Stop Buying Tactics: Choose Strategy, Protect Your AIC
- Built on YES
- Sep 15
- 3 min read
How to swap stunts for systems in 3 mindful minutes.
When revenue feels wobbly, even the smartest female founders can slide into “we just need more eyeballs” mode. But attention without alignment is expensive. The antidote is simple (not easy): choose strategy over tactics, build business systems that compound, and make decisions that protect your energy, not just your to-do list.
What really happens (and why it fails)
Most quick fixes chase the wrong problem. The pattern looks like this:
Audience–offer misfit: Promotions aimed at people who’ll never become paying members/clients.
Stunt over system: One-time events drown the ops team, then vanish.
No path to recurring revenue: No membership, no retention loop, no LTV plan.
Energy drain → burnout: Founder becomes the system (DMs, exceptions, last-minute pivots).
Strategy vs. tactics (Built on YES version)
Strategy is a set of choices + systems that create advantage over months: the market you serve, the promise you make, how you price/package, and the operations/automations that deliver it consistently.
Strategy examples:
Family-fit scheduling blocks (if you run services).
A clear new-member promise and onboarding journey.
Membership tiers tied to usage/value.
Referral loops with automatic rewards.
SOPs + automations that reduce hand-holding.
Tactics are the short-run actions that execute the strategy: ads, emails, promos, creator collabs, checkout tweaks.
Tactic examples:
Limited-time promo, email blitz, micro-influencer collab.
Checkout copy update, landing-page test, free-trial week.
Rule of thumb: If it won’t fix the root cause and keep it from coming back, it’s not strategy...it's just noise.
Reality Inventory: AIC Tactic vs. Strategy
Before you spend a dollar, run this quick scan:
Name the problem with data (revenue by time slot or product, show-up/close rates, churn, CAC, refund reasons).
Ask “Why?” five times until you hit positioning, offer, or a system gap.
Frequency check: One-off? Weekly pattern? Monthly trend? Domino effect?
Choose your fix: single action (tactic) or repeatable system (strategy).
Write one AIC policy and embed it in SOPs—no exceptions.
“Must validate offer with 10 ICP interviews before ad spend.”
“Must have referral loop live before any creator collab.”
Notice your default
Under pressure, do you grab the fastest fix, outsource the discomfort, or overcomplicate? Name your pattern, then ask: “Is that what I’m doing right now?” Take one breath. Choose the smallest test that can prove, or kill, your hypothesis. That’s mindful decision-making for women entrepreneurs who refuse to solve the same problem twice.
Make it real (today)
Ten focused minutes:
Pull the last 30/60/90 days of revenue by offering/class/time (or product/channel). Circle the top 20%.
Write five WHYs until you hit a root cause.
Ship one system this week, not a stunt:
Add “Bring-a-Friend” credit + automated post-purchase SMS.
Consolidate into two audience-friendly blocks; sunset dead zones.
Replace generic promo with a specific value promise + onboarding drip.
Post your AIC policy where you’ll see it before you spend.
Red flags you’re buying tactics
“We just need more eyeballs.”
New discount every week.
Collabs with zero ICP overlap.
No CRM or referrals—just vibes.
Decisions made faster than your metrics load.
Final thought: Understand the real problem. Decide if you need a single action or a system. Choose strategy over stunts to protect cash, capacity, and your AIC.
To read a full story about how Erin learned this by spending $5,000 read her Substack: The $5,000 Closet Sale That Didn't Fix Anything
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