The Soloist Life

Should Whale Clients Be Part Of Your Service Mix Right Now?

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0700

Conventional advice from pundits says never serve "whales" in your consulting business. But what if they're wrong? (Hint: they are.) A whale model CAN work in the right circumstances, provided it’s a fit with how you like to work and you design and price them correctly.

Here’s my advice on whether (and how) to add whale clients to your service mix:

What exactly makes a client a whale?

A few examples of highly successful whale business models—how they’re structured and how much revenue they deliver.

Why conventional "wisdom" about whales doesn’t apply when you structure and price them correctly.

The three challenges you’ll need to address to make sure whales will work for your particular business.

Where to start if you decide adding whale clients makes sense.

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

BOOK A CALL WITH ROCHELLE

TRANSCRIPT

Rochelle Moulton

00:00 - 00:47

You just want to make sure that your whale clients fit neatly into at least one of your sweet spots, like the type of work, the industry, your client profile, et cetera. Otherwise, each one will feel like a supremely heavy lift, and that's the last thing that you want. Hello, hello. Welcome to the SOA's Life Podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth, impact, and power. I'm Rachelle Moulton, and today I want to talk to you about whether it makes sense to include whale clients as part of your service mix right now. I sent out an email to my list about this last week, and I got quite a few responses as well as a few questions.

Rochelle Moulton

00:47 - 01:27

So we're going to do a deeper dive on this today. Let's start with what I mean by whale client. They don't have to be a giant company or a huge organization. The whale refers to how much of your revenue they represent. So I'd call any client that is 15 to 20% or more of your annual revenue a whale. Now, there is this assumption in certain circles that a whale client model is bad. That the best goal is to build revenue streams where you can sell smaller things to more people. That that is less risky over time.

Rochelle Moulton

01:28 - 02:12

While there's nothing wrong with creating a diversified business, it isn't for everyone. Many consultants and advisors who are delivering major value to their institutional clients have built significant revenue and wealth using a whale model. So I'll give you a few examples. Number one, a specialty marketing consultant to big corporates who has a consulting book speaking model, earns $500,000 plus per year. They usually do a handful of $100,000 to $150,000 consulting projects and speak maybe half a dozen times a year, plus they earn royalties from their books. Now their downside is the travel required for speaking.

Rochelle Moulton

02:12 - 02:57

So this would be hard to master in say 20 or probably even 30 hours a week. Two, a retainer expertise model where the consultant sells $100,000 plus annual retainers to three to five companies. They typically are retained for a few years, you know, with annual renewals with the need and the fees tapering off as they go. So maintaining a pipeline of future clients to replace the old ones as they roll off is critical to make this model work. Three, a change consultant who does one or two giant projects per year along with usually a few smaller productized service offerings that often lead to the big assignments like say an assessment.

Rochelle Moulton

02:58 - 03:44

Now this is the most dangerous whale model because if even one project goes off the rails, you're at risk. And yet, it can also be the most lucrative. I've had clients routinely earning $500,000, $750,000, and even a million dollars as a soloist without employees or contractors. Now, I know I'm tossing around some big numbers, but we're talking about soloists who've got significant experience and are delivering a very specific high value transformation. Most of them didn't start there, but they migrated over time as they experimented with their work, figuring out who their best clients are and their most valuable to the client outcomes.

Rochelle Moulton

03:45 - 04:25

So a lot of consultants and advisors don't even think about a whale model because it so goes against the grain of the typical advice out there. Build a huge audience, sell low price point products, right? But if you position yourself correctly, Price yourself right and carefully build a system that delivers a pipeline of future clients to you. This can be not only a lucrative practice, but one where you don't have to work 60 plus hours a week to make it happen. Now, as always, the devil's in the details. So I see three main challenges you'll want to address.

Rochelle Moulton

04:26 - 05:07

Challenge number one, you have to deliver a transformation that is high value enough that a handful or two of clients can bring you some seriously significant revenue. Because it's not worth your time to focus in on a few whales if altogether they deliver disappointing revenue. So if you had five $30,000 whales when you were first starting out, that would be incredible. But when you've been doing that same work, same volume for five years, not so much. If you're committed to the model, you'll want to keep honing the client outcomes as you go so they deliver higher and higher value outcomes.

Rochelle Moulton

05:07 - 05:55

So that $30,000 that you started with might become $50,000, $100,000, or even more as you keep zeroing in on your sweet spot. So challenge number two is positioning yourself correctly. You need to be in a big enough category to ensure there's sufficient demand for your thing, but you want to occupy your very own authority space. A generic communication consultant probably won't be able to hit those big numbers, but an M&A specialist might easily command them. And this too is going to evolve over time as you decide where you want to focus. And challenge number three is price yourself like the rock star you are.

Rochelle Moulton

05:55 - 06:39

And if you aren't a rock star yet, then figure out the highest, best value you can deliver so that your ideal clients come to see you as their rock star. Now with pricing, you've got to experiment to find your sweet spot and then experiment some more because it's an ongoing process. It never ends. I've told the story in my book and here on this podcast about the client selling an assessment that was jam-packed with value for $15,000. All we did was bump it up by $10,000 each time until their ideal buyers said no. We found the ceiling, and then we experimented with providing more value so we could raise it again.

Rochelle Moulton

06:40 - 07:15

Now, I get that blithely increasing fees by $10,000 a clip is hard when times are tough, but if you're having enough sales conversations, it's pretty easy to try it out for yourself. Which leads me to the question I really want you to consider today, and that's this. Should Whale clients be part of your service mix right now if they aren't already? Times are pretty weird right now. We are teetering on the edge of a recession, some are saying that we're already in one, and lots of buyers are pulling back or putting off big decisions until they have more clarity.

Rochelle Moulton

07:16 - 08:02

Those buyers are less likely to reach out to someone new when they're in stress mode. But your clients, former and current, know what you can do, right? That makes them an easy starting point to lock in some revenue now on open items you know that they're going to need. Or you could start discussions for bread and butter type work that they're likely to green light once the dust clears. Concentrating on a few significant clients allows you to focus your sales, marketing, and relationship building intimately while keeping your revenue flowing and growing. And it limits any flailing around you might do if you get worried about the direction of your revenue line.

Rochelle Moulton

08:03 - 08:42

You just want to make sure that your whale clients fit neatly into at least one of your sweet spots, like the type of work, the industry, your client profile, et cetera. Otherwise, each one will feel like a supremely heavy lift, and that's the last thing that you want. You never want to have just one client because that's usually not a sustainable business model. The only exception, and it's quite rare, where this can work is when you're doing intensive one-to-one work where you can only serve one client at a time. and you're billing them what feels like a crazy big amount, i.e.

Rochelle Moulton

08:42 - 09:27

enough revenue to make for an outrageously successful year. Even then though, you've got to have a system that delivers you leads or you will spend way too much time sitting on the bench waiting for your next whale. Also want to make sure that any whale is worthy of investment, that they are good people with achievable goals who will view you as a trusted resource. Anyone who doesn't meet that standard is never worth your time and energy. They must value your services and be willing to pay for the value received. You only want whales who appreciate you, who see you as the rock star to midwife them to that big transformation they're looking for.

Rochelle Moulton

09:28 - 10:15

You also want to be able to grow together or part company respectfully if your goals go in different directions. I'm going to argue that that means you like them, you like how they work, and you're aligned with their worldview. Anyone not meeting that standard cannot become a whale because I will, they cannot become your whale because I guarantee you'll regret it every single day you work with them. So you can probably tell I like a good whale model when it suits your skills, deliverables, temperament, and business and revenue goals. It doesn't work for everyone, but if your current business model isn't working for you in this kind of crazy business environment, it might be time to give a whale a try.

Rochelle Moulton

10:16 - 10:51

You don't need to upend your entire business. Just try it with one current or past client, someone who knows you and trusts you and see where it leads. Because even if serving a handful of whales is not your long term vision, it can act as a lucrative placeholder while you navigate your business through this uncertainty. Just construct them thoughtfully and only let the very best folks on the train with you. Alrighty then, that's it for whale models today. I'll see you next time on The Soloist Live. Bye-bye.

Aligning Your Podcast With Your Business Growth with Reuben Swartz

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0700

Have you noticed that expertise podcasts—even from “celebrities”—tend to have an arc? They grow, they evolve, they might even shrink or pause for awhile and at some point they end.

When Sales for Nerds host Reuben Swartz put his highly rated 100-episode podcast on hiatus with an intriguing announcement, I invited him to the show to talk about:

Why he hit the pause button on Sales for Nerds.

Where his podcast aligns with his core Soloist business—and where it diverges.

How he thinks about the value of his time and the role his podcast plays in personal learning and driving business.

The organic arc (rise, plateau, fall) his podcast experienced as his business and his goals have changed.

How finishing 100 episodes made him review his experiences and think about what’s next.

LINKS

Reuben Swartz Mimiran | Sales for Nerds | LinkedIn | YouTube (Mimiran) | YouTube (Sales for Nerds)

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Reuben Swartz is the founder of Mimiran, the fun, “anti-CRM” for independent consultants, born of his experience as a sales and marketing consultant for the Fortune 500, struggling with his own business development efforts. He's also the host and chief nerd on the Sales for Nerds podcast.

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

BOOK A CALL WITH ROCHELLE

TRANSCRIPT

Reuben Swartz

00:00 - 00:28

So i dropped an email to jason cohen at wp engine hey jason i got this new concept for podcast i bring a bottle of wine to your office and interview you talk about wine i really like your blog he writes this brilliant blog and i've heard you speak at blah blah blah blah blah and I really like what you have to say blah blah blah blah blah blah And I'm also a customer blah blah blah blah blah blah Right? Like this really nice, suck up email. He just writes me back 5 minutes later--you had me at wine, here's a link to my calendar.

Rochelle Moulton

00:33 - 01:08

Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Live podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth, impact, and power. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm so excited to welcome Ruben Swartz to the show. Ruben is the founder of Mimarin, the fun anti-CRM for independent consultants, born of his experience as a sales and marketing consultant for the Fortune 500, struggling with his own business development efforts. He's also the host and chief nerd on the Sales for Nerds podcast. Ruben, welcome.

Reuben Swartz

01:08 - 01:10

Oh, it's so great to be here, Rochelle. Thanks for having me.

Rochelle Moulton

01:11 - 01:45

Yeah. So we met on your podcast and the sales for nerds podcast, and I've been on your email list ever since. Just kind of like to keep tabs on what you're up to. And then last week I got this email, which with your permission, I'm going to read because it just felt very Ruben and very vulnerable and very true. So I'll just get to it. When you get this, I'll be recovering from eye surgery. Nothing terrible, but it's been an interesting year or so with 1.5 eyes. I won't get all my vision back in my left eye, but it should be much more functional.

Rochelle Moulton

01:46 - 02:15

While I certainly hope to see better visually, I also try to keep seeing better conceptually. And along those lines, I'm putting Sales for Nerds on hold for a bit. Nothing against the great guests I've enjoyed speaking with, but I'm feeling like I'm not offering much that's new and that putting out new episodes is more for me to say I did it than to offer real value to you. If you think I'm missing something, let me know what you'd like to hear. I've got some ideas for a reboot, but I need to go think about it for a minute.

Rochelle Moulton

02:16 - 02:47

So what I so appreciated about that email is that I know exactly that feeling, as does a pretty surprising swath of our fellow podcasters. So I just had to ask you to come on and talk with me about how we manage what I'm thinking of as the arc of podcasting, like how expertise business owners can roll with the different waves that hit our podcasts and our business growth at different inflection points. So that's the setup. I'm just so glad you said yes.

Reuben Swartz

02:48 - 02:48

Well, it's great

Reuben Swartz

02:48 - 03:17

to be here. And it's funny that we're having this conversation because in some ways I had been feeling this way for a while. And I think like most of us, I'm just kind of stubborn. And I think, well, if you know, if things aren't going great, that's fine. You just power through. And then I heard you and Jonathan discussing just ending your podcast. Like it had come to the end of its lifespan and you'd said what you wanted to say and you were going to move on to different things. And I was like, Oh, That's interesting.

Reuben Swartz

03:18 - 03:53

Maybe I should think about that. And I've been sort of thinking about it for a while. And when I started, it was great because every single episode was just so new and so interesting. And I felt like I was learning so much and. a hundred plus episodes in, it's not that the guests were any worse or better than the earlier ones, but I didn't feel like I was learning as much. And whether or not that translates to the audience, if I'm not learning as much, then I'm not as excited to be there because I love learning things.

Reuben Swartz

03:54 - 04:40

And so I didn't feel like I was bringing my best game to my listeners. And for a while I had sort of been thinking, okay, I need some better way of organizing this than just here's a bunch of random episodes that all have helpful info. I wanted to have themes and I thought about sort of having playlists. So, you know, if you work in marketing, if you're working on networking, if you're working on sales, here's a bunch of episodes you should look into and there's no good reason i haven't done that but what i realized later was maybe i want to have sort of like a start to start a new season of the podcast where it's going to be sort of more serialized content where you want to listen to episode one and it's going to lead to episode two to episode three and so on and then when you get done with it you've gone on this journey and you've learned the following things

Rochelle Moulton

04:41 - 04:41

the Netflix

Reuben Swartz

04:41 - 04:43

model. Kind of like that. Yes.

Rochelle Moulton

04:43 - 05:05

Yeah. Okay. So before we go too far with the arc of podcasting, will you talk to us a little bit about how you got here because you operate what I would call a soloist business, but you also decided to develop a product to help solve a very common soloist problem. So talk about, you know, how'd you get here doing this right now?

Reuben Swartz

05:06 - 05:39

With very poor vision and strategic planning would be the short version. I started a business 20 something years ago because I was young and single and didn't have a lot of expenses and had some savings and I remember thinking if I didn't do it then I would never do it. Brilliant business plan really. I've heard worse. It could be worse. Yeah. And it was a lot of fun, actually. And to be a guy in his mid-20s, flying all over the world, helping these giant companies and working with executives two or three times my age, it was great.

Reuben Swartz

05:39 - 06:29

Something I had never envisioned myself doing. And I learned a ton and I like to think I was very helpful. And then life has its way of intervening because I thought I would do that for a while. you know my thirties i didn't mean maybe settle down and have some kids want to start gotten all that out of my system and then met my future wife and we had a certain schedule we had to get to if we're gonna have a family and that kind of threw off my planning and i didn't wanna travel as much and one thing led to another and i would love to tell you that In the course of my struggles to use the enterprise here we were helping our clients use that i saw the need for a CRM or an anti CRM geared towards the soloist and that's not what happened at all i literally accidentally started building things to plug into the enterprise tools.

Reuben Swartz

06:29 - 07:02

And then people started asking me for access to them. So I made them from a tool for myself into an app that other people could access. And at the time, it was still mostly like enterprise type clients. And then what I noticed was the enterprise folks would start off really excited. They had good budgets. I was used to working with them. It was all great. But their requirements never ended. They would usually, they would want to bring me in because I'd say, hey, our, our sales teams just, they won't standardize anything. We need to standardize the way we're actually presenting stuff to prospects.

Reuben Swartz

07:02 - 07:36

Your stuff is exactly what we need. Blah, blah, blah, blah. We just needed to do the following three extra things. Can you handle that? And I'd say, uh, sure. Okay. We can make it do that. We'll do that. And then I'd say, okay, everything's great. We just need to do the following three extra things. And eventually we all realized there was no end to the extra things and that's why they were using excel because. No one could ever say no to a prospect and say, here's how we're going to sell you stuff. If the prospect said, present it like this, they went off and presented it like this.

Reuben Swartz

07:37 - 08:09

And the whole effort to standardize would fall apart. Meanwhile, there were other indie consultants who thought this was the greatest thing since sliced bread. And they didn't have big budgets. You needed a lot of them to equal one enterprise customer, but they were thrilled. And it was making their lives better in ways that I could personally relate to, because I was doing the same thing. And they started asking for more stuff. I started off just like wanting to know if people had read my proposals. So I figured if I could put the proposal in the cloud, I could know if people were reading it.

Reuben Swartz

08:09 - 08:38

That was sort of the genesis of this crazy journey. So then people said, Hey, the end of my sales cycles, smooth, easy, predictable, love it. What can I do to get more people in the front of the funnel? And I thought, you know, being the techie guy, I'll just go do some research and say, well, you should use this. And I had one of those moments like you have at the end of the movie where they show you all the clues and suddenly it's all obvious, but you missed it at the time. I have a lot of those in my life, but because I had tried so many things myself and nothing had really worked well for me.

Reuben Swartz

08:38 - 09:22

And I realized that there were so many things out there, but they weren't geared towards this tribe. They were geared towards e-commerce type companies where you get an email address and you just Automate the crap out of email marketing or you have a big sales team that's gonna pound the phones all day and neither of those scenarios applies to the soloist and i thought well wait a second i've got this technology to let people share content online and no one someone's reading it what if we made that into a lead magnet. So instead of having one of those weird pinch and zoom experiences with a pdf you could actually read it on your phone and you could know not just when someone request it but if they look at it again next week next month whatever you have another chance to actually talk to them.

Reuben Swartz

09:22 - 09:48

And so this work well people oh my gosh is amazing i'm finally getting leads off my website. And then I put them on my CRM, which I hate. And if it goes well, then I go into Mimarin and do the proposal. Can you please just make Mimarin do the CRM part? And as you can imagine, I said, no, that would be nuts. I would never do that. And so I kept hearing this from people and I kept saying, that's nuts. Like the world doesn't need another CRM. And I would be the last person to build one.

Reuben Swartz

09:48 - 10:18

I freaking hate CRMs. I mean, I've literally used dozens of them. And here's what my, my customers were saying to me that that kind of makes sense is like, that's why you need to do this because you understand why we hate them so much. And again, looking back, it's all clear, but at the time I just couldn't see it. CRMs are built for a VP of sales to track a sales team. And I knew from my consulting days that the sales team doesn't even like them. Yup. We hated them. They're in there the whole time.

Reuben Swartz

10:18 - 10:46

They at least know how to use them. The solo consultant who's maybe in the CRM a few hours a week, if you're lucky, doesn't want to think of his or herself as a salesperson, doesn't go through the formal training or anything like that. They just want to be able to do follow-ups. It's like, the analogy I like to use is, you're sick of carrying your groceries back from the grocery store. Someone says you should get a vehicle. And so you ask what you should get. And well, it turns out that there's a bunch of friendly vehicle consultants.

Reuben Swartz

10:46 - 11:21

And the most popular one says, well, you should get a space shuttle. And then you wonder why taking the space shuttle to the grocery store is even more frustrating than walking home with your groceries, right? Yep. Salesforce. And then someone's like, oh, yeah, the space shuttle is just way too complicated. what you need is a 747, right? Now we're at HubSpot. And these are great tools. And there are times when you need a space shuttle or a 747 or whatever it is, but not to go to the grocery store. So that's sort of the long-winded way of saying, here's how we ended up building this thing.

Reuben Swartz

11:22 - 11:53

with my customers kind of dragging me, kicking and screaming, because what I realized is we don't need to keep track of a sales team. We need to create and nurture relationships. And if you're in a relationship business, you're in a conversation business, which was very hard for me as an introverted anti-sales techie to accept. And if you're in a conversation business, you want to do two things. You want to get very specific about who you want to have conversations with, and then you want to have those conversations. That's it. Like it's no more complicated than that.

Reuben Swartz

11:53 - 12:02

And the problem is we build up so much paraphernalia around everything that we don't do those basic things and then it's really hard.

Rochelle Moulton

12:02 - 12:42

Oh, you are preaching to the choir. I mean, it's funny because I always associated CRM with relationships because I came out of a big firm when it was all about relationships. We worked with Fortune 500 companies and your job as a person who leads teams is to spider your way through an organization. And the way you do that is by building relationships with people in different functions. But then when all of the sales systems came out, I mean, they made no sense to me because I wasn't wired that way. But I did run a Fortune 500 company internal consulting group at one point in my career, and they had a rocket ship.

Rochelle Moulton

12:42 - 13:15

And it was fascinating because they had salespeople. They had actual salespeople. And when I was watching them, that's when it dawned on me like, Oh, I get it. This is just so different than how I think of this stuff. I'm not thinking about tracking deals. I don't talk about deal flow. Right. Even in a big firm, we didn't talk about deal flow. We talked about relationships and the name of the client and the name of the company. So yeah. So how long did it take you till you had something that looks roughly like what you're offering today?

Reuben Swartz

13:15 - 13:47

Well, it's funny. People always ask that and I say, well, it, how it looks today is different than how it will look in three months and how it looked three months ago. But I think, I mean, it probably took almost a decade from when I started building little tools for myself to when I would say, Hey guys, here's a CRM for solo people. And it wasn't that it took a decade of coding to do that. It just was never something that even occurred to me when I started out, which is probably, again, I'm not the most brilliant business visionary to ever walk the face of the earth.

Reuben Swartz

13:48 - 14:02

Because you could have gone and built this in a much shorter amount of time if I had known what I was going to do. It's not that it's rocket science in terms of technology or coding. It's more a matter of carving stuff out than putting stuff in.

Rochelle Moulton

14:02 - 14:33

Well, it's very organic the way you described it. And that's what a lot of soloists experience. I mean, even the soloists who come into this with a business plan saying, this is what I'm going to do. It changes like the first year usually. And it changes again, the second year and the third year and the 10th year and the 20th year. So, you know, it doesn't surprise me is what I'm saying. It's organic. And I would think that that's also what's helped make it more popular now because you get it and you've designed it for this specific audience.

Reuben Swartz

14:34 - 14:49

I think that's so true. Like having a niche. And sort of cutting out the enterprise niche was, was hard. Cause that's where most of the revenue was...

How To Scale From $200K (Without A Single Hire)

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 02:00:00 -0700

When you’re building a Soloist expertise business, it’s pretty common to plateau around $200K or so in revenue.

Typically at that point, you’ve found your groove and can reliably hit that number—but if you want to scale beyond that, conventional wisdom screams that it’s time to hire employees.

Uh, no.

You’ve got plenty of faster, easier and safer choices when you want to scale:

Why hiring employees can be a viable model (I built and sold a boutique firm to the big boys for seven figures), but is front-loaded with challenges and risks.

The role niching can play in busting through a revenue plateau—by weaving yourself into an existing cohort of clients and buyers.

How to think about productizing your services and its impact on your revenue, your pipeline and your lifestyle.

Moving from implementation or execution services to high price point advisory options.

The three criteria you need to meet to make raising your prices a slam dunk.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

BOOK A CALL WITH ROCHELLE

TRANSCRIPT

Rochelle Moulton

00:00 - 00:52

You might have a business where you come in, you do a project, and you exit never to be seen again. But many of you do work that produces deep tentacles into client organizations, so you want any productized services you offer to support that. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life Podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth, impact, and power. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and frankly, I'm still deciding how it feels to add power at the end of this intro, probably because I've never really been about power per se, but about my personal definition of wealth, enough money, free time, independence, flexibility and impact to enjoy my life and my work.

Rochelle Moulton

00:52 - 01:37

But as I said in my last solo episode, as soloists, we definitely have economic and leadership power, and it's time we use them. So I'm keeping that thought, power, and channeling it in this space for now. Speaking of power, today I want to talk to you about how to scale after you hit $200,000 or so in revenue. And the reason I want to hit on this today is I just tripped over a podcast episode about this topic, and I couldn't disagree more with the host's conclusions. See if you can't guess why. The main piece of advice was, wait for it, it's time to hire someone who does what you do, a mini-me.

Rochelle Moulton

01:38 - 02:24

Now, look, if your goal is to grow a business with employees, this is actually not bad advice. Somewhere around $200,000 is often when solos selling expertise bump up against what feels like a revenue ceiling. So you hire a mini you, and theoretically, you can then double your revenue. Woo-hoo, right? Well, no, the devil lies in the details. You have to source, hire, train, and supervise this person. You have to pay them a salary, maybe even bonus them. You have legal obligations to them and anyone they touch as your employee. And there's no guarantee you'll be able to bring in enough revenue to actually make a profit on your hire.

Rochelle Moulton

02:25 - 03:07

Hey, I built a very successful boutique consulting firm with employees. It can absolutely be done, but not without a real desire to nurture and lead your people. No matter what happens, you owe them the best version of you, as well as transparency about how they are or are not contributing to your firm's body of work and reputation. It's a lot. And besides, I'm betting if you're listening to this podcast, you're looking for ways to scale without dipping your toe into the employee pool. Am I right? Yeah, thought so. So let's talk about some other ways you can scale.

Rochelle Moulton

03:07 - 03:57

And I see at least four of them. One, you can niche down into a highly lucrative segment of your client base. That allows you to experiment with creating multiple high value offers that are scalable. Two, you can build productized services where you're still present for some, maybe even all of the work, but you've streamlined it and priced it well upstream. Three. you can add high price point advisory options. Now, this can be very attractive when you've been focusing on execution or implementation work, because at some point, you'll be experienced enough and savvy enough to develop advisory options that put a value on your availability and applied wisdom, rather than on the hours you actually work.

Rochelle Moulton

03:58 - 04:47

And finally, four, the easiest of all, when you're providing exceptional value to a specific audience, you can raise your prices. Now, I totally get that your mindset plays an outsized role in deciding to raise prices, but we're gonna talk about that, okay? All right, let's dive in. First, scaling by niching. This always feels counterintuitive. You're niching down, making your potential audience smaller to increase your revenue. But it can work beautifully if you choose the right niche, your people, and your specialty, and package your services effectively. If you think about some of the stories told by guests on this show, there's some huge advantages to niching down to a specific target market.

Rochelle Moulton

04:48 - 05:34

Geraldine Carter, in episode one, is on a mission to help single owner CPAs get down to 40 hours. Literally everything she does is in service to that audience and her revenue keeps multiplying the more she focuses on helping them get out of chaos. Emily O'Meara in episode 14 is all about open source startups and their unique challenges. And just in the last episode, Sarah Kay Peck shared her 10 plus year journey on her mission to help parents in startups. You'll want to feel strongly about your people so that you're willing to cross that inevitable dip that will make it hard slogging for a while as you experiment to find what gets you the best traction.

Rochelle Moulton

05:35 - 06:30

Ideally, you think of their getting the results they most want a bit like the Holy Grail. You're 100% invested in their success. Okay, number two, productize services. Productized service is a high value service you deliver in a tried and true way every time. Most of us have some sort of services that lend themselves to productization, like assessments, strategy sessions, strategy delivery, et cetera. And one of my favorites is Pia Silva's story on how she created her brand up. It's in episode 13, if you want to give it a listen. In a nutshell, she figured out that she made more money on her $3,000 one-day brand sessions than the $30,000 projects she was having trouble closing.

Rochelle Moulton

06:31 - 07:14

Eventually, she doubled down on doing only those and gradually raising the price so that when she last did them, she was hitting $30,000 per project. But while it started out as a financial move, she quickly realized that it allowed her to live a much more flexible life than always being on call for clients. A couple of projects a month were enough to live the personal and professional life she was wanting. If you're doing big-scale implementation work, like, say, change consulting to large corporates or brand strategy, where your fees feel like an eye-popping risk to your clients, an entry-level productized service can be just the ticket.

Rochelle Moulton

07:14 - 08:00

First, they get a taste of working with you without all of the financial risk. Say that your full-bore brand strategy work runs $300,000, while your front-end strategy is $30,000. Either party realizes this isn't going to work, you've got an easy out. And on the flip side, once you've had a solid working relationship, it's far, far easier for them to say yes to the other $270,000. Second, since it's a shorter term, lower dollar project, it's a lot easier to get that initial yes. Your time from proposal to close will feel lightning fast and you'll save a whole bunch of time and stress not circling around on big proposal check-ins.

Rochelle Moulton

08:02 - 08:45

Third, your productized service doesn't have to lead to those big engagements. In fact, you might use it to smooth out your revenue between mega projects, or even to keep future clients warm until they're ready for the full scope of your work. To decide if and how productized services might work for you, don't just look at revenue flow, but the lifetime journey of your clients with you. You might have a business where you come in, you do a project, and you exit never to be seen again. But many of you do work that produces deep tentacles into client organizations, so you want any productized services you offer to support that.

Rochelle Moulton

08:46 - 09:32

OK, number three, high price point advisory options. This can feel a bit elusive if you're used to execution or implementation work. It's like you say to yourself, really? Clients are going to pay me just to have access to my brain? I'm not giving them anything. I'm here to tell you, yes, they will. Now, it's not a slam dunk. It's a process. But you can start aligning your offerings right now to include an advisory option. If you're all about executing, then do this. Create an option at the end of your typical project that allows them access to pick your brain for some amount of time, three months, six months, a year.

Rochelle Moulton

09:33 - 10:24

Mention it early on, preferably in your initial proposal, since it might actually seal the deal for you. And that's because clients don't just want work done, they want confidence that they'll be okay after you're done. Always remember, as a consultant or coach, you're selling confidence too. In fact, some of us are only selling confidence. For the right client, it's literally priceless. Now, I've had clients sell Access high-end advisory retainers for $3,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000 a month. And the clients are thrilled because they know help is there when they need it. Of course, you have to have a high value skill and authority with your client base.

Rochelle Moulton

10:25 - 11:11

And of course, you'll need to be solving big, expensive problems. But if you start wherever you are right now, you'll start climbing the ladder and leveraging your wisdom more every year. And finally, number four, raise your prices. To raise your prices successfully, you typically need three things. All right, you need a neatly defined and described outcome that you've delivered consistently to a specific client profile. You need enough sales conversations so you can experiment with raising your prices in specific situations. And you need a deep belief in yourself that you're adding value well in excess of your fees.

Rochelle Moulton

11:12 - 11:52

What am I saying? That if you have experience consistently delivering value well in excess of your fees, and you're confident in your ability to continue to do that, you can raise your prices. A general rule of thumb is you'd like to deliver 10 times the value of your fees, because that makes the client's decision to hire you pretty much a no-brainer. Now, 5x is still viable, and even 2x when there's high trust and you're the authority on the issue. What's always interesting when I have these discussions with consultants is how conscious, or not, they are about the value they deliver.

Rochelle Moulton

11:53 - 12:32

I've worked with people redesigning organizations who are saving tens of millions of dollars in employee turnover costs. Selling a project for $500,000 against that result is not hard, and they actually can price higher still without hearing a no. But I've also met some folks just like them with those same kinds of results who are petrified to bump their price over the $100,000 barrier. That's why mindset is so crucial here. You look at what you deliver, do the math on your fees versus the outcomes, and if it works, you've got every logical reason to raise your prices.

Rochelle Moulton

12:33 - 13:09

If you feel like you can't, but you want that revenue bump, come talk to me to help you work through it, or even hire yourself a therapist if this is an issue throughout your life. This is a hurdle you want to jump over because it will literally change your life. Now, how you raise prices depends on your business and revenue model. In a practice with monthly retainers, you might raise fees at year-end for existing clients, but you could increase monthly fees for new clients as they come to you during the year. You can experiment. If you have productized services, especially if you don't post the price, it's easy to change with every new client.

Rochelle Moulton

13:09 - 13:46

Just think of it as an experiment. You raise the price with new client one who says yes. Then you raise it again for new client number two who also says yes. New client number three, though, walks away at the new client number two price. So when potential new client number four comes in, you decide which way to go. If you've got plenty of work and revenue, maybe you hold the price that failed last time or even raise it. If you really need the work, then it's a tougher decision. Just remember that clients say no for all sorts of reasons, and your price might not have been why they declined.

Rochelle Moulton

13:47 - 14:28

You want to do your best to get into their heads and understand their thinking, because it will make your next pricing decision far less stressful. I worked with a client who, when I met him, was offering an assessment to a very deep-pocketed target client for $15,000. Now, his results were off the charts. The savings his work brought his ideal clients were 10 times, 20 times, even 30 times his fee. So I challenged him to keep raising it $10,000 with each new client until he found the ceiling. And we had a couple of pause points where he stuck with the fee for multiple clients, but not too long ago, he hit $75,000.

Rochelle Moulton

14:28 - 15:23

And we think there's still more room since he continues to produce those stellar results. All right, let's circle back to where we started. There are so many attractive ways to scale if you plateau around $200,000. You do not have to hire employees. I promise. I have clients who easily hit 300,000, 500,000, even a million without a single employee. And let me tell you from experience. A $500,000 or $1 million expertise business with employees means more uncertainty, more risk, and more headaches while delivering less net profit than the exact same revenue as a soloist. So if you want to stay solo, commit yourself to scaling the easy way.

Rochelle Moulton

15:24 - 15:44

Niche into a highly lucrative segment of your client base, build productized services, add high price point advisory options, and raise your prices. Think of it as gunning for the least amount of friction and the maximum amount of joy. I'll see you next time on The Soloist Life. Bye-bye.

Founders with Kids…Building A Paid Community with Sarah K. Peck

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 02:00:00 -0700

Maybe you’ve toyed with building a paid community as part of your business model. Or you gave it a shot and later shelved it because you just couldn’t make it work. Start-up Parent Founder Sarah K. Peck goes deep on how she built three paid communities:

How she chose the initial idea that morphed into her company and multiple highly engaged (paid) communities.

Why what looks like overnight success (260 applications for 25 spots) was actually years of experiments, trials and listening to a consistent audience.

How she looks at experimenting today—and why a one-year commitment keeps her focused on the best outcomes for her members and herself.

The role that lighthearted fun—joy even—can play in the success of your community and your own happiness.

The intersection of motherhood and business and finding your sweet spot between the two.

LINKS

Sarah K. Peck LinkedIn | Threads

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Sarah K. Peck is the founder and CEO of Startup Parent and the host of The Startup Parent Podcast, an award-winning podcast featuring women in entrepreneurship, business, and parenting. She writes about work, culture, and parenting, and her work has been featured in Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and more.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah K. Peck

00:00 - 00:25

I started interviewing folks who have big careers and are working at startups who have gone through pregnancy. That's why it was Startup Pregnant. I wanted to learn from folks. And about three years into the project, I realized that I didn't want to talk to only moms and only women. It was like, the shifts that happen when you're pregnant are just the beginning. It's just the tip of the iceberg. Like you're a parent for the rest of your life.

Rochelle Moulton

00:31 - 01:11

Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life Podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I am so excited to welcome Sarah K. Peck to the show. So Sarah is the founder and CEO of Startup Parent and the host of the Startup Parent podcast, an award-winning podcast featuring women in entrepreneurship, business, and parenting. She writes about work, culture, and parenting, and her work has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and more. Sarah, welcome.

Sarah K. Peck

01:11 - 01:14

Oh, it's so great to be here. I'm so excited to talk to you.

Rochelle Moulton

01:14 - 01:47

I was having so much fun in the green room that it was like I just had to stop and hit record so we could get some of this. So we talked a few years ago on my other podcast, but I've been watching you, and I've been fascinated by what I see as a very measured and successful approach to growth and how thoughtfully you've developed multiple professional communities, at least three that I'm aware of, that are at the intersection of motherhood and business. So I'm just thrilled that we can talk about this.

Sarah K. Peck

01:48 - 02:27

That's really lovely to hear. It always feels, I think, on the inside, I'm sure other entrepreneurs can relate, that things are going so much slower than you want them to go. And it's taking forever, and you're trying some things, and then it doesn't work, and you try some new things. But yes, community has always been really important to me. And I have, since I was in my mid-20s, joined a number of communities that have really been supportive and helpful to me. And it's something that I really enjoy doing. It's like matchmaking. I think if I were living in a different era, I might have been a matchmaker.

Sarah K. Peck

02:27 - 02:44

But I just really enjoy connecting people and bringing them together. And I recently took the StrengthsFinders, and it says that one of my skills is individualization. So it's like seeing people as individuals and then really getting to know them. So I'm glad that I was doing something that I'm good at.

Rochelle Moulton

02:45 - 03:16

Well, yeah. And plus, you know, it's nice to have somebody come in and look at like your last 10 years of work and just be able to see it all in one fell swoop. It's a lot harder when you're doing the actual work in the trenches. So before we dive into Founders with Kids, which is your newest community, and why those two key words are compatible, would you share a little bit about how you got here? I mean, I know that you had a lot of writing and communications experience in your early days, but it looks like you've been an entrepreneur for a big chunk of your career so far.

Sarah K. Peck

03:17 - 03:57

No, it's so surprising to me. I never knew that that was a path you could take until you reach that point where you want to make something exist that doesn't exist, or you're tired of other people telling you what to do. And so you branch out. But my background is in psychology and then architectural design. I got a graduate degree in urban design and landscape architecture. And I worked for five or six years in that field. And one of the things that i noticed and started to observe was that these brilliant people who are dreaming up the future in visuals they're able to do plans and design.

Sarah K. Peck

03:58 - 04:33

were speaking in jargon. You know, when they got up and to write about what they were doing or speak about what they were doing, so often no one could understand them because it was like, well, the precipitous back channel of the blank blank is something. So, and I was like, I don't know what that means. Like, tell me in English, what is this? Speak to me like I'm a 10 year old so I can understand. And I ended up shifting and working in communications and through everything I was learning paired with some new startups at the time, like General Assembly and Udemy and other places to start teaching these skills.

Sarah K. Peck

04:33 - 05:19

And eventually my journey into entrepreneurship was through freelancing. And I started my own thing. I brought together a writing community. I taught folks how to write and I did a lot of ghost writing for CEOs. So taking the brilliance that people had, the deep expertise in helping them craft thought leadership essays before it was really known as thought leadership. And things evolved because I learned how to set better boundaries with clients. I learned contracting and marketing. And then I started to learn how to build a very small team. How do you have an assistant and how do you lean on consultants or other folks to help you really narrow in on what you are uniquely good at?

Sarah K. Peck

05:20 - 05:51

versus trying to do everything yourself. And learned a lot through that, by the way. One of the things I tried to hire out was I tried to hire writers and I did not realize how difficult it was to hire out for something that I'm uniquely good at. And I really should have hired out for other things. But in the early days, I just did not see that that was one of my strengths. I thought this was something anyone could do. And I had to do more CEO stuff and organization and operations, which is not my strength.

Rochelle Moulton

05:51 - 05:52

Classic.

Sarah K. Peck

05:52 - 05:57

So lots of learning that got me on the path of entrepreneurship.

Rochelle Moulton

05:57 - 06:12

So you did all those things. I almost feel like some of the communities you created followed where you were in your life stage, right? Because I'm thinking startup parent was startup pregnant first. Yes, that's right. Yeah. How did that sort of unfold for you?

Sarah K. Peck

06:12 - 06:58

I was working and I built a number of online writing courses and communications courses and I was partnering with some folks and running my own business. I ended up actually joining a startup, a venture backed downtown Manhattan. It was a coding and skill building startup where you taught people how to build with Ruby on Rails and Python and, and more. It was there that I got pregnant with my first kid and nobody in the tech startup world was talking about how do you do this while pregnant? Like you would occasionally see a woman with a perfect belly on the cover of a magazine and being like, hell, this founder earned $50 million and didn't skip a beat while pregnant.

Sarah K. Peck

06:58 - 07:31

And I was like, that seems very watered down. You think? Yeah. Excuse me, but how? I was too curious and also too dubious. Just say, that does not make sense to me. How does this work? Meanwhile, I'm making this map across Manhattan of all the places I've had to secretly puke because I'm so sick during my pregnancy. I was like, that trash can I puked in, that bush I puked in, that Whole Foods. You know, it was all I could do just to get to work as sick as I felt. And I was like, this is nothing like what people describe.

Sarah K. Peck

07:32 - 08:12

And so I started interviewing folks who have big careers and are working at startups who have gone through pregnancy. That's why it was Startup Pregnant. I wanted to learn from folks. And about three years into the project, I realized that I didn't want to talk to only moms and only women. And also that it was like the shifts that happen when you're pregnant are just the beginning. It's just the tip of the iceberg, like you're a parent for the rest of your life. And at least the next 20 years are fraught with challenges of raising children and continuing to figure out how do you make all of this work together?

Sarah K. Peck

08:12 - 08:54

And, you know, what balls can you drop safely? And, you know, what do you do when you feel completely overwhelmed? And also I wanted dads in the conversation and all parents in the conversation. So we shifted and rebranded to startup parent. I still run a women's leadership community because I think gendered spaces are useful and important. But when it comes to parenting, the thing that I've heard and talked to a lot of people about is you really don't need gendered spaces after the first six or 12 months, right? You need some postpartum support groups. You probably need some birthing support groups, but everything out there is mommy and me branded and these dads don't have any places to go and they need to be a part of the conversation.

Sarah K. Peck

08:54 - 09:19

So the more that we can make it about parenting in general, the better I think we can be. And we can have subgroups where it's like, this one's specifically for moms with trauma, or this is specifically for single dads. But it's way too siloed. So that's how I started StartUp Parent. I've been running that company for five years. and building it. And recently, this last summer, we launched the Community Founders with Kids.

Rochelle Moulton

09:20 - 09:39

Well, let me just say, as another woman, it's about time that men get drawn into the parenting conversation because a lot of them want to be. Yes. Right? And a lot of these communities are kind of exclusionary, not in a bad way, but parenting isn't a one gender thing. No,

Sarah K. Peck

09:39 - 09:57

it's not at all. And also there's, you know, folks that don't even identify as being a woman or a man and, or a mom or a dad, they're parents. And what about step parents and bonus parents? Like there's so many. additional people that we need. And if we want to have any semblance of the village back, we can't make it about one person.

Rochelle Moulton

09:57 - 10:28

Yes. I speak as a step-parent. I didn't birth any babies, but I do have a lot of the other things that go along with, in this case, now grown-up children. But still, I think, yeah, it's important to bring a lot of people into those conversations. Exactly. So before we go more there, because I do want to go, I do want to ask you this question I love to ask guests that have built their own businesses. Do you remember when you hit your first $100,000 when you started running your own business versus working for other people?

Rochelle Moulton

10:28 - 10:33

Yes. Was that like a milestone for you? Do you remember it? Yes.

Sarah K. Peck

10:33 - 11:13

There's a couple parts of that. I remember both hitting it. I think we did like $40,000 the first year. It's funny. it's not up into the right. It's not a single line because there have been different years where different things have happened. Like way back when, when I was leaving my architecture job and moving into being a freelancer, I had made $30,000 in side projects in selling writing courses. And I was like, certainly I can double this if I have full time to spend on this. Like if I don't have a job and I was making about $50,000 a year at that job, And I look back and I'm like, how did I do it?

Sarah K. Peck

11:13 - 11:55

I was like, roommates and buses, you know? Yeah, in Manhattan. I mean, design does not pay very well. But I remember that. I remember benchmarking against the job and then saying, at least if I could make that much. And then realizing, oh, wait, that doesn't account for half of what I need to make up for. But I also remember the milestone of, Realizing when $100,000 is not enough, like it's actually completely, there's so much out there. It's like, oh, and then once you make six figures and I want people to think beyond that because there's like, what are you reinvesting in your business for growth?

Sarah K. Peck

11:55 - 12:29

What are you reinvesting for? a rainy day for volatility? What about learning and an education? What about taxes? There's so many places this goes. What about long-term savings and retirement? There's so many more things to think about that when I talk to people, we can map out all of these different pieces, and then we start to map out What's a luxury item for you? And the coolest thing is that people aren't like, I want a private plane. They're like, you know, I really want to like that fancy gym membership. That's $300 a month. That would be so cool.

Sarah K. Peck

12:29 - 12:55

And you're like, great. That's $3,600 a year. So it's very tangible what would make a difference for folks. And then they can find their number, whether that's $140,000 or $180,000, but they can find the place or, you know, $500,000 because they want to be somewhere else or a million, wherever you are. But when you get to the specifics of it, you can find that life-changing number for you.

Rochelle Moulton

12:56 - 13:01

Oh, yeah. Well, we could have a whole conversation about that. I call it your enough number, which gets

Sarah K. Peck

13:01 - 13:01

you

Rochelle Moulton

13:01 - 13:36

everything that you want for the life that you've planned. But I think of the hundred thousand for these kinds of businesses, for a solo business, as once you hit that on some kind of a regular basis, you've got a sustainable business, right? If you can do that on a regular basis, you know, it's sustainable. And then you can start to experiment even more with things that are going to push you through that plateau and get you to whatever your magic number is. And they're all different. I mean, even when people have the same number, what's in that number looks very different from person to person.

Rochelle Moulton

13:36 - 13:37

Yes.

Sarah K. Peck

13:38 - 14:09

Oh, I love that as the sustainable metric. I work with someone who teaches that there's validation, there's kind of the spaghetti, throw it on the wall phase where you're trying to figure out what works first in product offerings and like what you can you actually sell. And then in terms of marketing, you know, is, do I go over here? Do I go over there? Like, where can I reliably find folks? And when you get to a place where you can reliably and predictably, she says within a 10% kind of gauge, say, I'm going to do a sale at this point.

Sarah K. Peck

14:09 - 14:15

This is how much I'm going to sell. And I can predict it, give or take plus or minus 10%. Then you're onto something.

Rochelle Moulton

14:16 - 14:16

Yeah.

Sarah K. Peck

14:16 - 14:18

You've got to get to that point, because otherwise it's like

Rochelle Moulton

14:18 - 14:51

a hobby. It's not really a business. Yeah. OK, well, let's go back to where we were a little bit ago, because I think that you have a lot that you can teach our audience about this idea of community. So you had the Startup Parent Community. You still have the Wise Woman Council Community. And now you've started this third one, Founders with Kids. So I have to tell you, I did a double take. I just want to make sure I read this correctly, that you did a soft launch and you had over 200 applications in three days.

Sarah K. Peck

14:52 - 15:11

Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah. About 50 of those applications had dripped in early and then we just, I announced it and then we just, boom, got another 150 and it jumped. It was like 260 by the end. Wow. That was really wild to me how quickly we had people throw their hat in the ring. I

Rochelle Moulton

15:11 - 15:47

can just see people listening to this going, I want to do that. So obviously you struck a nerve, but we all know that building a community is more than, you know, just having the right idea at the right time. I mean, you've...

Now Is The Time To Flex Your Power

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 02:00:00 -0700

Are you feeling whipsawed or demoralized by the U.S. headlines lately? You’re not the only one 😉.

And yet after you take a moment to confirm your values, you'll realize that now is exactly the time to flex your power:

Why building our businesses is precisely what we need to grow our wealth, impact and power. Yes, power.

How to think about your economic and leadership power in this current environment.

Why we need to do more than just resist cruelty, hatred and all the “isms”.

When it’s time to step into your role as a leader—beyond your business.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

Rochelle Moulton

00:00 - 00:46

Many of you listening do have privilege. We have businesses, we have economic and leadership power, and we need to use them. This, my friend, is time to step up, not to conduct business as usual. Hello, hello. Welcome to The Soloist Life Podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth, impact, and power. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and I'm ready to lean into the power word. How about you? So this is the first episode I've recorded in 2025. I waited until now, I'm recording this in mid-February, because honestly, I just couldn't decide what to talk to you about.

Rochelle Moulton

00:47 - 01:50

Hearing, seeing, and feeling the cruelty and the hatred toward women, the LGBTQ community, the BIPOC community, left me numb. And then I got angry, really angry. What could I do? How can I use my unique talents to help build the world I want to live in? Well, I figured it out, and I got the fire back in my belly by asking myself a very simple question. How can we get more money and power into the hands of women and those disadvantaged by the system we live in? How? We build businesses, businesses that use our genius and produce copious flows of money, businesses that we control so we can work the way we want, when we want, where we want, so that we have multiple streams of wealth to invest in our families, our communities, and the causes we care about.

Rochelle Moulton

01:51 - 02:41

to not only resist cruelty, hatred, and all the isms, but to actively find our people, to float new ideas and collaborate with the like-minded for change. At this moment, many of you are feeling stunned, disenfranchised, fearful, and confused. So what's next? Do you speak out and risk being ridiculed, targeted, or worse? Or do you put your head down, staying silent and complicit? Now, not everyone has the privilege to speak out. And if that's you, resist subversively so you're safe. But many of you listening do have privilege. We have businesses, we have economic and leadership power, and we need to use them.

Rochelle Moulton

02:41 - 03:24

This, my friend, is time to step up, not to conduct business as usual. Now, I'm not talking about politics and political theory here. You'll get that elsewhere. What this space is for is figuring out how to juice your soloist business so you can maximize your wealth, your impact, and, yes, power to make your corner of the world into the place you want you and your people to thrive. Now, how you define that is up to you. Just know that until you step into your business fully as the leader, as well as a leader for your people, you're not using your full potential to be a powerful force.

Rochelle Moulton

03:25 - 04:13

Now, I've needed some time to absorb the speed with which this new vision of America is being implemented. And you might too, and that's okay. But ultimately, We can't stand by and be silent. So while I don't talk politics here, I will speak to this being a very special time in history, not unlike Europe in the 1930s. It's a time when leaders are needed desperately. It's a time when making an extra $5,000, $10,000, $100,000, or even more in your business can accelerate the change you want to make in the world. That's leadership. Because make no mistake, money, wealth gives you choices, which means it gives you power.

Rochelle Moulton

04:14 - 05:01

The power to work, to live, and to love the way you want. The power to direct resources to the people and causes that matter to you. Now is the time to fully stand in your genius and do the work to push your vision, your revolution forward. It's the time to flex your power. People are depending on you to step up. And I intend to do the same. Going forward, I'll keep introducing you to more guests who are kicking butt and taking names alongside solo episodes where I'll do a deeper dive on optimizing your soloist business and your life as a leader to build wealth, impact, and power.

Rochelle Moulton

05:01 - 05:20

We need to take back our power. For now, be subversive where that makes sense and stand tall and proud and loud wherever you can, because that's what it's going to take. And I know we can do it. I'll see you next time on The Soloist Life. Bye-bye.

When It's Time To Re*shift

Rochelle Moulton — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0700

As we close out 2024 (and Season 3 of The Soloist Life), it feels like the right time to revisit how we can best bring our light to the people we most want to serve:

Why now is the time to lean into your personal genius.

What I’m committing to for 2025 😉.

What exactly is a re*shift (and why might you be ready for one)?

The eight areas of life and work that you can custom blend to create your uniquely rich life.

Wishing you a happy holiday season and a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2025!

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

Rochelle Moulton

00:00 - 00:45

I've helped create millions of dollars in value for clients as a soloist, never mind the tens of millions I built as a partner in big firms where I led a variety of businesses. But in this new world, excellent isn't good enough. We each need to burrow into our personal genius, serving the people who matter most to you in ways only you can do. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm recording this special episode, the last to close out season 3, a little over a month after the US election results.

Rochelle Moulton

00:46 - 01:32

I'm not gonna lie, It pains me to know that slightly over half of my country's voters have glommed on to a dark, dark vision for the future. It's not even remotely aligned with what I stand for, and yet this is where we are right now. But we soloists still have choices. We have agency. We do not have to accept these attitudes or work within their confines. Instead, we can choose differently. We can choose to operate in a positive, hopeful way, bringing our light to the people we most want to serve. I've been thinking about this quite a bit, even before the election, as I saw some extreme behaviors, and I feel it even more strongly now.

Rochelle Moulton

01:33 - 02:10

It all comes down to your personal genius. How can you best use your highest talents and skills to help the people you most wanna serve? For example, my work has been focused on helping soloist consultants break through their revenue plateaus. And that's because I'm really, really good at building expertise businesses. In fact, without false modesty, I'm excellent at that. And pieces of that work are in my genius zone. I've helped create millions of dollars in value for clients as a soloist, nevermind the tens of millions I built as a partner in big firms where I led a variety of businesses.

Rochelle Moulton

02:11 - 03:00

But in this new world, excellent isn't good enough. We each need to burrow into our personal genius, serving the people who matter most to you in ways only you can do. Now rest assured, I will be walking my talk. I've decided to more fully embrace my own genius moving forward. And that genius is around helping entrepreneurs navigate transitions, the kind where you're recalibrating your life and your work, or what I'm calling re-shifts. Now, my guests here on this podcast have actually talked a lot about their reshifts. Reshifts are what begins to percolate when you start asking, what's next for me in my life and my business?

Rochelle Moulton

03:00 - 03:38

You start pointing toward your next transition. You want to know how to keep doing meaningful work as you shift up or shift down in the amount of time you want to spend in your business or the impact you want to make with your life. You want to know how to keep a certain amount of revenue flowing, even as you explore other aspects of your professional and personal interests. You want to double down on impacting the people in your public and private lives who you care most about. You want to live a life of meaning and be the braver, bolder hero of your own life.

