10 Myths in Online Business (That Might Be Holding You Back)

This episode has been a long time coming. Today, I’m digging into 10 online business myths that I see everywhere. These myths sound like great advice… until they leave you burned out, confused, or questioning whether you’re even cut out for this.

Here’s what I’m covering in this episode:

• Why “passive income” isn’t the magical solution you’ve been promised
• The truth about niching—and why it’s not a life sentence
• Why your offer might not be selling (hint: it’s not just the price)
• What to do before you go chasing the “perfect” tech stack
• The big lie about hustling now so it’s easier later
• How to launch without a picture-perfect website
• What actually matters more than being an “expert”
• Why ease does not equal lack of value
• The myth I hate the most: That there’s a right way to do business

These are the messages that sneak into your brain and quietly make you feel like you're behind, or not doing it "right." So let's call them out, name what's actually true, and make some space for more aligned, sustainable ways of running your business.

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Transcript

Welcome back to another episode of the Biz Magic Podcast, your place for all things tech in your online business with solids of General Biz Chat too. My name is Patty Meyer and I am the CEO and founder of Biz Magic, where my team and I support entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed. By the backend tech of their business, we create, implement, and teach the tweaks that help our clients make a bigger impact with less stress.

Before we dive into today's episode, I wanna tell you about something new and exciting that I am offering here at Biz Magic. Sometimes you just need a friendly space, a little tech help, and someone to say. Hey, did you do that thing yet? That is why I'm super excited to introduce Biz Magic BFF's online biz and Tech community.

It is a Slack hosted, low pressure, high support online community for solopreneurs, creatives and online business owners who want connection. Accountability and access to tech and business support without the noise. So whether you're mid-launch in a tech tangle, or just craving a little company while you work, this is your back pocket biz support crew.

Included in Biz Magic BFFs is access to me, Patty, and my entire biz and tech brain twice a month at Biz Magic's office hours live on Zoom. You can drop in and get quick hit tech support or your business questions answered in real time. You get coworking sessions with this really amazing community. You have support inside the Slack community as well, so you can share.

You can get feedback, you can ask for tech support there, and you can have a general accountability. The good thing is that this is not a space where we have forced engagement. There's no sales, there's no drama, none of that. It is just a place for you to show up and create connection. Other online business owners.

Until now, biz Magic BFF has been an invite only community and I am opening it up to Biz Magic's larger community. So for right now, it is only $30 a month, but the price will go up. So if you wanna learn more, hop on over to biz magic.co/bff. Now let's dive into the episode. Today we are digging into something that has been on my mind for a while, and that is the myths we've been sold about online business.

Because while the online business world is full of creativity and possibility, it's also full of a lot of. Noise advice that gets repeated without much nuance strategies that get sold as proven systems, quote unquote. But they leave out the messy middle and the myths. So many myths, and I get it. When you're trying to grow, it's easy to seek out and latch onto advice that promises simplicity, speed, or guaranteed success.

But when we buy into those myths, without questioning them, we can end up chasing goals that don't fit us. Or here's the big thing, blaming ourselves when things don't work out the way they should. So today I want to walk through 10 of the biggest myths I see in the online business space and what I've learned from.

I guess busting each of them, either personally or with my clients. So this episode is all about permission, clarity, and coming back to center. So let's jump in. Myth number one. Passive income is the goal. I know that you've seen ads that are out there of a laptop on the beach or somebody sipping a cocktail, and there's a headline that says something like, I made a hundred thousand dollars in my sleep, and passive income can be part of your business model courses, digital products, memberships, they can be super, super powerful.

But the idea that it is truly passive, that's the myth behind every passive income is a lot of work. There's creation, setup, tech, maintenance, marketing, customer support, and a lot of emotional energy and brain space that goes into keeping things running. So even when the delivery is automated, you are still involved and you had to have built that at some point.

Here's the other part of passive income is that you have to have an audience for it to be successful. And it takes time, a lot of time to build a successful audience and an audience that's warm, that is going to buy from you in a passive way. Additionally, with passive income, you often have to continue doing marketing.

So it's not really that passive. So if you're exhausted and dreaming of passive income as a way out, I encourage you to take a pause. What you might actually need is sustainable income or leveraged income, something that honors your capacity and delivers value without burning you out. Passive isn't the goal.

Sustainable and aligned is. Myth number two, you have to pick a niche and never stray from it. Nicheing can be really helpful. Clarity helps people understand what you do and who you do it for. But the myth here is that once you choose a niche, you're locked in forever. But that's not how humans or businesses work.

