What Are You Actually Building?
If you’re spending hundreds of hours a year trying to “stay visible” online, this question might change how you grow your business.
There’s a strange thing happening to creators, coaches and teachers on the internet right now.
We have more tools than ever to create more stuff, faster.
Ummm... yay?
AI can write the posts, cut the videos, make the graphics, pull the clips, schedule the content and feed every platform.
And somehow... everybody seems fucking exhausted and no more successful!
OMG - WTF?!
Because being a creator now comes with this strange second job:
Staying visible.
Post something.
Check it.
Respond.
Make another thing.
Turn that thing into six shorter things.
Feed Instagram.
Feed LinkedIn.
Feed YouTube.
Feed the insatiable algorithm.
Wake up tomorrow and feed it all over again!
If that’s you, I have a bigger question for yah:
What the heck are you actually building with all those hours?
Seriously...
It’s certainly not freedom!
And I say this, not as an attack that you’re doing something wrong... I ask the question, because sometimes we just need to check ourselves and make sure we’re still in alignment.
And more and more people feel internally that social media is NOT the way forward anymore....
Let me ask you...
If you spent 10 hours marketing yourself online this week, what exists now that didn’t exist before?
Did you build an asset?
Did you deepen an important relationship?
Did you grow an audience you actually own?
Did you create intellectual property?
Did you develop a partnership?
Did you make something that could keep generating opportunities or revenue three years from now?
Or did you successfully remain visible for another week?
That question matters.
Because 10 hours a week is roughly 500 hours a year.
That is a massive chunk of your creative life.
And for the last decade, I’ve been running an experiment with those hours.
Ten years ago, I deleted social media.
At first, it was terrifying.
I felt like I deleted my identify from the Matrix.
Social media was the main way I marketed myself bak then.
Then suddenly...
Crickets.
I had to figure out how people were going to find me, hire me, attend my workshops and discover my work without constantly posting about myself.
What a crazy concept, huh!?
That necessity forced me to become a much more creative entrepreneur.
And over the last decade, I’ve developed and tested 19 different ways to grow a business through relationships instead of depending on algorithms.
Some have generated millions of dollars in opportunities over the years.
Some have helped me reach millions of people without building those audiences myself.
Some have created friendships and partnerships that have lasted more than a decade.
And one simple strategy has grown my email list by roughly 7000 people from a single workshop I keep teaching again and again.
The interesting thing is that most of these strategies were available to me the entire time.
I just wasn’t looking for them because I was too busy making and consuming content for the bottomless feed on social.
We’ve confused visibility with marketing.
This is one of the biggest ideas I unpack in the workshop.
A lot of what creators call “marketing” is actually nurturing.
Your posts.
Your newsletter.
Your podcast.
Your YouTube videos.
Those can all be wonderful ways to stay connected with people who already know you.
But ask yourself:
How are NEW people discovering you?
That’s where things get interesting.
Because there are thousands of people, organizations, communities and platforms that already have relationships with the exact humans you want to serve.
You don’t necessarily need to build another audience from scratch.
You can build relationships with the people who already have them.
That opens up an entirely different way of thinking about business and marketing:
Strategic partnerships.
Signature Workshops.
Licensing.
Collaborations.
Referrals.
Revenue sharing.
Affiliate relationships.
Guest teaching.
Sponsorships.
Warm introductions.
Generosity.
Actual human beings helping each other.
And once I started seeing business through the “RELATIONSHIP LENS”, I couldn’t unsee it.
So I put the whole thing into one workshop.
Yesterday, I taught the 50th-ish edition of my Thriving in Business Without Social Media workshop.
It’s probably the clearest distillation I’ve ever done of what I’ve learned from ten years of building businesses without relying on social media.
I share all 19 relationship-based marketing strategies, including the three I would prioritize above almost everything else.
I break down the difference between marketing and nurturing.
I explain how I use Signature Workshops to grow my email list through other people’s audiences.
I unpack how licensing one body of intellectual property has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars while reaching millions of people.
And I share exactly what I would do if somebody erased my audience tomorrow and told me:
“Bradley, start again.”
My answer is surprisingly simple and would likely work for you too...
And it wouldn’t involve spending the next year making Reels.
If you’re tired of the post and pray strategy, please take an hour this weekend and watch the workshop.
Give me an hour.
Bring your notebook.
And while you’re watching, don’t try to implement all 19-strategies.
Look for the one or two that make something light up inside you.
Then give those strategies 90 days.
Build the system.
Develop the relationships.
Put in the reps.
See what happens when the hours you used to spend feeding the algorithm start going toward something that can actually compound.
Your relationships.
Your reputation.
Your email list.
Your intellectual property.
Your partnerships.
Your body of work.
Your life.
WATCH: Thriving in Business Without Social Media
19 relationship-based marketing strategies for creators, coaches, teachers and purpose-driven entrepreneurs who are ready to find another way to grow.
Inspired!? Have a Question? Comment below!
Much Gratitude,
BRADLEY T. MORRIS
Founder | Creative Director | Strategic Partner | Coach