In this solo episode of Million Dollar Grit, host Julie Chenell examines the stark contrast between the upbeat external narrative of the economy—stock market stability, social‑media hype, and seemingly thriving businesses—and the internal experience of many entrepreneurs who are facing declining sales, longer buying cycles, and financial pressure. She attributes the disconnect to post‑pandemic spending shifts, government stimulus exhaustion, and the amplifying effect of mainstream media and algorithm‑driven platforms that prioritize sensational, aspirational content. Julie cites data from her own coaching community (85‑person Voxer mastermind, thousands of Funnel Gorgeous students) showing that 99% of business owners are seeing revenue dips compared to 2020‑2021. She frames the downturn as a cyclical phenomenon, referencing the “Fourth Turning” theory that history moves in 20‑year cycles, and reassures listeners that no season lasts forever. Her core prescription is the “float” mindset: rather than hustling harder, entrepreneurs should conserve energy, focus on strategic revenue‑generating activities, adopt affordable bootstrapped tactics, and invest in relationships and coaching. She contrasts costly, high‑risk launch spending with the longer‑term ROI of coaching and network building. The episode ends with a motivational call to embrace the struggle, trust the cycle will turn, and keep the business lights on while floating through the current wave.
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Hey everyone, this is Julie, and today I want to talk about the disconnect I'm seeing outside, inside when it comes to the experience of the business owner from the outside and internally what's happening. Welcome to Million Dollar Grit, the podcast that dives deep into the world of entrepreneurship, where tenacity meets strategy and dreams meet reality. My name is Julie and I explore the raw, often overlooked truths of what it takes to succeed in business and in life. It's not just about the glossy success stories, it's about the grit it takes to get there. So this is kind of a weird thing to describe because it's slippery on the outside right now in our world and in the business world. Everything seems like status quo. There is a— there are a few signs that things are unraveling or uneasy, but All in all, you know, stock market's doing okay. People are posting on social media, you know, businesses humming along, right? Launches, funnels, content, everything, everything just seems generally normal. But on the inside, there is a rising unease, if you will, with people that I coach, uh, with people that I see in real life. And it's just, I don't know, I don't know how to describe it. It's like a crisis of, identity, opportunity. There are a lot of people who are feeling like their business, like sales-wise, they're kind of in a crisis. And so I don't know how to reconcile this pattern that I'm seeing where on the outside everything is projecting to look fine, but on the inside a lot of people are falling apart. And if you look at the average everyday American right now, Even though the stock market is doing okay and everything is running as usual, a lot of us are struggling to afford even just food, our homes, not able to get mortgages, you know, buy cars. Like, there's a problem. There's like a weird disconnect happening from the— what the news shows, what social media shows, what the algorithm shows, and the actual experience for all of us. Okay, so that I think I'm trying to unpack and unravel because I mean, I coach, I have 85 people in my Voxer who have one-on-one access to me. I have thousands of students that I interact with in programs over in Funnel Gorgeous, and the same questions, the same fears, the same crises seem to come up again and again and again. It's clearly a pattern. Okay, so what's causing this disconnect? What is causing, you know, Sally Sue over here to have sort of an internal meltdown and feel like she's the only one? Because outside everything looks fine, but meanwhile, 90% of the people she's watching on social media are also having a meltdown. I think, honestly, it is the fault of media, whether it's the mainstream media or the algorithm, right? Because we are being fed the stories that sell, the stories that get clicks. I heard someone say, and I'm sorry, I can't remember who it was, that social media and the algorithm is the race to the bottom of the brainstem. And whatever kind of hits us in the gut the most is what is going to get seen most. And so this tends to be aspirational stuff, stuff that's just frankly not true misinformation. And so it's only when someone influential is willing to like swim in the other direction or call attention to some reality going on underneath the surface that we can start to be like, no, you're not alone. You're not weird. This is happening across the board to a lot of people. So that's sort of my foggy, you know, precursor to what I'm about to say next. If you are a business owner, and you are struggling, it feels like sales are harder, right? The buying cycle is longer. People are not paying as close attention. You are literally the majority. Of 85 people in my mastermind, and then my own business and my own private consultancy and Funnel Gorgeous, 99% of business owners are seeing a dip, less revenue than the 2 years prior in 2020 and 2021. If you started your business in 2020 or 2021, you probably had an elevated sense of what the market will bear. I don't know all the psychological factors that contributed to why there was such a hyper-buying cycle in those 2 years. There was a lot of money flowing, whether it was the PPP money, it was the you know, money, you know, put in our account from the government. It's EIDL loans. There was a lot of spending in those two years, not to mention sort of the way that we distract ourselves as, as humans when we're in a crisis and pandemic or lonely, we're going to buy stuff, right? We're, we're in a fundamentally capitalistic society. It's a consumer-type society, but that's all wearing off, right? So 