Podcast Summary: Bossbabe Podcast – Episode 485

Title: The System Behind My Highest Revenue Year
Host: Natalie Ellis
Date: October 2, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Natalie Ellis presents a special session taken from the first day of "Freedom High Summer School," a live, six-day program focused on transforming businesses for ambitious women entrepreneurs. Natalie dives deep into why so many hardworking female founders don’t see the revenue they desire, unpacking the problems of “random acts of marketing” and the critical importance of building intentional, system-driven businesses. She shares personal experiences, conducts a live business audit, and guides listeners through actionable exercises to audit and redesign their marketing and sales systems for predictable revenue.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Set-Up & Intention of the Session

• Natalie introduces the episode as a “behind-the-scenes” look at Day One of her Freedom High Summer School, where results-driven implementation, not just theory, is the focus.

  "This is not your stereotypical challenge where I'll show up and throw a bunch of frameworks at you... every single day, we are actually implementing because the thing that is standing between you and what you want is the implementation of systems." (02:15)

• Emphasis: No sugar-coating, no fluff — only real talk about what actually drives business results for women entrepreneurs.

2. The Pain Point: Busy but Not Building

• Many listeners are stuck in a relentless cycle — working hard, creating content, posting on social, and feeling busy without seeing meaningful revenue or consistent audience growth.

• Key analogy:

  • "You don't actually have a business. You have a very expensive hobby that occasionally makes money." (05:50)
  • "You're on the hustle hamster wheel... constantly running, constantly creating, constantly posting, and just lacking those results." (05:57)

• Reassurance that this is a universal pain point, not a personal failing.

3. Live Audit: The Three Core Traps in Marketing (with Audience Exercise)

Natalie walks listeners through a revealing self-audit meant to expose flaws in their current approach:

a. Content Creation Hamster Wheel (09:30)

• Question: If you stopped creating content/marketing today, how long would revenue continue?
• Insight: Most listeners' businesses would see revenue dry up immediately.
  • "Your answer right there is the first trap... being on the content creation hamster wheel." (11:33)

b. Vanity Metrics Blindness (13:00)

• Question: Of your last 100 social followers, how many became paying customers?

• Insight: Too much focus on likes, follows, and engagement—metrics that “feel good,” but don’t translate to revenue.

  • "Vanity metrics blindness is... tracking things that make us and our ego feel like we are making progress, but we're actually blind to the results those things are generating for us." (14:05)

c. Hope-Based Marketing (15:20)

• Question: If you doubled your marketing, could you predict (with 80% accuracy) revenue impact?
• Insight: Few can. Most entrepreneurs are “hoping” efforts convert, rather than tracking cause and effect.
  • "Hope-based marketing... You post an Instagram post, you hope people see it, you hope people resonate with it, you hope people go find you from it, and you hope people will buy something from you." (15:55)

4. Random Acts of Marketing vs. Systematic Business Building

Natalie exposes how actions often feel strategic but are actually disconnected “random acts of marketing,” not tied to a broader revenue system.

What Random Acts Look Like:

• Inspirational posts with no funnel.

• Writing content for the sake of “showing up.”

• Offering free consults to anyone.

• Running ads with no follow-up.

• Launching new offers in desperation.

• Obsessing over engagement rates, not revenue per activity (RPA).

  • "Busy does not equal building." (21:29)
  • "I was calling them systems... they were just organized ways for my team to execute my daily decisions." (33:40)

5. Revenue Per Activity (RPA) as the North Star

Natalie introduces the idea of measuring revenue per activity, using a personal anecdote:

• Adjusted priorities when pregnant: Paused podcast episodes one week to focus on the highest RPA task.

• Key advice: Ruthlessly rank and focus on activities that generate the most revenue.

  • "Everything I do comes back to my RPA, my revenue per activity." (23:25)

6. Natalie’s Story: When Her Own 'Systems' Failed

Natalie recounts a turning point after her daughter's birth:

• The business was launch-dependent. During maternity leave, the revenue engine broke down—everything needed her.

• Realization: She hadn’t built a true business, just a machine dependent on her decision-making.

