Beyond Marketing Resolutions: Build a Growth Practice

January is when solopreneurs rewrite the same marketing promises: “Post three times a week.” “Finally start a newsletter.” “Do LinkedIn every day.” And by mid-February, most of those resolutions quietly disappear—not because you’re lazy, but because a resolution is a one-time decision and marketing is a repeatable practice.

Here’s the stance I’ll take: if you’re building a bootstrapped business in the US without VC, you don’t need a more ambitious marketing plan. You need a smaller plan you can keep—plus a circle of people who will help you keep it.

Seth Godin recently wrote about moving “beyond a resolution” by joining or building a community of support—a practice that keeps a promise. For solopreneurs, that’s not self-help. It’s strategy. Community is one of the few marketing “advantages” you can create without money.

Resolutions fail because they don’t change your calendar

A resolution usually sounds like a goal. But goals don’t run businesses—systems do. If your marketing strategy doesn’t change what you do on Tuesday morning, it’s not a strategy. It’s a wish.

A practice is different. A practice is a commitment you can point to:

• A specific block on your calendar n- A repeatable output (one email, one post, one outreach sequence)
• A standard you can hit even on low-energy weeks

This matters more for US startup marketing without VC because you can’t “buy your way out” when motivation dips. Paid acquisition is expensive, inconsistent, and usually punishes beginners. A consistent practice—content, community, and partnerships—compounds.

The compounding effect is real (and measurable)

Content marketing tends to behave like an asset. One helpful article can bring leads for years. One email list can convert again and again. One strong relationship can introduce you to ten buyers.

A stat I use to anchor this: 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing organic presence is their top inbound priority (HubSpot, State of Marketing, 2024). That’s not because SEO is trendy. It’s because it’s one of the few channels where time can substitute for budget.

The catch: SEO and content only work if you publish consistently enough for the market (and Google) to trust you.

Sustainable marketing habits for solopreneurs (the 30-minute rule)

If your marketing practice requires two hours a day, it’s fragile. If it takes 30 minutes, it has a chance.

My rule: build a “minimum viable marketing system” you can run in 30 minutes a day (or 2–3 focused hours a week). That’s long enough to create momentum and short enough to survive client work, family, and reality.

A simple weekly practice (built for one-person businesses)

Pick one primary output and one supporting action:

1. Primary output (60–90 minutes/week):

   • One SEO-driven article, or
   • One newsletter issue, or
   • One short “how I solved this” case study

2. Supporting action (30 minutes, 3x/week):

   • Repurpose into 3–5 social posts, or
   • Comment meaningfully on 10 posts from your niche, or
   • Send 5 targeted outreach messages to potential partners or referrals

This is how you “move beyond a resolution.” You stop promising yourself you’ll “do marketing,” and instead commit to a small set of actions that create organic growth.

What should you choose: SEO, newsletter, or community?

Answer first: choose the one you’ll still do in April.

Then use this tie-breaker:

• Choose SEO content if your buyers search for solutions (“bookkeeping for therapists,” “HIPAA-compliant intake forms,” “Shopify returns workflow”).
• Choose a newsletter if your buyers buy through trust, nuance, and ongoing education (consulting, strategy, high-consideration services).
• Choose community building if your niche has strong identity and shared problems (founders, creators, operators, regulated industries).

You can add the others later. Start with one.

The real accelerator: a community that keeps you honest

Seth’s point about a private discussion group is bigger than the group itself: accountability plus encouragement makes follow-through more likely.

Solopreneurs often treat marketing as a solitary grind—write, post, hope. That’s backwards. The fastest organic growth I’ve seen comes when founders create a small circle where:

• Progress is visible
• Feedback is candid
• Standards are shared
• People ship work even when they don’t feel like it

This is the missing “force multiplier” for bootstrapped startups. When you don’t have a team, you borrow one—socially.

