Hey First name / friend!

 

 

 

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I spent three years in my aunt's basement building the wrong thing.

 

I had a WordPress site that I thought looked "good enough" because I didn't know what an actual professional website looked like. One designed with sales psychology, not just pretty colors and stock photos.

 

I wrote blog posts every single week. SEO optimized. Pinterest perfect. Everything the free blog articles told me to do.

 

I learned about affiliate marketing. I placed links strategically. I applied for display ads the second I hit the traffic threshold.

 

I was doing everything right.

Except I was broke.

 

Not "building slowly" broke. Not "this takes time" broke.

Actually broke. As in, I couldn't cash out my $47 in affiliate earnings because I hadn't hit the $100 minimum threshold yet. Negative $200 in my bank acc.

 

Three years of consistent work. Hundreds of blog posts. Thousands of pins. Endless YouTube tutorials consumed.

 

And I had nothing to show for it except exhaustion and a growing suspicion that everyone else knew something I didn't.

 

Here's what I didn't know then but I'm telling you now: I was building my entire blog business on a foundation of lies.

 

Not small lies. Not "tips that didn't work for me" lies.

 

Big, industry-wide lies that keep bloggers spinning for years, chasing traffic that never converts and following strategies that were never designed to make you real money.

 

The kind of lies that sound like truth because everyone's repeating them.

The kind that cost you years, not just months.

 

And if you're reading this feeling that pit in your stomach, that quiet voice saying "this sounds like me," then you've been sold the same lies I was.

 

Let me show you what they are. And more importantly, what's actually true.

 

 

This is the big one. The lie that births all the other lies.

 

Somewhere along the way, we started treating "starting a blog" and "starting a business" as the same thing.

 

They're not.

 

A blog is a marketing tool. A distribution channel. A way to reach people and move them toward something you sell.

 

 

I didn't understand this for years. I thought if I just kept writing, kept showing up, kept optimizing my posts for SEO, that eventually money would follow.

It didn't.

 

Because I was treating my blog like the destination when really it was just the vehicle.

 

Think about it this way. If someone told you they were starting a business, and their entire plan was "I'm going to hand out flyers every week," you'd ask them, "Okay, but what are you selling?"

 

That's what most bloggers are doing. We're creating content, which is just a form of marketing, without ever deciding what we're marketing toward.

 

We're building the billboard before we have a product.

We're writing the sales pitch before we know what we're pitching.

And then we wonder why nothing converts.

 

Here's what should actually come first: your offer.

 

Not your content strategy. Not your Pinterest plan. Not your email funnel.

Your offer.

 

Because once you know what you're selling, everything else becomes clear.

 

Your messaging isn't generic anymore. It speaks directly to the person who needs what you're offering.

 

 

Your website design isn't just pretty. It's a strategic journey that moves someone from stranger to customer.

 

Your freebies aren't random lead magnets. They're bridges that connect your content to your paid offer.

 

Your blog posts aren't just ranking for keywords. They're answering the exact questions your ideal customer has before they're ready to buy.

 

Everything connects. Everything flows. Everything has a purpose.

But only if you start with the offer first.

 

When I finally made this shift, when I stopped thinking like a blogger and started thinking like a business owner, everything changed.

 

I wasn't writing content and hoping it would magically turn into money someday.

 

I was building a business that used a blog as its marketing engine.

 

That one reframe, that one shift in perspective, is the difference between staying stuck at $0 and building something that actually sustains you.

 

 

 

Let's talk about the second lie that kept me stuck for way too long.

You've probably heard this one. Maybe you've even repeated it.

 

 

I believed this for years.

 

So I forced myself to use WordPress even though it made me want to pull my hair out every single time I logged in.

 

I spent hours watching tutorials on plugins and widgets and page builders. I paid developers to fix things I broke. I dealt with slow load times, security issues, constant updates that broke my site.

 

And I told myself this was just part of being professional.

 

Here's the truth nobody tells you: WordPress was built for bloggers, not for business owners who use blogs as marketing tools.

 

It's designed to prioritize content publishing. Blog posts, categories, tags, archives.

 

It's not designed to sell.

 

You can force it to sell. You can add page builders and plugins and customize it until it kind of looks like a sales-focused website.

 

But you're fighting the platform the entire time.

 

Showit changed everything for me because it was built for the business I was actually trying to run.

 

It's visual. I can design the customer journey I want people to take without wrestling with code or templates that weren't made for selling.

 

It's flexible. I can create a homepage that acts like a sales page, not a blog index.

