The 4 major ways businesses "break", and how to fix them
Why your business might be broken even if you’re doing “everything right”.
Hi,
Do you know the feeling where you show up, “do the work”, and nothing’s happening. You scroll your feed and see other businesses using the exact same tools, and think:
“Okay, I must be doing this right. I’m using all the same platforms. This should be working.”
Unfortunately, just because you’re using the same stack as someone else doesn’t mean it’s working for you.
It’s not the tool that makes the business. It’s whether that tool is doing the job it was meant to do.
If it’s not actually producing results, then it’s not contributing to the health and success of your business.
This is where most businesses get stuck. They mistake presence for traction. They confuse effort for impact. They mistake a platform for a pipeline.
Every sustainable business has:
A discovery platform that brings in new, aligned customers
A monetization platform that reliably turns attention into income
A finished, viable product that people want
A hungry market that’s ready to buy
Miss one and things start to wobble. Miss two or more, and you don’t have a business, you have a brilliant, exhausting illusion.
Let’s break each piece down, kill the myths, and build a clearer path forward.
1. Discovery Platform ≠ Community Platform
Most entrepreneurs think they have discovery because they’re visible.
They post on Instagram. They start a community. They hand out bookmarks at cons. They run giveaways and share launch announcements.
But visibility isn’t the same as discovery.
A true discovery platform introduces your work to new people who are aligned with what you make and primed to become buyers.
Let’s bust a few myths:
A convention can absolutely be a discovery engine if new customers walk up to your table and get pulled into your orbit.
Kickstarter can be discovery if strangers are finding your campaign through the platform.
Substack can be discovery if people are subscribing through recommendations or Notes.
TikTok or YouTube can be discovery if you’re showing up in feeds outside your existing bubble.
The key question isn’t what platform you’re using, it’s “Is this consistently bringing the right new people into my ecosystem?” If the answer is no, then you don’t have a discovery platform, you have a soapbox in an empty room.
2. Monetization Platform ≠ Product Shelf
Just because something is for sale doesn’t mean it’s selling.
A monetization platform turns attention into revenue. That’s it. It doesn’t matter if it’s digital or in-person:
Kickstarter is a monetization engine if it funds your launch.
A convention table is a monetization engine if people are buying your stuff.
Substack is a monetization engine if people are converting to paid subscriptions.
Gumroad is a monetization engine if you have consistent sales.
You might have a platform in name, but not performance.
Maybe you’ve uploaded products, set up checkout links, even designed a bunch of bundles and rewards, but if nobody’s buying?
That’s not monetization. That’s a product shelf collecting dust. You don’t need fancier automation or a prettier store. You need something people want, offered in a way that makes them say yes.
3. Product ≠ Project ≠ Prototype
Something isn’t a product just because it’s finished. A product is something that’s:
✅ Finished
✅ Packaged
✅ Viable
✅ Valuable to your market
If it’s not finished, it’s a project. If it’s finished but not selling, it’s a prototype. If it’s finished and selling, it’s a product.
That distinction matters. A real product:
Solves a problem or fulfills a fantasy
Meets or exceeds expectations
Has packaging that positions it to sell
Has proven traction with actual buyer
Sometimes the solution isn’t more marketing. Sometimes the product needs to be better. That’s not failure, that’s iteration.
4. Market ≠ Crowd
Just because you have followers doesn’t mean you have a market. A market is a specific audience that:
Knows your kind of work exists
Has a desire for it
Is willing to pay for it
Sees your product as a satisfying answer to that desire
If you’re desgning bird houses, and your following is mostly haunted house fans, that’s not a market, it’s a mismatch. If you’ve got a hundred likes on every post and zero sales, you’ve got attention, not alignment.
Markets have buying behavior. They say:
“When’s the next one coming out?”
“I bought this and loved it. What else do you have?”
“This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
A true market moves products. If they’re not moving, you don’t have a market, you have a crowd.
Platforms aren’t inherently good or bad. What matters is the job they’re doing for you.
Kickstarter is amazing for some. For others, it flops. Substack can be life-changing, or a quiet void. Conventions can be massively profitable, or a total loss.
It all depends on:
Who you’re attracting
What you’re offering
How it aligns with what people want
It only counts if it’s working to fulfill its intended purpose.
Business Diagnostic
If you are having issues, then run through this checklist.
Discovery
Are new, aligned people discovering me each week?
Are they customers in my niche?
Are they joining my list or following me because they want more?
Monetization
Is money coming in from people who weren’t already fans?
Do I have more than one sale source?
Are my offers converting?
Product
Is it finished, polished, and professional?
Have strangers bought it and enjoyed it?
Do I know what need it fulfills?
Market
Do I know who my customer is?
Can I find and reach them?
Do they show up and spend money?
If you’re missing any of these, now you should know what to fix. Once those tools to do their job, you’ll start building a system where:
Discovery brings the right new people
Your product is ready for them
Monetization meets them where they are
The market is already hungry
When all four connect? Then you’re in business.
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash