Ever wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes of online businesses? A few weeks ago, I decided to get to the heart of that question. I reached out to 200 online business owners—people just like you and me—who were kind enough to share the nuts and bolts of their day-to-day operations through my “State of Online Business” survey.
The group included everyone from those just starting out to seasoned pros who’ve been in the game for years. They shared details like their annual revenue, the tools they can’t live without, where they’re getting their best leads, and if they use AI. More than just numbers, they talked about their hopes for the future and their biggest challenges right now.
In this blog post, I’m excited to share these insights with you. Whether you’re thinking about starting your own business, looking for ways to improve your current one, or just curious about how others are doing it, I hope you find these insights as fascinating as I did. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
Who took this survey?
Type of Business
| Service-Based (1:1, group, coaching, DFY, etc.) | 66.5% |
| Digital Products | 16.5% |
| Physical Products | 10% |
| Subscription (membership, SaaS, tech, etc.) | 7% |
Years in Business
| Less than 1 Year | 3.5% |
| 1-3 Years | 22.5% |
| 3-5 Years | 28.5% |
| 5-10 Years | 34% |
| More than 10 Years | 11.5% |
Number of Employees
| Just me | 84% |
| Two | 9.5% |
| Three | 2.5% |
| Four | 1.5% |
| Five | 2.5% |
Number of Contractors
| None | 51.5% |
| One | 22% |
| Two | 14% |
| Three | 6% |
| Four | 1% |
| Five | 5.5% |
46.5% of business owners are running their business without any employees or contractors.
So, as you’re reading the rest of the data below, keep in mind that most survey respondents are service-based business owners who’ve been going strong for 5-10 years and run their operations solo.
Business Financials
Annual Business Gross Revenue
| Less than $50k | 38.5% |
| $50-100k | 25% |
| $100-300k | 26.5% |
| $300-500k | 5% |
| Over $500k | 5% |
Among the business owners who have been in business for 5-10+ years, 21% report an annual gross revenue of $50k or less.
Annual Business Owner Salary
| Less than $50k | 59.5% |
| $50-100k | 25% |
| $100-200k | 12.5% |
| $200-300k | 1.5% |
| $300-500k | 1% |
| Over $500k | 0.5% |
10 business owners reported a business gross revenue of over $500k. Here’s some more data:
- Only 1 person reported also paying themselves over $500k.
- Four of those people reported paying themselves less than $100k.
- Four run a service-based business.
- Only one has been in business less than five years.
- None of them run their business alone, they average 5.8 team members (whether employee or contractor).
- Only one uses Squarespace, the others use Wordpress and Shopify.
- Top lead sources: Referrals, Instagram, Paid ads, SEO, Podcast
- Cash flow and profit margins are the largest struggles.
Business Technology
Website Platform Used
| Wordpress.org | 29% |
| Squarespace | 25% |
| ShowIt | 18.5% |
| Shopify | 10.5% |
| Wix | 4.5% |
| No Website | 3% |
| Kajabi | 2% |
| Other | 7.5% |
“Other” platforms include: Beacons.ai, Format, Funnel Gorgeous, GoDaddy, Hostsinger AI, Kartra, Next.js, SImplero, Etsy, Webflow, Weebly, ycode, custom made, and agency white-labeled website.
Website Platform Popularity by Industry (in order):
- Digital Products: Wordpress and Squarespace
- Physical Products: Shopify and Squarespace
- Service-Based: Squarespace, Wordpress, and ShowIt
- Subscription: Wordpress, Kajabi, and Showit
I offer full website design or simple one-page websites, both include SEO and tutorials on how to manage your own website without any ongoing fees with me. Learn more here!
Email Marketing Platform Used
| ConvertKit | 24% |
| Flodesk | 21.5% |
| I don’t do email marketing | 12.5% |
| Mailchimp | 8.5% |
| MailerLite | 8.5% |
| ActiveCampaign | 6.5% |
| Kajabi | 3.5% |
| Klaviyo | 3% |
| Squarespace Email | 1.5% |
| Substack | 1.5% |
| Other | 8% |
“Other” platforms included: AttractWell, Aweber, Constant Contact, Drip, High Level, Intercom, Kartra, Keap, Seguno, Shopify, Zoho, and Gmail.