 

It's integrated. I can connect it to my email platform, my offers, my freebie opt-ins seamlessly.

 

And yes, you absolutely own your site. That lie that you don't own your content unless you're on WordPress? Complete fiction designed to keep you stuck on a platform that doesn't serve your actual business model.

 

But here's what really matters: the platform isn't the point.

 

The point is that you need a website that's designed to convert, not just to publish.

 

Whether that's Showit or something else, your site should be a sales tool first, a blog second.

 

Most bloggers have this backwards. Their homepage is a list of recent posts. Their about page is a diary entry. Their blog posts end with "thanks for reading" instead of a strategic next step.

 

They've built a content library when what they actually need is a conversion machine.

 

Your website should take someone from "I just found you" to "I trust you" to "I'm ready to buy" in a clear, intentional path.

 

That doesn't happen by accident. That happens by design.

 

And if your platform is making that harder instead of easier, you're on the wrong platform.
 

 

This lie sounds so logical. So safe.

 

"Build your traffic first. Then add affiliate links. Once you hit 10,000 pageviews, apply for ads. That's how you make money blogging."

 

I followed this advice religiously.

 

I spent months trying to hit the traffic thresholds. I inserted affiliate links into every post. I celebrated the day I finally got approved for Mediavine.

 

Pennies.

 

Literal pennies per post. Dollars per month if I was lucky.

 

Meanwhile, I was creating content for other people's products, building other people's businesses, training my audience to see me as a recommendation engine instead of someone who creates valuable solutions myself.

 

Here's what that strategy actually does: it turns you into a middleman in your own business.

 

You're working for the affiliate companies. You're working for the ad networks.

 

You're creating content to drive traffic so that other people can make money off your audience.

 

Does that sound like a business model that leads to freedom?

It's not.

 

And more than that, it trains your audience wrong.

 

When your primary monetization is ads and affiliates, you're teaching your people that everything you recommend costs money, but nothing you create is worth paying for.

 

You're positioning yourself as the helpful friend who shares resources, not as the expert who solves problems.

 

That's a hard identity to shift later when you finally decide to sell your own offers.

I know because I lived it.

 

When I launched my first course after years of affiliate-focused content, my audience was confused. They were used to me pointing them toward other people's solutions. They didn't understand why I was suddenly asking them to pay me.

 

I had trained them to see me as a curator, not a creator.

 

It took months to undo that positioning.

 

 

A course. A coaching program. A template. A service.

 

Something I created that solved a specific problem for a specific person.

 

Something I owned. Something I controlled. Something that didn't depend on traffic thresholds or affiliate approval or algorithm changes.

 

When you sell your own offers, you're not working for pageviews. You're working for transformation.

 

 

 

 

 

You need 10 people to buy a $500 offer to make $5,000.

You need 500,000 pageviews to make $5,000 in ad revenue.

 

 

Your own offers should always be your primary monetization strategy.

 

Affiliates and ads can supplement. They can add extra income on top of your main business.

 

But they should never be the foundation.

 

Because if they are, you don't own a business. You're renting space in someone else's.

 

 

This one's closely related to the last lie, but it deserves its own section because it's so pervasive.

 

We're obsessed with traffic.

We check our analytics daily. We celebrate when we hit a new traffic milestone. We compare our numbers to other bloggers.

 

We've been told that traffic is the metric that matters most.

It's not.

 

I've had months with 20,000 pageviews and made less than $100.

I've had months with 5,000 pageviews and made $13,000.

 

The difference wasn't the traffic. The difference was what I was offering and how my site was designed to sell it.

 

Traffic is vanity. Conversion is sanity.

 

You can have all the visitors in the world, but if your website doesn't guide them toward an offer, if your messaging doesn't speak to their exact problem, if your content doesn't build trust and demonstrate authority, those visitors leave without ever considering buying from you.

 

They read your post, pin it, close the tab, and forget you exist.

 

That's not a business. That's a hobby with good SEO.

 

 

You don't need 100,000 visitors. You need 1,000 visitors who are your exact ideal customer, who land on a website that speaks directly to their struggle, who see a clear path from their problem to your solution.

 

Quality over quantity isn't just a cliche. It's the entire business model.

This is why offer-first thinking matters so much.

 

When you know what you're selling and who you're selling to, you create content that attracts the right people, not just any people.

 

You rank for keywords that your ideal customer searches for.

 

You write posts that answer the questions they're actually asking.

 

You design opt-ins that appeal to the person who needs your paid offer, not just anyone looking for a freebie.

