Podcast Episode: The Queen of Digital Authenticity: A Raw Conversation with Colleen Nichols

If you’ve ever felt like you have to put on a fake persona to succeed online, this conversation is going to be a breath of fresh air. I sat down with Colleen Nichols – the OG of authentic marketing, author of “Don’t Make It Weird,” and founder of the Digital Sales Growth Community – for one of the most honest conversations about what it really takes to build a business while staying human.

The Anonymous Word Tiles That Started Everything

Colleen’s journey to becoming the queen of digital authenticity started in the most unexpected way – as an anonymous critic of the network marketing industry. Back in 2020, she was creating these snarky but brilliant word tiles that would pop up on Instagram feeds, calling out the BS in the industry without revealing who was behind them.

“I started no shame sales game, the Instagram account back in 2020 because I just had… I did network marketing differently like you did,” Colleen shared. “And I talked about it in a way that I wasn’t seeing people talk about it. It wasn’t my goal to change people’s minds about network marketing. It was my goal to change network marketing from the inside out and how people just showed up.”

What I loved about following her during this time was how her words gave you permission to be normal. In an industry full of forced positivity and fake motivation, Colleen was out there saying what everyone was thinking but afraid to say.

The Weird Phenomenon of Online Personas

One of the most fascinating insights from our conversation was Colleen’s observation about how people transform when they get online.

“After working with thousands of women, mainly, I find that it’s really difficult for people to be themselves online,” she explained. “Like they’re totally normal and fine face to face. And then when this little screen gets put in front of their face, they’re like, ‘Greetings. Well, here’s my life.’ And it’s really weird.”

This is the core problem Colleen solves – helping people remember how to be human on the internet. Her book “Don’t Make It Weird” is literally built around this concept, and honestly, it should be required reading for anyone who plans to make money online.

The Master of Strategic Pivoting

What makes Colleen such a brilliant entrepreneur is her ability to evolve without abandoning what works. When she saw changes happening in the network marketing industry, she didn’t panic – she adapted.

“I noticed that network marketing was changing… People were going to get their panties in a wad because I say that it is changing. People were, companies were switching to affiliate models. Companies were closing. Big companies were closing. And I was just like, hmm, something’s happening.”

Instead of clinging to what was, she made a strategic decision to expand her community from just network marketers to all digital entrepreneurs. This is a masterclass in business evolution.

The Evolution vs. Starting Over Myth

One of the most valuable pieces of advice from our conversation was about pivoting:

“I think people feel afraid to pivot or change because they’re like, ‘then I’m starting over from zero.’ No, you’ve already built something up and you’re just changing the direction… or the lens in which you talk to people.”

This is so important for entrepreneurs to understand. Evolution isn’t abandonment – it’s intelligent growth.

The Master Resale Rights Disaster (And What It Taught Us)

We dove deep into the master resale rights phenomenon that took over the online business world a couple of years ago. Colleen’s perspective as an outsider was fascinating:

“When it first started, I was confused as I’ll get out. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. And I saw it honestly felt like, okay, well, this is job security because now everyone is taking what was icky about network marketing. And now they’re just reapplying it.”

What started as a legitimate business model quickly devolved into something that resembled a Ponzi scheme, with people selling the license as a business opportunity rather than focusing on the actual education inside the products.

The Importance of Reading the Room

This led to one of the best insights of our conversation about income-led marketing:

“When you’re just leading with how much money I made, it’s just dishonest, I feel like, because you’re not saying what is going into that. It’s so murky and… your net impression is that if you do what I do, you’ll have the same results. And that’s just bullshit.”

The difference? Using income for credibility versus using it for manipulation. When I mention building a seven-figure business without ads or funnels, it’s to establish authority for what I’m about to teach. When someone leads with income screenshots just to sell something, that’s dishonest.

“Read the fucking room” became our unofficial motto for this problem.

Building a Seven-Figure Business as a Mom of Three Boys

Perhaps the most inspiring part of our conversation was learning about Colleen’s reality as a business owner. She’s not sitting in a private jet with a glam squad – she’s a mom to three boys (ages 9, 8, and 4.5) who doesn’t understand why there’s always pee everywhere.