  • "I had built a very expensive dependency on me... All the systems that I thought I had in place were just organized ways that my team could execute on my daily decisions." (33:25)

• Radical restructuring followed. Burned it down and rebuilt around real systems:

  • "A year later... we had our highest revenue and profit year... It all came down to systematic business building. And that's why I'm so big on systems—because it is sexy." (38:25)

7. Case Studies: Systematic Thinking in Action (51:25)

• Paige: From no funnel/list to 23 sales in 4 days using a system.

• Caroline: 10x IG growth, viral reel, 9 webinar clients after implementing a connected funnel.

• Adele: Built a new brand/system as a full-time helicopter pilot—made $5k pre-launch.

  • "She didn't hustle harder. She built a system." (51:35)

8. The Freedom Method & The Importance of 'Focus'

• Systematic thinking is just the “F” in Natalie’s seven-part Freedom Method.

• True business transformation requires integrating all pieces, not just ‘focus’ or marketing knowledge.

  • "Marketing is the thing that works when everything else is set up to support it. And that's what this whole week is going to be focused on..." (54:45)

9. Assignment & Homework (Action Steps) (01:00:05)

Natalie issues a four-part assignment:

1. Map your current customer journey (from never heard of you to purchase).

2. Identify random acts—circle anything that relies on hope, luck, or “maybe they’ll buy.”

   • "If more than 50% of your revenue or your journey relies on hope, you have a systems problem, not a marketing problem." (01:03:40)

3. Calculate your system gaps (random acts vs. systematic steps).

4. Pick one random act and systematize it over the coming week.

   • "If you do not fix this random act problem... in 12 months from now, you will be working even harder than you are now for the same inconsistent results." (01:01:02)

10. Clarifying Listener Q&A

• Should you map your current or ideal client journey? Start with current, then compare to ideal.
• Does every touchpoint need a sales offer? No—just a clear, intentional connection toward your conversion goal.
• Is this system for newbies? Yes, start with what you plan to do and check for hope/revenue disconnects.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Hustle Trap:

  "You are busy, but you are not building. Busy does not equal building." (21:29)

• On Hope-Based Marketing:

  "There is a massive, massive difference between hope based marketing and performance based marketing." (17:07)

• Her Personal Turning Point:

  "All the systems I thought I had in place were just organized ways my team could execute my daily decisions... when I wasn't there to make those decisions, everything fell apart." (33:40)

• On Systematic Business:

  "They are building something that compounds and you are starting over every single day. But there is no difference between how hard either of you are working." (32:39)

• On Assignments:

  "If more than 50% of your revenue or your journey relies on hope, you have a systems problem, not a marketing problem." (01:03:40)

Timeline of Key Segments

• [00:00–06:50] — Introduction, context, and structure of Freedom High Summer School
• [06:51–15:19] — The Revenue Predictability Test; exposing the three core marketing traps
• [15:20–23:24] — Hope-Based Marketing & difference between brand and performance marketing
• [23:25–29:29] — Revenue Per Activity (RPA) and personal example
• [29:30–38:24] — Natalie's personal story: failing systems and rebuilding after maternity leave
• [38:25–51:24] — Difference between random acts and systems; Instagram, email & podcast examples
• [51:25–53:29] — Real-life case studies from students
• [54:45–01:01:01] — Introduction to the Freedom Method and integrating systems beyond marketing
• [01:00:05–01:09:00] — Assignment walkthrough, listener Q&A, and closing

Episode Takeaway

Natalie demystifies why so many entrepreneurs are stuck hustling without sustainable growth: they're acting on a string of disconnected marketing activities, not building systems that create revenue predictability and personal freedom. The solution? Ruthlessly audit your actions, focus only on what directly fuels your business engine, and systematically redesign your process for consistency and compounding results.

Action Step Recap

1. Map every step of your current customer journey to purchase.
2. Identify and circle all random acts of (hope-based) marketing.
3. Calculate your system gap—random acts vs systematic steps.
4. Systematize one high-impact random act this week.

For additional learning and assignments referenced in the episode, listeners are directed to the show notes for Freedom High Summer School resources.