Growing Without the Noise
How service businesses build sustainable practices outside the algorithm
Somewhere along the way, we were convinced that visibility equals viability. That if you're not posting, you're not growing. That your worth as a creative professional could be measured in engagement rates.
Frankly - it's exhausting. And for most of us, it's also wrong.
The advice to "post consistently" didn't emerge from studying successful service businesses. It came from platforms that profit from your attention and influencers who sell courses on getting more of it. It works brilliantly - for e-commerce brands moving volume, for coaches selling to thousands, for businesses that need massive reach to sustain thin margins.
But when you're a photographer booking twenty weddings a year, a therapist with fifteen regular clients, or a designer taking on eight meaningful projects, the math stops making sense.
THE CAPACITY QUESTION
Ask yourself: how many clients can you actually serve well?
For most creative professionals, the answer lives somewhere between five and fifty annually.
Not five hundred. Not five thousand. A number small enough that you could name them and remember their stories.
Which raises an uncomfortable question: why are we marketing like we need to reach thousands of people every week?
The push for constant visibility comes from a different business model entirely - one built on volume, velocity, and viral moments.
When you need to move products to masses or fill digital courses with hundreds of students, that model works. You're playing a numbers game where more visibility directly correlates to more revenue.
But service businesses don't work that way. You're not trying to convert one percent of a hundred thousand strangers. You're trying to be the obvious choice for ten people who are actually ready, actually aligned, actually able to work with you.
The strategies aren't interchangeable. Yet somehow, we've convinced an entire generation of talented practitioners that they need to play the volume game to survive.
Somehow, we've convinced an entire generation of talented practitioners that they need to play the volume game to survive.
WHAT GETS LOST
Here's what I've noticed watching creative professionals and service providers try to keep up with content demands: they're not just exhausted. They're building the wrong things.
Time that could go toward deepening their craft goes to filming reels. Energy that could strengthen client relationships gets spent studying algorithm changes. Attention that could spot opportunities in existing work gets fragmented across platforms that reward novelty over nuance.
The cost isn't just burnout. It's the slow erosion of what made your work distinctive in the first place.
I fell into this trap myself - obsessing over the numbers next to the little red heart, trying to be the perfect blend of entertaining, educational, and inspirational, and making sure I didn’t pull all my hair out when the reel I spent the last 5 hours on just disappeared. And I watched the quality of my thinking deteriorate in direct proportion to how much I stressed over posting…or stressed over not posting!
The best work requires space.
Sustained attention.
Time to let ideas develop past their first obvious iteration without the unnecessary stress of trying to keep up with the everchanging tool.
THE CONVERSION REALITY
The data tells a different story than the advice does.
Social media converts at an average of 1.5%. Referrals convert at 3.74% - more than double. Past clients who already trust your work convert at even higher rates. Yet most practitioners spend the majority of their marketing energy on the channel with the lowest return.
It's not because they're naive. It's because the advice is ubiquitous. Every platform, every marketing voice, every well-meaning business coach reinforces the same message: show up consistently, stay visible, post daily or you'll be forgotten.
But when someone actually needs your services - when they're getting married, ready for therapy, planning a rebrand - they're not scrolling feeds hoping to stumble across the right person. They're asking friends who they trust. Searching for someone local. Looking for referrals from people whose judgment they respect.
Your ideal client isn't waiting to discover you on Instagram. They're living their life until the moment they need what you do. And when that moment comes, they'll find you through the channels they actually trust: recommendations, search, existing relationships.
The question isn't how to be more visible. It's how to be findable and trustworthy when someone's actually looking.
The question isn't how to be more visible.
It's how to be findable and trustworthy when someone's actually looking.
WHAT ACTUALLY BUILDS
I'm watching a different pattern emerge among the builders who aren't burning out.
They're not posting daily. They're not chasing trends. They're not trying to be everywhere. Instead, they've built systems around the moments that actually create growth: staying connected with past clients, making it easy for satisfied customers to refer them, being present in the places their ideal clients already gather.
A wedding photographer I know takes on thirty weddings a year. She hasn't posted on Instagram in six months. Her calendar stays full because she sends anniversary notes to past couples, maintains relationships with three venues that trust her completely, and creates such a seamless experience that clients can't help but recommend her.
She's not an anomaly. She's just optimizing for depth instead of reach.
This is what sustainable growth looks like for service businesses: exceptional work that gets remembered, relationships that get maintained, systems that keep the right people connected to you without requiring constant performance.
THE PERMISSION YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR
You don't need to be on every platform. You don't need to post daily. You don't need to turn your creative process into content.
You need a strong portfolio that represents your best work. A website that makes it easy for people to understand what you do and how to work with you. A way to stay connected with people who've already experienced your work. Relationships with complementary businesses who understand your value.
Most of all, you need permission to stop playing a game that was never designed for how your business actually grows.
The platforms will tell you that consistent posting is essential. Of course they will - their business model depends on your content. Marketing influencers will insist you need to show up daily. That's what they're selling.
But your business doesn't need you to feed algorithms. It needs you to do work worth remembering and build relationships worth maintaining.
The platforms profit from your exhaustion.
Your business doesn't have to.
— Caitlin Backeris
Full Excerpt from Field Notes. This is where I share what I'm learning about building businesses that grow through depth, not noise. If this resonates, subscribe here to get new essays in your inbox.
If you are interested in learning more about the tool I've been building that helps you to focus on your clients and your craft - click here. (currenlty in beta)
