The Authentic Business

I think the most useful skill a creator can have right now is showing up on camera as the person you are off camera. Most of us have a filter that turns on the second we hit record. In this episode Maggie and I talk about why that filter exists, why "just be authentic" gets misread as "no strategy," why hooks are annoying but still work, how Maggie uses Instagram stories to test ideas before turning them into reels or long-form, and where contrarian takes come from when they aren't forced. We also get into why so much business advice online comes from people who have only ever done business. We covered a lot in this one, so if there's something you want us to go deeper on, tell us in the comments.

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Everyone says their market is saturated. Maggie Sterling thinks that's the wrong thing to focus on entirely. In this episode, Maggie and Ryan dig into what actually makes someone stand out online — and why obsessing over your competition might be the thing quietly killing your content.

Maggie has never once built a content strategy around what her competitors are doing — and she's grown audiences across multiple niches, platforms, and accounts from scratch. This episode breaks down why that works, how to find your actual differentiator, and what most people get wrong when they try to copy what's working.

Maggie and Ryan Sterling kick off The Authentic Business with the story behind the brand — nine years of building, burning down, and rebuilding online businesses across multiple niches, platforms, and audiences. This isn't a polished origin story. It's an honest look at what it actually takes to grow a personal brand that lasts, and the four lessons Maggie wishes someone had told her from the start.

Maggie shares how she went from posting food on Instagram in 2017 to building a 700-member coaching membership, walking away from it at the height of its success, and growing a brand new YouTube channel to 42,000 subscribers in six months. Ryan and Maggie break down the four biggest lessons from that journey — and why most of what you've been taught about growing online is making you hate the whole thing.