Rochelle Moulton

03:38 - 04:24

You may even start thinking about legacy. What do you want to leave behind for your people when you no longer want to do this? And all of this means that you want to spend as much time as humanly possible in your genius zone. You want to create that continuous upward spiral that business and life can be if you allow yourself to shift, to change, to experiment, to discover what's right for you in your next chapter. Now, I've midwifed so many of my one-to-one clients through these transitions that I've developed a framework that walks soloists and expertise entrepreneurs through a thoughtful process of evaluating where and how you want to go next in your business and your life, your reshift, if you will.

Rochelle Moulton

04:25 - 04:57

This framework, we think of it as the reshift roadmap, is built on 8 factors that I've come to believe are the basis of a rich life, especially for us as entrepreneurs. And let me give you a quick overview so you can see what I'm talking about. We'll start with craft. How well does your business reflect your personal genius? Are you doing your best work there? Money, do you have enough, and that's in quotes if you couldn't catch that, or are you planning to earn more? How much more do you want to live the life you've imagined?

Rochelle Moulton

04:58 - 05:43

Impact, are you Contributing to others in a way that makes you feel good about your interaction. Are you impacting your people in a way that's meaningful to you? Growth. Are you stretching yourself personally and professionally? What adventures are you still seeking for your life? Community. Are you part of a vibrant set of communities where you're a vital contributor? Where do you most want to engage? Health. Is your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health where you want it to be. How does this play out in your next chapter? Relationships. Do you have a small circle of close relationships where you can be yourself and are freely accepted?

Rochelle Moulton

05:44 - 06:31

How often are you investing in those relationships? And then last but not least, home. Is your physical space and your daily or family life set up for your optimal health and happiness? What tweaks or overhauls would improve your life? Now, your vision of what each 1 of these looks like for you and how they ideally tie together in your life is unique. They form the basis of your one-of-a-kind version of a rich life, and no 1 else can tell you what they should be. How do you figure out your unique roadmap? So my research has uncovered precious few resources for entrepreneurs to rethink your next chapter in a way that incorporates both your life and your business.

Rochelle Moulton

06:32 - 07:07

And even fewer where you get to rub shoulders with others going through the same experience. I want to help. So as a first step, you may have noticed I've started writing about this in my weekly emails. And I've been sharing both there and here on this podcast how we entrepreneurs can and are recalibrating our lives and businesses. Now, where that goes next depends on you. If you're not already on my list, you can start by signing up for my emails, and there's a link in the show notes for that. And you're welcome to drop me an email at rm at rochellemoulton.com with your thoughts.

Rochelle Moulton

07:08 - 07:34

If you're thinking you might like to join a group of soloists actively re-shifting, tell me that too. I'll be weaving this idea into this podcast even more. So stay tuned on that. In the meantime, thank you. Thank you for closing out season number 3 of The Soloist Life with me. I'm wishing you a very happy holiday season and a joyous, healthy and prosperous new year. Bye-bye.

Mindset vs. Results: Navigating Growth Over Time with Ed Gandia

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0700

When you’ve run your Soloist business long enough, you’ll see cycles: changes in the market, changes in you/your interests and situation and your bank account. Business coach Ed Gandia shares how his business, his financials and his mindset have changed over 18 years as a Soloist:

Growing his first freelance business entirely by word of mouth—and the markers he used to decide when to invest more or pivot.

The role of fear in his decisions and business growth (and why it’s different today).

Building a community when that skillset isn’t part of your DNA—and the advantages of longevity.

How using even small wins as fuel can re-wire your financial mindset (and your finances).

Traveling the full circle of financial mindset growth—from scarcity to success to recklessness to abundance.

LINKS

Ed Gandia Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Ed Gandia is a business-building coach who helps established freelance writers and solo marketers earn more in less time doing work they love for better clients.

His High-Income Business Writing podcast has more than 1.3 million downloads. And his insights and advice have been featured in SUCCESS Magazine, Forbes, Inc. magazine, Fortune, Fast Company, The Christian Science Monitor and The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:22

Ed Gandia: I had a rule that all my side hustle income during those 2, 2 and a half years, after taxes, I would take 10% to reward myself and do something fun with or buy something cool. And then the rest straight to savings. I have 3 indicators that would show me I was ready to make the transition. And 1 of them was have a year's worth of living expenses.

00:27 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Molten. And today I'm so excited to welcome Ed Gandia to the show. Ed is a business building coach who helps establish freelance writers and solo marketers earn more in less time doing work they love for better clients. His high income business writing podcast has more than 1.3 million downloads and his insights and advice have been featured in Success Magazine, Forbes, Inc, Fortune, Fast Company, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ed, welcome.

01:10 - 01:16

Ed Gandia: Well, thank you, Rochelle, and I'm really delighted to be here and talking with you.

01:16 - 01:33

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I still can't believe that we haven't met before this. So I know we have and I checked last night. I checked over 100 contacts in common just on LinkedIn. And quite a few of those are people that I know very, very well. So we've been running in these parallel universes for years.

01:34 - 01:36

Ed Gandia: It's still a small world, isn't it?

01:36 - 02:00

Rochelle Moulton: It really is. Well, once we connected on LinkedIn, I started reading your posts and I found I was doing a lot of head nodding. And especially when you veered into this idea of financial mindset. And I'd like to talk about that with you, but first I'd really love for you to share your story, starting with how you segued from selling software to being such a beloved touch point for freelance writers.

02:01 - 02:30

Ed Gandia: Absolutely. So I'm going to maybe give you an extended version of the story, because I think some of the details matter for some of the things we're going to be talking about today. But I have a finance degree. I had no idea what I was going to do with it. It just sounded like a good degree to get. But in the early 90s, we're going through a big recession. Our professors are telling us that most of us are going to end up in sales. And I thought that is the last thing I will ever, ever do.

02:30 - 03:07

Ed Gandia: There's no way. I have a finance degree. I don't do sales. And interestingly enough, those are the only interviews I got later that year. I ended up in corporate sales. The last thing I wanted to do. The other thing I had told myself is that I'll never live in South Florida because I went to school in Tampa. And I ended up in South Florida. So yeah, be careful what you wish for or don't wish for. So I was in corporate sales and I for 6 or so years ended up working for companies that didn't do much

03:07 - 03:27

Ed Gandia: in the way of marketing and sales enablement resources, what we now call sales enablement. So I ended up creating a lot of my own materials. Most of my sales roles involved very aggressive quotas in environments where if you don't make your numbers, you're not going to have a job.

03:28 - 03:29

Rochelle Moulton: You're gone.

03:29 - 04:03

Ed Gandia: Yeah, you're pretty much gone, especially my last employer, which was a bit of a startup. They were kind of past the startup phase. But these were not Fortune 500 companies that could afford to just kind of keep you. You couldn't hide. Your results are extremely visible. So that was kind of the training ground that I had. And because I had to make these numbers and I was under pressure, I realized that I couldn't scale my efforts enough. I had to find many of my own opportunities. And there's only so much cold calling. Yes, I actually cold

04:03 - 04:39

Ed Gandia: called a lot, like pick up the phone, cold calling. And there weren't enough hours in the day. So I kind of came across this idea that people were calling copywriting. I found it fascinating. To me, I thought of it as selling on paper. I just thought, well, I can duplicate my efforts because if I can somehow do this well, I can have other people, so to speak, calling on prospects for me, cold calling. So that's what I did. I studied copywriting and I created campaigns that actually ended up generating pretty significant results and they helped put

04:39 - 05:08

Ed Gandia: money in my pocket. I had to create results. So I did that for a long time, but it wasn't until I realized 1 day that other people did this for a living, that I could actually turn this into a business. I had already set a goal that eventually I wanted to go out of my own, start a business, launch a business. But I was thinking more traditional brick and mortar. And I realized maybe this is it. Maybe it's just, you know, I've become a freelance copywriter and that's what I did. So in summer of 2006, I

05:08 - 05:23

Ed Gandia: had already built up my client base to a point where I was working 7 days a week. I had enough of a side hustle. It was healthy and consistent enough that I could afford to quit my day job. And I haven't looked back. So it's been what 18 years and...

05:23 - 05:24

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, going on 20.

05:25 - 06:03

Ed Gandia: Going on 20. It was nerve wracking, but it was also a lot of fun just to be able to go out there. And my clients were enterprise software companies. Just word of mouth, referrals, email marketing, some direct mail relationships. I would just go out there and do my thing. Eventually, people would come to me, other colleagues, fellow freelancers, because they saw my quick success. So I was earning a nice six-figure income in software sales. When I quit my day job, I transitioned straight into a six-figure freelance copywriting business. And they felt, to me, I just had

06:03 - 06:38

Ed Gandia: to make that happen. I had a young family. But to them, that was very, very unusual. So people started coming to me for advice. And I realized, maybe I should create some kind of ebook or information product. And that's what I did. And I put it out there and long story short, it just did well. That turned into partnering up with a couple of colleagues. We co-wrote a book by the name of The Wealthy Freelancer through an imprint of Penguin, which is insane. First time author and I'm writing a book for Penguin with 2 friends.

06:38 - 06:39

Rochelle Moulton: It is.

06:40 - 07:14

Ed Gandia: Yeah, yeah. It was pretty amazing. The book didn't really make any money, but It was the launch pad for my coaching business a couple years later. So in 2012, I started doing business coaching. And that's pretty much been my focus ever since then for about 12 years. I still had some writing clients in 2016. The last 1 got acquired. So I just became a full time business coach. And that's what I've been doing ever since. Lately, I've been kind of looking into maybe my next iteration, the next phase of my business. That's been my journey so

07:14 - 07:14

Ed Gandia: far.

07:15 - 07:38

Rochelle Moulton: Wow. So you've been what That's 14 years we're recording in 2024. So 14 years at business coaching, which is a nice run. This is so interesting to me that it's it just it doesn't sound like this was planned in advance that you latched on to opportunities as they presented themselves. Does that sound right or was there more intention in this?

07:39 - 08:07

Ed Gandia: Well, the only intention I had was when my first child was born, a few months later I realized I want to take matters into my own hands. Within 5 years, I want to have my own business, whatever that looks like. But other than that, everything else was pretty much serendipitous. I was doing writing just to be able to meet my quotas, put money in my pocket, put food on the table. And that worked. Realized that could be turned into a business. And then people were reaching out to me, hey, I could use your advice. And I

08:07 - 08:34

Ed Gandia: thought, really? Because I was asking you for advice a couple years ago. And then coaching a friend of mine, who's a great coach, told me, and I was actually, he was my coach, he said, you should do some coaching. I said, oh, there's no way, there's no way. And he talked me into it back in 2011 or so. I started coaching a little bit in 2010, 2011, but I would say 2012 was really kind of when I said, okay, I'm a business coach, let's put this out there and see what happens. So yeah, it's all been

08:34 - 08:39

Ed Gandia: just opportunities that kind of appear on the way to who knows what.

08:39 - 09:10

Rochelle Moulton: 1 of the things I like about all of this is that you did it in a very thoughtful way. That you didn't just go, okay, I'm gonna do this and then have no business and not sure what you're gonna do next. I mean, you tried things and you waited until you got to the point where you felt like, okay, this is a real business. I sometimes think that's the advantage of having a family, depending on you, is that we don't take flights of fancy, right? We do 1 thing at a time and see how it works.

09:10 - 09:13

Rochelle Moulton: We keep experimenting and then we succeed forward.

09:13 - 09:46

Ed Gandia: Yeah, I'm definitely a bit of a planner and I've gotten a lot better about taking risks. But early on with a young family, I was a sole breadwinner. I had to be thoughtful. I had to do some planning. I had to think about it. I had to mitigate risk any way I could. So that's why 1 thing I didn't mention is that my side hustle, I was running that for a little over 2 years before I felt comfortable enough actually quitting my day job. When I was transitioning into coaching, same thing. I just try to be

09:46 - 10:01

Ed Gandia: as thoughtful and plan for that as best I could. Sometimes that means doing a good job with savings. Sometimes it's really more about putting feelers out there, rapid prototyping and doing a lot of these things to make sure that you're not doing anything stupid.

10:03 - 10:16

Rochelle Moulton: I hear you. I'd love to ask soloists when they hit their first 100, 000. And it sounds like you hit yours really early on and never looked back. Does that sound right? Or did you struggle to hit that 100, 000 the first time?

10:16 - 10:51

Ed Gandia: Correct. No, I pretty much went right into 6 figure a year. I think my gross earnings my first full 12 months from June to June was over 160, 000 gross revenue in 2006. A lot of that was driven by the fact that I was running scared. I thought, and I think many of us have felt this, right? What if it all ends tomorrow? What if, yes, I've had 4 good months, but what if next month is not good? And the month after that, So you say yes to everything. I think there's something to be said for

10:51 - 11:24

Ed Gandia: the role of fear at different points in our business. It can be healthy if managed correctly. The problem is many of us never break out of that fear cycle. But for me, it was really, I was earning a 6 figure income in software sales. I remember running the numbers and figuring that I could get away the first year with 75k as a freelancer, but blew past that. I mean, twice, more than twice as much. But we were living pretty cheaply and which is by the way, it's always smart if you're trying to make a transition. So

11:24 - 11:30

Ed Gandia: it's fortunate enough that, you know, our costs weren't that high. Part of it is just living in fear.

11:31 - 11:46

Rochelle Moulton: I love that. So were you like a squirrel with nuts? Like were you like throwing some of that unexpected revenue aside saving for that rainy day in case you know, month 5 didn't prove as good? Like how did you think about that as you were growing your business?

11:46 - 12:18

Ed Gandia: Yes and no. I actually did that ahead of time. So I had a rule that all my side hustle income during those 2, 2 and a half years after taxes, I would take 10% to reward myself and do something fun with or buy something cool. And then the rest, straight to savings. I have 3 indicators that would show me I was ready to make the transition. And 1 of them was have a year's worth of living expenses, not income, but living expenses. So I was ultra conservative. And the other was I needed to hit a trigger

12:18 - 12:48

Ed Gandia: income goal, which is a number that if I can repeatedly do part-time, if doubled, would equal the full-time income that I need. Because I don't have the capacity being part-time, right? So a number that if I knew that if I were doing this full time, I'd be able to at least double. And then the third, and this is a member, this is 2005, 2006, is being able to secure health insurance for all of us. Because at the time, there was no ACA here in the US, you had to go through underwriting. And for whatever reason, you

12:48 - 12:54

Ed Gandia: could be denied to get self-employed health insurance. So those are the 3 milestones that I had to hit.

12:55 - 13:27

Rochelle Moulton: Well, or you could get health insurance, but it was prohibitively expensive. People who are just starting now don't realize the challenges that that created for a lot of business people. So what I'm hearing is that you were very consistent in terms of how you thought about the business, in terms of how you tucked away money, how you rewarded yourself. I'm thinking Erica Goody, who's been on the show a couple of times, accountant extraordinaire, CPA extraordinaire, would be thrilled with your strategy. So I just want to segue for a minute though, because there's something else you've done

13:27 - 13:44

Rochelle Moulton: that I really admire. And I wonder if you would talk about how you've built this community of writers. I mean, is it just wired in you from your years of selling, you know, which is all about building relationships or did you need to like buckle down to build it intentionally?

13:45 - 14:19

Ed Gandia: That's a good question. I didn't set out to do that intentionally. I would also consider myself a decent networker, but I'm not a community. That's not a quality that I think I possess. And a few years ago, I hired somebody for that role for a community that I was building. And I knew that it wasn't me. I was decent at that, but not great. The community I've been able to build in my, you know, we talk about the community, I guess, at different levels. My audience for my podcast, readers of my newsletters, customers for some of

14:19 - 14:36

Ed Gandia: my courses, workshops and clients, coaching clients. I think it's just staying power. I think I've been at this for so long, beating the same drum and that it's just, I don't know, I think I've just developed a reputation, I hope, a

14:36 - 15:11

Rochelle Moulton: good 1. Well, I have to say, it's actually refreshing to hear you say that because people talk about my community, my community. And I think a lot of us are not natural community builders. It's a skill, just like consulting is a skill and coaching is a skill and selling is a skill. Some people are just wired to do that community. But you know what I think though, Ed, and again, This is the outside looking in, but I've met quite a number of folks in your community and they are community people. So I think sometimes what happens

15:11 - 15:42

Rochelle Moulton: is if you stick around long enough, as you said, and your message is pretty consistent, that other people beat the drum, right? And they help move forward, help the community, the big idea move forward. I agree. So kind of coming back to the business end of this, so You've been serving writers and writer adjacent folks in 1 form or another for quite a few years. Once you started in the business coaching, how have your offerings and your ideal clients changed in that time?

15:43 - 16:19

Ed Gandia: Yeah, I think I started out as many coaches do. Hey, it's 3 months, we meet every week, 1 on 1, private coaching, and it's X amount. And it was very straightforward. I didn't really have a framework or a roadmap. We just kind of addressed your issues in a fairly loose way. So it started out like that. And that evolved into... I did that for maybe 8 months until I came across a model that at the time was actually fairly... It's kind of the way it is now, you know, it is period, but it was a group

16:19 - 16:55

Ed Gandia: coaching model. And the idea was you create a cohort of 10 people, and you have a process that you walk everybody through together on Tuesdays. And then on Thursdays, it's a group

Pulling Out of a Revenue Nosedive with Chris Ferdinandi

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Categories: Growing Revnue + Wealth, Niching

Link: https://rochellemoulton.com/soloist_podcast/pulling-out-of-a-revenue-nosedive-with-chris-ferdinandi/?utm_source=subscriber

What do you do when your consistently growing revenue suddenly takes a nosedive—and your peers are feeling it too? Soloist Chris Ferdinandi walks us through the experience and the experiments he conducted to start lifting himself out of it.

Why he built his business as a side hustle and didn’t go solo until he matched his corporate salary.

The financial and emotional hit of a 50% revenue drop—and how to experiment without morphing to panic.

What to do when you’re “too feral” to go back into Corporate: the experiments that failed and those that gave hope.

How selling to a 640-person email list outsold the results from a 14,000 list—by over 3X (hint: the new sale was in his genius zone).

Two moves to make when your revenue is tanking—and one surprising upside.

LINKS

Chris Ferdinandi ADHD Tips | Mastadon

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Chris helps people build a simpler, faster, more resilient web.

Early in his career, he felt like he couldn’t get anything done. Since then, he’s discovered a bunch of systems and strategies that let him turn his ADHD into a superpower. His ADHD tips newsletter is read by hundreds of developers each weekday.

He creates courses and workshops, publishes several daily newsletters, speaks at events, and has advised and written code for organizations like NASA, Apple, Harvard Business School, Chobani, and Adidas.

Chris loves pirates, puppies, and Pixar movies, and lives near horse farms in rural Massachusetts.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:20

Chris Ferdinandi: I also feel very positive about my ADHD. Much in the same way on your episode, the phrase like ruthless self-acceptance or there was something along those lines kept coming up. Yes. And I believe that with my whole being, right? That I am great the way I am and that a lot of my challenges are just being neurodiverse in a neurotypical world. Yeah.

00:25 - 00:38

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rchelle Moulton, and today I'm so happy to welcome soloist Chris Ferdinandi to the show.

00:38 - 00:42

Chris Ferdinandi: Rochelle, thank you so much for having me. It's really great to be here.

00:42 - 01:25

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I'm excited about this, Chris. So Chris helps people build a simpler, faster, more resilient web. Early in his career, he felt like he couldn't get anything done. Since then, he's discovered a bunch of systems and strategies that let him turn his ADHD into a superpower. His ADHD tips newsletter is read by hundreds of developers each weekday. He creates courses and workshops, publishes several daily newsletters, speaks at events, and has advised and written code for organizations like NASA, Apple, Harvard Business School, Chobani, and Adidas. Chris loves pirates, puppies, and Pixar movies, and lives near horse farms

01:25 - 01:27

Rochelle Moulton: in rural Massachusetts. Chris, welcome.

01:27 - 01:34

Chris Ferdinandi: Rochelle, thank you so much for having me. And can you tell that I'm a big fan of Jonathan Stark given the multiple daily newsletters.

01:36 - 01:42

Rochelle Moulton: I stopped for a second. Just the thought of doing multiple dailies just kind of makes me break out in a hive. But good

01:42 - 01:44

Chris Ferdinandi: on you. I know that's your personal hell, but yeah.

01:45 - 02:10

Rochelle Moulton: Good on you. So I love how this interview happened. I mean, you responded to my just checking in email I send to newish subscribers and you had a lot to say. So many of your recent experiences were 100% relatable for soloists. So I had to ask you to come on the show and dish because I just know that your story will inspire a few people who are struggling.

02:10 - 02:12

Chris Ferdinandi: Awesome, yeah, I happy to be here.

02:12 - 02:22

Rochelle Moulton: So let's start with how you got into your business initially. So you started as a side hustle, teaching developers to code about 10 years ago, is that right?

02:22 - 02:53

Chris Ferdinandi: Yeah, so I am actually have a whole previous life as an HR pro taught myself to code became a developer. And a couple of years into that journey, realized that I at some point wanted to have my own my own business. I wanted to work for myself. And I know this came up in a recent episode you did on people with ADHD. So, and how they often tend to work for themselves because they have very low tolerance for the nonsense of corporate life. So I always knew that was something I wanted for myself, but I also

02:53 - 03:23

Chris Ferdinandi: didn't want to just jump out there without any safety net. So I started by very slowly kind of building this side hustle, teaching people how to code. It was 1 of these things where it started off as like, you know, like beer or movie night money, and then turned into like, oh, I can get an extra nice Christmas gift this year, which then morphed into, oh, I can go on a vacation with this, which eventually became like, oh, wow, like we could, we could remodel something in our house or like buy like a little something like

03:23 - 03:55

Chris Ferdinandi: fancy. And then at some point, I want to say about 3, maybe 4 years ago, it hit the point where it was basically on par with my day job, just as a side hustle. And because I had all this money coming in and the day job, we had built up a really nice savings cushion. And despite being surprisingly risk averse for someone with ADHD, I decided to, as you describe it, hang up my shingle and try the soloist thing for a bit. So that's kind of how I got to a roundish where I am now.

03:55 - 04:08

Rochelle Moulton: And 1 of the things that's interesting, everybody has a different approach to this, is that you built up your savings first. And for you, it sounds like that crossover point was when you could make as much in your side hustle as you did in your day job.

04:08 - 04:38

Chris Ferdinandi: Yes, it's 1 of those things where like given the house that we lived in and kind of the lifestyle we were used to, I absolutely could have done it sooner if we were willing to make some changes or some sacrifices, but I didn't want to ask that of my family just because I didn't want to work for the man anymore. So no judgment on people who do it differently or don't, but like I love my Disney vacations. I did not want to give those up. That's serious. I'm not just being sarcastic. I'm a Disney addict. So.

04:39 - 04:58

Rochelle Moulton: Got it. So I think what's part of what's interesting about that is that everybody has this different definition of risk and comfort level. And there's no 1 right answer. I think it's different for everybody. And it sounds like you figured out what would work for you and your family. Absolutely. So how long did it take you to hit your first $100, 000?

04:59 - 05:36

Chris Ferdinandi: So because the ADHD, I'm not great at record keeping, so I'm just ballparking here, it took about 6 or 7 years to hit that $100, 000 mark. And just for context here, my business model is entirely products. So this is not a service based business where I'm building websites for people and doing like advisory consulting and the kind of stuff that a lot of folks on your show often do. For me, this was nearly a hundred percent. I'm putting out courses on how to build websites and write code and built up a, like an email list

05:36 - 05:39

Chris Ferdinandi: of about 14, 000 folks that got me to that point.

05:39 - 06:00

Rochelle Moulton: And I don't want to gloss over this because this is actually big because it would be easy to say, oh, it took 6 or 7 years. Well, it took 6 to 7 years as a side hustle selling products. And we all know that unless you've got products with a huge price tag, you need a big list to be able to get that. And it takes time to develop that list.

06:00 - 06:31

Chris Ferdinandi: Yeah. So I started with like I had an old newsletter that had like 38 people on it that I sent out like maybe once a month. I don't know if you've ever heard of Jonathan Stark. He used to be on this really great podcast. He was a business coach of mine for a little while, but he was on me all the time about publishing daily and I really resisted. And I attribute that more than literally anything else to the success of my business. I know it's not for everybody, but the daily writing, I saw an instant

06:31 - 07:01

Chris Ferdinandi: growth in my business. I went from that stagnated 38 subscribers to 100, 400, 500. I hit a thousand in like 3 or 4 months and then it just kept growing from there. And it was the weirdest thing I really thought for sure no 1 is going to want to read that much from me. I'm never going to have that much to write about, but I've been doing a daily newsletter on code for 6 years now, maybe more, and I thought I would have quit long ago. I have no idea how I've kept it up for as

07:01 - 07:01

Chris Ferdinandi: long as

07:01 - 07:29

Rochelle Moulton: I have. Yeah, well, whether it's daily or something else, but a regular habit and consistent output of publishing your writing, it makes you think. And it forces us, you know, after the first, what, 10, 20 things that you write? Like, you've got to dig a little deeper, right? Most of us can write 10 or 20 things without thinking too much. But when you do more than that, you really have to start to think deep and start to develop your point of view.

07:30 - 08:03

Chris Ferdinandi: Yeah, there's this really nice flywheel effect that starts to happen where the more you publish, the more people start to respond back to you with questions, comments, ideas, which a lot of times, like I would, 1 of Jonathan's other students used to call it turning sawdust into furniture. We're like, I would write a response, take it, and then publish it as an article. So, like, the more you do it, the point now where my list of articles is longer than I could ever possibly write in my lifetime. The ideas just keep coming in, and the toughest

08:03 - 08:11

Chris Ferdinandi: part is figuring out which of them I want to write that day It gets bigger every year, which is the exact opposite problem of what I thought was gonna happen for me

08:11 - 08:22

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, well and I think that you also in that scenario You're getting feedback Like you feel like you're not sending this out to the ether, but to real people who have real responses.

08:23 - 08:47

Chris Ferdinandi: And regardless of your cadence, whether it's daily, weekly, whatever, like the most important part is the feedback. I'm refining my thinking. I'm not just writing a whole course or a whole book in isolation. Most of my courses actually started off as articles that then interacted with real people, got real-time feedback, and got cleaned up in some form and eventually became courses.

08:47 - 08:58

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, this is a success story by any definition, especially because you were able to do this as a side hustle and with relatively low risk. But then came the reckoning.

08:58 - 09:33

Chris Ferdinandi: Yes, and that's why we're here. So the first year was awesome after I went fully solo. And then I hit kind of that dreaded $100, 000 plateau. So like I hit the $100, 000 mark, quit my day job. And I was just really enjoying being able to do just the tech education stuff full time and not not have to deal with all the corporate stuff. But then despite it had grown like 50%, 25% year over year, every year since I started, but then things started to like suddenly it wasn't growing quite as much. That first year

09:33 - 10:05

Chris Ferdinandi: didn't grow with the similar, I want to say exponential, but like that similar kind of hockey stick-ish growth that I had been experiencing. Still grew a little, not as much as I had hoped, but this was with me working on it full time. I'm like, wow, how is this possibly doing better as a side hustle in a full time? That doesn't make sense. And then the following year, my sales started to decline rapidly, like not just not grow, but trend very strongly in the wrong direction. And this was like the panic moment for me, because now

10:05 - 10:39

Chris Ferdinandi: I'm, this is my only job. I don't have, it's not a side hustle anymore. And I went from having a second full-time income to now like my sales are 2 thirds, half of what they had been the year before, I reached out to a bunch of my other tech educator friends to try to figure out like, is it something I did or are other people seeing this? And nearly universally, I was hearing similar things from everybody else I know in this space, regardless of the programming language they focused on or who their specific audience was. Anybody

10:39 - 11:14

Chris Ferdinandi: who sold courses on learning code was seeing the same thing. And so there's been a lot of speculation amongst my fellow tech educators about whether it was the economy, you know, kind of all the layoffs that were happening in tech more generally. So people have less disposable income, corporations aren't spending money on like education for their employees anymore. If it was more people leaning on AI instead of courses, I know that's been kind of a frequent topic on this show. If it was something else, like there's so much great content on places like YouTube and in

11:14 - 11:24

Chris Ferdinandi: blog articles for free now, like do people not feel like they needed courses anymore? My speculation is it's probably some combination of all 3 of those things. But nonetheless, my business was in a freefall.

11:24 - 11:26

Rochelle Moulton: What year was this, Chris?

11:26 - 11:53

Chris Ferdinandi: It started not this year, last year. So this would have been around like February 2023 is when okay, panic for me started to really sink in. Where like, hey, I had this great savings account and it's getting smaller instead of getting bigger, which is what I'd wanted to have. I knew we had some like I had to ramp up some more growth to stop that from happening. But now it's starting to like, not just take a little bit out here and there, but like starting to go in the wrong direction. That was my panic moment. That

11:53 - 11:55

Chris Ferdinandi: was like, all right, I need to, I need to reassess.

11:56 - 12:08

Rochelle Moulton: And you, you stated you're risk averse or, or at least you're, you're not the most risky guy. So having money come out of the bank account without seeing more come in has got to be that deer in the headlights moment.

12:09 - 12:42

Chris Ferdinandi: Yeah, I did not love that. And my other thing that I was really like kind of cognizant of was Running a business and feeling desperate is kind of a bad place to be because it causes you to make dumb decisions, right? You make drastic decisions. ADHD folks in general have kind of this, let me just blow it all up and start over kind of impulse that you have to fight on a regular basis to begin with. And like doing that with a business that is your primary income because you're panicked about how it's going can be

12:42 - 13:02

Chris Ferdinandi: catastrophic. So I was really, really aware that I shouldn't try to do too much too fast. And so I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out how I could salvage the business I already had. We can talk about some things I tried if you want. None of them worked. So it's totally up to you, which Which kind of avenue we go down here?

13:02 - 13:13

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I'm just curious about something. I mean, like, did you immediately figure, well, I've got this valuable skill coding, I might as well sell that work again, you know, to like corporate audiences. Like, did you go there?

13:14 - 13:42

Chris Ferdinandi: Not eventually, because I didn't want to do that. I had done that before I started my course business. I started off doing a little bit of freelancing and I did not have a great experience with it. It's 1 of those like, this came up on the ADHD episode that you did, but like the kind of like know yourself and how you work best. Like for me, that kind of work is not my genius zone. It's my excellent zone, but it's not my genius zone. And I know that's a really dangerous trap. Like I didn't want to

13:42 - 14:01

Chris Ferdinandi: fall into, oh, I could do this really, really well, but it's not where I thrive. That eventually became what I did because I need to pay a mortgage, I need to put food on the table, and that does pay the bills, but I view it as a temporary transition into the next thing.

14:05 - 14:07

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I love when in a private note you sent me, you said that you're too feral to go back to...

Experimenting With Your Business Model with Jessica Lackey

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 02:00:00 -0700

When you started your business, you probably imagined steady revenue growth under your original business model—only to discover that the only way to grow the way you want is by experimenting! Business Coach Jessica Lackey (a McKinsey and Nike alum) shares her year-by-year experience in crafting her ideal business model:

How she contracted for “bridge jobs” in Year 1 to ensure cash flow—and why she’d do it again.

Year 2: building a “whale” delivery model with enough whales so you’re not overly dependent on any one.

Why she pivoted from a 1-1 delivery model to group and membership options (and it wasn’t because she had a large email list).

The pros and cons of running multiple revenue models as you pivot vs. making a faster shift.

How building interchangeable assets allows you to leverage your authority faster.

LINKS

Jessica Lackey Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jessica Lackey is a strategy and operations advisor who blends business strategy, practical application, and a human-centric approach to create sustainable businesses.

With a background in corporate leadership, McKinsey & Company consulting, and a Harvard Business degree, Jessica knows a thing or two about hustle culture and what it feels like to judge success by the bottom line…at all costs.

Now, she combines her deep experience in consulting, Fortune 500 operations leadership and coaching to help businesses grow without sacrificing the well-being of their clients, team, and community.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:19

Jessica Lackey: I had a social media team, but I actually dropped Instagram in 2023 and I stopped doing as much LinkedIn. And I really focused on those marketing platforms that took more time, but had a bigger result. So again, I write once a week, I guess teach once a month. And people are like, you do that for free? I'm like, well, yeah.

00:24 - 01:05

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm joined by soloist Jessica Lackey. She is a strategy and operations advisor who blends business strategy, practical application, and a human-centric approach to create sustainable businesses. With a background in corporate leadership, McKinsey & Company consulting, and a Harvard Business degree, Jessica knows a thing or 2 about hustle culture and what it feels like to judge success by the bottom line at all costs. Now she combines her deep experience in consulting, Fortune 500 operations

01:05 - 01:15

Rochelle Moulton: leadership, and coaching to help businesses grow without sacrificing the well-being of their clients, team, and community. Jessica, welcome.

01:16 - 01:17

Jessica Lackey: Yay. I'm so glad to be here.

01:17 - 01:29

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I feel like we're kindred spirits here, like escaping from big firm consulting and evangelizing on building sustainable businesses without buying into hustle culture. So let's just dive in.

01:29 - 01:31

Jessica Lackey: Sounds Good. First, your

01:31 - 01:43

Rochelle Moulton: resume reads like a who's who of American business. Harvard, McKinsey, Nike. You even interned at Apple. What made you decide to leave all that to start your soloist business?

01:44 - 02:14

Jessica Lackey: When you work in firms like that, there's, as you know, there's a real upper out culture. And these are places that will suck the life out of you if you let them. And in my 20s, like I did, McKinsey and Company Consulting, I was on the road, as you know, you are Arthur Anderson, 4 days a week, sometimes 5 days a week. Like I gave up my Sundays, I gave up my Fridays. I didn't have roots in town. All my friends were working. And that kind of moved with me to business school and that moved with

02:14 - 02:46

Jessica Lackey: me to Nike. Nike, it's so cool as a campus, there's the gym, there's restaurants and beer on campus, but it's really kind of designed to keep you in the berm, as they call it. Literally, they have a track and things like that. I was working 12 hours a day. The 1 job I was in, I was working weekends. And I realized at some point I had a health crisis and I realized, I'm like, okay, I have no life. I was making good money, but I didn't want the next step up on the ladder. And so I

02:46 - 02:51

Jessica Lackey: hit kind of a wall in 2015 and decided, all right, it's time for me to do something different.

02:51 - 02:55

Rochelle Moulton: Well, yeah, because it doesn't get any better when you go higher up the ladder. It usually gets harder.

02:56 - 03:18

Jessica Lackey: They tell you it gets better. And really, what's interesting is that you end up with more responsibility. But a lot of these places, you end up with more politics, you end up farther away from actually doing the work and much more Pushing powerpoints around and that wasn't I didn't want to play the politics I didn't want to be mucking around a PowerPoint our day I wanted to solve real problems in the the farther up the organization I got, the less I got to do that.

03:18 - 03:36

Rochelle Moulton: Well, preach, sister. That's exactly what it was like being a partner at a big firm. And the minute I got there, I was like, oh, finally, I've arrived. And then you look around and you go, oh, crap. It's like, now I have to do this every day. Yeah, it's a bit of a change, isn't it?

03:37 - 03:44

Jessica Lackey: Definitely. I'm thankful I had the experience, but at some point I was like, this is not the life for my second chapter in my professional career.

03:45 - 04:12

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, exactly. So 1 of the reasons that I wanted to have you on the show is that you've done some really intriguing Experimenting with your business model as you've grown. It's it's like you've served as your own Petri dish Which I love especially for soloists. So year 1 if I have this right so you started coaching but you subcontracted to a consulting firm to keep the cash flowing. So talk us through how that worked and why you made the decisions you did.

04:13 - 04:40

Jessica Lackey: Yeah. So a little bit of backstory. I tried, I got certified as a life coach because I thought I wanted to be a life and leadership coach in 2018. And I tried to build a coaching business as a side hustle 2019, 2020. And yeah, I mean, you know, I was working 1 of those big jobs where I was, you know, I didn't have time. I didn't have the mental mind space. So in 2021, I knew I was going to leave. I hadn't really done any biz dev. I had connections, but I was like, I don't really

04:40 - 05:11

Jessica Lackey: know what I want to do for my personal business. I was like, I just don't want to be at my job anymore. And so I quit thinking, I was like, I don't know what I'll do. I'll figure it out. And so I did my first year was all the subcontracting through a bunch of those matching platforms and with another firm. So I was through some connections. I got connected with, again, I did project management for a rebranding company. I did sales and operations consulting through, I got matched on a platform. I didn't actually know the firm

05:11 - 05:42

Jessica Lackey: I was going into. It was 1 of those like a BTG or Catalan. I think I was with Graphite there. And then some of my former colleagues from Nike started up a consulting firm. They didn't have a huge book of business, but I got to be part of some of those projects, which was really great because I got to show up and be an analyst associate from a consulting perspective without having to do any biz dev. It certainly wasn't the top money, but it was a way for me to get paid in fractional part-time work, which

05:42 - 05:44

Jessica Lackey: was fantastic for the first year.

05:44 - 05:51

Rochelle Moulton: Well, yeah, it's kind of like an easy glide path into seeing what it's like. And if you hadn't liked it, it wouldn't be so hard to go back.

05:52 - 06:22

Jessica Lackey: Exactly. And I'm super thankful that I quit during the pandemic where everyone was at home and it was normalized to be fractional. It was, You could do part-time, you could show up for the calls you need to show up to, do your work, but not have to be on site. I don't know if this would have been as doable of as an opportunity 2019-2018 before it got normalized that we worked from home, But I was thankful that it happened when it did. I didn't have to do a ton of my own biz dev during the first

06:22 - 06:26

Jessica Lackey: year and ended up making money. It was great.

06:26 - 06:30

Rochelle Moulton: Well, of course, that's the question I'm gonna ask. How long did it take you to hit your first 100, 000?

06:32 - 06:34

Jessica Lackey: I hit my first 100, 000 in my first year.

06:34 - 06:36

Rochelle Moulton: With those contracts? Those contracts, you

06:36 - 06:57

Jessica Lackey: know, when you're billing a hundred dollars an hour on a 20 hour a week consulting project, even if that's not nearly the kind of money you want to be making, It was easy to do in the first year, but I didn't. 70% of that was all through these contract jobs. I think I made 30K in my first year from business coaching and consulting under my own

06:57 - 07:08

Rochelle Moulton: brand name. Okay. So that was going to be my next question. So you were doing both. You were doing some business development for yourself, but the big kahuna, the big percentage of your revenue came from these other deals.

07:08 - 07:39

Jessica Lackey: Exactly. So I think I got my first business coaching client. I quit in March. I got my first business coaching client in June or July. That's not bad. Yeah, and I got my second 1 in September and then I got my third major 1 in December. So it took me quite a while to, I work on a retainer model for many of my clients. So once I get 1, then it's not a 1 and done type of project for my own business. So I kind of built 1, then the second and the third. But it took

07:39 - 07:48

Jessica Lackey: me, you know, if I hadn't had these other consulting jobs, I'm not sure what I would have done with my time, honestly, because there's only so many hours a day you can do networking when you're starting.

07:48 - 07:56

Rochelle Moulton: Well, and you don't want to have that sense of desperation, because people can smell it on you. So it sounds like it was a nice balance of those 2 for year 1, right?

07:57 - 08:19

Jessica Lackey: Yeah, and my husband actually told me, I was terrified about how I was going to get my first client, but I was like, okay, well, I have enough money. I made a bonus right before I left. So I was like, okay, well, I can, you know, I have an extra 3 months of salary. And then I got a call from 1 of the, my friend put me in touch with a matching platform and They said, hey, do you want a project? I'm like, okay, I was planning to take some time off. And then of course I

08:19 - 08:25

Jessica Lackey: didn't. Resh respect, I probably shouldn't have taken the time off, but I was terrified I was never gonna get that first client, so I jumped right in.

08:25 - 08:38

Rochelle Moulton: You're not alone, that happens a lot. Okay, so take us forward. We're gonna go to year 2. So do you still have these consulting contracts in year 2? Are you still doing that or do you stop?

08:38 - 09:12

Jessica Lackey: So I am not doing the subcontracting anymore through the matching platforms. That was year 1. But in year 2, What happened is 1 of the consulting, I was working again with some colleagues from Nike, they had some projects so I did those. But interestingly enough, 1 of the clients that I picked up in year 1 from a business coaching perspective, they let go of their CLO, they were a seed stage startup, and they said, will you step in to do fractional COO? So I went from doing subcontracting and doing strategy work to now actually being a

09:12 - 09:28

Jessica Lackey: fractional COO for 6 months. So I worked, I had like a part-time job, not even doing consulting, but doing in the business, running reports, running an account management process. I ran a fractional COO for a startup for 6 months with an existing client.

09:29 - 09:35

Rochelle Moulton: Let me just make sure. Do you still have your 3 retainer clients that you had from year 1?

09:35 - 09:48

Jessica Lackey: I did. I've had 3 of those. I picked up some additional coaching clients at that point in time, but 1 of those retainer clients, we went from, I think, a thousand dollar a month retainer to a $5, 000 a month fractional COO gig.

09:48 - 09:55

Rochelle Moulton: The fractional. Yeah. Okay. Got it. And how many clients did you have total? Just roughly.

09:55 - 09:58

Jessica Lackey: I think at that time, like 6 or so clients at that time.

09:59 - 10:25

Rochelle Moulton: Well, here's why I'm asking is because a lot of people get stuck with this idea and they stop when they get to the 2 or 3 whales because they're like, that's all I can do. I can't do anymore. And when you have 6, you've insulated yourself quite a bit, even if half of them drop off, you've still got a decent book of business, what I call a whale model. You don't need 60 clients, you need 6 or 10 or whatever your magic number is.

10:26 - 10:53

Jessica Lackey: Yeah. And everyone asks me how I managed to have, for my first 2 years, I had 1 whale client at a time and a bunch of other little ones, little as the eye of the eye of the holder, but you know, 1 like 5 to $8, 000 either fractional COO gig or consulting gig. And people are like, how did you manage having a bigger client and like a bunch of small ones? And the nice part about it is because it's flexible, I could manage in the pockets of time that I had. And so, you know, as

10:53 - 11:18

Jessica Lackey: a soloist, sometimes the time where I get to do focus work on my COO client was on a Sunday morning because that's when it made sense. I could really focus. And on other times it was sometimes hard for me to do a lot of like deeper dive work on when I had like coaching calls that day. So I structured my calendar to say, when can I serve my big client and when can I serve more of the in and out context switching coaching clients?

11:19 - 11:38

Rochelle Moulton: So if I had to sort of summarize year 2 from a big picture perspective, you got away from these matching relationships. You basically doubled your client base, but you also significantly expanded 1 of those relationships in particular and discovered the glories of fractional work.

11:39 - 11:39

Jessica Lackey: Yes, I did.

11:39 - 11:46

Rochelle Moulton: Yes. So should we go to year 3 or was there anything else that you kind of, some seeds that you planted in year 2?

11:47 - 12:16

Jessica Lackey: Yeah, So year 2, I actually started my first round of a group business coaching model. So it was in the fall of 2022. I realized that, again, in order to keep growing my revenue, I wasn't going to be able to take on, I thought at the time I was going to be taking on more clients, we'll talk about your 4, but I couldn't take on more clients at the price point I wanted to serve for that audience, which is small business owners. So I started a group coaching model, coaching program. And this 1, it was, there

12:16 - 12:41

Jessica Lackey: was no big launch. I think I invited, I had like 200 people on my list at the time. And I think it was 8 loom videos. They were like 5 to 10 minutes talking about some concepts. And then it was 6 weeks of teaching and 4 months of Q&A. And I had like 5 people sign up and they were all people I knew and they were all people from my local network who said, yes, I'm in for this round. There was no big launch. There was no fancy tagging or anything like that. There was no course

12:41 - 13:00

Jessica Lackey: platform. It was here's the link to register. And I taught live. Love it. Did you record? Oh, I recorded and I posted, I think I had a Mighty Networks at the time. So I recorded, but I didn't have worksheets. I didn't have templates. I just had like a 5 minute loom video where I taught about some concepts and then we did it all live.

13:00 - 13:17

Rochelle Moulton: I love that because it's starting with, I mean, think about it. Not having to do all that other stuff meant there wasn't really any pressure on you to fill, and I use that word in quotes, to fill your class, right? You just get a chance to try it out and see what works and your investment is fairly small.

13:17 - 13:32

Jessica Lackey: It was great. And I know what it takes now to put a whole program like that together, which was year 3. But it was so, it was low effort. It really was just an opportunity to, and I didn't sell hard. They all came from personal limitations. I didn't have a fancy sales page.

13:32 - 14:01

Rochelle Moulton: I was like, here's a Google doc. It was just really nice to step into that with low effort on...

Getting Your Finances Straight For A New Year

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 02:00:00 -0700

If this last year was NOT smooth sailing for your Soloist business finances, now is an ideal time to pave the way to better. There’s still time to avoid unpleasant surprises (think giant tax bills) and start streamlining your financial life before year-end:

The five strategic pieces of information you want in your hands before year-end.

How to think about your financial team (and why it’s worth investing in the right experts).

How a financial surprise made me completely shift how I managed my business cash flow.Why you want to build a cash reserve for your business and a resource to get you started.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Consultants + Money podcast episode on cash reserves (Erica Goode)

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RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:43

Rochelle Moulton: Think of it like a non-emergency emergency fund for your business. It's a way to smooth out the inevitable cash flow variations in our kinds of businesses. And once you fully fund a cash reserve, I can guarantee you will like the comfort and freedom that it provides. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I want to talk to you about getting your finances straight. It's late October as I'm recording this and it's the perfect time to get both strategic and tactical

00:43 - 01:18

Rochelle Moultob: as you pave the way for the year you want for your business and for your life. So let's start with the strategic. Okay, at this point in the year, you wanna have several things in the bag. 1, you want a reasonable idea of your current and projected financial position. That means how much revenue have you already closed and what's likely to hit before year end. Same thing with your expenses so you can get a feel for your bottom line year. It also means how much more can you tuck away in your taxed advantage solo 401k. Now

01:18 - 01:59

Rochelle Moultob: remember, you can make additional employer contributions above and beyond your salary deferrals. Don't have a solo 401k yet? Talk to your financial advisor or your CPA about the best options for you. Contributing consistently to your 401k is a baller move, especially for soloists since we don't have anyone funding our future life but ourselves. 2, take this understanding and combine it with whatever other income and expenses are happening in the other parts of your life. Maybe you have other sources of income like a spouse or other businesses. Share all of this with your CPA so you don't

01:59 - 02:39

Rochelle Moultob: get surprised with a whopping tax bill you haven't accrued for. 3, have your CPA give you a revised estimate for your annual federal, state, and local taxes. And I say revised because I know you worked out an estimate with your CPA earlier in the year, right? You're just honing it now, making sure you account for any unexpected blips. And 4, have you got your plan for your business firmly in mind for the next year? If not, now's a good time to start strategizing or finish strategizing? What investments of time and energy will your plan require of

02:39 - 03:13

Rochelle Moultob: you? Is this the year you write that book and say no to some new client engagements? Or is it the year you step on the gas and go court new clients or build out some new offerings? All of these have implications for your finances, and it just takes a tiny bit of time to line up where you want to go with keeping your finances on an even keel. And 5, how happy are you with how you manage your finances this year? So let me give you a few questions to think about here. Are you happy with

03:13 - 03:50

Rochelle Moultob: how your cash flowed this last year? Not just how much, but when? Did you get the right information on your financial results in the right way at the right time? Did you have any unplanned big expenses, like say a tax bill, that had you scurrying around to deal with? Did you have enough cash set aside so that you could invest in yourself without worrying to attend conferences or hire a coach or buy some training? Your answers to these kinds of questions will point to changes you can make, and some will be quite simple, to get your

03:50 - 04:28

Rochelle Moultob: finances in better order. Maybe it's time to hire a bookkeeper, or replace your CPA with someone more strategic, or just start holding yourself accountable for getting and keeping your finances straight. And make sure you don't cheap out here. Excellent business financial advisors cost money, sometimes a not insignificant amount of money, but the best ones will earn their fees many times over. You know, in the middle years of owning my business, I got slapped upside the head with a huge tax bill. It was a combination of an excellent year in my business with a mistake by my

04:28 - 05:02

Rochelle Moultob: CPA that I didn't catch until after the return was filed. Nobody likes those kinds of surprises. But my first move was to instantly change how I accrued for taxes. I started taking a percent of my revenue every month and tucking it outside my business checking account where it didn't co-mingle with my regular cashflow. And then I use that account to pay quarterly and annual taxes. And because I added a cushion to the amount the CPA told me to set aside, I almost always have a bonus left after our taxes are paid. And I just 0 out

05:02 - 05:34

Rochelle Moultob: the account. We take the funds and invest half for the long term and play with the other half. It's like a bonus and it always makes me smile when I transfer it over. I also use that situation to find a new CPA, not because they made a mistake. I mean, that can always happen, but because I knew it was the system we were working that was at fault. They were not interested in strategic discussions, but operated more like a tax mill, pushing out returns like widgets. So I hired myself a new team. I found a bookkeeping

05:34 - 06:12

Rochelle Moultob: firm with a standard operating procedure and secure systems and a tax firm with a vested interest in strategy as well as tactics. I will say I sleep so much better at night with that arrangement. But there's another piece to that too, and that is your cash reserves outside of taxes. So friend of the show, Erica Goody did an excellent episode. It's number 82 of her Consultants and Money podcast that I heartily recommend, and I will drop a link to it in the show notes. It's a quick and juicy 8 minute episode on how to set up

06:12 - 06:49

Rochelle Moultob: cash reserves for your business. Think of it like a non-emergency emergency fund for your business, it's a way to smooth out the inevitable cashflow variations in our kinds of businesses. And once you fully fund a cash reserve, I can guarantee you will like the comfort and freedom that it provides. So as you consider all these questions, you can decide which tactical moves make the most sense for you. The goal is to get and keep your finances working for you rather than the other way around. So let me give you a few examples of things my clients

06:49 - 07:29

Rochelle Moultob: have done to handle their finances with more ease and comfort. They have hired a fractional CFO to plan and manage their business finances. Not a low cost solution, but 1 that allows them to detach from the day-to-day tactical. They funded a six-month cash reserve to smooth out wide swings from a whale project model. They handed off monthly bookkeeping to a specialty firm that interacts directly with their CPA. They worked with their spouse to generate a 2 earner household cash flow and reserve model and I highly recommend this for those with more complex financial lives. You will

07:29 - 08:09

Rochelle Moultob: not regret doing that. They engaged a fee only financial planner to model various scenarios so they could make fully informed longer-term decisions in concert with their CPA. And while my clients tend to be well-established with six-figure plus incomes, don't think they haven't shared their past financial horror stories with me. The moral of the story is this. The sooner you get your finances working smoothly to support you, the faster you'll get to reap the rewards, the ease and comfort of focusing on your business without constant worry about it all crashing down around you. Take it from me.

08:09 - 08:35

Rochelle Moultob: It's worth the small amount of time now to plan and set up the systems that will keep your finances on the straight and narrow for years to come. Now, as we wrap up this episode, if you haven't joined my email list yet, now is the time. Your soloist business and your future self will thank you. The link is in the show notes. That's it for this episode. Please join us next time for the soloist life. Bye. Bye

When Your Business Gives You Lemons with Jenny Blake

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0700

When you’re in the midst of an overwhelming business challenge—your revenue plummets, your audience dries up, you can’t seem to make a sale—what do you do?

Award-winning author and podcaster Jenny Blake takes us through the messy middle, sharing her story of challenge, resilience and percolating without yet knowing the answer:

Why her first reaction to a pandemic-induced 80% revenue drop was “I wrote a book called Pivot—I’ve got this.”

How that reaction turned to “I couldn’t fake it anymore—I couldn’t pretend anymore. I didn’t have any hope left…” when she lost a six-figure client.

Channeling her angst and uncertainty into a popular (paid) substack as she semi-publicly worked through what to do next.

The health scare that made her dramatically change how she was working.

The glimmers of her next chapter—how they appeared and how she thoughtfully nurtures them.

LINKS

Jenny Blake Substack | Free Time | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jenny is an author and podcaster who runs a Delightfully Tiny media company. She is the author of three award-winning books, including Free Time (Ideapress, 2022) and Pivot (Penguin/Random House, 2016). She hosts two podcasts with over two million downloads combined: the Webby-nominated Free Time for Heart-Based Business owners, and Pivot with Jenny Blake for navigating change.

On her Substack Rolling in Doh, she shares personal essays about the messier parts of running a small business.