Email Platforms by Industry (in order):
- Digital Products: ConvertKit and Flodesk
- Physical Products: Mailchimp and Flodesk
- Service-Based: Flodesk, ConvertKit, or… doesn’t do email! (MailerLite is fourth.)
- Subscription-Based: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and ConvertKit tied.
CRM Platform Used
| I don’t use one | 45.5% |
| Dubsado | 22.5% |
| Honeybook | 10.5% |
| PracticeBetter | 3% |
| Notion | 3% |
| Moxie | 1.5% |
| Airtable | 1% |
| Hubspot | 1% |
| Other | 12% |
“Other” platforms included: Attio, Bloom, Bonsai, Clickup, FG Funnels, High Level, Simple Practice, IntakeQ, Intercom, Keap, Momence, Pipedrive, Shopify, Studio Ninja, Wix, and Zoho.
48% of those who reported not using a CRM run a service-based business.
Task Management Platform Used
| I don’t use one | 23.5% |
| Notion | 18% |
| Asana | 17.5% |
| ClickUp | 17% |
| Airtable | 6.5% |
| Trello | 5.5% |
| Monday | 2% |
| Basecamp | 1.5% |
| Other | 8.5% |
“Other” platforms included: Google Sheets, Akiflow, Basecamp, Coda, Freedcamp, Hive, Milanote, One Note, Teamwork, Things, Upbase, Zoho, and other custom solutions.
15% of respondents reported they do not use a CRM nor any task management software.
- Of this segment, 73% do not have any employees or contractors.
- 40% have been in business three years or less.
- 20% have a digital product business, 26.6% have a physical product business, 50% are a service-based business, and 3% are a subscription-based business.
Business Marketing
Marketing Channels Used
| 91.5% | |
| 77.5% | |
| Blog | 53.5% |
| 50.5% | |
| Threads | 47.5% |
| 38.5% | |
| 32.5% | |
| Podcast | 27.5% |
| TikTok | 25% |
| YouTube | 20.5% |
| Paid Ads | 17% |
| X (Twitter) | 7.5% |
| Reddit/ Quora | 2% |
| None of the above | 2% |
Marketing Channels by the Revenue Brackets:
- Less than $50k: use 4.6 marketing channels.
- $50-100k: use 4.9 marketing channels.
- $100-300k: use 5.2 marketing channels.
- $300-500k: use 5.2 marketing channels.
- Over $500k: use 5.4 marketing channels.
#1 Lead Source
| 33% | |
| Referrals | 32.5% |
| SEO | 7.5% |
| Podcast | 4.5% |
| 4% | |
| Collabs | 3.5% |
| 2.5% | |
| 2% | |
| Paid Ads | 2% |
| 2% | |
| Blog | 1.5% |
| Threads | 1.5% |
| Networking | 1.5% |
| Insurance | 0.5% |
| Other | 1.5% |
“Other” lead sources include: speaking, directories, and YouTube.
Marketing by the Revenue Brackets:
- Instagram appears to be a significant lead source across various revenue levels, particularly effective for businesses in the higher revenue categories ($300k+).
- Referrals are also a strong lead source, especially prominent in the $100-300k revenue range.
- SEO shows a consistent presence as a top lead source across multiple revenue brackets, indicating its effectiveness in driving business.
- Podcasts and paid advertisements show effectiveness in the higher revenue brackets.
- Email and Facebook are noted as important lead sources, particularly in the $100-300k revenue bracket, though their impact seems to decrease as the revenue increases.
- Collaborations and blogging are mentioned but seem less prevalent as top lead sources across the higher revenue categories.
Looking at the marketing data based on number of years in business, Instagram and Referrals dominated every bracket. For people who have been in business more than 10 years, there was a more even mix of lead sources, though Instagram and Referrals were still the winners.
