the money to buy time, so they can spend it on social media. And any seven-figure entrepreneur coach or consultant will tell you that social media should come last.
It’s after you’ve grown your network after you’ve built up some reputation in your industry, after you’ve grown your list, and you’ve sold a few packages.”
What kind of advice would you have for them if they’re afraid that if they come off of social media, they’ll definitely not get any clients?
“Well, you’re already uncomfortable and overworked, just get uncomfortable with trying something else. You don’t like it, you’re already stressed. You know it’s not gonna make it any worse, especially if you’re not getting clients yet on social.
How do you use social media?
“I use social media to grow my network, not make sales. I’m only trying to talk to people that I wanna do business with, not that I want to sell to.
If they’ve got a good group, maybe one day I can be in that group. I reach out to that person and I try to help. Let me share your stuff, let me compliment you, let me comment on your post. That’s how I use social media.
If you’re obsessed with the idea of social media and you can’t let it go, then stop trying to make sales and start trying to make you know peers in your industry on social.”
Conclusion
Social media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, my brother just told me about a new platform that just popped up that’s supposed to replace TikTok.
Call me old and crotchety, but I refuse to learn a new platform (at least for now).
If I am going to use time to build my business, which is the only resource we cannot replace, I want to use it on something that is a more direct path to clients.
Everyone I interviewed, created their first 6-figures by networking and/or speaking (I count podcasts as a form of speaking).
And most of them built their business to 6-figures by doing in-person networking and speaking events.
I’m not saying that social media can’t work. I’m saying you have options if it’s not working for you.
If you want to explore what those options could be, go to TaVonaDenise.com/marketing to get the Aligned Marketing Guide. It includes 30 ways to market your business and breaks down each strategy based on your personality, preferences, stage of business, and 3 other variables.