Over the years, I’ve generated millions of dollars in revenue across multiple businesses — but it didn’t happen overnight. Full disclosure: it took me many, many, many years just to make my first six figures. From there, things moved quickly, and I was able to replicate growth across different models and industries without relying on the one thing most business owners think they have to use: social media.
Here’s the truth — I cannot stand social media. Personally, I haven’t used Facebook since the 2016 US presidential election (IYKYK). It was a terrible time to be online, and I can only imagine it hasn’t gotten much better! Honestly, if it weren’t for my businesses, I wouldn’t even have social media accounts at all. It’s just not how I enjoy staying connected. Send me a text message instead — that’s how I’d rather keep in touch.
Because of this, I get asked a lot: How on earth do you make money if you’re not using social media? And it’s not just online business owners asking that question. Even brick-and-mortar business owners wonder if visibility is possible without a constant Instagram presence or a Facebook strategy. The answer is a resounding… yes!!
In fact, the way I see it, visibility is the real engine of business growth. Social media is only one tool in a much larger visibility ecosystem. When you understand how visibility actually works — what drives traffic, leads, and conversions — you open up an entire world of strategies that don’t require you to grind away on platforms you don’t even like.
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Here’s what’s in this episode:
- The real difference between creating social posts versus assets that work for years — and why neither is right or wrong
- A counterintuitive way to use social media that supports referrals and retention without building a content hamster wheel
- The only 4 ways to generate visibility — and how they combine into a compounding flywheel
- A practical way to turn old podcast episodes into long-term, evergreen sales assets
- The re-engagement email sequence you can use to warm a cold (or dead) list and earns trust in days
- The super simple visibility stack to start now with a longer term plan to shift weight toward compounding assets
- The permission slip that frees you to pause *any* marketing channel, re-evaluate ROI, and come back if and when it actually serves the plan
Why Visibility Matters More Than Social Media
At the end of the day, every sale in your business comes down to one thing: TLC. And no, I don’t mean chasing waterfalls — though I’ll admit I make that joke every time hehe. TLC stands for traffic, leads, and conversions. Those are the three ingredients you absolutely must have if you want to generate revenue.
Here’s how it works. If you don’t have traffic, you can’t have leads. If you don’t have traffic and leads, you definitely can’t have conversions. The very first step in that chain is visibility — because visibility fuels traffic. It’s what gets people to notice you, walk through the door (literally or figuratively), and become part of your world. Without visibility, none of the rest is possible.
And this is where so many business owners get stuck. They think visibility equals social media. They assume Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook is the only way to get seen. But social media is just one mechanism in a much larger visibility strategy. It’s one channel out of dozens. When you expand your understanding of visibility, you realize there are countless ways to attract attention: speaking, podcasting, events, referrals, word-of-mouth, SEO, email, even old-school flyers and open houses.
The real question isn’t Do you need social media? It’s How are you generating visibility right now — and is it the kind of visibility that matches your business model, your energy, and your long-term goals?
Active vs. Passive Visibility Mechanisms
When I talk about visibility, I like to separate it into two categories: active visibility mechanisms and passive visibility mechanisms. This is my own terminology — you won’t really find it in a textbook — but it’s the simplest way to think about the trade-offs between fast traction and long-term staying power.
What Is Active Visibility?
An active visibility mechanism is something that gives you quick visibility. It’s fast to produce and fast to work — which makes it sound amazing. Quick visibility means you can generate traffic quickly, which gives you a shot at leads and conversions much sooner.
The downside? It fizzles out just as fast as it starts. Social media is the ultimate example of an active visibility mechanism. You publish a post and almost immediately it goes out into the world. Sure, once in a while something goes viral months later, but by and large the entire lifecycle of a piece of content plays out in days, sometimes hours. You get the spike in attention — and then it’s gone.
In brick-and-mortar businesses, active visibility looks like foot traffic. Someone drives by your shop, notices your sign, and decides to stop in. Quick attention, quick results — but fleeting. Tomorrow, that same person may not even remember you’re there.
What Is Passive Visibility?
On the other hand, passive visibility mechanisms are the long game. They don’t give you that instant hit of attention, but once they’re in place, they keep working for you again and again — sometimes for months or years.
Take blogging and SEO, for example. You won’t publish a blog post and suddenly see droves of traffic next week. Realistically, it takes time — often six months or more — before you see consistent results. But once those posts start ranking, they can drive leads and sales for years with very little ongoing effort.
The trade-off is clear: passive visibility takes more strategy, intentionality, and patience. You’re building assets that compound over time instead of chasing fast wins that disappear overnight.
Choosing Your Visibility Strategy
This is where business becomes a game of trade-offs. Do you want easy now but hard later, or hard now but easier later? (That’s a big overly simplified but hopefully you’re pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down.) Active visibility will give you speed — but requires constant feeding. Passive visibility takes longer to ramp up — but creates sustainability.
