Why Common Marketing Advice Smothers Your Momentum (And What to Do Instead)
A few years back, during a family camping trip, I watched my daughter finally get her first small flame going. She was so excited, and impatient for a big fire, that she immediately dumped an armful of leaves and branches on top, then added two large logs for good measure.
Within minutes, her little flame was completely smothered. We spent the next twenty minutes on our hands and knees, blowing on barely glowing embers, trying to coax the fire back to life.
That moment perfectly captures what I see happening with corporate escapees and their marketing efforts every single day.
The "do everything and be everywhere" marketing trap
A lot of marketing advice sounds incredibly logical. Be everywhere your customers are. Maximize your touchpoints. Create unique content across multiple platforms. Maintain constant visibility.
But that advice assumes you have the infrastructure of a well-established business with dedicated teams, robust systems and unlimited resources to manage multiple marketing channels simultaneously.
When you're a corporate escapee building a service-based business, trying to implement this advice creates the exact same result as my kid's camping approach — you smother your momentum instead of building it.
The exhausting cycle looks like this:
You start getting some traction. Maybe it's a few LinkedIn comments, some networking connections or positive feedback on your content. Excited by the idea of progress, you think "Now's the time to really scale this up!"
So you launch into everything at once:
Scheduling daily social media posts,
Writing weekly newsletters,
Attending every possible networking event,
Creating content, and
Booking coffee meetings whenever it fits the other person's schedule.
But within a few weeks, the quality drops. You're posting just to post. Emails feel rushed. Networking conversations become surface level. And everything starts feeling forced and inauthentic.
Then the inevitable happens. Your marketing flame dies out. Nothing seems to be working. And you're struggling to take care of business while still promoting your business.
Blowing on barely glowing embers, you're exhausted, burned out and wondering if it's worth it to get it started all over again.
Why "be everywhere" advice doesn't work for solo practitioners
The fundamental flaw in conventional marketing wisdom is that it treats all businesses the same. But a corporate escapee building a service-based practice has completely different constraints than:
An established company with dedicated marketing teams
A startup with venture funding for rapid scaling
A product business with passive revenue streams
You're trying to do the work of multiple marketing specialists while also:
Delivering client services
Managing business operations
Handling sales conversations
Developing your expertise
Maintaining work-life balance
When you spread your limited time and energy across multiple marketing activities, none of them ends up getting the sustained attention required to build real momentum.
What’s a better way to build marketing momentum?
Instead of trying to be everywhere at once, successful small business owners use what I call the FARR Process:
Focus → Act → Refine → Repeat
This approach recognizes a fundamental principle: you accomplish more by focusing on fewer goals for longer periods than by juggling multiple goals simultaneously.
Focus: Choose ONE marketing activity for 3 months
Instead of trying to tackle five different marketing goals, identify the ONE activity that will make the biggest difference for your business right now. This might be:
Client relationships: Weekly check-ins with past clients and systematic referral requests
LinkedIn networking: Consistent posting, commenting, and strategic connection building
Local networking: Monthly events plus systematic follow-up with new connections
Content creation: Regular blog posts or videos that demonstrate your expertise
Act: Commit to 1-3 specific, measurable behaviors
Rather than vague commitments like "be more active on LinkedIn," define 2-3 specific behaviors you can track weekly. For example, if LinkedIn is your focus:
Post twice weekly
Comment meaningfully on 5 posts daily
Send 3 strategic connection messages weekly
These measurable actions become your leading indicators, the behaviors you predict will drive the results you want.
Refine: Evaluate after 13 weeks
After about three months of consistent action, evaluate what's actually working. Make adjustments based on real results, not what you think should work.
This timeline gives you enough time to build momentum and see genuine patterns. And to recover from those weeks where you simply don’t take action on everything you planned.
Repeat: Start the next cycle with insights
Begin again with either a refined approach to the same focus area or move to the next highest-impact activity, armed with insights from your previous cycle.
As the things that work become “standard operating procedure” and part of your everyday activities, you’ll find the capacity to take on the next high-impact activity.
And if things didn’t work, you can take that learning and apply it going forward without committing to a year-long plan.
Why this approach works better
Sustainable intensity: Instead of spreading thin energy across multiple activities, you can bring focused intensity to one area without burning out.
Skill development: Three months of concentrated effort allows you to actually get good at your chosen marketing activity rather than staying perpetually amateur across multiple channels.
Relationship building: Sustained presence in one area builds real relationships and recognition, rather than scattered appearances that people forget.
Measurable progress: Clear metrics over sufficient time periods let you see what actually moves the needle for your business.
Momentum creation: Success in one focused area creates confidence and systems you can apply to other marketing activities later.
The campfire principle for sustainable growth
Think of your business like a campfire that needs to be built properly to burn sustainably:
Small flames need gentle fuel: When you're starting out, add small kindling consistently rather than dumping on large logs.
Established fires can handle bigger fuel: As your business grows, you can gradually take on additional marketing activities.
Every fire needs a ring: Your values and boundaries prevent marketing from becoming a destructive wildfire that burns through your resources and relationships.
The goal isn't to stay small forever (unless that’s what you want), it's to build your marketing foundation properly so growth happens sustainably rather than sporadically.
How to start your focused marketing approach today
If you recognize yourself in the "do everything at once" pattern, here's how to start implementing the FARR Process:
List your current marketing activities: Write down everything you're trying to maintain right now.
Identify your highest-impact area: Which single activity has the potential to make the biggest difference for your business in the next three months?
Define 1-3 measurable behaviors: What specific actions will you take weekly in this focus area?
Set your 13-week evaluation date: When will you assess results and decide on your next cycle?
Put other activities on pause: This is the hardest part, but essential for creating the focus needed to build real momentum.
The permission to focus
As someone who escaped the corporate system to build your own business, you've likely spent years managing multiple priorities simultaneously. And the idea of focusing on just one marketing area might feel uncomfortable or insufficient.
But here's what I've learned and witnessed: the entrepreneurs who focus deeply on one area for extended periods outperform those who try to manage multiple marketing activities at once.
You're not limiting your potential by focusing, you're creating the foundation for sustainable growth that doesn't require you to work harder, just more strategically.
Remember, a well-tended campfire draws people in naturally and burns sustainably without constant feeding. Your marketing can work the same way.
Ready to determine your highest-impact marketing focus?
Sometimes a conversation brings clarity you've been missing. Book a free 60-minute Now What? Clarity Session and I'll help you identify where to focus your time and energy for the biggest impact on your business.