Should I Burn It All Down?

Hey there, 

It’s me. Erica. Founder of The Unconventional RD. 

If you hang out in my Facebook group, you might have seen this post, where people opened up about what’s been challenging them in business lately. 

My answer?

I’ve been feeling disconnected from my audience (you) since having my son in 2021. 

In some ways, I feel like my business was my baby, before having kids. 

I was extremely active and engaged with the community, was whipping up new content and trainings 24/7, and had the best momentum going. 

But BOY did things change after having my son. (I bet a lot of you can relate.)

Suddenly, it felt like almost none of my time was my own and I had so much less of myself to give to my audience and business. 

Thankfully, I had built up some evergreen content and sales systems that kept everything afloat (and very profitable) for the first few years of my son’s life…

… but I’ll be honest, I’ve been struggling to find that business *spark* again. Even 2.5 years in.

Full transparency – some of this may be related to the fact that I’ve been struggling with recurring miscarriages over the last year. That has been extremely emotionally taxing. 

In fact, just last week, I experienced another loss and it was devastating. 

I wanted to share about it, but because I’ve been so private lately, it felt like reaching out and talking about it with you would be weird in some way. 

After wallowing in my emotions over the weekend and letting myself feel all the feels about my losses, life, and business, I’m heading into the new week with lots of thoughts… 

I think my heart is yearning for a new structure in my business. 

One that better fits this stage of life. 

Last year, my husband retired from his job to focus on caring for our son during the week. This means all of the income-earning for our family has been on me. 

At first, I was super pumped about it. 

But lately, I’ve felt the pressure to be stifling. 

Instead of feeling excited and full of opportunity, I’ve been feeling scared to change anything in my biz. 

Worried that even if I’m not 100% in love with what I have going on, if I change something, what if it all falls apart and we lose everything?

(And if you know me, you know that that is NOT the way I normally operate in my biz. Usually, I am really good at following my intuition and pivoting based on my gut.)

And what HAS my gut been feeling? 

A few things… 

#1) I’m not loving the high-ticket-only world. 

From 2020-2023, the ONLY thing you could purchase from me was my signature course, SEO Made Simple. 

Each year, I’ve updated and improved the content, support, and overall student experience, but I’ve also raised the price several times. 

What started as a $390 course morphed into a $590, $997, $1997, and then a $2997 offer (with periodic discounts). 

And while that was really fun and exciting for the first few years… lately, it’s been feeling out of alignment in a few ways… 

#2) Being expensive doesn’t feel good to me right now.

Let’s be real. The economy is pretty brutal at the moment. I feel it and I wouldn’t be surprised if you feel it too. 

Everything is freaking expensive and it annoys me that the main thing I have to offer people is also expensive. 

I’m not saying I won’t always have a premium-priced offer available… 

…but it’s bugging me that this is the main way I’m helping people at the moment.

#3) I’m stuck on the new customer hamster wheel (and I want to get off).

Right now, 90% of my business comes from my SEO Made Simple course. 

That’s what I’m “known” for and it’s my main offer for my audience. 

It’s premium priced, but it’s still a one-time purchase. 

And the one-time purchase model has some significant downsides in the long term… 

It’s wonderful for building an engaged, long-term community of students who support each other, since once someone has bought the course, they are in it forever. 

In fact, nearly 1,000 people have enrolled in my course and the private students-only community is one of my favorite places EVER to hang out online. 

I’m in there every single day, chatting with my people, sharing the latest news and tidbits with what I’m seeing on my sites and in the SEO industry in general, and answering any questions my students have. 

We also do live office hour calls once a month where we do mini site audits, troubleshoot, and go even deeper into what’s working right now. 

And while I LOVE LOVE LOVE the community and calls, I’m starting to reach an awkward tipping point where I’m putting A LOT of time and effort into supporting my students…

…. but not actually getting paid for it anymore. 

In order to keep my business afloat, I have to continually grow my audience and enroll new students, or else the whole thing falls apart. 

And I’m not loving the pressure that’s putting on my biz and marketing efforts. 

Instead of feeling fun, light, joyful, and exciting, like it did in the past, it’s starting to feel heavy, forced, and less authentic.

In my heart, I’m yearning for a more sustainable business model. 

One where the direct time I put into my business is fairly compensated in the long run. 

I’m not sure what the solution is (yet). 

Most likely, I will do a *final sale* for SEO Made Simple where you can enroll one last time in its current form. 

Then I will likely change things up… 

• Perhaps a membership model
• Perhaps a standalone, lower-priced course without support + a paid community add-on
• Perhaps the course + community access for one year, followed by paid support
• Perhaps smaller bite-sized courses instead of one giant program
• Perhaps still offering the high-ticket course, but creating lower-ticket options as well
• Perhaps a premium mentorship program where you can work with me directly

I really don’t know yet!

But I do know that I’m actually having a lot of fun brainstorming new models and I will definitely be sharing my thoughts with you as I get more clarity.

#4) I’ve realized I actually WANT to be a solopreneur.

As usual, this was hard for me to admit, because it goes against most of the traditional “online business” advice. 

I always believed that “scaling” your business involved hiring a team, outsourcing, etc. 

I was working towards those goals because I thought that’s what you were *supposed* to do as an online business owner…

… but I didn’t take the time to reflect on whether that was what I actually wanted.

And after hiring a part-time employee and experiencing that style of business for a year… 

… I didn’t love it. 

Oops.

The silver lining from that experience?

It confirmed that I WANT to run The Unconventional RD brand as a solopreneur and that is OKAY. 

BUT, it also means that I need to design and run my business in a way that might look different from someone who is trying to grow a team and outsource.

So I need to pause for a moment….

…. and make sure that I have the right structures in place to support the solopreneur vision long-term. 

Because the long-term plans of someone who wants to grow and support a team look different than a solopreneur-style business. 

At my core, I’m a creator who loves to teach and help people. 

I have zero desire to grow a team and manage people. 

I want to keep this business personal and lean. 

But in order to do that, I probably need to change some things.

So yeah. That’s where my head’s at… 

Anyway, I just wanted to send this email and let you know where I’m at in life and biz at the moment. 

Cause if there’s one thing I know… 

… it’s that being open and transparent has ALWAYS served me well. 

It’s been the cornerstone of my brand over all these years…

…and I miss it. 

So, I’ll probably be sending more of the *from the heart* emails as I work through my feelings and figure out what the heck I want to do with my life and biz in the long run….

Cheers to a new month and new beginnings!

–Erica