Most of us business owners tend to be multi-passionate. We grow, our clients grow, and when your business evolves, your messaging can evolve with it. You don't have to stay in a box that no longer fits just because it used to make sense on paper and. You may change as a person and the type of person that you serve may grow, your skillset may improve, and therefore your niche becomes a higher level version of the people you were serving already.

So instead of locking into a niche, think about getting specific enough to be helpful. What do you want to be known for? Right now, what problems are you uniquely positioned to solve? Let that be your focus and give yourself permission to evolve because it's gonna happen anyway, so you might as well embrace it and prepare for it.

Myth number three, you need to be everywhere to stay relevant. There is so much pressure to show up on all the platforms. Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook threads, Pinterest. Oh, and. Have you started a podcast and a substack yet? It's a lot. But visibility doesn't mean everywhere. It means being where your people actually are and where you can show up consistently with energy and clarity.

Spreading yourself too thin usually leads to burnout and inconsistent messaging, and you don't need more content. You need clearer connection. The other piece of that is your people aren't necessarily in all of those places either. So not only is it important to figure out what platforms you feel most drawn to, you feel most energized by, but also the platforms where your people hang out because that's where you wanna show up to meet.

With your people. So I would say pick one or two platforms. Go deep in those, build the relationships and let that be enough. Myth number four, if your offer isn't selling, it's probably priced too high. This one hits a deep nerve with me. When something isn't selling, the default assumption is maybe it's too expensive, but in most cases it's not the price or.

It's too low and people. Think, oh, well, why is it so low? It must not be very good. Surprise, surprise. Sometimes a high price isn't the reason. Usually though it's a messaging issue, people don't understand what your offer is or how it helps them, or. You're not reaching the right audience. Again, maybe you're in places and platforms that you don't need to be, or you haven't built enough trust yet with the audience that you have underpricing, your offer does not solve those problems.

It just creates new ones like burnout, resentment, or attracting clients who aren't invested. And who won't pay you or are not, they're not prepared to at this time, may not want to at any point, pay you the higher value that you initially were setting for your particular service. So instead of cutting your price, get curious, clarify your message.

Make sure your offer speaks to a real specific need. Pricing is one small part of a puzzle, but it is very rarely the whole picture of why something isn't selling. Myth number five. Once you find the right system, everything will fall into place. I wish the perfect system myth is everywhere. The idea that once you pick the right tool, wdo notion, clickup, whatever, your business will magically become organized, streamlined, and easy is a load of crap because tools don't create.

The clarity that you're seeking with these systems you do. Systems are really only as helpful as your strategy that's behind them, and they're only sustainable if they match the way that you. Actually work. You could spend weeks setting up a CRM only to realize that you hate logging into it. So start simple.

What are you trying to organize or automate? And check out one of my previous podcasts or blog posts on automation, what is creating friction? And build around that. Don't chase the perfect tool, build the right fit. Math number six. You have to hustle hard in the beginning and then it gets easier. So that one's a bit tricky because it sounds reasonable enough.

Right. If you just kind of push through everything right now, eventually you'll get there and, and you'll get to relax. But what it actually does is normalize burnout. It teaches you that exhaustion is a sign. You're doing it right, that stress is just the cost of success. If you build your business by overworking, you are teaching it to need your overworking.

Instead, build with sustainability in mind. From day one, prioritize set boundaries. Choose your pace and stick with it. Because the truth is that a business built on burnout doesn't suddenly become easeful. But a business built on intention can grow with you. The other piece is that. Business doesn't get easier.

There are parts of it that get easier, but then there are hard parts. Again, there's not a point at which everything will just magically flow and it's super easy and it all is just running without you. I'm sure there are some people that have businesses that that is the case, but there're pretty far and few between.

And the reality is that business is hard no matter where you are in the process. It's not just some easy thing. So. Remember that it is a marathon. It's not a sprint, so you gotta do some hustling, and yes, in the beginning you might work extra, you might do some extra things, but be mindful of that and be intentional with that so that you don't burn yourself out and then expect that that's how your business is going to continue.

When you realize that there is no point at which it just gets super easy all the time. Myth number seven. Your website has to be perfect before you launch anything. This is huge. If you have spent weeks tweaking your website copy, moving your buttons around, or trying to pick the exact shade of green, you are not alone.

Perfection. Isn't the goal when it comes to launching your website functionality is your website is not your business. It is a tool. It can evolve as your offers and your voice evolves and it, it will, and it. Should. You don't need a five page site with branding photos and testimonials before you start making money.

Sometimes a simple landing page or a clear Google Doc can do the job while you're getting all your ducks in a row. So don't let your website become a delay tactic and getting you started. Share your offer, serve your people, and then. You can go back later and clean it up and fix it up. And I think I wanna build on this also for just a second and say that in general.

