Most businesses don’t fail because they’re bad at what they do. They fail because they never build a system that reliably brings in revenue and leads.

They start strong, chasing whatever marketing trend is hot at the moment. One week, it’s Instagram reels. The next, it’s TikTok, followed by an experimental run with LinkedIn thought leadership.

But at no point do they stop and ask: does this compound? Is it sustainable in the long run? What happens if it goes away?

Every successful business (especially in the creator/SME world) has one main engine — a single, central force that generates revenue and makes everything else work.

Everything else? That’s just support.

It supports the core engine in working as well as possible.

Let’s talk about what a real growth engine looks like, and more importantly, how to build one without becoming a one-trick pony.

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If you’re a Strategic AF regular, you know I talk about ​diversification​ a lot and that I encourage you to NEVER depend on a single channel, especially if that channel is rented, like social media.

No matter how diversified you are, though, there will always be one primary channel. I like to call it “the one source of truth” — the channel that you spend most of your time growing, creating content for, promoting, and so on.

Of course, this would also be your main growth engine. Let’s look at a few options.

Types of growth engines — what’s great and what sucks about each

There are plenty of ways to grow a business, so this is by no means an exhaustive list. It is, however, a list of the most sustainable and easy-to-leverage growth engines.

1. The email list/newsletter (compounding trust and revenue over time)

If you’ve been in my world for more than five minutes, you already know how I feel about this one. An email list is the closest thing to business insurance you’ll ever get.

It’s an asset you own, a direct line to your audience, and, statistically speaking, the highest ROI marketing channel out there (​up to $40 revenue​ for every $1 spent).

But most people avoid email because they think it’s too slow, too much work, or too old-school compared to the dopamine drip of social media.

They’re half right — it’s not easy or fast.

Then again, what is?

Why it’s great:

  • You don’t have to fight an algorithm for visibility — your audience actually gets your message.
  • Email still converts better than social media, ads, or SEO.
  • It builds trust over time, making it easier to sell without feeling like a used car salesperson.

Why it sucks:

  • It takes time to build a high-quality list.
  • It requires consistency, and most people abandon their list the moment life gets busy.
  • You have to constantly bring in new subscribers because email lists naturally shrink over time.

Best for: solopreneurs, coaches, service providers, and creators who want a reliable, low-cost way to drive revenue over time.

If you want stability, predictable sales, and the ability to grow without relying on a tech company’s mood swings, email is your best bet. It’s what I’m betting on too — you’ll see below why the other options don’t fit my business model as well.

Still, email is not the only game in town.

2. The content ecosystem (long-game authority building)

Some businesses don’t need an email list to thrive — at least, not directly. Their growth engine is content that lives forever — blog posts, YouTube videos, or podcasts that keep bringing in new leads year after year.

The idea is simple: create high-value content that ranks in search or gets recommended by algorithms, and let that traffic turn into customers over time.

Why it’s great:

  • Unlike social media, which disappears into the void after 24 hours, content compounds.
  • A well-ranked blog post or YouTube video can generate leads for years.
  • When done right, content makes you the go-to authority in your space.

Why it sucks:

  • SEO is a long game. Expect months (usually years in all honesty) before you see real traction. With AI in the picture now, the SEO world is more unpredictable than ever.
  • It’s insanely competitive — Ahrefs reports that almost ​97% of published web pages get exactly zero Google traffic.​
  • You have to keep updating content to keep it relevant. Otherwise, it dies a slow death.
  • You still depend on algorithms you don’t control to get your content in front of your audience.

Best for: niched experts, SaaS companies, and businesses that want to attract high-intent leads without relying on paid ads.

SEO and content marketing built my first business from scratch. This was my first growth engine, so I’m somewhat emotionally attached to it. Not enough to turn a blind eye to its limitations, though.

Overall, this is a great engine if you’re patient. Not so great if you need money yesterday.

