De-Scaling My Business: Moving Back to Services After Years Selling Courses
Pivoting your business can be exciting, energizing and really scary. You’re leaving behind what's potentially worked for years to strike out in a new direction in hopes for better opportunities or a better-fit business model.
This isn’t my first pivot, and it likely won’t be my last - but it is an important turning point in my business journey and one I hope you’ll find interesting and inspiring if you’re also feeling pulled to make a major change too.
A little backstory on my business
As of writing this in mid 2026, my business is 7 years old, but my story starts way before then…
I trained as a Production Designer for film and TV (even getting my Master’s degree from University of Southern California’s prestigious film program)
After a few years working in the film industry, I realized the hectic on-set lifestyle wasn’t going to work for me long term, especially once I had children
So I moved to France with my now husband and started fresh, translating my practical project management skills and creative thinking from film into working with small businesses on their marketing. From local photographers, wedding planners and even luxury apartment rentals, I found a deep love of the work behind-the-scenes with these types of small busiensses.
Then, after being “let go” whilst on maternity leave, I finally took the leap and set up business for myself.
First, I offered done-for-you website design work but quickly realized that one-off projects and pixel pushing weren’t for me and I created my first digital product.
It was part luck, part skill and part timing that helped my first template take off and the success of my first scalable offer gave me the confidence to say goodbye to client work for good (or so I thought).
I then spent the better part of the following four years creating, launching and selling well over 50 individual courses, workshops and templates. I even found and fell in love with online events and shifted my business to focus on collaborative marketing and virtual events for the last few years, including hosting several events of my own each year.
I truly LOVED the work of creating these offers, hosting my events and managing everything behind the scenes. Between the visibility, leadership and big-picture vision, I started to realize that a lot of the work of being a successful course creator wasn’t something I actually enjoyed… or even wanted.
Why I’ve decided to “de-scale” my buisness
Like with all big life and business decisions, there were several reasons that I decided to shift my business from solely selling scalable online courses and digital products to mostly providing one-on-one services.
The online course business isn’t what it used to be
Back in 2020 when I first started selling digital products and courses, there was a big demand for quality content and lots of fresh faces in the online business space who were at home for the first time and willing to invest. It was the heyday for course creators, and while I knew it wouldn’t last I was hopeful it would sustain in some way once the bubble burst.
But starting in 2025, I personally saw a big decline in sales and leads. Some of this was definitely related to the global recession and the industry at large becoming more sophisticated and warier about buying from strangers. There’s also the whole AI of it all too…
I spent the better part of 18 months trying to make it work.
Getting even more visible, growing my audience with events and adapting my offers to offer more direct support. But it was like pushing a boulder up hill. Progress was slow, sales were like pulling teeth and I spent most of my days doing the parts of my work I didn’t actually enjoy.
So all of these shifts and challenges in the online business space also coincided with some shifts on the home front (that I’ll keep purposefully vague) that meant I couldn’t keep “squeezing” in extra work outside of school hours like I had been while I was trying to keep up with all these changes.
So basically something had to give.
I don’t actually want a scalable business
The other piece of this pivot puzzle came as a bit of a surprise to me.
I’d thought for years that a “scalable” 1:many business model was hands-down the best fit for me. It had the flexibility my life required and so much potential for creativity and uncapped income!
But it turns out, that marketing to and supporting lots of people isn’t actually for me.
I’ve never liked a crowd.
I don’t play team sports.
And I’ve always had just a handful of really close knit friends (no big social groups for me, thanks!)
So it shouldn’t have been a surprise, that speaking to and being available to hundreds or even thousands of people at a time was way more than my system could handle.
Between the demand avoidance and social anxiety alone, it all became too much for me. Especially as the industry demanded me to be even more visible if I ever wanted to earn a livable income.
Plus I realized, I never actually wanted to be a leader, a coach or a teacher.
That’s just not where my skills like and not what lites me up.
I’m a maker and a doer.
A “process person” if you will.
But I’d let the passive income promise lead me away from the work I liked best..
Doing more of work I’ve always enjoyed best
Now, there’s something I haven’t shared that publicaly that was also going on behind-the-scenes in my business…
I’ve had an absolutely amazing Operations Management client on retainer for years. And the work I do with her was consistently the parts of my week I looked forward to… especially as my own business started stretching me beyond my comfort zone.
So a few months into 2026, I started to quietly put out feelers to find another retainer client, and booked another fantastic person to complete my Operations Management roster!
Which meant that by mid-2026 I had already booked out the main offer and have my baseline income covered without having to spend most of my “desk time” doing visibility work that was causing me so much stress.
Now, I spend most of my days doing the deep-dive process work and systems strategy I enjoy and have space to work with a few more people in a closer-knit way with my launch planning services!
As of writing this post, I’ve not yet decided what' I’ll do with my current online courses. I may keep them or they might be retired like so many of my other past courses. But either way, they’re no longer the focus on my work and I’m excited to pour my energy into going deeper not wider with a handful of people where I can really make an difference.
