You don’t need tens of thousands of subscribers to build a real business.
You need 300 people who’ve actually talked to you.
Jo Barnes has spent 15 years testing this idea across multiple six-figure launches, an e-commerce exit, and 45 countries traveled with a laptop. Her take: 30,000 passive followers who occasionally skim your content are worth less than 300 people who actually know your name.
On this week’s Sacred Business Stories, she explained why most people fail at audience building. It’s not a strategy problem. It’s a visibility problem. And fixing it is simpler than you think.
The Real Reason You’re Not Growing
Jo runs strategy calls with aspiring entrepreneurs. She keeps seeing the same pattern.
“What’s blown me away is how much creativity and talent people have,” she told us. One client had 20 published books on Amazon. Solid work. Real effort. But the books weren’t selling.
Jo asked the obvious question: Who’s your audience?
Silence.
“That seems to be the sticking point. I’ve got this creativity and talent to build stuff, create stuff, launch products. But I stop when I have to go and actually build an audience.”
Creating products feels safe. You can do it alone, in private. Telling people about them? Being visible? That’s where people freeze.
Here’s what Jo said next that stopped me:
“I think people feel that they have to reveal themselves in some way in order to do that.”
That’s the real barrier. Not strategy. Not tactics. The fear of being seen.
The 300 vs. 30,000 Rule
Jo’s been in online business since 2010. She watched Facebook go from a place where you could actually talk to people to a content farm where engagement means nothing.
Her take:
“You could have 30,000 people on your list. If you haven’t engaged with them, if you’re not connected with them, it’s 30,000 people who are just maybe reading your stuff every now and again.”
Compare that to 300 people you’ve actually talked to. Responded to. Connected with.
“That is so much more valuable than 10,000 people who you never speak to and who just occasionally watch a video.”
I shared my own experience to back this up. My first online business generated multiple six figures consistently for years. The most I ever had on my email list? Fewer than 1,000 subscribers. Never broke that number. The difference wasn’t scale. It was clarity. Every person on that list knew exactly why they were there. The relationship was strong.
The math isn’t about reach. It’s about depth.
The 30-Day Challenge That Actually Works
Most people sit around wondering what brilliant insight to post. What amazing note will make people subscribe?
Jo’s challenge flips that completely.
For 30 days, don’t post your own content at all. Instead:
Find people whose work resonates with you. Comment on their posts. Restack notes you find interesting and add why it mattered to you. Share other people’s stuff. Respond to comments on your own page like a human being, not a content machine.
“If you did that a couple of times a day for the next 30 days, you would start to increase that engagement and that relationship building without a shadow of a doubt.”
This isn’t theory. It’s how Facebook worked in 2010 when Jo built her first audience. It’s how Substack works now. The platforms that let you actually connect with people are the ones worth your time.
One more thing: don’t use AI to respond to comments. “You can tell it a mile off,” Jo said. “Don’t do it.”
Nobody’s Watching Your First Videos (Use That)
Jo shared a stat: around 935,000 videos get uploaded to TikTok every hour.
Her point? When you’re starting out, nobody’s watching. That’s not a problem. That’s freedom.
“Those first videos you do, nobody’s watching. Nobody cares. It doesn’t matter. Just do it.”
She found a content creator named Simon Squibb who’s now everywhere in the UK, doing street interviews, promoting his book. She went back and found his videos from four or five years ago.
“They were terrible. Absolutely terrible. He was falling over his words. Talking about really boring stuff.”
But he did two-minute videos every single day. For years. By the time anyone noticed, he was good. Now he’s got ads in tube stations.
Nobody saw him practice. They only see him now.
The Ego Trap for Experienced People
Jo’s been doing this for 15 years. She’s had six-figure launches, sold an e-commerce business, built and rebuilt multiple times. And she still struggles with this:
“I can’t look like a beginner again.”
New platform. New rules. New skills to learn. Her ego says she needs to show up as the expert. That keeps her from being transparent about what she’s still figuring out.
The shift came when she realized something: people don’t want to learn from untouchable experts anyway.
“I think people want to learn from people who are like them. They want to relate. They want to feel that you’re going to trip up.”
Someone once told her: “Jo, I learned just as much from the things you get wrong as I do from the things you get right.”
She shared a story about one of her first webinars. Seventy people showed up. Great success. Then she couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. She’s fumbling, shaking, and finally admits on camera: “I’m ever so sorry, guys, but I can’t figure out how to turn this webinar off.”
Someone came on and helped her. She thought it was over. Turned to her husband and swore. Then the comments started rolling in: “We’re still here, Jo.”
She’d been sharing her mistakes all along. That’s why people trusted her.
One Goal. Everything Else Feeds It.
Jo still uses Facebook. But not to grow her Facebook page.
“My goal is to increase my Substack subscribers. That’s my goal. Facebook feeds that goal.”
She sees people spread thin across five platforms, trying to grow all of them at once. They post everywhere, respond nowhere, and wonder why nothing’s working.
Pick one goal. Let every other platform serve that goal. You won’t get overwhelmed. You’ll stay aligned. And you’ll actually make progress.
The One Thing You Must Do
Jo’s final point was urgent enough that she interrupted the wrap-up to say it.
“If your goal is to monetize, please build that email subscriber database. It’s so important.”
Platforms change. Facebook in 2010 felt like Substack feels now. Eventually the marketers descend. The algorithms shift. The magic fades.
But if you have an email list of people who actually want to hear from you? They’ll come with you when everything else changes.
“Whatever you do, please build that email database.”
About Jo
Jo Barnes runs The 50 Plus Nomad Club on Substack. Her motto is “Adventure never retires.”
At 53, she’s currently backpacking through Brazil, heading to the Amazon, then Colombia and Central America. She’s also running a new e-commerce business and recently launched travel challenge cards on Amazon.
If you want a practical picture of what building on Substack actually looks like, she recommends her post on how to make $2,600 a month in your first year. It follows a fictional character named Jane through 12 months of realistic growth: 47 followers by month three, a $9 PDF launch, small workshops, layered income. No hype. Just math.
Find her at club.the50plusnomad.com or search “The 50 Plus Nomad” on Substack.
What Jo’s Insight Means for You
Jo kept returning to one idea: most people don’t fail because they lack strategy. They fail because they won’t be visible. They won’t engage. They won’t start while they’re still uncertain.
The 300 people who matter aren’t going to find you while you’re hiding. They find you when you show up, talk to them, and keep showing up even when you’re still figuring it out.
Resources Mentioned
Books: The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
People: Simon Squibb, Frank Kern, Ryan Deiss, Jeff Walker, Gary Vaynerchuk, James Clear
Thank You
Thank you Dr. Tara Cousineau 💛, Rebecca Weston, Ani Chisom, Corine van der Werf, Noelle Richards, and many others who joined us live with Jo Barnes and Carolina Wilke! And thank you, Jo, for sharing so openly.
P.S. All previous Sacred Business Stories episodes are in our archive. Each one covers what actually happened behind someone’s business, not just the highlight reel.
Subscribe if you want next week’s conversation in your inbox. We do this every week because watching others figure it out, including the stumbles, helps you figure out your next move.
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