Neither is inherently “better.” The real question is: What makes the most sense for you right now — in this season of business, with your energy, and with the way you actually enjoy producing content?
Examples of Visibility Mechanisms
Once you understand the difference between active and passive visibility, the next step is to look at how different mechanisms fit into each category. Some are firmly one or the other — and some straddle both worlds, depending on how you use them.
Active Visibility Examples
Social media is the obvious one. You post, it goes live, people see it quickly — and then it fizzles. Events often fall into this category too. If you speak at a conference, the visibility spike is powerful but short-lived. Unless you capture leads right away, those new connections may never circle back to you.
Guest podcasting is another active play. When the episode first drops, you get a rush of visibility. But after the initial launch window, the attention fades — unless you have a system for repurposing and promoting it.
And in the offline world, active visibility looks like foot traffic. When I ran my performing arts studio, people would literally stop by just because they saw us doing renovations. They’d pop in out of curiosity, sometimes telling their neighbors or grandkids about us. That’s quick attention — but fleeting.
Passive Visibility Examples
On the flip side, passive mechanisms include things like blogging, SEO, Pinterest, and running your own podcast. These are assets you build once that continue to work long-term.
For instance, I still see dozens of downloads every week on podcast episodes I recorded years ago — because I link them in my email sequences. That’s the power of passive visibility: content that keeps working long after you’ve created it.
Email is another example. Each individual email you send is active — it has a short lifespan — but your email list as a whole is passive. Once people are on it, you can nurture and convert them for years with the right sequences.
Hybrid or “Both-And” Visibility Examples
Some mechanisms don’t fit neatly into active or passive — they can function as both.
Ads are the unicorn here. They work quickly, just like social media, but once you find the right formula, they can keep performing for the long haul like a passive channel. The trade-off is that ads are notoriously tricky to master. Plenty of people burn through thousands of dollars without results because they don’t have the strategy dialed in.
Events also straddle the line. Speaking on stage is active, but when leveraged well — through follow-up systems or by embedding the talk into your content ecosystem — it can continue to drive visibility long after the event ends.
And like I mentioned earlier, email falls into this category too. Individual sends are active. But a well-built sequence, or a growing list you own, creates compounding visibility over time.
The Four B’s of Visibility
When it comes to visibility, there are only four paths you can take. You can build it, borrow it, buy it — or, in my own framework, you can bedazzle it. Every single visibility strategy falls into one of these four buckets.
Build
Building is about creating your own platforms. When you build, you’re putting in the time and energy to grow something you control. That might be a podcast, a YouTube channel, a newsletter, or yes — even your own social media presence.
The beauty of building is ownership. You aren’t dependent on algorithms or someone else’s audience. The downside is that it takes effort and consistency. You’re responsible for showing up and keeping the platform alive long enough for it to generate momentum. Think of it as building your own stage — the people will eventually come, but you have to supply the spotlight and microphone first.
Borrow
Borrowed visibility is about standing on someone else’s stage. Instead of waiting for people to discover you, you plug into an audience that already exists. That could look like guesting on a podcast, being interviewed in the media, speaking at an event, or collaborating with someone who has a community of their own.
The value of borrowed visibility goes beyond exposure. There’s also a credibility boost that comes from being featured on another platform. If a respected peer invites you into their space, their audience sees you as trustworthy by association. It’s like a friend introducing you at a party and saying, You’ve got to know this person.
Buy
Buying visibility is the fast track. You’re paying for attention instead of earning it. Ads, sponsorships, and media placements all fall into this category. When done well, buying visibility can give you reach and consistency that’s hard to match organically.
But it comes with a price — literally. Ads, for example, are powerful but also unpredictable. Without strategy, you can burn through thousands of dollars and feel like you just lit your budget on fire. Sponsorships can also flop if the alignment isn’t there. Buying visibility can be game-changing, but only if you’re ready for the financial investment and have a system in place to turn that attention into revenue.
Bedazzle
And then there’s bedazzled visibility — the most underrated but often the most profitable of them all. Bedazzle is my (FUN!) shorthand for retention and referrals. It’s what happens when your current and past clients become your evangelists.
When someone has such a great experience with you that they come back again, or they tell three of their friends to hire you, that’s bedazzled visibility in action. It’s free, it’s trust-filled, and it’s sticky. Referrals and repeat customers are worth their weight in gold because they’re not just visibility — they’re visibility that converts.
If building is your stage, borrowing is someone else’s, and buying is paying for the spotlight, then bedazzle is your audience jumping up on stage to say, You have to hear this person.
Permission to Leave Social Media Behind
Let me say this clearly: if the majority of your sales are not coming from social media, you don’t have to stay on it. Full stop.
