Can we talk about something real for a second?

I’ve been watching women build their online businesses for years now. Some are my students, some are in my DMs, and some are women I admire from a distance.

And I keep seeing the same mistakes over and over again. Mistakes that keep them stuck, stressed, burnt out before they even get started.

And the thing is? I made most of these mistakes myself when I was starting out.

So if you’re building your online empire in 2026 (or thinking about starting), this post is gonna save you so much time, energy, and unnecessary stress.

Let’s get into it.

Mistake #1: Wasting All Your Energy on Social Media (Instead of Creating Evergreen Content)

I get it. You spend hours every day on Instagram aka posting stories, creating reels, engaging in comments. It feels productive. It feels like you’re “showing up” for your business.

And then the content disappears in 24 hours. Or gets buried in the algorithm and no one sees it anymore. All that work, all that energy, and nothing to show for it long-term.

I’m not saying don’t use social media at all, I’m saying don’t make it your ONLY strategy. Because social media is rented land. You don’t own it. The algorithm can change tomorrow and completely tank your reach, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

What to do instead:

Focus on evergreen content that actually lives on the internet and keeps working for you long-term.

I’m talking about blog posts that rank on Google and bring in traffic for years. YouTube videos that people discover months or even years after you post them. Podcasts that build loyal listeners over time.

This is the content that compounds. That grows your business while you sleep. That doesn’t disappear after 24 hours.

Use social media to drive traffic to your evergreen content, not as your only content strategy.

That’s the move.

Mistake #2: Not Building Your Email List from Day One

Okay this is the mistake I regret the most. Like genuinely keeps me up at night sometimes.

I avoided building my email list for TWO YEARS. Two whole years.

Do you know how much further along I’d be right now if I had started building my list from Day 1? How many more sales I could’ve made? How much stronger my business would be?

I think about it all the time and it makes me want to cry a little bit.

Your email list is literally the most important asset in your online business. Not your Instagram followers, not your blog traffic, your EMAIL LIST.

Because you actually own it (the platform can’t take it away), you can reach people directly without fighting an algorithm, email converts better than literally any other platform, and it’s how you build real relationships with your audience.

What to do instead:

Start your email list TODAY. I don’t care if you only have 5 people on it. Create a simple freebie — a guide, a checklist, a template, literally anything that would help your ideal person. It doesn’t have to be fancy or perfect.

Put an opt-in on your blog, in your Instagram bio, everywhere you possibly can. And start writing to your list consistently, even if it’s just once a week.

I use Kit (formerly ConvertKit) for my email list and honestly it’s the best decision I made for my business. It’s beginner-friendly, specifically designed for creators, and makes everything so much easier.

You can start with their free plan here (affiliate link, but I genuinely love it).

Future you will thank you so much for this.

Mistake #3: Overthinking Your Niche for Months (Instead of Just Starting)

You think you need to have the perfect niche figured out before you can start, right? So you spend weeks or even months researching, brainstorming, second-guessing yourself. “Is this too broad? Too narrow? Too competitive? Not unique enough? What if I pick the wrong thing?”

And meanwhile… you’re not actually building anything. You’re just stuck in analysis paralysis.

Here’s the thing though, your niche doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be a starting point. You can (and probably will) pivot as you go, and that’s completely normal. I pivoted three times in my first year and most successful creators I know have pivoted at least once.

But you can’t pivot if you never start in the first place.

What to do instead:

Just pick something you’re interested in and know a bit about. Start creating content around it. See what resonates with people. Pay attention to what you actually enjoy creating.

And then adjust as you go.

Your niche will clarify itself through action, not through more thinking. The clarity comes from doing, not from planning.

Mistake #4: Waiting for Your Content to Be “Perfect” Before Hitting Publish

You write the blog post, then you rewrite it, then you edit it again and again. You design the opt-in page, then you redesign it because it doesn’t look “professional enough.”

You draft the email but you don’t send it because what if people judge you?

I’ve been there. I spent two weeks on my first blog post because I kept rewriting it over and over, convinced it wasn’t good enough yet.

But perfect doesn’t exist, and even if it did, no one cares as much as you think they do. Your audience wants HELPFUL content, not perfect content.

They want your voice, your perspective, your authenticity.

Not some polished, corporate version of you that sounds like every other business blog out there.

What to do instead:

Adopt the “good enough to publish” mentality. Ask yourself: Is it helpful? Does it make sense? Does it sound like me? Cool, then hit publish. You can always update it later if you want to.

Mistake #5: Comparing Your Beginning to Someone Else’s Middle

You look at the woman with 10K followers and think “I’ll never get there.” You see someone launching a course and making $20K and think “I could never do that.” You compare your Day 1 to their Year 3 and feel like you’re already failing.

But everyone, and I mean EVERYONE starts at zero. That woman with 10K followers? She had 0 followers once too. That girl making $20K launches? Her first launch probably made like $200 if she was lucky.

You’re not behind. You’re just at a different stage. And honestly, comparison is the fastest way to kill your motivation and make you feel terrible about your own progress, which is actually really good if you’d just stop looking at everyone else for a second.

What to do instead:

Stay in your own lane. Focus on your progress, your growth, your journey. Celebrate the small wins — your first 10 subscribers, your first $27 sale, your first blog post that actually gets some traffic from Google.

Those “small” wins? They’re actually huge. They’re the foundation of everything that comes next.

And if you need to unfollow accounts that make you feel bad about yourself, do it. Mute people if you have to. Protect your energy and your mental space because that matters more than keeping up with what everyone else is doing.

