Own Your Marketing Results: The “It’s My Fault” Rule

Most solopreneurs don’t lose at marketing because they lack talent. They lose because they outsource responsibility.

“It’s your fault” is a brutal phrase—because it implies agency. Seth Godin’s point is simple and sharp: you can’t redo yesterday, but you can choose differently tomorrow. For solo business owners doing content marketing in the U.S., that idea isn’t motivational poster fluff. It’s a practical operating system.

Here’s the stance I’ll take: If your marketing isn’t working, treating it as “your fault” is the fastest path to better results. Not because you should beat yourself up—because ownership forces clarity. It makes you measure what matters, fix what’s broken, and build trust with the audience you’re trying to serve.

This post is part of the SMB Content Marketing United States series, where we focus on what actually moves the needle when you’re marketing on a budget and wearing every hat.

“It’s your fault” isn’t blame. It’s control.

Saying “it’s my fault” is powerful because it returns the steering wheel to you.

When marketing results lag, the default stories show up fast:

• “The algorithm changed.”
• “My audience is broke right now.”
• “Nobody reads blogs anymore.”
• “My niche is too competitive.”

Sometimes those things are true. They’re also not useful on their own.

Ownership doesn’t mean you caused every outcome. It means you accept that your choices are the biggest controllable variable. That mindset shifts you from:

• complaining about conditions → to designing around constraints
• waiting for motivation → to building repeatable marketing systems
• posting and hoping → to creating, measuring, and iterating

One-liner worth keeping: Blame explains the past. Ownership builds the next move.

The solopreneur marketing trap: “I did everything I was supposed to do”

A common response to poor performance is, “I followed the instructions.” Post 3x/week. Use trending audio. Add 30 hashtags. Publish the blog. Send the email.

Here’s the issue: Marketing isn’t a checklist. It’s a feedback loop. If you’re a solopreneur, you don’t get a marketing department buffer. The loop is you.

Why “following instructions” fails in content marketing

Most advice is generic by necessity. Your business is not.

A playbook can’t fully account for:

• your pricing and margins
• the sophistication of your buyers
• your local vs national service area
• the buying cycle (urgent fix vs long evaluation)
• your credibility signals (reviews, case studies, referrals)

So when you do “everything right” and it still doesn’t work, the next question isn’t “Who’s wrong?” It’s:

What choice did I make that created this outcome—and what choice will I make next?

That’s agency. That’s freedom.

A quick January reality check (seasonal context)

Early January is when a lot of small businesses set revenue goals—and also when motivation is high but attention is fragmented. Your prospects are resetting budgets, choosing priorities, and looking for “proof” before they commit.

This is a great time to adopt an ownership rule for Q1: Every piece of marketing has a job. If you can’t name the job, you’re publishing noise.

Three ways ownership grows your audience (and your leads)

Owning outcomes isn’t just internal mindset work. Your audience can feel it. It shows up in how you communicate, how you follow up, and how you improve.

1) You stop performing and start helping

When you take responsibility for results, vanity metrics lose their grip. You care less about looking busy and more about being useful.

Try this shift:

• Instead of “I need to post more,” ask: “What does my buyer need to believe before they hire me?”
• Instead of “I need to go viral,” ask: “What’s the smallest audience that could reliably support my business?”

For many solopreneurs, the answer is shockingly modest.

Example math (simple, but clarifying):

• If you sell a $2,000 service package
• and you want $10,000/month
• you need 5 sales/month

If your close rate on qualified calls is 25%, you need 20 qualified calls/month.

Now marketing has a concrete job: generate 20 qualified calls. Not “get more likes.”

2) You build trust by owning the whole experience

Responsible marketing isn’t only about what you publish. It’s about what happens after someone pays attention.

A lot of SMB content marketing fails because it’s disconnected:

• blog post promises clarity → intake form is confusing
• Instagram talks “premium” → website looks dated
• newsletter gives tips → sales call feels pushy

When you adopt the “it’s my fault” rule, you start seeing the whole path as yours to improve:

• messaging
• offers
• pages
• follow-up
• onboarding
• referrals

Snippet-worthy: Trust is built when your marketing promise matches your delivery.