 

And when that right person lands on your site, your design, your copy, your entire customer journey is optimized to move them toward the sale.

 

That's how you make money. Not from chasing traffic for traffic's sake.

 

From building a focused, strategic, conversion-designed business that uses targeted content to attract the right people and a well-designed website to convert them.

 

Traffic is a byproduct of good strategy. It's not the strategy itself.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a confession.

I've spent over $10,000 on blogging & marketing courses. YIKES.

 

Pinterest strategy. SEO mastery. Affiliate marketing blueprints. Email funnel frameworks. Content planning systems.

 

I consumed everything. I took notes. I built Notion dashboards organizing all my learnings.

 

And I stayed stuck.

 

Because here's the lie nobody tells you when they're selling you another course: information is not transformation.

 

Knowledge is not the same as results.

 

You can know everything about blogging and still make $0 if you never execute on what you know.

 

I learned this the hard way, sitting in that basement, surrounded by course logins and half-finished modules, wondering why nothing was working.

 

The problem wasn't that I didn't know enough. The problem was that I was spending all my time learning and almost no time doing.

 

I could tell you everything about Pinterest strategy, but I wasn't consistently pinning.

 

I understood SEO theory, but I wasn't publishing optimized content.

 

I knew I should build an email list, but I hadn't created a freebie that got any growth or income results yet.

 

I was stuck in perpetual student mode, convinced that the next course would be the one that finally made it all click.

 

It never was.

 

You know what actually changed everything? Execution.

 

Fast, messy, imperfect execution.

 

In 2020, during the pandemic, something shifted. I stopped consuming and started creating.

 

I had an idea, I turned it into a project, I executed it quickly without overthinking.

 

If it worked, I learned what worked. If it failed, I learned what didn't work.

 

I treated my business like a series of experiments instead of a test I had to pass.

 

And that's when results started showing up.

 

Not because I suddenly knew more. Because I was finally doing more with what I already knew.

 

50% execution
20% persistence
15% knowledge
10% mindset
5% systems

 

Most people have this inverted. They spend 70% of their time learning, 20% planning, and 10% doing.

 

That's why they stay stuck.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't need another course. You need to execute on the courses you've already taken.

 

You don't need more information. You need a system that makes you act on the information you already have.

 

You don't need to know more. You need to do more with what you know.

And here's where AI makes this even more dangerous.

 

 

Let me say this clearly: I love AI. I use it daily. It's an incredible tool.

 

And honestly? It's more powerful than most people realize.

 

With AI agents and automation tools, you can now execute at a level that used to require entire teams. You can generate content, automate workflows, build systems, analyze data, create assets.

 

It's insane what it can do.

 

But here's what AI can't do: it can't tell you if the strategy will actually work for YOUR business. 

 

 

I'm watching this new lie spread through the blogging world right now.

 

And technically, yes. AI can give you a complete strategy. It can automate that strategy. It can execute some tasks faster than you ever could manually.

 

 

It might give you the perfect plan based on where you are right now in business. But it will never tell you that it might NOT work. You have to execute many times and risk time for you to see if it will work for yourself.

 

A blog business coach knows what DOES work. A blog business program built for your specific stage knows the exact steps to make it work. 

 

AI can give you the plan. It can even automate the execution of that plan in some ways.

 

But it can't tell you if you're building the right thing in the first place.

 

It can't stop you from spending six months executing the wrong strategy beautifully.

 

It can't give you the discernment to know which tactics matter at your stage and which ones are distractions.

 

It can't hold you accountable when motivation fades and you want to quit.

 

And it definitely can't help you navigate the messy middle of building a business when things aren't working and you don't know why.

 

Here's what I see happening: people are using AI to execute faster on strategies that were never going to work for them.

 

They're automating content creation without validating their offer first.

 

They're building insanely complex funnels before they've made their first sale.

 

They're implementing advanced strategies while skipping the foundations.

 

Sending blog readers to a blog that was never built properly for sales in the first place. 

 

AI makes it so easy to do MORE that people forget to ask if they're doing the RIGHT things.

 

 

AI can help with the 15% (knowledge) and the 5% (systems). It's incredible at both.

 

But the 50% (execution on the right strategy), the 20% (persistence through failure), and the 10% (mindset to keep going)?

 

That's still you. You still have to open your laptop and execute on the right strategy that will atleast 90% lead you in the right direction. 

 

AI can't give you strategic discernment. It can't tell you which idea to execute first based on your current reality. It can't help you learn from your failures and adjust.