3. Referral and word-of-mouth (the reputation engine)

Some businesses grow almost entirely through word-of-mouth. They don’t need SEO or ads because their existing customers do the selling for them.

It’s a dream scenario: no marketing budget, no content strategy, just pure reputation power.

But for most people, this doesn’t just happen. You need a deliberate system that encourages referrals.

Why it’s great:

  • Word-of-mouth is free and high-converting — ​77% of people​ are more likely to buy from word-of-mouth than any other channel.
  • There’s an instant trust factor because people believe their friends more than they believe marketing.
  • If you get it right, it can be self-sustaining.
  • There are business networks out there that help you speed things up. My favorite is ​Success Champion Networking​ run by my friend ​Donnie Boivin​ (no affiliation, just an honest recommendation).

Why it sucks:

  • You can’t force people to talk about you.
  • It only works if your product or service is exceptional and if you can deliver a constant level of quality — otherwise, people will stop referring you.
  • It’s unpredictable. Referrals aren’t linear or scalable unless you have a structured program in place.

Best for: service businesses, consultants, high-ticket offers, and companies with exceptional customer experiences.

Referrals work best when paired with another engine — something that keeps the pipeline full when referrals slow down.

4. Paid acquisition (money in, money out)

Some businesses skip the long game entirely and just buy their growth. They throw money at Facebook, Google, and TikTok ads, fine-tune their funnel, and scale as long as the numbers work.

[​If you’re interested in paid growth, check out this deep dive on the topic.​]

It’s fast, measurable, and (sometimes) profitable. But it’s also the riskiest engine because if you get it wrong, it burns through cash at an alarming rate.

Why it’s great:

  • It’s scalable — as long as your ad-to-sale ratio holds, you can keep growing.
  • It gets you immediate results — unlike SEO or email, ads give you traffic and revenue today.
  • It’s data-driven — you can test, iterate, and optimize quickly.

Why it sucks:

  • It’s expensive, and ​costs are rising​.
  • Platforms change the rules constantly, and an account ban can wipe out your entire business.
  • If your product or funnel isn’t dialed in, you’re basically setting money on fire.

Best for: eCommerce brands, SaaS startups, and businesses that want fast growth but also have a long-term plan beyond ads.

A word of caution: setting up ads on big platforms (Meta, Google) is a trade in itself. Do NOT approach it on your own unless you have experience with running paid ads campaigns or a sizeable budget to burn through until you learn how to do it.

Paid ads work best as a growth accelerator — they’re great when layered on top of another solid engine, but dangerous when they’re the only thing keeping your business afloat.

One growth engine does not equal one channel

There’s rarely a business that only has one channel — and for good reason. The most common approach is having several channels that feed your main growth engine.

Here’s what my setup looks like:

While I use multiple channels (I only added the main ones to this graph), you can see how they all feed off each other.

  • My newsletter dictates my content strategy.
  • What I write here gets repurposed for social media and the ​blog​.
  • Every issue gets syndicated to ​Medium​.
  • In turn, social media, the blog (through SEO and repurposing), and Medium feed my list with new subscribers.

I wrote about ​repurposing here​ and how it helps me keep my sanity intact and avoid churning out mediocre content just to feed the insatiable bots.

How to build your own growth engine

Email is my biggest revenue and growth driver. Yours could be an entirely different platform.

Whatever platform brings you the most revenue should benefit from most of your attention. Funnel people there and nurture that platform before any other.

  • If your growth engine is email, use content, ads, and referrals to feed your list.
  • If your growth engine is content, use email to nurture and convert that traffic i.e. send traffic from your email to your blog, podcast, YouTube channel.
  • If your growth engine is word-of-mouth, use email and content to stay top of mind with past customers.
  • If your growth engine is paid growth, build another one that’s not entirely dependent on your advertising budget on the back of it.

The goal isn’t to be everywhere. It’s to be consistent with one primary growth engine and have a system that keeps it running — so you’re not stuck on a never-ending hamster wheel.