She lives in New York City with her husband and her angel-in-fur-coat German shepherd Ryder.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:30

Jenny Blake: I have no judgment about anybody working at a job, but I get sick with that kind of work schedule or the meetings and calls. It drains me of all life, all the creative juice I have. It's just not the format. I've known that about myself. These are kind of the known variables. And yet, as you said, it's just so precarious. It's so touch and go. Even now, we're recording at the start of a month and I don't have the mortgage in the bank for 28 days from now. So where's that going to come from? I have

00:30 - 00:30

Jenny Blake: no clue.

00:36 - 01:16

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm thrilled to welcome back Jenny Blake to talk about what's been happening since we last spoke and spoiler alert, business has been challenging. Jenny is an author and podcaster who runs a delightfully tiny media company. She is the author of 3 award-winning books, including Free Time and Pivot. She hosts 2 podcasts with over 2 million downloads combined. The Webby nominated Free Time for heart-based business owners and Pivot with Jenny Blake for navigating change.

01:16 - 01:33

Rochelle Moulton: On her sub stack, Rolling in Dough, she shares personal essays about the messier parts of running a small business. She lives in New York City with her husband and her adorable angel in fur coat, German Shepherd rider. Jenny, welcome back. Yay, thank you, Russel. I'm thrilled to

01:33 - 01:34

Jenny Blake: be here.

01:34 - 02:08

Rochelle Moulton: I'm just so excited about this, as you know, from our pre-chat. So 1 of the reasons I wanted to have you back on the show is that last time we talked, you mentioned a big event. Well, 2 events, really. 2 big events that wiped $150, 000 of ongoing revenue off the table in a week. And that was the impetus for starting your Substack Rolling in Dough, where you've been documenting the not so lovely underbelly of owning a solo business when things go sideways. And I've been reading it since we talked almost a year ago. And now

02:08 - 02:13

Rochelle Moulton: today, I'd love for you to lift the veil a bit for our audience. So are you ready?

02:13 - 02:15

Jenny Blake: Sure. Yes.

02:15 - 02:15

Rochelle Moulton: And

02:15 - 02:22

Jenny Blake: We should say it's rolling in dough, D-O-H with a face palm for the O. I'm trying to tell my subconscious.

02:23 - 02:24

Rochelle Moulton: I always want to call it duh.

02:24 - 03:02

Jenny Blake: Yeah, right, which could work too. I want my subconscious to think that we're rolling in dough, And then the funny part is celebrating the dough, you know, the Homer Simpson of it all. And my husband made fun of me that I'm becoming a scholar in flop eras. And I'm like so interested in this topic of failure or when things go wrong or they're embarrassing or just the dough of it all. So it's actually become quite a fruitful area to dig into once I get over, you know, whatever embarrassment or fear that I'm self-sabotaging by sharing what

03:02 - 03:03

Jenny Blake: I do out loud.

03:04 - 03:15

Rochelle Moulton: Well, the other thing I should mention is 1 of the visuals for this is a beautiful donut with pink frosting and sprinkles. So I really, I love that juxtaposition of the duh with,

03:15 - 03:45

Jenny Blake: yeah, he's the little mascot. He has 2 eyes looking on a shifty. I have a lot of fun in Canva figuring out where to put him like on the beach or yeah, just different scenes. So thank you. Thank you for reading. And it's really a joy to be doing this project. I didn't even know that it would be lasting over a year, but also to get to talk about some of this out loud because part of the reason I started Rolling in Dough is I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt like every business book I read,

03:45 - 04:15

Jenny Blake: every business podcast I was listening to was all about the shiny and the successful and how to be more successful and how to earn 7 figures and now 8 figures and now you're a billion dollar creator. And yet behind the scenes, every phone call that I was having one-on-one with small business owners like myself, people were struggling. They were feeling like something's wrong with them. They were feeling like after 10, 15, 40 years that it was their worst year in business and that it was all about to collapse at any moment. For me, part of the

04:15 - 04:20

Jenny Blake: motivation here is, somebody's got to say this out loud. It might as well be me.

04:20 - 04:40

Rochelle Moulton: Yes. Part of me wants to say welcome to being a soloist. It's the ups and downs. Everybody has them, but very few people really talk about it until after they're through on the other side and then we can look back and we can pat ourselves on the back for how brilliant we are now, but we forget about how badly it sucked then.

04:40 - 05:13

Jenny Blake: Right. There are very real concerns. You wouldn't want to be a Debbie Downer or drive all your clients away by complaining, or seem ungrateful, or just seem like you don't have your stuff together. You know, like there are risks and the writing adage right from the scar, not the wound, why say dough is the wound? And I'm not saying that I advise everybody to do that. And I do lean more now toward the creative part of my identity than even the business owner part of my identity. So it's okay in a sense that I'm playing with

05:13 - 05:43

Jenny Blake: my play dough of my sub stack. So it's not that I would recommend everybody write from the wound, but I also feel like sometimes when you write from the scar, you forget the details. You forget what it's really like. It is a little shiny. We all know a scar. It's kind of like, Oh, isn't that beautiful? It just reminds me about the time I fell face first in the grass. OK, but in the moment, how did it feel? And I think it's easy to forget. So this is me also putting myself on a limb to say,

05:43 - 05:52

Jenny Blake: I haven't solved this yet. Even I get self-conscious coming to this conversation thinking, gosh, do I have anything new to share? I haven't figured anything out really.

05:52 - 06:22

Rochelle Moulton: And that's what to me was so interesting because you're in the messy middle and I love the messy middle. Now, having said that, And I'm sure we'll get there as we talk about this as an observer just reading what you've written I feel the change I can feel the next direction Especially with the 1 that you just sent this morning. Thank you. We should start with a little background Right. So talk us through where you were with your business when you got whacked with that $150, 000 loss.

06:23 - 06:54

Jenny Blake: Yeah. Well, the first whack was with everyone else March 2020 that's when 80% of my income was wiped out at once because I do a lot of speaking and events and corporate licensing from the pivot IP part of my business. And I was at that point, a decade into solopreneurship, I had a lot of fear. I used to work at Google, I had so much fear leaving that I wasn't cut out for entrepreneurship. I was just, I was a good employee. I was a good girl, a straight A student, but I didn't know how to make

06:54 - 07:23

Jenny Blake: it on my own. But I didn't dream to have the fears that all my income would get wiped out at the same time, all clients at once, and 2 years into the future. That I never saw coming. That was a worst case scenario I couldn't even imagine. I thought about recession, and I actually wrote my second book, Pivot, to be countercyclical in the sense that, OK, if there's a recession, pivot is still relevant. More people will be pivoting and getting pivoted than ever, which of course was also true in 2020. And I felt in that moment

07:23 - 07:50

Jenny Blake: when the pandemic hit, okay, I wrote a book called Pivot, I've got this. Now's the time, I doubled down on my podcast, I did a daily show for 3 months, I was like, really leaned on my reserves to be resilient and positive and optimistic and hopeful and grateful and all the things, even though it was such a tough time. And I'm the breadwinner for our household. So for me, my husband and our dog living in New York City with a mortgage that I had just bought this apartment a year prior. So my business had been at

07:50 - 08:20

Jenny Blake: a peak in 2019, the highest revenue I had ever had. I had just gotten married. We just brought home a puppy and I had just bought a house. Now maybe to my future self, I would say, can you please not do all those things at the same time ever again? But that's what I was carrying by the time at the same time all my income got wiped out. And I'm not trying to be a victim about it. It's just like this was the facts. Like the complexity of my life ramped all the way up, the pressure,

08:20 - 08:54

Jenny Blake: the stress, as the financial floor fell out. And for a few years, I was able to feel resilient and I even doubled down on my love for small business by leading into free time, launching a podcast, hybrid publishing the book, Free Time, that came out in March of 2022. But then things just didn't get better. I felt like the economy still was just inching along and there was this saying in real estate, survive till 25. And I kept thinking each next year things would turn around again and we'd go back to normal somehow but every year

08:54 - 09:28

Jenny Blake: got worse there were all these tech layoffs I work with a lot of tech companies it was the year of austerity the year of efficiency the year of cuts and layoffs and sure enough by last summer June 2023 1 of my biggest most favorite long time licensing clients ended our contract. And at that point, I felt it was the straw that broke the camel's back of my psyche. I couldn't fake it anymore. I couldn't pretend anymore. I didn't have any more hope left. And it's not that I'm trying to put all my identity into this 1

09:28 - 09:57

Jenny Blake: client, but hinted at it rhymes with Google and I used to work there. And I just thought, who even am I as a business owner without this client anymore? This was the thing that would impress my peers when I told them who my clients were. And I still have 1 licensing client who's been with me 8 years, but at that point I didn't know what else to do. And when I got that call and I processed the only way I could see to deal with yet another loss, yet another sort of devastating financial blow was to

09:57 - 09:59

Jenny Blake: start writing. And I haven't stopped since.

10:00 - 10:33

Rochelle Moulton: I mean, I so feel that, what that's like. You have this event that no 1 could have predicted, right? I could feel your optimism. I can do this. I'm going to do this. And then at some point, you know, there is a straw. But I guess what I'd like to talk a little bit about what I guess we could call personal narrative writing, which is, you know, what I think of as the substack. And so you dived into this new to you form of writing on substack. You're a great writer. I mean, I loved your book.

10:33 - 10:51

Rochelle Moulton: So that's why I was so intrigued by the substacks. And then eventually you also paused both podcasts, which, you know, by the way, sounded like a hellish production schedule to begin with. So it's been what, a year plus of regular substack pieces and 6 months roughly off of your podcast. Like, what's

10:51 - 11:24

Jenny Blake: that been like for you? Yeah, the pausing the podcast was a tough decision because I had had a show for almost 9 years. Pivot podcast was around for the longest since 2015, and then Free Time had been going for 3 years. And yes, the production schedule was intense. I published 14 episodes a month. However, it was the thing I loved. And if you've read Doe or Shall You Know, the post, do what you love and the money will follow if you meet these 20 criteria. I think 1 of my sort of veil lifted on the myths

11:24 - 11:55

Jenny Blake: and promises of entrepreneurship was if I just find the thing I love, I can make a job for myself even within my business. And that's what I tried to do with podcasting the last few years. And it was costing much more than I was making. So I was spending about 3, 000 a month on production and certainly wasn't earning that back because the shows didn't get big enough to have ad revenue that would have even broken even. And without regular speaking gigs, because in-person events, I mean, for me personally, still haven't fully come back the way

11:55 - 12:34

Jenny Blake: they were. I just couldn't float. It was almost like my corporate work was providing the funding for my passion projects, even within my own business. So I couldn't justify the cost anymore. I also felt I couldn't justify the time and energy. It wasn't just the cost, It was that here I am giving everything I have to this thing that I do love and I was really loving making the relationships and meeting people like you, but it wasn't sustaining me. It wasn't giving back to me. I mean, I love the love notes from listeners, so honored the

12:34 - 13:03

Jenny Blake: people for whom it was their number 1 show and Spotify wrapped. But I also had to look in the mirror and say this thing didn't work. It didn't take off. It's not sustaining me. It's actually putting my finances more at risk. So I need to take a break because it's trying to tell me through my bank account, something's not working. At least that's what my broader business is trying to say. Whatever you're doing with your time, it's not working because the bank account is in serious trouble. And pausing them in February, as you read in Dover

13:03 - 13:31

Jenny Blake: Shell, I ended up getting a surge of work in the spring. And I was able to run around doing a few speaking gigs. I was doing a lot. But I ended up in the ER. And then I spent the summer going to the gym every day. I joke that I joined Equinox and I call it my spa office, because I go and I do some work, some writing, some working out, some sauna and steam room. And I realized in hindsight now, looking back, I wouldn't have been able to focus on my health like that and my

13:31 - 13:50

Jenny Blake: recovery if I was still doing the podcasts because they were all consuming. It was filling my time every day. And now I'm really unhooked from the computer and the calendar and much happier, even though again, I haven't really solved anything yet. But I know what I need to kind of leave on pause for the moment.

13:50 - 14:02

Rochelle Moulton: Well, it's interesting when you mentioned the bank account, I know you were talking about money, but it also struck me that you have an emotional bank account and that was getting empty too, in part from the podcast.

14:02 - 14:34

Jenny Blake: Yeah, or I was just dedicating so much time and energy. The weird thing about it is that it never drained me. That's what was so confusing is that every day I really enjoyed interviewing my guests and being interviewed as other people's guests. That never really wavered. So that's what I found confusing in the decision to pause them was that I thought if you find that thing that gives you energy and lights you up and that you love and that People seem to think you're good at like that's it and then it takes off and it works

14:36 - 14:37

Rochelle Moulton:...

Get Yourself Booked On Podcasts

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Being a podcast guest pays some excellent dividends: introducing you to new audiences, practice delivering your point of view and honing your message for starters. But how do you get yourself booked?

The qualities that will make you a solid, bookable podcast guest.

The 5-step system to get consistent results to your podcast guesting requests.

The one thing you must have before pitching yourself to a single podcast.

Why smaller, niche podcasts may be ideal, especially when first starting to guest.

How to craft your pitch—and the 3 paragraph format to improve your chances of a YES.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:42

Rochelle Moulton: The best pitches are short, impactful, and do not make the host do any work to say yes, because the second you require them to do work, your chances of a yes drop dramatically. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Molten and today I want to talk about getting yourself booked on podcasts. Now, maybe it's because I've seen some of the most god-awful pitches in the 7 plus years I've been hosting podcasts. I so don't want you to write pitches like those. But it's

00:42 - 01:23

Rochelle Moulton: really because I believe in the merits of guesting on podcasts, even when, maybe especially when, you're not hosting a show of your own. Being a solid podcast guest pays all sorts of dividends in terms of introducing you to new audiences, filled with potential clients and buyers. You also get to practice delivering your point of view and honing your message, becoming a better communicator of your message in the process. Now, what do I mean by being a solid podcast guest? Well, you like to be interviewed and have a conversation. You have some compelling stories to share and

01:23 - 02:04

Rochelle Moulton: you have something valuable to teach. If all you're trying to do is sell your services or products and you genuinely don't like to be interviewed or share stories or teach something valuable, podcast guesting is not a good strategy for you. But if you wanna do more guesting, it helps to create a very simple system, 1 that you can partially outsource if you like to get consistent results. And think of it as 5 steps. So number 1, decide why you want to be on podcasts. Number 2, Research and plan for your guesting. Number 3, I'm sure it's

02:04 - 02:45

Rochelle Moulton: your favorite, pitch yourself. And number 4, prepare for the actual interview. And last but not least, number 5, leverage the asset you've created. So let's talk about each of those. First is your why, your purpose in guesting. And hey, there's nothing wrong with your purpose being very self-serving. You're spending significant time with this, so you'll want to pick a highly valuable outcome to make it worth your while. And for example, do you want to entice people to your own show, grow your network, sell high ticket consulting or coaching, sell books? You want to get exquisitely clear

02:45 - 03:21

Rochelle Moulton: on your why so that you can be highly focused in your pitches, your message, and how your performance as a guest boomerangs back to help you grow your business. And once you figured out your why, researching and prioritizing potential podcasts gets vastly simpler. Now, pitching is a bit of an art form, but when you know why you want to guest on their show and have done your homework, your custom pitch can cut through to increase your chances of getting a yes. Once you get that yes, it's all about preparing for the interview. What will you talk

03:21 - 04:01

Rochelle Moulton: about? What stories are most relevant to their topic and their audience? What's your call to action for the interview? And yes, you want to have a call to action because it will allow you to build toward 1 central theme and keep you and the listener on track. Plus, you can point them to something as a bonus afterwards, say a checklist or an assessment or an article. It keeps you on track. And after your episode goes live, you still have work to do. Now you wanna leverage this asset you've created together. And remember podcast episodes live forever.

04:03 - 04:38

Rochelle Moulton: If yours is evergreen, you can keep leveraging it for as long as it works for you. All righty, let's dig into this some more. So let's say you've decided you want a guest on podcast to find more high ticket clients. And let's also say that you work on PR for B2B SaaS founders, and you've got some really compelling stories. Now, sidebar, this process is so much easier when you have a clear cut ideal client or buyer. If you're not there yet, spend the time to get your audience and messaging down before you start researching potential shows.

04:39 - 05:11

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. So you're a PR expert with a specific point of view and you do some research on SaaS podcasts. Now start with those you already listened to because you know how the show works and you can a lot of times you can reverse engineer how they choose their guests. Make a list, a spreadsheet works great for this. I do love a good spreadsheet with the show, the host, their audience, what you think you'd want to talk about, how many reviews they have in Spotify or Apple, and any notes you want to capture from your research. Just

05:11 - 05:41

Rochelle Moulton: leave room to add a priority ranking and an estimate of their reach later. Oh, and make sure that they have guests regularly. Not everyone does. So take a quick look at their episodes to make sure that they might be interested in interviewing you. Notice that it's not so easy to know if a podcast is right for you. If you've never heard of the host or listened to an episode. The antidote to that is giving a few episodes a listen. I mean, you can play it on 2 times speed once you get the hang of the host

05:41 - 06:18

Rochelle Moulton: style, but don't shortcut this step. And if you're outsourcing this to an agency, get some assurances that they have actually vetted the podcast they're pitching you for. Now get at least 5 or 6 on your list. Even 10 to 20 is fine, and not just those with huge audiences. If you're new to this, you'll have better luck with smaller niche podcasts, and the practice will be good for you. Once you've got a good assortment, it's time to prioritize. So our PR consultant to SaaS founders has a list of 20 SaaS podcasts. They're going to prioritize those

06:18 - 06:57

Rochelle Moulton: that are targeted to founders first. Then I'd suggest getting an idea of how large their audience is to help you prioritize. And you can do that by looking at how many reviews they have as a proxy for downloads and or you can use a site like listen notes.com that ranks podcasts with a listener score. Neither is perfect, but it will give you an order of magnitude that will help you decide which to pitch first. And this may feel counterintuitive, but you probably wanna start with a smaller audience podcasts first. Because they will 1, tend to be

06:57 - 07:30

Rochelle Moulton: excited about getting a well-crafted pitch from an ideal guest, and 2, be more receptive to a pitch from someone they don't know because filling guest slots is hard. Now the bigger shows can be pickier and if you haven't made a name for yourself yet or don't have an intriguing book to send them, it's harder to get a yes. Just start with the lowest hanging fruit so you can get in the game and start honing your skills. Now, let's assume you've picked a couple to pitch, okay? Now you wanna parse these out a bit because your pitches

07:30 - 08:09

Rochelle Moulton: will get better as you get some practice. And the pitch is everything, because it's typically your 1 chance to connect and intrigue. Right? The best pitches are short, impactful, and do not make the host do any work to say yes. Because the second you require them to do work, your chances of a yes drop dramatically. Now I get a surprising number of pitches, often from agencies, where they go on and on about the guest bio, but they never give even a hint the person has ever been on a podcast, which means if I'm going to consider

08:09 - 08:43

Rochelle Moulton: them, I have to track down their site and they rarely have a podcast. So I'm supposed to go looking for their interviews and then listen to some to see if they'll be a fit. Not gonna happen. Right. Or they use a can pitch for every podcast they pitch. I get about 1 a week from someone pitching a talk on leadership in corporate America. I couldn't care less about that topic. And just reading the title of this podcast, nevermind the 2 sentence description, should tell the most casual reader it's not a fit. So I don't even respond

08:43 - 09:21

Rochelle Moulton: to those. My point here is your pitch must be crafted for that specific host based on what's important to them. Just follow the with them rule, right? What's in it for me with your host in mind. So our PR pro might pitch a podcast with SaaS founders by teasing a story where a SaaS founder saved their bacon by getting out in front of a breaking story, you know, of course, with PR help, or suggesting an episode on the top 5 signs a SaaS needs to hire an outside communications expert, and you'll be telling stories to illustrate

09:21 - 10:00

Rochelle Moulton: that. Or how to avoid hiring the wrong PR advisor. Again, more stories. Now the actual pitch will vary based on the specific point of view of the PR consultant, how that fits or challenges the host's point of view, and the suspected audience for the show. And you can do devil's advocate style pitches too. It's got a lot of options. Whatever you decide, keep the pitch super simple and in your own voice. Now, most successful pitches are just 3 paragraphs. You've got an opening where you make a meaningful connection to the show's message, and that can include

10:00 - 10:34

Rochelle Moulton: a reference to an ongoing bit on the show or a specific guest or episode, but make it specific, not generic. And the second paragraph where you suggest the topic of your proposed episode, adding just enough color so the host can envision it. And you can add a link or 2, say, to the page on your site with your interviews or to a media page so that they can get you with a quick click. And the third paragraph is a great place to say something humble and connective. You might say, I've given a Spotify review of your

10:34 - 11:08

Rochelle Moulton: podcast because it provides so much value to the SaaS founders I serve. Or something like, totally understand if this isn't a fit right now, but I'd love to connect since we both serve a similar audience. And if you aren't already, connect with them on LinkedIn after sending your pitch, so they'll connect the pitch to your face. It helps make you more human. Oh, and pro tip, send your pitch in an email, not on say LinkedIn. It's too easy for those with lots of connections to lose your message on social. Keep it in their email inbox where

11:08 - 11:42

Rochelle Moulton: they can find it or delegate it. Okay, so you hear back and you book your first interview. Yay, right? But you're not done yet. You've got to prepare for the interview so your episode does exactly what you want it to do. Just go back to your why, your purpose, and remind yourself why you want to do this, and then dig in. Look again at your pitch and their response. This will tell you the angle you want to take here because only then can you lay out the 3 key pieces of your interview. What you'll be talking

11:42 - 12:16

Rochelle Moulton: about, which stories will be most compelling for that topic and their audience, and your call to action. So this might sound like a 15 minute note taking session and you're done, which if you've been doing this awhile and you have clear talking points, it is. But if this is relatively new territory for you, you'll want to dig in and really think about how to match up your point of view, your expertise and your stories with this particular podcast and host. And you might want to let the prep stretch over a few days so you have a

12:16 - 12:50

Rochelle Moulton: chance to mull over different stories and how to best present them. Some of the best interviews, the ones that feel fresh and engaging and natural, are the result of hours of preparation. Now the good news, if you keep good notes, you won't have to rethink every interview, but build on what you've already done, what you've already prepared. When my first book came out, I booked an interview with Chris Doe on the future, which felt like a really big get at the time. I had to get through an hour screening call with his managing director before even

12:50 - 13:20

Rochelle Moulton: being added to a possible guest list. So you can bet that when I got booked, I prepped like crazy for that. I spent the equivalent of almost 2 days just to make sure I nailed it. Because for me, it was a test of how my book could be received in the creative community. And I knew he was a good interviewer with plenty of influence, which meant I needed to be at the top of my game. It's 1 of the best interviews I've ever done, and I would do the same prep work all over again for the

13:20 - 13:57

Rochelle Moulton: next book. All this is a long-winded way of saying that preparation is important. Invest the amount of time it takes for you to feel prepped and confident on the podcasters platform, No more and no less. So let's assume you've done the interview and it was great. You're happy with the outcome. And if you're not for some reason, get a second opinion versus thinking it sucks because you're unhappy with the sound of your voice. Okay, now it's time to leverage this evergreen asset that you've created together. A lot depends on the agreement, if any, that you made

13:57 - 14:32

Rochelle Moulton: with the host. Sometimes you agree to drop it in your newsletter or specific social channels. Other times the host doesn't care so much because they've already got an engaged audience and they view you as a bonus. In either event, do a simple thing as soon as you've wrapped the episode, preferably right after you hang up. Go give their podcast a review in Spotify or Apple podcasts. It's thoughtful and quick and easy. And then put your marketing hat on. Your host will have a process around sharing assets from your episode. You have visuals, audio clips, marketing copy,

14:32 - 15:03

Rochelle Moulton: and they'll usually deliver it pretty close to when your episode will drop. Now, if you can't get an exact drop date, see if you can get a general timeframe so you can fit it into your email and social posting schedule. Think about how and where you wanna share this, And if you haven't already, make a home for your interviews on your website. Yeah, it looks kind of lame when you have just 1 interview, but use that as fuel to keep getting more. Or save them up in a document so when you're ready to add a media

15:03 - 15:36

Rochelle Moulton: page, you've got all the info and links at your fingertips. And those also make excellent links for pitching new podcasts so that they can see that you're not a first-timer. Then when your interview comes out, share the heck out of it. Maybe you include it in your emails to your list with some compelling copy about why it's a good listen when it first comes out. But maybe it's a terrific adjunct to something you write 3 months or 3 years later. I mean, you can link to the original podcast for people who want a deeper dive or

15:36 - 16:11

Rochelle Moulton: who may have missed it because they didn't know you then, or the topic just wasn't on their radar then. The reverse happens too, which is fabulous. New listeners to the original podcast dip into the back catalog of episodes. I've had clients come to me from something they listened to 5 years ago. It happens more often than you think. It's why podcasting is so powerful for people like us, experts who are selling their expertise. Very little of what we have to say will be dated or irrelevant quickly. We have a much longer shelf life than the latest

16:11 - 16:48

Rochelle Moulton: pop star or breaking news. Okay, I've covered a lot of ground here, So let me recap and try and tie this up with a bow. If you want to get yourself booked on podcasts, it's going to take some attention or some cash if you'd rather outsource this work. But the process is the same. Decide why you want to be on podcasts, research and plan for your guesting, pitch yourself, prepare for the actual interview and leverage the asset you've created so you can reap the benefit for years to come. Now I know you can do this. You

16:48 - 17:07

Rochelle Moulton: just have to start and stick with it. All right. Now as we wrap up this episode, if you haven't joined my email list yet, now is the time. Your soloist business and your future self will thank you. The link is in the show notes. That's it for this episode. Please join us next time for the Soloist Live. Bye bye.

AI Use Cases For Soloists with Heidi Araya

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0700

You’ve heard the hype about AI, but how can you tactically and strategically use it to manage and grow your Soloist business? Global AI consultant Heidi Araya—who says “experts should be experts, not task-jugglers”—gets highly specific on how we can best use AI right now:

Why your most productive use of AI starts with where friction currently lies in your business.

Saving time: buying or building AI assistants for the time-intensive tasks typical with knowledge work.

Creating a “librarian” to answer questions from your existing content—internally, externally (with or without monetizing).

Protecting your proprietary content from being used to train large learning models (LLMs).

Strategic use cases that may surprise you (and replace the thousands of dollars you might otherwise spend to uncover this data).

LINKS

Heidi Araya Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Heidi Araya is a global consultant, keynote speaker, and patented inventor who has dedicated her decades-long career to driving multimillion-dollar business improvements using a people-first approach.

Fueled by a desire to continuously learn and push boundaries, Heidi pivoted from leading large scale change initiatives inside organizations and has embarked on her third career, first upskilling in AI and then starting her own AI Agency. Leveraging her deep expertise in business operations, coaching, and change management, she now empowers solopreneurs, startups, and small businesses to unlock their full potential in the AI era.

Heidi's passion lies in bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI technology and practical applications for small businesses. She doesn't just talk AI, she implements it. Her people-centric approach focuses on AI enablement, AI automation, and productivity coaching, allowing smaller businesses to compete with larger corporations.

When she's not empowering businesses with AI, she enjoys raising butterflies, tackling home improvement projects, and staying active.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:18

Heidi Araya: I had 1 creative agency who their clients were asking for competitor insights. So it could go out and actually look for the competitors on the internet and come back and deliver a report and summary of whatever the competitors were so that they could go back and save them like 35 hours of work for each competitor report that they had to run.

00:24 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton : Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm joined by soloist and AI consultant, Heidi Araya. Heidi is a global consultant, keynote speaker, and patented inventor who's dedicated her decades-long career to driving multi-million dollar business improvements using a people first approach. Fueled by a desire to continuously learn and push boundaries, she pivoted from leading large scale change initiatives inside organizations and has embarked on her third career, first upskilling in AI and then starting her own AI agency. Leveraging her deep expertise

01:10 - 01:38

Rochelle Moulton : in business operations, coaching and change management, she now helps solopreneurs, startups and small businesses unlock their full potential in the AI era. And when she's not empowering businesses with AI, she enjoys raising butterflies, tackling home improvement projects, and staying active. Heidi, Welcome. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here today. I love the combination of AI with raising butterflies. Somehow that just feels so perfect to

01:39 - 01:46

Heidi Araya: me. That's great. I just released 2 of them today this morning. They emerged. I was so happy to see them take flight. Oh,

01:46 - 02:20

Rochelle Moulton : I like that. I think we're going to work this metaphor into there somehow. So 1 of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show is that there is so much hype on AI right now. And I feel like you are the AI soloist whisperer with your smart, practical advice. It's like you jump over the hype to see what we can make work right now. So let's dive in. So first, before we talk about AI, let's talk about you And how you decided to focus your business on AI like if I remember rightly you started

02:20 - 02:22

Rochelle Moulton : out with a BA in Russian Yes,

02:22 - 02:58

Heidi Araya: yes, correct. I did start out with my BA in Russian But that part of my story is as soon as I graduated the Soviet Union fell So my dream of linking Soviet and Americans and building bridges was basically dead even before I got my diploma. So I had to pivot right away. I became a researcher, a technical writer, found my way into agile ways of working and what's called lean. So I was doing these large-scale transformations inside organizations and I always found these processes were broken and people were miserable at work because they couldn't actually get

02:58 - 03:30

Heidi Araya: work done. So it became my mission to alleviate misery in the workplace. And I don't think that's really changed. I think when I noticed the decline of my previous career in leading agile transformations inside large organizations, it just seemed like people, they need the help, but the companies didn't want to invest there. So luckily, I saw that AI was coming on the scene for years. And so I launched the opportunity to say, this is an opportunity that I can leverage, learn from, and then help other people. And at the time, when I first started thinking about

03:30 - 03:49

Heidi Araya: it, I thought, well, I'm going to lead, again, some initiative inside an organization. But by the time I ended my data science program at MIT, I had decided that, no, I have to go with boots on the ground talking to people. This is something that I want to impact small businesses and solopreneurs because I've just seen people struggle too much. So I was done with large organizations.

03:50 - 04:27

Rochelle Moulton : Well, I can totally relate to that. I just love this movement from Russian to MIT to AI. And so thank you for sharing that. I really wanted listeners to see that pivoting can happen fast when you've made up your mind to provide value in new ways. All right, let's 0 in on soloists and especially soloist consultants. So we are typically doing some combination of tasks from admin for the business to serving clients, maybe we're writing reports or we're conducting assessments to marketing. At least I do, I feel like I spend a ton of time doing that.

04:27 - 04:46

Rochelle Moulton : Writing articles, running podcasts, engaging on social media, managing an email list of prospects, and of course, their pipeline. So I know what we want to talk about here is some use cases for solos, but before we do that, should we start with where the listener is feeling friction in their business?

04:47 - 05:14

Heidi Araya: Yeah. Well, actually, the solopreneur consultants that I speak with and coaches that I speak with, you've hit it. They don't have enough time to work on their business, they're working in their business, they are struggling because they're, well let me give you 1 example. I was spending 5 to 10 hours a week creating meeting notes and task action items. After you meet with a potential customer or a customer, you have to send out action items and send out those emails. And I was never getting to it, or it would be late, and I would be so

05:14 - 05:42

Heidi Araya: exhausted. And so I actually automated the process. And I have an AI note taker that attends my meetings, like my little executive assistant, and then creates summary with task items. And when the call ends, within 5 minutes, I open up my draft emails. And I have the draft email with summary and action items. All I have to do is hit send because it's pre-populated with the people who were in the meeting. So I guess I just look for ways for people to reduce the things that they're doing. That's what I would call drudgery. So we can

05:42 - 06:07

Heidi Araya: free up time. Now I don't spend that time with that. And I already, the automations and the AI that I use inside, for myself, I guess I feel empathy, right? Because I am a solopreneur and I'm struggling with those exact same things. So I know each solopreneur has maybe slightly different struggles, but I think we also have a lot of similarities, like the marketing content creation proposal creation, responding to emails as some of the things that we have to time slice across our day.

06:07 - 06:33

Rochelle Moulton : Well, it also makes AI so much more accessible that we're not having to sit back and go, oh, how can I use AI instead of saying, okay, where's the friction? Where are the bottlenecks in my business now? And especially, what do I not like doing that maybe there is another way to do? Yes. So let's talk about those use cases. I know you've been developing and working with clients on quite a number of these. So where should we

06:33 - 07:10

Heidi Araya: start? Yeah, so I guess the first 1 that's very popular across my clients today is a custom AI assistant, I'll say. You can imagine it like chat GPT, but it's trained on you and it knows everything about you. So we train this robust backend on, you might have like 1 client, 17 years of blog posts, books, podcasts, talks, whatever it is, your website. So we train it on all the content that you think is relevant, and then that's accessible then. You can imagine that second brain knows everything about you that you have ever shared with the

07:10 - 07:40

Heidi Araya: world that you just chose to share with that. So then we actually build a brand for the person and find the brand voice. And so that's there as their own little personal assistant. So I use mine multiple times a day to everything from, you know, help me write this email to, I need to write a proposal, rephrasing things. And even for social media, that's 1 of the struggles we have as solopreneurs is we want to write more resonant content in social media that's not just coming from chat GPT. So now when that second brain knows all

07:40 - 07:46

Heidi Araya: about us, we come up with much more resonant content in minutes instead of hours.

07:46 - 08:00

Rochelle Moulton : So I just want to dive into that just a little bit more. I want to make sure that people understand this. I want to make sure I understand this. So you train it. So you're putting in audio from podcasts, you're putting in blog posts. Can you do books

08:00 - 08:07

Heidi Araya: as well? Yep, you can do books. And I have 1 client who has put all of his 28 books up in his second brain.

08:07 - 08:16

Rochelle Moulton : I love that. And so you could use this internally, right, to help you. I love that a byproduct of this is getting clear on your brand voice.

08:16 - 08:39

Heidi Araya: Yes, it is amazing. So that was 1 of the realizations. I wasn't sure. I tested it. I just wasn't sure how it would turn out. I was like, let me just ask, what's the brand voice? But it turned out amazing. So actually, we have a system where we work with clients to figure out certain things. Let's say they don't have a lot of content yet, but they want to get there and they want to start building their brands. So we have them fill out a little paper and we meet with them and we do a recording.

08:39 - 09:01

Heidi Araya: And that's part of the first thing that we would get up in their content. It turns out that the audio recording is so much richer than the blog post that you write, and you just communicate in a completely different way. So the content that comes out after you've done something like a recording is just so rich, and I guess that's what they find value in as well, right? This rich content that gives them really great stuff that they can use right away.

09:01 - 09:07

Rochelle Moulton : I'm sitting there thinking of 7 years of weekly podcast audio. Right.

09:07 - 09:38

Heidi Araya: Yes. And now, so that's an internal use. I know that you have a client who used it externally. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So I have several clients who they're actually using it externally as well. So 1 of them is, well, I have a few authors there. But 1 of them happens to have really high usage. It might get like 100 chats per week on the chat bot. And I guess the value there is so this person's content is in English, but people across the world want to understand this management philosophy

09:38 - 10:05

Heidi Araya: that he has. So people talk to the chat bot in up to 100 languages across the world 24-7. And so now he's seen as a thought leader in his space because he was the first 1 to have that there and people are getting value and I see some of the chat logs are, you know, thank you so much or this is the best response I've gotten on that. So people ask it anything from help me write a job description to how do I run this activity, to all kinds of things. So I view it as really

10:05 - 10:33

Heidi Araya: crucial for an author who wants to maybe expand their reach globally. And 1 of the other things is people don't have time to read whole books now. So they can now ask a very specific question. How do I do this particular thing, right? And get that answer right away in real time. So it's bite sized learning. Now in in that case, did this person monetize it or are they doing this? So actually he has to. 1 is open on his website and he did monetize the 1 with the 28 books.

10:34 - 10:39

Rochelle Moulton : Okay, well that makes sense because if you're giving away your book content, eventually nobody buys the books anymore.

10:40 - 11:05

Heidi Araya: Right. His website traffic is up 25 to 35%. He's getting more people purchasing the books and I mean now you know his you can just see the engagement everywhere that you know his posts are He also does actually share the funny things or the valuable things that people get out of there So from time to time he'll be sharing a little snippet of the chat bot gave this answer or someone asked this question. So it's also fun. Well, plus that sounds like

11:05 - 11:25

Rochelle Moulton : a social media post that just wrote itself. Yes, true enough. Yeah. So what do you say when authors are worried about putting their proprietary information into a chat bot that somehow this is going to wind up in the master scheme and be used inappropriately. How do you deal with that concern?

11:25 - 11:59

Heidi Araya: Yeah, so the unlike when you upload it to a public platform like chat GPT none of the data or none of the LLMs are training on your data. So it's secure from that perspective. It's not going to be trained. We're just accessing, you know, what's called the API. So it doesn't have access to your content. But otherwise I also have a very secure platform. That's ISO 27001 GDPR and SOC 2 compliant. So it's from that perspective they're very secure platforms now that customers don't have to worry about that. Maybe even someone hacking into the platform right.

11:59 - 12:18

Heidi Araya: So they're very secure platforms And there's another way where you can sort of upload it and then delete the actual source material so it stays trained, but no 1 can actually go and download the material afterwards. So there's various ways that you can secure it if people are concerned. And this person was actually concerned. This is his livelihood. So he wanted to make sure it was very secure.

12:18 - 12:50

Rochelle Moulton : Interesting. Interesting. So is this what would you call this the librarian? And you know, I've had this conversation with a couple people on the podcast where we said, gee, what we really want is a librarian, Because we have all this content. I mean, I do have 17 years of blog posts and 7 years of weekly podcasts. And it would be awesome to have, I'll say, somebody, in this case, something, go and be able to pull answers to certain kinds of questions from content. Is this the application that you would use to do that,

12:50 - 13:21

Heidi Araya: or is there another 1? So you could. I have a very robust platform that offers citations. And so, for example, if you asked a specific question and it referenced a podcast, like I have another customer who's an attorney and when it references some of the material from the podcast. For example, it's going to pull that in a citation and then put it there in the chat so you can see exactly where it came from. So unlike chat GPT where you just don't know where the answer came from, this actually tells you where in your content it

13:21 - 13:35

Heidi Araya: got that answer. So you also feel safer that it's not hallucinating, which is another thing we can talk about if you want to, and that you know exactly where that content is. So I've had customers say, "'Oh, I forgot about that blog post. Yeah, that was a good 1.

13:35 - 14:01

Rochelle Moulton : Yeah, I could see that. Okay. I mean, this is really interesting because there's a lot of people that really have concerns about this. And I think sometimes the concerns are really warranted. And I could see why you'd want to think twice. And in other situations, there are opportunities to manage the risk. So what else are you seeing, especially soloists and consultants, use AI for?

14:01 - 14:32

Heidi Araya: Well, a lot of them actually are looking to grow their brand on LinkedIn. And...

Pulling Yourself Out Of A Slump

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0700

This episode is inspired by a listener question that I’ve been hearing a lot lately: how can you pull yourself out of a slump? And does a prolonged slump mean you’re not cut out to be a Soloist?

The gift (and the hidden cost) of a great first year as a Soloist.

Why hitting the wall—where your revenue tanks or plateaus—happens, especially with new-ish Soloists.

When it’s time to invest in positioning yourself appropriately and developing a sales system to consistently fill your pipeline.

One simple action to ensure you’re ready to turn around a difficult revenue situation.

Why it’s never too late to niche down—and how to do it without wasting months getting it right.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:45

Rochelle Moulton: If you haven't honed your messaging to focus on your ideal clients and buyers, and you haven't built a recurring system to find, nurture, and close those people, eventually you'll hit that wall. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today I want to share a listener question about pulling yourself out of a slump because I've been hearing variations on this lately and it's worth addressing. So this particular question goes like this. I'm feeling stuck in my business and I just don't know what

00:45 - 01:21

Rochelle Moulton: to do next. In the past, I hit over $100, 000 in revenue easily. And 2 years ago, I broke $200, 000 for the first time and I was thrilled. The last year though, has been pretty miserable. I just barely hit $100, 000 in 2023 and I won't in 2024 unless something changes dramatically. Is this a sign I need to go get a job or is this fixable? Okay, so let's call this person Chris because they didn't want to identify themselves in the show. Chris and I tossed a few emails back and forth, and this is what

01:21 - 01:57

Rochelle Moulton: else I learned that I think is important to talk about what to do next. 1, Chris is a B2B consultant with a respectable level of expertise, about 8 years in their specialty. 2, if we were to look at Chris's website and social media, we'd see they focus more on talking about their expertise versus identifying their ideal client and the specific problems they solve. 3, Chris has been in business for almost 4 years and they need about $100, 000 in revenue to meet their basic needs, but have targeted $200, 000 as their goal to build a Freedom

01:57 - 02:33

Rochelle Moulton: Fund for their future. So I think of that as their enough goal. They can tighten their belt for a year or so, but they need to be on a $100, 000 plus trajectory soon. 4, Chris does not have any sort of consistent pipeline of new clients, nor do they have any recurring revenue of any consequence. It's mostly project work. 5, Chris has been experimenting a bit, but since nothing is stuck yet, they're starting to doubt themselves to feel less confident. And finally, number 6, all that said, they really, really, really don't want to go back to

02:33 - 03:10

Rochelle Moulton: a job job. All of this is important information when you're making big life decisions. You know in your heart of hearts whether you want to stay independent or go back inside. And it's folly to ignore your very real need for revenue to support yourself and perhaps others. So what we have in Chris is someone who has tasted the good life of being a soloist and wants more. They need to make a certain level of income to feel like the risk of being independent is worthwhile, like they can create the right business for themselves. From what I

03:10 - 03:47

Rochelle Moulton: can see, Chris has hit a wall that many soloists do in the early years of their business. If you've been in a corporate role, built up some good creds and some relationships, hanging out your shingle can feel amazing that first year. Everybody wants to help the newbie and you get plenty of referrals or just, hey, will you do X for me? Kinds of projects handed over without any competition. Year 1 can look and feel surprisingly easy, almost effortless in terms of sourcing new clients. They basically come to you And your job is to close the deal.

03:47 - 04:25

Rochelle Moulton: And then year 2 rolls in. Now if you've got a highly marketable skill with the right reputation, year 2 might be even better than year 1. And if that's the case, like it was with Chris, it's Probably because you're getting referrals from clients or people in your circle who've seen what you can do. But if you haven't honed your messaging to focus on your ideal clients and buyers, and you haven't built a recurring system to find, nurture, and close those people, eventually you'll hit that wall. Now, I don't wanna make this sound like you have to

04:25 - 04:59

Rochelle Moulton: do all of this, niche down and build a sustainable sales system at once. The truth is it's usually a process. Year 1 is when you do a bunch of different things to see what sticks. The last thing you're probably thinking about in that first year is niching down because you're having so much fun getting to do cool work with people who actually pay you. It's a blast. And year 2 tends to be 1 of 2 things. Either your revenue falls off dramatically because you haven't been investing in relationships and business development. Or like Chris, you got

04:59 - 05:41

Rochelle Moulton: lucky with referrals and your revenue ticked up, even though you didn't do much to cultivate it. But eventually, most folks who stay in solo consulting realize they have to invest not only in positioning themselves appropriately, but in selling themselves and their services, which is usually some combination of spade work to turn up opportunities, maybe via some social media interactions, authority marketing, and one-to-one conversations with potential buyers. Chris hit the wall because they assumed that a couple or 3 years of relatively easy revenue Meant that it would simply continue on the upswing It probably won't make Chris

05:41 - 06:21

Rochelle Moulton: feel much better to know they aren't alone But the good news is there is most definitely a solution. And where it starts will probably feel weird, but it's essential to get your headspace where it needs to be to dial into your next best moves. So I want you to do something every single day that reminds you of your value. Because getting ghosted or figuratively kicked in the face while you're selling is hard. You need to be comfortable and confident in the value you deliver to bust through this current situation. Maybe you rummage through your digital or

06:21 - 06:59

Rochelle Moulton: physical glory box, you know, that place where you keep all those reminders of the high points of your career, or you give yourself a 5 minute speech while the theme from Rocky plays in the background. Whatever grounds you in the knowledge that you are providing significant value through your work. Remind yourself of how good you are. Okay? That's step 1. I want you to be in a clear place of confidence before making any major moves. Step 2. Once you're in a calm, confident headspace, I want you to take a clear-eyed view of your sales pipeline and

06:59 - 07:35

Rochelle Moulton: relationships. Is there some low-hanging fruit? People you already know you can help? If you're in a financial pickle, this is 1 place to start, but I'm throwing up a yellow caution flag. The worst time to try and sell something is when you're desperate. Because I guarantee you will say and do things you'd never consider if all was well. Sure, I can do that for half my regular price. Of course I'll work with you, even though every time I see your name in my inbox, I want to vomit. Or worse, you push when the best sales are

07:35 - 08:12

Rochelle Moulton: a pull. So assess the current state of your pipeline. Is it a jumble of different kinds of people looking for different sorts of help? Or can you identify pockets of folks who just need nurturing to become valued clients. Chris has a mixed bag. They have lots of people they can help, but there's not a lot of commonality to their industry, their title, or even their desired outcome. Which means step 3 is to identify a next level cut at their ideal client. In a perfect world, this would be step 2, but when you're in a revenue crunch,

08:12 - 08:55

Rochelle Moulton: most soloists handle this better after they've assessed the current state of their pipeline. 1 easy way to get to your next cut is to just do an autopsy on your past projects. Who did you most like serving? Who felt most like your people? Who didn't agonize over pricing, but saw the value of the outcomes you produce. Who is a natural fit with your talents and passions and has the budget to afford you. Instead of overthinking, just start experimenting. It's as easy as having a conversation with people you've identified as potentials. And social media connections like in

08:55 - 09:35

Rochelle Moulton: LinkedIn can easily grease the skids. As you're Having these conversations, ask questions about the outcomes they most value, and then take a good hard look at your services and products. Are they aligned with your clients most pressing problems? Are they priced in line with their value? You know, a good rule of thumb here is that you wanna deliver 10X the value of your price. So if you charge $10, 000, you want to deliver $100, 000 of value. That 10 to 1 ratio makes saying yes to you so much easier because it's a good investment. Now you

09:35 - 10:15

Rochelle Moulton: may need to adjust how you deliver. Maybe it's an advisory retainer versus a done for you service or vice versa. You may need to adjust when you deliver. Maybe your service is best before or after certain major events or specific calendar dates. And you may need to adjust the price for what you deliver, creating a ladder of increasing cost and value that makes sense to both your ideal client and your business model. You simply have to experiment bit by bit adjusting as you go. You're not going to get it right the first time at every step,

10:15 - 10:52

Rochelle Moulton: but you will learn what sticks and what doesn't. I'd also suggest you get yourself some help. It could be anything from a very low or 0 cost affinity group to serve as a sounding board or a group facilitated by an expert, all the way up to a one-to-one coach to help you jump those hurdles faster than you can on your own. Being a soloist doesn't mean you have to do it all on your own. It does mean that you want to adopt an attitude that says, I'm curious and always learning because chances are excellent that the

10:52 - 11:24

Rochelle Moulton: key to your next big leap is baked into those experiments. I would just keep experimenting, evaluating, and sometimes overhauling, and you'll set yourself firmly on the road to the kind of revenue growth you want. Okay. Now, as we wrap up this episode, if you haven't joined my email list yet, now is the time. Your soloist business and your future self will thank you. The link is in the show notes. That's it for this episode. Please join us next time for the Soloist Live. Bye bye.

Embracing Neurodiversity with Diann Wingert

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Does your brain seem to work differently than those around you—maybe you even went solo so you could operate at your best? Coach (and former psychotherapist) Diann Wingert shares her experience advising the neurodiverse:

Neurodiversity—what it is, why it’s a spectrum and how experts look at it today (hint: don’t think of it as a disorder).

Why so many neurodiverse people become entrepreneurs—and serial entrepreneurs.

The signs you might be on the ADHD spectrum (and what to do with that if you are).

How understanding the unique challenges and opportunities of how your brain works plays into the design and success of your Soloist business.

Why radical self-acceptance—whether you’re neurodiverse or not—is the way to go.

LINKS

Diann Wingert Shiny Objects | LinkedIn | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

After a twenty-year career as a psychotherapist and mental health administrator, Diann pivoted into business strategy and coaching for neurodivergent entrepreneurs. Her passion is helping those who think differently build a profitable, sought-after business based on their unique brilliance.

Diann has extensive experience working with neurodivergent individuals, especially those who are gifted, ADHD, or both. On the personal side, Diann loves dark fiction, strong coffee, and laughing out loud. She is also a Peloton enthusiast, practicing Buddhist, and host of the newly re-branded ADHD-ish podcast.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:25

Diann Wingert: Understanding, oh, there is a name for my difference. I am actually neurodivergent. I've always known I was different. And trust me, if you're listening to my voice and you are neurodivergent, You've always known it. We know we're different, but if we don't know why, what most people do is go to shame.

00:30 - 00:45

Rochelle Moulton: MUSIC Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm so happy to welcome my new pal, the incomparable Diann Wingert.

00:45 - 00:47

Diann Wingert: That's a great intro.

00:48 - 01:35

Rochelle Moulton: Well, wait, there's more. So after a 20-year career as a psychotherapist and mental health administrator, Diane pivoted into business strategy and coaching for neurodivergent entrepreneurs. Her passion is helping those who think differently build a profitable, sought after business based on their unique brilliance. And Diane has extensive experience working with neurodivergent individuals, especially those who are gifted, ADHD, or both. On the personal side, she loves dark fiction, strong coffee, and laughing out loud. She's also a Peloton enthusiast, practicing Buddhist, and host of the newly rebranded ADHD-ish podcast. Diane, welcome.

01:35 - 01:37

Diann Wingert: I'm so excited to have this conversation.

01:38 - 02:01

Rochelle Moulton: Well so am I. So let's just dive right in. And I first just want to understand, do you identify as a soloist yourself? I certainly do and proudly so. Yay. So what made you pivot from psychotherapy to coaching? I mean, there's some, you know, you could make some logical reasons why, but it really is a different way of operating. What made you go there? It's a really great question and

02:01 - 02:34

Diann Wingert: I love being asked it. On a practical note, my husband was interviewing for another job, which meant we were probably going to leave the state, if not the country, and you may or may not know that a therapy license is only good in the state you're in. But there was something going on with me personally, which is the bigger, deeper, and I think more important reason. I had outgrown the role of being a therapist. I wanted to be more directive. I wanted to help people move forward at a faster pace. And I was ready to work

02:34 - 03:15

Diann Wingert: with people who had done the work of healing and developing insight and were now wanting to move into growth, change and reaching their highest potential. So I knew that was no longer a therapy role. And I had also been a serial business owner, and I wanted to bring my 2 skill sets together as what I like to refer to as a psychologically savvy business coach. Because if you work with soloists and you know this, the business can only be as successful as the business owner is healthy, mentally, physically, spiritually. So I like to work with the

03:15 - 03:19

Diann Wingert: whole person so that both they and their business can thrive.

03:19 - 03:39

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, preaching. I know. You preaching. I know. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So, I want to talk about neurodivergence. I still have the worst time saying that word. So define it for us and is there a spectrum that we should be aware of? Like how is this being discussed now? I feel like it changes moment by moment.

03:39 - 04:16

Diann Wingert: No lie. In fact, it's a really hot topic that it seems like came from out of nowhere and is suddenly on everybody's lips. So I'm going to talk about neurodivergence and neurodiversity because you're going to hear both. And I have a friend who's in the field who gets really upset when people get them confused. So I'm going to try to set the record straight. Neurodiversity means simply this, differences in the way people's brains work. The notion that there's no 1 right way for a brain to work really flies in the face of the psychiatric model, the

04:16 - 04:56

Diann Wingert: medical model, and the DSM, which I was a practitioner of for many years as a therapist. This notion that there's a right way for things to be and a wrong way, neurodiversity honors the fact that different brains work differently, and there's no 1 correct way. So neurodiversity means there's a range of ways that people perceive and respond to the world around them at that these differences can be embraced and even encouraged. Now neurodivergence means that you diverge from the norm. So we're kind of moving away from norms and calling it typical. So there are, instead of

04:56 - 05:28

Diann Wingert: saying, well, this is normal and this is abnormal, and I sat through so many courses in abnormal psychology, But if you embrace a diversity model and think, okay, there's different ways for people's brains to work, and by the way, it's not just brains, it's nervous system too, and that includes the emotions. If that's the way we're thinking now, then instead of normal and abnormal, we are talking about typical and atypical, neurotypical and neurodivergent. Does that

05:28 - 05:29

Rochelle Moulton: help? Yeah.

