There are two main marketing freak-outs I hear from business owners
- “I don’t have enough customers.”
- “I’m not making enough money.”
There are others, but they almost all funnel up to one or both of the above issues. They’re both real, valid, and urgent, but they cannot be solved at the same time.
It’s a bit like breathing. You can’t breath out at the same time you breath in. Try it and your body locks up, you sputter, your brain screams for air...
...and then you panic.
Just like when you try to both grow and sell at the same time.
Most creators try to solve both problems at the same time, and they end up gasping, choking, and collapsing on the ground.
- Breathing in is all about growth actions and bringing more people into your orbit. It’s like taking in oxygen to fill your lungs
- Breathing out is all about monetization actions that exhales all the people who no longer resonate with you, leaving money behind in its wake.
You can’t breath out very long if you don’t breath in, and it's hard to take a full breath out without taking a full breath in first. You also can’t do them both at the same time, and yet this is exactly what every business tries to do.
Each is a discrete action that need intention.
You have to breathe in. Then breathe out. Then breathe in again in a simple, natural, and life-sustaining pace.
Breathing in is the gathering phase. You’re pulling in attention, pulling in trust, and pulling in people.
You are not asking for anything in return yet. You are offering freely, generously, and strategically, making the case that you are:
- Worth paying attention to.
- Your work has weight.
- Your world is one they want to step into.
This is where most entrepreneurs get bored, or impatient, or twitchy. They breathe in for a week and get antsy that money isn’t showing up yet. So, they exhale too soon and it all falls apart.
Their lungs weren’t full yet. They didn’t take in enough oxygen to sustain an exhale.
Breathing in looks like:
- Growing your list.
- Swapping with other creators.
- Showing up over and over.
- Offering content that helps, entertains, teaches, and builds curiosity.
- Giving, giving, giving.
This happens not just for a week or when you feel like it, and certainly not just when you want to line people up for a launch.
You breathe in until your chest feels full, the list is active, and people are replying to your emails and sharing your work without being asked.
That’s air in the lungs. Then, you’re ready to breathe out.
Breathing out is what you do after the lungs are full. You take all that stored pressure and you convert it by offering a clean, clear path to buy.
This is when you launch make the offer, and give people the opportunity to pay you in a purposeful, directed exhale. You build it, announce it, play it about, and close it. Then, you stop.
- You don’t keep pushing.
- You don’t keep hawking.
- You don’t stay in exhale mode forever.
If you do, you'll burn out your list and collapse your lungs. The exhale ends when the offer closes. Then you rest and inhale again.
The worst place to be is in between. Half a breath in and half a breath out. This is where most brands live, not fully committed to growth or fully committed to selling. Their whole life is a constant, shallow panic.
They don’t know what they’re doing, so they do everything. They tweak their sales page while trying to build a lead magnet. They run an ad to a cold list while writing a launch email. They dabble. They dart. They gasp.
And nothing sticks...
...because the lungs never fill and the lungs never empty.
They’re stuck in the in-between, wondering why nothing works.