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If you ask me the most impressive Broadway show I’ve ever seen, it would be Hamilton. Amazing stage and soundcraft and Lin-Manuel Miranda is just a genius.

But if you ask me my FAVORITE musical? It would be Titaníque.

Titaníque is a jukebox musical comedy that parodies the 1997 film Titanic through the French-Canadian perspective of singer Céline Dion, with a soundtrack of only Dion's best hits. We saw it during its Off-Broadway run in New York that ended in 2025, before it made its Broadway debut in 2026.

I’ve been a fan of the Titanic movie since I saw it on opening night when I was in high school, and a Celine Dion fan for many years before that, ever since I heard “The Power of Love” in 1993. The only time I've laughed harder was at a fringe comedy show sending up Jurassic Park (but I digress).

You might be asking, “why are you talking about Broadway and this show Titaníque in your email about business?”

Because apparently I’ve been growing my business like how the show grew and I didn’t even know it.

My “Off-Off Broadway” growth strategy

Two weeks ago, I appeared on Jay Clouse’s podcast Creator Science about how I grew my business to $300K without social media.

It was the biggest guest appearance in terms of listeners I’ve ever had (and if you found me there, thank you!).

In that podcast, I talked about how I’d never been able to make social media work to grow my business, so instead I built my business through relationships, niche communities, and guest teaching.

A week later, Trevor Young recapped my strategy in his newsletter Earn the Right, connecting it to his theater-influenced PR framework. (Great newsletter! Subscribe!)

And he gave me language I hadn’t considered before about my growth strategy.

​In his framework, Trevor breaks the visibility stages into three tiers.​

Broadway

I’ve never broken out on Broadway. My book didn’t make a best-seller list, I’ve never had a viral post or video, and I don’t have a massive social media audience. And frankly, I haven’t spent much time recently trying.

Off-Broadway

I’ve gotten a lot of appearances in this category over the years, and the appearances have grown in impact.

Early in my work, I did a number of guest podcast interviews on smaller shows, got selected for a few bundles, and did guest speaking, but on slightly smaller stages. The longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve moved from what in theater terms I would call general “Off Broadway” to more established Off Broadway theaters, where the stakes are higher, but still not Broadway fame.

My book won two prestigious industry awards. Last year, I was featured in Jonathan Stark’s podcast, this year with Jay Clouse, and also did a notable summit with Sarah Noel Block.

Those appearances took years of relationship development with Jay, Jonathan, and Sarah, but also years of developing the ideas, frameworks, and teaching that made me someone worth inviting.

For Trevor’s metaphor, “In theatre, Off Broadway was never second-rate. Ideas get tested there. Reputations get forged there. Serious talent hones its craft there long before anyone hands them a marquee.”

But what did I do to get the reps and build the relationships to get into those larger Off Broadway productions?

Off-Off Broadway

This distinction between Off and Off-Off Broadway was the nuance I LOVED from Trevor and hadn’t articulated.

THIS is where I got my start. For years, I’ve been participating in communities. Many of you know me from communities like The Upside, the Legends, Off the Grid/The Interweb, Old Girls Club, The Squad, and Creator Kitchen. I’ve been an active participant in those spaces just making relationships, being helpful, and building connections. Once I became a known voice on a few topics, I began sharpening my intellectual property and point of view by teaching, in the full community or in small groups.

Long-time readers know I convene my own tables, even hosting a slew of city happy hours and dinners across the US this past year.

Trevor’s right — modest audience reach but disproportionate impact.

Those relationships are one of the ways I was able to get on to those bigger stages. I’ve been a member of Jay’s community for years. A long-time colleague connected me with Jonathan Stark. Another internet relationship-turned-now actual friend just recommended me to speak at a dream conference (fingers crossed!).

But those Off-Off Broadway experiences weren’t just stepping stones to bigger stages. They were where I met clients, built referral relationships, tested ideas, and developed the frameworks I now teach. In many ways, those smaller rooms WERE my business for years.

You get much more immediate feedback by talking directly with a small group than by trying to perform for Broadway right out of the gate.

So connecting back to Titaníque.

My favorite show started with two one-night workshop performances in Los Angeles and New York in 2017–2018, followed by six concert-style performances in 2018. These were its Off-Off-Broadway years, testing the concept and figuring out what worked.

Four years later, Titaníque launched a fully staged Off-Broadway production in 2022, where it spent the next several years building a cult following and earning accolades.

In 2025, it crossed the Atlantic for a West End production in London—one of the world’s major theater markets, alongside Broadway.

And finally, in 2026, eight years after those early performances, Titaníque made its Broadway debut, earning four Tony nominations and extending its initial limited run.

Eight years of testing, performing, building a reputation, and developing an audience before arriving on Broadway.

I think we are increasingly moving towards an “Off-Off Broadway” era for building authority and expertise.

There’s more content and more voices competing for attention than ever before. The big curated Broadway-esque stages are increasingly selective and often require a pre-existing audience, and the ungated social platforms are clogged with content, much of it AI-generated.

As it gets harder to distinguish real expertise from polished content, the places where people can actually experience your thinking, ask questions, and see how you work become more valuable.

You can spend your time competing for attention in the feed. Or you can spend it developing relationships, building your body of work, and becoming someone people want to invite into their rooms and onto their stages.

It’s using Off-Off and Off-Broadway strategies to build your reputation and get the reps, even if it doesn’t “scale”.

Maybe in a few more years I’ll make it to the proverbial Broadway stage with my business.

But honestly? I think I liked seeing Titaníque better in that intimate Off Broadway theater, sitting in the second row where I could see the cast having a genuinely great time.

And maybe my business works better being Off Broadway too.

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