05:29 - 05:30

Diann Wingert: And I just

05:30 - 05:47

Rochelle Moulton: want to embrace the neurodiversity term. Like, I just love that because it just flies with everything else that I think about the world right now in terms of how we need to understand that everybody's not like us. Exactly. And just to add how your brain works as another form of diversity, I think, is

05:47 - 06:28

Diann Wingert: a really powerful way to think about it. Well, how your brain works, Rochelle, how your brain perceives self and others, how your brain perceives and responds to and interacts with the environment, This influences and affects everything. And it starts from birth because babies who are born to be neurodivergent are going to behave differently. They may be harder to soothe. They may be more irritable. They may be more excitable. They may be more active. They may be more passive. There's so many different ways that they may be different from babies that are developing typically, and it's why

06:29 - 07:06

Diann Wingert: conditions like autism and ADHD are still in the psychiatric manual and are still considered to be a form of neurodevelopmental disorders. But if we practice what I like to call radical self-acceptance, It's this is who I am, this is how I am. I might as well work with the brain and nervous system that I have instead of trying to conform to the norm and do so unsuccessfully. That's where I think the symptoms come from that most of us try to mask, hide, or medicate.

07:07 - 07:36

Rochelle Moulton: Yes. And I feel like that's what I keep reading about. Is it just my imagination or are more adults being diagnosed as, let's call it, neurodiverse right now? I mean, I think LinkedIn is a good example where so many people in my circle are already all of a sudden coming out, if you will, saying, hey, I've been diagnosed as this and it explains so much about my life and my experiences up to this point. So is this just happening more often now? Like what's happening?

07:37 - 08:14

Diann Wingert: It's not your imagination. It's like slug bug, okay? Or when we don't look for something, we don't find it. And that's 1 of the things I say over and over and over. There's so many generations of adults, most especially women who are realizing it midlife or later, some of them younger, some in their 20s and 30s, especially if they're on TikTok because there's a lot of creators. And, you know, God bless them. Like, there's so many people who are kind of what I call falling into these diagnostic categories by recognizing themselves on TikTok because there are

08:14 - 08:49

Diann Wingert: creators who are saying, hey, you may be autistic if or these are signs that you have ADHD. And while they're not professionally trained, most of them, and while, you know, nobody should be trying to diagnose people off social media or the internet, if you can help people see who they are and point them in the direction of learning more, I don't think there's any way that can be a bad thing. And frankly, in my opinion, and 1 of the reasons why I have rebranded my podcast ADHD-ish is that after many years of having the legal right

08:49 - 09:20

Diann Wingert: and responsibility and privilege even of diagnosing people with various mental disorders, I no longer think it's necessary or even beneficial for many people to choose that Because understanding who you are, understanding literally how you tick, what lights your brain up like a Christmas tree with dopamine, and what makes you feel like you just need to take a very long nap, These are the things that are important, not what diagnostic category you fit in or

09:20 - 09:51

Rochelle Moulton: how many symptoms you can check off the list. You know, I just, you can't see me, I'm bowing down right now. Because It's really a shift from viewing anything that's not typical as abnormal or a disease, disorder disease. And I just don't know how that's helpful in a situation where there isn't a prescribed thing to do, right? A medically prescribed thing to do. Or even if there is Rochelle, because here's the thing,

09:51 - 10:21

Diann Wingert: you know, a lot of people, and to your point when you say people are coming out with their, and that's the term I use to because a lot of my friends are queer, but it's like coming out with your ADHD or your autism or you might have heard of AudiHD, which is people that are realizing, oh, actually, I'm both ADHD and autistic. So they've combined the 2. Some people don't like any of those medically-oriented diagnostic labels, So they come up with clever ones like NeuroSpicy, which I think is great.

10:21 - 10:22

Rochelle Moulton: I've heard that 1.

10:22 - 11:01

Diann Wingert: I love that 1. Yeah. I love it. And here's the thing. I think for many people understanding, Oh, there is a name for my difference. I am actually neurodivergent. I've always known I was different. And trust me, if you're listening to my voice and you are neurodivergent, you've always known it. You may not have known what to call it. You may have had to deal with other people's labels and feedback, because trust me, you've got labels even if you don't have a diagnostic 1. People think of themselves as spacey. They think of themselves as scattered. All

11:01 - 11:44

Diann Wingert: the jokes about squirrel and rabbit holes and all that. We know we're different, but if we don't know why, what most people do is go to shame. Shame. Because, Let's face it, we are living in a world, by and large, that is made by and for the benefit of neuro-typical people, people who think in the typical way. And because all the systems were built by and for them, because they are neuro-normative, We try to fit our square peg into their round hole and it's either really tight, really uncomfortable, we just simply can't do it and we

11:44 - 12:08

Diann Wingert: opt out, which by the way is 1 of many reasons why so many of us become self-employed soloists. We don't want to go to meetings. We don't want to have arbitrary bureaucratic rules that make no sense to us. We want to explore and express our own creativity. We want to do things our way because we've tried to do it their way and it just wasn't a good time.

12:08 - 12:26

Rochelle Moulton: Amen. So, I mean, you've alluded to this, but let's get into this. So, if a listener has not been diagnosed with some form of neurodiversity or ADHD specifically, what are some signs that they might be? I wish we still had our cameras on.

12:28 - 13:01

Diann Wingert: When I was still a therapist, Many, many people came to me with diagnoses of anxiety, depression, both often, eating disorders, adjustment disorders. Some people were told they're bipolar, they're borderline. And once I started to get to know them, I thought, you know, is there any possibility that you could be ADHD? And of course, their jaw drops and they're like, why would you say that? I'm like, well, I'll tell you what, let's just make this a fun experiment. I'm gonna get out the manual and I'm gonna read you a list of things and every 1 of them

13:01 - 13:40

Diann Wingert: that applies to you most of the time and has across your lifespan, just put up a finger. By the time they've run out of fingers and we start having them take off their shoes, they get my point. Let's play along as the audience. Let's do it. Let's play along. Good, good, let's play along. Okay, now let me put in a caveat. The term neurodiversity or neurodivergence applies to a wide variety of brain-based differences, including, but not limited to, autism, ADHD, OCD, giftedness, specific learning disabilities. And because this is a relatively new and expanding field I'm sure

13:41 - 14:11

Diann Wingert: the list is going to be expanded over time because there are just so many different ways that people think, feel, and do things differently than the typical norms. So my expertise is in ADHD and in giftedness. So if it's okay, I'd like to just stick to the symptoms of ADHD because I don't think we have enough time to do all of the different lists. Okay? Let's do it. I'm not going to give them to you straight from the DSM because I choose not to use that anymore. I'm going to give them to you from like real

14:11 - 14:25

Diann Wingert: life, real things you would like, oh, I do that. Because if they're in clinical terminology, sometimes we go, I don't really relate to that. So are you ready? Ready. Okay. And you don't have to yell out yay or nay.

14:25 - 14:28

Rochelle Moulton: I'm going to keep some hash marks, so I'll be honest when we're done.

14:28 - 14:57

Diann Wingert: Girl, this could get cringy really fast, you know. And I actually also want people listening if they're not trying to drive a car, feed a baby or lift heavy machinery, like you can play along too. So here we go. We don't say yes or no, I'm just gonna go through the list. Okay, if you do this often and you always have, because by the way, there's no such thing as adult onset neurodivergence. If you are this way, you have always been this way. And it's something I cannot stress enough because a lot of people are like,

14:57 - 15:35

Diann Wingert: I became this way. Let me tell you this. If you are ADHD, you always have been, but it's possible that you had the safety structure, systems, and supports necessary to keep you functioning like a neurotypical person. Once you become a soloist and you remove yourself from those structures and supports, and then you suddenly find, oh my God, I think I'm ADHD. You always were, you just had workarounds and things that kind of kept you, you know, more organized and focused and so forth. So starting with this 1, 1 of my favorites, because I am very guilty

15:35 - 16:17

Diann Wingert: of this, interrupting others. And I'm just going to run quickly through so it doesn't get boring, because boredom is a life threatening condition. If you have ADHD. Interrupting others, easily distracted, forgetful, difficulty organizing tasks or possessions, Trouble staying seated. So you might not get up, you might fidget. Difficulty engaging in something quietly. Fidgeting or squirming. Trouble taking your turn. Like I'm terrible for playing games because I interrupt people, I start playing for the other side, it's terrible. Inability to focus or priority unless you're doing something you really, really like in which case you hyper-focus and you

16:17 - 17:04

Diann Wingert: forget everything else that isn't what's right in front of you. Feeling restless. Difficulty managing time. You either don't think you have enough time or you take on more than you have time to do. Trouble with impulsivity, impatience, trouble taking your turn when...

Why Your Voice Needs To Be Out There

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0700

If you’ve ever hesitated to put your voice “out there” because you’re not the “right” size, shape, age, race, gender, orientation, know that you’re not alone. But it’s time to step up and be heard:

Why it’s harder to sashay on stage with your megaphone when you’re different from the norm in your community (and yet you’ll be more memorable when you do).

How creating a routine—a schedule—can keep the fear harnessed.

Enlisting a partner(s)-in-crime to push you forward or back you up.

Scoping out the “competition” to remind yourself of how you’re different—and why you need to publish.

Using archetypes to rise above traditional thinking and claim a unique niche in your marketplace.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:39

Rochelle Moulton: Walking into a gym full of more or less fit people when you're struggling with your weight and fitness requires a certain kind of courage. The wrong coach, and I've witnessed a few of them, could easily make you turn around and never come back. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today, I want to tell you a quick story and then talk about why your voice needs to be out there and we can talk a little bit about the how. So I

00:39 - 01:14

Rochelle Moulton: go to a gym where you have the option of buying sessions with 1 of their staff personal trainers. Now I've been a member there for about 5 years, so I've seen trainers come and go. And with few exceptions, they're usually in their 20s or early 30s, incredibly fit with the patience to work with whoever walks through the door. Sometimes, when I have nothing better to do, I eavesdrop on their conversations with clients to hear how they encourage or explain or just shoot the breeze. And it's kind of fun, you know, professionally really to see their techniques

01:15 - 01:52

Rochelle Moulton: and personality and action with all different kinds of people. But every once in a while, an outlier shows up. And I've been watching this 1 guy who's been around maybe a year. He doesn't look like any of the usual characters. He appears maybe 30 to 40 pounds overweight, and he wears their uniform in a baggy style, not like any of the other gym gods. And he seems like a nice enough guy, and he has 1 of the most infectious laughs I've ever heard. But I kept wondering, would someone serious who wants to get fit choose the

01:52 - 02:26

Rochelle Moulton: guy who doesn't look like he's figured it out for himself yet? Now, he seems consistently busy, and I've been idly wondering how he was doing. And then yesterday, watching him with a client made me see his appeal. Overheard his discussion with a new client who had lost 35 pounds and hit his first goal to get his weight down to 300 pounds. Now this coach was so supportive, he immediately engaged the guy in talking about what they could do together to get him to his next goal, which was 250 pounds, and about how it wasn't just a

02:26 - 02:58

Rochelle Moulton: number on a scale that defines success. They were clicking on so many levels, I was in awe. Because walking into a gym full of more or less fit people when you're struggling with your weight and fitness requires a certain kind of courage. Like the wrong coach, and I've witnessed a few of them, could easily make you turn around and never come back. I'm not gonna lie, I teared up a bit at how this man was being seen and supported in a way that would help him become the person he wanted to be. So why am I

02:58 - 03:37

Rochelle Moulton: telling you this story? Because it is so easy, I've done it myself, to decide that you aren't the right size, the right shape, the right gender, the right race, orientation, age, to deliver whatever message it is that you want to share. And when you're whatever is accepted as the norm, like say a straight white cis male, it's much easier to sashay onto social media, for example, and pull up your megaphone. But if, for whatever reason, you feel different and that difference is holding you back, I'm here to tell you it's time to let that go. Not

03:37 - 04:13

Rochelle Moulton: saying it's easy, let me tell you there are days I can't even look at LinkedIn, never mind post there, but getting your voice out there, Your uniquely powerful voice from your lived experience is everything. You will help people in ways you can't even imagine. So I'm gonna share a few tips and tricks to get yourself in the habit of sharing your ideas, of sharing how you help your ideal clients and buyers. So number 1 is set yourself a routine. Holding yourself accountable to a schedule helps in a few ways. I mean, first, it gets the time

04:13 - 04:43

Rochelle Moulton: to do it into your calendar, into your routine. Say you're going to do something as simple as posting a LinkedIn piece twice a week. Maybe you'll experiment at first to see what days and times work for you, but you know you want to deliver 2 posts a week. So you add that to your production schedule. Your client work, your business development, your writing, think of them as all part of what you produce each week. How much time do you need to write those 2 posts? How far in advance do you want to prep them? And there's

04:43 - 05:18

Rochelle Moulton: no 1 right answer here. You'll decide what works for you. My point here is when you think about pushing out ideas, it takes a lot of pressure off if you just make it part of your routine. Okay, number 2, enlist a partner in crime. Whether that's a friend, a spouse, your coach, find someone who will read or watch or listen to your stuff and give helpful feedback. I got in the habit early on of reading my draft emails to my husband. Now it has 2 advantages. 1 was that hearing it out loud pointed out where I

05:18 - 05:50

Rochelle Moulton: was too formal or too wordy. It gives me more of the reader perspective. And I actually do that with everything I write now to read it out loud first. The other is that the hubs is not in our sort of business. He's in commercial production. So he listens to it with a different ear and he will tell me when I'm being too buzzwordy or I get on my high horse. Co-hosting my first podcast was another way of punching through a whole bunch of concerns I had 8 years ago. Having a buddy podcast meant if I had

05:50 - 06:25

Rochelle Moulton: a bad day, he'd be on his game and vice versa. And we split the duties of production and marketing so it was never overwhelming and we always had each other's backs, which when you're a soloist is especially wonderful. And then third, you could do a very deep dive on what your competition, and I use that word loosely, is doing. So hear me out on this, because I can almost hear you saying, what, why would I want to copy them? Well, you don't. What cruising the competition is good for is a big old reminder of how you're

06:26 - 07:01

Rochelle Moulton: different. Whether that's like the trainer at my gym who doesn't look like a traditional trainer, or whether it's much deeper than that. Here's a way to look at it. I'm willing to bet that your space has a few archetypes. There will be the sage, for example, someone who's deeply researched an aspect of your niche, and they're constantly updating the industry with their findings and their viewpoints, right? You know somebody like that. There is usually a warrior, right? The 1 who takes a contrarian position and dukes it out with everybody. We know those. The alchemist who seems

07:01 - 07:42

Rochelle Moulton: to midwife those deep transformations and is always looking for the magic. Artist who's constantly creating or making new things. Maybe there's an Avenger who's looking for justice and protects the underdog. That's the 1 railing on how the system doesn't work or is rigged. There's the storyteller who's gifted at metaphor and explaining meaning through stories. And the pioneer who's discovering and exploring new things. Your space might even have a gambler, the 1 who plays the odds and then convinces you to go along. And there's probably at least 1, judging by LinkedIn, probably way too many, playing the

07:42 - 08:19

Rochelle Moulton: hero, right? The 1 who swoops in and fixes it all. The advantage of thinking in archetypes as you look around you is that you realize that it's not about you. Not really. It's about how you best share your point of view about how you communicate lines up with your genius zone. Because the more you 0 in on that, the more likely you'll become unforgettable to your ideal clients and buyers. So looking at people you may see as intimidatingly ahead of you as just archetypes, take some of the sting out of it. Instead of saying, oh, I

08:19 - 08:54

Rochelle Moulton: can't talk about X because Jesse already is the authority, you might say, Jesse is acting the sage. He's been doing this forever, But I'm a pioneer here. I have some new ideas that could attract people just like me. And when you put it from that perspective, how could you not put your point of view out there? Plus, if you start seeing yourself through that pioneer lens, it will impact the kind of language you use, who you start aligning with, and how you develop your expertise as you grow. So, listen, here's the thought I want to leave

08:54 - 09:33

Rochelle Moulton: you with today. Your voice is valuable. It's 1 of a kind, and you have no idea how many people you might impact positively if you just use it for good. And in case you're wondering why I haven't said anything about monetizing your voice, I'll tell you. There is so much pressure, especially on newer soloists, to monetize your expertise. And of course, that's the ultimate goal. But if you're having trouble getting your voice out there, decouple it from making money. Make it about helping the people you care most about in ways that only you can. And go

09:33 - 09:50

Rochelle Moulton: get them. Now, as we wrap up this episode, if you haven't joined my email list yet, now is the time. Your soloist business and your future self will thank you. The link is in the show notes. That's it for this episode. Please join us next time for The Soloist Life. Bye-bye.

Moving Countries With Your Business with Casey Kelly-Barton

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Have you ever considered moving yourself and your business to a new country? Content marketer Casey Kelly-Barton did just that and shares her challenges and opportunities as an ex-pat:

Her journey to niching into the intersection of three related niches— including how niching bumped up her revenue and reduced her hours worked.

Meeting the challenges to building a business while single-parenting after a divorce (and the most freeing thing she let go of).

Why she decided to move countries with her business—and how long she let the idea simmer first.

How she identified and evaluated target locations including the resources she tapped to explore the expat experience in advance.

The dividends from intensely focusing on that critical first year of transition.

LINKS

Casey Kelly-Barton Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Casey Kelly-Barton provides content marketing and brand development for B2B companies in cybersecurity, fintech, and fraud prevention.

When she started her business, she was a newly single parent looking for ways to make the most of her writing and strategy skills.

Now, her business is well established with a roster of clients she enjoys working with, her kids are grown and she works from Portugal, where she moved in late 2023.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:28

Casey Kelly-Barton: So I started researching and I was very methodical. I made a list of countries that met my criteria for like weather, time zones, languages, blah, blah, blah. And so I was looking at Latin America and Central America pretty carefully because I speak Spanish. My parents are still in Texas. It would be time zone friendly for my American clients. And then both my kids ended up in the EU.

00:32 - 01:11

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm joined by Soloist and new expat, Casey Kelly Barton. She provides content marketing and brand development for B2B companies in cybersecurity, fintech, and fraud prevention. When she started her business, she was a newly single parent looking for ways to make the most of her writing and strategy skills. Now her business is well established with a roster of clients she enjoys working with. Her kids are grown and she works from Portugal where she moved

01:11 - 01:32

Rochelle Moulton: from the US in late 2023. Casey, welcome. Hi, thank you for having me, Rochelle. I'm so glad to be here. I'm excited to talk to you today. Yeah, me too. So when we met and I heard that you were moving countries, I just knew you had to come on the show to talk about your experiences because for some people, that's living the dream.

01:33 - 01:39

Casey Kelly-Barton: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. I do get a lot of questions about it. And so I'm happy to talk about that in detail.

01:39 - 01:47

Rochelle Moulton: Well, first off, let's go back to when you started your business. So what made you start the business? And when did you start?

01:48 - 02:27

Casey Kelly-Barton: I started the business, I was newly divorced and I had been doing some freelancing and some education off and on for years. And I thought, okay, now it's time to get serious about this, I was a strong writer, I had good writing and strategy skills, but I needed something that I could tailor to my own schedule and that wouldn't have me away from home 50, 60 hours a week. So I needed something that I could do independently. And at that point, I just started working my contacts and seeing who had freelance writing needs. And that was

02:27 - 02:51

Casey Kelly-Barton: the beginning of it. At the beginning, I did not have my niches. I was basically taking on any and all writing assignments for companies that needed it, like performance marketing, elder care, all kinds of things, just to build a portfolio, build some skills, and to really test and see if this particular path would work for me and my family. Well, obviously it did.

02:52 - 02:57

Rochelle Moulton: Do you remember how long it took you to get your first $100, 000 a year?

02:57 - 03:29

Casey Kelly-Barton: Oh, it took a while. I won't lie because, you know, my kids were young, 7 and 12 when I started this. And so it took me, I want to say, 6 or 7 years to get to that point. So it was not an overnight thing And part of that was because I didn't have the niche. It got to a point where I was just taking on, you know, the strategy that worked at the beginning of let's try everything and see if this works. Let's take on all the gigs you can find. Kind of that new freelancer.

03:30 - 04:06

Casey Kelly-Barton: I don't want to say panic, but definitely an eagerness to book work. When I started, I don't know if you're familiar with Carol Tice, but she used to run a freelancer, sort of an online forum or a clinic. And she said, you know, You need to niche and not just take everything that comes along because you're never going to move up your income if you are just a generalist and So I just started working on the things that really interested me which were fraud prevention cybersecurity fintech hadn't really exploded yet, but it did pretty soon after.

04:06 - 04:22

Casey Kelly-Barton: And it's related enough that I was able to capitalize on that. But it was really once I started to niche and develop some some expertise in specific fields that was hard for clients to find. That's when my income really took off.

04:22 - 04:51

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I think it's interesting with writers, especially, I think a lot of writers just have this mindset that it's about writing and just like it's the craft of writing and getting really good at that. And that's important, but it's how you apply the craft, which is where you make the money and where you can get paid more. And Carol Tice had it right about Nisha. So how long did it take you to 0 in on those 3?

04:53 - 05:24

Casey Kelly-Barton: Fraud prevention came first. And that came, I had a client who requested that I handle, it was an agency client, and I still work with them. I've worked with them for a decade. They, I want to say it was like 2014. So 3 years in, I had somebody come to me and say, we have this account, it's fraud prevention. We're having just a devil of a time finding writers who are A, interested enough to learn about this niche and B, willing to actually commit to it for a while and do the homework. And I was like,

05:24 - 05:53

Casey Kelly-Barton: I'll do it. And I found it was really, really interesting to me. And that's where I just started to invest in that. And because fraud prevention has kind of a natural overlap with cybersecurity, I was able to capitalize on that and then start moving into those other areas. And then when FinTech startup ecosystem really started to grow, Well, a lot of what they need is cybersecurity and fraud prevention to protect their data and protect their customers. So that was just a natural segue.

05:53 - 06:00

Rochelle Moulton: That's the tie because I had a different idea of FinTech in my head. So that makes sense then I see how the 3 are tied together.

06:00 - 06:08

Casey Kelly-Barton: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, and cyber security now is kind of ending up in everything because everything is connected. So yeah.

06:09 - 06:19

Rochelle Moulton: So do you think you'll niche down further into 1 of those 3? Or do you find that the combination really suits you?

06:19 - 06:57

Casey Kelly-Barton: I like the combination of them. And honestly, they're so interrelated that there was a spate of articles earlier this year about the cybersecurity convergence, which is basically the idea that everything needs to have cybersecurity built into it. Anything that's online has to be protected. Anything that handles money or data needs to also have fraud prevention. And a lot of it, if you're moving money and you're doing it online, there's going to be some sort of fintech aspect to it. So I kind of feel like the niche is niching itself down without me having to do anything

06:57 - 07:32

Casey Kelly-Barton: necessarily. Yeah. There's a little overlap with RegTech, like regulatory and compliance and insurance. So I could continue to niche into those areas, but I feel like there's enough going on in cybersecurity and fraud prevention, especially with the 4 horsemen of AI, enabling this sort of escalation of the spy versus spy, good guy versus bad guy strategies. I kind of feel like I'm good for now, but these niches touch on enough other areas that if I needed to switch or refine, I can.

07:32 - 07:42

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I was kind of visualizing a highway when you were describing it, because it feels like these things are all connected. It's like you've cornered the market on a piece of the highway.

07:42 - 07:54

Casey Kelly-Barton: Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I mean, there are plenty of other good cybersecurity and fraud prevention and fintech writers out there. I just make explicit the fact that I work at the intersection of these areas.

07:55 - 08:22

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that's a niche and it's how you build authority. So I want to switch over just for a moment and talk about single parenting because it is a topic that comes up more than you might expect, certainly in my Slack channel. But it's single parenting while you're building your business. So we definitely have some listeners that can relate. I mean, like, what was that like for you? What kind of challenges did you have to deal with for that?

08:22 - 08:54

Casey Kelly-Barton: It was hard. It was hard, I won't lie. It was super hard. And it was super hard, even though I had, their father was supportive. Like, you know, he paid his support. He was active in the kids' lives. So I wasn't without support the way some single parents are or newly divorced parents can be sometimes. So I had that. I also had a pretty strong social and professional network, But it was hard. It was hard helping my kids adjust to a new normal. It was hard learning all the things that I needed to learn as quickly

08:54 - 09:32

Casey Kelly-Barton: as I could so that I could start ramping up my business. Like I would fall asleep listening to podcasts. Like I would work, I would deal with the kids, I would fall asleep listening to podcasts, and there was about a year or 2 where I had literally no time for myself unless it was like the weekend when the kids were with their dad and I would do something really wild and self-indulgent like lay on the couch and watch a nature documentary for an hour You crazy fall asleep. I know So it was it was hard. Yeah

09:34 - 10:03

Casey Kelly-Barton: It was just my time was not my own, but I kept telling myself that if I invested this time and just went all in and went really hard up front, that I would be able to be in a better position and have more time and more options later on. Which safe to say that that happened. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was a gamble though, right? Anytime you're like, you know, you don't know that it's going to work out when you're in the thick of it. But I thought, well, you know, I got to do something. So

10:03 - 10:04

Casey Kelly-Barton: I'm going to commit to this.

10:05 - 10:31

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And I think a lot of times when we talk on this podcast, you know, we hear from people who've really been able to create a business where they have a lot of free time, what we don't always hear about is the messiness in the beginning. Yeah. If you're not sure, if you're experimenting. Some people start this knowing exactly what they want to do. Other people are following their nose to see what's going to work. So yeah, I appreciate you sharing the messy beginning.

10:31 - 10:59

Casey Kelly-Barton: Yeah, yeah. Oh, and it was messy. We were talking about this a little bit earlier in the green room, I guess. But there were a lot of things I just had to let go because my priorities were my children's wellbeing and my business. And so there was 1 6 month period, I had a friend who said, well, how are you doing all this? And I told her, I said, you know, I haven't cleaned my house in 6 months. And I was expecting as soon as it popped out of my mouth, I was like,

10:59 - 11:01

Rochelle Moulton: oh, no, judgment, judgment.

11:01 - 11:03

Casey Kelly-Barton: Yeah. Yeah. And she looked at me and

11:03 - 11:24

Rochelle Moulton: she said, oh, thank God. She said, I am so relieved to hear that I'm not the only 1. Yes. Well, if you look at Instagram, it looks like everybody has 47 children, works a million hours a week, and has a perfectly clean and well-organized home. So yeah, that's not reality for most of us.

11:24 - 11:48

Casey Kelly-Barton: It's not reality. And you know, the thing is, it's like having a clean house. I mean, I love a clean house. But at the time, there was no money for a cleaner. There was no time for me to do it and I thought You know, how is dusting all the corners gonna further my goals? It's not so I'm gonna put it on the back burner for now That dust will still be there when I get back to it and it was Good for you. I like that.

11:48 - 12:06

Rochelle Moulton: I like that. So I'm just really dying to talk about your expat experience. I know you know that. This idea of picking up and moving countries with your business. So first, what made you decide to move? Was this a big adventure? Was this like a very carefully calculated thing?

12:06 - 12:38

Casey Kelly-Barton: This was a project I had been working on since 2010. Well, even before that, I had always wanted to live abroad just for the experience of doing so. I was born and raised in Texas with the exception of 18 months when I lived in Atlanta. I've lived and worked in Texas all my life. And, you know, it's a big state with a lot going on, but it's also just 1 part of the world. And early on working on my business, I was working for an elder care, like information provider. And so I was doing a lot

12:38 - 13:11

Casey Kelly-Barton: of research on things like the cost of care when you get older, who pays for what? And looking at the numbers and looking at the trend lines, I thought there is no way that I can afford to grow old in the United States. And then once I got a divorce, I thought, well, I can kind of do what I want once the kids are grown. And so I started researching and I was very methodical. I made a list of countries that met my criteria for like weather, time zones, languages, blah, blah, blah. And so I was

13:11 - 13:46

Casey Kelly-Barton: looking at Latin America and Central America pretty carefully because I speak Spanish. My parents are still in Texas. It would be time zone friendly for my American clients, and then both my kids ended up in the EU. There goes that plan. And they were like, well, you should come over here. They said, but don't live in the same countries as us because that would be creepy and weird because Europe is so tiny, you know, that if I'm in the same country as them, I'll practically be looking into their living room window. So I thought about it

13:46 - 14:20

Casey Kelly-Barton: and I thought, well, let's try it. And so, yeah, but I spent about a decade researching and planning and making some little trips here and there when time and money allowed to check out different places. So, yeah, the fact that my kids ended up in the EU really kind of changed that calculation. And Portugal has a nice clear, I mean, I say this, even though Portugal right now, their immigration agency is going through some major logistical and technical challenges that weren't present when I applied. But of all the countries I looked at in the EU, they

14:20 - 14:34

Casey Kelly-Barton: were the ones that had the clearest immigration process, everything spelled out in detail, and the clearest path to a dual citizenship in several years, should I choose to pursue that?

14:35 - 14:43

Rochelle Moulton: So I'm curious because I love Portugal. I could totally see why someone would want to live there. Why not Spain if you spoke Spanish?

14:43 - 15:18

Casey Kelly-Barton: Right. I asked myself that a lot. I did look at Spain extensively, and this was before, you know, they just, I want to say at the end of last year, maybe it was right when I was almost done with my visa application process for Portugal, when Spain finally came through with their digital nomad visa. Before that, they only had something called a non-lucrative, which you were supposed to be retired. And depending on who you talk to, there either were or weren't restrictions on earning money from outside Spain. And like I talked to immigration attorneys in Spain,

15:18 - 15:48

Casey Kelly-Barton: I talked to different people. They said, well, it depends. It depends on your consulate. It depends on who is interpreting the rules. And I thought, well, I can't move for it depends. And Portugal's guidance was very clear. They had a visa that was in the category that fit my needs. And they were like, bring us this, this, this, and this. And, you know, it'll take a while because it's there's bureaucracy, just like everywhere. But, you know, do these things and this will be the outcome. And I was like, yeah, clarity. I like that.

15:48 - 16:09

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And I just Portugal, I've been all over Europe. And there...

How Do I Make More Money As A Soloist?

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Demand is feeling lighter—you’re getting fewer inquiries or buyers seem to be more price-sensitive and you’re starting to worry about the economy. What do you do next?

Why it doesn’t matter what the economy is doing when you play your own game.

How “Mariah” added a new revenue stream when her primary one started losing steam (and a low-risk way to experiment with pricing).

A tiny niching down test that can pay big dividends.

Why experimenting with tactics can sometimes uncover a profitable new direction.

When to consider offering group options including paid communities.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

Mastering Live Events with David C. Baker

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Thinking about hosting a live event, but not sure how to make it well-attended, profitable and worth your time? Renowned author, speaker and creative firm advisor David C. Baker lifts the curtain on his wildly successful MYOB conference and live events:

The role of in-person live events in David’s expertise business model (plus a peek at the numbers for his four revenue streams).

How his pandemic pivot from in-person gatherings became a new lead generation source—and removed travel from his client engagements.

Why his conferences and events include multiple opportunities for attendees to engage with each other; he shares a few ideas you can borrow.

His philosophy on outside speakers: how he chooses, pays and manages them.

The one thing you must do if you want to make sure your conference doesn’t lose money.

LINKS

David C. Baker MYOB Conference | LinkedIn | Twitter

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

David C. Baker is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written 6 books, advised 1,000+ firms, and keynoted conferences in 30+ countries.

His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, BusinessWeek, CBS News, Newsweek, AdWeek, and Inc. Magazine. He lives in Nashville, TN.

His two most recent books can be found here and here. His work has also been featured in the NY Times, where he was recently referred to as “the expert’s expert”. He co-hosts the most listened to podcast in the creative services field (2Bobs).

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:17

David C. Baker: You know, here's the easiest way to lose money with an event. When I learned this, my whole world changed about events. Do not sign up for room blocks because you're having to guarantee them. And then you have this pressure to sell and then you cheapen your brand by starting to beg people to come to these things and so on.

00:24 - 00:39

Rochelle Moulton: Hello hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I am thrilled to welcome none other than the unforgettable David C. Baker. Yay!

00:40 - 00:46

David C. Baker: That's scary. There's lots of reasons to be unforgettable. I hope I'm on the good column of that, right?

00:46 - 01:29

Rochelle Moulton: Well, you are in my book. So, David is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He's written 6 books, advised 1, 000 plus firms and keynoted conferences in 30 plus countries. His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, Business Week, CBS News, Newsweek, Adweek, and Ink Magazine. His 2 most recent books are The Business of Expertise, which is a classic. So if you haven't read it, go grab your copy now, and Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors. His work has also been featured in the New York Times, where

01:29 - 01:43

Rochelle Moulton: he was referred to as the expert. Finally, he co-hosts 2 Bobs, which is the most listened to podcast in the creative services field. And in addition to all those superlatives, he's a generous guy to boot. So David, welcome.

01:44 - 01:57

David C. Baker: Thank you. It's really great to connect with you again. We had you speak at 1 of our live events, which I guess is what we're talking about, and it's very popular, so it's really great to do this. I enjoyed seeing the invitation from you. It was great.

01:57 - 02:18

Rochelle Moulton: Awesome. I like it when people are happy to see my name in their inbox. So, you know, you just alluded to what I want to talk about because we literally have a treasure trove of things that we could talk about from your work that would help solo us. But I really like to focus in on your live in-person events because I don't know that you've ever really talked about how you use them in your business, or if you have, I haven't heard it.

02:18 - 02:46

David C. Baker: Yeah. So I've been doing this for 30 years now and I didn't have live events in the early days. I kind of learned about how to do them from somebody that was, he wasn't a real partner, but we did a lot of work together. And I don't know, I remember maybe 7 or 8 years into it, I decided to do them. And there's a bunch of reasons why I do them. 1 is it's an income stream. So I don't want to put all my eggs in 1 basket. So that's 1 reason I do it. Another is

02:46 - 03:20

David C. Baker: sort of Legion. So it's a way to sample the advice in a sense. And so I've never tracked it exactly, but a lot of people that eventually work with me in a consulting arrangement came to an event. And they tell me that they came to a particular event, I don't remember them, and they tell me that that's what encouraged them to work together. So that's the second reason. The third reason is because I just enjoy them. I really like them. I hate virtual events, and I think that's just me. I think it's like I just need

03:20 - 03:44

David C. Baker: to get over it probably, but I just like the in-person things. I like the drama of being in front of a group of people who can ask you any question at all. And then lately over the last decade I've realized, oh, this isn't really about what I or speakers I'm inviting or talking about. It's about them connecting with each other as well. So, anyway, those are the 3 big reasons why I'd like to do them.

03:45 - 03:52

Rochelle Moulton: You know, I just have to ask about that, because I've always felt like you're probably an introvert. Is that true?

03:52 - 03:56

David C. Baker: Oh yeah, I hate people just in general. Yeah.

03:57 - 04:15

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And the reason I want to point this out is because a lot of introverts are really exceptional on stage because they're so hyper-focused on the experience of the audience, and most introverts will not get on a stage without knowing absolutely everything they need to know to be up there.

04:15 - 04:28

David C. Baker: Ah, that's interesting, yeah. Yeah, I'd much prefer speaking in front of 5, 000 people for an hour with no preparation than talking with individuals after that presentation when I walk off the stage. Yeah.

04:28 - 04:31

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I call those situational extroverts.

04:31 - 04:35

David C. Baker: Yeah, right, right, where you're acting for a few minutes and then you're exhausted, right?

04:36 - 05:08

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly, exactly. So, you know, when I spoke at your NYOB conference in Atlanta, I felt like I really got a firsthand taste of what I feel is a deep community that you've built, and I started to say just from that 1 offering, but it may be from the other events you've had over the years. So maybe we could just dive in and talk about your business model. So you're not a soloist, but it's possible that many people listening might think of you that way because you've got this really high profile as an authority in the creative

05:08 - 05:16

Rochelle Moulton: space. But when you think about your business model, how do you make money in your business? I'm not asking how much, but how do you make it?

05:16 - 06:02

David C. Baker: Yeah. Oh, I don't mind answering all those questions. So, there's 2 of us full-time. The other 1 is actually my oldest son, Jonathan. And we bill about 1.7 on average a year. And we divide the income into big streams. So there's events, there's the book revenue, there's the M&A side, which he runs, and then there's my side, the advisory side. The book revenue is anywhere from 70 to 120 a year. Those are the royalties. The events are probably, I don't have the exact number, but probably around 400, something like that.

06:02 - 06:06

Rochelle Moulton: With presumably higher expenses than the other revenue streams.

06:06 - 06:35

David C. Baker: Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, but a typical event where we have maybe 20 people, like we just did a pop-up event, which I just said, hey, listen, I think there's room for this. Let's just see if we can make it happen. It was last minute. We had 20 people. They each paid $3, 000, so that was $60, 000. Our expenses were, I think, $20, 000, so we would make $40, 000 on that. And then the rest of the money is split basically evenly between the M&A and the advisory side. So that's how the money comes in. So

06:35 - 07:07

David C. Baker: that's what I mean by revenue streams because like when things are slower on the business side, I just view that as okay I'm gonna work on the next book and and then when things are super super busy I just put it off. We're not super busy right now, but we tend to be very busy most of the time, but doing very different things. So maybe it swings to M&A or maybe it swings to, okay, business isn't good for these people, let's help them get new business in, or business is great for these people, let's help them

07:07 - 07:26

David C. Baker: manage growth. So that kind of helps even it out a little bit on the advisory side. But I really like, it's not just protection to have these income streams, it's also about lead generation. So the books are written, like they make money, yeah, but I want people to hire me. The events, they make money, but I want people to hire me

07:26 - 07:40

Rochelle Moulton: too. Yeah, I mean, I think that's what's so interesting to a lot of soloists that are early on in the journey because, you know, they don't necessarily think of books as a revenue stream, but as legion, they can be priceless if you're an authority or an expert's expert.

07:41 - 08:11

David C. Baker: Yeah, yeah, even if you don't make money, and the book doesn't sell, and it doesn't make you famous, a book is still worth writing because it forces you to spend a lot of time with the topic and you'll be able to speak so much more confidently about the topic and then if the book does happen to make money, that's great. The truth is most books don't make money. They really don't. I consider myself really fortunate that my books make money because I think it's unusual and you know what, let me add something. Maybe you were going

08:11 - 08:43

David C. Baker: to get to this later, but I'll pretend I'm the host here a second. But You know, none of this stuff works. None of these income streams work unless you have a central connection with your audience. And in my case, that's a newsletter subscription list. It's free. It comes out weekly. But that is the only way I get people to listen to the podcast or to buy a book or to come to an event. It's having tens of thousands of people, in my case it's it's 14, 000 so it's like it's 10, 000 plus half a 10,

08:43 - 08:57

David C. Baker: 000. People who get this weekly email, that is the lifeblood of my business. And I couldn't do any of these things unless I had that, right? You can't do an event unless you have people who already know of you and think of you well enough.

08:57 - 09:33

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I mean, it's hard enough to get, for some people to get somebody to buy a $20 book, but to shell out $1, 000, $2, 000, $3, 000. Yeah, you've got to have a lot more built-in trust. So what's interesting, so the events are a decent percentage revenue-wise of your total revenue, probably quite expensive on some level, especially the big 1. But, so what happened when we had the pandemic years, because it wasn't really just 1 year, because I'm thinking your speaking would have dropped off, of course, as it all did, and you couldn't do live

09:33 - 09:40

Rochelle Moulton: events. Did you pivot at all, or did you just find the other parts of your business picked up, or was that when you were working on the last book?

09:41 - 10:08

David C. Baker: Yeah. So I did some speaking still, but it was all virtual, and I hated every minute of it, but I still did some of that. I needed to do it for, well, I had a lot of time and it helped just to keep the brand out there, so to speak. And all the live events stopped as you anticipate. I had written a book and it was all ready to go. It was a secret trade craft book, but I didn't feel like it was the right time to release it. So it just sat there for a couple

10:08 - 10:46

David C. Baker: of years. What I did was, well, after panicking for 6 weeks, is just do tons of free webinars to help the industry. I had the time, I like, I need a platform, I need people in an audience, I need to force myself to think through things. And I wanted to help the marketplace. And so I did that. I think I did 11 webinars, and there were more than 1, 000 people at many of them. I didn't realize at the time that that was my alternative lead generation plan. It really surprised me completely, but so many people

10:46 - 11:19

David C. Baker: came back and worked with me afterwards, and the books were still selling really well, that it was fine. Like, I think I dropped 30% that year, but it was fine. So, I just pivoted. But what really changed had nothing to do with events. It was about the advisory side, because I was traveling to a different country every week doing an in-person consultation and that stopped. And I thought, well, maybe this is the end, you know? I didn't know. This is when we're still wiping off UPS packages, for God's sake. We really had no idea what was

11:19 - 11:34

David C. Baker: going on, right? And I decided to reinvent the whole process and make it virtual. And the marketplace responded really well. In fact, it's, so I don't travel at all anymore for consulting, I do for speaking, but not for consulting.

11:34 - 11:37

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it makes a huge difference being off a plane.

11:37 - 11:48

David C. Baker: Oh, I feel so much healthier too. It's like, you know, when you're on a plane or if you have little kids around, it's like you're licking a Petri dish all day. And now I feel so much healthier too without traveling.

11:49 - 11:54

Rochelle Moulton: Yes. When I got off that treadmill, my life changed pretty much overnight.

11:54 - 11:55

David C. Baker: Yeah.

11:55 - 12:07

Rochelle Moulton: So, David, like logistically, how do you handle doing multiple live events? Like I was looking at your schedule in 2024, and it looks like you did 1 live event a month from February through April,

12:07 - 12:07

David C. Baker: and

12:07 - 12:15

Rochelle Moulton: you mentioned the pop-up. And then, of course, you've got your big multi-day MYOB event in October. Like, how do you juggle all that?

12:15 - 12:45

David C. Baker: Yeah, and we just today went live with an M&A event, succession valuation event in December. So I had a partner in doing MYOB, that's our big event, that stands for Mind Your Own Business. We had hundreds and hundreds of people come every year. And My partner did all the logistics for that. And then they went away, they were purchased, and so the event just stopped. And I decided to do something else, and I did it with Blair. It was called the New Business Summit. We would have about 120 to 150 people at each event. And that

12:45 - 13:20

David C. Baker: was pretty easy to do, partly because of how I think about events. They're much easier to organize. Now, my son, we hold the events at the brewery that he's a partner of, so that makes it a little bit easier. And then we actually hire an event planner who does this in the background. We pay her thousands of dollars to do this. And it's very smooth, actually. And we kind of learn from each 1. So we have extensive surveying afterward, like what worked, what didn't work. Like a couple years ago, it was pretty clear that our food

13:20 - 13:49

David C. Baker: service wasn't as good, so we fixed that. Coffee service wasn't fast enough, we fixed that. And then we pay lots of attention to what the attendees want. In fact, at some point, I want to talk about the whole speaker selection thing. But that's how we do it. Now, if Jonathan wasn't there to manage these things, because all I do is I do the programming. So I invite all the speakers, and I sort of filter all that. He does all the rest. If he weren't on scene, then I would go back to doing some smaller events. And

13:49 - 13:56

David C. Baker: for those, I would just do 30, 40 people at a time. And I can explain more detail how that works, but it wasn't complicated at all.

13:57 - 14:14

Rochelle Moulton: Well, it's interesting because, you know, it was there last year and Jonathan was like the guy with 47 hands. He literally was constantly in motion. And that also explains, so a lot of the helpers, the kind of worker bees who were fabulous, so those were all your event planner people.

14:14 - 14:46

David C. Baker: We had 1 event planner. It was a lady that was sitting at the table, the younger woman, and then we had 4 other people who were motorcycle riding friends, neighborhood friends, none of them are professional in this space. They're just good people with great attitudes. They're just people we hired, Eddie and Christine and so....

Making More and Working Less with Jonathan Stark

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0700

How can you work less and make more than you are right now? There is a glide path if you’re willing to experiment insists Jonathan Stark, author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts. Yes, the dynamic Business of Authority duo is baaaaaaaaack for an episode:

Two experiments to try if you’re currently billing by the hour and want to explore alternatives.

How to start thinking about value vs. time, especially when you hit the maximum number of hours you are able—or want—to work.

What options to consider to ratchet up your revenue past the low 6 figures—and how to think about the audience or transformations you’ll need to deliver to get there.

Why being a “ruthless” minimalist can keep your business easy to run and avoid time sucks.

Exploring—and testing—ways to use AI right now in your expertise business.

LINKS

Jonathan Stark Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:29

Jonathan Stark: As you're growing your audience and you've got just more people aware of what you're doing, you can deliver smaller bits of value at a lower price, but a way lower cost. If you've got enough of an audience, then that completely support you. The classic example is like if you have a bestselling book. So if somebody goes to Amazon, they buy the book, they read the book, you're not involved. The author doesn't even know about you. And if you sell enough of them, if the audience is big enough, you can live like a king off of that.

00:29 - 00:37

Jonathan Stark: It's a great example of the kind of thing where you're delivering a little bit of value for 20 bucks to 10 million people and it's like, oh, that's pretty cool

00:42 - 00:55

Rochelle Moulton: Hello hello Welcome to this soloist life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today we have a special surprise guest, my buddy Jonathan Stark.

00:56 - 00:58

Jonathan Stark: Hello. It's great to be back.

00:59 - 01:02

Rochelle Moulton: Awesome. And I'm in charge of the controls, which is like super fun.

01:02 - 01:02

Jonathan Stark: No

01:02 - 01:28

Rochelle Moulton: pressure. So, let me do an intro so people who don't know who you are will know. And Jonathan is a former software developer who's on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals. He is also a former co-host with moi of the Business of Authority. So, Jonathan, welcome.

01:28 - 01:31

Jonathan Stark: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

01:31 - 01:44

Rochelle Moulton: I just had somebody tell me yesterday and then somebody else this morning how much they missed TBOA and I had to bite my tongue not to tell them we were recording this episode today.

01:45 - 01:47

Jonathan Stark: Yeah, it's like smartless. You have to reveal

01:47 - 01:50

Rochelle Moulton: How fun to have the duo back in action, right?

01:50 - 01:53

Jonathan Stark: Yeah, yeah, it's great. It feels like riding a bike already. I know.

01:55 - 02:08

Rochelle Moulton: Well, listen, I wanted to have you on the show. You are actually the last guest of season 2 before we take a summer break. So we can talk about making more and working less, which is kind of your theme. And it seems kind of like a good summer topic.

02:09 - 02:13

Jonathan Stark: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Working way less and you're taking a break, which is smart.

02:13 - 02:26

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. Well, so first, Catch us up on what you've been doing since we wrapped TBOA in April. Like, are you simmering on another podcast, working on new products? Like, what are you doing with all that extra time you have back?

02:26 - 03:02

Jonathan Stark: Yeah, I've been experimenting with lots of different things, purposely trying to keep myself busy and spending maximum time in my sort of genius zone doing fun stuff because it's sort of a response to 2023 which was kind of boring work wise. I had things really automated and I was subconsciously optimizing to work as little as possible. I got down too far and ended up spending most of my time doing stuff that I think at, which doesn't make me feel that great. So this year I was consciously planning to experiment with more fun stuff, get a little

03:02 - 03:17

Jonathan Stark: bit busier, but in that time, purposely spend doing things, a lot of writing, but also launching things and creating new offerings and all different stuff. So I have a lot of irons in the fire right now and it's been exactly as hoped and extremely fun.

03:18 - 03:23

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I saw you on LinkedIn and my eyes like bugged out of my head because I know you hated going there.

03:23 - 04:04

Jonathan Stark: Yeah, I've been anti-social media for probably 8 years. I've been basically off of social media. The only thing I did was syndicate my daily email posts on a dozen platforms, but I didn't engage. I didn't really do anything there, and I have the results to show for it, which I would get just no engagement whatsoever on any of those automated posts. I'd be like if I got 80 impressions on a LinkedIn post that was just like a title and a link to my blog, the blog version of my email list. So that wasn't doing anything. But

04:04 - 04:32

Jonathan Stark: so 1 of the things I did, it was after we decided to shutter TVA away. I was like, my mailing list has been hovering around 10,000 for a long time. Partially because I'm an aggressive pruner. I like to have my open rate around 50%, so I prune people that haven't been opening a lot. But it was more than that. I just felt like I was talking to the same group of people, which is great, but I wanted to get the message to rid the world of hourly billing. I want that mission to grow, So I wanted

04:32 - 05:04

Jonathan Stark: to get more people on the list. I had experimented with a bunch of different things like YouTube and other podcasts and guesting on other podcasts. I was like, I'm seeing people getting really good results on LinkedIn. It's the least offensive platform to me. And so I took it, I don't know how long it's been, maybe 2 months ago, I started to take it really seriously. I researched 2 or 3 different people that were having, you can see they have tons of followers, you can see they get tons of engagement. I'm like, well, if I believe that

05:04 - 05:37

Jonathan Stark: that translates into more people on the mailing list and more people joining me on the mission, if I believe that, then okay, let's just posit that that's true, that those are good leading indicators for my ultimate goal. How do I take this seriously and really do it right or at least effectively? And holy mackerel, it really works. When you actually engage with people, imagine social media be social. LinkedIn wants their users to behave a certain way and that's no surprise it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they want. They want you engaging in

05:37 - 05:55

Jonathan Stark: sharing good content and attracting more people to their platform. They don't want you linking off of the platform. They want you engaging in other people's comments. So, you know, basically I spend maybe half an hour to 45 minutes, Monday through Friday, chatting with people who care about whatever I posted, which turns out to be pretty fun.

05:58 - 06:04

Rochelle Moulton: Have you seen it translate into email subscribers or is it too soon to tell? What do you think?

06:04 - 06:31

Jonathan Stark: It definitely has. So I didn't have any tracking on my website on the signup form prior to doing this experiment. So I don't have like web traffic numbers, but the idea is to transition people from who are meeting me for the first time on LinkedIn, transition them to the website where they can sign up for the mailing list. And my traffic from LinkedIn, I installed some tracking software. It actually, Paul Jarvis's application Fathom,

06:31 - 06:31

Rochelle Moulton: we had him

06:31 - 07:06

Jonathan Stark: on TVA years ago. And I can clearly see that my traffic from LinkedIn is increasing, not like dramatically, but it's definitely increasing. So we'll see, and my subscribers have started to climb again on my mailing list. So we'll see if it's worth the squeeze, so to speak. But it is pretty fun and it doesn't take that much time. So I'm writing the daily anyway, so it's it feels it's a little bit different writing for LinkedIn than for my list because it's for strangers and not preaching to the converted. Yeah, it's been fun as long as as

07:06 - 07:08

Jonathan Stark: long as it continues to stay fun. I'll keep doing it.

07:08 - 07:10

Rochelle Moulton: Look at you being social. I'm so proud.

07:13 - 07:19

Jonathan Stark: I've been meeting a lot of really good. I mean, we met on social media. I've been meeting a lot of really cool people. It's really cool.

07:19 - 07:30

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, and I think LinkedIn has a lot of really cool people. It doesn't have as much of the sort of detrius that you see on some of the other ones for people in the expertise space.

07:30 - 07:32

Jonathan Stark: Yeah, we can leave those unnamed.

07:34 - 08:07

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, we'll leave that 1 there. So let's talk about this whole idea of working less and making more. There's a lot of advice out there about this from myself included. So maybe we can start with how experts tend to evolve. So an expert of some sort like a software developer or a consultant goes out on their own and they start doing project work. They probably start by billing hourly. So if someone is in the spot right now early in their business evolution, what can they experiment with to increase their revenue without working more?

08:07 - 08:14

Jonathan Stark: I mean, the main thing is, assuming you're not going to hire, which is something that I've never going to do, I've sworn that off.

08:14 - 08:16

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, let's assume they're solos. Yeah, exactly.