2022 was like a harder year. 2023 is proving to be even harder. So you are not alone. So that's like kind of good news, also bad news, because I think sometimes we like it if we think the problem is just ours, because then we can go hunt for a shiny object that's going to fix us, because everybody else has got it together, we don't. And so there's some like comfort in thinking you're the only one. So when I say, hey, you're not the only one, it's like, oh crap, this is actually a bigger problem. Maybe it's a problem that I can't fully control, and that can feel scary. On the flip side, it can also be reassuring, which is, hey, if this is in fact a bigger problem, and hey, if this is something that you don't fully have control over, and hey, there are other people that are having this problem too, there is this magical thing called letting go that can provide some relief. Relief. So here is my advice if you are resonating at all with this. Number 1, no season lasts forever. In fact, I have this book on my end table that I cannot remember the title of, which is such a classic Julie thing, but I will find it and tell you. And it's about, um, the cycles of history and how we, we tend to go through these turnings. I think it's called The Fourth Turning. We tend to go through these turnings every 20 years or so. So there's 4 turnings in a cycle, which basically is like a human lifetime. Nothing lasts forever. So that means that this slog we're in now, this sort of desert, um, of sales that we're in now is not going to last forever. It also means that when you're in a growth season, growth doesn't last forever, right? Everything in nature is cyclical. Everything has an end. So if you are in a slog right now, I promise it will end. And worrying that it won't is just a waste of energy and resources. And think about it. It's going to end one of two ways. You're going to either pivot, right? It's either going to end because your business is not going to light you up anymore and it's not going to be worth it and you're going to pivot, or it will end and your growth will resume. And in both cases, I promise you will be okay. So that's like sort of the letting go mantra of like, this is going to be okay, don't worry about this. But then it's like, okay, but what do I do? What do I do while I'm in this slog, right? So here's my analogy. When you are in the ocean and you are treading water, right, and the waves are choppy and disruptive and you are, you see a boat in the distance. Swimming hard towards the boat or the life vest is going to tire you out. It's going to cause you to panic because you're going to get tired and then you will start to take in water. Whereas if you go on your back and you lie on your back and you float, you will not tire out. Now it will take longer for the boat to get to you. You'll have to sit in the water longer, but you're going to have the oxygen and the strength and you're not going to drown in that panic. So my advice to you is to float. Most businesses right now need to assume the float position. That doesn't mean don't work. It means how do you work in your business to outlast the waves, right? To wait for the boat, to wait for the cycle to end, right? When the waves eventually stop thrashing, you still want to be alive. Your business wants to be in business. Your lights are still on. The instinct is to do the opposite. We want to speed up, we want to hustle harder, we want to sell faster, we want to sell more. That panic kicks in and we have to resist that urge and actually slow down. So how do we slow down and how do we float in business? Number one, I think you want to really get a good grasp on what are strategic revenue-generating activities that matter and what are the things that are busy work that make you feel like you're moving, but you're not. Number 2, find affordable and bootstrappy ways to reach your goal versus the, oh my God, it has to be this ideal way, right? That, that's what gets us in debt. I see this a lot when people are like, okay, I'm going to launch this offer. And then they go spend $30 grand on, you know, designer and ads person, all this copywriter thinking that spending all of that money is going to net you so much more money. And I would argue that if you had taken that $30,000 and you had invested it in a coach for a year, right, and you had bootstrapped the actual launches, that money would go far, far farther than if you just sunk it into one particular campaign. Number 3, continue building relationships and growing your network. If you listen to my podcast, my last one, my origin story of how I got to Million Dollar Grit, I talk about the moments in which I realize that your network is everything and that having people around is really so important in business. And make sure you're working with and alongside people who understand that we're in a float season. So don't try to go after a coach or a tactic that's suggesting that you're going to get 10x growth in a season where it's clearly not that. It's like, read the room. You know? So these are some just sort of practical examples. And so the next time that you sit down at your computer and you feel like, oh my God, I gotta work faster, I gotta work harder, I gotta sell more, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, you know, when you get in that sort of cycle of panic, just remind yourself, I'm in a float season. The goal is to be still in business, lights on, floating in the sea when the waves finally calm and when this cycle ends. Remind yourself the cycle will end. It will either end in a pivot or you will start to grow again. And in both cases, you will be okay. Talk to you soon. And there you have it, folks. Another dose of Million Dollar Grit. I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired, equipped, and ready to face your own entrepreneurial journey with resolve. Remember, until next time, embrace the struggle, harness your grit, and keep pushing forward. You're stronger than any challenge you face. I'm Julie Chenell, and this has been Million Dollar Grit.
