What if the best growth strategy is not posting more, hacking the algorithm, or building a better funnel?
In this episode, Creative on Purpose’s Scott Perry joins Social Media Escape Club’s Seth Werkheiser to talk about a more human and sustainable way to build a business, creative practice, or body of work. Instead of chasing platform metrics and digital marketing tactics, they explore what happens when you return to the fundamentals: trust, craft, conversations, community, and doing good work with and for the right people.
Scott shares how digital marketing once consumed 80% of his business life, even while producing impressive revenue, and why he eventually walked away from that game. The conversation moves through busking, local music scenes, social media fatigue, sales without pressure, the limits of vanity metrics, and the liberating possibility that you may not need a massive audience to build something that works.
The core idea: you can’t win a game you don’t want to play. And you certainly can’t build a meaningful business by surrendering your time, attention, and integrity to someone else’s rules.
In This Episode
Scott and Seth discuss:
How digital marketing can quietly become the work instead of supporting the work
Why trust transferred from one person to another still beats most online tactics
The difference between vanity metrics and meaningful business momentum
Why doing excellent work for a few right people can outperform chasing thousands of strangers
How Scott left social media without hurting his business
Why sales can become easier when you make promises, keep them, and let people ask for more
What it means to build a business that funds and fits the life you actually want
Essential Takeaways
You don’t need to become a full-time marketer to succeed as a solopreneur.
The work that built businesses before the internet still works: show up, do good work, earn trust, and let people talk.
Audience size matters less than audience quality, attention, and trust.
If a platform is not helping you and is draining your time, attention, money, or effort, it is hurting you.
A business worth building should give you more access to the work and life you want, not less.
The best growth strategy may be to get better at your craft, help the people already close enough to care, and do the work in community.
Memorable Line
“You can’t win a game you don’t want to play.”
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Thank you Kato McNickle, Edgar Huitema, PhD, Claire Machado, Ryan Maxwell, Kyra Faison-Gardner, and many others for tuning into my live video with Seth Werkheiser! Join me for my next live video in the app.