I know that sounds almost scandalous in a business world that treats Instagram feeds like lifelines, but here’s the truth — visibility is bigger than social platforms. If your leads are coming through referrals, repeat clients, word-of-mouth, or other channels, then forcing yourself to churn out reels or posts you resent isn’t just unnecessary. It’s energy-draining.
For many service providers, this is the reality. They reach $50K, $100K, even $200K a year without relying on Instagram at all. Their growth comes from the bedazzle effect — clients who come back or who send new clients their way. In those cases, the smartest move isn’t to keep pushing on social because “you’re supposed to,” but to double down on what’s already working.
Now, if 80% of your business is currently coming from social media, pulling the plug cold-turkey may not be the best decision. But you still have options. You can experiment with shifting your energy into channels you enjoy more. You can reduce the pressure to post daily and instead use social the way it was originally designed — to be social. Share a little about your life. Check in with people you actually like. Build relationships in the DMs because you’re genuinely curious about what’s happening in their world, not because you’re working through a sales script.
And if you really, truly want out? Here’s your permission slip. Stop. Step back. Experiment with other visibility mechanisms. The worst-case scenario is that you realize two weeks or six months later that you miss it or need it — and you can always start again. Business isn’t static. You have the freedom to adjust your strategy as you grow.
Strengthening Non-Social Visibility Channels
If you want to step away from social media — or at least stop relying on it as your primary driver — IMO the key is to strengthen the channels you own and the strategies that compound over time. This is where email and passive visibility mechanisms become your best friends.
Why Email Is the Cornerstone
If there’s one channel I would bet on every single time, it’s email. Unlike social media, where algorithms decide who sees your content, your email list is a direct line of communication. You own it. You can reach your audience anytime without worrying about whether a post gets buried.
But here’s the catch: having a list is not the same as using it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked business owners if they have an email list, and they say yes — but when I ask when they last emailed their subscribers, the answer is a couple months ago, maybe longer. That’s not a strategy. That’s a missed opportunity.
Your task this week could be as simple as sending one reintroduction email. Say, Hey, it’s me. Here’s what I do. Here’s what I love helping people with. It’s been a minute, but I wanted to share something useful with you. Then give them something valuable: a free resource, a helpful tip, or even a small discount if you sell products. It doesn’t matter if they’ve seen it before. What matters is re-establishing connection.
Re-Engagement in Practice
A simple three-part sequence can revive even the dustiest email list:
- Reintroduction email – remind them who you are, what you do, and why they originally signed up. Add something useful as a goodwill gesture.
- Story-driven email – share your backstory, values, or a pivotal moment in your business. Let them connect with you as a person, not just a service provider.
- Helpful content email – deliver something practical they can use right now. For service businesses, that might be a step-by-step framework. For product businesses, it might be styling ideas, recipes, or creative use cases.
You’ll lose subscribers in the process, and that’s a good thing. An unsubscribe is just someone saying, I’m not the right audience for this. Why pay for them to sit on your list if they’re never going to engage? Bless and release, and keep serving the people who actually want to hear from you.
Beyond Email: Passive Visibility
Email is the foundation, but layering in other passive mechanisms gives you long-term traction. Blogs and SEO may take six months or more to gain momentum, but once they do, they’re like machines that keep driving visibility while you sleep.
Podcasts can also become evergreen assets. I still get downloads on episodes I recorded years ago because I weave them into my email sequences. A single strong piece of content can keep working for you if you integrate it strategically.
Pinterest, YouTube, and even guest content on other platforms can play the same role. They may take more upfront effort, but they compound. That’s the real difference — you’re not just shouting into the void. You’re building assets that keep paying you back.
Final Takeaways
The biggest misconception about visibility is that it begins and ends with social media. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Social media is just one mechanism in a much larger ecosystem — and for many entrepreneurs, it’s not even the most effective one.
What actually drives sales is TLC: traffic, leads, and conversions. And the fuel for that entire process is visibility. You can build it, borrow it, buy it, or bedazzle it — and in each case, you get to choose whether your strategy leans toward quick but fleeting attention (active visibility) or long-term, compounding traction (passive visibility).
If you hate social media, here’s your permission slip: you don’t have to use it. Some of the most successful businesses grow primarily through referrals, repeat clients, SEO, or events. Others build empires on the back of email lists and podcasts. What matters is not whether you’re on Instagram or TikTok, but whether you’ve chosen visibility mechanisms that align with your business model, your energy, and your goals.
If you’re ready to go beyond social, the smartest place to start is with your email list. Re-engage it. Nurture it. Let it become the foundation of your visibility strategy. Then layer in passive mechanisms like SEO, blogging, or podcasting to create assets that keep working for you. From there, visibility becomes less about chasing algorithms and more about building sustainable systems that bring you the right audience again and again.
Because at the end of the day, the question isn’t how do I play the social media game? The real question is how do I design a visibility strategy that actually works for me — and keeps working long after I step away from the screen?
