There was a time I tried marketing my business on social media and I can say creating content consumed a LOT all of my time.

The thing is, marketing on Facebook or Instagram is not as effective as it used to be. The rules and algorithms of these platforms are always changing and it’s challenging to figure out how to keep up with the trend.

If you’re trying to reach a broader audience to share yoga with children and families, this struggle is probably real for you too.

How to Build a Business as a Solo-preneur

As a solo-preneur, doing all the things, you know how hard it is to keep up with everything. I learned the hard way, trying and getting very miserable and stressed out.

Then I looked back on my efforts and saw:

• very little change in sales,
• minuscule growth on my social media,
• backwards momentum on my website SEO and newsletter readers.

My SEO ranking and email newsletter were hurting. Instead of building my email list, I was building my “followers” on social media, but the problem was, I couldn’t actually communicate with them unless I ran a paid ad.

Evaluate the Benefits of Social Media

I evaluated what I was doing, the time, effort, and payoff and saw I was working harder but it was not paying off in what really matters for a business, being sustainable.

As I often do, I put everything on the table to decide what was the best way forward.

At the same time, one of the business people I like, Leonie Dawson, was launching a Marketing Without Social Media course.

I paid for it right away because I loved the idea of getting off the social media hamster wheel. Then I dug into that course with passion. Truth be told, I didn’t actually finish the course the first time. Half way through, I had so many ideas for alternative marketing, I felt back on track.

Marketing Without Social Media Ideas

What did I actually learn in the course the first time?

1. The biggest takeaway for me was to invest in media that I own. This means building my own website where people can find out what my business is about.
2. Second was to start my newsletter again so people can stay connected with kids yoga and being a teacher.
3. Third was to be social outside of social media. This is building a real community and connecting with people in meaningful ways. This included doing the Monthly Check-In (now running for over a year!). You could also interview people or get interviewed by others, do joint workshops, sub for others, anything to cross promote yourself with other communities.

Insights into Marketing

I put these ideas into action, and I saw how Leonie also did this in her business, including offering to be interviewed. My colleague Claire from Ambassador Yoga and I jumped on this offer and interviewed Leonie. We really picked her brain about business!

Leonie is a self-taught marketing specialist and self-made multi-millionaire.

This self-paced course, Marketing Without Social Media begins March 1. There are a couple of live interactive zoom calls with this inspiring human, Leonie Dawson.

I will be taking the course again and would love to see you there. I want us all to become more confident with marketing so we can bring more yoga to children and families.

There are so many options that are more effective than posting on Instagram. Let’s invest our time in those!