How I Grew a Multi 7-Figure Business by Spending Less Time on Social Media

How I Grew a Multi 7-Figure Business by Spending Less Time on Social Media

Last Thursday, I shanked about 11 balls in a row before I wanted to throw my racquet over the fence and stomp off the court like a teenager who just got their phone taken away.

It was my first tennis lesson of the season. We have a new pro at the club this year, and I put so much pressure on myself to impress him. I also expected to pick up right where I left off, despite not touching my racquet all of last season.

I took up tennis three years ago after my parents died. At first it was a way to decompress. In those early grief days, I stood on the far side of the court from the pro so he couldn’t see the hot tears running down my face. Every swing felt like a chance to beat the hell out of cancer, loss, funerals, lawyers, and all the rest of it. Sometimes I hit the ball so hard I scared myself.

But when it came time to re-up my lessons last summer, I had zero interest. I’d come to associate tennis with my grief. So I took the summer off, promoted my book, spoke at conferences, and did dozens of podcast interviews.

This spring, though, something shifted. As Long Island turned green and the cherry blossoms started to fall, I found myself pulling out my tennis skirt and re-gripping my racquet. I was ready to get back out there.

What Tennis Taught Me About Social Media

Going back was hard. What I didn’t expect was feeling like a complete beginner again. When something doesn’t click quickly, my instinct is to bolt. I don’t love that about myself, but it’s true.

By the end of the lesson, though, I’d ditched some old bad habits and found my footing. I was hitting just as hard as I used to, just with sweat instead of tears streaming down my face.

The lesson I kept coming back to: sometimes things need space to breathe before they can improve.

I had needed space between my “tennis era” and my grief so I didn’t keep tangling the two together. And the same turned out to be true with social media.

Why I Pulled Back From Social (Even Though My Business Lives There)

I built a multi 7-figure online business on social media. I posted from my dad’s hospital room. I answered DMs while on hold with his insurance company. I used it as a pacifier in my darkest days.

So it shouldn’t surprise me that after losing both of my parents, I wanted to be offline more. I’ve seen what the end looks like, twice, and I don’t want to look up one day and realize I missed my own life watching someone else’s.

Now, I show up differently on Instagram. Yes, I still need to be online for my growing business, but I’m also actively figuring out how to spend more of my life offline.

Here’s what I want to be clear about: this isn’t only possible because of the size of my business or audience. Showing up less but more intentionally on social is a strategy anyone can use.

What Actually Happened When I Pulled Back

I talk all about this in the latest episode of my podcast, On Your Terms®, called “I Pulled Back From Social Media. It Performed Better.” Because that’s what happened. My content performed better when I stopped white-knuckling my presence and started showing up with more intention.

Less noise. More impact.

The Bigger Conversation I Want to Have

Everyone talks about spending less time on your phone. But not a lot of people talk about what to do once you log out, especially when your business lives online. And you almost never hear it from someone running a multi 7-figure business.

That’s the conversation I want to start having more of: how to build a life offline in an online world. Hobbies, community, freeing yourself from the algorithm long enough to remember what you actually like.

If that resonates with you, I’d love to know. What’s getting in the way of you spending more time offline? What would an analog life actually look like for you, even with a business on the internet?

Comment below and tell me. I’m listening.

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I’m such a big fan of batching content and getting super ahead with my business — but lately I learned a valuable lesson on how being so productive kills my content ideas. Read my latest Substack essay, “How my productivity killed my creativity”→