Business on the Brink: How Elise Enriquez Stopped Being a Marketer to Save Her Business
Falling for the “Boss Babe” Marketing Illusion
Elise Enriquez is a productivity coach who helps business owners and their teams make the shift from overwhelm to taking back control of their time.
But for years, her own marketing was overwhelming her and pulling her away from the work she loved.
- The online marketing trap: After 15 years in business, Elise fell “hook, line, and sinker” for the flashy “boss babe” marketing approach that promised passive income through online courses and automated funnels.
- The donut maker vs. donut chain dilemma: Without realizing it, Elise shifted from being a practitioner (making the donuts) to trying to become a marketer (running a donut chain). “I wanna make the donuts and I wanna have enough customers come in and buy the donuts on a daily basis and I get to see their faces.”
- Social media burnout: Trying to maintain a social media presence that wasn't generating any clients left Elise exhausted and questioning her business. “Did I post enough on social media this week? And what do I say? And did anybody respond? Oh my god. Nobody responded to my social media post.”
- Weekly newsletter slog: Creating weekly emails that generated little engagement became another drain on her energy, especially since writing wasn't something she loved.
- Course creation catastrophe: Following advice to create a course version of her successful GYST (Get Your Stuff Together) program, Elise invested in course development but then struggled with the high-pressure sales tactics needed to fill it. “I didn't know how to sell. Right? So it's like, great. I have this course and you're telling me to do all of these webinars with all of these cart close pressure, high pressure sales tactics that don't work for me.”
The result? Her business tanked. As Elise puts it, following the “shiny path that all these boss babes were painting” was “extremely confusing and frustrating and demoralizing.”
“It was such a detour to go that whole social media, build a course, webinars, free webinars, pitch, cart close… that whole thing was such a detour for me. And, like I said, it seriously tanked my business.”
In The Expert Up Club: A Splash of Cold Water and New Clarity
The turning point came when Elise joined The Expert Up Club and attended an in-person retreat in Palm Springs.
- The cold-water moment: During a hot seat session, Elise had the realization that if she wanted to build a community or course-based business, she would need to be primarily a marketer—not the practitioner role she loved.
- Permission to drop social media: At the retreat, Elise asked, “Can I just stop including social media in my marketing plan?” The answer was a resounding “Yes!” She realized her ideal clients—business leaders and their teams—weren't looking for coaches on Instagram or Facebook.
- Finding the right frameworks: Through the GEO Framework (Grow, Engage, Offer) and learning about relationship marketing versus traffic marketing, Elise discovered alternatives that felt more aligned with her values and strengths.
- Focus on relationships, not traffic: Instead of trying to build a massive audience through social media, Elise shifted to relationship-based marketing—the very approach that had built her business in the first place before the online marketing detour.
Creating bingeable content: Elise transformed her podcast from primarily featuring guest interviews to including more solo episodes that showcased her expertise—creating content that prospects could binge to nurture themselves.
“I had to figure out what my grow mechanisms are going to be and do it in a way that's sustainable,” Elise explains. “If you want this success to last, you can't have it exhaust you and wear you out and you can't have it be something that feels like taking medicine.“
Finding Marketing That Gives Energy Rather Than Drains It
Since making these shifts in The Expert Up Club, Elise has transformed both her marketing approach and her business results.
- Speaking engagements instead of social posts: Rather than struggling with social media, Elise now focuses on speaking opportunities and panel discussions where she can show up in front of her ideal clients.
- Podcast guesting for relationship-building: Elise leverages podcast appearances where she can demonstrate her expertise through conversation—a format she enjoys far more than creating social media content.
- Monthly instead of weekly emails: Letting go of the weekly newsletter pressure in favor of occasional emails that promote others and highlight her work lifted another burden.
- Deeper client relationships: With less energy spent on marketing she disliked, Elise has more capacity to focus on her clients, resulting in better retention and expanded work opportunities.
- Expanding within organizations: Current clients are inviting Elise to work more deeply within their organizations, including bringing entire teams through her GYST program.
- Energetic shift: The biggest change is in how Elise feels about her business. “It feels like I'm doing it in a way that feels right to me… I feel like I'm attracting the right people and connections to do this the way I really wanna do it.”
Perhaps most importantly, Elise has reclaimed her identity as a practitioner first and a marketer second. She's still marketing—just in ways that align with her strengths and give her energy rather than depleting it.
“Everything that I'm doing just kinda feels closer to me as a person and getting to be how I wanna be,” she reflects. “I'm like, yeah, this is all gonna be fine.”
Ready to ditch marketing that's draining your energy and find approaches that work for your unique business? Join the Expert Up Club and discover how to make marketing suck less.