What a “marketing cohort” looks like (and what it isn’t)

A useful cohort is not a giant Slack with 4,000 people posting promos. It’s not hype. It’s not performative.

A useful cohort is small enough that people notice when you disappear.

Here’s a structure that works:

• 4–8 solopreneurs in adjacent niches (not direct competitors)
• One 45-minute call every two weeks
• A shared doc with:
  • This week’s output (link)
  • One metric (emails sent, replies, signups)
  • One obstacle
  • One ask

If you want it to drive leads (not just vibes), add one rule:

Every meeting ends with one concrete distribution action: “Who will see this?”

Because publishing without distribution is just journaling.

The low-budget community flywheel

If you’re in the US Startup Marketing Without VC world, community can become your distribution engine:

1. You publish something useful.
2. Your cohort gives feedback and pushes it out.
3. You learn what resonates and refine.
4. Trust grows, and referrals follow.

That’s the flywheel. No ad budget required.

A practice-based marketing plan you can keep (90 days)

Answer first: the goal of the next 90 days is consistency, not scale.

A 90-day window is long enough to see compounding and short enough to stay focused. Here’s a practical plan designed for a one-person business.

Week 1: Set your “promise” (the simplest version)

Write a one-sentence marketing promise:

• “I will publish one helpful piece per week for 12 weeks.”
• “I will send one email every Thursday for 12 weeks.”
• “I will do 3 short customer interviews per month and turn them into posts.”

Then define your minimum:

• Minimum output: what you’ll ship even on a bad week
• Standard output: what you’ll ship on a normal week

Example:

• Minimum: 300-word email
• Standard: 900-word email + one customer story

Weeks 2–4: Build the habit loop (make it hard to fail)

Habits stick when friction is low. Make the work easy to start:

• Create templates (newsletter sections, post outline, CTA block)
• Pre-commit to a publishing day/time
• Keep a running “idea parking lot” (15 titles ready)

If you’re relying on inspiration, you’re relying on randomness.

Weeks 5–8: Add a distribution ritual (the part most founders skip)

If you do nothing else, do this:

• Every piece gets 5 distribution touches within 72 hours.

For example:

• 1 email to your list
• 1 LinkedIn post with a specific takeaway
• 1 short thread or carousel version
• 1 direct message to 3 people who’d genuinely care
• 1 community post (your cohort, a niche group, or a customer Slack)

That’s not spam. That’s stewardship.

Weeks 9–12: Turn signals into a simple offer

Organic growth becomes leads when your content points somewhere clear.

Add one low-pressure next step:

• A one-page service menu
• A “reply with the word X” email CTA
• A short intake form
• A 15-minute fit call (only if you have capacity)

Your cohort can help here too—nothing reveals a muddy offer faster than explaining it to peers.

People Also Ask (solopreneur edition)

How long does organic marketing take to work?

Answer first: expect 6–12 weeks to see early traction, and 3–6 months for meaningful compounding if you publish consistently. The timeline shrinks when distribution and partnerships are part of the routine.

Should I join a paid community or start my own?

Answer first: join first if you’re stuck; start your own if you’re consistent.

If you’re not shipping work yet, a paid community can create pressure and support. If you’re already shipping, a small cohort you organize will usually be more aligned and actionable.

What if I don’t have time for content marketing?

Answer first: you don’t need more time—you need fewer formats.

Pick one format you can repeat quickly (email, short case studies, or SEO articles). Then protect one block on the calendar. Marketing without VC is mostly a prioritization problem.

Build the circle, keep the promise

A resolution says, “I’ll try.” A practice says, “This is who I am on Thursdays.” For bootstrapped founders and solopreneurs, that shift is the difference between sporadic posting and a lead pipeline you can actually count on.

If you take one action this week, make it this: either join a circle of support or start one. Find a handful of people who respect the work, will tell you the truth, and will notice when you don’t ship.

The question I’d leave you with: What marketing practice could you keep for 90 days even if January motivation disappears—and who will help you keep it?