3) You create consistency without relying on willpower

Accountability is the hidden engine of consistent content creation.

If the outcome is yours, then consistency becomes less emotional. It turns into a schedule and a standard.

A practical cadence that works for many U.S. solopreneurs:

• 1 helpful blog post per week (SEO-focused)
• 2–3 short social posts that point back to it
• 1 email newsletter that adds context + a soft CTA

Not forever. Just long enough to gather signal.

Make ownership operational: a simple “fault audit” you can run monthly

Mindset is nice. Process pays bills.

Here’s a lightweight monthly review I’ve found effective when you’re doing content marketing on a budget.

Step 1: Pick one metric that reflects leads

Choose one primary KPI for the month:

• booked calls
• qualified replies
• contact form submissions
• trial starts
• quote requests

Keep “views” and “followers” as secondary.

Step 2: Answer these five questions (in writing)

1. What did I publish and promote? (list links/titles)
2. What happened? (numbers only)
3. What choice likely caused the result? (be specific)
4. What will I keep? (one thing)
5. What will I change next month? (one thing)

The “fault” part is question #3. Not to punish yourself—so you can control what happens next.

Step 3: Turn the change into a constraint

Constraints make execution easier. Examples:

• “Every blog post must include a CTA to one offer.”
• “Every post must include one real client example.”
• “Every email must link to a single page (not five).”
• “No publishing unless the headline is specific.”

The content marketing choices that usually are your fault (in a good way)

If your marketing isn’t producing leads, it’s often one (or more) of these controllable choices.

Your topic selection is too broad

Broad topics feel safe but don’t rank and don’t convert.

Instead of “How to improve your marketing,” write:

• “A 30-minute weekly marketing routine for local service businesses”
• “What to post when you have no case studies yet”
• “How to price a done-for-you service without scaring people off”

Specificity is a competitive advantage for solopreneurs.

Your CTA is missing or mismatched

If your content is educational but your CTA is “Book a call,” you may be skipping the middle step.

Options that fit different buyer readiness levels:

• “Reply with your website and I’ll send 3 fixes” (high intent)
• “Get the checklist” (medium intent)
• “Read this next” (early stage)

You’re publishing but not distributing

For SMBs, “publish and pray” is real.

A simple distribution habit:

• Share the post 3 times over 10 days with different angles
• Turn one section into a short video
• Answer one FAQ from the post in a LinkedIn/Facebook text post
• Re-send the email to non-openers with a new subject line

Same work. More surface area.

You’re avoiding proof

Most solopreneurs wait too long to add credibility.

Proof doesn’t have to be fancy:

• a before/after screenshot (with permission)
• a short testimonial
• a “what we tried / what happened” mini case study
• a personal failure + lesson learned (done professionally)

Owning mistakes can increase trust because it signals you’re not hiding.

People also ask: Does taking responsibility mean ignoring external factors?

No. It means you separate what’s true from what’s actionable.

Yes, platforms change. Yes, the economy shifts. Yes, some niches are crowded. But you still control:

• your positioning
• your offer design
• your consistency
• your follow-up
• your client experience
• your willingness to iterate

Agency and freedom go together. If you’re a solopreneur, agency is the job.

“Owning our choices is a celebration of our future agency.”

That line is worth taping above your desk.

Your next move: pick one marketing choice to own this week

If you want more leads from content marketing, stop asking, “What did the algorithm do?” and start asking, “What did I choose?” That’s not self-blame. That’s strategy.

Choose one lever for the next seven days:

• tighten your niche for one piece of content
• add a single clear CTA to your top blog post
• email your list with one useful idea and one offer
• repurpose one post into three distribution assets

Then run the fault audit at the end of the week. Small changes compound fast when you’re consistent.

What’s one marketing result you’ve been treating as “bad luck” that might actually be a choice you can redesign before next Friday?

Source inspiration: Seth Godin’s “It’s your fault” (Jan 8, 2026) — https://seths.blog/2026/01/its-your-fault/