There’s a version of the plan that sounds really good. You write blog posts. They rank on Google. People find you, some of them buy. It’s called content marketing, it’s been the go-to advice for ten years, and if you’ve been told to “just start a blog,” this is basically what they meant. Thing is, the math changed. SparkToro published research earlier this year using Similarweb data, and one number really got my attention. 68% of Google searches in 2026 end without anyone clicking through to...

Shopify ran a study with The Harris Poll across five countries this year. And there was one number I just couldn’t stop thinking about. 93% of people in the US say they feel at least somewhat ready to start a business. More than half say they could start today. And yet they haven’t. So the problem isn’t readiness. You get stuck in a cycle of “feeling ready.” You just keep reading and watching a little more. You are waiting for that one moment where everything makes sense. Then, before you...

When most people start a business, they have a pretty clear mental image of what “being ready” looks like. A website that looks decent. A logo. Maybe a social profile that’s at least halfway filled out. And I get it. Those things feel like proof. Proof that you’re real, that you’re not just talking about doing something. I found a survey of 500 marketers that came out earlier this year, and one number in it that I wasn’t expecting. Most people had already decided if they were going to contact...