In this solo episode of Million Dollar Grit, Julie Chenell explores the reciprocal lessons business owners and content creators can teach each other. She notes that many of her clients are business owners seeking funnel and offer expertise, while a growing number are content creators looking to monetize their audiences beyond sponsorships. For business owners, she argues that mastering content‑creation skills is essential for organic reach, reducing reliance on paid ads, and that this requires a consistent, time‑intensive effort—often an hour or more daily—to produce content, engage with comments, and build community. For content creators, she stresses the importance of developing proprietary intellectual property (IP), frameworks, email lists, and sales funnels so they can generate revenue independent of platform algorithms and sponsorships. Julie positions herself as an offers/funnels strategist rather than a viral‑content expert, advising each group to seek the other’s expertise: business owners might hire ad or content coaches, while creators should consider business coaching to build sustainable monetization structures. She emphasizes moving both sides toward a “middle” where business owners benefit from organic traffic and creators become comfortable selling, ultimately creating more resilient, well‑rounded businesses.
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 Chenell, 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.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Million Dollar Grit. Today I want to do a quick little episode on what business owners can learn from content creators. And what content creators can learn from business owners. The reason I'm doing this episode is because I have spoken to many content creators in the last week or two. This has largely not been my audience for the last 10 years. I would say 80% of my clients are business owners, and then they want to learn about funnels and offers, and they also want to learn about social media and ads. And about 20% of my clients have been content creators who want to monetize their following in some sort of offer. But in the last week, I would say I've spoken to about 80% content creators in my lead pipeline, and that's largely due to the fact that I'm getting a lot of traction on Instagram, and it got me thinking about what each side can learn from the other. You know the saying, the grass is always greener. I think business owners who are struggling with traffic and visibility look at content creators who have hundreds of thousands of followers and feel just really jealous and envious, like, man, what could I do if I had that kind of following? And I think content creators are doing the same thing with business owners. They're saying, well, I'm, I have all these followers and that's great, but I'm primarily making money through sponsorships and brand deals, and I'd really like to have my own thing. What's better? What's the right answer? Of course, you know me, I tend to not be black and white. There is no right or wrong. There is no better or worse, but I want to speak to the business owners first. When you look at content creators with hundreds of thousands of followers, they are doing something that you haven't figured out how to do yet, and you don't necessarily have to figure out how to do if you don't want to, but they have figured out how to speak to the masses. And business owners, when they're building a business, they are not necessarily speaking to the masses. In fact, that's a quick way to be invisible. It's normal to start your business to speak very niche, speak very specifically, and speak to solution-aware customers, people who already know what their problem is and they know what the solution is and they just need to take action and buy. If you are running a business and you are primarily using ads and you want to have organic reach, you are going to have to think of yourself as a content creator in order to get that reach. It's an entirely new skill set. It's going to take several hours a week. You can't just expect that you're going to be able to jump in that game and not need to put in the reps. And the good news is that that organic reach is fiercely, fiercely powerful and worth— it's worth the effort and the energy. But if you're feeling like, "Well, I should, you know, just need 15 minutes a day on Instagram," you're sorely mistaken. And I would say that I fall in this category of business owner, not content creator. I've had a, you know, a small following of about 15,000 or so for the last 7 years, I would say. And I had this idea that Instagram would just take me a few minutes and, you know, that's all it needs. But as I'm studying content creators, and I know I'll never be a good content creator, but I'll just be myself. I'm, I'm already starting to realize, oh my gosh, this is an hour a day or 2 hours a day of work to really focus on the content and the people. It's not just creating the content, it's also responding to comments and responding to DMs and, you know, building stories and, and things like that. But it's a worthwhile endeavor. Now I wanna speak to the content creators who are feeling envious of the business owner. They have something you don't have, and that is a body of work, an IP, a framework, a proprietary mechanism. And you absolutely want to have that in your arsenal because if the algorithm changes or the platform changes, you don't want to be left high and dry. Instagram or TikTok or whatever decides your account isn't worth showing as much. You want to have your own email list, your own body of work, your own IP. This is also something that can transition, transition you from just content creator into full-time media company business owner type status where you're speaking on stages or you're getting book deals or you're getting some show or something like that. But in order to do that, you have to have something proprietary. And that is why taking advice from a business coach who primarily focuses on business owners is so valuable if you're a content creator because I can get you to start thinking like a company, which is what the majority of my work does. I think each side needs the other side. Yes, organic content is going to help save you money on ads, business owners. If you feel like you're spending a lot on ads, the organic game is going to be a lot of time equity, but it can help lower that cost. Content creators, it is going to be uncomfortable to start selling on your account. If your account is primarily filled with hundreds of thousands of people who only know you as a creator who, who have never been sold to, you're probably going to lose some followers. You're probably going to get some hater comments, but ultimately to bring yourself more to the middle. And I think that's the, that's the point here. Business owners, we need to step up our content game. Especially if we want to stop whining about the cost of ads. Content creators, we need to get more comfortable with selling and preparing our audience that we are here to make money, that we are here selling. We're not here just for free entertainment. And if we can push business owners and content creators both more towards the middle of the other person, you're going to end up with a more well-rounded and safe business. Because business owners will have some organic reach in the event that ads start to cost too much, and content creators will have their own email list and their own body of work should the algorithm decide to mess you up. That is the value that I think is, is inherently to be learned from the other side. I do want to mention that, and I don't think anybody thinks this, but I've had a lot of calls this week, a lot of inquiries, and I keep telling everybody, if you want to learn how to go viral on social media, you want to learn how to grow a social media account, I am not the foremost expert on this. I'm getting better. I'm learning quickly, but I am not a content creator and I am not an organic, you know, content queen. I'm an offers funnel business strategist. If you're a business owner and you have all of your offers and funnels dialed in, your marketing dialed in, the only thing you need is traffic, I'm may not be the best coach for you. You may be better served by hiring an ad coach or hiring a content creator coach. It's where the funnels and the offers and the strategy and the positioning live that I can really serve you. And for content creators, this is one of the reasons why I think I'm popping off with this market is because I'm bringing the exact skillset that most of them don't yet have. Anyway, I do wanna say that for as envious as you are of the other side, there is drama on both sides. So just remember, the grass is always greener. You probably have more than you realize in your hands and untapped potential. So get out there and do the work, and I'll 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.
