The Hidden Challenge Behind Every Stalled or Abandoned Marketing Plan
When it comes to not doing your marketing as a small business owner or solopreneur, there are so many excuses.
- I don’t have time to do it myself and I can’t afford to hire someone.
- It’s probably not going to make a difference.
- I don’t really need it. Networking is enough to sustain me.
- I tried that once and it didn’t really do anything.
I know because I’ve used them all myself (and yes, I feel the irony of being a marketing company that doesn’t invest in marketing… But the shoemaker’s son and all that…)
The reality is that these are just that—excuses. They’re a reason to continue the avoidance loop that seems to have no end.
But what I’ve seen over and over is that the real problem is not a lack of action, energy, or effort. It’s a lack of confidence. We get stuck in the loop of “is this any good?” And without anything to help us move forward, we stall out.
Your takeaway—confidence is all you need to kill it in your marketing.
There are three ways to build this confidence:
- Have someone (an expert, ideally) show you where to start.
- Have that same expert (and others, ideally) give you real-time feedback and direction.
- Add in the accountability to make sure you’re continually progressing and staying consistent.
Why does this work?
Because it removes fear and hesitation from the process.
This is the challenge that made us build out the Lean Marketing Lab program. What you get in the program is exactly what’s been stopping you up:
- Solid direction
- Continuous feedback
- Real accountability
The Systems Problem Nobody Talks About
Most business owners don’t have questions about what they “should” be doing in their marketing. I mean, you can probably recite a laundry list of the “should’s” you’ve been avoiding, right?
The breakdown happens in the how.
Let me paint you a familiar picture:
You block off three hours on a Tuesday to “finally get your marketing in order.” You stare at a blank document. You write a few sentences for a blog post. Delete them. Start again. Check email. Remember you need to respond to that client. Two hours later, you’ve produced… almost nothing.
Sound familiar?
It’s not about being bad at marketing; it’s because you’re missing the system that helps you take it from idea to action.
What a Real Marketing System Looks Like
After working with hundreds of small businesses, we’ve found that successful marketing systems have three critical components:
1. A Decision Framework (Not Just a To-Do List)
Most marketing plans fail because they’re glorified to-do lists without any decision-making structure. When something unexpected happens (and it always does), you have no way to adjust course.
A proper decision framework helps you answer questions like:
- Is this worth my time right now?
- Does this align with my overall strategy?
- What’s the minimum viable version I can implement today?
2. Feedback Loops That Actually Close
I’ve watched countless business owners try something once, see minimal results, then abandon it entirely. You know the gym analogy… No one walks out of the gym for the first time with a six-pack (although a girl can hope!)
The thing is, nobody’s marketing works right away. And that sucks, because without any positive reinforcement, abandonment of all efforts is usually the easiest—and most desirable—way out for a business owner.
3. Making it Maintenance (Not a Project)
This is where we tackle that “I’ve never needed marketing before, so why do I now?” excuse that leads to continued delays in your content marketing.
It’s the same as saying, “I don’t need to spend time and money maintaining my home—it’s fine how it is.”
Sure. Until it isn’t. Until pieces start to break and then the problems snowball. Frustrations build and you just feel like putting a “for sale” sign at the end of the driveway, while simultaneously wondering, “why didn’t I just take care of that before?”
Marketing is a logical part of maintenance in a business. I know, it’s a bit of a weird way to look at it… But if you look at it like maintenance, it doesn’t seem so intimidating. It also helps you to see that a little bit of effort and expense now can lead to way better outcomes in the long run.
We take the same approach in Lean Marketing Lab (that’s the “lean” part of it!) You don’t need to lay out this big project approach, spend days getting it ready, do a big launch, and then switch strategies when you don’t see massive results instantly. It’s about creating structures (time, support, and accountability) that keeps you working at it over time.
The Cost of Not Having a System
When you lack a marketing system, you don’t just miss out on new clients. The real cost is much deeper:
- Opportunity blindness: You can’t recognize valuable chances because you’re stuck in reactive mode.
- Decision fatigue: Every marketing choice feels overwhelming because you’re rebuilding the wheel each time.
- Confidence erosion: Each abandoned campaign chips away at your belief in your marketing abilities—and maybe even your business abilities.
- Long-term losses: Every time you build your marketing, you build up your future capabilities (i.e., doing that next product launch with a large, waiting audience).
How to Build Your Own Marketing System
The good news? Building a marketing system doesn’t require a massive overhaul of your business. It starts with these fundamental steps:
Step 1: Create Your Minimum Viable Marketing Plan
Forget trying to be everywhere. Instead, choose:
- The primary channels where your ideal clients already spend time
- The type of content you can consistently create
- A clear call-to-action that drives your business forward
Step 2: Get Real-Time Support and Feedback
Make it a team effort so you don’t feel alone, uncertain, or plain old scared. Have people around you who can:
- Give you a push when you are stuck on an idea or have no ideas at all
- Give you their honest, arms-length feedback
- Encourage you to share what you create
- Give you support in the form of engaging with and sharing your content
Step 3: Stop Overthinking and Start Doing
This is where most marketing plans die. Combat this by:
- Blocking recurring calendar time for marketing activities
- Having someone else on your team hit the “post” button for you
- Having templates and prompts that reduce “blank page syndrome”
- Creating accountability with a group that expects to see your work
- Building a reward system for hitting your marketing targets
Why the Lean Marketing Lab Works
Earlier, I mentioned our Lean Marketing Lab program. It’s built on everything I’ve shared here, because we’ve seen firsthand how frustrating and overwhelming it is when small businesses approach marketing without a system.
The Lab isn’t about giving you more marketing tactics to try. It’s about:
- Helping you build a personalized marketing system that works for YOUR business
- Providing expert guidance at the exact moment you need it
- Creating the accountability structure that ensures you follow through
We don’t just tell you what to do; we help you build a lean, mean, marketing machine that consistently generates results, even when you’re busy, tired, or distracted (which, let’s be honest, is most of the time for small business owners).
The One Thing You Can Do Today
Even if you never join our program, here’s the one thing I want you to take away:
Stop trying to “do marketing”. Start building a marketing system.
Begin by asking these three questions:
- What’s the ONE marketing activity that would most move my business forward right now?
- What’s stopping me from doing it consistently? (Be brutally honest)
- What support, structure or system would eliminate that obstacle?
The answers will reveal exactly what your marketing system needs to focus on first.
Marketing doesn’t have to be the thing you’re always putting off until tomorrow. With the right system, it becomes the engine that drives your business forward—even when you’re not looking.
And if you’re tired of trying to figure it all out alone, well, that’s exactly why we built the Lab. Because systems work better when you have experts helping you build them.
Ready to finally break the cycle of marketing avoidance? Your system is waiting to be built.
Sign Up Here > Lean Marketing Lab