08:17 - 08:51

Jonathan Stark: Right. This is the show for that. So then you've only got so much inventory to sell. You've got however many hours a week you want to work and your hourly rate for your industry probably has a reasonable maximum that anybody would ever be willing to consider. And it's very easy for people who say, oh, you're a PHP developer and you're $300 an hour. Well, I can easily find a PHP developer that's $150 an hour or $50 an hour or $15 an hour. So it's a terrible way to position yourself in the marketplace because it makes it

08:51 - 09:21

Jonathan Stark: really easy for price buyers to put downward pressure on your fees. And at some point you run out of hours to sell and if you're not gonna hire, that's that. So what do you do instead? And the answer is you got to break the dependence on trading time for money and To experiment with that. I would probably start to offer usually it starts with a product I service because that's the easiest thing to get your head around if you're used to billing by the hour. And the easiest kind is just a paid consultation, some kind of

09:21 - 09:49

Jonathan Stark: paid call where someone can kind of pick your brain about your area of expertise. And you know, maybe it's got a, The trick with these is that it kind of seems like an hourly rate because in order to schedule it you have to put something in the calendar that's some duration. But it's really not tied to that. It's tied to the clarity that you can give them on the call. So maybe you schedule it for 45 minutes. The way I do it is I think right now they're 45 minutes, but I tell people to block out

09:49 - 10:16

Jonathan Stark: extra time after that because we could go long. So I kind of skew toward the short end of the appointment, but then I tell them to make sure you don't have something after it because we might really be jamming and want to keep going. So I make it clear that it's not really about the time. It's more about the outcome that they want, which is almost always clarity about what to do next in some situation that they're stuck in. So for a software developer, it could be something like, I don't know, somebody's got some outrageous Amazon

10:16 - 10:50

Jonathan Stark: Web Services bill, and you're really good at DevOps or doing something on cost control on AWS, or even just reading the dashboard. And you could have something like, for 500 bucks, you can share your screen, log into your account, and I'll go through your dashboard with you, explain how it works, explain what to look for, any potential opportunities for serious cost cutting. And if I can't give you some tips that will lower your bill by at least $500 a month, I'll give you your money back. So that's really not tied to the hour. That's more tied

10:50 - 11:11

Jonathan Stark: to the outcome and the clarity around how they could get that desirable outcome. So I'll probably start there. Productized service, just say, if you want to, I could go down maybe a few more examples of productized services that I'm aware of, but that's the basic concept where it's, you're packaging up your expertise and you're selling an outcome. It's not about the 45 minutes or however long it takes. It has nothing to do

11:11 - 11:26

Rochelle Moulton: with that. You just talk about 1 more. So pick 1 that's a little bit higher up the food chain, but not too high. Maybe, you know, like an assessment thing or some kind of a front end for something that you normally do a full Monte on.

11:26 - 12:02

Jonathan Stark: Good place to step up the next level from a kind of ad hoc consultation call would be some kind of a roadmap. And for software developers, that probably looks like a non-technical person who's got an idea for a SaaS or some kind of app, an iOS app. Could be anything, could be a website, got an idea for this thing, but they're non-technical and they don't even know if it's feasible. Like is this technology even, is there technology that exists that would even make this idea possible? And if so, how much would it cost? Like what would

12:02 - 12:38

Jonathan Stark: be involved? What would be the ongoing expenses? What would be the upfront expenses? And if you're attracting people who are like this, like I had 1 person who was focused on senior level salespeople from enterprise SaaS businesses who are constantly meeting with clients that are buying enterprise B2B software and identified, it wasn't uncommon for these types of people to identify gaps in the market that they kind of were like, well, maybe I'll just fill this gap but I don't know anything about software So they would call my guy and he would start them off with a

12:38 - 13:06

Jonathan Stark: blueprint and the promise was I'll get the idea out of your head down onto paper in a way that to determine the feasibility What the upfront costs would probably be what the ongoing costs would probably be a list of technologies that would probably be involved, how risky each 1 is or isn't. Then at the end of that, they would have something that they could bring to perhaps a lower cost developer or they could take it to investors to perhaps get angel round of funding to get it done, depending on if they needed the money or wanted

13:06 - 13:25

Jonathan Stark: to bootstrap. And then my guy would, you know, if they wanted to, then my guy would say, well, if you want me to build the MVP, I'm happy to do it, but I'll probably be the most expensive option. You should shop around if you want. And of course there was like, no, I'll go with you. That sounds great. Let me just get the money. So a roadmap is a natural next rung up in the product ladder for someone like that.

13:26 - 13:53

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, good. I think that gives people who are still in the early stages some ideas of what to do next. But then we have this sort of next category, and you and I, we've talked about this together so many times, but we know what happens when experts that are mostly billing directly for their time, and that can include retainers too, hit roughly 150,000 or so somewhere in that vicinity. Talk us through what happens and how they can peel themselves off when they hit that wall.

13:54 - 13:54

Jonathan Stark: Peel themselves off

13:54 - 13:56

Rochelle Moulton: the wall. I mean, that's what it

13:56 - 14:23

Jonathan Stark: feels like. You end up like 5, 10 years in, maybe you've got a couple of little kids now, and you realize you're working more than ever and you haven't increased your income in years, like 234 years and you're like, huh. You start to see like, you know, the wall starts to look like, wow, how am I ever going to work less? You know, all of a sudden you've got these other things you want to spend your time on during the day, and you're getting better and better at what you do. You're finishing it faster and faster

14:23 - 14:40

Jonathan Stark: at a higher level quality. Maybe you raise your rates, but it doesn't compensate, and you're just treading water. When you get to that point, that's when I get a lot of people who come to me and they're just desperate. They're like, I don't know what to do. There's no...

Building A Values-Aligned Business with Lucy Flores

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Is it possible to build a profitable expertise business that is 100% values-aligned and mission driven?

Lucy Flores—who has built a design studio dedicated to co-creating a more just, joyful and sustainable U.S. food system—says yes, with the results to prove it:

Why she niched her business into food equity right from the beginning—and how it played out.

How she thinks about and builds alliances, coalitions and partnerships (hint: she doesn’t have competitors).

Her approach—as an introvert—to investing in relationships and meeting new people in her field.

Why niching alone wasn’t enough—and what changed when she started marketing regularly.

Adopting a mindset of cautious optimism and deciding when it’s “safe to fail”.

LINKS

Lucy Flores Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Lucy is the founder of Studio Magic Hour, a collaborative design studio working to advance equity in the food system, and a former Equitable Design Fellow at Hopelab.

She's partnered with organizations including the California Academy of Sciences, the Fair Food Network, Hopelab, The Nature Conservancy, Plant Futures, Share Our Strength, and the Southern Poverty Law Center to lead design and design research projects, facilitate workshops, and coach in-house design and innovation teams.

Previously, she helped launch FoodCorps, a national nonprofit dedicated to cultivating joy, health, and justice for kids through nutritious food, in partnership with schools and community. She is a member of the Design Justice Network, the Democracy & Belonging Forum at the Othering and Belonging Institute, Equity Army, and AIGA.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:25

Lucy Flores: Being open to learning, right? Lessons learned is a part of what we do. And I think if you go in with this perfectionist mindset, expecting that it either needs to work out or it was a total miss, like that's certainly not gonna serve the folks you're working with and it's not gonna serve you either. And having the mindset which is, yeah, certain things might not work out, but there's opportunity here to learn from that and move forward. That mindset can help overcome the hump of fear and then give you something to work with once you actually

00:25 - 00:31

Lucy Flores: try out that thing. [♪ music playing,

00:31 - 01:14

Rochelle Moulton: fades out. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with Lucy Flores, who's the founder of Studio Magic Hour, a collaborative design studio working to advance equity in the food system and a former equitable design fellow at Hope Lab. She's partnered with organizations including the California Academy of Sciences, the Fair Food Network, Hope Lab, the Nature Conservancy, Plant Futures, Share Our Strength, and the Southern Poverty Law Center to lead design and design research projects, facilitate workshops, and coach in-house

01:14 - 01:40

Rochelle Moulton: design and innovation teams. Previously, she helped launch FoodCorps, a national nonprofit dedicated to cultivating joy, health, and justice for kids through nutritious food in partnership with schools and community. She's a member of the Design Justice Network, the Democracy and Belonging Forum at the Othering and Belonging Institute, Equity Army, and AIGA. Lucy, welcome.

01:41 - 01:44

Lucy Flores: Thank you so much. I am so excited to be here today.

01:45 - 02:17

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I'm excited to talk to you, and I just loved reading off all of these affiliations and associations that you have. So before we get too deep, I do want to read 2 things from your LinkedIn profile, because I think it will help our listeners understand a bit more about the food system and your mission in particular. Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, so first, I love this so much. People often say our food system is broken. In reality, it's working exactly as it was designed, benefiting some while failing to meet the needs of many more. The

02:17 - 02:55

Rochelle Moulton: good news, we can design a different future. And then second, I'm an equitable design strategist dedicated to helping designers and innovation leaders co-create a more just, joyful, and sustainable U.S. Food system. And I so appreciate that the word joy is part of your worldview. I mean, along with just and sustainable, these are all really important planks, I guess, of your system. So tell us a little bit more about, you know, how you've invested in your mission and values and how you see them dovetailing with your business.

02:56 - 03:29

Lucy Flores: For me, values aligned work is just something that I've always wanted to do and felt like I needed to do. You know, back when I was in school, studying and in college, I felt very drawn to social justice oriented work. And at the time was sort of feeling around in the ways in which I wanted to advance that work in some way, figuring out what are my interests and where are my passions and where do my skills lie, and all of those things. And ultimately for me, it comes down to doing work that I feel is

03:29 - 04:01

Lucy Flores: values aligned. So in this case, it's helping to advance equity in the food system and then doing it in a way that is values aligned. So it's not just the end goal, it's also the how, right? And I think for me, if that's not happening, it just feels out of sync with who I am and the way I want to be in the world. And so part of it's about the practice, right? It's how am I designing? How am I collaborating with others? How am I investing in the partnerships relationally and in a way that's very

04:01 - 04:25

Lucy Flores: care-based. And that all plays out in the work itself, but also in the business, right? So who I choose to partner with, the way in which I go about doing work, everything from who I've partnered with in the financial side of the business to collaborators I work with on design itself. So that's sort of like a Cliff's Notes version of it, but yeah, it's both the what we're doing in the work and also the how we're

04:25 - 04:39

Rochelle Moulton: doing it. Yeah, I like that because it would be easy to say, okay, I'm gonna do this design work and then I'm gonna make a bunch of money and then I'm going to plow it back to some of these organizations versus We are all in it together at every step along the way.

04:39 - 05:10

Lucy Flores: Yes, absolutely And it's something that you mentioned there I've been talking about with colleagues a lot recently which is that This is probably the case in any field and it's in design as well. And I think it's common among business owners and soloists, which is there can be this feeling of scarcity in our work, right? We can feel like there isn't enough work available, that there isn't sort of enough opportunity to go around, et cetera. And when I think you're doing values aligned work, it is easier to not see peers in the space as say competition,

05:10 - 05:39

Lucy Flores: but as partners looking to toward the same end goal. And when that happens, the relationships feel a little bit different. It feels like you're partnering with folks in the same field, again, working on the same trajectory towards the same goals. Anyway, just what you mentioned there reminded me of that. But it really feels like you're coming from a place of abundance when you are doing something together with others rather than your own thing in a shared space.

05:39 - 06:07

Rochelle Moulton: Well, you know, that just reminds me that came through in a comment that you made in the soloist women community and somebody was talking about, you know, the competition and how much do you share? And you said something along the lines of what you just said, which is, I look for opportunities to collaborate so that we can work towards this common goal. So I really admire how you've been able to put that through kind of every facet of your business because it's really part of you. It's your package. It's part of your genius.

06:08 - 06:39

Lucy Flores: Yeah, I appreciate that. I'll add. I will add. Not that I don't want to take credit for that, but I will also say that there are just so many, you know, I've worked in the food system for over a decade and in various parts of the food system, ranging from working in school food and school gardens and the agricultural connection to farm to school to the consumer side of the food system. In all areas of food, they're just really passionate, rad people who are excited about the work they're doing. Like genuinely, I've worked with folks who

06:39 - 07:01

Lucy Flores: range from soil scientists who just really want to talk to you about the work that they're doing and the impact that it's having and challenges that they're facing to, you know, folks who are working in, in food sales or distribution, who are really passionate about that work. And so it does help working in a space where people are excited to be there and excited to get to know others. And it's a supportive environment for that approach.

07:01 - 07:08

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, I hear you. So Lucy, 1 of the many reasons I wanted to have you on this show is that you started your business in

07:08 - 07:13

Lucy Flores: 2023, right? 2021. So a October around October.

07:13 - 07:38

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. I think it was probably we connected in 2023. Yes, that's right. It just felt like you just shot out of the gate from the very beginning. So how did you decide that you wanted to start your own business? I mean, because 1 could argue with all of these different collaborations that you could do equally good work from the inside. So how did you decide to start your business and then make it so mission driven?

07:38 - 08:11

Lucy Flores: Prior to launching the studio, I worked for a national nonprofit for over a decade. I was there a really long time. I was the first non-founding employee. So there were just a few of us in a very, very tiny budget. We started, and when I left, there were 70, 80, 90, some odd staff members and a $20 million budget. And we were working across the country. So I was there through a pretty significant period of growth, a lot of learning, a lot of learning. And I had an opportunity there to do work in-house, right? I was

08:11 - 08:43

Lucy Flores: on our innovation team and doing program design work, still collaborating both with folks in within the organization, as well as with folks at organizations around the country, like school districts and nonprofits and state agencies. So I did have that experience and love the organization. It's a really phenomenal organization called Food Corps. I always shout them out. They're doing really, really important work in food justice and food education and schools around the country. And I was also at a point where I really wanted to have more autonomy in making my own decisions. When you're part of a

08:43 - 09:12

Lucy Flores: big organization, especially a large nonprofit, there's a lot of discussion that goes into the decisions you make. There's a lot of influence that funders have, and it can sometimes be tricky to walk the talk, especially when it comes to equity work. And I had done a lot of learning and had some really phenomenal opportunities there. And I really wanted to be in a position where I could make some of those calls myself and not be swayed by other influencing factors and you know and if I made a mistake if I stepped in it like then I

09:12 - 09:41

Lucy Flores: would be accountable but I just wanted that chance to do it. So that's really sort of the primary reason. And I wanted to be able to work on projects in other parts of the food system. I did a lot of work in institutional food and school food systems. And I'm just energized by food work in other areas of food. And so those are the primary reasons. I will add though that I've always been very entrepreneurial. So this never felt like a nervous situation for me. Like when I got out of college, I was really lucky to

09:41 - 10:06

Lucy Flores: get a job and it was not a great experience for me. I will not go into the details, but I was there barely 6 months. I was living in New York City and I thought, you know what, I'm going to just become a freelancer and I'll cobble together some things. I think I'm just innately very optimistic when it comes to work, maybe not with all things in my mind, But when it comes to work and I just have always felt like, oh, I'll figure it out. There's a way to make it happen. So even though this

10:06 - 10:16

Lucy Flores: is my first time launching a design studio, I had some experience in the past figuring out how to operate a business just slightly on a larger scale now.

10:16 - 10:25

Rochelle Moulton: Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Well, if it makes you feel any better, we all have a job like that. And it's usually like pretty early on and we're like, no, not gonna do that again.

10:25 - 10:27

Lucy Flores: Yeah, not working.

10:27 - 10:49

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I hear you. So let me just ask you the revenue question because I wanna talk more about what you've learned in running your business. How long did it take you to hit your first hundred thousand? Especially in a mission-driven business, I think our expectation is, oh yeah, we're not going to make a lot of money at this. It's a business, but we're not measuring profit. How long did it take?

10:49 - 11:15

Lucy Flores: I will give an answer and then I have a big asterisk next to it, which is I, it was in my first year. So, I was able to do it in my first year. The asterisk is that I was really well positioned going into it. There was a lot of luck and I had some privileges while I had been working in the food space for a decade, worked with a lot of organizations, had a really strong network going into the work, which I think made a huge difference for me, especially in such a niche. But The

11:15 - 11:45

Lucy Flores: other reason that I was really lucky is that I received a six-month fellowship in the first 2 months, essentially, that I had launched the studio. It's 1 of those fellowships that actually paid a living wage. Shout out to Hope Lab and also to every organization out there that's considering running fellowships, pay your people. It's really important. And there was an example of a place where I could, there was some stability in those first 6 months as I was getting things really off the ground. So I always want to add that there's some luck and privilege in

11:45 - 11:49

Lucy Flores: the mix when these things happen, but I was able to do it in my first year.

11:49 - 12:19

Rochelle Moulton: Well, there's always some luck and almost always some privilege in these things. And when we look backwards, we tend to forget that part. So I appreciate your calling it out. The other thing you said, I can't remember if You said the word in spite of or in addition to, but this niching idea, I feel like that's also a big part of your success because you didn't change fields when you left. You brought over relationships and you started with a very specific niche in mind. You knew who you were going to serve.

12:19 - 12:54

Lucy Flores: Yes, yes, that was always very clear from the very beginning because of interests. And there's some element of I'm picturing you can't see me right now. But I'm, you know, doing the tongue to the licking your finger to the wings thing here, like a gut feeling that I didn't have any hard evidence that there was going to be enough work. But I did hear from some people saying, like, oh, isn't that too niche? Isn't that too specific? How are you going to get enough work this way? And everybody eats, right? Ideally, everybody eats. And the system

12:54 - 13:12

Lucy Flores: is enormous. And there's so many opportunities to do this work and to partner on projects. So I just had a sense that it would be feasible, but I really needed to get out there and try. And I've certainly learned a lot along the way. Even the type of work that I do has shifted a little bit since I started, but it's been

13:12 - 13:44

Rochelle Moulton: a learning process. Well, and I just want to call this out for people listening who are deciding, you know, whether to niche, yes, and then how far to niche. And what's interesting about your experiment is it could have been too far. I mean, you didn't know when you started, but you make an educated guess because You know the field, you care about the field. It's intertwined with how you think of yourself, right? And your skills and talents. So, I mean, I just think that was a hugely impactful decision that you made early on. A lot of

13:44 - 13:48

Rochelle Moulton: people don't niche until year 2 or 3 or 5.

13:48 - 13:49

Lucy Flores: 0, interesting.

13:49 - 13:52

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Yeah, especially in the design space.

13:52 - 14:20

Lucy Flores: Mm-hmm, no, I can see that. I can see that. It's really helpful. I think it's, for me, it's something I feel passionate about. I do know people who have niched in an area just because it's kind of where they ended...

Turning Your “Weakness” Into Your Genius with Jeff Eamer

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Everyone has difficulties in life—and sometimes our unique genius arises from how we deal with them. Take Psychotherapist Jeff Eamer who turned a challenging mental health diagnosis into a life of purpose:

How he moved from being an award-winning ad agency wonderkind to nabbing a 3-picture Hollywood deal.

Why crashing—hard—led him to get help with his mental health.

When saying yes to a $100K investment and six years of study and practice was exactly the right move.

The importance of building and maintaining routines and boundaries.

The signals that might mean it’s time to ask for help with your mental health.

LINKS

Jeff Eamer Website | LinkedIn | Desert Sun

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jeff is an international award-winning advertising art director, copywriter and commercial film director. He had a brief stint in Hollywood as a screenwriter and producer on the film Coyote Ugly.

He has dedicated much of the last 25 years supporting the mental health community as a Suicide Prevention Counselor, Psychotherapist, and member of the Los Angeles Crisis Response Team.

He currently lives on his desert ranch with his two dogs: Koda, a 14-year-old black Lab and Ruby, a 10-month old Border Collie. Along with 11 chickens: Scarlett, Mrs. T., Cathy, GPT6, Beatrice, Gypsy Rose, Betty White, Griswald, Honey and Seva.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:33

Jeff Eamer: I've been influenced profoundly by the symptoms of mental illness, and it created a phenomenon that created certain challenges that I could then relate to with my clients. So if I have a superpower in all of this, it's a greater sense of relatedness. And so when clients come spend time with me, I'm much more perhaps congruent or authentic and transparent than probably most therapists are. And so when clients come spend time with me, I'm much more perhaps congruent or authentic and transparent than probably most therapists are. Than probably most therapists are.

00:33 - 01:13

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with my pal, Jeff Eamer, who's an international award-winning advertising art director, copywriter and commercial film director. He had a brief stint in Hollywood as a screenwriter and producer on the film Coyote Ugly. He has dedicated much of the last 25 years supporting the mental health community as a suicide prevention counselor, psychotherapist, and member of the Los Angeles Crisis Response Team. He currently serves as a psychotherapist and lives on his desert ranch

01:13 - 01:27

Rochelle Moulton: with his 2 dogs, Koda, a 14-year-old black lab, and Ruby, a 10-month-old border collie, along with 11 cleverly named chickens who may be making a cameo appearance. Jeff, welcome.

01:28 - 01:31

Jeff Eamer: Thank you, Rachelle, and my chickens thank you, too.

01:32 - 02:06

Rochelle Moulton: All 11 of them. So, Jeff, we first met in LA maybe 15 years ago. And I only knew bits and pieces of your backstory, which was all about the ad world and the creative life of glitz and glamour that can be LA when you work in film. But in 2015, you had a major event in your life that completely changed how you work and how you live. And when you said you were willing to talk about this and your experience with mental health, I knew that we had to have this conversation because mental health, especially amongst

02:06 - 02:28

Rochelle Moulton: entrepreneurs, is so rarely discussed openly. So let's dive in. Why don't you set the scene for us? So it's 2015, you're in LA, you've been doing design work as a soloist, you know, for pay, along with your volunteer service with suicide prevention and crisis response. You're enjoying life. What happened?

02:29 - 03:09

Jeff Eamer: Okay, here we go. Well, we'll have to backtrack a little bit to 1995, which technically is when I dropped into the soloist mindset and self-employment. So, and we're gonna sort of take a trip through bipolar disorder so your audience can kind of get a sense of how I experienced it and some of the challenges were around that as I was at that point in the advertising world. So I had joined McCann Erickson in the early 80s and I spent about 15 years as an agency guy, as you mentioned. I bounced from major agency to major agency,

03:10 - 03:48

Jeff Eamer: McCann Erickson, as I mentioned, J. Walter Thompson, Young and Rueckham, all of the really big ones. And I ended up at Leo Burnett. Now through that 15 year period I had tremendous highs and tremendous lows and I referred to as states of bipolarity. The technical term is bipolar disorder and during that period in the what would be the manic states my creativity was truly remarkable. There was a problem with it, though, because at a certain point, it got out of control, in that my state of righteousness and state of arrogance and hubris kicked in. And I

03:48 - 04:26

Jeff Eamer: think I was terribly proud of in hindsight, but that's what was happening. So during that 15-year period, I lost jobs. I was self-employed through that entire period. I lost jobs for 1 of 2 reasons, because I was clinically depressed so bad that I could no longer work. And I was hospitalized and I was hospitalized 5 times for suicidal ideation and for in fact, suicide attempts. Sadly, I'm really shitty at killing myself. And the last time, I can make jokes of it. It's just crazy that world as a suicide prevention counselor, I talked to 3, 000 people

04:26 - 04:58

Jeff Eamer: and of course it's tragic, but life is tragically crazy sometimes too. So I would lose a job in the clinically depressed state. I'd also lose jobs in a manic state and I would be fired. And the last time that happened, I was working at Leo Burnett and as fate would have it, I was doing incredible work. I was doing the job that they asked me to do to create a better profile for the agency. And I was doing that. The problem was I was doing it in ways that the agency wasn't comfortable with. And they determined

04:58 - 05:10

Jeff Eamer: I was more of a liability than asset. And so they, you know, the creative director walked into my office 1 morning. I thought he had an envelope and I thought, you know, I'm either getting a raise or I'm getting fired.

05:10 - 05:11

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, no in between.

05:11 - 05:41

Jeff Eamer: Yeah. And I knew when he was kind of shaking handing it to me, so I thought, ah, this is not going to be good. But again, in that state, it was like, well, I'll be fine. So as opposed to trying to get another job, this is when I kicked into being self-employed. And in fact, by definition, and your definition of soloist, so this is what took place. I thought, well, I got some money, so I'm going down to down to Florida. My brother lived down there and he had a big motorcycle and I think I paid

05:41 - 06:09

Jeff Eamer: him some money to buy it. I don't know if I actually technically bought it. And I went to West Palm Beach and I got on this motorcycle and I was riding to Key West. I was gonna go all the way down there. And I stopped in Miami at the News Cafe. And I'm sitting there and as I want to do, There was a pretty girl across the way, and we sort of locked eyes, and they said, would you like to join me? She said yes. And I sat with her, and she said, what do you do?

06:10 - 06:40

Jeff Eamer: And I said, well, and I thought for a moment, I said, I'm a director. And I wasn't a director. I hadn't directed anything at that point, but it sounded like a good answer, again, in that very state of which I believed anything. And she said, well, what are you working on? I said, well, I don't have any projects right now, but I think when I get back to Toronto there's going to be 1 waiting for me. So I said goodbye and I spent some time with her and then I thundered down to Key West and then

06:40 - 07:11

Jeff Eamer: I returned to Toronto. And because I was a writer I could actually freelance as a writer. So I went into this agency and they had this campaign it was for a back then a big record retailer it's called Sam's and and they had this giveaway there for every album you bought they they gave away a box of macaroni so I write this campaign about macaroni aid, which is sort of like far made. It was like a farce on that. And I said to the creative director, I said, look, you guys don't have enough money to do

07:11 - 07:44

Jeff Eamer: this, but I can get support from a production company and I can direct these. And he said, Well, you're right, we don't have the money to do it. So, you know, if a production company is willing to front this for you to get your real started, then sure, go ahead and direct them. And so began my career of being technically self-employed. That was directing this contract work. You work with the production agency, but technically I was self-employed. So that's how I began the process of going off on my own. And it certainly went from there.

07:45 - 08:05

Rochelle Moulton: With a lot of confidence, which makes me smile, because not all soloists start with confidence. Sometimes they have to like work up to it. But so, all right, so that was the start of your soloist career. So you're in LA, can we fast forward to 2015 or is there another event in there that we should we should talk about first?

08:05 - 08:44

Jeff Eamer: I think there's a few things along the way and so I was still in Toronto then and again sort of there's there's a line between confidence and and overconfidence perhaps And I would straddle that line when my moods would shift. And then of course there was like times when I had no confidence at all. And I don't lay my career or my life at the feet of my mental health diagnosis. I don't, I had other problems of not taking about accountability and not being responsible. And so it wasn't just that, that just made it worse. But

08:44 - 09:22

Jeff Eamer: what I found was interesting is that I could believe in something to such a degree that I could make it happen. You know, I don't want anyone to think I could win the lottery just because I think I bought the ticket, but especially in business and in business circumstances, I could actually envision something and move towards making it happen with no evidence that it should happen. But I had a vision, and as somebody who was self-employed, I could do a lot of different things. So I actually, this story started, I was in Los Angeles. I actually

09:22 - 09:54

Jeff Eamer: created a board game called Rumors, and that's a whole other story, but I was standing on the Venice Boardwalk at the bottom of Westminster. It right, I could take you to this spot right now, There is this giant peace sign that was painted on the ground. And I stood in the middle of that peace sign. Now, this is 1995. I was in Toronto, as I mentioned. I had no ability to work in the United States. I had no green card. I had no job. I had no access to do what I'm about to say. I was

09:54 - 10:33

Jeff Eamer: standing there and I said, 1 day, I'm going to live and work in Los Angeles and make movies with no possibility of doing that in that moment. But I had the vision that this was gonna happen. And fast forward to 1999, I go back to that spot and I'm standing there and I did it. I was in Los Angeles working on a major motion picture, living there. And do you know where I was living? I was living in the building in front of where I stood. I was living in the Westminster Hotel, the very spot that

10:33 - 11:05

Jeff Eamer: I said 5 years before that I would work and live. And not only was I working and living, I was living exactly where I was standing 5 years earlier. And I think What's interesting with that is vision. And a lot of times people think that they need, they need money to start something and they'll, they'll get stuck or they don't know enough how to do it. And so, well, I don't know how to do it and I don't have money. So I'm just going to give up before I started. And what I realized is you neither

11:05 - 11:41

Jeff Eamer: need money or the skill in that moment to do it. You just need to believe that you can do it. I remember my son once said, Dad, you've done a lot of really interesting things. How have you done this? I said, well, I'm stubborn and I'm naive. And sometimes those qualities are really great because you're stubborn, you're not gonna quit, and you're naive, you don't think you can't do it. And so you just start doing it. You take the first step and then you take the second step. But the vision of where you want to be

11:42 - 11:54

Jeff Eamer: is so important and to not so much worry about how you're going to get there. Sometimes the universe gives you a tremendous amount of support if you're clear about what it is that you want to do.

11:55 - 12:03

Rochelle Moulton: Clarity is such a critical part of this because it's hard to know what the next step is if you don't know where you want to wind up.

12:03 - 12:08

Jeff Eamer: Oh, and sometimes you step in a pile of shit, Rachelle. I mean, so you know, it's not like...

12:09 - 12:11

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, no, that never happens.

12:12 - 12:45

Jeff Eamer: It's not like all the steps are the right ones, But then you learn, you go, wow, better not step in that pile again. But that's that that's how you get there. And I think there's a lot of notion to, wow, there's so many stories about people who have failed multiple times. And every time they failed, I think it was Edison, I figured out 999 ways not to make a light bulb. You know, so that is the process of getting there. And when you're by yourself, it's really tough because you don't have somebody there that can say,

12:45 - 13:13

Jeff Eamer: that can bolster you, you don't have a partner, you don't have employees, and they're like, we're gonna do it, boss. You're on your own. And yes, you can surround yourself with people who are supportive. And eventually you have to bring a lot of people into your life, relative to that vision, in terms of making it happen. But I think, as I mentioned earlier, the mistake a lot of people make is they don't think they have the time or skill to actually complete it and said they don't even start.

13:14 - 13:35

Rochelle Moulton: Gotcha, gotcha. So I wanna bring you to 2015. So you did the movie thing, then you didn't do the movie thing, right? When I met you, you were art directing, basically, and writing. And so you did that for a number of years. And then 2015, talk to us, what happened?

13:35 - 14:07

Jeff Eamer: Yes, I was in the film business and then I was out of the film business. It was in Hollywood East stories to how that ended. Not how I would have imagined and again I have to bring in the mental illness piece. At that point, when I got to LA, I was critically depressed. A few months later, based on taking a medication that I wasn't aware was going to have the impact that it did, but it ricocheted me into a manic state. And so my film career took an incredible hit because of that time period, and I

14:07 - 14:37

Jeff Eamer: never went on to make what were the next 2 pictures. I had a three-picture deal. And so from that point, I was in Los Angeles with nothing to do. When you apply for a green card, you can't leave the country because they won't let you back in until there's a determination as to whether or not you're gonna get it or not. So I'm like, what am I gonna do? Well, the first thing I did was I volunteered. I was flipping through a newspaper back when there were newspapers, and there was an ad for a suicide prevention

14:37 - 15:10

Jeff Eamer: counselor, volunteers. And so I went there and I talked to the director, and I said, hey, I don't know much about being a counselor, but I know a lot about being suicidal. And he asked me a bunch of questions. He said, yep, you qualify. So I spent 4 years there. 1 as a volunteer, the next 3 as a supervisor. But during that time, I wasn't making much money doing that. So during that time, I technically was continued to be a soloist. So I was working on design projects, and that's how I actually met you, Rochelle. And

15:10 - 15:50

Jeff Eamer: I think that wasn't 2015. That was a few years before that. But during that time period, I just dropped back into being self-employed and just working on my own. I had a lot of freedom to do a lot of different kinds of projects. I did design projects, I did some writing projects. I was still writing in the entertainment world, but not all that much, just some projects that got optioned. And so that period from 2000 and basically 1 to 2015, I continued as being a very small soloist. I was just making enough money to live in

15:50 - 16:28

Jeff Eamer: Venice, to live in this tiny little bachelor apartment. I was gonna live in the dream, but at a certain point, my work wasn't very satisfying. I really didn't want to give it my all to working on design and branding projects. And I thought, well, I can't sell my...

Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0700

What if the standard productivity advice gets it wrong? What if your performance, health and happiness are grounded in how well you manage your energy, not your time?

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz’s The Power of Full Engagement makes an excellent case for the role of energy in performance:

The four types of energy—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual—and how they interrelate.

How harnessing all energy sources allows us to optimize our productivity, happiness and engagement in the world around us.

Why life—and work—isn’t a marathon, but a series of sprints (and why you want to manage your energy like a sprinter).

How to get back on track when your energy sags.

The role of your purpose and the amount of energy you invest in yourself vs. others.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:47

Rochelle Moulton: We have to learn to adapt our system, our bodies, our emotions, our minds, and our spirits to be able to flex up to perform and then down to rest and rejuvenate. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I want to talk to you about managing energy instead of time. Now I started down this path when podcast guest, Joe Jacoby recommended the book, The Power of Full Engagement, Managing Energy, Not Time, is the key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by

00:47 - 01:27

Rochelle Moulton: Jim Lehrer and Tony Schwartz. I mean, when an Olympic gold medalist recommends a book on performance, you pay attention. So this came up because a few weeks back, I dedicated an episode to productivity for soloists. And I did that because a lot of us have internalized productivity as going 90 miles an hour to complete an endless to-do list versus carefully choosing what you want to pay attention to so you can Optimize your results. Optimize, not maximize. Well, this book, which I heartily recommend, by the way, is all about making sure you have the energy to tackle

01:27 - 02:06

Rochelle Moulton: what you decide is most important to you. You can't do everything you want, but you can manage your energy so you can do the things that matter most. Like the David Allen book, Getting Things Done, this is not a new book. It came out in 2003, But the principles are evergreen. And side note, if you're going to write an expertise book, this is how you do it. 20 years later, people are still talking about it and recommending it and buying it. So Let's start with this quote from the book. Every 1 of our thoughts, emotions, and

02:06 - 02:50

Rochelle Moulton: behaviors has an energy consequence for better or for worse, which means that your performance, health, and happiness, all critical to maintaining an optimal, soloist life, are grounded in how well you manage your energy. And they see 4 types of energy, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. And when we harness all of those energies is when we can truly optimize not just our productivity, but our happiness and our engagement with the world around us. Another thing that struck me here is that life isn't a marathon. In fact, it's a series of sprints, not unlike high-intensity interval training. We

02:50 - 03:32

Rochelle Moulton: just aren't wired to work, say, 8 hours straight at a desk and perform consistently well without taking recovery breaks. I should mention that before writing this book, the authors had spent 30 years working with world-class athletes in professional sports to design precisely what it takes to perform consistently at the highest levels under intense competitive pressures. Over 80 of the world's best tennis players, for example, went through their laboratory. The athletes were already gifted and accomplished, so the authors' focus was helping them to manage their energy more effectively to serve their mission. Eventually, they turned their attention

03:32 - 04:11

Rochelle Moulton: to executives, arguing that professional athletes had far shorter competitive careers than a typical executive or consultant. How people like us manage our energy defines the quality and the quantity of what we can achieve during the course of our careers and our lives. So can you see why I got so excited about this concept? The younger and healthier we are, the easier it is to just power through and keep working longer hours to get things done. But that only works for so long. And I'm not buying that those hours when you're exhausted were your most productive. We

04:11 - 04:58

Rochelle Moulton: have to learn to adapt our system, our bodies, our emotions, our minds, and our spirits to be able to flex up to perform and then down to rest and rejuvenate. Maximum performance is possible when our energy is pleasantly, positively high. We feel invigorated, confident, challenged, joyful, and connected. So how do we get more of that? All right, let's talk about physical energy first. I like their comparison of marathon runners to sprinters. If you think about it, the long distance runners usually look gaunt, a little shrunken, emotionally flat even, while the sprinters, and I'm picturing Usain Bolt

04:58 - 05:41

Rochelle Moulton: here, look powerful, bursting with energy and ready to push themselves against their limits. We want to become sprinters who can see the finish line clearly 100 or 200 meters down the track or set a different way. We must balance our energy expenditures with intermittent energy renewal. We have to learn how to rhythmically spend and renew energy, spend and renew. So how do we do that? By pushing beyond our normal limits, training in the same systemic ways that elite athletes do. The authors even argue that stress is not the enemy. In fact, it's the key to growth.

05:42 - 06:25

Rochelle Moulton: We systematically stress a muscle, expending more than normal energy, and then we give it a bit, 24 to 48 hours to recover, and it grows better able to handle the next stress. And we're not just talking physical muscles, we're talking about building muscles in every dimension of our lives, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. And the last piece of building energy is developing positive rituals, highly specific routines for managing energy, which are the key to sustained high performance. So just to recap so far, there are 4 essential principles to manage your energy. 1, draw on the 4

06:25 - 07:16

Rochelle Moulton: separate but related sources of energy, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. 2, balance energy expenditures with intermittent energy renewal. 3, push beyond your normal limits training systematically. And 4, build positive energy rituals. So where do you start? Well, with your physical body, because too much energy expended without sufficient recovery eventually leads to burnout and breakdown. And too much Recovery without sufficient stress leads to atrophy and weakness. So the key is to find the right balance for you. And you can read the book for suggestions and stories about exactly how to do that. But here's the thing. You

07:16 - 08:01

Rochelle Moulton: follow exactly the same process—physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Stress yourself just enough, recover just enough, and you'll grow. If you don't, you'll either burn out or atrophy, And neither 1 of those will lead to your best work or your best life. In fact, when we don't invest enough energy in all 4 dimensions, thinking we can just spend energy indefinitely, we can become flatliners. When we're in flow with all 4, we develop a rhythm, healthy patterns of activity and rest. Just last week, I was feeling out of sorts and realized I'd been giving my spiritual energy short

08:01 - 08:34

Rochelle Moulton: shrift. So I took a day off, I got in my car, and I headed for an area where I feel inspired, and then I spent most of the day taking photographs and just feeling the beauty around me. I went home feeling like a million bucks, and I slept like a baby. Now for you, it might be something completely different. Maybe you'll go listen to or play some music, have a deep conversation with a friend or a spiritual advisor, whatever that looks like. It's a muscle that needs attention, especially when you're busy or your mind is fully

08:34 - 09:11

Rochelle Moulton: occupied. We need breaks, intermittent rest periods to perform at our best. Now, I've worked with many clients who are embarrassed to admit that their energy falters during the day. It's like they think it's a personal failing that their energy has a valley. And the antidote is so simple, especially for soloists, because you have control over your workspace. Take a walk, do a few yoga poses, take a nap, generally a short 1 of about 40 minutes, according to a NASA study. During the war, Winston Churchill famously put his jammies on in the middle of the day and

09:11 - 09:51

Rochelle Moulton: went to bed for a sleep somewhere between lunch and dinner. And he swore it was the only way he could cope with his enormous responsibilities. Rest and recover, rest and recover. Now this book is definitely targeted at executives with way less flexibility than the average soloist. We are fortunate that we have so much control. But not all of us use that control. Some of us are still tied to that grind because it's our anchor. We think working hard all the time is required to be successful. But what if working too hard pushes us away from what

09:51 - 10:30

Rochelle Moulton: we want most as soloists? Plenty of revenue, free time, flexibility, and impact. I know it's paradoxical, but we need to find, not balance exactly, but stress and recovery, stress and recovery, in manageable increments over time. And my most perfect flow of that was probably when I was writing my first book. I decided I was going to finish it no matter what, and I committed to an aggressive writing schedule, 2 hours a day until I produced a first draft. I thought of it much like training for an event. I kept my workout routine intact, so I had

10:30 - 11:02

Rochelle Moulton: that way to bleed off the stress, the worry that maybe this wasn't going to work. And I committed to not going over the 2 hours. Now, I did slip up 1 day. I was just on fire, and I wrote for 4 hours, but I paid for it the next day. And I learned and I didn't do that again. I had planned easy to prepare nourishing foods. I told the hubby no fancy socializing, just time with good friends for emotional renewal. I was so in flow even when I got stressed about how to deal with, say, a

11:02 - 11:40

Rochelle Moulton: particular idea or a chapter, I'd stop after the 2 hours, go gaze at the mountains, get a good night's sleep, and wake up with the answer. And when it was all done, I had a first draft I was really proud of. Creating new things can absolutely be like that when you structure your life and commit yourself to a method that feeds all 4 of your energy sources. I encourage you to read this book, especially for the section on harnessing your mental energy. It is a masterful discussion of how to fuel your mental energy with preparation, visualization,

11:41 - 12:24

Rochelle Moulton: positive self-talk, effective time management, and creativity. They also ask about how you see your purpose. How much energy do you invest in yourself and how much in others? And how comfortable are you with the balance? How wisely and productively are you investing your energy? I know 1 thing to be true about this. When you find your personal formula to harness your energy and renew it effectively, you will literally be unstoppable. So on that note, I shall sign off. I hope you'll join us next time for The Soloist Life. Bye-bye.

Changing Teams with Mark Treichel

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 23 May 2024 02:00:00 -0700

When you’ve been on staff at an organization—especially in the lead role— transitioning to consulting can be a bit disorienting. Consultant to credit unions Mark Triechel talks about the lessons learned in his switch from regulating an industry to advising them:

How to quickly morph from “retirement” into a Soloist expertise business serving your former constituents.

Dealing with non-competes and ethics clauses honorably while building your new business.

Becoming a “Soloist with a twist”—why you don’t have to work alone.

How “changing teams” allows you to continue serving an existing niche in new (and profitable) ways.

Turning what could have become a pure compliance practice into a strategic advisory business.

LINKS

Mark Treichel Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

In 33 years at the federal agency known as the National Credit Union Administration, Mark led the agency as Executive Director after starting at the entry level. His varied positions at every level give him a unique perspective on all things NCUA.

He “changed teams” and is now in his fourth year of consulting with NCUA credit unions so they save time and money. He has two credit union educational podcasts: With Flying Colors and Credit Union Regulatory Guidance.

His clients consider his team as secret weapons in the regulatory battles they face every year.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:16

Mark Treichel: It's really important that your ideal client knows that you exist. And figuring out who the ideal client is 1 big piece. If they're not aware that I'm here, they're not going to know that they can hire me.

00:22 - 01:01

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with Mark Treichel. In 33 years at the federal agency known as the National Credit Union Administration, Mark led the agency as executive director after starting at the entry level. His varied positions at every level give him a unique perspective on all things NCUA. He changed teams and is now in his fourth year of consulting with NCUA credit unions so they save time and money. He has 2 credit union educational podcasts with

01:01 - 01:12

Rochelle Moulton: flying colors and credit union regulatory guidance. Mark's clients consider his team as secret weapons in the regulatory battles they face every year. Mark, welcome.

01:13 - 01:15

Mark Treichel: Thanks Rochelle. I'm excited to be here today.

01:15 - 01:33

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I have to say, Mark, when we first met, you were just getting your business off the ground and living in an RV, at least some of the time. I mean, I remember your Zoom backdrop quite well. So maybe you could tell us the story about how you came to start your consulting business?

01:34 - 02:12

Mark Treichel: Yeah, absolutely Rochelle. So yeah, when I retired, my wife and I had previously, just a few months before that, bought a Class B RV. And for the non-RVers, a class B is the van, right? So it's a van that's souped up to live in. It's a small footprint, but our goal was, I was planning to retire, use the RV to drive around, go to concerts and maybe dabble in consulting. So I made the announcement I was retiring in January, that I would be retiring in June, and that was right before COVID and the pandemic took off.

02:12 - 02:45

Mark Treichel: So you know my replacement was announced, I knew I was going to be leaving. And when we got to June, of course, the pandemic was still going on. And so we had the RV. We also have a lake place, which was the only sticks and bricks, as RVers call it. A sticks and bricks home was in the Adirondack Mountains. And so with COVID, we really couldn't RV that much. And so I started listening to podcasts, doing yard work. I was fortunate that I was kind of off in the mountains. So life seemed a little bit normal.

02:45 - 03:21

Mark Treichel: And I knew I was gonna have 1 or 2 clients because I had a couple people contact me before I retired. And what happened was I was listening to your podcast, another podcast, learning about doing a consulting business. And I relied on some advice from my dad who never consulted. And he worked for AT&T back when there was only 1 phone company. He worked at AT&T and he was part of when all the phone companies got distributed to Northwestern Bell, et cetera, Southern Bell. And he had opportunities to consult, but he never pursued them. And he

03:21 - 03:51

Mark Treichel: told me once later in life that he regretted that. And he said, if I want to do it, I need to do it relatively close to when I retire, because he said, people stopped calling. They called the first few months, they called the first year, and in the second year, people stopped calling. And so his name recognition and his expertise, he said no so many times, they thought, hey, he doesn't wanna do it. So essentially, I took 2 months off in the mountains, listened to podcasts, and learned a lot about how to stand up my business.

03:52 - 04:26

Mark Treichel: And I really kind of pivoted and said, I think I'm going to throw myself into this because there's nothing else to do really because of the pandemic. And essentially now I'm working full time. I don't consider myself retired. I've built the business into more than I ever anticipated. And then the interesting thing is we get to November, the Adirondack Mountains in November are not really a place you want to be. So we got in the RV, we headed to Florida and we lived in the RV for 6 straight months down in Florida going from state park

04:26 - 04:59

Mark Treichel: to state park. And that's essentially where and when I started the business. I dabbled in it a little bit before that, but we got on the road. I was doing training classes, listening to podcasts, hiring coaches, and then picking up an occasional client those first 6 months. So it was kind of born really, the beginning of the business was born there in the RV, which was an interesting way to start. It was a good conversation piece. Like you said, the background was kind of good for those conversations, but that's essentially how it started. And I really

04:59 - 05:07

Mark Treichel: think ironically, if not for the pandemic, I might not have thrown so much energy into it and I might not be having as much fun as I'm having today.

05:07 - 05:09

Rochelle Moulton: It's that divine timing.

05:09 - 05:10

Mark Treichel: Right, right.

05:10 - 05:19

Rochelle Moulton: Plus, I understand you're still happily married. So those 6 months in the van creating a business. Yes, Yes. Not everybody can survive that. That's awesome.

05:19 - 05:24

Mark Treichel: It's funny because we've had friends that say, wait, you know, if I did that with my spouse, we'd have to have 2 vans.

05:27 - 05:43

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. Exactly. So I'm just curious. So what kinds of pressures did you feel starting your business? Because you had a long and pretty public career, right? Did you have, like, was there a non-compete? I don't know if the government does such a

05:43 - 06:20

Mark Treichel: thing. Yeah, great question. So there is a non-compete in ethics clauses that come into play. I could not be involved in anything that I had a direct hand in for 12 months, and then there was another rule for 24 months. The interesting thing was, while I was executive director, my team of executives actually took most of the direct actions. I was, as the executive director, you're kind of the conduit between a politically appointed board of directors and staff. And so I would be guiding my staff, communicating what the board wanted done, but the actual actions were

06:20 - 06:51

Mark Treichel: taken by somebody else. So ironically, while I was involved in everything, I didn't actually make decisions on a lot of things. And it's that decision piece that precludes you from certain things. So I could immediately take on clients because none of the actual credit unions that are around in the country, and there's like 5, 000 of them, none of them actually directly reported to me or did I take a specific action on. So it uniquely kind of positioned me to be able to hit the ground running. Now pressure wise, ironically, so when I was at NCUA

06:52 - 07:19

Mark Treichel: as an executive, the pressures I had there was working for a politically appointed board and which would change every couple of years there'd be a new person. So the politics of that created pressure and then managing the staff below me created pressures. But then leaving and retiring and actually maybe for the first time being able to speak from my own voice only was actually very freeing.

07:19 - 07:19

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

07:20 - 07:50

Mark Treichel: Because if you think about a political board with 3 board members, each 1 of them has their agenda. And then you have my direct reports. Each 1 of them have their responsibilities. And when I would go out to speech, my brain to speak, my brain would go through this process of, okay, these 3 board members each would want me to say it this way. My staff is expecting me to say it this way. So my brain would come up with, here's the way to say this publicly to serve all those audiences. Now that I don't have

07:50 - 08:27

Mark Treichel: to do that, I'm basically giving my opinion to my client. It's like the parting of the Red Sea for me because my opinion is my opinion, And I can help them by giving them what my truth is. And so essentially weren't pressures. And I guess the other piece is with where I'm at in my life, when I retired, I was 57 with a nice government pension. I didn't have financial pressures. So I was really kind of taking clay and forming it, and it was really a playground of what can I do, what systems can I learn,

08:27 - 08:33

Mark Treichel: what clients can I pick up, you know, how do I get my ideal clients? So it was really kind of like I was just having fun.

08:34 - 08:59

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, well, and the other thing that's interesting is, you know, most of the people listening probably don't have a politically appointed board, but what a great sort of Petri dish to figure out how to deal with all different kinds of personalities and get things done. And so I feel like that freedom, that newfound freedom that you had afterwards, but you also had this knowledge of what it's like to deal with people with different agendas.

09:00 - 09:11

Mark Treichel: Boy, you're right. Yeah. And trying to come up with a way to serve all the parties turned out to be a very marketable skill when I left and in the niche that I chose to work with.

09:11 - 09:15

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So how long did it take you to hit your first hundred thousand?

09:16 - 09:20

Mark Treichel: I would say less than 6 months.

09:20 - 09:21

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that's fast.

09:22 - 09:57

Mark Treichel: It was quick. And the niche is very small. There are 4, 800 credit unions. And the reality is with the team that I put together and the services that I am now able to offer and that I actually was able to offer right out of the gate, there's really probably only 20% of them that I tend to cater to. So we're talking a small group of say a thousand potential clients, but they also have decent budgets. And if they're dealing with issues, particularly with my expertise and knowing the agency that regulates them, there's not a lot

09:57 - 10:04

Mark Treichel: of options other than me and my team right now. So I've, while it's a very small market, there's not a lot of competition.

10:05 - 10:25

Rochelle Moulton: Well, and a thousand targets is quite a lot when you're 1 guy. And we'll talk about, you know, your team in a minute. But the point I want to make here is you can make a very nice business and living, targeting a relatively small group of people if you've got the right story to tell and the right expertise.

10:25 - 10:27

Mark Treichel: Yeah, I would agree with that, absolutely.

10:27 - 10:42

Rochelle Moulton: So how did you look at your soloist earnings? Were they like sort of the cherry on the Sunday? Or did you feel like from a revenue standpoint like you had something to prove? I mean you said that you know you weren't worried about money, you had your pension, but I'm just curious how you thought about it.

10:42 - 11:15

Mark Treichel: That's a great question. I never thought about it as something to prove, but that's probably a little bit of what's going on because, again, 33 years as a government employee made a very good salary. It's an agency that pays well. However, working for the government is different than working in private practice. So it was really kind of an opportunity to say, okay, what can I do in the private sector? So I don't know if it's something to prove or let's just see what I can do. And the other thing is, I know you recently had an

11:15 - 11:29

Mark Treichel: episode with a financial planner, and I have a financial planner that I utilized on occasion. And 1 of the things he said to me, I love quotes, but he said this quote, it's better to give with a warm hand than a cold hand.

11:30 - 11:31

Rochelle Moulton: I'm thinking about that.

11:31 - 12:00

Mark Treichel: Meaning give early. And so I've got 2 daughters, I've got 2 granddaughters, a third granddaughter on the way and it's nice to be able to have extra money to go visit them, to have them come visit me, to assist them and see them have some of their pressures relieved, you know, early in life as opposed to, you know, hopefully 30 years down the road, you know, whatever's left in the state. This provides the opportunity to do a little bit more of that.

12:00 - 12:07

Rochelle Moulton: Do it now. And the audience doesn't know that you're recording from Cleveland, where you're visiting 1 of your daughters.

12:08 - 12:19

Mark Treichel: Exactly. Yes. And I think I might join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here because I'm going to be here for quite a bit this summer. So there's a good opportunity there to kind of tap into what Cleveland has.

12:20 - 12:54

Rochelle Moulton: That's awesome. So I want to kind of throw in something that I remember from our discussions, I don't know, 2 years, 3 years back. And I remember when you started targeting your universe of credit union people and You know you talked about how it's essentially a thousand people but can you just sort of give like a sort of a bird's-eye view of how you looked at this because I remember at the time feeling like you were being very thoughtful and smart about how you did this.

12:54 - 13:29

Mark Treichel: So 1 advantage that I have is that there's public data and information available for credit unions. So the 4, 800 credit unions have to file quarterly financial reports. The names of their CEOs are available. The names of their executives are available. And I knew some of those folks. So I really dove hard into LinkedIn. And see, I retired on June 30th and I did a post. I've got a picture of myself with the American flag that was taken when I was at NCAA on the 4th of July. I did this post about that I retired and

13:29 - 14:05

Mark Treichel: how much I missed credit unions, but that I would be doing a little bit of consulting. It was probably, actually ironically in my 5 years on LinkedIn, aggressively, it was probably my most liked post. So I really hit LinkedIn very hard relative to reaching out and making people aware of the fact that I was doing what I was doing, but trying to do it in a thoughtful way. 1 of my coaches early on suggested that, when I mentioned that I was connected with, at that time, maybe 800 CEOs on LinkedIn, he gave me some ideas on

14:05 - 14:39

Mark Treichel: how to capitalize that and get some emails. So I started down the email path and then listening to your podcasts, the concept about starting a podcast. So I learned early on that it was really going to be critically important for people to know that I existed. The part about who my ideal client was, which can be a challenge sometimes for I think for some people who are pivoting, That was easy for me because I had the list of the 4, 800 credit unions and then really the targeted list of the thousand credit unions of who those

14:39 - 14:45

Mark Treichel: clients were. So the important thing really became how do I make them know I'm doing what I'm doing?

