~by Haley Lynn Gray~
When I started posting, I had a great and thoroughly naive idea: I’d write excellent content out of my little MBA brain, people would adore it, share it, and it would go viral.
What actually happened is that I wrote post after post and the same three people read them.
I shared into Facebook groups and got nothing. I’d drop a link with no introduction, or re-share a page post straight into a group, and it would sit there. It felt very much like being invisible.
That period lasted a long time. Here’s what I’d tell you about it now.
The stages, so you can find yourself on the map
It isn’t a smooth curve. It goes in phases, and knowing which one you’re in makes the whole thing considerably more bearable.
Silence. Nothing happens. The same handful of people respond, usually friends. This is the longest phase and where almost everybody quits.
Recognition. People start to know your name. Someone mentions they’ve seen your posts. Nothing has converted yet, but you’ve stopped being a stranger.
Inbound. People approach you. In my case I went from begging people to take a free consultation to having more requests than I could handle.
Pricing power. Then I could charge. Then I could charge an amount that actually reflected what my time and expertise were worth.
That last shift is the one nobody tells you about. Visibility doesn’t just bring more work — it changes what you’re able to charge for the same work, because a known supplier isn’t competing on price.
The mistakes I was making
The silence wasn’t only patience. Some of it was me doing it badly.
Dropping links with no introduction. A bare URL asks people to click on faith. Nobody does. Once I started writing a few sentences explaining why someone should care, things changed measurably.
Re-sharing the same thing everywhere. Posting to my page and pushing that identical post into groups. Each context needs its own framing, and it takes two minutes.
Broadcasting instead of participating. I was posting at groups rather than being in them. The people who get results are commenting on others’ posts far more than they post their own.
So before concluding that persistence is your problem, check whether you’re doing the thing that doesn’t work, consistently, and calling it persistence.
What to do during the silence
“Keep going” is true and useless on its own. Concretely:
Aim at a number of posts, not a result. You control how often you show up. You don’t control response. Set the target where your agency actually is.
Pick one thing you’ll do every week and never miss. I’ve sent a newsletter every Thursday for years. The specific channel matters less than the fact that it’s never skipped — consistency is what builds recognition, and irregular excellence builds nothing.
Talk to individuals. The fastest route out of the silence isn’t better posts, it’s conversations. One real exchange beats a week of content, especially early.
And watch the leading indicators. Engagement is a lagging one. Before it moves, you’ll notice people mentioning they’ve seen your posts, someone referencing something you wrote weeks ago, a person arriving already knowing what you do. Those come first, and they’re evidence.
What it actually took
I started the Women’s Entrepreneur Network with zero members. It passed 50,000 and now has more than 77,000.
That didn’t happen because I found a tactic. It happened because I kept posting through a long period where it was reasonable to conclude nothing was working — and because I fixed the things I was doing badly along the way rather than repeating them faithfully.
It was a lesson in patience and persistence, and I’d add a third thing now: paying attention. Persistence at the wrong activity is just a slower way of getting nowhere.
You may be hearing crickets. Keep posting, keep talking to people, and fix the parts that obviously aren’t working.
It does shift. It just shifts later than anyone tells you.
More on why it takes 500 to 1,000 posts and what actually works in groups.
About the author
Haley Lynn Gray is the founder of Leadership Girl, of In2itive Biz Solutions, and of the Women’s Entrepreneur Network — a community of more than 77,000 women in business.
She writes here about what happens when running a business starts demanding that you lead one. More about Haley →
