How to Keep Your Marketing Going When You’re Very, Very Busy (Mind Behind the Marketing – Part 1)
In one of my coaching calls we were discussing the persistent challenge of making time to do your marketing when things get very busy.
Out of the six business owners on the call, four had something big happening in their lives: recovering from an unexpected health event and hospital stay, an aging parent who’d taken a fall, a cluster of client project deadlines all at once, recent travel across states to care for relatives which put her behind on jobs.
The thing is, big life or business events—especially the unexpected or unplanned—happen frequently.
If 66% of the business owners in the call had major challenges going that were capping their time and energy, I can tell you that statistic holds when you zoom out to look at business owners as a whole.
My point: life happens and it will keep happening—and still you have to run your business.
There will never be a perfect time to launch a new offer, send that email, follow-up with the person who never responded, attend an event, and on and on.
Ideal conditions rarely exist.
You will never feel totally “ready.”
If you’re waiting for either one, I’m sorry to say it frankly, but your business is doomed.
You cannot wait.
Listen, it’s tough out there right now.
The political-economic climate we’re operating in is the hardest one I’ve experienced in the last 21 years.
This is true for many seasoned, well-established business owners I know; It comes up regularly in conversations.
So if you’re feeling it, you’re in good company.
But if you’re waiting for things to improve, for laws to pass or a change in leadership, for the Strait of Hormuz to open… I mean pick from a list of like 30 different things we wish would be different right now… you’re just going to be waiting.
Waiting doesn’t grow your business.
It doesn’t stabilize it either.
The Case for Moving Steadily, Imperfectly
The other day I read a story about a well-known content creator who saw an opportunity on the horizon as soon as the US Pentagon deal went south with Anthropic and OpenAI stepped in.
She could imagine a tidal wave of people making the switch from ChatGPT to Claude as a result and would be looking for help to do this.
So she busted butt to create a product and launched it. Over the span of two weeks she made $500k.
The numbers are extreme and there was a lot going on behind the scenes to produce these results. But the point she made and the one I want to reiterate, is that she didn’t wait.
She saw the opportunity and she jumped.
She could have had a million legit reasons why it wasn’t the right time, other obligations she needed to attend to, etc.
But she’s been in business long enough to know conditions and timing will never be what you’d like.
And still, you move.
Now, I’m not advocating for chucking out your life responsibilities for the sake of your business.
Some of you are running businesses for the fun of it, for “pocket money,” or as a part-time gig that you’ve already decided will always come second to whatever comes up in your life: travel, new grandkid, taking care of a family member.
There’s nothing wrong with that at all.
But if you’re running a business to be your primary source of income and you want it to be something that's going to sustain you for however long you choose to work, then you have to learn to how to move quickly and imperfectly—all the time.
You have to learn how to get over yourself and get over the people who pop up now and then to let you know they don’t like how you’re doing things.
I’m not saying this is easy to do.
Most of need help to get over our hang-ups, whether those are mental/emotional, technical, or operational.
I hire this kind of help for my business.
People hire me to do the same for them in their own businesses.
The Difference Between Regular and Random
Let’s take it back to this whole dilemma of how to keep marketing going even when—particularlywhen—you get really busy.
I’ve talked about this a lot before. It’s an issue I'm constantly helping clients address.
Lately I’ve been thinking about it more deeply, considering whether there’s a specific distinction between those who market consistently, no matter what, and those who consistently find themselves in the hurchy-lurchy of marketing and cash flow.
The difference between those who market regularly, especially during periods of contraction, and those who do it randomly comes down to two core beliefs:
1 – Marketing isn’t something that you do—it’s a way of being.
Many people need to redefine what marketing actually is.
Instead of manipulative, annoying sales tactics and embarrassing self-promotion, marketing is creating and nurturing relationships with people who have problems you can solve.
When you understand marketing as centered around relationships and extending offers to help, it paves the way for an identity shift.
You come to see it as how you show up in your business and not a set of tasks you resent having to do.
Those who market regularly think:
I am someone who prioritizes relationships, sharing knowledge, and letting people know how I can help them solve their problems. Really, I am a marketer who does XYZ (fill in the blank with your label) for a living.
2 – Marketing is an essential business function—not something you do when you have time for it.
Do you brush your teeth every day?
Shower every day?
Eat?
Of course.
You don’t imagine going a day without doing one or all three of those things.
It’s not even a question; there’s nothing to debate.
You don’t consider whether you’ll have time to brush your teeth even when you need to take your mom to her doctor’s appointment.
Marketing is as fundamental to the health of your business as brushing your teeth or eating a meal is to the health of your body.
Marketing activities don’t need to take any more time than a good toothbrushing or shower takes.
Sending an email… Firing off a quick DM… Making a phone call… These things take minutes.
If you’re nodding along, because this is how you already operate, kudos to you.
You’re also in the minority.
If you recognize you’re not looking at marketing like daily teeth brushing, then what I have to share in this emerging article series on consistency in marketing for busy business owners is for you.
This is not about specific strategies or tools.
I’m not going to talk about how you should start an email newsletter or pitch to be on podcasts.
I’m speaking to the things needed to establish your baseline with marketing so you can keep the bare minimum going—when you’re slammed with client projects, when life gives you lemons, when the voices in your head scream: I’m too busy. I’m not ready. I’m not good enough.
The goal is to help you understand where exactly the friction is happening so you can address it and get your marketing to “daily toothbrushing level.”
No business survives without marketing.
But you already know that.
It’s time to move forward with more clarity about what it really takes and less guilt about all the things you think you should be doing but aren’t.
When you want a clearer picture of where your marketing is breaking down and what to address first, that’s exactly what a Clarity Call is for. Book yours here.