A Business That Works When You’re Offline

A big misconception I see in the online space is that if you want a business that works when you’re offline you either need to run ads or you need to be launching constantly. When people believe that, they end up designing businesses that rely entirely on their presence to make money; going live, posting nonstop, running launch after launch, relying on an ad schedule and holding the entire thing together with their own energy. That kind of model might work short term, but it’s not scalable and it’s definitely not sustainable. Take my word for it.

What actually determines whether a business works when you’re offline is how it’s designed. A house needs a good foundation to start with, right? Well, a lot of people try to build overly complicated offer suites tied entirely to exhaustive launch cycles. Multiple programs, multiple timelines, all requiring live presence to sell, with no real marketing strategy underneath. Bleh. Then they wonder why stepping away for a week feels impossible and vacation time is never actually vacation time. Do you actually want to be on your laptop at the beach? C’mon now. It’s a never-ending cycle that is hard to break free from and one that keeps your body, mind and soul in a constant wave of burnout and depletion.

Another common mistake is believing that ads are the only way to create passive or leveraged income. Check out this post on how I build my entire business without ads in just six months, because I hear this all the time. “Once I have ads running, then it’ll be passive.” Scaling doesn’t always require money, not when the business model itself is clear or when you’re able to differentiate yourself and your zone of genius. This is exactly what I teach in my Mastermind.

And to top it off, one of the most limiting belief patterns I see is people disqualifying themselves from building a business online before they even start! They decide online or leveraged income isn’t an option for them because of their industry.

Acupuncturists think they can’t work remotely.
Hairstylists think their work has to be in person.
Aestheticians think online won’t work.
Coaches think their niche is too specific.

These beliefs are outdated and simply not true. I’ve worked with people from almost every industry, especially ones that are traditionally one-on-one and in person, and I’ve watched them transition their businesses fully online — myself included. The issue is never the industry, it’s whether someone is willing to look at their work differently and think outside the box.

And when we look at this from a consumer perspective, this online shift just makes so much sense. People loooooove accessibility! As humans we are busier than ever and chronically online. Whether we like it or not, convenience has become the new standard; food shows up at our door, packages come the next day. I think you can even order a chameleon to your doorstep. Wild.

Time and ease is very precious to us as humans. And to back this up, I prefer working with my practitioners remotely. My own naturopath lives over an hour away from me and we still do everything virtually; testing, protocols, follow-ups, all of it. It might sound silly but it works incredibly well with my schedule and energy and to that point, designing an online or leveraged component to your business isn’t just about freedom for you — it often creates a better experience for your clients, too. Now if my hairstylist could just cut my hair over Zoom… joking.

So what we know by now is that a business that works when you’re offline is built around clarity, not the constant hustle. Clarity on your zone of genius, clarity on what actually makes your work different, and clarity on who you serve. From there it’s really all about turning what you already do into a repeatable methodology. This is where most people overcomplicate things even though the process itself is simple. Let me share some real client case studies with you to show you how:

I had a hairstylist come to me who was fully booked doing color and cuts and completely capped by her schedule. She wanted to work remotely but assumed it wasn’t possible in her industry. Big misconception. When we looked closer, she had a very specific highlighting technique that produced a very specific look. Bingo! We named it, trademarked it, and got hyper-specific about who it was for. From there we created a training program for other stylists who wanted to learn her method. She hosted it in person a few times then transitioned it into a fully online course. With the revenue from that course and still seeing some clients one-on-one, she eventually bought a salon, hired staff trained in her methodology, and began selling the course passively! She’s a hairstylist who now owns a salon, runs an online education business, and travels with her husband and kids because she was willing to think beyond “this is just how my industry works.”

I’ve seen the same thing with an aesthetician who came to me deep in the grind of one-on-one client work and desperate for more space in her schedule. We clarified her methodology and defined what she did differently. From there, we saw how her results stood out. We turned this information into a clear formula and built an acne program around it. Through targeted marketing she became known for that work online, built a course, quit her in-person job and now works fully remotely. This model works every time and the only thing that stops it from working is people deciding it’s not possible for them.

See more case studies here.

This reframe is so important for women because we are biologically not built to operate like machines. We are cyclical beings. Throughout my work, I know that most of us want to be lovers, mothers, creators and present humans. We want to care for our families and live an easeful life and you don’t get that when your business requires constant hustle and your 24/7 attention.