Right. Let me tell you about runny jam. Because it’s going to change how you think about your business.
Imagine you’ve got a slice of toast. Lovely bit of toast. And you’ve got a jar of jam. If you spread that jam on one slice of toast, it’s thick, it’s delicious, it covers the whole slice properly. That’s a good bit of jam on toast, that.
Now imagine you’ve got the same amount of jam, but you try to spread it across ten slices of toast. What happens? It’s thin. It’s see-through. It barely covers anything. You can still see the toast through it. It’s… runny jam.
And that, my lovely, is what most women business owners do with their business.
The Runny Jam Business
You’re trying to be on every social media platform – Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, Threads, YouTube. You’re trying to sell to everyone. You’re trying to offer everything. You’re trying to do all the marketing, all the admin, all the customer service, all the product development, all the bookkeeping, and somehow still be a functioning human being who remembers to eat lunch.
You’re spreading yourself so thin that nothing gets done properly. Everything gets a tiny bit of your attention, but nothing gets enough.
Your Instagram is a bit meh. Your Facebook is a bit neglected. Your website hasn’t been updated in months. Your email list exists but you haven’t sent anything in weeks. You started a blog but gave up after three posts. Sound familiar?
That’s runny jam.
What Thick Jam Looks Like
Thick jam is when you pick ONE thing and do it properly. Use Later or Metricool to schedule your posts, Canva to create your graphics, and Flodesk to send your emails. One social media platform. One type of customer. One core offer. One marketing strategy that you actually stick to.
It’s saying “I’m going to focus on Instagram, build a community there, send a newsletter every week, and blog once a fortnight. That’s it. That’s my marketing.”
It’s saying “I work with women who run service-based businesses and I help them get more clients through smarter marketing. That’s what I do.”
It’s not trying to be everything to everyone. It’s being exactly the right thing for the right people.
Why We Do The Runny Jam Thing
Fear, mostly. Fear that if we don’t do everything, we’ll miss out. Fear that if we only focus on one platform, the customers are all on a different one. Fear that if we niche down, we’ll lose potential customers.
But here’s what actually happens when you try to do everything: you do nothing well. Your marketing is inconsistent. Your message is muddled. Your energy is scattered. And you’re exhausted.
And here’s what happens when you focus: you get really good at one thing. You become known for it. People start coming to you specifically because they know what you do and who you do it for. Your marketing feels easier because you’re not trying to juggle fifteen different strategies. And you’ve actually got time to do it properly.
How To Get Your Jam Thick Again
Step 1: Pick one social media platform. The one where your ideal customers hang out. Do that one really well for three months before you even think about adding another.
Step 2: Get clear on who you help and what you help them with. Not “anyone who wants what I sell”. Be specific. The more specific, the better.
Step 3: Choose one marketing strategy and commit to it. Blogging and email? Social media and community? Pick your thing and do it consistently.
Step 4: Say no to the rest. For now. You can always add things later. But right now, you need to focus. One slice of toast. Lots of jam.
The Bottom Line
If your business feels like hard work, if you’re busy but not making progress, if you’re doing all the things but none of them seem to be working – you’ve probably got a runny jam problem.
The answer isn’t to do more. It’s to do less, better. Thick jam, one slice of toast. That’s where the magic happens.
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