How I take breaks from my marketing (and still attract new clients)
And a bonus on scaling down and scaling up for you
The doors to Grow are open for another week, and this cohort is limited to 10 spaces—I’d love one of them to be yours 💌
Anyone who has known me for a longer time knows that I am naturally pretty disciplined (so much so that I’ve more than once worked myself into the ground—which is why I now embrace a different way of working). When I started my business 6 years ago, I immediately applied that same mindset to business. I made all the plans, all the spreadsheets, and was more than willing to follow the advice the business gurus were sending my way—including when it came to marketing.
Looking back at those early days in business, what strikes me in particular is the relentlessness of my marketing. How much I needed to be ‘on’, how many expectations I set on myself to keep posting, sharing, writing, pitching.
Today I want to share with you how my marketing these days is more effective and less relentless—and allows me to take breaks when I need to.
Taking breaks + scaling down
Over the past couple of years, I’ve taken breaks from my business a few times, to varying degrees.
Going offline completely
In the Autumn of 2021 I fell ill with severe clinical depression, and had to take a break from my business completely. I’d just left Instagram, but I also ended up not writing a newsletter for a couple of months. I was fortunate to have enough financial resources to weather this period. When I returned to writing my (at that point, monthly) newsletter after a few months, my business was still fine.
My business is much more robust now than it was in late 2021, both financially and in marketing terms: I’ve built up a more extensive archive of blog posts, and Google Search Console tells me that over the past month, more than 3,000 people clicked on my website when they looked for something on Google. If I had to take another break from my marketing, everything but my newsletter would continue to market itself—and that’s a very reassuring feeling.
Decreasing
This past summer I did not only take 3 weeks off from my business, but also took a more spacious approach to my newsletter. I wrote two new newsletters, for early July and late August, but for in between (late July and early August) created compilation posts on topics I often write about. This took me very little time to do, and it gave readers a list of posts and resources to explore. I can absolutely see myself doing this again in the future, and potentially creating an even more spacious summer schedule.
And the great thing? New clients and customers were still finding me. New customers for Substack for small business owners found me, and I even had two new client enquiries in my inbox when I returned from my break (which lead to two new clients).
Taking out channels
I used to do outreach consistency and diligently, reaching out to podcasts and/or websites every month to pitch interviews or guest posts, even though I also found this hard to keep up with.
Making my marketing more minimal—and having to do so because I need to give myself and my mental health more space—has meant no longer doing this monthly. Instead, outreach has become something that is not part of my ‘normal’ marketing, but only something when I scale up.
My marketing only works for me because it’s fairly minimal and I can scale down further when I need to.
When I created Grow I knew that I wanted to help you make a plan for scaling down and scaling up too.
The marketing strategy I help you develop in the programme needs to be fundamentally sustainable for whatever an average month looks like for you.
But even then, sometimes we need to scale down. We might want to take a break. Or we might have to. We might have no choice to. That’s where the section on scaling down from the fourth workshop of Grow comes in.
So many clients and customers find their way to me because they live with demands on their time and energy, from care responsibilities to chronic illnesses or conditions. If that’s you, Grow fully supports you to create a marketing strategy that works for you, no matter what’s happening in your business and life.
Scaling up
Just as sometimes we want or need to scale down, we might sometimes also want to scale up. For me, scaling up usually happens when I’m launching something new, provided I have enough energy to actually scale up.
This is when I do the extra things: when I created a mini podcast series in 2023/2024; when I do outreach and pitch to podcasts, blogs and newsletters; when I create something like the marketing quiz for this launch of Grow.
What I like about scaling up is that:
it’s temporary;
it allows me to experiment with things;
everything that I add extra is a bonus—and I can take these ‘extra’ things out again.
📽️ A bonus for you
If you, too, are curious about how your marketing can be actually supportive in your business, I’m sharing a bonus with you today—the section from the workshop in Grow about scaling down and scaling up (plus the relevant worksheets).
The video gives a good sense of the whole philosophy and vibe underpinning Grow, and will also show you that Grow is a truly different marketing programme, putting your humanness first. I’d love to hear what you think!
The doors to Grow are open for another week (until March 14th). I’ve got just 10 spaces available this time, and I’d love one of them to be yours.
Practicalities
📌 You can book your place on Grow until March 14th.
what | Grow is a 4-month hybrid group programme, combining self-paced modules with my eyes on your business through recorded office hours, bi-weekly check-ins and monthly live (and recorded) planning calls.
who | a maximum of 10 small business owners, freelancers and creatives just like you, who want to grow a slow, gentle and profitable business through marketing that is sustainable, allows them to take time off and fits in with their life and business.
when | Grow runs from March 15th to July 15th, with lifetime access to the materials.
how | you can now book your place on Grow, until March 14th. If you have any questions about whether the programme is right for you, feel free to send me a message.
how much | €990 (around £825/$1040), paid in full or 4x €247.50 (around £206.25/$260), 6x €165 (around £137.50/$173.34) or 8x €124 (around £102.90/$129) (find your currency here).
What previous participants loved about the programme
“The drumbeat of social media can be relentless. It’s hard to shift to what actually works when you don’t get that immediate dopamine hit. Astrid will show you how with her calm, anti-overwhelm marketing” — Celia Cain, mindset coach, healer + mentor
Why makes this programme so special
My signature blend of clarity and gentleness;
Based on 4+ years of marketing my business on my own terms;
Easy-to-follow and effective videos and workbooks. 20 years of teaching in higher education have taught me how people best learn, which makes me really good at creating workshops and workbooks;
No sleazy ten-step plans or promises: I share everything I’ve learned, and help you create the marketing strategy that works for you and your business;
For experienced and new small business owners, and for product-based and service-based businesses;
Practical and emotional support: from discovering your strengths and joys, to tackling discomfort about taking up space, and how to create a strategy that works for you;
It’s hybrid, combining structure and accountability with self-paced modules to give you the perfect blend of support through office hours and monthly planning calls, while also allowing you to work at your own pace (and, it’s lifetime access).
📌 Discover all six modules of Grow and how I’ll offer you support tailored to your business throughout
📖 Read more posts about Grow
💌 Ask me a question about the programme
Thank you for letting me share this with you, and supporting my business 💌
P.S. Curious what other small business owners, freelancers and creatives just like you love about my work? Read their words here.
Female Owned is more than a newsletter. If you are ready to do business differently, I’d love for you to become a paid subscriber and become part of our gentle community of small business owners, freelancers and creatives. You’ll get bonus resources (the accountability club! the mini-mastermind! the new mini podcast series!) and behind-the-scenes posts right in your inbox.