Starting a Business without a Single Follower

Update: 2025-08-12

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Episode 979: Show Notes

Today, I want to dig into how I would start a business if there’s no existing audience — how I would get off the ground, how we would get momentum, how I would create a community of people who are actually listening to what I have to say and how I would make real tangible dollar bills as early as possible in the process. But before we get into the strategies, I just want to say that I have never met someone who actually has no audience.

Perhaps you’ve never started a page with this focus, or this niche, but we have connections, and it’s our job to leverage the connections that already exist. I’m here to tell you that ultimately, the number of people in your audience has little to no relationship to the actual amount of sales that you can generate. The number of followers does not matter! It’s about creating the right community that is supportive of where you’re going.

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Where to Find the 1000 People You’re Already Connected To

Even if you have a small family, once you add extended family and family ties, there are at least 200 people in the mix. Another 200 come from your growing-up and adolescent years, and at least 200 colleagues and professional connections. More people know who you are than you think, and many of them would love to cheer you on. So let them in! You’ve got 200+ across social networks — maybe you’d call them “just online friends.” And another 200 from social spaces like church, volunteering, or your kids’ activities. That’s a lot of people. Now, I’m not saying you should sell to any of them — but we are going to leverage them to build a community of relevant connections. Start thinking about where these people are, how you’re connected to them, and what it might take for you to actually communicate with them.

How to Use a Digital Product to Attract and Convert Strangers Into Buyers

Digital products are typically such low-hanging fruit that you can put them in front of someone from the very beginning. Even if they don’t buy it now, simply talking about it and promoting this offer will attract the right people. You can build trust and have a clear way for someone to take the next step at the same time. Selling is not mutually exclusive from giving value! It’s literally the whole point. The sales process can be fun and fulfilling. We need to stop thinking about it as the sales process — this is just another way to connect with people. You don’t have to have the same conversation 1000 times. You can have it once, and 1000 people can benefit from it.

Getting In Front of the Right People to Build the Visibility You Need

You need people who don’t know you at all to find out that you exist. That’s what visibility is. We are trying to drive connection, so we need a visibility channel, and my favorite available today is Instagram. Right now, Instagram is a great way to connect with brand-new people. So if I were to start from scratch, that’s where I would go. But if you’re wondering if you should build from the one you have, I would recommend starting with what you have. Once you’ve decided, you’re going to pick a very narrow topic for your content. It should be related to the ultimate type of business that you want to run, but specific enough to address your ideal clients’ main problems. This is how you’re going to start being seen as an expert in this particular area.

Why You Need to Launch and Validate Your Offer Before Building a Low-Priced Digital Product

Your digital product is going to attract an audience of buyers, and I lay out all of these steps inside Digital Product Jumpstart. Once you’ve gone through those steps and you have a low-priced digital product that you can test with pre-sales, it’s time to start testing different messaging angles to get clear on what drives engagement and purchases. Now, the cool part of Instagram is that reels are an incredible way to get in front of new people. You’re going to be exposed to a brand new audience that has never seen your content before, and you’re getting free organic reach, which was once few and far between. Once you’ve done this, you’re going to reach out to people however you normally do, just to let them know that what you’re doing exists, and you’d love their support. This is how you’re going to get those recommendations and referrals.

One of My All-Time Favorite Content Strategies

When you use a software called Minichat, people can comment on your reels, and it will drive an individualized DM to a specific person that has engaged with your content and send them a link to the thing you are ultimately selling. We can drive engagement this way. What I love most about this is that it can continue working for you, even when you aren’t working. Now, if you think of reels as the visibility channel, if you haven’t yet started an email list, stories are going to be your biggest opportunity to close the sale for someone who has just been hanging out for a while. People need exposure to what you do, and if you can consistently show up and remind them that what you do is legit, it is a great opportunity to create that conversion in real time.

Where to Start (And Why it Doesn’t Have to Be So Overwhelming)

If you’re new to business, I get that adding things like email marketing or a website can feel overwhelming. But the people who have already purchased, even at a low ticket price, are way more likely to do it again. Now, I know people are really hesitant on this part, but regardless of where you are in your business, you need to be reminded to talk about what you sell, daily!

Remember that no one is seeing 100% of what you put out there, so you need to be louder, more consistent, and take them on a journey to let people know that they can work with you and what step to take next. The very first thing I would do is head over to bossproject.com/jumpstart, where I walk you through how to identify your ideal client, pick that niche, choose a digital product, and decide how you’re going to put it in front of people.

I’m going to show you how to qualify and validate your offer with pre-sales, attract ideal customers with digital products, and get paid to bring in qualified leads. This is what I’ve used to grow my company and bring in more than 3.1 million dollars in entry point digital products.