 

The bloggers who are winning right now? They're using AI as a power tool inside a bigger strategy that's been validated by someone who's actually built what they're trying to build.

 

They're using it to move faster on the right path, not to sprint down the wrong one at lightning speed.

 

If you're stuck, AI can help you execute. But it can't tell you what to execute on.

 

That's where strategy comes in. That's where blog coaching comes in. That's where learning from someone who's walked the path matters.

 

 

I could spend all day having AI generate content, build automations, and create systems, and I'd have a very efficient business built on a foundation of guessing.

 

Or I could get clear on the right strategy first, then use AI to execute it faster.

That's the difference.

 

AI is a multiplier. But if you're multiplying the wrong thing, you just get more of the wrong results faster.

 

Use AI. Absolutely. It's a game changer.

 

But don't let it replace the strategic thinking that determines whether you're building something that will actually work.

 

 

This might be the most expensive lie of all.

Because this is the one that wastes the most time.

 

 

You decide to start a blog. You buy a domain. You spend weeks picking a theme or designing a homepage. You set up your email platform. You create social media accounts. You write an about page.

 

You build the infrastructure before you know what you're building.

 

And then, months later, you realize your site doesn't reflect your actual offer.

 

Your branding doesn't match your message. Your homepage is talking to the wrong person.

 

So you start over.

 

I've done this four times. Four complete rebrands because I built the site before I understood the business.

 

Classy Gal Boutique. Genasys Lifestyle Blog. The Media Gal. And finally, Boss Lady Bloggers. 

 

The first three failed not because I didn't work hard. They failed because I didn't have clarity on what I was actually building.

 

I was designing websites before I knew who I was serving.

I was writing content before I knew what I was selling.

I was building an audience before I had anywhere to guide them.

 

That's backwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Identify your target audience. Not "women who want to blog." Get specific. Who are you serving? What's their exact struggle?

 

Create your offer. What are you selling? What problem does it solve? What transformation does it create?

 

Build your messaging. How do you talk about their problem? What's your unique perspective? What language resonates with them?

 

Design your website as a journey. Where do they enter? What do they learn? What action do they take? How does each page move them closer to your offer?

 

Create your freebie. Not a random lead magnet. A strategic bridge that moves people from your content to your paid offer.

 

Then create content. Write blog posts that speak to your target audience, address their specific problems, and guide them toward your offer.

 

 

You can't write effective copy if you don't know who you're talking to.

 

You can't design a strategic website if you don't know where you're guiding people.

 

You can't create a good freebie if you don't know what offer it should lead to.

 

You can't write content that converts if you haven't done the foundational work first.

 

Most bloggers skip straight to step 6. They start writing content without doing any of the strategic work.

 

And then they wonder why nothing converts.

 

It's not because their content is bad. It's because their content isn't connected to anything.

 

 

Do the deep work of understanding your target audience. Not surface-level demographics. Deep psychological understanding. What keeps them up at night? What have they already tried? What do they believe that's keeping them stuck?

 

Create an offer that solves their specific problem. Not a course about everything. A focused solution to one painful problem.

 

Then build everything else around that.

 

Your website isn't a blog with some pages. It's a strategic journey designed to move someone from stranger to customer.

 

Your content isn't just posts. It's targeted, intentional teaching that builds trust and positions your offer as the natural next step.

 

Your freebie isn't a generic download. It's proof that you can help them, and a preview of what working with you looks like.

 

When you do it in this order, everything you build compounds. Every piece supports every other piece.

 

When you do it backwards, you build a house on sand. And eventually, you have to tear it down and start over.

 

I know. I've done it four times.

 

Don't be me. Do the foundational work first.

 

 

 

 

 

So if all of that is lies, what's the truth?

Here's the framework that actually works. The one I wish someone had given me in that basement in 2018.

 

Get specific. Painfully specific.

 

Not "bloggers." Not "moms who want to work from home."

 

One person. One problem.

 

When you try to serve everyone, you reach no one.

 

 

What are you selling? A course? Coaching? Templates? Services?

 

Decide now. Build it now. Even if it's a simple first version.

 

Your offer determines everything else. Your messaging, your content topics, your freebie, your website design.

 

You can't build any of that effectively without knowing what you're guiding people toward.

 

 

How do you talk about your person's problem? What's your unique perspective?

 

This isn't fluff. This is the foundation of every piece of content you'll create.

 

Your messaging should come from deep understanding of your audience. Not what you think they need. What they actually struggle with, in their own words.