14:45 - 14:50

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And so there's a lot of one-to-one kind of communications in that process.

14:51 - 15:25

Mark Treichel: Lots of one-to-one communications, you know, with email. Here's 4 or 5 different emails that I have as kind of a key to start off with that. But then when I'm posting on LinkedIn, that leads to a lot of conversations on LinkedIn. Really, that's where I have most of my conversations, that they either come from that direction or from somebody listening to the...

Forging Your Own Path with Kris Jennings

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 16 May 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Can you build a six to seven figure Soloist business doing the opposite of what “the experts” recommend? Consultant Kris Jennings has created exactly that by forging her own path:

How her “tiny, tiny” email list delivered over $1 million in revenue (and provides a vehicle to nurture key referral relationships).

How she thinks about and serves her list (hint: it’s exactly the opposite of what most every email marketer recommends).

What she does with advice from experts and “gurus”.

How she measures success—and how her metrics have changed as her business matures.

The evolution of her risk-taking philosophy in business—and what elements must be present for her to say an unqualified “yes”.

LINKS

Kris Jennings Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

With nearly thirty years of experience, Kris Jennings’ work has helped more than a million people change. From large technology implementations to digital products for Type 2 diabetes, she designs ways to help people take small steps forward.

She has run a consulting and advisory business since 2012 and her clients include Fortune 100 global organizations. She now primarily supports change leaders and project teams. Her first book will be released this fall (2024).

She holds a bachelor's degree from The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Kris and her husband live in Minneapolis, Minnesota with their two delightfully curious, mischievous kittens. She dedicates time each year to bucket list adventure travel with their two young adult sons.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:11

Kris Jennings: To me, it's not about selling something. It's about reaffirming the relationship that I have with those past clients, because they're gonna be the ones that are gonna refer me to other business. And I'm

00:11 - 00:16

: gonna be the 1 that's gonna refer me to other business. And I'm gonna be the 1 that's gonna refer me to other business. And I'm gonna be the 1 that's gonna refer me to other business.

00:16 - 00:56

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with consultant Chris Jennings, whose work has helped more than a million people change From large technology implementations to digital products for type 2 diabetes, she designs ways to help people take small steps forward. Chris has run a consulting and advisory business since 2012, and her clients include Fortune 100 global organizations. She now primarily supports change leaders and project teams and her first book will be released this fall. Chris, welcome.

00:56 - 00:58

Kris Jennings: Thanks, Rochelle, it's great to be here.

00:59 - 01:31

Rochelle Moulton: Well, we've had quite an exchange of ideas and conversation about growing a soloist business. In fact, you introduced me to earlier guest Heather Welpley a while back. But the initial spark was when you dropped just this very casual comment about your, and I quote, tiny, tiny email list generating over a million dollars in revenue for you so I'm kind of thinking we should start there but let's go back just a little bit so you started your firm in 2012. Tell us how that happened How did that

01:31 - 02:10

Kris Jennings: come about? So it's not the great story of like being excited and leaving the big organization to pursue my dream as a solo opener. It's actually quite the opposite. I was laid off. A very surprising layoff from an organization that had never done layoffs at the end of the recession, just coming out of that span from 2008 to 2012. So it was January of 2012 and got the layoff notice and within 2 weeks actually had a consulting gig. So it wasn't the route I was planning to take, but a friend nudged me towards trying it out.

02:11 - 02:19

Kris Jennings: And honestly that set me on the path to where I am today, which is 12 years later, having done some amazing projects with some amazing teams.

02:20 - 02:27

Rochelle Moulton: I love that turning lemons into lemonade. So how long did it take you to earn your first hundred thousand? Do you remember?

02:28 - 02:44

Kris Jennings: It was that first year. So I am 1 of those unusual people that my skill set is highly in demand and I have never had a break. So for 12 years, it's been go, go, go. And that's been financially rewarding.

02:44 - 03:06

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. I'm hearing an undercurrent in there, which we'll get to. So you know I have to ask you more about your tiny, tiny list. I mean, it feels like there are lots of people in our space shouting that building a giant list is the way to go. But we know when you're in a high-end B2B consulting space, the metrics tend to look different. So, like, who's on your list?

03:06 - 03:37

Kris Jennings: I mean, how tiny is tiny? Tiny is under 100 people. I love that. Yeah, really, right? So stop and think about that. And I've been writing it for a year. So I've been diligently writing for about a year. So I was 11 years into my entrepreneurial journey before I really kind of did any kind of what I would say outreach or any kind of marketing. Literally, my business has been 100% referral based. So I've always gone from, you know, 1, if you will, friend to another, people who are behind the scenes saying, okay, we have the,

03:37 - 04:12

Kris Jennings: we're doing the same thing you guys did. Can you please recommend somebody? And that's how I've, I've really pieced together a magical career over the last 12 years as a solopreneur. So I started writing the newsletter every week because I'm a writer at heart. My background and my degree is in journalism and I love telling stories and I have ghostwritten for executives and it's still a big part of what I do in my work in change. But it was really about me and writing for me. And so the newsletter has become this thing of like, I

04:12 - 04:47

Kris Jennings: just really share it within the close circle of people who've worked with me and family and friends who are, who know I'm very passionate about change and it is a very safe space for me and actually all of us on the list to collaborate. So it's not the traditional email newsletter. It's the, hey, we're going to try and experiment this month. We're going to do some change experiments. I do whatever I want because I know that the people on the list are reading it. And I just looked at the open rate and prep for this. So

04:47 - 04:52

Kris Jennings: my open rate is hovers between 70 and 80%. This week it was 82%.

04:52 - 05:09

Rochelle Moulton: So anybody listening to that just had pangs of jealousy at that open rate. That's unusually high. But I also think the way you described it is really interesting. It feels like a collaborative space versus a one-way speaking space. Yeah. I mean, I think 1

05:09 - 05:43

Kris Jennings: of the things that kind of who I am is like, let me create something and play with it and see what happens. So with the list, it's like, I think the mainstream thinking on it is build your list, build your list, because then you're gonna sell something to everybody who's on your list. Mine's the opposite. I've already sold, as you said, I've already sold a million dollars worth of services to the people on that list. So to me, it's not about selling something, it's about reaffirming the relationship that I have with those past clients, because they're

05:43 - 06:09

Kris Jennings: going to be the ones that are going to refer me to other business. But just more so from this like, yeah, it doesn't have to be about monetizing the list. It can actually be the reverse, right? I've already done that. And now here's this place where we get to cultivate and strengthen the relationship that we've built through doing hard projects together. Well, and I like the spirit of generosity that kind of weaves through the

06:09 - 06:27

Rochelle Moulton: way you describe that, right? Like, I've helped you, you've helped me with the financial exchange, and let's continue to be able to grow together. You know, something that you said, and I was thinking about it, conversation we had 1 time about your book. So did you start writing for the list at the same time you started writing

06:27 - 07:01

Kris Jennings: your book? Like, did 1 make you do the other? Or how were they connected, or if at all? I started doing the newsletter first and it was probably 6 months in that I formally like started the book manuscript. There's definitely overlap and I think anybody who hasn't done a lot of, you know, marketing for themselves and they're in their solopreneur business, it's like, you know, a newsletter is a great place to get your thoughts on paper and say practice or have some content for something that you might do later, such as a book. So for me,

07:01 - 07:20

Kris Jennings: it's been also a way to get feedback, right? So I know the points that I've made in the newsletter and I know those content areas where it's like, wow, I had great feedback, you know, that prompted 2 or 3 comments, you know, back. And that's allowed me to kind of like, hey, I'm going to go deeper on that content in the book.

07:21 - 07:35

Rochelle Moulton: I love this. It's just counterintuitive. So what do you tell yourself when you get advice or you read advice from, you know, experts to do some kind of marketing gymnastics to grow your lists? Like what goes through your head?

07:35 - 08:07

Kris Jennings: I mean, 1 thing I've learned as a solopreneur is like, it's really hard not to do comparisonitis. It's really hard to say follow people and think, oh, I wanna learn from them, right? I wanna mimic what they're doing. But it is actually a moment of like, I'm going to learn what they're doing, and then I'm going to apply it to myself. I'm going to decide whether or not it works for me. Does this feel like it's right for who I am, my voice, my business, where I'm at and how I wanna grow my business, the types

08:07 - 08:38

Kris Jennings: of work I wanna do, who I wanna call in? There's a lot of shoulds out there in marketing and I definitely feel like you've gotta really have some blinders on in terms of learning, but then actually applying it to yourself and being willing to say, you know what? I like that idea, but it doesn't work quite right for me. And the only way to do that is to play. So I've given myself a lot of permission to fail, to try things and to not expect any wild success, but just to see what am I going to

08:38 - 08:39

Kris Jennings: learn from it.

08:39 - 09:10

Rochelle Moulton: I think we've all interacted with people who are doing whatever their latest guru has advised them to do. And, okay, this time I'm going to do this and it doesn't work, or this time I'm going to do that and it doesn't work. Not necessarily because it was a bad tactic, but because it didn't apply, or the person didn't take the time to figure out how to do what you said, which is adjust it for where you're going, for your style. And I think we can push ourselves out of our comfort zones. I think that's a good

09:10 - 09:46

Rochelle Moulton: thing. But we also want to take a decent bet, right? Something that we think is scary, but feels like something we would want. Like the outcome is something we would want and then we'll try it. But yeah, it is, it's a process. So I'm just curious, do you see or feel a downside with a small list? I mean, just as an example, it would be challenging to say, pivot from these huge consulting projects to something more retail, like $5, 000 workshops. So do you ever think about the size of the list and where you want to

09:46 - 09:47

Rochelle Moulton: take that in the future?

09:47 - 10:22

Kris Jennings: In the last couple of years, I think things have changed. I think the consumers, and I say consumers, meaning we're all consumers, right, of other people's content and purchasers of products, et cetera, I think we're more sophisticated and we're perhaps a little more cynical about the stuff that we get, including from email lists. So there's a variety of ways that we think about purchases, and that means anything from people seeing me on LinkedIn, people hearing me on this podcast, people picking up my book, people seeing it on Amazon, people getting a referral from it, somebody giving

10:22 - 10:50

Kris Jennings: my book to someone else. So there's a variety of ways that I think marketing can work. And I don't necessarily think that the lists as they once were used to be the end all be all. I think there's so much fragmentation and just in terms of marketing and what's being thrown at any of us at any given time, that it's like you can't rely on just 1. You've got to really think about the whole system and how you're getting your message out to your audience.

10:50 - 11:20

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, well plus I also think your book, which we haven't talked about, is the kind of book where you don't have to sell a gazillion copies. You have the kind of book just like your list where you could sell 10 copies if they were to the right people, right? And I'm assuming your book is going to be pretty highly focused and targeted to your ideal audience. And so I just love the conventional wisdom would say, I'm going to sell a thousand copies in the first 2 days, and I've got to get to 10, 000 copies. And

11:20 - 11:34

Rochelle Moulton: when you have a business model like yours, that's not the metric that matters. I mean, it feels good. It would be nice to be on the New York Times bestseller list, but it isn't necessary to be able to serve the purpose that you wrote the book for.

11:35 - 12:09

Kris Jennings: Yeah, I think that's very, that's very astute in terms of like, why am I writing the book? And honestly, it was quite challenging in terms of working with the editor team that I did, because it was not really something they'd really ever considered, right? That I would have a very small audience, a very niche audience from my book. And that even how I would get it into the hands of the people who would use it would be extremely targeted in thinking about the intermediaries that are likely to be the repeat, if you will, distributors of my

12:09 - 12:34

Kris Jennings: books. So in my world, that looks like project managers, that looks like PMO offices, project management offices, sorry for the lingo, the jargon, or system implementers, right? Those people who are regularly doing large-scale projects and might not have a skillset like mine within a given project or within a given client team. So I've really strategically thought about how am I

12:34 - 13:08

Rochelle Moulton: going to partner with those folks to make sure that they have my book and that it becomes this business card that they're handing out on my behalf for at least several more years, at least until I write the next 1. Well, you bring up a great point, and I've seen this with some clients where their book was so targeted to a niche, and literally they could repay all of the time and money that they spent on their book with 1 single client, right, that came from that book. And a lot of editors, like they don't get

13:08 - 13:29

Rochelle Moulton: that. And in fact, they can try to edit your book for a larger market. And they just like, they can't help themselves because that's what they're used to. That's what everybody wants is to have a bigger market. So thank you for sharing that. It's something you really have to watch out for and it helps to find an editor who totally gets it. But sometimes it takes a round or 2. Yeah, and

13:29 - 13:36

Kris Jennings: it's definitely 1 of the reasons I self-published to be able to have that ultimate control over that creativity. Yeah.

13:36 - 13:55

Rochelle Moulton: So the theme I hear loud and clear from you, whenever we've chatted, is to forge your own path. So how do you measure your success? Are you using monthly, quarterly, annual metrics? What's your process to assess your progress with your business in your life?

13:56 - 14:31

Kris Jennings: Oh that's a great question. For me, if I had had answered that 12 years ago, it probably would be how do my financials look, right? And, you know, what do I have in the queue for the next quarter? And actually, most of my work goes much longer than that. So most of my projects are, you know, 12 to 18 months. So my time cycles, you know, are very, very, very long. And now I'm really thinking differently about what time of year is it? We're coming up on summer in Minnesota. Right. And So for me, I think,

14:31 - 15:06

Kris Jennings: wow, I want to make sure I have the least amount of stuff on my plate right now so that I can enjoy the short summer that we have here and I get to swim outside and I get to go to breakfast with my 22 year old, my youngest son who will be home from college for the summer. So for me, it's much more measures of life satisfaction and just where does the business fit into my life within a year? And giving myself a lot more flexibility with, you know, and if you will, ups and downs...

Financial Planning For Soloists with Sean Mullaney

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 09 May 2024 02:00:00 -0700

You’ve got a bookkeeper, a CPA, maybe even a CFO/strategic financial resource for your business—when and where does personal financial planning fit in? Advice-only financial planner and author Sean Mullaney walks us through financial planning for Soloists:

The types of financial advisors Soloists are likely to encounter—how they work and are compensated (and why that matters).

The signs that tell Soloists you’ll likely get value from engaging a personal financial advisor.

How to get started and identify potential planners that will meet your needs (and why geography just doesn’t matter anymore).

One key question to ask any financial advisor candidate to assess whether they might be a fit.

Why a Solo 401(k) often beats a SEP IRA for tax-advantaged retirement savings.

LINKS

Sean Mullaney Blog | Book | LinkedIn | YouTube | Twitter

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Sean Mullaney is an advice-only financial planner and the President of Mullaney Financial & Tax, Inc. Through Mullaney Financial & Tax, Sean provides advice-only financial planning for a flat fee. Sean writes the Plutus Award winning blog FITaxGuy.com on the intersection of tax and financial independence. He also has a personal finance YouTube channel and wrote Solo 401(k): The Solopreneur’s Retirement Account.

DISCLAIMER

This discussion is intended to be for general educational purposes and is not tax, legal, or investment advice for any individual. Rochelle and The Soloist Life podcast do not endorse Sean Mullaney, Mullaney Financial & Tax, Inc. and their services.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

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TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:23

Sean Mullaney: I think most of the value is just having that plan in place. Because what happens is people get confused by their finances. Every time something new happens in their life financially, oh, our profits doubled. Oh, there's this new thing they're talking about on TV or the internet, whatever it is, it creates questions. And when we don't have a plan in place, it means we have to go down rabbit holes. We have anxiety, confusion.

00:30 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Sean Mullaney, who is an advice-only financial planner and the president of Mullaney Financial and Tax, Inc. Through Mullaney Financial and Tax, Sean provides advice-only financial planning for a flat fee. He writes the Plutus Award-winning blog, FITaxGuide.com, on the intersection of Tax and Financial Independence. He also has a personal finance YouTube channel and wrote Solo 401k, the Solopreneur's retirement account. Sean, welcome.

01:10 - 01:14

Sean Mullaney: Sean O'Toole Rochelle, thanks so much for having me. Looking forward to the conversation.

01:14 - 01:48

Rochelle Moulton: Rochelle Penney Oh, me too. So I was talking to friend of the show, Erica Goodie, when I mentioned that I really wanted to have a financial advisor guest who wasn't hawking investments and who also believed in simplicity in building wealth. And she immediately suggested we talk. And when I went to, I think it was 1 of your websites, and I saw that The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins was your favorite money book, too. I knew we had to have you on the show. And then when you asked me to add a disclaimer that I

01:48 - 02:23

Rochelle Moulton: wasn't endorsing you or your services, which by the way will be in the show notes, I was over the moon certain you were the right person to speak to the subject of financial planning for Solowes. So Let's start by taking a moment to categorize the different kinds of help that soloists can get with our personal financial life. Just by way of background, on the show before, we've talked about having a bookkeeper, a CPA to do your taxes, and even a CFO slash strategic financial resource for your business. And we've kind of vaguely mentioned having a personal

02:23 - 02:34

Rochelle Moulton: financial advisor, but we haven't described those options. So will you walk us through the types of personal financial advisors a typical soloist might encounter?

02:35 - 03:10

Sean Mullaney: Yeah, absolutely Rochelle. So there are many different professionals out there and there are many different names for these professionals. I'm going to start off with 2 big archetypes, right? 1 would be a financial coach and 1 would be a financial planner. Not everybody's going to look at the world that way, but that's sort of how I look at the world to begin with, right? So what's a financial coach? A financial coach is a person who coaches people in their personal finances, does not provide investment advice, right? So they tend to focus on things like budgeting and

03:10 - 03:43

Sean Mullaney: cashflow and those sorts of things. And that could be very important when you're a soloist and you have uneven income and revenue in your business, right? Or you may be a soloist who's doing great in the business but isn't able to control the expense side of your life, right? A financial coach could be a great alternative there, right? So those are 2 use cases for a financial coach. Now, I think what you're mostly getting at Rochelle is more the financial planner or financial advisor world, right? Yes. And that's where the big legal thing that we're introducing

03:43 - 04:25

Sean Mullaney: there is investment advice. So what that means is advisors, in order to professionally render investment advice, hey, so and so should buy ABC mutual fund. To do that professionally, you need to be licensed with either the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or 1 or more of the US states. There you get into, well, we have people who call themselves financial advisors, people who call themselves financial planners. Usually that's somebody who, through their firm or their selves individually are licensed to provide investment advice. But investment advice is not the only piece of financial planning. There's plenty

04:25 - 05:05

Sean Mullaney: more that goes on with personal financial planning than just the investment advice. Within this category, financial planners, financial advisors, there's all sorts of different types of advisors out in the world. There's so many now at this point. We could think about people who work for broker dealers who tend to be more selling that broker dealer's particular investments. They tend to be very investment focused and there tends to be a reward for them to push their particular financial institution's product. There are going to be some people even in this realm who might be selling insurance, right? That's

05:05 - 05:07

Sean Mullaney: a whole other conversation.

05:08 - 05:08

Rochelle Moulton: You

05:08 - 05:47

Sean Mullaney: know, that model came in for a lot of criticism. And so what the industry developed over time is what's referred to as the assets under management model, where you're not necessarily pushing 1 type of investment. What you're doing is you're saying, okay, a client, you come to me and you take your investible assets and invest them through my firm. All right. And I will charge you a assets under management fee. So the fee for the financial planning is generally defined as a percentage, might be every quarter, every year, some percentage of the assets that that advisor

05:47 - 06:22

Sean Mullaney: is managing for the client. And that model has now come in for a lot of criticism. And look, of course I'm a biased source because I don't sell products. I don't have assets under management, but I'll just give you my perspective. I'm not too fond of that because that increases our expenses and it has this drawback of you're paying these fees that if you do well in your portfolio, they actually increase, right? Because your portfolio goes up and the fees increase. And I also think it overweights investments in terms of, well, wait a minute, investments are

06:22 - 06:58

Sean Mullaney: 1 component of our financial life. Why are we paying based on that 1 component of our investment life, right? So I could go on and on. I think there's some real drawbacks to that assets under management model. What's developed more recently, although this has existed in a small way for a long time, but it's becoming more of a sort of force out in the world, is what's starting to be referred to as advice-only financial planning. And the idea there is that the advisor is only offering advice. So they're not offering assets under management. You can't invest

06:58 - 07:24

Sean Mullaney: through this person, but they will, this person, their firm will provide you investment advice and other advice around your own personal finances. And I think in today's era, that makes a lot of sense. Like forget me and my business for a second, but think about you Rochelle right now. Let's say you have a great aunt or great uncle out there you don't even know about and they pass away and they leave you Rochelle $100, 000.

07:25 - 07:27

Rochelle Moulton: Oh bless, on to him.

07:27 - 08:02

Sean Mullaney: Yeah, there you go. Right? So that's a good outcome for you. Well, if this was the 1980s or 1990s, what were you going to do with that money other than put it in a bank account? I'm not here to say you're not a smart woman, but most Americans in that situation probably would have needed some professional advice and couldn't just pick up their phone and invest that money, right? Today, Rochelle, you could pick up your phone and in 10 minutes have that money invested in a plethora of well diversified, low cost, mutual funds, ETFs, whatever you

08:02 - 08:35

Sean Mullaney: want to your heart's content, and you could pick the platform, you can pick the investments with your phone in 10 minutes. In that world, do we really need an assets under management model, right? Mm-hmm. So that's why I think the advice only model is so attractive, at least to people like me. I say, well, what's really needed is advice and knowledge. The investing platform piece of it. Well, most of us are addicted to these phones anyway, you know, and that's a whole other conversation. But if we're already addicted to this thing, we might as well use

08:35 - 08:36

Sean Mullaney: it to set up our investments.

08:37 - 09:13

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting to me when you think about how we look at these kinds of decisions. And I think sometimes we just do a knee jerk because, oh, we've always used insert name or my parents used so and so, so I do that. And I think stepping back and thinking about how you're getting your advice is really important. And just for myself as an individual, I want someone who is going to give me non-biased advice. I mean, I guess you could argue we're all biased on some level, but I don't want somebody to

09:13 - 09:37

Rochelle Moulton: push product on me. And even when you have someone who's highly ethical, if the system is designed in a different way. So, you know, what I'm hearing is it's important to know what it is that you're buying when you're looking at these financial advisors, especially if you're interviewing a few, because if you've never had 1 before, or you're thinking of making a switch, chances are you're going through some kind of a selection process.

09:38 - 10:13

Sean Mullaney: Yeah, Rochelle, you know, it's interesting. Look, I'm a career changer, so I'm biased in this perspective. But I do think that the financial planning, financial advice industry makes things relatively opaque on the client end. And I think that is, that's a drawback. If you're a potential client of a financial planner, that's a real drawback. However, we now live in a world, right? So if this was 20 years ago, and Rochelle, you're looking for a financial planner in Palm Springs, California, you gotta get in your car and you gotta go interview 5 different people in 5 different

10:13 - 10:45

Sean Mullaney: offices. And oh, by the way, that's in Palm Springs. Imagine if you're in Century City, Los Angeles, right? You got to deal with LA traffic to do that, right? How horrible is that? Well, today, Rochelle, you can boot up your computer and most financial planners will have some sort of an intake form and some sort of ability to get 15 minute, 30 minute introductory meetings scheduled. So, you can, from the comfort of your own home, with your computer, interview 5 different financial planners. They don't have to be in Palm Springs. They can, in theory, be almost

10:45 - 11:18

Sean Mullaney: anywhere in the country. And so in a sense, yes, the industry is opaque, but thank goodness for computers and Google meetings and Zoom and whatever in terms of, hey, I can actually get some look and feel. And I get that the person isn't in your office, you're not in the same breathing space with them. But I like to joke, you know, I'm not a dentist. I don't need your molars in my office to render you financial advice, right? So it is nice that you can meet with 5 of these people without getting in your car and

11:18 - 11:47

Sean Mullaney: You ask them a bunch of questions and you understand what the fees are you learn how you fit in with the person, right? I like to say there's no perfect financial planner for anyone out there But there are plenty of good financial planners out there for most folks. And so, you know, you have to make this judgment based on a whole host of things, fees, what are you actually getting, but also what's the connection with the person, right? How do you sort of connect with that person? I think that's a big thing to consider as you're

11:47 - 11:49

Sean Mullaney: interviewing potential financial planners.

11:49 - 12:15

Rochelle Moulton: Absolutely. No matter what, you cannot ignore the vibe that you get from the person and whether you're going to be able to work together. But so what are some of the signs that tell soloists that they get value from engaging the right personal financial advisor because lots of people don't have 1. When should they start thinking about, actually I use the word should, when might it make sense to start thinking about engaging a personal financial advisor?

12:15 - 12:43

Sean Mullaney: Yeah, that's a great question Rochelle, and it does vary person to person. I'll say a few things on that. There's no like, this is exactly the time in your life you need a financial planner. I will say most folks coming out of college probably don't need a financial planner at that point, right? They need some blocking and tackling. I feel like in today's world, you can go to sources, podcasts, YouTube, internet, books, like The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins, for example.

12:43 - 12:49

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I was gonna say, that's the first thing I would hand to a college graduate. That is my go-to gift for college graduates.

12:49 - 13:21

Sean Mullaney: Yeah, there you go, right? You probably are at a point there where, hey, you know what? You don't really need to bring in a professional, but you also don't want to get to the point where you are a soloist, your business has done well, and now you have the earnings from that business all over the place invested in a hodgepodge of different things that you never had any intention around. In addition to that, it's time to be thinking about financial planning, I think include, but are not limited to, you get married, you have kids, that can

13:21 - 13:56

Sean Mullaney: be a big 1. Your business or your W-2 work, if you're not a soloist, starts to be rather profitable and you're at a place where you can invest a substantial amount beyond some basic investing, those are sort of times where, hey, you know what? Working with a financial planner now might make some sense. Also, nearing retirement can also make sense to work with a financial planner. I think what you're looking to avoid is to get it at a position where either the wealth went out the door and you just don't know where it even went to,

13:56 - 14:22

Sean Mullaney: or you have the wealth but it's in 10 different brokerages or it's sitting in cash or all these things where we didn't have a plan in place and now we're not in as good a place as we could have been because we didn't have a plan in place. So I almost defined it in the negative. You wanna avoid being that person where you made a bunch of money in your business ventures, but you don't have much of it left over. It's like, what happened there, right? You didn't have a plan to invest it and to save

14:22 - 14:28

Sean Mullaney: it. You don't wanna be that person who looks back and says, boy, if I...

Navigating Transitions with Joe Jacobi

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 02 May 2024 02:00:00 -0700

None of us are immune to transitions—it’s just that they seem start piling up at “mid-life”. Olympic gold medalist and performance coach Joe Jacobi shares his story and how you too can navigate resistance and uncertainty to pursue purpose, performance and impact:

What working as part of a two-person boat teaches you about collaboration (and it’s probably not what you think).

Why sometimes winning comes down to making fewer mistakes than your peers—and correcting them more quickly.

How focusing on the unique ways your experiences and expertise can help others will magnify your impact.

Learning to appreciate where you are “in the river” and navigate toward what you value most.

When seeking alliances as a Soloist can provide more opportunities for fruitful collaboration.

LINKS

Joe Jacobi Linktr.ee

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Joe Jacobi is an Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach, Transition Expert and Author who collaborates with high performance leaders to unlock purpose, achieve peak performance, and create a lasting impact.

Joe practices and refines these core principles and strategies in his own life and pursuits at his Pyrenees mountains home beside the 1992 Olympic Canoeing venue in La Seu d’Urgell in the Spanish state of Catalunya - the same canoeing venue where he and his canoeing partner, Scott Strausbaugh, won America’s first-ever Olympic Gold Medal in the sport of Whitewater Canoe Slalom at the 1992 Olympic Games.

In 2022, Joe published his first book, Slalom: 6 River Classes About How To Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty, & Bring Focus To What Matters Most - Joe's reflections, experiences, relationships, and strategies from more than 40 years on the river transferred to navigating your river of the life.

Today, he writes and publishes Thinking In Waves, short and focused weekly essays that transfer his experiences and lessons from surfing off-shore ocean waves on a surfski kayak to an innovative model for clear thinking, better choices, and increased value alignment.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:31

Joe Jacobi: Energy can travel in different directions and the more you become aware of it and you put yourself to manage Not just the expenditure of it, but the replenishment of it as well You change the game and you really start to think less about time and how you really set yourself up to have the capacity to do what you want to do when you want to do it. And don't feel pressure rushed to spend energy that you don't intend to spend or don't want to spend.

00:36 - 01:21

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today I'm here with my pal, Olympic gold medalist, performance coach, transition expert, author, and all around good guy, Joe Jacoby. High performance leaders seek his collaboration in navigating resistance and uncertainty in their pursuit of purpose, performance, and impact. Joe practices and refines these core principles and strategies in his own life and pursuits at his Pirine Mountains home besides the 1992 Olympic canoeing venue in the Spanish state of Catalonia, the same canoeing venue where he

01:21 - 02:07

Rochelle Moulton: and his canoeing partner Scott Strasbaugh won America's first ever Olympic gold medal in whitewater canoe slalom at the 1992 Olympic Games. In 2022, Joe published his first book, Slalom, 6 River Classes, about how to confront obstacles, advance amid uncertainty, and bring focus to what matters most. Today, he writes and publishes, Thinking in Waves, short, focused weekly essays that transfer his lessons from surfing offshore ocean waves on a surf ski kayak to an innovative model for clear thinking, better choices, and increased value alignment. Joe, welcome.

02:08 - 02:13

Joe Jacobi: Bon dia, Rochelle. It's great to be here talking with you, my friend.

02:13 - 02:43

Rochelle Moulton: Well, Joe, I have so enjoyed watching your journey in coaching and especially how you've embraced life as an American in Spain. It's like whenever we talk or even just watching 1 of your videos, I can feel your happiness, your contentment. It's infectious in a very warm, kind way. I mean, I just have no doubt that that's 1 of your personal keys to success. And there's so much we can talk about today, so let's just get right to it, okay?

02:43 - 02:50

Joe Jacobi: See, yes, yes, see. See, see. You listen to me. I have to make the... We're speaking English today, not Catalan.

02:50 - 03:12

Rochelle Moulton: We can speak whatever we like today. So I feel like we need to start with your Olympic story for those that haven't heard it. So you won your gold medal in a two-man canoe doing slalom through white water, right? Yes. So talk about that experience and what that whole process taught you about focus and overcoming obstacles.

03:13 - 03:44

Joe Jacobi: You know, Rochelle, I think what the first thing that comes up for me about the sport experience is just how lucky I am to have I got hooked into a sport that truly is like a sport for life. This is still a sport I get to do today and I enjoy doing today, not in the same way, the same level. But I've met so many Olympians that when they finish their sport, they are just so done with it, they're over it, they just wanna get away from it. And I feel very lucky to be in a

03:44 - 04:21

Joe Jacobi: sport that is out in nature that involves aligning with the water. I guess you could just say it just changed my perspective on the way that I see building relationships with nature. The sport itself, I was really lucky. I grew up in the Washington DC area on the Potomac River. I don't think there are many Americans that would say it's lucky to be raised in the Washington DC these days. But it is lucky if you're an outdoor enthusiast. As far as the best Whitewater rivers in the United States tend to be in rural mountainous areas, but

04:21 - 04:57

Joe Jacobi: Washington DC is an exception. There's world-class whitewater just outside of the inner city and it's a beautiful place to paddle. When you're on the Potomac River you feel a million miles away from a big city and it was the perfect place to grow up and I was lucky to grow up with a lot of world champions world medalists and the legendary sport of the coach that they welcomed me into their community when I was 12 years old and by age 14, these amazing world-class paddlers, they were just like regular normal people that I was going to

04:57 - 04:59

Joe Jacobi: paddle with every day. Wow,

05:00 - 05:19

Rochelle Moulton: That's a very different experience than people like me who are not Olympians think of as the Olympic experience. You just think of it as this total immersion, work, work, work, work, work, and then when you hit the gold medal, that's it, you're done. Like gymnastics would be maybe an example of something like that.

05:19 - 06:01

Joe Jacobi: Yeah, I went to high school in Potomac, Maryland, and I had a fellow classmate, my graduating class who was Olympic gold medalist in the 200 meter breaststroke, Mike Bererman. And I talked with Mike just after the 1992 Olympics and the next Olympic games were in the United States in Atlanta in 1996. I just figured what gold medalist at 22 years old in the sport of swimming wouldn't go for it again. And he just kind of told me this story about up and down the black line, and there was no way he was doing that for 4

06:01 - 06:38

Joe Jacobi: more years. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I think finding that joy in the process is really important. For sure, there are people in gymnastics and swimming who find joy in the process, but I think there are also sports that I see today. I mean, it just hits me so quickly. Like when I see skiing or snowboarding or skateboarding or canoeing as an Olympic sport, I'm like, oh yeah, of course these people are going to continue. These are really fun sports that they feel great. You embrace your sense of your relationship with gravity and friction. And I think that's

06:38 - 07:03

Joe Jacobi: exciting. I think that it brings a lot of inner challenge. I do think that's special about canoeing, Rochelle, is that the sport has a person versus person effect, of course, like any sport, but there's also like person against nature and person against themselves. And I think when you combine those 3 levels of competition, you know, against 1 another, against yourself and with nature, it's

07:03 - 07:14

Rochelle Moulton: an awesome combination. Well, and if you're in a team sport, I don't know if you add that as another dimension, but I feel like it certainly adds a level of complexity to it.

07:14 - 07:53

Joe Jacobi: It's a great point and definitely worth digging into because I think in a canoe or a kayak, I think a lot of people imagine kind of strapping themselves into a boat and the boat is like an extension of yourself and it's like you and the water and you're trying to find this alignment and when you're with another person that throws in some very special dynamics of person to person communication as specifically nonverbal communication. So in the doubles canoe, the way Scott and I would work together, we would talk about a plan for navigating the river. But

07:53 - 08:28

Joe Jacobi: once it was time to paddle, I was in the back of the boat, Scott was in the front of the boat. So if you see 2 people in Whitewater Devil's Canoe speaking to each other, it's only because they've made mistakes and they're just trying to come up with a last-ditch effort to fix them. What really happens when things are going well is my partner Scott, he's reading the water and I in the back of the boat, I'm reading Scott. Like all these things that Scott is doing with his back, his shoulders, the way he's twisting his

08:28 - 09:02

Joe Jacobi: hand position on the paddle, all of it is sending signals to me about what he's trying to do with the boat. So I'm reading those signals that he's doing with the paddling, and then we work together based on that to paddle the best we can together. It wasn't really that we, I always tell people that we paddled so well together, it wasn't like we were the biggest, fastest, strongest. What we did better on the day of the Olympic Games was that we corrected mistakes better than the rest of the field, and we anticipated mistakes before they

09:02 - 09:35

Joe Jacobi: happened better than the rest of the field. It's like an unsexy way to tell you that's how we won the Olympics, but it changed my opinion about how two-person collaborations can achieve excellence in the world, that it's not by doing everything perfect. You can spend a lot of time on reducing mistakes, reducing resistance, reducing the jump that gets in the way. And not only can you have a good day, but you might have a day that lands you on the top step of the Olympic podium.

09:36 - 10:06

Rochelle Moulton: Wow. I mean, I've never thought about it that way, probably because I'm not a canoeist, but I'm picturing you sitting behind Scott and you're hyper focused on his body movements, right? And you're reacting to that. Okay, so I'm just curious. So if you popped Scott out and you put somebody else who was a world-class athlete as well in this sport, how would that change? I mean, you're still watching their body movement, but what of the partnership changes when the person changes?

10:06 - 10:41

Joe Jacobi: Well, it's a good question. You know, before we do that, I want to say something about my relationship with Scott before we pop someone else in the boat, which I think is important. I love to tell people this story that Scott and I were really different, especially at the time we started piling together. I mean, Scott was 24 and I was 17. He had graduated college. I hadn't graduated high school. He was introverted, analytical. I was extroverted and like super positive. Like we were really different. I like to tell people not 180 degrees difference, but 179.

10:41 - 11:22

Joe Jacobi: And I truly believe this, Rochelle, if we had been 175 degrees different, I don't think we would have won the Olympic Games. I think it's that diversity, those differences, and the ability to work through friction and differences and bring that together to create something special. It wasn't easy. It was actually very difficult at times, but I think that was an important part of it. And so that influenced my thoughts about leadership, my thoughts about teams. So when you talk about taking Scott out of the boat and putting someone else in, really what I'm thinking about is

11:23 - 12:03

Joe Jacobi: what can I do to compliment that other person in the boat that it's like in basketball, I'm throwing an alley-oop pass and just slam dunks are like the easiest baskets in the world? And I would want to give my doubles canoe partner like lots of slam dunks basically. And so there's, it's just a lot of setting themselves up, but it's a team philosophy and embracing what my roles and responsibilities are in the back of the boat to really make the job of the person in front of me shine through and really leverage their strengths and their

12:03 - 12:08

Joe Jacobi: best skills and perspectives to bring excellence towards what we're trying to do together.

12:08 - 12:28

Rochelle Moulton: I love that. I could feel the synergy in that as you were describing it. Now, Joe, do I remember correctly, did you tell me a story about when you came back from the gold medal, when you first came back to the US? I think you were gonna do some motivational speaking and you got some advice on this.

12:29 - 13:03

Joe Jacobi: Yeah, So this is cool. I mean, it's actually the, it's also the last story in the book of Solemn, but I think it is so helpful to soloists and thinking about how we present ourselves. So we were on the bus going to the closing ceremonies in Barcelona. And I mean, obviously, it felt good. We went to the Olympics, couldn't ask for any more than what we did. We won a gold medal. And the head coach of the Olympic team, Bill Endicott, turned to me and he said, So you're going back to the United States the day

13:03 - 13:32

Joe Jacobi: after tomorrow as a gold medalist. What are you going to do? What do you got planned? And I said, well, I'd love to do some motivational speaking. I've got a couple of things lined up already, and it would be a privilege and an honor to tell the story of our sport. And Bill said, that would be great. He goes, would you like some advice? As I coached Norm Bellingham to a gold medal 4 years earlier, I'll tell you what I told Norm. And I said, that would be great. And Bill said, listen, when you get back,

13:32 - 14:04

Joe Jacobi: you can stand on a stage with your Team USA uniform with a gold medal around your neck, and you could be a terrible speaker. You could just say blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And for a few weeks, people will go, Oh my gosh, that's so cool. You won the Olympic games. But he says it's human nature after that where people are going to say, Joe, that's great that you won a gold medal in the Olympic games, but how does that help me? Like how does your success help me? And Bill paused and he said, if you

14:04 - 14:39

Joe Jacobi: can answer that question, you'll tell the story as long as you want. And so Rochelle, I still tell this, I'm still telling the story today, not because like I love telling the story or I like talking about myself. But for literally 32 years now, I've been thinking of just the most creative ways to get people to care, why rivers and canoes and paddles and waves and currents, why you should care about them and how they will make your life better if you do care about them. And I've gotten pretty good at that after doing it for

14:39 - 14:59

Joe Jacobi: that long. And it's not so much that I'm doing the motivational speaking so much, but in my coaching and in podcast guesting like this or in my writing, it's such a great opportunity just to help people think about how they think in a very visual and a very feeling kind of way.

14:59 - 15:12

Rochelle Moulton: Hear, hear. It's mission status really. What we're talking about is a sense of mission about the river. And I actually got goosebumps when I heard you describe how you think about the river. So it's working.

15:13 - 15:47

Joe Jacobi: We're all navigating. That's the thing, Isley. I mean, that's even the idea behind Solem and thinking in waves is that it puts people in a sense of I think what's helpful about the river metaphor is that it really brings to mind very quickly what are you in control of, What are you not in control of? And how are we gonna manage the gap in between that? And that's it. And by the way, you're not gonna change the river. The river is going to do what the river is going to do. And whether you stop or take

15:47 - 16:25

Joe Jacobi: a break or get out or portage a rapid, the river doesn't care. The river is going to keep moving. But the river represents a tremendous amount of energy. And when you figure out how to harness that energy and to really create a narrative around it that works for you, you really start to see the path through these complicated rapids so much more clearly. And that's where something, a very unique story, a very unique adventure unfolds. It's in the middle

Productivity For Soloists

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0700

A quick Amazon search shows over 50,000 productivity titles—probably because as a society, we are obsessed with being productive. But what does productivity look like for Soloists?

My theory—and I’m curious for your experience—is that many Soloists approach productivity a bit differently:

My own (positive) experience with the classic Getting Things Done—and what seemed missing for Soloists (hint: joy + impact).

What happens when you lighten your cognitive load in organizing your work and life.

How some contemporary productivity books, especially Slow Productivity (Cal Newport) and 4,000 Weeks (Oliver Burkeman) are addressing a non-hustle and deeply satisfying way to work.

Why slow is often better than fast and less can be more.

The role of hitting your “enough” goal consistently in re-thinking how you want to work.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:50

Rochelle Moulton: Do fewer things at a reasonable pace with high quality. Slow it down so what we do matters more. Concentrate and obsess over quality. Hello, hello. Welcome to The Soloist Life, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I want to talk to you about productivity. I feel like there is a third rail here when we talk about soloists and productivity, because there is a whole school of thought that many of us have internalized, that productivity is about going 90 miles an hour and accomplishing an endless to-do list versus

00:50 - 01:29

Rochelle Moulton: productivity being about carefully choosing what you want to pay attention to so you can optimize your results. Optimize not maximize. So I love a good productivity book, you know, as much as the next consultant. And finally, just a few months ago, I read what many people consider the Bible, David Allen's Getting Things Done. I think I avoided reading it sooner, in part because it was old. I mean, even the updated version is almost 10 years old now, and technology has changed a lot. But I finally figured I'd give it a try. And let me tell you,

01:29 - 02:05

Rochelle Moulton: lots of it still applies even now. It did, however, feel more focused on a corporate executive type with an office and a staff, but nonetheless, I got plenty of useful advice. The main thing that hit me, maybe you could relate, was the cognitive load I was carrying from keeping too many open loops in my head. And the book helped me realize that I needed to not just get my projects all down in 1 place, and by the way, a project in getting things done land is anything with more than 2 steps. Okay? But it also needed

02:05 - 02:37

Rochelle Moulton: to identify at least 1 next action step for every project. So having both would give me a clear picture of what I wanted to get done. So I spent a few days vomiting everything in my head onto a master projects list for work, but also for my life because, you know, hey, we all have to manage both, right? And then it took a few more days because rando stuff would occur to me in the middle of doing something else, until finally I felt like I had a complete list of all of my projects. I had about

02:37 - 03:16

Rochelle Moulton: 75 of them, which apparently is not unusual. So I decided I needed an app for that, And I chose the paid version of Todoist.com because it seems simple and because I could share home tasks with my hubby. And I was super excited to sit down and start scheduling out all these projects. I jotted down at least 1 next action step for each 1, multiple steps for some bigger projects, and I was going to enter them all in Todoist. Right. I made it through scheduling maybe half a dozen next steps and it just did not feel right.

03:16 - 03:51

Rochelle Moulton: It felt like drudgery, even though some of the projects and action steps I was scheduling were going to be fun. And I'm the kind of person who loves a good list and feeling organized. So I stopped and paid attention to that emotion and I realized it was resistance to pre-scheduling every day. Because 1 of the things I adore about being a soloist is the flexibility to work on the things I want when I want. So I pivoted a little bit. I only put the big recurring things in my to-do list so I could take them off

03:51 - 04:33

Rochelle Moulton: my calendar, like my weekly Monday writing time, my podcast production items, some social media. And then I added monthly, quarterly, and annual things, Everything from the monthly package to send to my bookkeeper, to quarterly text filings, and advance notice of birthdays, so I get cards and gifts out on time. I kept all of my next action items with their respective projects. So instead of scheduling them on a calendar or with Todoist.com, I could just decide what I felt like working on when I had a bracket of time. Total game changer. I have a bird's eye view

04:33 - 05:07

Rochelle Moulton: of all of my projects and I can dedicate my energy to the ones that feel most important or call to me on a particular day. The next thing that this made me do was to get real about what I was actually going to do. And I just deleted some things because I knew I didn't want to do them ever. Even if doing them seemed like a good idea when I put them on the list. So the first thing that happened was I got some brain space back that I didn't even know I was using before. And

05:07 - 05:40

Rochelle Moulton: for those of you juggling lots of ideas and tasks, I know you can imagine what happens when the bees stop buzzing in your head. And then I got so excited by the time freed up in my calendar, I actually made a new product that I then launched a couple of weeks later. Pure experiment, pure joy. And the thing that was remarkable was that I didn't really have any more time than I had had before. It was simply quieting the voice in my head that said, you have too much to do to tackle anything else. So getting

05:40 - 06:18

Rochelle Moulton: things done definitely helped me to build structure around the holes in what I thought was already a very efficient system for managing my work and home lives. But even with his maybe someday list, which is a parking lot for the things you might like to do but haven't committed to yet, Getting things done still didn't get to the heart of the 2 most important things when I think about how productive any of us are. Deciding how to best focus our unique genius so that we're building a long-term body of work and a life that fulfills us.

06:19 - 07:00

Rochelle Moulton: And figuring out how to avoid falling into hustle, hustle, and then more hustle. Being productive is not about making a huge list and ticking things off. Even if, like me, you get a little thrill when you cross off a completed task. We don't want to get better and faster at doing everything on a list that isn't exactly what we want to invest in over the long term. And let's face it, even soloists can fill our list with other people's agendas and action items. We want to slow down and invest meaningfully in those activities that have deep

07:00 - 07:42

Rochelle Moulton: value to us. So I found myself exploring a series of books, some would call it Going Down a Rabbit Hole, that were either explicitly about productivity or struck me as productivity centered even if the titles didn't quite match up. The last 1 I read probably hit me the most, and that was Slow Productivity, the Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport. And shout out to Erica Goody for that recommendation. At its simplest, he espouses 3 ideas. Do fewer things, work at a natural pace, and obsess over quality. And those 3 just felt like they

07:42 - 08:21

Rochelle Moulton: jive so well with the soloist mindset and how we can distinguish ourselves with our body of work. It's really a terrific book, and I encourage you to read it for the examples he gives and the mindset he encourages. I also loved 4, 000 Weeks, Time Management for Mortals, and frankly, anything by its author, Oliver Berkman. He does a delicious job of making you realize we have only so many weeks to live, 4, 000 if we're lucky, and therefore can never ever get everything done we might want to do. So his message is, why try? Instead, double

08:21 - 09:00

Rochelle Moulton: down on what really matters to you in your life and in your work. Now obviously I'm not doing justice to a deep, rich book, but I'm trying to make a point. Both of these books are quite similar in their big idea that slow is better than fast and less can absolutely be more. I'm glad I read both, and if this topic speaks to you, I highly recommend them. But there's more. During the same few weeks I read Slow Productivity and 4, 000 Weeks, I also happened to reread Greg McCowen's Essentialism, The Disciplined Art of Doing Less,

09:00 - 09:45

Rochelle Moulton: which was published back in 2014. It wasn't marketed as a productivity book, but the message is the same. Do fewer things at a reasonable pace with high quality. Slow it down So what we do matters more. Concentrate and obsess over quality. It's kind of the essence of the soloist mindset, right? The anti-bro hustle model. It's been interesting stepping back after absorbing these books because I've been seeing the same trend with my one-to-one clients. Once they hit their enough revenue goal consistently, it's about going deeper, about having fewer offerings and consolidating their time so they can optimize

09:46 - 10:28

Rochelle Moulton: their impact, professionally, personally. It's like they're climbing Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the top of the pyramid. And that's why I wanted to start a conversation about productivity for soloists. Because when we're productive in a way that's joyful, and we're building our impact, doing our best work, that's when we're contributing at our very highest level. Working in your genius zone at Whatever pace is right for you not only feels amazing, but it's your highest best use out in the world. So I'd love to hear what you think on this topic and perhaps explore this some more

10:28 - 10:48

Rochelle Moulton: with a guest or 2 if this topic resonates with you. So shoot me an email to rm at Rochelle Moulton dot com if you've got something to say about this. I'll be putting links to each of the books I've mentioned in the show notes so you can check them out. Alrighty then. That's it for this episode. I hope you'll join us next time for the soloist life. Bye bye.

Building A $100 Million Business vs. Going Solo with Rob Fegan

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0700

When you’re focused on building a $100 million business with a co-founder, what could possibly make you peel off to become a Soloist? Consultant Rob Fegan shares how he pivoted from his first business to a highly profitable (and life-enhancing) Soloist consulting practice:

Why he transitioned from co-founding and growing their potentially $100 million business to become a Soloist.

The value of experimenting and failing—or succeeding—fast.

How he 5x’ed his prices in a single quarter by focusing on the value he was delivering to his ideal clients.

When to shoot for big leaps vs. incremental growth (and why you don’t necessarily need a big audience to build a 6-7 figure Soloist business).

How a failed experiment convinced him to double-down on his genius zone.

LINKS

Rob Fegan Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Rob Fegan is an author, speaker and the founder of Venvito Consulting. He is a highly sought-after expert and leading authority for Microsoft Partners. Rob is on a mission to help founders and individual contributors demystify the success formula to become a go-to partner working with Microsoft.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:30

Rob Fegan : For me, I'm focused on working with 5 to 10 clients throughout the year. My business is not set up to work with thousands of clients or even hundreds of clients. It's really finding the few clients that I can help and serve in a way that allows me to be really part of their business to help me grow their business versus trying to touch a lot of people with just a little bit of value.

00:35 - 01:07

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with Rob Fegan who is an author, speaker, and the founder of Venvido Consulting. He is a highly sought after expert and leading authority for Microsoft partners. Rob is on a mission to help founders and individual contributors demystify the success formula to become a go-to partner working with Microsoft. Rob, welcome.

01:08 - 01:11

Rob Fegan : Rochelle, thanks a lot. I'm excited for our conversation today.

01:12 - 01:42

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, me too. So there are all kinds of things we can talk about today. But the thing that most, I guess, captivated me the last time we talked was your story about becoming a soloist. So set the stage for us. So before you started soloing in 2022, You had a business and a business partner. So what was your plan together for that business? It started off in 2015 where my partner and I, we wanted to continue to grow.

01:42 - 02:18

Rob Fegan : We were both in the Microsoft ecosystem working for partners. And we realized that we had an approach that we thought was really unique in the market. So we created a company back in 2015 and we grew that to millions of dollars in revenue in a really short time. And so we were super passionate about what we were doing. We had a mission to get to $100 million was the goal for the company. And as we grew and as the problems got bigger and the numbers got bigger, My partner and I, we had a different approach or

02:18 - 02:42

Rob Fegan : a different view on how we were going to move forward from there. And it became a real challenge and something that I felt I knew what I wanted to do. I knew the mission I was on and we just couldn't see eye to eye on that. So I decided to move on from that business and to make the transition into a soloist career. So it was a huge change, but 1 that I don't regret for a second.

02:42 - 02:50

Rochelle Moulton: Well, now, refresh my memory on this. Was the 100 million, like, was that what you were planning? Like, that was your dream?

02:50 - 03:23

Rob Fegan : That was the goal that we had when we started the company back in 2015. That was our joint vision it was to get to this you know hundred million dollar mark and You know what? I don't think either of us had a good feel for was what that entailed and the sacrifices that we'd be making individually and as a partnership to get to that mark and so for me it was just a decision about how I was going to run my life and what I wanted from life, what I wanted from my business. And so it

03:23 - 03:25

Rob Fegan : was just a time to make a real change for me.

03:26 - 03:38

Rochelle Moulton: And can you talk just a little bit about the sacrifices? Like, is it about how you spend your time with employees, or was it the hours, the quality? How did you see the sacrifices you were making?

03:39 - 04:12

Rob Fegan : It was really all of the above. It was the amount of time I was spending in the business. It was the time away from my family. I was traveling a lot to grow the business, to spend time with employees, to recruit employees, to overall manage the entire business as we were growing and we were growing rapidly. So we were growing quarter over quarter. We had just excellent growth and consistent growth, but that came at a real price for me, for my family, and I didn't see that as being sustainable for me. I wanted something different that

04:12 - 04:38

Rob Fegan : gave me more control over how I approach life and the time I was able to dedicate to not only the business, but to my family and full disclosure, I love what I do. I loved what I did back then, but it was just getting away from me. It was becoming all consuming and I was losing sight of the things that were important across the board, not just business or just family, but living in sort of more holistic approach to life.