Mistake #6: Giving Up After 3 Months Because “It’s Not Working”

You start your blog, you send a few emails, you post some content.

And after one month you don’t have 1,000 followers or $5K months yet, so you think “this isn’t working” and you quit.

But one month is nothing in the world of building an online business. Most “overnight successes” actually took 1-2 years of consistent work that no one saw. The algorithm doesn’t reward you immediately. Google doesn’t rank your blog posts overnight. Building trust with an audience takes time.

I know it’s frustrating because we’re so used to instant gratification, but this is a long game and you have to be okay with that if you want it to actually work.

What to do instead:

Commit to at least 6-12 months of consistent action before you decide whether “it’s working” or not. Building an online business is a long game, not a quick fix or a get-rich-quick scheme.

But if you stick with it? The compound effect is real. The blog posts you write today will bring in traffic a year from now. The emails you send today are building relationships that will turn into sales later. The content you create now will keep working for you for years.

Trust the process and keep going, even when it feels like nothing is happening. That’s when most people quit, and that’s exactly why most people don’t succeed.

Mistake #7: Trying to Be Everywhere at Once (And Burning Out in 3 Weeks)

Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, LinkedIn, blogging, email… You think you need to be on all the platforms to succeed, right?

So you try to show up everywhere, posting 3x a day, creating content for every single algorithm, trying to keep up with all the trends.

And within three weeks you’re completely exhausted and ready to quit everything.

I get it because it feels like if you’re not everywhere, you’re missing out on potential growth.

But you don’t need to be everywhere, you need to be GOOD at one or two things.

I built my entire business on blogging and email. That’s literally it. No TikTok, no reels, no “get ready with me” videos.

What to do instead:

Pick ONE primary platform (like blogging or YouTube) where you create your main content, and then one secondary platform (like Pinterest or Threads) that drives traffic to your main content.

Master those two things. Ignore everything else for now.

You can always expand later when you actually have the systems in place and you’re not drowning. But trying to do everything at once is just a recipe for burnout and giving up.

Mistake #8: Building in Public When You Actually Thrive in Private

Everyone talks about “building in public” like it’s the only way to grow an online business. Share your journey! Show behind the scenes! Be vulnerable on main! Post your revenue! Document everything!

And sure, that works really well for some people. But if you’re an introvert? If you value your privacy? If the thought of sharing your entire life and business journey makes you want to crawl into a hole and never come out?

You don’t have to do it. I promise you can build a wildly successful online business in private.

I did. Most of my students do. We’re not posting daily Instagram stories about our revenue or vlogging our morning routines or sharing every single win and struggle. We’re just quietly building, writing, creating… and making money.

What to do instead:

Build the way that feels good to you. If you love sharing your journey publicly, do that.

If you prefer to work quietly and just show up with valuable content without all the behind-the-scenes stuff, do that.

There’s no “right” way to build a business. Just your way.

And your way is allowed to be private and quiet if that’s what feels authentic to you.

Mistake #9: Creating a Product Before You Have an Audience

You spend weeks creating what you think is the “perfect” digital product. You write the workbook, you design all the Canva templates, you record the videos, you make it look so professional and beautiful.

And then you launch it to… crickets. No one buys it.

Because you don’t have an audience yet. You built the product first and then tried to find people who want it, instead of finding people first and then creating something they actually need.

I see this ALL the time and it’s so heartbreaking because you put in all that work for nothing. You need people first, product second.

It’s so much easier to create a product for an existing audience than to try to find an audience for a product you already made.

What to do instead:

Build your audience first through blogging, email, social media, whatever platform works for you. Grow your email list. Build relationships. And then ask your audience what they’re struggling with, what they need help with, what they wish existed.

And then create a product that solves that specific problem for them.

This is how you create offers that actually sell instead of products that sit there collecting digital dust.

Mistake #10: Trying to Do It Exactly Like Someone Else

You see a successful creator and think “okay I need to do it exactly like her.” So you copy her content strategy, her posting schedule, her aesthetic, her offers, everything.

And it feels… wrong. Inauthentic. Exhausting.

Like you’re wearing someone else’s clothes that don’t quite fit.

What works for her might not work for you, and that’s because you’re not her. You have different strengths, different energy, different life circumstances, different things that light you up.

What to do instead:

Learn from others, absolutely. Take inspiration. Study what successful people are doing. But then adapt it to fit you and your life and your energy.

Maybe she posts every single day and you post 3x a week because that’s what’s sustainable for you. Maybe she does video content and you do writing because that’s where your strengths are.

Build your version of success, not a copy-paste version of someone else’s. That’s the only way it’s actually going to feel good and be sustainable long-term.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, none of this is about doing everything perfectly.

It’s about doing the things that actually move your business forward. Most women stay stuck because they wait to feel ready, try to copy someone else’s strategy, or give up right before things were about to compound.

If you take anything from this post, let it be this: start simple, stay consistent, focus on what you own, and give yourself enough time for the work to pay off. Your future business is built on the decisions you make now, not the ones you overthink for months.

You’re far more capable than you think, and 2026 can look completely different if you just keep going.

Ready to Actually Start Building Your Soft Digital Empire In 2026?

If you want the step-by-step system that shows you exactly how to find your niche (even if you have no ideas right now), start your blog and create evergreen content, build your email list from scratch, create your first digital offer, and start making calm money…

The Cyber Monday sale is live until midnight tonight.

🤍 https://rronaperjuci.com/black-friday

No pressure at all. Just wanted you to know it’s there if you need it.