I was sitting at at my desk before the sun came up, the world still asleep, realizing my big goal to build a “calm company” this year had one glaring problem — creating content every single day to market myself wasn’t calm or sustainable. It was a treadmill.
And when I started doing the math on where my time had actually been going, I realized I’d spent 1,500+ hours over the past three years creating content for Instagram — reels, carousels, stories, captions, all of it — and almost none of it is still working for me today.
Not because it was bad content, but because it’s essentially retired now. Buried so deep in my feed that even I can’t find it, and certainly no one discovering me for the first time is scrolling back to a reel I posted in 2023.
That’s when I started thinking about my marketing the way an investor thinks about money — and it’s changed everything about how I’m going to build my marketing channels in 2026.
Here’s the question that shifted everything for me:
If you handed an investor $10,000 and said “put this somewhere smart,” they wouldn’t stuff it under a mattress or blow it on something that loses value the second they buy it. They’d ask: Where can I put this so it’s worth MORE a year from now than it is today?
What if we asked that same question about our marketing?
Because when I got honest about where my marketing hours were actually going, I realized I’d been “investing” in things that depreciate — content that peaks the moment I post it and loses value every hour after.
The more I sat with this, the more I started seeing two very different kinds of marketing:
Marketing that depreciates (liabilities) — content that requires you to keep showing up at the same pace forever, sucking your time with little return. Marketing that doesn’t give you the ability to rest, take time off, or recharge your creative battery because the second you stop, the leads stop, the visibility stops, and you’re essentially starting from scratch every single morning.
Marketing that appreciates (assets) — content that gets found by new people weeks, months, even years after you create it. Content that compounds and stacks and works for you while you’re at the pool with your kids or sleeping or — I don’t know — actually living your life.
Here’s what’s wild: both take roughly the same amount of effort to create. The difference isn’t how hard you work — it’s where you put the work.
It’s the same $10,000.
One person puts it in a savings account earning 0.5%. The other puts it in an index fund. Five years later, they’re living in very different realities — not because one worked harder, but because one understood where to invest.
If I post an Instagram reel today, it reaches some portion of my existing audience for about 48 hours and then it’s essentially done — if someone finds my profile next month, they’re probably not scrolling back to discover it.
But if I publish a video on YouTube answering the question “How do I plan a six-figure launch?” — that video becomes a fishing line in the water, permanently. Someone Googles that question in September and they might find me. A founder researching launch strategies at 2am next February? That video is waiting for them.
Every Youtube video I post is another line in the ocean — another hook, another chance to be discovered by someone who’s never heard my name.
1 video? 1 line
10 videos? 10 lines
50 videos? 50 lines. And none of them expire.
The way founders get known isn’t by creating the most content — it’s by having the most lines in the water.
The same is true for a blog post optimized for SEO, a podcast episode that lives on Spotify and Apple forever, or a Substack article (hi!) that’s archived and searchable long after this lands in your inbox. These are assets — they appreciate, they stack, they compound.
And in business, I want to own assets.
If I’m going to spend a big chunk of my week creating content, then I’m going to make sure it’s building the business even when I’m not around.
Now I’m not saying Instagram is useless or that you should abandon short-form content tomorrow.
What I AM saying is: look at where you’re spending the majority of your marketing time and ask yourself honestly whether it’s building an asset or feeding a machine.
There’s a big difference between using Instagram as a connection tool — staying top of mind, nurturing your existing audience, building relationships in the DMs — and relying on Instagram as your primary lead generation strategy.
One is strategic.
The other is a hamster wheel disguised as a strategy.
Here’s the framework I’m using in 2026 to make sure I’m investing my time, not just spending it:
The Marketing Portfolio
Think of your marketing like an investment portfolio — you want a mix, but you want the majority of your time going toward assets that appreciate.
70% — Appreciating Assets (content that compounds) YouTube videos, SEO blog posts, podcast episodes, Substack archives, evergreen webinars, lead magnets that rank on Google. This is where the bulk of your creative energy goes. It’s harder and it takes longer — and it’s the thing that will change your business a year from now.
20% — Connection Content (content that nurtures) Instagram stories, DMs, email newsletters, community posts. This isn’t about reach; it’s about depth. You’re nurturing the people who already know you, keeping yourself top of mind and building the trust that turns followers into buyers.
10% — Discovery Sparks (content that might go viral) Reels, TikToks, trending audio, collaborative posts. These can bring in new eyes but they’re unpredictable and they expire fast. Think of them like lottery tickets — fun to play, but you wouldn’t build your retirement fund on scratch-offs.
The founders I work with who are scaling past $3M almost always have at least one appreciating asset working for them — a podcast, a YouTube channel, an SEO-optimized blog, an evergreen webinar funnel. They’re not just creating content to stay visible; they’re building a library that generates leads while they sleep.
I’ll be honest — I’m still in the early stages of this shift myself.
I spent years pouring energy into Instagram, and I built real relationships there. But when I zoomed out and asked “What do I actually OWN from all of that work?” the answer was... not much.
The algorithm owns my reach. The platform owns my audience. And the content I spent hundreds of hours on has a shelf life that expires so quickly that it enslaves me to the platform and keeps me in the hustle.
This year, I’m going all in on Substack and YouTube — not because they’re trendy, but because everything I create there stacks. Every article I write here becomes part of a searchable archive. Every Substack article I publish becomes another fishing line in the water.
I don’t want to just create content anymore. I want to build an asset.
So here’s my challenge to you this week:
Look at where you spent your marketing time over the past seven days — all of it. Now ask: How much of that is still working for you today?
If the answer is “almost none of it” — you’re not behind.
You’re just spending instead of investing.
And the good news is, you can start shifting that ratio this week.
Pick one appreciating asset to start building. Just one — a YouTube video, a blog post, a podcast episode, a Substack article. Something that will still be findable, still be valuable, and still be generating leads six months from now.
Build the asset.
Then build the next one and let them stack.
To treating marketing like an investment banker,
xx, Ashley