04:38 - 04:41

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, be careful what you wish for because you might get it, right?

04:41 - 04:55

Rob Fegan : Yeah, it was absolutely, oh, Michelle, that is such a great way to say that is that it was that It was, you know, careful what you wish for. We were ultra successful, but it came at a price that I didn't clearly appreciate when we set out on the business.

04:56 - 05:14

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, and if it makes you feel any better, I don't think anybody really does know, you know, until you're in it and you deal with employees and hiring and firing and traveling for clients I mean, it's it's I think a lot of that is hard to see ahead of time But it's really easy to see in the rear view,

05:14 - 05:15

Rob Fegan : right?

05:15 - 05:22

Rochelle Moulton: So once you severed your relationship with that business, so what did you do like immediately afterwards? What did you do next?

05:22 - 05:59

Rob Fegan : So immediately afterwards I am well it was March of 2020 when the When we actually separated company so oh goodness About some fortuitous timing so I took a little bit of time off. I think I took most of the pandemic off, which was nice. It was an amazing opportunity to spend time with my family. That was the first thing that happened. But by 2021, mid-2021, I was ready to get back at it. I was like, okay, I love what I did back then. I love being part of the larger ecosystem, the Microsoft ecosystem. And so I

05:59 - 06:30

Rob Fegan : was looking for a way to get back into it and just in a more balanced way, in a way that I had more control over what I would take on and what I would do and how I would do it. So I just started sticking my toe in the water of helping a few friends that had businesses in that same space, doing a little bit of coaching for them, just to kind of feel out if this was something that the market was going to be willing to bear, was having someone come in and coach founders, owners,

06:30 - 06:40

Rob Fegan : and sales leaders on how to partner with Microsoft. So now that's in the 2021 timeframe is when I started to dip my toe back in the water.

06:40 - 06:43

Rochelle Moulton: And then when did you actually start the business? Was that 2022?

06:44 - 07:17

Rob Fegan : It was, yeah. So by the end of 2021, I had had enough interest and enough people had said yes, just to even coming in and a lot of it was done pro bono and hindsight, I probably wouldn't do that again. I was like, wait, I've delivered a lot of value. But it really did give me the confidence to say there is a need in the market. And so come 2022, I decided to make a real legitimate go of building a practice around coaching Microsoft partners and founders of partners. So that was really when I decided, okay,

07:17 - 07:30

Rob Fegan : I have to start to think through what it's gonna take, who can I serve, how can I serve them? And I have to say there was lots of trial and error at the beginning, but overall. Shocker. Right?

07:32 - 07:41

Rochelle Moulton: Well, now I know you have a very, very successful business, Rob, but how long did it take you to hit your first 100K? Did you do that in your first year?

07:41 - 07:50

Rob Fegan : I did not. I did not hit 100K in the first year. I was, I think I finished the year around $75, 000 or $80, 000.

07:51 - 07:51

Rochelle Moulton: Okay,

07:52 - 08:19

Rob Fegan : so I sat back and thought, okay, I know how much value I'm bringing. I wasn't charging accordingly to the value I was bringing. So I made a concerted or I made a decision that I was going to change the entire pricing model for the business going into 2023. And so Q1 of 2023, I hit the $100, 000 mark in that first quarter.

08:19 - 08:19

Rochelle Moulton: That's quite

08:19 - 08:20

Rob Fegan : a change.

08:20 - 08:30

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So what did you do? Did you link your fees specifically to the value or did you just rethink them in terms of their overall value to your ideal client?

08:30 - 09:02

Rob Fegan : So I really, initially I just said, okay, I know I'm delivering more value, I'm going to up the price. And In the first quarter, I think I upped it 5 times Wow I was like, okay, you know, they said yes to that and didn't think it they didn't think twice so the next time I doubled it and the next customer did not bat an eyelash, they just said yes. So it took 5 times doubling my price to get to a point where I felt like, okay, now it's a real decision for them. They still see the

09:02 - 09:28

Rob Fegan : value. They see the additional value I can bring. I tell owners and founders and leaders is that if you do this right, you should be adding half a million to a million dollars in top of funnel activity for your salespeople in partnering with Microsoft. So that's a massive value for them. And so I'm always trying to think in the back of my head, whatever I charge, can I deliver 10x the value?

09:28 - 09:54

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I like that. I like that ratio. But the other thing I want to ask you is, and this is for people who are struggling with raising their prices with doubling their prices, never mind 5 Xing. Did you ever have to like have these conversations with yourself about, yes, I really can double this because I see this value and I can 10X the value of what they pay me? Did you have to have these sort of internal debates with yourself or did you just

09:55 - 10:20

Rob Fegan : do it? Oh my goodness, the first few times I literally, I would be arguing with myself, I think people must have thought I was crazy. I was like, I'd literally be like, no, you can't do that. There's no way. So I would just have these in my head going over and over that I can't say that number. I can't. Nobody would pay that number for this. And then I was like, okay, I'm just going to do it, no matter what they say. And so finally, I just said, okay, I'll do it. And by the third time,

10:20 - 10:49

Rob Fegan : I was like, okay. Now, every time they say yes, the next one's getting twice the price. Yeah. Until I got to that place where it was like, okay, they have to think much deeper about are they going to move forward with this? Do they really see the value? Do they really believe in, are they really committed? And that was the big thing that for me, I realized is that when I got to the right price, I was only working with people that were 100% committed to making this work. You know, when I first started, people will

10:49 - 11:11

Rob Fegan : be like, oh, well, it was, you know, it didn't work, no problem, just move on. Now I'm like, no, we need to do all these things together and to make this business work for you and to really leverage the Microsoft ecosystem. And when they got to that final pricing structure where I am today, now they're 100% committed to everyone will know it now.

11:11 - 11:41

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I mean, there's so much we could unpack there. And what's fascinating to me is this idea that you get better clients by increasing your prices. Now you're not doing that in a vacuum. You are relating those prices to the transformations you're producing. So I don't want to give the impression that anybody can just go out and 5X your prices and be fine, right? You've got to be delivering value, but when you do that, it literally can change overnight the quality of your clients.

11:41 - 12:09

Rob Fegan : Oh, that is so true, Rochelle. I can tell you today, I love working with the clients I'm working with today because they are so committed. They're equally as passionate about making the system work, their system work. They're equally as passionate about working in the Microsoft ecosystem. So it really did. The right people to me and me to them when I've got the right pricing structure and we're all committed 100% to making it work.

12:11 - 12:38

Rochelle Moulton: Love that. So 1 of the other things that really struck me since I've had a little bit of a front row seat to your business growth the last couple of years is how you seem to experiment with new ideas in your business. Like I have watched you grab an idea that you heard from somewhere like a podcast or a book and you go and run with it and you experiment and then you come back, like ready for the next thing. Will you talk a little bit more about the role of experimenting? We've talked a little bit

12:38 - 12:47

Rochelle Moulton: about it with pricing, but I think you've done some other experiments as well. Yeah, for me, and 1 of the big areas, Probably the most difficult area for me and the

12:47 - 13:27

Rob Fegan : experimentation that I had to go through here was in my Marketing efforts. I don't buy ads. I don't do any paid advertising for me I'm out there just educating my audience and part of what I invest in is LinkedIn. And so I started off and I was absolutely terrified of putting myself out there, but I watched people like yourself and like other consultants out there educating and delivering high value content on the platform specifically for me, LinkedIn. And I was like, that seems like it's got legs for me. It seems like what it's authentic and true

13:27 - 13:56

Rob Fegan : to who I am is I wanna be out there teaching. I'm not out there throwing offers out of, buy today, buy by 05:00. It's, no, just let me educate you, let me share some interesting facts or some interesting information. And so for me, just even getting onto the social media platform and the LinkedIn platform and showing up every day was a challenge. And then I would see more and more people sharing content via video. And I was terrified of that. I was absolutely like, no way, can't do it.

13:56 - 14:00

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, you're great on video. I've seen some of your videos. They're really good.

14:00 - 14:34

Rob Fegan : Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. But it was so terrifying for me. I was like, I can't do this. I mean, who would want to watch a video from me? And so, you know, the first time I did it was just the camera in my laptop and no audio, no lights, just really, really rough. But I just kept doing it, and I kept doing it over and over again, to the point now where I'm comfortable jumping on a video and having a conversation, sharing information. But for me, experimenting is so important. I don't profess

14:34 - 15:06

Rob Fegan : to know all the secrets to social media or building a business, but what I do know is that if I can find a good idea, and I'm a big fan of podcasts, reading, all these different mediums to find new ideas that I can try in my business and see what works. And I'm not afraid to kill them fast. If it doesn't work, it's gone. But if it works and if I see traction, even if it's traction slowly over time, I'm going to continue to invest in that and work on improving my skills in that area just

15:06 - 15:09

Rob Fegan : to help grow the business and help grow myself at the end

15:09 - 15:34

Rochelle Moulton: of the day. Yeah. And when I looked at your LinkedIn profile just before I got on and you had, I think, 6, 000 plus followers. So you really became highly visible within your niche in LinkedIn very fast. And do you think it was more about the content that you were sharing, the relationships you were developing, or was it sort of a blend of both?

15:34 - 15:59

Rob Fegan : That's a great question, and I will just, I'll say, when you say very fast, it was probably, the 6, 000 probably came in the last 90 days for the...

Acing Your First Year with Jacqui Miller

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0700

That first year after leaving corporate life can be tricky—do you say yes to most every opportunity or niche immediately and start saying no? Strategic communicator Jacqui Miller aced (by any measure) her first year as a Soloist and describes how she made it happen:

The surprising first thing she did when leaving her corporate job to start her expertise business.

Why she made the decision to niche right away—and then continued to niche down even more.

How she decides which clients to take on and which to refer (and why she’s a big believer in creating a circle of complementary professionals).

What to do when you hit an inflection point in your career/business where you’re “not practicing at the top of your license”.

The communication strategies that expanded her impact and relationships.

LINKS

Jacqui Miller Website | LinkedIn | On Thought Leadership

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jacqui is a communications professional with over 15 years of experience in early-stage and high-complexity businesses. Previously, she led communications at PillPack, a digital pharmacy, from the first customer through its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon. She's also launched moonshots at Google X, and helped bring to market the first genomic tumor test for personalized cancer treatment at Foundation Medicine.

Today, she works alongside founding teams to take the long view on communications as an executive function. Her philosophy is that the best PR strategy is ultimately just running a thoughtful business.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:23

Jacqui Miller: I had never in my in-house W2 career tried to grow a big team or even really have many direct reports. So it would have been a new thing for me to do to go and try to build a bigger team as a consultant. So it did feel pretty natural. And then Everybody would ask me, oh, are you starting an agency? Are you hiring people? Are you doing this? And I had to go through a little bit of a moment where I was like, is that what I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to be hiring these

00:23 - 00:28

Jacqui Miller: people? And was able to come out the other side of that and realize I'm quite happy as a soloist.

00:34 - 01:19

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Jacqui Miller, who's a communications pro with over 15 years of experience in early stage and high complexity businesses. Previously, she led communications at PillPack, a digital pharmacy, from the first customer through its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon. She's also launched Moonshots at Google X and helped bring to market the first genomic tumor test for personalized cancer treatment at Foundation Medicine. Today, she works alongside founding teams

01:19 - 01:31

Rochelle Moulton: to take the long view on communications as an executive function. Her philosophy is that the best PR strategy is ultimately just running a thoughtful business. Jackie, welcome.

01:32 - 01:34

Jacqui Miller: Thank you so much, Rochelle. I'm really happy to be here.

01:34 - 01:56

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I'm so excited. So 1 of the many reasons I invited you on the show is your powerhouse year number 1 experience as a soloist. So Why don't we start there? Maybe you could tell us about how you decided to leave your job and to go solo. How hard was it to exit and make that transition to owning your own

01:56 - 02:25

Jacqui Miller: business? Absolutely. So I do also have to say, Rachelle, I found your podcast early on and it has been so helpful to hear other folks who've made this jump. So it is really an honor to be here to share my story too. So I had a job, a full-time job, and you know, I'd been in the role for probably 6 months and I was starting to feel like this is not my genius zone. This is just not accessing the parts of my brain that I want. I don't think it's the right fit. So I had started

02:25 - 02:49

Jacqui Miller: thinking, what would it look like if I left? What would I do? I don't know, kind of poking around. And also feeling quite a bit of fear because I'd been there for just a short amount of time and obviously didn't want to kind of burn any bridges. And all of this was rolling around in my head. And then in the background also had, as you'd mentioned in the intro, I'd worked for a startup, had kind of a nest egg from that acquisition. So I knew I would be okay if it took me a minute to figure

02:49 - 03:19

Jacqui Miller: out the next thing. And 1 day I just, I had, I really frustrated. Something happened at work and I kind of had an out of body moment where I was like, you know, there's not that many opportunities in life where you get to make a decision based on your gut feeling and what you know is right for you. And this is not right for me and I'm gonna leave and I'm gonna figure out what the next best thing looks like for me. And so pretty rapidly, I closed up shop there and left everything in good shape.

03:19 - 03:22

Jacqui Miller: And the first thing I did, Michelle, was I went and I got a new headshot.

03:25 - 03:30

Rochelle Moulton: It's funny because that's the thing that everybody hates. They leave it to the very end. I love it.

03:30 - 03:51

Jacqui Miller: And as a communications and public relations person, I was like, you know what I think is going to make me feel confident about whatever I do next? It's having a brand new headshot on LinkedIn. So that Saturday after my last day at work, I went and I got my makeup done and got a new headshot. And I kind of just hung my shingle out in the proverbial sense on LinkedIn and started trying to figure it out.

03:51 - 04:00

Rochelle Moulton: So you didn't do the, oh, let me create this giant website and figure out the 2700 things I can do for you. You started on LinkedIn.

04:00 - 04:27

Jacqui Miller: I did. I think exactly what I did. I switched my role to working for myself. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of folks very early on who I'd sort of been talking to and they were like, if you become free, we have work for you to do. So I was fortunate enough to have that early on while I wrote my website and that sort of thing. And yeah, I just really started kind of putting it out there to folks in my network that I was available to do projects and would love to chat.

04:28 - 04:45

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. So, you know, I always ask people, you know, how long did it take to make your first 100, 000? And I know that you made over 100, 000 in your first year. So tell us how you experience like the financial side of your new business, especially compared to yourself as a salaried employee. Yeah,

04:46 - 05:19

Jacqui Miller: it's been wild. The pricing side was really intimidating to me at first. As an in-house person, I'd worked with agencies, I'd worked with a few soloists. I understood the value of what I could do. But putting together those earlier proposals, I was lucky to have a few friends who had kind of been here before me who were willing to look at them, but it was very overwhelming. But what I quickly figured out was when I'm doing my best work, it's very valuable to the companies. And in a full-time role at the level that I'd gotten to

05:19 - 05:45

Jacqui Miller: as a communications professional I hadn't been in a job for a while that was using kind of my full brain all of the time. So initially I was like oh is it okay to make this much money in a month? Am I overcharging? What am I doing? But I realized that the pricing structure as a soloist at a certain point in your career is really lucrative and fun because you're doing the things that You know at least for me that I find both the most challenging but also the most rewarding But that are also creating the

05:45 - 05:47

Jacqui Miller: most value for the folks I'm working with.

05:47 - 05:57

Rochelle Moulton: And it's funny that that would be a disconnect, right? Like I'm doing these things in my genius zone, they're worth a lot of money. Oh, I can charge a lot.

05:58 - 06:15

Jacqui Miller: Right, and I'm making 3 times as much as I was as a W2 employee, is that right? And when you think about it logically, it makes sense, but it was a strange realization for me. And then really exciting about what that meant for my earning potential and what kind of a lifestyle I could figure out while still having so much fun.

06:15 - 06:37

Rochelle Moulton: Well, and I just want to point out that, you know, mindset is so critical, right? And you just set a magic number, at least in my head, which is 3 times. So you got to a point where you were earning 3 times what you earned as an employee, using your full brain, doing what you love. Were you working as much as an employee, more or about the same?

06:37 - 07:01

Jacqui Miller: I will say I was working quite a bit more. Still, I would say in the first year, probably the biggest thing I need to still figure out is how to get to the number of hours I want to be working a week. You know, I'm not working. I have 2 small children, so they don't really allow me to work much more than maybe 35 or 40 hours. But I'd like to get to the point where I can just balance that a little bit better. So definitely working more, but I think also just feeling much more fulfilled

07:01 - 07:01

Jacqui Miller: by it.

07:01 - 07:04

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, it feels like a holistic approach to it.

07:04 - 07:14

Jacqui Miller: Absolutely. And just really excited to open my email and see what new things had come in and tackle the next project. I was just feeling energized in a way that I hadn't in quite a bit.

07:14 - 07:42

Rochelle Moulton: What a difference that is to be excited about the emails coming into your box. So when we first met, you'd already made the decision to niche, which in my experience is boldly unusual. Lots of folks spend that freshman year doing a little bit of everything and then regretting it in year 2. But you focused like right from the beginning. Tell us about that decision and how it played out where you decided to play in a specific niche.

07:42 - 08:17

Jacqui Miller: Yeah, it started out in part based on, you know, other communications professionals that I'd seen going off on their own. The ones that I was most inspired by, I felt like were being quite specific about what they were doing. Communications is a really broad field. It can fit into marketing. It can fit separate from marketing. It can be just public relations. It can be just internal communications. It's a very broad area of expertise. And as I kind of looked around at other folks who were doing this soloist thing or building small agencies, I was really inspired

08:17 - 08:46

Jacqui Miller: by the people who were saying, you know, quite specifically, we are doing this thing for this industry in this way. So I wanted to get to that as quickly as possible. And I also, you know, having been in house and running these functions inside of businesses for so long, I really had a good understanding of what makes for a good soloist consultant offering in terms of what sort of things you can have somebody like that take on successfully. So those 2 experiences helped me feel more confident and offering a tighter range of services when I first

08:46 - 08:46

Jacqui Miller: started.

08:46 - 09:03

Rochelle Moulton: Well, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but as I'm listening to you, it sounds like you've got a point of view, whether you've fully articulated in writing or not. Is that the case? Yes. Any point of view in terms of communications, in terms of how it impacts clients, the way that it works best.

09:03 - 09:37

Jacqui Miller: Definitely. I would say I'm very passionate about the idea that communications cannot be fully outsourced, nor should it be. I actually, as I've gotten further into this first year of business, I've niched even more than I think the first time we talked, into really thinking about engagements as working with very, very early stage companies who, you know, it's still the founder and a small team. And then there's kind of this valley where I think a lot of companies and startups especially, it was the majority of folks I work with are venture-backed startups, where they kind of

09:37 - 10:07

Jacqui Miller: try to fake it for a while on the communication side and they don't quite want to hire the expertise so they're trying to fill the gaps with somebody in marketing or a PR agency. I get really passionate about talking to those folks and telling them, just go hire someone who loves to write and has high judgment and bring them in house and let them work with you and trust them and give them the tools they need to really guide the business. We live in a world where reputation is everything. That person doesn't need to be super

10:07 - 10:31

Jacqui Miller: senior, but you do need someone who's looking out for the reputation of the business. It's a little ironic that that's my strong point of view, because then I'm here as a consultant. But I think having that point of view helps me give clients really good advice. And then I can tell them, they're like, OK, great. So what can you do for us? And then I can talk about kind of the range of things that I can do either before you hire that person to set them up for success or after you've hired them to be a

10:31 - 10:38

Jacqui Miller: thought partner and a coach and an extra set of hands when they need it, but mostly helping them figure out how to grow that role within the business.

10:39 - 11:12

Rochelle Moulton: Well, 1 of the advantages of taking that position is that you're doing 2 things at the same time. 1 is you're telling them to essentially get a trusted advisor that they hire to keep on staff. And the other is by saying the opposite of what many other people would say in order to get work, you have built more trust in that initial engagement. Yeah. So yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. So moving forward though, what do you see is the revenue potential for this business from where you are now? So where you are now, 3

11:12 - 11:24

Rochelle Moulton: times what you were making as an employee, Are you picturing that you can double your revenue, triple a much bigger multiplier? Where do you see the business going?

11:24 - 11:53

Jacqui Miller: Yeah, it's a good question. And I'm influenced by people you've had on the podcast before, and I'll name drop them because people should go listen to their episodes. But I remember Erica Goodie's episode, you talked to Heather Welpley and Katie Burkhart, and they all had these amazing points about how they make their business and their financial goals really work for their lives as a whole. And that's the thing I think I'm trying to figure out. And I don't know yet what that looks like for me. I think I'd love to kind of toggle the pricing levers

11:53 - 12:04

Jacqui Miller: and the services levers, and then what other things are important in my life to figure that out. But it has been a lot of fun, I think, in year 1 to just really go for it and see what I can do if I'm firing on all cylinders.

12:04 - 12:18

Rochelle Moulton: And it's also, it's a little unfair of me to ask you that question at the end of year 1. Right? But sometimes you just see a clear path ahead. Well, do you see adding employees at some point or have you become a confirmed soloist?

12:19 - 12:39

Jacqui Miller: I'm pretty sure I'm a confirmed soloist. I just don't get as much enjoyment out of managing people. And I've actually I've got a couple proposals out right now where I've brought in colleagues or peers who do similar things and proposing, you know, we can, we can work together to do all of the things that you need. But it's really fun to only report to myself.

12:40 - 12:40

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

12:40 - 12:51

Jacqui Miller: And for me, I think it helps me be more in my genius zone more often when I'm not also trying to delegate and figure out who's going to do what. And I get to focus on the projects that I feel like are best fit for my expertise.

12:52 - 13:08

Rochelle Moulton: I'm just curious, when you first left the corporate environment, did you know that at the beginning? Because sometimes people will say, oh, yeah, I was in corporate and I was managing a bunch of employees and I just realized it just wasn't for me Or is this something that kind of grew on you gradually as you figured out your genius zone?

13:08 - 13:40

Jacqui Miller: I've always known that I really enjoy being an executive level individual contributor And I think that's kind of a rarefied position. And I was very fortunate to be able to do that for quite some time, where I didn't have a team and manage people. And I got to sit at the table and have my thoughts and go and do my work. And I really...

Birthing (and Monetizing) Your Authority Podcast with Alastair McDermott

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0700

You’ve been thinking about starting a podcast (or are just not happy with how yours is converting into leads and revenue). Prolific podcaster, author and coach Alastair McDermott shares how he created and runs multiple ongoing and evergreen podcasts:

Why you’ll need to start before you’re ready (and the advantages of failing faster).

How you might use an evergreen limited run podcast to fill a hole in your existing content or warm up your prospects.

Why the podcast you start may not be the one you end up with (hint: it’s normal to shift as you gain experience with the medium and your message).

Podcasting as a way to scale your business—what traction looks like and how long it takes to get it.

LINKS

Alastair McDermott LinkedIn | Amazon | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Alastair McDermott helps independent experts & consultants to earn more by rapidly building authority and visibility so that you can command premium fees, work less hours, and never have to suffer a bad-fit client again!

Alastair is an author, consultant & business coach. He hosts The Recognized Authority podcast, and has written a number of practical guides to building authority through content creation.

His most recent book is “33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast“ and he is currently working on his next book: “Recognized: How to Win & Retain High-Ticket Clients by Becoming the Prominent Authority in Your Field“.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:17

Alastair McDermott: I strongly believe in not waiting too long before you start. Like don't wait till you feel ready. You know, start before you feel ready because you'll never truly feel ready. So there's a bit of that to it. But ultimately, I figured if I could make something that would interest somebody like me, then I would get people listening to it or watching it.

00:22 - 01:00

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life Podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with my pal Alistair McDermott who helps experts to become known as the recognized authority in your field so you can command premium fees, work less hours, and never have to suffer a bad fit client again. Now he hosts the Recognize Authority podcast and he's written a number of practical guides to building authority, including 33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business podcast, which by the way, I'm

01:00 - 01:14

Rochelle Moulton: proud to have written the forward for and he is currently working on his next book Recognized how to win and retain high ticket clients by becoming the prominent authority in your field Love that title Alastair welcome.

01:15 - 01:19

Alastair McDermott: Well Rochelle. Thank you so much for having me on the show. It's great to be chatting with you again.

01:19 - 01:50

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, I'm so excited. It's been a while. It's been a while since we've talked. So 1 of the reasons that I wanted to have you on the show is to talk about, well, a little bit about how you're birthing your newest podcast. But what folks may not realize is that you went from no podcast in, I think, 2021 to once this newest gets off the ground, I started to say 5, but then we talked in the green room, maybe it's 7. You have a lot of audio options. So let's start there. I mean, when did you

01:50 - 01:52

Rochelle Moulton: start your first podcast?

01:53 - 02:21

Alastair McDermott: Well, I first started planning it in July of 2014. And this goes back to the kind of the origin story of all of this. Back in July of 2014, I went quite a long way down the route of planning a podcast to the point of having written intro scripts, outro scripts, and having hired a voiceover artist to record the audio for those. I had this fairly far down the road of planning. And then I realized that I had a business problem in that I wasn't niched down enough and that the podcast that I was planning was

02:21 - 02:51

Alastair McDermott: going to be garbage because it was going to be so bland, because it was going to be trying to address everybody. So I realized then that I had a business problem that I wasn't niched down enough or niched down enough and I needed to specialize. And so that took me down the rabbit hole of doing that which probably took me another 6 years or so to execute and so I finally started planning in earnest in 20 20 launch in 20 21 so I think I begin this world record for 7 years and 77 years to launch

02:51 - 02:52

Alastair McDermott: a podcast.

02:54 - 03:04

Rochelle Moulton: Well, and when you say that it took you that long to niche down, is it really that you were experimenting and trying to make sure that you had a viable business model? Was that like the 6 years, how you spent that?

03:04 - 03:31

Alastair McDermott: Yeah, that was a lot of it. So I hate to admit this, but it took me 2 or 3 years to fully comprehend what the problem really was. And then once I understood that, it took me another probably 3 years to execute on it. There's a lot of fears associated with niching down. I talked about this on 1 of my podcasts, the specialization podcast, and there's a lot of fears that hold you back from doing it, being afraid of picking the wrong thing, you know, and so I didn't do it for a long time and then

03:31 - 03:37

Alastair McDermott: I said okay I've got to do this, you know, so I eventually did but yeah I wish that I'd been able to execute that a bit quicker.

03:38 - 04:05

Rochelle Moulton: Well, you know, it's 1 of those things that it's really hard to do for yourself. It takes what it takes sometimes. You know, sometimes we can get lucky and find the right person to help us along the path. But it does take a while for the record. I think you were really smart to wait until you figured out kind of who you wanted to be before you poured all the energy into, into this podcast. But so once you decided you were going to do it, Like what was your strategy for the podcast? How did you see

04:05 - 04:07

Rochelle Moulton: it adding to your authority and growing your business?

04:08 - 04:15

Alastair McDermott: Well, my initial strategy was I like podcasts and I want to create a podcast. And that was about as far as it went.

04:17 - 04:18

Rochelle Moulton: I like it and I'm going to do it.

04:19 - 04:49

Alastair McDermott: That's pretty much it. It was, I like this topic. I would like to talk to people about this topic and I want to make it for people like me. That's kind of what I wanted to do. And that's a fairly basic strategy, but it was good enough to get started. And I strongly believe, ironically, I strongly believe in not waiting too long before you start. Like, don't wait till you feel ready. You know, start before you feel ready because you'll never truly feel ready. Yeah, so there's a bit of that to it. But ultimately, I figured

04:49 - 04:54

Alastair McDermott: if I could make something that would interest somebody like me, then I would get people listening to it or watching it.

04:54 - 05:21

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. Okay, that makes sense to me. So I just want to reiterate, you know, start before you're ready, because it does feel like a big leap. And then after a while, you're like, what did I wait for? This is way easier than I thought. So walk us through how you actually got that first podcast off the ground. I remember that's around the time that I met you, because I think you'd asked me to guest on that 1, if I remember rightly. So how did you get there? How did you get it off the ground?

05:21 - 05:49

Alastair McDermott: Yeah, that's right. You and Jonathan were some of the first guests I brought on. So I had been listening to a lot of podcasts. I think that actually helps. I think the people who listen to a lot of podcasts make for good podcasts just naturally because we know what we like to listen to. So I think that helped a lot. I had some pretty strong ideas about what I wanted to do and didn't want to do. So I laid out a plan for the first, I think, 15 or 20 episodes. And I created a pretty full

05:50 - 06:18

Alastair McDermott: FAQ page for guests and planning that out actually helped me to like, I try to figure out what are all of the questions that a guest might have for me about the podcast. And that allowed me to plan the podcast. I didn't have a lot of external resources, but I think that I had listened to so many podcasts at that point that I knew roughly what I was doing. Then I created a spreadsheet because I use spreadsheets for everything. I have a planning spreadsheet that has tons of stuff in there. I created like a workflow, what

06:18 - 06:33

Alastair McDermott: the workflow of recording and editing might look like. And I put in a bunch of guests who I would want to have on. And then I started reaching out to them like you and Jonathan. So I asked Jonathan for an introduction to you, for example, because I had worked with him as a coach.

06:33 - 06:35

Rochelle Moulton: That's right. I remember that now.

06:36 - 06:59

Alastair McDermott: In fact, now that I say that, I had a coaching call with him specifically about planning a podcast. So he was 1 of those people who I talked to. I also spoke with some other folks who were podcast experts. I just did coaching calls. 1 of the great things about there's a lot of coaches out there where you can just do a one-off call with them, pay for an hour of their time and you know soak in their expertise and I did that with I think 2 or 3 different people so that probably helped a lot.

06:59 - 07:08

Alastair McDermott: I did have a lot of the planning done and it was more about getting their feedback on the plan that I had in place and just kind of shaping it up a bit, but that really helped.

07:08 - 07:18

Rochelle Moulton: Well, and of course, 1 of the questions that non-techies always ask is, you know, how am I going to get this edited? Did you, When you first started, did you do it yourself or did you outsource it immediately?

07:19 - 07:48

Alastair McDermott: So at the very start I did it myself and I had enough skills to do that. It's not something I'd really recommend to people because I think that it's not a good use of your time if you're an expert, if you're a business leader. Your time is probably more valuable than you shouldn't really be doing the editing. And then later on, for season 2 of the podcast, season 1 of the podcast was the first 100 episodes, season 2 was from 100 on, I decided to go to a live stream model, so where I do all of

07:48 - 08:15

Alastair McDermott: the interviews live and I don't do any editing so I kind of took the editing step out of the workflow altogether. But I did that for a different reason. The reason I did that was because I was procrastinating about doing video because I recorded loads of video. I had videos from almost every interview I've done, but I wasn't publishing it. And I realized that I was missing a trick because I didn't have the video. I wasn't able to do all the social media clips that you see people doing and not having video, I think. So I

08:15 - 08:34

Alastair McDermott: said, okay, how do I do the video? Well, I'm procrastinating about this So if I do the interviews live and everybody knows it's a it's being live streamed So there's no editing it is what it is. Then I just removed that editing step altogether So that was how I did that later, But that was only after I'd done a lot. So I think I had that confidence from earlier.

08:34 - 08:45

Rochelle Moulton: But what I love about your solution is, okay, I've got this block. I know I'm not going to get over this easily, so I'm going to pivot and I'm just going to publish them live.

08:45 - 08:45

Alastair McDermott: Yeah.

08:45 - 09:01

Rochelle Moulton: I love it. In fact, I remember now, somebody in my circle that I'd introduced you to was recording on your show, and she didn't know it was going to be live streamed. It was really funny. She loved it though. She absolutely loved it. So, I think it's a great solution.

09:01 - 09:04

Alastair McDermott: Yeah, and she didn't read the FAQ page.

09:04 - 09:06

Rochelle Moulton: Probably, yeah, probably. That's right.

09:06 - 09:32

Alastair McDermott: Like I have the recording, the live recording. I have that process down after doing it so many times. Like the recognized authority is at episode 163, and then there's all of the other episodes. So I've done this quite a bit now at this point, but you can, on a live stream, you can actually do all of the things that you can do when you're editing a podcast. So I have a cold open now where it's a cold open on the live stream, and then I play the intro, and then I introduce the guests, and then I

09:32 - 09:40

Alastair McDermott: have the guests join me. And I can do, I can replicate all of that on a live stream now so it gives a very similar experience that if it was actually edited.

09:40 - 09:49

Rochelle Moulton: Well I also I'm just you know interpreting from what you're saying is that you've got a process that you follow I'm imagining since you're a spreadsheet guy, you have a checklist.

09:50 - 10:01

Alastair McDermott: I'm like Jonathan, I'm a former software engineer. So I'm very process driven. Yes. So I have workflows and you know what, like I have a documented workflow.

10:01 - 10:01

Rochelle Moulton: Yes.

10:01 - 10:25

Alastair McDermott: And I have SOPs. I also have a full-time assistant as she's been working with me for 3 years now So that that helps as well. It means that I'm I'm not doing a lot of the grunt work I'm able to to hand off a lot of that stuff as well, which really helps with you know with the publishing of the episodes and things like that. Yeah, I think having a solid workflow, figuring it out, I mean, you don't have that at the start. You have to experiment a little bit and figure out what works for you,

10:25 - 10:38

Alastair McDermott: what doesn't work for you. That's where I think it goes back to start before you're ready, because you will have to make mistakes and figure things out as you go. And if you wait until you feel ready, you're still probably going to go through that learning process anyway. So you might as well just get started with that now.

10:39 - 11:12

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, yeah. I mean, the kind of SOP that I wrote for the first few episodes, I think I changed probably 25% of it after maybe 5 episodes. And I'm still tweaking it. You know, it just takes a while to get into this sort of dance of doing it where it's comfortable. So, Alistair, how long did it take you to get traction? And by traction, I mean, you know, building a listener base, getting people to review you, getting the guests that you wanted. Like, do you remember how long that kind of took you?

11:12 - 11:42

Alastair McDermott: I'd say it took to get traction to the point where I was happy with it. I'd say it took me about 30 episodes, 40 episodes. And at that point, like I was able to bring on some pretty high profile people in my world. Like I was able to get Alan Weiss to come on, for example, David C. Baker, Chris Doe, you, people like that. So, and so I was able, like, for example, I put this in the book, I was able to invite Chris Doe on by saying, Hey, Chris, you know, do you know what you

11:42 - 12:14

Alastair McDermott: don't have in common with Alan Weiss, David C. Baker, Ron Baker, and all these other people. I said, you haven't been on my podcast yet. And he replied in 5 minutes and said, sure, let me book in. And that was because it's because when you start to get some people on, you can then name drop those people to get the next people on and kind of hopscotch your way up the food chain, as it were. So you get higher and higher profile people. So yeah, really, I've had Bob Burg on, people like that. And by the

12:14 - 12:36

Alastair McDermott: way, those super high profile people don't necessarily get the most podcast listens or downloads or even share it sometimes. So there is that aspect of it. It's not just about getting high profile people to access their audience. Sometimes it's the smaller people who don't have as big an audience, but who want to help share the episode as much as possible because they're not doing a podcast interview every week.

12:36 - 13:07

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, exactly. I've seen that in both of our podcasts. There's certain ones where it's incredible, the attraction you can get. And then the ones with this big name, you think everybody's gonna be listening and it's kind of like, and they didn't share it with their audience because they do so many. Yeah, it's

Doubling Revenue In A Single Year with Mike Ryan

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Moving from a job in big corporate to building a soloist expertise business is a bit of an adjustment. Consultant Mike Ryan turned his sweet spot into a thriving business and last year doubled his already significant revenue—he shares his story:

The transition from being a buyer to becoming the seller—and how he built his referral “machine” (hint: cold calling didn’t work).

Why he ignored advice to grow by hiring employees—and what he did instead.

The two things that first accelerated and then doubled his revenue.

Why understanding the relationship between fees and value for his clients was a major turning point in his business.

How to resist the temptation to dial back after a 230% growth year and keep thinking bigger.

LINKS

Mike Ryan Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Mike Ryan is an expert in solving supply chain and inventory challenges for middle-market manufacturers. He quickly analyzes complex issues, generates cash, and improves EBITDA to deliver repeatable results.

With over 20 years of experience working for companies like GE and Goodyear, he tailors blue-chip best practices to help manufacturers achieve their goals.

WORK WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:29

Mike Ryan: There were 2 things at play. 1 was figuring out how to work in parallel, work with multiple clients at the same time, which was definitely a mindset shift. And the second 1 was being confident and having the confidence to be able to look at a client and say, hey, here’s the value we are going to unlock in your business. The beautiful thing about the work that I do is it’s all measurable. Here’s the value we expect to unlock.

00:34 – 01:17

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with Mike Ryan, who is an expert in solving supply chain and inventory challenges for middle market manufacturers. He quickly analyzes complex issues, generates cash, and improves EBITDA to deliver repeatable results. With over 20 years of experience working for companies like GE and Goodyear, he tailors blue chip best practices to help manufacturers achieve their goals. He is also a super smart and generous guy, so I’m delighted to

01:17 – 01:18

Rochelle Moulton: have him on the show. Mike, welcome.

01:19 – 01:21

Mike Ryan: Thank you, Rachelle. Thank you for having me.

01:21 – 01:31

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I’m delighted. I’m delighted. So you and I have been in each other’s orbit for a few years through my other podcast, The Business of Authority, and we’ve had some rather eye-opening discussions over the

01:31 – 01:33

Mike Ryan: years. We

01:33 – 01:56

Rochelle Moulton: have. But our last chat made me realize that I had to have you on this show because you broke a significant revenue barrier that many ex-corporados struggle with when they go solo. So I thought we could start there. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So how did you come to create your business? Was it always intended to be solo, or did you flirt with hiring employees? What was your plan?

01:57 – 02:42

Mike Ryan: So the plan for my business and really kind of the genesis was I realized that through consulting, instead of being tethered or obligated to 1 business, I could help multiple businesses. So that was the thought process behind it. And when it came to figuring out my niche, really where I started was I looked back through 20 years of resumes through all the supply chain and operations experience. And what I realized was I had a knack for freeing up cash by fixing supply chains. So that’s how I decided to focus in on helping middle market manufacturers solve

02:42 – 02:44

Mike Ryan: supply chain inventory problems.

02:44 – 02:52

Rochelle Moulton: I love that You targeted your genius zone, right? And how long did it take you to hit your first $100, 000 a year?

02:53 – 03:37

Mike Ryan: Ooh, that’s a great question. So I hit it year 1. Part of it was had a relationship, got into a business that was being cleaned up for sale. So I hit it the first year, but I missed it the second year. And it’s been said the lessons you pay for the ones you remember. And with that, I mean, it was a 9 month engagement. I was fat dumb and happy ringing the bell, getting paid, making great money. And when that engagement wrapped, What I realized was, oh, sugar, I haven’t had a single business development conversation in

03:37 – 03:48

Mike Ryan: 6 months. So that second year, I did not crack $100, 000 and then got back up years 3 and 4 back over that first hurdle.

03:48 – 04:03

Rochelle Moulton: Was there a panic in year 2? Because what you describe is not that uncommon, right? The first year you find a good whale client and it’s so easy not to do all the spade work of business development because, as you said, fat, dumb, and

04:03 – 04:19

Mike Ryan: happy. For me, it was the realization that no matter how engaged I am with a client, I have to set aside time to keep conversations going and keep relationships moving.

04:19 – 04:25

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, so when you started your business, did you already have all the contacts you needed from

04:25 – 05:01

Mike Ryan: your corporate jobs, or were you going out and finding new contacts? New contacts, cold. I mean, I had been corporate for 20 years, GE and Goodyear. And it’s interesting because it’s kind of a bubble. So once I got outside of the corporate role, my first client, they were private equity owned, was able to get to know the operating partner, sort of the bridge between the PE and the business. And it was the operating partner who exposed me to the PE. And that’s where I realized private equity is going to be a huge source of referrals for

05:01 – 05:27

Mike Ryan: me. So it was figuring out where to fish and 2, then ended up creating a middle market networking group in Northeast Ohio. And the spirit of the group was really just helping good people connect. And it was through that combination of doing work with and for the private equity and the middle market networking group that helped me expand my sphere.

05:28 – 05:33

Rochelle Moulton: So, can I take that to mean that you did both the in-person piece in Ohio, but also virtual?

05:33 – 05:35

Mike Ryan: Yes, absolutely.

05:35 – 05:45

Rochelle Moulton: Okay, I love that because we almost never hear about people doing like actually in-person local networking anymore, but it sounds like you were able to use that to kind

05:45 – 06:26

Mike Ryan: of worm your way into the middle market space? Absolutely. I mean, pre-COVID, our last event before COVID, we had something like 65 people. And the list at that point was maybe 250 people, and we would rotate the list. And what we found was 65 people was too many to have a conversation with any meeting. So through COVID, that forced us really to be much more intentional about who we invited to the events. And what we found was 25 to 30 people really became the sweet spot where you’re gonna meet somebody new there’s gonna be a few

06:26 – 06:34

Mike Ryan: familiar faces but everybody can have a decent conversation without feeling like they had you know a football field to cover.

06:34 – 06:59

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah yeah I can see how that would evolve. Well, you kind of glossed over something that I sort of imagine our listeners saying, what, cold calls? Cold calls? Talk a little bit about, especially since you didn’t think of yourself as being a sales person. So how did you do those cold calls? Did you literally pick up the phone and call them or did you have a different process?

07:00 – 07:41

Mike Ryan: No. I think I tried 3 cold calls. I’m like, this is not who I am. What I learned was, I guess, first is refining that fishing line of, I help X with Y, being very, very concise about it. As I met people, whether it was just, you know, Northeast Ohio or through the private equity and their portfolio companies, it was asking them, Hey, you know, is there somebody else I should talk to? Or is there somebody else interesting that you know?” And wherever possible, I try to make it a warm introduction or a warm connection because

07:41 – 07:59

Mike Ryan: to me, I’m always open. I don’t have a call with anybody. I’m happy to help. But at some point, it’s, hey, I need to make sure I’m fishing where the fish are and really focus my time on people that either I could help or potentially they could make introductions for me.

08:00 – 08:18

Rochelle Moulton: I like that. I just want to point that out to listeners, this idea that when you have a conversation and you’re providing value to the person on the other end, and then when you’re done, you say, is there somebody else that you think I should talk to, is a very low key way to expand your network because they can just say, no, can’t think of anybody.

08:18 – 08:20

Mike Ryan: Yep, which is okay, yeah.

08:20 – 08:24

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, but most times people will come up with somebody that they think you should meet.

08:24 – 08:24

Mike Ryan: Agreed,

08:24 – 08:33

Rochelle Moulton: yes. So Mike, as long as we’ve been connected, you’ve been pretty active on LinkedIn. Is that where you generate your leads now?

08:34 – 09:16

Mike Ryan: LinkedIn is a way for me to stay engaged and stay visible. At this point, most of my leads come through referrals. So it either comes through primarily through private equity channels where, hey, Mike, I heard you helped company XYZ, we’re having a similar problem, can we have a conversation? So a good portion of my work now is either referrals or repeat client work, where I’ve got a client from 3 years ago that said, hey, we need your help again. Can you help us? So it’s, I would say it leans heavily towards referrals And LinkedIn is a

09:16 – 09:26

Mike Ryan: way to stay visible. And as I work with clients who are active on LinkedIn, it’s another way for me to engage with them and help support them.

09:26 – 09:54

Rochelle Moulton: Got it, got it. And you know, it’s funny because People have a love-hate relationship with referrals, but when you’re doing a high-end service for corporate or in this case, private equity, and you build a reputation, you literally can get ongoing work from referrals and not have to spend a lot of time on business development once you’ve created the machine. And of course, I’m sure your second year, you were scratching your head trying to figure out how

09:54 – 10:29

Mike Ryan: you were ever going to create the machine. Yes. Right? And it is. I mean, Rochelle, you’re absolutely right. Creating that machine, nurturing the machine. I don’t know if I’m stretching the analogy too far, but keeping it fed and oiled, that’s the thing. Because if the machine stops running, there’s a lag. It could be 3 months, it could be 6 months, but all of a sudden the phone stops ringing. So keeping that machine going, even if it’s low key, just maintaining that momentum, right, that helps me 6 months a year and further down the road.

10:29 – 10:46

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, there’s always a point where like we could just stop feeding the machine. But to your point, at some point it runs out. If we’re really good and really lucky, it can go quite a while. But it takes so little to nurture it on an ongoing basis. Like why would you stop?

10:46 – 10:47

Mike Ryan: Yeah, I agree.

10:47 – 11:18

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So it was an experience you told me about I would just love for you to share with listeners. And it was a while back and you told me about this experience from your mastermind. And I think it’s instructive for people who are trying to figure out their ultimate end game, whether that’s the sale of a business or retirement or just paying for a whole lot of college tuitions. If I remember the story correctly, you told your group that you wanted to have $3 million in your pocket in 10 years. And

11:18 – 12:00

Mike Ryan: their advice was? Go hire a whole bunch of people. That for me, the way I look at it, I’ve got blessed with a wife and 4 children. I am happy with that responsibility, right? Keeping my family fed and a roof over our head. For me, hiring an employee is a huge responsibility because not only am I responsible for my family, now I’m potentially responsible for somebody else’s family. So what I’ve done and how I’ve helped with bandwidth and capacity is I have a network of trusted advisors where if somebody needs help with the voice of a

12:00 – 12:33

Mike Ryan: customer, I’m going to call Dave Loomis. EOS, I’m going to call Kimberly Dyer. So I’ve got different areas that are adjacent. In most cases, they have solo businesses themselves, so they’re not dependent on necessarily revenue from me and they understand, hey, I absolutely will call you when the opportunity arises. And having that flexibility by hiring other contractors or other soloists has worked very, very well. Well, the responsibility is

12:33 – 13:09

Rochelle Moulton: so different. So if you don’t call them in 2024 and give them an assignment, they’re not gonna starve. You’re not gonna feel guilty that you haven’t created opportunities for them. It’s that, I think it’s that psychological or emotional component that people with integrity realize when not always right away but once you actually have people on the payroll you’re like oh I’m responsible and so yes I have to lead these employees they have to create the conditions for them to be successful and for us to be successful together. It’s just a whole different ball of wax. But

13:09 – 13:42

Rochelle Moulton: what I remembered at the time was that the idea was, okay, hire a bunch of people, build up your business, and then sell it at the end of 10 years for $3 million. And the other part of that, that’s really the fallacy is that the market will be ready to buy that at that price when you get to that point. I mean, 1, you might not get there to the market might have changed dramatically. I think when I sold my company 6 months later, the deals were a lot smaller. It was literally like half, some of

13:42 – 14:02

Rochelle Moulton: the deals were half the size of ours for the same kind of situation. So yeah, it’s difficult and it’s more dicey versus, okay, well, so if I wanna have $300, 000 or $3 million in 10 years, then if I make $600, 000 and keep half of it, I’m there.

14:02 – 14:20

Mike Ryan: Right. Yeah. And that’s right. There’s there’s multiple ways to get to that destination. You know, I’ve kept that bogey in mind year over year over year and figuring out, you know, how do I break through the next revenue hurdle and in what ways can I continue to be successful?

14:21 – 14:25

Rochelle Moulton: Well you just led me right into the next thing I want to talk about. Thank you.

14:25 – 14:27

Mike Ryan: That was very smooth. You’re welcome.

14:27 – 14:50

Rochelle Moulton: Well, whenever we talk, you’ve often attributed your success to your willingness to raise prices and tie them to the value that you create and I was hoping you could talk some more about that because you more than doubled your income which was already Substantial in a single year And so I really love for to kind of tease out how you did that.

14:50 – 15:04

Mike Ryan: Yep, sure. Yeah. So looking back at 2023, the revenue for 2023 was 230%. So just over double of 2022. So

15:05 – 15:08

Rochelle Moulton: a fantastic year. Yeah, by any stretch.

15:09 – 15:48

Mike Ryan: And there were 2 things at play there. 1 was figuring out how to work in parallel. So work with multiple clients at the same time, which was definitely a mindset shift. And the second 1 was being confident and having the confidence to be able to look at a client and say, hey, here’s the value we are going to unlock in your business, right? The beautiful thing about the work that I do is it’s all measurable. So here’s the value we expect to unlock. And if I’m asking for a 10th of that, you’re gonna get the payback.

15:48 – 16:25

Mike Ryan: The payback is going to be there. Having that confidence, knowing the value that we can unlock made it easier for me to say, hey, I want to be of service. I like your business. I like the people. Here’s what the investment is going to look like.” And I found that starting from, hey, here’s the value we anticipate creating and walking back to the investment for an engagement, I want to make it as much of a, oh my God, yeah. So I get to put $9 in my pocket and I give you $1. Okay. Right? I’m good

16:25 – 17:05

Mike Ryan: with that. And really the other thing that helps with that Rochelle is private equity understands that every dollar that we can put to the bottom line, there’s a multiple associated with it. If it’s a manufacturing business that has an EBITDA multiple of 6, every dollar we put to the bottom line, when the PE sells that business, each single dollar is worth $6. So if I’m asking for 10 cents of that $1, when it falls to the bottom line, there really is, there’s no math involved. It’s like, cause they know they’re gonna get a multiple of whatever

17:05 – 17:10

Mike Ryan: we can kick to the bottom line. So again, it just, it helps to bring it all back

17:10 – 17:16

Rochelle Moulton: to value. Well, plus speed, I would think. I’m thinking most PE companies want to be able to turn their companies around faster.

17:17 – 17:44

Mike Ryan: Yeah, Absolutely. So this is, you know, hey, there’s a three-year payback. No, that’s not going to fly. Right? We’re typically looking inside of a 12-month window to realize whether it’s freeing up working capital, unfreezing cash that’s frozen in inventory, or making the...

Building A Six-Figure Advisory Business (Working 15 Hours A Week) with Erica Goode

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Can you build a six-figure advisory business working only 15 hours a week? CPA Erica Goode has—and she describes exactly how she did it (think serious boundaries):

The lessons corporate burn-out can teach you about how to construct your own business.

How setting rigid boundaries on her time allows her to meet all her work + life commitments.

The value of time blocking (and another way to look at productivity).

Why defining her version of “enough” allows her to stay focused and avoid chasing shiny objects.

Introducing a potential new KPI for soloists—and why it needs your “happiness” factor to be complete.

LINKS

Erica Goode | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Erica Goode has been a Certified Public Accountant for 15 years. She runs a virtual accounting firm supporting coaches and consultants with bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO services and also hosts the Coaches, Consultants, and Money podcast.

She’s a former Director of Finance at a Fortune 50 company and started her career as an auditor at a Big 4 public accounting firm. Erica is also the mom of 2 and the wife of a fellow CPA. She lives with her family in the mountains of Idaho.

WORK WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:26

Erica Goode: We fall back into this idea of like always being disappointed. Like we didn’t set an expectation for ourselves, so we don’t know if we hit it, so we kind of feel melancholy about it. But when you set an expectation and you can kind of see if you were close or if you exceeded it, well, then you get to give yourself a pat on the back and acknowledge that what you’re doing is a good thing. And I think we tend to be pretty hard on ourselves. There’s more often than not, there’s time to give ourselves a pat

00:26 – 00:27

Erica Goode: on the back.

00:32 – 01:12

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with Erica Goode, who’s been a CPA for 15 years. She runs a virtual accounting firm supporting coaches and consultants with bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO services, and also hosts the Coaches Consultants and Money podcast, which is terrific. If you’re not already a listener, sign up. She’s a former director of finance at a Fortune 50 company and started her career as an auditor at a big 4 public accounting

01:12 – 01:41

Rochelle Moulton: firm. Erika is also the mom of 2 and the wife of a fellow CPA. She lives with her family in the mountains of Idaho. Erica, welcome. Hey, thanks so much for having me. Well, you are our first guest repeat, which I honestly didn’t think we’d do until at least 50 or so episodes. But after reading the LinkedIn conversation about your work schedule and all those really interesting responses, I just had to have you back on to talk about this.

01:41 – 01:49

Erica Goode: Oh, thanks so much. Yeah, I’ve been interested in that as well. The reactions are not necessarily what I’ve expected.

