Slow and steady really does win the race

Amanda Laird on relationships, stuck spots and magic

The Sustainable Solopreneur is a weekly newsletter about seasonal, cyclical, supportive business strategy for solopreneurs and creative souls who want more out of life than the status quo, hosted by business coach and strategist Jenni Gritters. If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while and you receive value from it, I’d encourage you to sign up for a paid subscription.

Dreaming about how to create a business of your own that allows for more schedule freedom and uses your skills well? My new audio training, Peace and Power, is for you!

---

If you’re not a fan of traditional marketing, you’ll love Amanda Laird of Slow and Steady Studio. When Amanda came into my group program, SUSTAIN, to teach us about how to find clients, I could feel us all audibly exhale! I’d describe Amanda as a permission slip in human form. Her deep marketing background is married with feminist business and strategy to help you grow in a slow and steady way. And today, she’s here teaching us everything she knows about taking an alternative path. Here’s Amanda:

How would you describe your work right now?

I am a marketing and business strategist and advisor for solo, service-based entrepreneurs. I teach and I provide customized, one-on-one strategy, planning and support to help them do just enough of the right marketing to reach their goals. I also do more traditional corporate communications consulting for startups and non-profits.

What is one of your "third ways" of running a business, that feels unique compared to how others have done it?

I invest a lot of my time and energy into cultivating and nurturing relationships, which isn’t something that can be outsourced or automated. Establishing trust and building genuine relationships over time has been a lot more lucrative for my business than trying to engineer a customer journey for a quick sale.

That means that my clients are generally in my ecosystem for a long time before they buy and that’s okay with me. They are smart women and they know what they need – I don’t need to hoodwink them into buying my stuff using sneaking marketing tactics. I trust that they will self-select when it’s time for us to work together. Read my newsletters every week, join my monthly live Just Enough Calls and get to know me, see if the vibes are there. I know that you can learn about business and marketing from a lot of people on the Internet and it really comes down to whether or not you like me and my approach!

You also have a unique take on marketing. Tell us about it!

I’m forever saying that it’s never just marketing – putting yourself out there and being visible as a business owner is vulnerable and really hard. Internal narratives and old cycles or patterns often show up and stop us from really being seen in our businesses. When I’m working with a client we often have to pull at those threads to find a path forward, so that your business can succeed. It’s important to me that I create a brave space that feels safe to explore those things and that’s not something that can be rushed; it takes time.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to think about marketing this way, and why taking a slow and steady approach works better for most people?

Marketing only works when it’s aligned with your business objectives and goals. That means you REALLY need to understand your business – how does it work, what are the revenue goals, who do you serve and what do they need, how many customers do you need to reach those goals, what is YOUR unique positioning or point of view? Once you can answer those questions, then marketing gets a lot simpler because now you can see exactly what you need to do. (Of course if this doesn’t feel simple or you can’t see it, that’s what I’m here for because marketing is my thing).

I don’t think this is new or novel — these are the principles that I learned in PR school twenty years ago that I’ve applied in every job and with every client since then. But in online marketing and business advice this step is often missing because it’s all about copying secret magic formulas that guarantee six or seven figures. In reality, that is never going to work. You can’t copy someone else’s marketing playbook because their business and their life are completely different from yours.

To me, the slow and steady approach isn’t about how fast our business or revenue can grow. It’s about slowing down the decision making and learning how to discern what is actually right for your business so you can stay steady on the course to your goals. Taking time to get crystal clear on your business goals and building strong foundations through your business model is worth it because you’ll be so much more successful in the end. “If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter how you get there” is a cheesy saying, but so true when it comes to marketing your business!

A lot of folks in this community feel frustrated by marketing. Can you tell us why it can be great?

I know that the folks in your community and mine started their businesses as a way to share their magic gifts and live their dream life – not to be marketers, so I get why marketing can be frustrating.

So often I see people looking at marketing as an island that exists all by itself – as if “marketing” is just something you can tick off a to-do list. When you think of it that way, of course it’s overwhelming and scary. But marketing is more like a bridge: it’s how you get to the island and that’s where you’re in your zone of genius — doing the thing that lights you up, making money and living the life you want.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you also get to choose how you’re going to market your business. There is not a single thing that you have to do. Contrary to popular advice, you don’t have to be on a platform if you don’t want to be. Yes, even if that’s where your audience is. You are 100% allowed to only do the kind of marketing that you like doing. And by giving yourself permission to lean into your preferences and what feels fun and easy to you, you’re going to be way more engaging and authentic, and you’re going to be more consistent.

What would you tell someone who's feeling stuck with their work and wondering where to go next?

This is where my marketing hat comes off and my training and experience as a holistic nutritionist comes in handy! Feeling stuck is a symptom and with a little digging (or gentle tug at a thread) we can uncover what those blocks are and how to find a path forward.

As entrepreneurs, we are in a relationship with our businesses – they are separate and apart from us which means they may have needs and desires that are different than our own. I love using tarot as a way to commune with my business and understand where friction may be coming from. Amy Kuretsky’s “Magic in the Middle” tarot spread is one of my favorite tools for getting unstuck - I keep the link to it on my bookmarks bar because I recommend it so much!

The Internal Family Systems (IFS) framework is also incredibly helpful as a business owner. My friend and fellow business advisor Kate Smalley talked about this at a recent Just Enough Session – listen to that conversation here. Getting to know all of your different parts that might be showing up to work with you can be a real game-changer.

I’m always recommending Richard Swartz’s No Bad Parts book to clients. I also love Emma Donovan’s “Team Huddle” morning parts work meditation at any time of day. When I’m feeling like I’m stuck or I just can’t seem to focus to get anything done I’ll lie down on the couch in my office to do the meditation and see what parts are trying to get my attention. Then I’ll usually blast the Hamilton soundtrack (original Broadway cast recording ONLY) and get back to work. Nine times out of 10, whatever I was trying to do just flows like magic.

To hear more from Amanda, follow her on LinkedIn, subscribe to her weekly newsletter or join one of her free monthly Just Enough sessions.

---

Curious about my (Jenni’s) background? I’m a writer and business coach living in Central Oregon. My goal is to teach everyone who will listen that it’s possible to build a simple, stable, successful business that support your human needs first. Join my group coaching program, SUSTAIN, for more conversations like this (and a community of people who are all about the path less taken), and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.