I’ve been guilty of this more times than I can count, and I’ve watched other businesses make the same mistake over and over. Things aren’t looking good—your bank account’s nearly empty, options are running out, but there’s a flicker of hope. You convince yourself you can turn it all around with one last big marketing, sales, or advertising push.
Problem is, you don’t even have the money to run the strategy. So you beg, borrow, and scrape together whatever you can. You crunch the numbers, talk to a digital ads agency, a hotshot salesperson, maybe even that TikTok influencer who swears they can make you go viral. If everything goes perfectly, you’ll cover your costs and save the day.
The problem?
Marketing, sales, and advertising almost never go perfectly. They almost always take longer and cost more than you think.
Here’s a common trap: You borrow $30,000 to run Facebook ads—$10,000 a month for three months. If it works, you’re saved. If it doesn’t, you’re not just broke—you’re $30,000 in debt. And what usually happens is that you spend those first three months learning, which means your results are mediocre (or worse).
Now it gets dangerous. You double down and borrow another $30,000 for another three months. You’re $60,000 in the hole. You’ve learned more, things are starting to click, but you still need 3–6 more months to see real results. And if you run out of cash before that happens, the game’s over.
This isn’t just marketing—it happens in sales too. How many times have you hired an expensive “sure thing” salesperson, only to get zero results after three months? Advertising can be just as brutal.
I’m not saying don’t fight for your business. Pound the pavement. Run scrappy, low-cost campaigns. But never—ever—spend money you don’t have, or your last bit of money, on marketing, sales, or advertising while expecting immediate payback. That’s gambling, not strategy.
Here’s the better approach: treat every marketing, sales, and advertising push as a test. That means funding it separately from your operating budget. Assume you won’t see a return right away—mentally, you’re lighting that money on fire. The win might come later, in the lessons you learn.
If you’re serious, budget for nine months. The first three will be a mess. The next three, you’ll start to see traction. And in the final three, you might finally have something worth scaling.