A Business By Any Other Name

Lead generation, risk, and the emotional burden of words.

Welcome to Brain Trust, your monthly coaching and advice column. Each month I answer questions from paid Think Piece readers on business, strategy, mindset, and more.

Let’s dive in.

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🤔 Brain Trust

“Is it risky to stop *running a business* for a while and instead to rely wholly on a third-party platform to generate leads?”

Photo by Melanie Pongratz on Unsplash. We all want a line of customers just waiting at our digital door. Velvet rope optional.

What is a business?

Merriam-Webster defines business as “a usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood.”

Based on your question, it sounds like you will still be doing a commercial activity to support yourself. You will still be receiving leads, and selling them something, even if those leads come from a third-party service. That is a business, and any inherent risk associated with this decision stems from the quality and quantity of the leads being generated, not where the leads come from.

But I think there’s more to this.

Your question makes me want to ask you a question: how do you feel about having a business?

🗺️ Choose Your Coaching Adventure

➡️ If you feel good about having a business, and are worried that using the third-party lead platform means you won’t have one, read Answer A.

➡️ If you feel stressed about having a business, and there is relief in the idea of not running a business thanks to third-party lead generation, read Answer B.

Answer A: Lead Generation Doesn’t Have To Be Your Job

The framing of your question, that using a third-party lead generation service would mean that you would “stop *running a business* for a while,” suggests to me that your experience of your business is largely one of marketing, rather than the service or product you provide.

Is lead generation your primary job in your business?

It doesn’t have to be.

A business needs leads, yes. You need potential customers to find out who you are and to buy your thing.

But finding those leads yourself is not a pre-requisite for having a business. Leads can come through paid ads, passive referrals, affiliate programs, SEO, purchasing mailing lists,¹ social media, flyers on lampposts,² and—yes—third-party platforms.