Backchannel Building ⛏️

insider moves for business owners done playing the algorithm game

Author

Ashley Goes
May 13, 2025

Lemons or Lemonade? 🍋

The premise of this newsletter is simple- To provide business owners with a more effective, higher leverage approach to client acquisition than simply posting on social media (and praying someone other than an estranged aunt engages with it).

I used a simple analogy to describe my approach recently, and it seemed to land well:

Imagine you run a lemonade stand. Your goal is to sell as much lemonade as you can.

Anyone can drink it, but you made it specifically for firefighters.

(There's special juice in it that makes them invincible or something, idk- bear with me)

If you wanted to sell as much lemonade to firefighters as you could, 

Would you set up your lemonade stand on the street in front of your house and hope that they walk by?

OR..

Would you set it up in front of the Fire Station..?

Nowww you're getting it..

If we want to catch as MANY of our ideal clients as possible, 

We simply GO to where they ALREADY ARE.

Whether you work with nurses, executives, SAHMs, runners, nail techs, or dog-owners..

They already congregate SOMEWHERE.

The secret sauce is to FIND where that place is, and establish yourself as the trusted expert in your field there.

Let’s Break It Down 🧱

Social Media is cool.. for reminding your old high school friends that you are still in fact dating the boy that they warned you not to.

When it comes to a tool you rely on to keep your WiFi on, and food on your table? Not so much.

FB ads? Hardly visible unless you’re padding Zuck’s pockets with at least a few grand.

Cold DMs? Literally useless since Meta’s request folder update.

Alright, so we know there are THOUSANDS of humans in the world that could benefit from exactly what we have to offer. How do we tell them about it?

We get in front of OTHER PEOPLES AUDIENCES.

Enter: PARTNERSHIPS.

Our ideal clients are EVERYWHERE. They’re shopping at other stores, listening to podcasts, hiring other service providers. Their attention is ALREADY directed there. So, how do we use THOSE platforms to get our offer in front of them?

My Secret Sauce

First, answer these 3 questions:

  • WHO do they FOLLOW?

  • WHAT do they FUND?

  • WHERE are they FOUND?

Put differently: where are their TIME, MONEY, & ATTENTION already going?

From there, we simply GO IN to those places GIVING, and let the Law of Reciprocity do the heavy lifting for us.

This One Guy..

I’ve always found it helpful to hear real world examples, it’s how I learn best. Here’s one:

A boutique fitness studio owner that went through a private training with me a few months ago landed a partnership with a float spa (first of all: how freaking cool?). He immediately gained access to 20k+ of their email list subscribers, plus hundreds of new eyeballs through foot traffic into their physical locations.

Dude- it only takes 5 new clients to drastically change any given month. Think about the possibilities on a list of TWENTY THOUSAND??

Anotha One

A different coach client of mine ALSO recently landed a partnership with a spa, where she’ll be hosting a series of wellness events that will PAY HER to acquire new leads to sell into her high ticket program.

Pretty cool, huh?

(If you want the full breakdown of exactly how we did this, let me know 🤓)

I’ll leave you with this:

In a world where EVERYONE is doubling down on content, throwing more + more money at ads, & spinning their wheels more than ever, partnerships remain a BLUE OCEAN.

The amount of potential in collaboration is unfathomable, and I want you in on it.

If you’d like some help with this, reply TOOL to this email and I’ll send over the free tool I’ve been working on behind the scenes 😎

Cheers to the impact, the income, and the freedom we’re all capable of 🥂

-Ashley

PS: What do you think of this new newsletter style? What would you like to see added in here? Hit reply and tell me what you want 🫡