Sooner or later, when starting an online business in retirement, you’ll come up against this dilemma.
Consistency Is Brilliant Advice. Right Up Until It Isn’t.
We hear it everywhere in the online business world.
- “Just keep showing up.”
- “Stay consistent, and it’ll pay off.”
- “Success is just around the corner – you only have to keep going.”
And honestly? It’s good advice. Mostly.
But I want to have an honest conversation with you today, because I’ve been sitting with something that’s taken me a while to admit out loud.
I was consistent. Very consistent. Day after day, I showed up, did the work, posted, emailed, promoted. I did everything the gurus say you should do. And for a long stretch of time but if I’m really honest with myself – it was getting me nowhere.
Now, my first instinct when that happens is to question the programmes I promote. Were they the problem? No. I know they’re good. I’ve earned over $20,000, part-time, with them over the years. So if the programmes aren’t broken, then – and this is a slightly uncomfortable question – what is?
The answer, when it finally clicked, was simple. And a little humbling.
The strategy.
Consistency and Strategy Are Not the Same Thing
This is the distinction that changed everything for me.
Consistency is about effort. Strategy is about direction.
They sound similar. They’re not.
You can be wonderfully, admirably consistent – and still be walking the wrong way. In which case, all that consistency does is get you to the wrong place very reliably. You arrive exhausted, having done everything right, and wonder why you’re not where you expected to be.
I’ve met a lot of people in that position. I’ve been that person.
The moment I stopped asking “Am I working hard enough?” and started asking “Am I working in the right direction?” – that’s when things began to shift.
What I Actually Changed
I made three decisions. None of them were easy, but all of them were necessary.
First: I shifted my focus from social media to blogging.
I’ve never been a huge fan of social media. It’s noisy, it’s relentless, and in my experience, the shelf life of a post is measured in hours. You pour energy into something, it gets a handful of likes, you feverishly engage with those who comment to support you, and then it disappears into the feed. (Tip: I still create social media posts, but now I add them to my blog as well.)
A blog post, on the other hand, keeps working long after you’ve hit publish. It sits there quietly, getting found by search engines, bringing in readers who were actually looking for what you wrote. That suits me perfectly. I’d rather spend an afternoon writing something that works for months than chasing likes every day.
Second: I let go of two businesses that used to be profitable.
This was the hardest one.
They’d both had their day. Good days, actually – days when they paid well and I was glad I’d stuck with them. But they’d declined sharply, and at the point I made this decision, they were actually costing me money every single month. Not paying me. Costing me.
And yet I kept hoping. Just one more month. Maybe it’ll bounce back. Maybe I’m just going through a rough patch.
That’s the trap, isn’t it? When something once paid you well, it’s almost impossible not to keep hoping it’ll return to its former glory. Walking away feels like admitting defeat, as if all those months of work were wasted. But here’s what I’ve come to understand: stopping something that no longer works isn’t giving up. It’s making room. Room for the things that actually align with where you’re heading.
Third: I replaced them with something that actually fits.
I invested in some better blogging tools – because if blogging is going to be my focus, I should do it properly.
And I joined a $10-a-month business that aligns closely with two of my blogs’ content and my own interests.
Simple, affordable, a revised marketing plan, and helpful, responsive support. The kind of thing I’d have leapt at years ago if it had existed.
The Question That Cuts Through Everything
If you’re feeling stuck right now – whether in a business, a strategy, or just a habit that doesn’t seem to be paying off – there’s one question I find cuts through the noise better than any other:
“If I were starting fresh today, would I choose to spend my time on this?”
If the answer is yes, carry on. But if the answer is no – or even a hesitant “probably not” – that’s worth listening to.
You already have the good sense to know when something’s off. Most of the time we don’t need more data or more time or one more month. We just need permission to act on what we already know.
So I’m giving you that permission. Stopping something that’s draining you isn’t failure. It’s wisdom.
The funny thing is that I started my online business with a blog, because that was what I enjoyed. Then ‘they’ told me I needed to be on social media, so I did as I was told, and went onto social media. Thank goodness I kept my blog ticking over, because social media hasn’t worked for me, and it’s left me feeling drained.
Two Questions I’d Love Your Thoughts On
I’m curious about your experience, because I know this resonates with a lot of people who work online.
1) What strategies have you used when something stopped giving a good return on your time?
2) When do you decide enough is enough – six months? A year? Longer?
One Last Thought – For Those Who Haven’t Started Yet
Everything I’ve shared above is about refining a business portfolio that already exists. But what about those of you who haven’t started yet – who read posts like this and think “I’d love to do something, but I’m worried about the risk”?
Here’s my point of view: some caution is sensible. But too much caution has its own cost. Every month you wait is a month you’re not building anything. And at some point, waiting becomes the riskiest thing of all.
If you’re looking for somewhere genuinely low-risk to begin, the $10-a-month business I mentioned above comes with a free 72-hour tour – no credit card, no pressure – so you can look around before you commit to a single penny. The team builds together, the product is real (digital or physical), and the foundation goes back to 2011.
Although you earn more money if you do build your own team, it’s not actually essential. You can wait for the team to build round you while you just enjoy the product.
There really isn’t a lower-risk starting point than that.
👉 Start your free 72-hour tour — JoyHealey.com/ZilaraTour
And finally — since we’ve been talking about consistency without strategy, I’ll leave you with this.
It’s often attributed to Einstein, though the internet can never quite agree on that. Whoever said it, I think they were onto something:
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
If what you’re doing right now isn’t building the life you want, perhaps it’s time to try a different direction. Not harder. Different.
Joy Healey is an affiliate marketer and blogger based in Norwich, UK. She writes about building a genuine online income alongside a busy life – without hype.
This post contains affiliate links. Individual results from any business opportunity will vary.
For me Joy, it was not so much a strategy but my theme change recently that made some waves.
I deleted my old theme – it was broken in too many ways – to activate my current theme.
Night-day difference right away as far as my confidence and clarity. I felt good about my blog for the first time in years.
I noticed an increase in Google traffic because my navigation improved dramatically.
Hundreds of dead links vanished. My broken scroll bar pointed to hundreds of dead pages prior. Google picked up on my improvement. I reached page 1 with greater consistency. This is just over a few weeks, so far. A dramatic difference nonetheless.
Hi Ryan,
That’s interesting, my blog has been around for quite a while, so I probably have plenty of broken links to remove. I’d best get busy!