Started is better than perfect. We will likely never get to a point where we are a hundred percent happy with anything and everything that we do. If we wait for that, it's really just an excuse for us to keep putting something on hold, likely because we're afraid of starting it. So just start it. Allow it to evolve, because again, it is all going to change over time.

So just start, just dive in. It is okay. Which leads me to myth number eight. You need to be an expert in something. This one stops a lot of people before they even begin. Who am I going to offer this to? I don't have a certification. I'm not the most qualified. Who is gonna hire me? Being an expert isn't what makes you valuable.

Being helpful is people don't always want the person who has the most credentials to help them. They want somebody who gets it. They want someone who's walked a similar path, who's figured out some things for themselves and is willing to share. You don't have to know everything. You just need to know enough to be useful to certain people, and to be honest about that.

While you're still learning new things, because if you think about it, if you wanna hire a business coach, let's say. And you're looking at different options of people to hire as a business coach, and you find one who has run multiple seven figure businesses for decades, like that's cool, right? Having that kind of person as a coach is really exciting.

But holy crap, if you've never had a business before, that might be a little overwhelming and a little intimidating to start with somebody at that caliber, and they probably have way more. Stuff than you are ready yet to, to start implementing or to learn. So it might be better for you to start with somebody who's been in business for five years and has maybe a smaller business so they have a similar type of experience.

So when we look at it from that perspective and think about the people you might hire and why you might not hire the. Biggest and best and most experienced. It gives you a little bit of confidence and just starting because there are always people who know less than you about the things, and they are the ones that need you so that they can continue to grow in their journey.

You have lived experience and that lived experience is valuable. Your process has worth, you don't need to be the expert in the room. You just need to be the person who shows up with something real to offer. Myth number nine. If it's not hard, it's probably not valuable. So there's this belief in the business world that I've seen a lot, which is that if something feels easy, it must not be worth much.

But very often what feels easy to you is exactly what others need help with, right? This sort of builds off of myth number eight, that thing that you do without thinking the shortcut that you figured out, the intuitive way that you work with clients. That is your magic, that's your expertise, that is your value.

Don't discount it just because it doesn't feel difficult to you. Because there are lots of things that you would pay somebody for that is very easy for them. That doesn't come easy to you. The value of your work is not measured by how much you suffer to produce it. It's measured by how deeply it helps someone else.

So if what you do can feel good and easy to you, hell yes. That's amazing. And finally. Myth number 10. There is a right way to do business. No, no. No, there is no right way to do business. There are some things that are out there that are helpful to learn, but there is no one right way to do it. And this is for me, the, the myth of all myths.

The idea that somebody else has the secret formula, that there's a correct strategy structure, tech stack, or schedule, that if you follow the right path. Everything will click and you'll have an amazing, successful business is just not true. The truth is that there is no one right way. There's only the way that works for you, for your business, for your people, and for your life.

And that might mean breaking rules. That might mean walking away from a business model that used to work. That might mean building slowly, quietly. Intentionally and that's allowed. All of those things are allowed. You don't need to do business the right way. You need to do it your way. So there you have it.

10 myths that I have experienced and seen. Over the time working in my business and there, and particularly these myths drive me crazy because when you get lost in these myths, you start to question whether or not you deserve to be doing what you're doing or whether or not you're good enough or whether or not you're smart enough, you know?

And, and I just think that's bullshit and I don't. Stand for that. And so I, I think this is actually a very long past due episode and I'm excited to have brought this to you. And I want you to take a minute and think about what would shift for you if you let even one of these myths go. How much lighter might your business feel?

How much more honest and aligned could your choices be? This isn't about rejecting all strategy or ignoring proven practices because they're there for a reason. It's about coming back to what works for you and letting that be valid. Take the advice, take the strategies and do with what you want. Pick what works for you, what feels good for you, and let the rest go.

That's that. So that's it. Thank you so much. I always appreciate you listening. I always wanna hear from you if you wanna share any myths that you have stumbled upon that I didn't mention, or, you know, you wanna just share your experience of letting go with any of these myths. Please feel free to reach out to me.

I'm patty@bizmagic.co. Or you can find me on my website@bizmagic.co. And of course, we are here to help you with all the things and uh, I would love to work with you in a capacity that makes sense. So feel free to reach out at any time and I look forward to talking to you next time. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Biz Magic Podcast.

Like most small businesses and podcasts, we rely heavily on word of mouth. So if you like what you heard today, or in any episode, please share with your friends and colleagues and rate, subscribe, and comment on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time, cheers to your magical biz success.