77.5% of business owners use email marketing, but only 4% note it as their #1 lead source. Yikes! 😳
AI Usage in Business
| I use AI, but only for myself | 39% |
| I do not use AI | 33.5% |
| I use AI, both for myself and for clients | 27.5% |
58% of those who said they do not use AI at all are service-based business owners. Of all business types, the largest group of business owners who use AI are those who’ve been in business 5-10 years.
Future of Business
Business Growth Trends
| Growing at a good pace | 54% |
| Stagnant | 39% |
| Declining slowly | 4% |
| Growing rapidly | 1.5% |
| Declining rapidly | 1.5% |
Interesting bit of data: all of the ‘Growing Rapidly’ respondents marked ‘Podcast’ as one of their marketing channels, while only one out of both ‘Declining Rapidly’ and ‘Declining Slowly’ marked ‘Podcast’ as a marketing channel.
Business Longevity
| Likely to be in business in five years | 78.5% |
| Maybe will be in business in five years | 20.5% |
| Unlikely to be in business in five years | 1% |
Curious to see if there was a missed marketing opportunity, I compared the data between those who said “Likely” and “Maybe” or “Unlikely” but it showed no real difference when it comes to what marketing channels are used. Those who said “Maybe” or “Unlikely” do make up most of those who make less than $50k.
Biggest Business Struggle
| Not enough clients | 27.5% |
| Scalability | 14.5% |
| Marketing | 11% |
| Work-life balance | 9.5% |
| Burnout / mental health | 8.5% |
| Cash flow | 8% |
| Profit margins | 6% |
| Competition | 4% |
| Project management | 1.5% |
| Client communication | 2% |
| Employee / contractor turnover | 0.5% |
| Chronic illness | 2% |
| Other | 4.5% |
“Other” struggles include: boundaries, pivoting, coming back after a break, niching down, lack of clarity, systems, running another business, and working a 9-5.
Notable Commonalities:
- Not enough clients is the most consistent struggle across all revenue brackets.
- Work-life balance is notably more prevalent in the higher revenue brackets ($300-500k and over $500k).
- Burnout / Mental Health appears across all brackets but is particularly noted in the lowest and highest brackets.
- Marketing is cited across most brackets, showing it as a consistent challenge.
- Lower revenue brackets (Less than $50k and $50-100k) show a wider variety of struggles, suggesting that these businesses may face more diverse challenges.
Biggest Struggles by Industry
- Digital Products: Not enough customers, and feeling burnout
- Physical Products: Marketing, and not enough customers
- Service-Based: Not enough clients, scalability, and marketing
- Subscription: Work-life balance, and not enough customers
Key Takeaways
- Many businesses are run solo, highlighting the prevalence of individual entrepreneurship. This could imply a market that values self-reliance but potentially under-utilizes external resources that could aid growth and reduce workload.
- There’s a significant disparity in revenue, with a substantial portion earning less than $50k annually, which could indicate challenges in reaching good profitability or scaling up.
- Despite longer business operation times (5-10 years+), many still report revenues of $50k or less, suggesting some businesses stabilize at a lower revenue threshold or struggle to grow past a certain point.
- The salary data reveals that even among high-revenue businesses (over $500k), many owners pay themselves relatively modest salaries (less than $100k), possibly reinvesting into the business or facing high operational costs.
- WordPress and Squarespace are popular across various industries, reflecting their adaptability and ease of use for different business types.
- The high percentage (45.5%) of respondents not using a CRM tool could point to a potential area for improvement, as CRM systems can enhance customer management and marketing efforts, as well as free up more time for business owners.
- Instagram and referrals are top lead sources, indicating the importance of social media engagement and personal networks in acquiring new business.
- Marketing challenges scale with the business, as higher revenue brackets tend to use more channels.
- The most common struggle is acquiring enough clients, consistent across all revenue brackets. This could point to the need for enhanced marketing strategies or better targeting.
- Higher revenue businesses more frequently cite work-life balance and burnout as challenges, which could be insightful for understanding the personal costs of business growth.