 

 

Your homepage should not be a list of recent posts.

 

It should answer these questions within seconds:

Every page should have a purpose. Every section should move someone closer to conversion.

 

And yes, this is why I use Showit. Because designing that journey visually, without fighting a platform built for blogging, makes everything easier.

 

 

Your freebie should not be "10 tips" or "30-day challenge" or random value.

It should solve one small piece of the problem your paid offer solves completely.

 

It should give them a quick win while showing them they need more support.

It should feel like a preview of working with you, not a separate thing.

 

 

Now you write blog posts. Now you show up on Pinterest. Now you build the content engine.

 

But every piece of content you create should do one of three things:

Content without strategy is just noise. Content with strategy is marketing.

 

 

You don't need to know more. You need to do more with what you know.

 

Take one idea. Turn it into a project. Execute it quickly. Learn from the result.

Then do it again.

 

That's how you build momentum. That's how you create results.

 

Not by collecting more courses. By executing on what you already know.

 

This is the framework. This is what works.

 

Because it's strategic and it's grounded in how real businesses actually function.

 

Your blog is your marketing engine. Your offer is your business.

Build the business first. Then use the blog to market it.

 

This is why hiring a blogging coach or someone to keep you accountable works so much better. They can help hold you to executing the right strategies, help when you no longer have the mindset to keep going, and validate that you ARE on the right path.

 

 

I want you to really sit with this for a moment.

 

If you keep following the traditional blogging advice, where do you end up?

 

You spend months setting up a WordPress site that you don't know how to customize.

 

 

 

 

 

You write 50, 100, 200 blog posts optimized for traffic but not for conversion.

 

You build an audience that sees you as a helpful resource but not as someone worth paying.

 

You hit traffic milestones but your bank account stays empty.

 

You burn out from the content hamster wheel, wondering why this isn't working.

 

And eventually, you quit. You decide blogging doesn't work. You tell yourself you're not cut out for this.

 

But the truth is, blogging DOES work. You just weren't taught how to use it correctly.

 

You were taught to build a blog. You should have been taught to build a business that uses a blog as its marketing tool.

 

That's not a small difference. That's everything.

 

 

The cost of believing these lies isn't just time or money. It's belief in yourself.

Every month you work hard and see no results, you lose a little more confidence.

 

Every launch that flops, every post that gets no engagement, every course you take that doesn't change anything…. it chips away at your trust in your own capability.

 

And that's the real tragedy.

 

Because you are capable. You're smart enough, creative enough, disciplined enough.

 

You are just following the wrong map.

 

 

Here's what happens when you flip the script.

 

When you start with your offer, you have clarity. You know what you're building toward.

 

When you design your website strategically, your traffic converts. Even small amounts of traffic make money because your site is designed to sell.

 

When you create content connected to your offers, every post you write moves your business forward. You're not just creating for the sake of creating.

 

When you focus on execution over education, you see results fast. You learn by doing. You build momentum.

 

When you treat your blog as the marketing engine for your business, not the business itself, everything shifts.

 

You're not chasing pageviews. You're building a customer journey.

 

You're not hoping for passive income someday. You're making sales this month.

 

You're not stuck in survival mode. You're operating like a CEO.

 

This is what I want for you.

 

Not more traffic. Not a prettier website. Not another course.

 

I want you to build a business that works. One that makes money because it's designed to sell, not because you got lucky with an algorithm.

 

One that feels sustainable because it's built on strategy, not hustle.

 

One that grows because you're executing consistently on the right things, not guessing and hoping.

 

That's what's possible when you stop believing the lies.

 

 

I know I just dismantled everything you thought you knew about blogging.

I know it might feel overwhelming. Like you have to start over. Like you've wasted time.

 

You haven't.

 

Everything you've built so far? It's not wasted. It's foundation.

 

Now you just need to connect it to the strategy that actually works.

 

So here's what I want you to do right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These five questions will show you exactly where you are and what needs to shift.

 

And because I know you need more than just questions, I created something to help you work through this.

 

 

It's a simple PDF that walks you through:

This isn't another course. It's not 47 modules you'll never finish.

 

It's one clear document that shows you exactly what to do next. The strategic foundation I wish I had in that basement.

 

 

Use it this week. Actually work through it. Make decisions.

 

Then execute one thing. One project. One clear next step.

 

 

You don't need to know more. You need clarity on what matters most, and the courage to execute on it.

 

You've got this. You've always had this.

 

You were just following the wrong map.

Now you have the right one.

 

Let's build something that actually works.