If your business only makes sales when you run ads, you don’t have a business. You have a rental agreement with Meta. And the moment you stop paying – the leads dry up, the traffic vanishes, and your sales tank. That’s not a sustainable business model at all. 

It’s a hostage situation.

Paid ads are great… until they’re not. 

Look, we get it. Ads feel like the fastest way to get sales. But if you’re only making money when you run ads, then you don’t own your business; Meta does. And guess what? They’re raising the rent every damn year:

Source 1 | Source 2

Meanwhile Meta Ad Revenue from 2009 to 2023 (Source)

The worst part? You’re not building something sustainable. Without a strong connection with your audience, brand loyalty, or a long-term strategy, you’re stuck in an expensive cycle of trial and error.

Smart CEOs Do This Instead

The best founders, the ones who aren’t bleeding money on ads 24/7 – focus on building their own audience. Lauren Berlingeri of Higher Dose & Leigh Matheson of Magic Tree are only two of the many successful entrepreneurs and founders who shifted from Paid Ads to Organic Marketing.

Both of them don’t rent attention. They own it.

An owned audience is your biggest insurance policy against irrelevance. If you have a real, engaged audience, you don’t need to keep buying attention – it comes to you, for free.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• You create content that educates, entertains, or inspires – without selling all the time.

• You nurture your audience with value, so they trust you before they even need your product.

• When you do sell, they’re already bought in. No chasing, no begging, no desperate discounts.

"But Organic Is Slow" – Said Every CEO Who Only Knows Ads

Yes, organic takes time. But so does burning cash on ads that barely break even. The difference? Organic actually compounds. Paid ads disappear the moment you stop spending, but an engaged audience sticks around.

Don’t get me wrong, paid ads can work – but they should be fuel, not your foundation. The foundation is your audience.

So if you want to stop hemorrhaging ad spend and actually own your growth, start now. Build your audience. Build your brand. And stop letting Meta hold your business hostage.