“I was recording podcast interviews in my closet that wasn’t a glamorous closet. Not one with like mirrors and overhead lighting. It was a dungeon. And then they’d be like, ‘oh my God, we actually use video for this too.’ And I’m like, ‘well, that sucks. This is embarrassing.'”

The “I Don’t Have Time” Reality Check

When people tell Colleen they don’t have time to build a business, she gets triggered – and rightfully so:

“I didn’t have childcare for three children until I was like a year and a half into it. Like at all. They didn’t have school. They didn’t have a babysitter. So it was truly the wild wild west. And when people tell me like, ‘I’m too busy,’ I’m like, ‘shut the fuck up.'”

Her honesty about this is refreshing. There are videos in her community where she’s literally training while holding a newborn. She once gave a company-wide training and then logged off to visit her dad for the last time before he died the next day.

The hard truth: “You don’t want it and that’s fine. That is not bad. I’m not shaming you. I’m not saying anything negative, but don’t tell me that you don’t have enough time because I cannot comprehend that.”

Why Authenticity Isn’t Just a Buzzword

What sets Colleen apart isn’t just that she’s authentic – it’s that she’s strategically authentic. She understands that being real online is actually a competitive advantage.

“My identity mainly is being a mom to three wild children. My kids at school went on a field trip… and these two women own the ice cream shop, and there’s a video. The lady says, ‘does anyone here know anyone who owns their own business?’ And my nine-year-old halfway raises his hand and says, ‘I think I do.’ Like they don’t fucking know. They don’t care.”

This level of normalcy and humanity is what creates the kind of loyal following that would buy samurai swords if Colleen decided to sell them tomorrow.

The Strategy That Actually Builds Businesses

When someone can’t get traction with their content, Colleen’s advice is brutally simple:

“My first thought is that you are being so beige. Like you aren’t… you are trying to just kind of fit in. And I think if you want to stand out amongst all this noise, you have to be what I call purposefully polarizing. You need to take a stand.”

The Anti-Conformity Formula

Her advice for standing out:

• Look at your industry and identify what annoys you
• Say it publicly
• Go against the grain of what everyone else is doing
• Give people a reason to say “Oh my God, finally somebody said it”

This is exactly what both Colleen and I have built our businesses on – calling out what we see and refusing to conform to industry nonsense.

Community as Currency

For people just starting out, Colleen has a game-changing perspective:

“I would take 90 days at least to focus on building a sense of community in your online space… Because in the beginning, community is the currency that you’re working for.”

This is the opposite of what most people do. Instead of rushing to create products and websites, focus on building relationships and trust. Make people feel seen, known, and heard first. Then worry about selling.

The Mistakes That Cost Money

If Colleen could go back and tell her 2020 self anything, it would be:

1. “Build your fucking email list, you imbecile.” She didn’t start building her email list until a year ago, and she considers this one of her biggest mistakes.
   
2. “Don’t cap in your brain how successful you think you could be.” Her original goal for her community was $30,000 a year. Her second month hit $30,000. Always think “this or better.”
   

The Honest Truth About Entrepreneurship

Perhaps the most important message from our conversation was this reality check:

“Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. And the more we just are okay with that, the easier it’ll be to find the people that it is for.”

Stop trying to convince people they should want to be entrepreneurs. If someone has to be dragged into it, they’re not meant for it. Focus on the people who have that deep calling and are willing to buckle up for the hard parts.

“If you are meant to be an entrepreneur or you have this deep calling, you need to buckle up because it is not fun most of the time. It’s hard. It’s not glamorous. There’s nothing glamorous about what we do.”

The Bottom Line

Building a successful online business doesn’t require you to become someone else. In fact, the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who figure out how to amplify their authentic selves strategically.

Colleen’s seven-figure business is built on being exactly who she is – a mom who says what she thinks, calls out BS when she sees it, and refuses to make business weird. She’s proof that you don’t need a glam squad, a private jet, or a fake persona to succeed.

You just need to be purposefully polarizing, build genuine community, and remember that your authenticity is your competitive advantage.

As Colleen puts it: “Don’t make it weird.” Just be human. The internet needs more of that.

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Ready to dive deeper into building your digital empire? Subscribe to Beyond the BS and follow me on Instagram @the_no_bs_newyorker. You can find Colleen Nichols at @noshamesalesgame and check out her new course “The Magnetic Human.”

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