There’s a strange place no one talks about. It’s not the beginning, when no one knows your name. It’s not the top when sponsors chase you and big names want to collaborate.
It’s the middle. The slow, quiet middle. Where you’ve built something real, but it’s not flashy enough to draw outside money. You’ve got followers, maybe sales. You’ve earned credibility.
But no one’s knocking yet. You’re not “emerging talent” anymore. You’re consistent. You’re delivering. You’re just not viral, not explosive, not easy to categorise or pitch. And the algorithms don’t reward that.
So you start wondering what you’re doing wrong. You watch people with weaker offers or shallower content blow up. You watch peers score brand deals just because they know someone or have better lighting.
Meanwhile, you’re doing the work, putting out good content, and building trust. And it feels like no one cares. You’re too small for the gatekeepers to notice. But you’re too far in to walk away without it hurting. This is the limbo most solopreneurs hit. It’s brutal. And it’s where most people quit.
Not because they didn’t have talent. Not because they weren’t good enough. But because they got tired of being invisible when they deserved traction. And if that’s where you are, you need to hear this: you’re not stuck.
You’re not delusional. You’re not wasting time. You’re just in the in-between, where the usual paths don’t work and the fancy shortcuts haven’t been offered to you. This is when you stop chasing permission and start building leverage.
The Awkward Space Between Obscurity and Opportunity
You get told to pitch more, network more, and show up more. But what if you already are? What if you’ve sent the emails, followed the tips, shared behind-the-scenes, built the list, stayed consistent, and it’s still not enough?
That’s when you realise this isn’t about effort. It’s about visibility on the right terms. Sponsors want easy wins. They want big numbers. They want proof that their dollars will stretch far. And if your platform doesn’t scream volume, they move on, even if your audience is more engaged than theirs.
The system is built around optics, not substance. It rewards noise. It ignores potential. It measures reach by vanity metrics, not loyalty or conversion. And when you’re sitting in that gap, growing but not huge, credible but not flashy, it’s easy to internalise the silence.
But this is where the smartest businesses pivot. They stop trying to look impressive and start being strategic. They stop chasing the big brands and start becoming the brand people want to follow.
You don’t need external validation to be valuable. You don’t need sponsors to be legitimate. What you need is proof to yourself that you can create income and impact without someone else’s platform. That might mean fewer followers but more buyers.
Less noise, more control. And when you stop thinking of your business as something waiting to be discovered, and start treating it like something designed to dominate quietly, things shift. You stop feeling behind and start playing your own game.
Monetising Without Permission
When you’re too small for sponsorships, you don’t need to get bigger. You need to get sharper. Start by looking at what’s already working. Are people DMing you with questions?
Are your small posts triggering conversation? Are people bookmarking, clicking, and coming back? That’s leverage. You don’t need to chase attention. You need to convert the attention you already have. That means building products and services that reflect what your audience actually wants, not what you think will look legit to outsiders.
Make it easy for people to buy from you. Don’t bury your offer under long funnels or endless lead-ins. Don’t apologise for being small. Small means agile. Small means you can test things fast, adjust instantly, and respond personally.
You don’t need a 10-page deck to launch a product. You need a Stripe account and a landing page that speaks directly to one pain point. If your people trust you, they’ll pay you. Not because you look big, but because you sound like someone who gets it.
You can also ditch the idea that passive income only happens at scale. It doesn’t. It happens with smart systems and targeted offers. If your freebie list is filled with the wrong people, stop giving away freebies.
Create low-cost, high-value entry points that attract buyers, not lurkers. Run a workshop. Offer a paid download. Bundle what you know into something instantly useful.
The point is, you don’t need someone to fund you. You don’t need a sponsor to say yes. You can make money now, quietly, consistently, without begging for exposure.
Affiliate for products you actually use.
Host your own challenges. Sell templates, tools, lessons, sessions, anything that cuts down someone’s learning curve. You’ve earned the right to teach what you know. The trick is trusting that just because it’s not loud doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Your size isn’t the problem. Your belief that size equals legitimacy is.
You’re the Advantage, Use It
You know what sponsors envy but can’t buy? Trust. Intimacy. Loyalty. When you’re small, your people actually see your posts. They read your emails. They reply. You’re not a brand name to them.
You’re a person. That access is priceless. And it means your influence runs deeper than someone with five times your reach. That’s not a weakness. That’s your edge. Because when you say something, they listen. They care. They believe you.
Big creators lose that. They become broadcasters instead of community builders. They can’t pivot fast. They can’t test offers without overthinking. You can. You can launch something on Tuesday and know by Thursday if it’s working. You can shift your entire business in a weekend. That speed is rare. That flexibility is gold. And it’s exactly what lets you outmanoeuvre bigger players who are stuck in systems.
So stop trying to catch up. Start leveraging what only you can do right now. Build offers that sound like you. Write copy that doesn’t try to impress, just connects. Use your energy where it matters, building products, nurturing your audience, and stacking proof.
You don’t need to act like a big brand. You need to act like a scrappy, focused, unstoppable business owner who’s tired of waiting for permission. Because once you stop measuring your success by who notices you, and start measuring it by who buys from you, the whole game shifts.
You’ll stop feeling behind. You’ll stop second-guessing every move. You’ll wake up knowing that even if no one sponsors you, you’re still getting paid. Still growing. Still building something that’s yours.
That freedom is the goal, not clout, not numbers, not brand deals. You want to be untouchable. And you get there by deciding that no one else gets to determine your worth.
Until Next Time
Discover more from Dominus Owen Markham
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