I Work 11-13 Hours a Week and My Business Grows Without Me
Over the last 5 days, 250+ folks have joined my email list.
And I forecast that at least 5 of them will become new clients.
If you're exhausted from the content hamster wheel, read on.
And I spent $0 in ad spend and did zero posting on social media.
My LinkedIn has been super quiet, as it's been most of the time I've been a user of LinkedIn. I use Instagram to mindlessly check out and "have a break," (or so I tell myself). Not to get clients or grow my email list.
And those 250+ new folks have come in while I've been checking out the space exhibit at the Nature and Science Museum.
Or exploring a new nature-inspired playground.
Or making lunch (for the millionth time), washing dishes, reading outside in the warm autumn sunshine while my sons bounce on the trampoline and I throw a ball for Harrison the puppy.
It wasn't always this way.
10 years ago, I was a dog mom and my only responsibility was making sure my two dogs got a daily 2+ mile walk.
My first year of business, I was pregnant with my first son.
When he was born, everything shifted.
Suddenly, I had two creatures that required large amounts of energy and attention to grow: a newborn baby + 1 year old business.
In my second year of business, I drove myself straight to burnout trying to juggle both of those energy-sucks. I burned myself out in the process.
After taking some time off to heal and find a better mental framework to work from -- the "hustle harder, throw more hours in" was hardly sustainable -- I returned to work.
I was determined to find a better way of growing my business on a very reduced work schedule.
On a good day, I had 2 hours available for work. And on every day, no control over whether those 2 hours would happen.
I desperately wanted one of those "featured in" social proof bars with fancy logos on my website.
So I started pitching guest blog posts:
Kissmetrics. CrazyEgg. Copyhackers.
And a flood of "work with me?" requests and email clients came in.
Along with invitations to appear on podcasts.
And that's when I realized it:
I didn't need to BUILD an audience.
I could BORROW audiences that already existed. Audiences where my ideal clients were already gathered, already engaged, already looking for solutions.
Holy shit. This changed everything
Getting access to those audiences was straightforward:
Send a cold pitch email that was ultra-relevant and made saying yes a no-brainer.
And -- best part for me -- was that these partnerships fit neatly into my now-heavily-reduced working hours but yielded a huge ROI.
Fast-forward 9 years to now, and I've since added two more young sons for a total of three, said goodbye to the first round of dogs, and gotten a new puppy...
And I'm still working about 11-13 hours/week.
Because I'm still the fulltime parent with two young sons at home fulltime with me. Family lives 700+ miles away, my favorite babysitter is in college and only available during the summer, and I just joined a new MOPs group.
Meaning: I have a small support system here, so it's not like I'm relying on a nanny, babysitter, house cleaning combo.
And I mention that because it's important to understand the behind-the-scenes support behind the numbers.
When I say "I'm working 11-13 hours/week as a fulltime parent," that means I'm fitting this business into the crack of a full life with a very supportive husband who willingly steps in as fulltime parent occasionally on weekends.
Borrowing other people's audiences is what lets me work those 11-13 hours/week without having to post on social media or pay for ads.
This strategy gives me direct access to large groups of my right-fit clients.
Over the past 9 years, I've turned this into a repeatable system. Same borrowed audience plays, over and over. Same partnership templates. Same pitch frameworks.
It runs like clockwork now.
And this is how I've been able to partner with cool folks like Joanna Wiebe (I'm a Copy School instructor and repeat guest trainer), Sujan Patel, Rob Walling (spoke at his MicroConf), Courtland Allen of IndieHackers, and many others.
This makes me wonder:
If I can get these results working 11-13 hours a week with zero budget, what could a company with actual resources do with borrowed audiences?
Thereby building authority inside the space of cold emails, growing my email list, and getting new clients.
While still staying within that boundary of working 11 hours/week.
The best part?
This strategy gets EASIER over time, not harder.
Every partnership creates social proof for the next one. Every borrowed audience appearance builds your authority and some sprout invitations for new partnerships.
Every win makes the next yes more likely.
Case in point:
Those 250+ new subscribers came from ONE borrowed audience appearance.
One.
While I was at the playground with my sons.
ps
I've been documenting this borrowed audience system for 8 years. Three agencies have already paid to learn it.
And I'm finally turning it into something bigger.
Stay tuned.