Dec 31, 2025
There’s no shortage of advice for founders - I know because I’m on the internet both creating it and consuming it.
Scroll for 30 seconds and you’ll be hit with a barrage of “must-dos” - email marketing, paid ads, SEO, organic content, community building, conversion copy, automation flows.
All of it matters but what’s often missing is the how.
I was lucky because I have 12 years of marketing experience and I built everything in my own business myself - from the paid ads, Klaviyo flows and optimised page copy.
I have great admiration for founders who teach themself all of that - without prior knowledge of how it all connects together.
It’s easy to be told what to do. What’s harder and significantly more valuable is knowing how to do it, especially when you're bootstrapping.
Strategy without action is a false sense of progress
You can pay for a beautiful strategy document - and many do. Something that lays out your goals, your audience segments, your marketing channels, your content pillars, your financial forecasts.
But if you don’t have the knowledge, technical skill or budget to implement that strategy, it becomes shelfware. Nice to look at, but not something that moves your business forward.
If a strategy tells you to “set up a full email automation flow,” but doesn’t show you how to build that automation - or take into account that your ads budget is £0 - you’re left with direction but no map.
And that’s where so many early-stage founders get stuck because the gap between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it is rarely addressed.
Self-teaching as survival mode
For many of us, especially those building without investors or agency backing, learning implementation isn’t a luxury.
I taught myself CRM automations on YouTube. The way I built them four years ago versus how I build them now is entirely different (and now I have an expert to do it for me). But that process of learning - through trial, error, and iteration - gave me a skillset I wouldn’t have had if I’d outsourced from day one.
It’s the same with creative testing and running paid ads. I manage them in-house, not because I think I’m the best person forever, but because I need to know how the system works before I hand the keys over to someone else.
You can’t delegate what you don’t understand
Eventually, yes, you should be able to outsource. You’ll reach a point where your time is better spent on strategic oversight than day-to-day delivery.
But until that day comes, you will be the person building the flows, writing the copy, testing the creatives, publishing the posts, and interpreting the analytics.
And that’s not a bad thing.
When you understand the fundamentals of what you're asking others to deliver, you become a better manager, a smarter spender, and a more confident founder.
You don’t have to master every channel but you do need to understand the basics well enough to ask the right questions, spot red flags, and know whether the work being delivered is fit for purpose.
Key takeaway for founders:
You don’t just need strategy — you need guidance that bridges the gap between idea and execution.
Learn enough to build, test, and optimise on your own. Use that knowledge to make smarter decisions as you grow. And when you're ready to hand it off, you'll know exactly what good looks like because you built the first version yourself.
Don’t just collect advice. Develop skills. That’s what builds resilient, scalable businesses.
If you have the direction but need help starting, book a free discovery call today.