Can I Start a Business If I Don't Want to Be on Social Media?

Discover what's most often the root cause of not wanting to be on social media, and why it needs a double click.

Short answer. Yes, you absolutely don't have to use social media to start a business.

Plenty of businesses start fully offline (mine did), and it’s a great method for testing and validating direction. Building without social media is entirely possible, so long as the work is deeply skilled and getting great results, because word of mouth spread will back it up. The catch is in what gets left on the table. Long-term scalability is restricted, and location becomes highly connected to success. This model isn't a great fit for anyone who wants to keep the business running from a remote island for a month- is it possible though - yes, absolutely.

The real question should be why do I not want to use social media.

When I started experimenting with TikTok, my friends squirmed. I was 43 and heading into a world full of youth. I didn't do it because it felt good, I went in to learn a culture and how it works. That squirm is familiar territory for any who thinks of social media as a personal tool, not a business one. Anytime a squirm shows up, something is being presented as potential growth. It's medicine on display, and the choice is always the same: lean into it and learn or ignore it and stay the same.

A desire to not use social media is nearly always simply a fear of being judged.

It's a deeply human concept - the wish to be in community, and in community, to be accepted. Judgement is the opposite of that, and the fear arrives as a message: I don't want that. The new world of business isn't built on the skills handed out in a 2010 university degree, and accepting that willingly is the first move. What comes with it is learning new thinking habits, new neural pathways. 

Stop reading for a moment and ask - if a post went up on my social media today, who would be the one person you hoped wouldn’t see it?

Now consider whether that person is even a prospective customer. If not, why give them the weight? A furniture-flipping how-to guide was never going to sell to Dad. A girlfriend might buy it though. We all need to ask ourselves who we will listen to.

If you dare to master the art of attention, you are never going to be short of ways to make money.

Choosing to genuinely master the art of getting eyeballs on the work - in a way that feels good, not performed - changes everything downstream. The next ten years of business look different, new opportunities showing up that aren’t even crossing your mind as you consider why you don’t want to use social media. 

On the other side of social media are your people, waiting to be found in the process of you showing up and being wildly yourself.

Entrepreneurship can be lonely, especially early on, and on social media you have a whole heap of people who get that. The algorithm rewards creators who support other creators, and some of the very first people you cross paths with are likely networking alongside the work. A new best friend might be sitting on the other side of the world right now, thinking the exact same thing.

Coming back to where we started, yes, you can choose to launch and build without social media ever coming into the equation. I’d urge you to do that if it comes from a place that isn’t mismanaged fear. Choose that with neutrality is an entirely different place to land.