01:50 – 02:11

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So the post that I’m talking about was when you explained how you put in the 15 hours a week that you usually spend on your business. And by the way, That’s a 6 figure CFO business. And some of the comments were so illuminating, but let’s start with what your typical work week looks like. Yeah. So like

02:11 – 02:47

Erica Goode: you said, I work a 15 hour a week schedule on average, and I stick to that pretty well every week on Friday or on Mondays I work 9 to 3, Tuesdays 9 to 3, I don’t work at all on Wednesdays, Thursdays are 9 to 3 again and then Fridays I’m off with the rest of my family who also does four-day school and work weeks in our town. So that totals up to 15 hours when you consider a one-hour lunch in there which I forced myself to take away from my desk. But I, that is all I

02:47 – 03:00

Erica Goode: work. I have a 3 day weekend every week and I have time off for myself on Wednesdays as a buffer day or as an alone day or whatever needs to be done that day.

03:00 – 03:19

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I really, I like that concept too of the flux day and when I looked at your schedule the first time I thought well That’s what allows you to really stick with your 15 is to know that you have this day That’s not Friday when everybody else is with you if you need to flex to work more or to do something personally more?

03:20 – 03:56

Erica Goode: Yeah, absolutely. Especially my kids are 12 and 8 and you cannot predict when somebody is gonna get sick or have to stay home from school. And so when I have that day, that keeps me within the whole week whole. Because if somebody shows up sick on Tuesday or Thursday, I know that I have a day to make it up, either this week or the following week, and it allows me to be present in the moment for whoever needs me in that moment that I can focus on them and without in the back of my mind worrying

03:56 – 04:03

Erica Goode: about gosh I was supposed to do this today and when will I get this done I know exactly well I’ll get it done It’ll be on that flex today.

04:03 – 04:31

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that’s the insanity that comes when we’re in these kinds of professions where we do our best to create boundaries, but there are things beyond our control that we just have to flex with from time to time. And so I think the way you’ve done it is really interesting. It’s kind of, it’s in a little bit, in 1 sense, it’s like saying in order to work 15 hours a week, I have to create the conditions that I have more hours available if I need them. And then most of the time I don’t need them, because you’re

04:31 – 04:37

Rochelle Moulton: not going into that time. You’re not burrowing in to do more work presumably on Wednesdays if you don’t need to.

04:38 – 05:08

Erica Goode: Yeah, absolutely. I’m very good at time blocking my schedule, so I know what I’m going to do on every day that I’m working, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. And so if something comes up, I just know what I need to shift. And then I always, it’s like I’m being true to myself. I’m not always feeling like I’m behind. I also don’t feel like I’m ahead a lot of the time because I just have expectations of what’s going to happen that week. And I so rarely need that flex day. I need it when I need it. I can’t not

05:08 – 05:45

Erica Goode: schedule it. But what that allows for is, the world is my oyster at that point. For me, that looks like I love grocery shopping by myself at 7 a.m. When nobody else is in the store. So I do grocery shopping on Wednesday. I volunteer on Wednesdays. I might go for a hike. I might just get things done around the house that make our weekends better. We don’t ever do laundry or grocery shopping on the weekends because it gets done outside of that time. So really on the weekends is true family fun time where we could go

05:45 – 05:47

Erica Goode: out and adventure in the mountains of Idaho.

05:48 – 05:52

Rochelle Moulton: And you’re not wondering how the toilets are going to get cleaned. Absolutely not.

05:52 – 05:57

Erica Goode: Well, the kids get to do some chores too. So that’s who cleans the toilets in our house. All

05:57 – 06:30

Rochelle Moulton: right. Well, they’re the right ages to be doing chores. I love that. They are. So Erica, I know that you’ve been a hundred percent committed to working this kind of flex schedule at least as long as I’ve known you and I can almost hear the sighs as other consultants and especially CPAs during tax season, right? Imagine that schedule. Like talk to us about how you got to where you are now. How deliberate were your choices? I mean, obviously they’re very deliberate right now, but did you start out that way or was this like a path of

06:30 – 06:32

Rochelle Moulton: experimentation? Yeah, that’s

06:32 – 07:04

Erica Goode: a good question. I think a lot of people assume when you build a business that you work your tail off 60-hour weeks to build a business. And then if you’re lucky and you do it right, you can take your foot off the gas and relax in a hammock and work 15-hour weeks after that, or the four-hour work week, as we all know it. And mine was actually, that’s actually not true at all of what happened to me. I did it the opposite, where I grew into 15 hours. I had come from a background personally where I

07:04 – 07:41

Erica Goode: was in corporate finance. I had hit a season of burnout in my life and it was very traumatizing and it was very telling. And it actually, I’m so grateful for it because it forced me to have a reckoning with myself and what I wanted my life and my career and everything to become. What was I really going after? And because I had that experience, I wound up leaving my corporate career and staying home, quote, just to be a stay at home mom, which is a job in itself, but I wasn’t working for a couple years. And

07:41 – 08:21

Erica Goode: I just so desperately missed finance work. I so desperately missed accounting that I wanted to come back and do something, but I was so truly traumatized from this burnout experience that I put up the fiercest boundaries that wouldn’t allow me to go back to that place because if you’ve ever been in a terrible place and you don’t want to go back, you do everything in your life to not get back to that place. And so I had honestly accidentally created a business, accidentally picked up a client number 1. And at that point, our kids were 6

08:21 – 08:56

Erica Goode: and 2. And I was committed to only work when they were not around when they were at school. They must have been 3 because a three-year-old went to three-year-old preschool. If you ever had a three-year-old in preschool, they’re barely out of the house. Three-year-old preschool is a cute stepping stone into other things. Our little guy was out of the house max 3 to 4 hours a week. Between drive time, that only allowed me to really work for 2 hours a week max. And I didn’t tell anybody that I had started a business except for this 1

08:56 – 09:29

Erica Goode: client. I didn’t market, I didn’t have a website, I had nothing. So there was no fear of picking up another client because nobody knew about me. And I just committed to this 1 client for 2 hours a week. And I did my work and I told myself that as the kids grew, my business would grow. And it could only grow as fast as the kids grew because that would allow more time to open up for myself and so it started off at 2 hours a week eventually it went to 6 hours a week then it went

09:29 – 09:59

Erica Goode: to 10 hours a week and here I am at 15 hours a week. I actually thought that eventually I’d keep going into 20 hours a week, but it kind of fit it. Found a happy medium at 15 hours where the profit is good, The work schedule is good. It’s very holistically healthy. And I don’t feel a need to add on more hours at this point, though I could probably carve some out of that flex day if I really wanted to.

10:00 – 10:04

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it’s kind of like you find that sweet spot and you don’t want to mess with it.

10:04 – 10:30

Erica Goode: Definitely. Yeah, what more would I be going for if I wanted to do that? And I got to be careful what I’m chasing. And I’ve chased the wrong things in the past. I’ve been in places where I’ve chased salary and I chase title and I’m very good at chasing things and getting them. It doesn’t always feel good when you get them. And so I’m very conscious of what future Erica will feel like if we chase the wrong thing.

10:30 – 11:01

Rochelle Moulton: Well, the other thing I love about this is some moms have told me that they actually scaled back when their kids were teenagers because they felt like the kids needed them more in the teenage years than they had when they were younger, which is the opposite of what most people would expect. But the other thing is that then you’ve got the ability to flex back up once they’re off to college or living their lives or keep it the same and just take on a hobby or work for a cause you care about. I mean, the flexibility

11:01 – 11:04

Rochelle Moulton: of what you’ve created is really the bomb.

11:05 – 11:20

Erica Goode: It’s the benefit of being a solopreneur. You’re accountable to yourself and your clients, and you get to create what you’d like to create. And there are not many people in professions that allow you to do that. It’s a blessing for sure.

11:20 – 11:37

Rochelle Moulton: Well, you’ve worked hard to do it. So how important are automation and people leverage with sustaining both your schedule and your revenue? I mean, how much of either of those 2 are you using?

11:37 – 12:14

Erica Goode: Yeah, that’s a really great question. And I find that because I haven’t historically spent time growing very fast, I’ve grown very thoughtfully. So as my business has grown, albeit slowly, it’s given me the extra time to think through the automations and to think through what’s the tech stack in my business and in my industry that if it’s just going to be me and if it has to be 15 hours, because in my mind, everything I do has to fit in 15 hours. So if I can’t fit it in in the way I’m doing it now, there

12:14 – 12:53

Erica Goode: is not an option to add hours in my mind. I have to find a system to help me do it faster. And so that’s been really, really instrumental in making sure that I’m not being inefficient as I grow because I can only grow through efficiencies if I’m forcing my time to be capped. Now, and in my industry, there is no limit to tech stack options out there along every step of the way. For me, that looks like I use 1 bookkeeping system. I am 00I always say a one-trick pony I don’t want to learn multiple systems

12:53 – 13:20

Erica Goode: I want to live in 1 system and know it really well And if you want to be a client of mine, I’m gonna be the best person to work in For me, it’s QuickBooks Online. I’m gonna be the best person who does QuickBooks Online for you. But if you’re on 0, then I’m not the right person for you because it won’t fit in my system to learn a new system to help 1 client in a different tech stack app.

13:20 – 13:44

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I mean, I could tell you so many stories about consultants who have veered out of what has been working for them with the idea that, Oh, I’ll just do it this 1 time for this client, only to be really surprised by what a challenge it can be to learn a new system. And it’s not that learning is hard, it’s how it impacts everything else that you do. Yeah, absolutely.

13:45 – 14:19

Erica Goode: I actually just in the past few months, let go of a beloved client of mine because they were outside of the niche that I had committed to and I had built all of our systems and processes around coaches and consultants and small agencies and everything I do works really well in that. And I had a client who I loved and I’m still friends with outside of work who didn’t fit into that system well. And I actually let them go kindly with lots of notice and I sent them off well, but they didn’t fit in my system,

14:19 – 14:22

Erica Goode: and that was gonna really start to impact my efficiencies.

14:24 – 15:02

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I mean, there’s a, and I mean this in the best way, there’s a rigidity about the way you’re describing these boundaries, right? There’s a boundary around how many hours, there’s a boundary around efficiency, around tech efficiency, on streamlining processes in your day that is, I think a lot of people when they go hang out their own shingle, don’t realize that they have the ability to create these kinds of boundaries. Yeah. Right? Because we think, oh yeah, I’m on my own, so I have to do whatever the client wants versus really understanding yourself, understanding your offerings,

15:02 – 15:08

Rochelle Moulton: and how you want to live the soloist life, to coin a phrase, right?

15:09 – 15:38

Erica Goode: Absolutely. Somebody listening to this, lots of people listening to this are going to roll their eyes when I say it like this, but it’s actually very hard to work 15 hours a week because you have to create these boundaries and you have to say no and it’s actually extremely difficult to stick to what you committed to because I wanna help everybody and sometimes a lot of weeks I wanna work more but if I work more than it means I’m pulling away from something else, and that’s going to feel an impact too. And so it’s actually really,

15:38 – 16:05

Erica Goode: you’re kind of holding yourself back in a lot of ways. You’re not able to help everybody you would if you had a 50-hour week ahead of you. You’re not able to, I don’t know, to just to reach out to people or to do a project that’s on your list. I know I could get this project done if I had an extra 10 hours, but I know that it’s not going to feel good in the long run. So I’m going to commit to that 15 hours. And that’s, it’s hard work limiting yourself almost.

16:06 – 16:42

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Well, you’re choosing. You’re making choices. It’s like you’re a concentrated version. That’s how I’m thinking about it, right? Because it’s so down to the essence that there’s no extra, there’s no fluff, it’s the essence. Yeah. So I want to go back to the LinkedIn post for a second because there was an observation by someone on there and he was just starting out and he said, I couldn’t possibly work so few hours because there was so much to do starting a business. Do you remember what you told him?

16:42 – 16:44

Erica Goode: No, I don’t. Will you remind me?

16:45 – 17:14

Rochelle Moulton: Well,...

Lessons From A Failed Launch—Is It Time To Quit?

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Failure can be an excellent teacher—if we’ll only let it! In this solo episode, I walk you through the lessons from a recent failed launch to answer that all-important question: Is it time to quit?

Why continuing to pursue a passion project can sometimes masquerade as (business) madness.

The dirty little secret almost no one who does public launches talks about.

The top questions to ask yourself when an offering isn’t performing.

TL;DR at minute 12.08, I make an announcement about my future services and this podcast 😉.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

Are You Doing Your Greatest Work with Dr. Amanda Crowell

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Dr Amanda Crowell, author of “Great Work: Do What Matters Most Without Sacrificing Everything Else”, tells us how to get to the work we were most meant to do:

How to get off the “productivity roller coaster of doom” to make the time for your Great Work.

Why your health and happiness make your Great Work flow easier—and how to optimize for them.

A few questions to consider if you haven’t quite figured out your Great Work (hint: the threads are already there).

A framework to catalyze your Great Work from simply a motivating vision to specific day-to-day actions.

The role of identity in keeping you from—or rushing you to—your Great Work.

LINKS

Dr. Amanda Crowell Website | Book | LinkedIn | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Dr. Amanda Crowell is a cognitive psychologist, speaker, podcaster, author of Great Work, and the creator of the Great Work Journals.

Amanda's TEDx talk: Three Reasons You Aren’t Doing What You Say You Will Do has received more than a million views and has been featured on TED's Ideas blog and TED Shorts. Her ideas have also been featured on NPR, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, Quartz, and Thrive Global.

Amanda lives in New Jersey with her husband, two adorable kids, and a remarkable newfiepoo named Ruthie. She spends her days educating future teachers, coaching accidental entrepreneurs, and speaking about how to make progress on Great Work to colleges and corporate teams.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:26

Amanda Crowell: If I showed up unprepared for a consulting meeting, they should fire me. I did it wrong. I picked the wrong thing. But you can't allow that truth to be the fear that keeps you racing against the clock to do every single thing perfectly, because you cannot allow yourself to ever do perfectly passable work because in your heart of hearts you knew it could be better. That is a prison of your own making.

00:30 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with Dr. Amanda Kroll, who is the author of Great Work, Do what matters most without sacrificing everything else. She is a cognitive psychologist, speaker, podcaster, and creator of the great work journals. Amanda's TEDx Talk, 3 Reasons You Aren't Doing What You Say You Will Do, has received more than a million views and has been featured on Ted's Ideas blog and Ted shorts. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, 2 adorable kids, and

01:10 - 01:27

Rochelle Moulton: a remarkable new fee poo named Ruthie and we're all about the pets here. And she spends her days educating future teachers, coaching accidental entrepreneurs, and speaking about how to make progress on great work to colleges and corporate teams. Amanda, welcome.

01:28 - 01:30

Amanda Crowell: Thank you for having me.

01:31 - 01:32

Rochelle Moulton: We finally made it happen.

01:33 - 01:36

Amanda Crowell: I know. It's just like that these days.

01:36 - 01:56

Rochelle Moulton: I hear you. Well, I discovered your book, Great Work, and I knew you had to come on the show, so thank you for joining us. It is so full of great wisdom for soloists in the expertise space, I almost didn't know where to start. So how about with a definition? So Amanda, when you say we want to do our great work, what do you mean exactly?

01:57 - 02:32

Amanda Crowell: That's such a good question. So great work, most simply described, is the work that matters the most to you, which almost sounds like a cop out. It's like, yeah, but what is it? But it really is the definition. It is my experience of people that everybody has something inside of them that has been brewing since birth, some issue that they care about, some industry that they're drawn to, some big idea that has sparked light in them. And it's not that it's 1 true love, but it's more like a way of being in the world that can

02:32 - 03:06

Amanda Crowell: shift and change. Like you write this book and then you start that podcast and then you do this job and then you start that team and it can shift and grow with you as you grow. But there's a golden thread almost that ties it all the way through that marks it out as your great work. What's interesting about your great work is that it's often the thing, tragically, that we don't get to. It's the thing that in a world of commitments and expectations, we often spend time saying, oh, I will write my book when I'm retired,

03:06 - 03:38

Amanda Crowell: or I'll get there later when the kids are grown. And we never really prioritize it because we continue to prioritize the expectations, the external demands over our great work. And so the book and my work is to help people figure out how to do that great work now without, make, because 1 thing that will happen is people will be like, how, okay, I'm going to add my great work to my life and I'll change nothing else. And then you get on what I like to call the productivity roller coaster of doom, which is where you're just

03:38 - 03:51

Amanda Crowell: very burned out and you're doing too much and you're stretched too thin and you think I never should have done my great work. But there's just skills and strategies to make it possible to do your great work without sacrificing your health and happiness

03:52 - 04:26

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I now have a new phrase the productivity roller coaster of doom Yeah, I think a lot of people can relate to that kind of on that topic So in the opening of the book, you tell a series of stories about your own health challenges that forced you down this path of managing your work and your life and your stress better. And I was struck by how after you went through all the time management tools, including David Allen's getting things done, which I also like, you realized that you were productive but not, and I quote, more

04:26 - 04:34

Rochelle Moulton: relaxed, grounded, and joyful. So, Will you talk some more about how we can let our happiness matter?

04:35 - 05:11

Amanda Crowell: Oh wow, what a great question. And I want to give a lot of props to productivity tips and tricks, you know, like you can get this. The story goes that I totally maxed myself out and then was able to create a semblance of work-life balance by using, getting things down and other like productivity tools and tricks. And it was a really great learning experience for me. I learned a ton. I was able to do, as they say, a lot more without getting burned out. But there was this missing undertone, this current of, I was still mostly

05:11 - 05:50

Amanda Crowell: beholden to the external expectations of deadlines, multiple clients. I've always had multiple jobs. And there was this feeling of like Now I'm doing so much more But I didn't make any space for my great work. I just did more of what was expected of what was default I wasn't necessarily exerting a lot of influence on my own life. And that just felt like it was this impossible game where the more I gave to these expectations, the more I was doing and I was getting accolades and I was doing well and I was making more money, but

05:50 - 06:24

Amanda Crowell: like my life, my feeling of my life wasn't changing. And what happened to me very specifically was that I actually got everything I wanted. I got this book deal that I really was like a lifelong dream of mine. I was totally booked with coaching clients. I was you know really enjoying my work at the School of Education where I teach. You know everything was going great but I was so at capacity all the time that I ended up, there's a thing that happens in very stressed out people, which I think describes most of us. If you

06:24 - 06:57

Amanda Crowell: have an injury, like a traumatic, but that's a more dramatic word than I really mean, like I fell hard on my foot. Sometimes if you really will fall hard, it triggers all the inflammation in your body. And I had this massive, just because I hurt my foot, I had a massive full body autoimmune flare up. No 1 really knows why. It wasn't diagnosed as like rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia is the other 1 that they thought it might be. It wasn't those things. And yet every single joint in my body was inflamed and it was hard to

06:57 - 07:31

Amanda Crowell: climb the stairs. It was quite the wake-up call actually. And I was like, Why did I do this? Why did getting what I want trigger my body's most complete shutdown? And it was just a moment where I was like, Okay, Amanda, what are you doing here on this planet? Are you gonna achieve and strive and drive yourself and just collect accolades that you don't have any time to enjoy? Or are you going to not do that? And you know, it felt like a choice. But really, at the end of the day, I couldn't survive what I

07:31 - 08:05

Amanda Crowell: was doing to myself. I was making my own body attack itself. And I had this pivotal moment where I was like, okay, I guess that's it for me. I'm just not gonna do, I didn't have the term great work yet, but I'm just not gonna do my great work. I'm just gonna give up and I'm gonna like, just reach my classes and just try to enjoy the way things are. And what shocked me, it was truly shocking, was the minute that I took the steps necessary. I said no to the extra things I was doing. I

08:05 - 08:37

Amanda Crowell: closed down some clients that I was working with. I was still working with a consulting company that I had, we used to be full time with, and now it was just like a part time consultant. I stopped doing that. And I added things to my life that made me more relaxed and happy. I started riding my bike again and healed what had become a somewhat strained relationship with my husband and just really kind of became a relaxed and more, I don't know, joyful version of myself. And what truly shocked me was that was when my great

08:37 - 09:14

Amanda Crowell: work took off. As a recovery project, I designed these great work journals that have become like a foundation of the work that I do with clients and I really love it. My own sort of whole person time management system. I wrote the book, Great Work, I launched the podcast. And I found that people are more interested and willing to work with me. And Everything just exploded into the space that I had created by not doing everything all the time for everyone anymore, but instead doing what really matters and making sure that I never got. I now

09:14 - 09:46

Amanda Crowell: think of my resilience or my like bounce back ability. That's something that I manage almost the way people manage their budgets. I watch it, I keep track of it, I make sure that if I'm doing something really heavy loaded early in the week, I don't do it later in the week. If I start to get sight, you know, noticing my own triggers, then I build more resilience into my life again, because I just now realize that great work, the work that really matters, not like checking boxes off on a list, but The work that really matters,

09:46 - 10:14

Amanda Crowell: it happens because of your resilience and despite hustle. That's what I really learned. That if you wanna do great work, you stop hustling and you actually build your resilience and you create space for creativity and communication and critical thinking and collaboration, which are the things that create amazing world-changing art and ideas and products and whatever else it is that you're doing speeches, books, blog posts, podcasts.

10:16 - 10:50

Rochelle Moulton: In sort of an odd way, the gift of your health experience is that you learned that you now manage your bounce back ability, your resilience. And I love to think that we don't all have to go that far. I know. I mean, sometimes we do. But if we can, you know, start to dial that back and really recognize, there's a quote from the book that kind of gets to this point, great work flows better when we are healthier and happier. Yeah. Yeah. And I just love that because I think sometimes we think it's supposed to be

10:50 - 11:05

Rochelle Moulton: a grind. This is mostly an anti hustle crowd that's listening to this. It's kind of an anti bro hustle. Yeah, it is about being healthy and happy and then having more capacity to do the things that are really meaningful to you.

11:05 - 11:10

Amanda Crowell: Yeah and doing them faster and more creatively and with more success really, which is the best part.

11:11 - 11:27

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah so of course the big question that lots of us ask ourselves is what is our purpose, What is our great work? I mean, if a listener hasn't quite figured it out yet, like where do you suggest they start with the 4 essential pillars that you talk about?

11:27 - 11:56

Amanda Crowell: Yeah, that's a great question. And I think that, you know, for people who are book readers, I think chapter 2 of the book is a great exploration of that piece by piece. But the top level of it is that your great work has always been with you. So a lot of times we think we don't know what our great work is, but the truth is we're just not believing what we're hearing from inside of ourselves. So there are questions that you can ask yourself like in the book there's like a little list of them it's like

11:56 - 12:26

Amanda Crowell: what what has always been true like ever since you were a small person like what has always interested you what has always captivated your interest what makes you think could I possibly do that, like let that be the first spark of it, but then there's also questions like you can find it through the opposite of that, which is like what isn't working in your life right now. Like that can point the way out of the things that maybe would be great work for other people but aren't for you. And like what feels missing. I think the

12:26 - 13:04

Amanda Crowell: most interesting question actually that helps you discover what your great work is, is when you have an experience of like full body jealousy. And when somebody has an accomplishment and you just think to yourself, why isn't that me? Why didn't I do that? Why haven't I set myself up for that too? Like I could do that and it doesn't mean that you're begrudging somebody their accomplishment, but instead it just points the way towards something that we feel deep inside ourselves would bring us a great amount of joy that we could be great at that could be

13:04 - 13:32

Amanda Crowell: part of our contribution to the world. There's lots of different tips and tricks and stuff like that you can do an audit of the work that you have done. This is a great 1 that people can do without any more information which is like write down each and every place that you've either worked or projects that you've worked on depending on the kind of work that you do and Write down the parts about each job that you really enjoyed and loved and what you enjoyed and loved about it And then look across your history and you

13:32 - 14:03

Amanda Crowell: once you make your great work visible to you, it'll pop out like a neon sign. Like, here I am. This is what I am. And it's there. I've never met anyone. I have a lot of people who tell me, I understand that some people have great work, Amanda, but I just don't. I just really don't. And I just don't believe it. I don't believe it because I've had hundreds of conversations with people and it all it really this the vast majority of people just don't believe that what they are hearing inside themselves is like good enough

14:03 - 14:36

Amanda Crowell: for great work or like that they have the education or the expertise or the connections possible to do to get involved in what it is they're hoping to do. They're hoping to do. And so it's more a question of learning how to believe in what you're hearing and then giving yourself the tools and the time and the patience to figure out how to do it piece by piece, which is the other half of the book. First half of it's like, what is great work? And the second half is like, how do we actually do it? Well,

14:36 - 14:46

Amanda Crowell: it's that question of value, too, because I think a lot of times what comes naturally to us, we discount. Because we think it comes like this to everyone.

14:47 - 15:24

Rochelle Moulton: But I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all of the people I've met in my life who have a unique skill that I just revere. And they don't see it because it's there inside the bottle, right? They just can't see it. So it's sometimes I think what's helpful too is, is when you listen to yourself, but you also listen to things other people who you respect, say, when it's good, ignore the bad stuff. But when it's good, there are some clues in there into the things that you do that really Impact and matter to

15:24 - 15:27

Rochelle Moulton: other people that I think we can pay attention to sometimes.

15:27 - 15:56

Amanda Crowell: Yes. That's a really great point You can actually go on a you can tell them I was listening to a podcast and the author of the book said that I had to, so now I have to. You know, go to 3 or 5 people that you just really value and say like, what are the 3 skills that you would say are my...

Making LinkedIn Work For You with Sarah Greesonbach

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0700

LinkedIn Jedi Master (and Founder of the B2B Writing Institute) Sarah Greesonbach shares how she uses LinkedIn to grow her business and relationships--and how you can too.

How Sarah managed to build two soloist businesses—one with clients and the other with students—with one LinkedIn presence.

Using LinkedIn as a way to develop your point of view and practice your voice with your ideal people.

Why it’s time to step up and be heard even if you don’t look or sound like whatever popular culture says is “in”.

How to rev up your LinkedIn machine without having to prove how smart you are (or spend every waking hour working at it).

A few sample prompts to re-think how to humanize your LinkedIn posts.

LINKS

Sarah Greesonbach Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

A FEW OF SARAH’S PLAYFUL SOCIAL PROMPTS

1. What event or milestone can you celebrate that very few others can celebrate?

2. What do you wish you knew about your craft or profession 6 months ago? What about 10 years ago?

3. What’s a special geographic/physical location to you, and why?

4. What’s surprised you about parenting in a good way?

5. What’s surprised you about business or work in a good way?

BIO

Sarah Greesonbach is the founder of the B2B Writing Institute, a rigorous training program that prepares writers for a vibrant career in B2B marketing.

Since 2013, Sarah has operated B2B Content Studio and invoiced more than $1 million as a freelance writer. Writing for agencies and Fortune 500 technology companies in the HR, retail/e-com, and higher education space, Sarah develops B2B content marketing assets like original research, white papers, and more.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:24

Sarah Greesonbach: People don’t care what you’re talking about. They care how you feel about it and how you make them feel about it. And so people don’t care what information we’re posting, but if we can share it in a way that finally lets it connect or lets them connect emotionally with themselves, like some kind of in there communication-wise, that’s what makes people actually stop and pay attention and maybe even look forward to the next thing you’re going to share.

00:28 – 01:12

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rachelle Moulton, and today I’m here with my pal Sarah Greesonbach, who is the founder of the B2B Writing Institute, which is a rigorous training program that prepares writers for a vibrant career in B2B marketing. And since 2013, Sarah has operated B2B content studio and invoice more than a million dollars as a freelance writer. Writing for agencies and Fortune 500 technology companies in the HR, retail, e-comm, and higher education space, Sarah develops B2B content marketing assets like original research, white

01:12 – 01:28

Rochelle Moulton: papers, and more. Sarah, welcome. Hello, Thank you so much for having me. And I’ve been such a fan of your stuff for so long that this is quite literally the fanciest I’ve ever felt in my life. So thank you. Well that’s our goal is to make everybody here feel fancy.

01:29 – 01:32

Sarah Greesonbach: I do if I had to check the mirror to make sure I wasn’t wearing a top hat.

01:32 – 02:04

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I had to say your hair looked fabulous today. I just say that. Okay. So I just had to have you on the show to talk about your LinkedIn presence. And I realized that you have the very distinct advantage of being a writer and a very, very witty one. Truly. Thank you. Yeah. But your LinkedIn posts always draw me in because of their humanity. I feel like they show you as a real professional and a real person. And of course, we’re going to talk about your business too. You know I’m going to want to do that.

02:04 – 02:19

Rochelle Moulton: But maybe I should say your 2 businesses, right? Since you write for clients and you teach other writers through your B2B writing institute. So let’s start with kind of your overall business. How long did it take you to hit your first 100, 000?

02:21 – 02:41

Sarah Greesonbach: Ooh, that would have been maybe 2 and a half years in. And I was actually boosted by my first maternity leave because that was my real motivation. I had gone through that first year of just replacing my salary and that second year of almost hitting 100K. And then suddenly I was pregnant and it was like, this is the year this is going to happen.

02:41 – 02:44

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I have no choice, right?

02:44 – 02:48

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah, it really was just up against the wall. You have to make it happen.

02:48 – 03:10

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, yeah. So talk to us about when and why you started the B2B Institute, because if I understand your career arc correctly, you’ve done this B2B writing, you’ve done it successfully, You figured out how to make 100k plus. You figured out how to take actually 2 maternity leaves. So where in all this did you start the B2B Institute?

03:11 – 03:42

Sarah Greesonbach: The seed or the disgusting little worm actually began when I was a high school English teacher and that’s how I got my start with careers in general and it was just such a bad experience that it really put me off teaching and it made me question what my purpose was and if I had maybe gotten that wrong And I’m sure we can all imagine like when you crash and burn with a career choice Suddenly you’re questioning all of your intuition and all of the decisions you’ve ever made which is really pleasant So when I bounced back

03:42 – 04:13

Sarah Greesonbach: and kind of returned to like maybe I’m a writer maybe that’s what I’m supposed to do I got into government contracting and then marketing and was suddenly laid off and so that’s what threw me into freelancing. So eventually it took about 5 years for the teacher in me to heal and for me to remember like how important it is for me to help other people achieve something or transform something or learn a new skill. And so once I started doing some webinars, some teaching, it just really felt like the right thing to do. And that that

04:13 – 04:19

Sarah Greesonbach: showed me that my path could be teaching and not getting rocks thrown at me in high school lunchrooms.

04:20 – 04:23

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I don’t even want to, I try to forget high school myself.

04:23 – 04:24

Sarah Greesonbach: True story.

04:26 – 04:43

Rochelle Moulton: So it’s challenging serving 2 audiences, right? Because you, you’ve got the clients that you’re trying to attract with your writing and you have writers that you want to teach how to become better B2B writers. So how did you serve 2 audiences and are you still doing that now?

04:44 – 05:18

Sarah Greesonbach: I am and I was actually really sneaky about it because what I did was learn from people like you and Jonathan Stark and the book, Book Solid, Michael Port, just all of that stuff. And I was really intentional about building a client base that was recurring so that I don’t actually have to prospect all that much to keep the writing side of my business going. It’s truly like 90% recurring clients and clients I’ve had for 3 to 5 years. And so I did have a lot of inner emotional turmoil of, am I allowed to talk about

05:18 – 05:26

Sarah Greesonbach: freelancing? Will that put off my old clients and stuff? But surprisingly, no 1 really cares and it hasn’t affected the writing work that I’ve been able to do.

05:27 – 05:43

Rochelle Moulton: Well, you know, what’s also interesting is I think we also over index on what we think our clients care about what we do. Cause I’m like a lot of them, they never go to our website, right? They, they may or may not read the stuff that we send out to our email list. They may not even be on our email list.

05:43 – 05:50

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah. It’s kind of like your family. They don’t know what you’re doing. They care about you, but they don’t necessarily care what you’re saying on LinkedIn.

05:51 – 05:55

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, well they just don’t get it. That happens too.

05:55 – 05:56

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah.

05:56 – 06:29

Rochelle Moulton: So I saw that you said, and I’m gonna quote, successful social media was about giving myself intentional time, space, and permission. Love that permission. To say what I want to say and to put thought and time and intention into how I phrase what I think. So I like that you see using social as an opportunity, but what made you start down the path to conquering social, specifically with LinkedIn? Was there like a single event or a situation that made you decide to go all in?

06:29 – 07:04

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah, For me, I’ve always tried to follow the path of where my customers were going to go for information. And since I had some early work in career transition to help people jump from basically being Smeez in their line of work to writing as Smeez. And just everybody heads to LinkedIn once they start thinking about jobs. So it always really stood out as a place where everybody else is kind of boring for the most part. So you could stand out just by being funny or sharing something obvious, almost like improv or stand up. And then it’s

07:04 – 07:19

Sarah Greesonbach: where people go when they start thinking about businessy, worky kind of stuff. And so it just seemed really obvious if I can use that network effect and show people what I’m thinking or what goes on behind the scenes, that that would be a way to build trust over the long term.

07:20 – 07:24

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. And when did you really go all in? How long ago is that?

07:24 – 07:27

Sarah Greesonbach: I’d say it’d be 3 to 5 years.

07:27 – 07:29

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, it’s not that long in the scheme of things.

07:30 – 07:58

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah, I had a lot of hangups when I first started. Man, it just seems like it’s all hangups at this point. But 1 I remember really clearly was the sense that if I want to be an authority in the space, then I need to be very neutral and very formal and very authoritative, like all the boring things that have come before. And so right before COVID, I went to a retreat in New York. And 1 of the things was doing some mindset exercises and writing out how we’ve been approaching things and how we’re going to change

07:58 – 08:12

Sarah Greesonbach: things. And I just had this light bulb moment of, I’m gonna stop trying to pursue authority by being neutral. And I’m going to like actually be more human, like exactly what you said. And that was when people actually started caring what I was saying.

08:13 – 08:23

Rochelle Moulton: Wow. I feel like that’s a mic drop moment where you realize you can be yourself and you can have an opinion and you can really find your own voice.

08:24 – 08:56

Sarah Greesonbach: Ooh, yeah, that’s like 12 mic drops right there. Cause there were so many reasons. I’m generally a fairly confident person and I know I have things to contribute, but when it came to Getting on the internet and telling people to look at me and listen to me I definitely had to give myself permission for that and to just accept that maybe I had something relevant for people to see and hear. It was a process I would not have gotten through without 2 coaches. A mind tech coach and a business coach and lots of crying.

08:56 – 09:13

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Clearly you’re a terrific writer but Lots of great writers crash and burn on LinkedIn and Twitter too, for that matter. So what goals did you have at first and how did you start making it work for you? I mean, once you decided not to be bland.

09:14 – 09:47

Sarah Greesonbach: Oh, I love that because at first I definitely thought if I just show off how much I know about writing or business then surely droves and droves of people Fuck to see what I have to say and obviously that’s not a good decision because the internet is full of information. It’s actually, so I do improv for fun with my husband. And 1 of the lessons they really hammer in is people don’t care what you’re talking about. They care how you feel about it and how you make them feel about it. And so people don’t care what

09:47 – 10:04

Sarah Greesonbach: information we’re posting, but if we can share it in a way that finally lets it connect or lets them connect emotionally with themselves, like some kind of in there communication wise, that’s what makes people actually stop and pay attention and maybe even look forward to the next thing you’re going to share.

10:04 – 10:39

Rochelle Moulton: Well, it’s working on me because like, first of all, you post a lot. So you’re in my feed a lot, but I never pass them by. Like sometimes If they’re really long, I might scan them. And the other thing that you do that’s really intriguing to me, I’m so in awe, I just could not do this myself, is you’ll get, let’s say 10, 20, even 30 responses on something, and you’ll have this quick witty response to each 1. Like, I think just recently you said something to me, I commented on something and you said, I’m putting

10:39 – 10:50

Rochelle Moulton: on a hat and I’m tipping it. Who says that? But it made me feel seen and appreciated. And it was clever. I mean, I just love that you’re able to do that.

10:50 – 11:03

Sarah Greesonbach: Oh, I love that. Thank you. Yeah, I definitely had to talk myself into being more comfortable. And sometimes I just have to go with whatever comes to mind first, and really not think about the consequences.

11:03 – 11:19

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Well, and sometimes you’re a little goofy, which I love. I think you had something, like there was something for 1 of the products that you were selling. Like there was some extra that came with it. I can’t remember. I think it was like a drawing of a cat or something. I can’t remember.

11:19 – 11:20

Sarah Greesonbach: The crap dragon.

11:20 – 11:25

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. That was it. The crap dragon. I love that. I thought that was genius.

11:25 – 11:27

Sarah Greesonbach: That’s a deep dive. Yeah.

11:29 – 11:33

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So What do you see as your goals for LinkedIn now?

11:34 – 12:08

Sarah Greesonbach: Again, I feel like I’m admitting to being really sneaky, but that is what marketing does sometimes. And I think I realized my goal for LinkedIn is to be known and be able to have a relationship with people because they can’t trust and like you or buy from you until they actually feel like they know you. And once that clicked for me and once I realized it could be safe to be known on LinkedIn, Then it got really easy to share about marriage and parenting and the times in my business that I felt failure. We had mentioned

12:08 – 12:12

Sarah Greesonbach: a little bit about weight stuff and being a plus-size person online.

12:12 – 12:36

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Will you talk about that for a moment? Sure. Because anybody who doesn’t look like what they think is the entertainment norm, right? Like A58 blonde haired white woman with blue eyes, right? Anybody who’s who doesn’t feel like they’re that archetype can often have a lot of trouble getting in front of a camera or a microphone or a LinkedIn page.

12:37 – 13:10

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah, it kills me how subconscious it can be, because if you had asked me if I thought that had anything to do with leadership or being in public, I would have laughed and kind of scooched past you on the sidewalk. But when I went to do it, it was suddenly, everything was cold. My intuition was like, no, don’t do this. It’s dangerous. You can’t do this. And When I did that inner work with the coaches and the journaling and stuff it came up Well, who am I to contribute anything since I’m fat? Once I wrote that

13:10 – 13:38

Sarah Greesonbach: down and I read that and I was like, do I actually believe that that can’t be no that who would believe that because it sounds so crazy, but I was holding that belief with what I was doing. And that literally kept me from posting something online that I thought. I thought that was really silly. So I had to address that and then move past it kind of like, gosh, was it the big leap? Just something where once you shine a light on it, it disappears and you can move past it. And I had to do that

13:38 – 13:39

Sarah Greesonbach: really intentionally.

13:40 – 14:03

Rochelle Moulton: Well, thank God you did, because the world needs your voice. We need your voice. And just thank you for sharing that, Sarah, because I think a lot of us have had, you know, very private struggles with that and putting our voice out there, attaching our names or our faces to a belief that feels scary. And yeah, and once you shine a light on it, you might even like the spotlight.

14:03 – 14:30

Sarah Greesonbach: Yeah. And I have worked with at least 3 or 4 coaching clients at this point who feel that way about age. Again, it just kills me that someone would have this outrageous, wonderful experience in these cool life stories, and then hesitate to share something because they think they might look old or they might not look the way they’re supposed to look when I would find those the most interesting stories in my feed. So I I love being able to encourage people to do that.

14:31 – 15:08

Rochelle Moulton: Ageism is alive and rampant. Yeah and especially women of a certain age, we tend to be invisible. So it’s yeah, it’s pushing those stories out. Just as a side note, though, if anybody is dealing with this, go on Instagram and pay attention to some women in their late 70s, 80s, and yes,...

Become A Better Communicator In The Age of AI with Jessica Mehring

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0700

You’re committed to becoming a better communicator to help your clients more effectively—and to turbocharge your marketing. Has AI complicated or instead simplified standing out with your communications? Consultant, author and writer Jessica Mehring shares the results of her research on the impact of generative AI on communicating strategically:

Why even though she writes professionally, Jessica doesn’t use AI for writing (note how she instead leverages AI in the writing process).

How the two key cons of using generative AI can be overwhelmingly trumped by its advantages.

How empathy, listening and storytelling are intertwined in becoming a more effective communicator.

Why becoming a better storyteller is actually easier in the age of AI.

Specific use cases where AI can help you become a better storyteller (one in particular may well surprise you).

LINKS

Jessica Mehring Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jessica Mehring is a strategic consultant for technology companies, a published author, and M.A. in communication (May 2024). Through her graduate academic work, she has closely examined the impact of generative AI on strategic communication, and is exploring how storytelling fosters empathy and can help us connect in a modern context.

When she's not working to bring more humanity into tech marketing, you can find her researching the intersections of art and science, creativity and data, and communication and innovation.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:28

Jessica Mehring: In the age of AI, storytelling and listening being an important aspect of that is more important than it's ever been because AI will never be human. And as humans, storytelling is how we relate to 1 another. It's more important than ever. It reveals our humanity in ways that AI will never be able to replicate. And it connects us human to human, company to customer, in a way that AI cannot replicate.

00:33 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Jessica Mearing, a strategic consultant for technology companies and an author with an almost master's in communication, unless you're listening to this by May 2024, through her professional and academic work she has closely examined the impact of generative AI on strategic communication and is exploring how storytelling fosters empathy and can help us connect in a modern context. Jessica, welcome.

01:10 - 01:13

Jessica Mehring: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited about this conversation.

01:15 - 01:47

Rochelle Moulton: I am too. And I'm excited to talk to you about this whole idea of AI and its impact on our communications. And in between the times that we were emailing back and forth, I was actually stunned when I read that the Masters of the Universe at Davos ignored 2 inflammatory wars in favor of obsessing over AI and its impact on the global workforce. And the wars in the Middle East and the Ukraine didn't even make their top 10 issues list. So I mean we could talk all day long about whether AI is good or bad for

01:47 - 02:03

Rochelle Moulton: global business, but let's 0 in on how in this early age, relatively early age of AI, we can become better strategic communicators and even leaders because I think it's far more interesting to talk about how we can use AI strategically.

02:04 - 02:26

Jessica Mehring: Oh, yes, absolutely. I was, I was actually shocked too. I went to the Davos website and just kind of went through their 4 takeaways. And you're absolutely right. AI was in the mix on all 4 of those. That's so telling, right? To where we are in the world, where we are in the marketplace with AI being such a hot topic.

02:27 - 02:52

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I then read another piece that said that the Davos things are always wrong. Because it's the CEOs who are insulated from anyone ever disagreeing with their opinion. So we'll see. I mean, right, it could go either way. But maybe we could start by giving generative AI a quick definition. What is it specifically compared to say, other types of artificial intelligence?

02:53 - 03:34

Jessica Mehring: Yeah, I'm glad you asked that question because I do feel like there's a little bit of confusion around what generative AI is and isn't. Generative AI in a nutshell is AI that creates content. And that can be written content, audio, video, images. This is AI that creates, which really is different than the AI that we've had in our lives for decades. When you think about Alexa or you think about Arumba or you think about Siri or any of those kinds of devices and software that we've had in our lives for as long as I can remember.

03:34 - 04:17

Jessica Mehring: Predictive text, that's another 1. Predictive text on our phone or in Gmail. That's all AI. Even grammar checkers. The grammar checkers in Word or now there's really advanced software that checks our grammar, That's all AI. So we're used to AI in our lives in those ways, but generative AI is different because it creates. And it does this through natural language processing. So it understands human language and then produces a human-like response. What was so interesting to me, I did a deep dive on this back spring of last year, I did an independent study with the university

04:18 - 05:02

Jessica Mehring: and looked at how generative AI is impacting strategic communication. And of course, because I was just living and breathing that subject, I was talking to a lot of people about it. And what I was shocked by is how people didn't really understand what it was, what generative AI was, but also didn't understand some very serious limitations, which are still limitations today, even though there have been updates since I did that study. 1 of the limitations, of course, being hallucination. And I hope that your listeners all know what hallucination is. It's when chat GPT lies to us.

05:03 - 05:43

Jessica Mehring: It's when generative AI gives us a very confident factual response that isn't actually fact. And when I was talking to people about this a year ago, I got some really funny responses. People would say, oh, hallucination. What a fun word. Did you make that up? No, no, I didn't make up the word hallucination. That's the term for when These tools lie to us when these tools give us facts that aren't facts. And I realized that people are using tools like chat GPT without understanding that not everything chat GPT was giving them was true.

05:43 - 05:45

Rochelle Moulton: Yes. People didn't know

05:45 - 05:45

Jessica Mehring: that.

05:45 - 05:46

Rochelle Moulton: That's interesting.

05:46 - 05:56

Jessica Mehring: The average person I spoke with did not understand that, which was really terrifying when you think of this environment of disinformation that we're living in right now.

05:56 - 06:01

Rochelle Moulton: We're in an election year. This is not the year for that to happen.

06:01 - 06:43

Jessica Mehring: Oh my goodness. Yeah, so that's something I've really been talking about a lot. I've been doing some student teaching, I've been TAing classes and giving presentations to students at the university. And that's 1 thing that I've really hammered on is these tools hallucinate. If you are using tools like ChatGPT, and that's just 1 example, to help you create your content, then you need to check every single fact it gives you. I mean, fact check until you're blue in the face. You cannot trust this output as fact because it's not fact. Generative AI is a prediction model.

06:43 - 07:13

Jessica Mehring: The tools like ChatGPT are, they predict the next right word. They are language prediction models. These are not tools that know the difference between fact and fiction. ChatGPT doesn't have ethics. It's doing what it was programmed to do, which is give you an answer to your question. Whether that answer is true or false, well, it doesn't know that. That's your job as a user of these tools. It's your job to check your facts.

07:13 - 07:21

Rochelle Moulton: What about the creative aspect of this? Can it give you answers that are actually lifted from someone else's content?

07:22 - 07:53

Jessica Mehring: It can. Yeah, it absolutely can. There's always the risk of plagiarism, which again, I'm really hoping nobody's taking the output from from these tools and then publishing it as their own for many reasons, 1 of them being, yes, there is the risk of plagiarism. Generative AI was trained on a mass amount of data, much of it scraped from the internet and much of it under copyright. So there's that issue. But then you also have the issue of AI output is not protected by copyright.

07:53 - 08:08

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that was where it was going to be my next question. What you're saying is if we use let's take chat GPT as an example, if we use that to write something and we add some other pieces to it, we can't copyright that completed piece.

08:09 - 08:45

Jessica Mehring: Yeah, when you add your own words to it, it's a fine line. But if you are taking output from these tools and you are not editing it, changing it, making it your own, if it is direct output from a tool like chat GPT, and we'll just keep picking on chat GPT because that's the most popular right now, But if it's directly copied from output from chat GPT, it is not protected by copyright. And same thing goes for image generation tools. If you use mid journey to create a book cover, your book cover is not protected by

08:45 - 08:56

Jessica Mehring: copyright. Somebody else could use the same book cover. Interesting. Yeah. Not a lot of legal protections for, for creations, for content from AI output.

08:56 - 09:23

Rochelle Moulton: Although, I mean, I'm sure it will get better, but there's nothing I've pulled out of chat GPT that I would want to put my name to so far. I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure it's going to get better, though. There's only 1 way that curve goes. But I did see in a LinkedIn post that you do not use AI at all for writing. And obviously, writing is how you make your living writing in strategic communications. Talk us through your thought process with that.

09:23 - 09:55

Jessica Mehring: Yeah, well, and to be clear, I know we're talking about a lot of negatives with generative AI right now. There are some positives. And I went into my independent study a year ago feeling very positive and came out on the other side a little more pragmatic So I feel like there's a lot of pros and cons. I'm happy to talk about when it comes to my own writing I use chat GPT and tools like that for as a thesaurus to help me come up with more creative words. I Use it to help me brainstorm analogies. I

09:55 - 10:35

Jessica Mehring: use it to Help me think through a structure of a piece or maybe re-swizzle an outline if something isn't flowing quite right. I use it to summarize my own work, which helps me see holes in my thinking. What I do not use it for is writing. And there are a few reasons for that. 1, 1 big 1 for me is language homogeneity, and that just means that everybody sounds the same. Yeah. And I saw evidence of this in the study that I did last spring, which was essentially a literature review where I was looking at actual

10:35 - 11:21

Jessica Mehring: studies done by social scientists and there is already evidence that generative AI is creating language homogeneity. That means a lot of written content specifically is sounding the same. We're all sounding the same. There's very little differentiation. There's been a big push, of course, to remove bias from content, which in Fairness is a good thing, but the resulting content means that everybody sounds exactly the same. Now, I'm a professional writer. I write copy for my clients. I write books. I'm the author of business books and romance novels and cozy mystery. Business

11:21 - 11:21

Rochelle Moulton: and romance.

11:21 - 11:45

Jessica Mehring: Business and romance. Yes, yes. What a combo. My own voice is important in the content that I'm writing for myself and for my business. My clients' voices are important in the copy that I'm writing for them. And I wanna make sure that we're not all sounding the same because how boring would that be? Well, and

11:45 - 11:52

Rochelle Moulton: then why would you need a writer, right? You just go to chat GPT and type in this thing and just pop it into wherever you're going to

11:52 - 12:05

Jessica Mehring: use it. Yeah, well, and I work with technology companies. So differentiation is everything. If my clients all sound exactly alike, how do their customers know who to choose? Exactly. That's a big reason.

12:05 - 12:14

Rochelle Moulton: You said earlier that, you know, there are lots of pros and cons, and we were kind of focusing on the cons. What do you see as some of the pros, especially after you did this study?

12:15 - 12:53

Jessica Mehring: These tools are really great, I think, as jumping off points for your own thinking and for your own creativity. I think a lot of us who are in more creative spaces especially can suffer from what I call the blank page blues. And that just means sometimes you're staring at a blank page and you just don't know what to put down you don't know where to start you've got a lot to say or maybe you have nothing to say but it just feels absolutely overwhelming to be staring at a blank page. And generative AI can really help

12:53 - 13:28

Jessica Mehring: just get those creative juices flowing when you just go back and forth with ChatGPT, have a conversation, see what comes out of it. That can be a great jumping off point for your own thinking. And you can even ask ChatGPT, hey, I want to have a conversation with you about this topic. Can you ask me questions about it? And it will. And you can answer back and have a conversation with ChatGPT and just to get your creative juices flowing. Now another thing that you can do with these tools is to start structuring your thoughts in better

13:28 - 14:07

Jessica Mehring: ways. I'm big on structure because no matter how great your idea is, no matter how unique your take is, if you don't structure a piece of writing well then your reader can't follow along and they're gonna drop off and they're gonna go to something else. So structuring your writing is really important And I think that tools like ChatGPT and other generative AI can really help us to just think through how we might structure something for a logical flow. And tools like ChatGPT are also evening the playing field in some ways. Now there's a lot of people

14:07 - 14:58

Jessica Mehring: in the world who are really great ideators. They are creative thinkers. They come up with really unique takes on things, but for 1 reason or another, maybe it's a neurological difference, maybe it's an educational difference, but they struggle to put their ideas into strong writing. Now that's something that I think generative AI can really help with. Folks who are strong ideators but maybe have weaker writing skills, this is an opportunity for them to get their ideas down in more structured and effectively written formats so the rest of us can get the benefit of these creative thinkers.

14:59 - 15:31

Rochelle Moulton: I just have to share an example. I was working with a client who really didn't like to write. And I'm not going to say that he couldn't write, because he could. Really super smart and very creative, but was really intimidated by writing. And he literally used ChatGPT to help him write his website and to help him write some marketing descriptions. And obviously it needed work. But what I loved about it is I could see the difference in his confidence at the very beginning to once he had gone through and produced a first draft that he could

15:31 - 16:09

Rochelle Moulton: feel good about. So, yeah. And there's a lot of people who are really good ideators, as you call them, who aren't as comfortable writing. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. So, 1 of the tenets of your work, which I know this audience is radically in sync with, is that storytelling fosters empathy, which helps us to connect with others. And of course, that draws in clients and buyers who ultimately buy our stuff. Do you see storytelling any differently with the proliferation of AI? I mean, can we use storytelling as an even more powerful tool now? Like, how do you see

16:09 - 16:10

Rochelle Moulton: it?

16:10 - 16:38

Jessica Mehring: That's so interesting that you asked this question because I really have been feeling like storytelling is more important than ever, which is a big statement because storytelling is how we've communicated human to human since we lived in caves. It's always been important. That has been a fundamental tenet of human communication. But now it differentiates us from the machines.

16:40 - 16:40

Rochelle Moulton: True.

16:40 - 17:09

Jessica Mehring: Yeah. AI cannot replicate human experience. AI can replicate a lot of things, but it can't replicate human experience. And because it can't, it can't replicate how we humans relate to 1 another. And story is how we relate to 1 another. So Chad GPT might be able to tell you a story, but there's going to be a fundamental lack...

Will Your Body of Work Benefit From Licensing or Certification with Pamela Slim

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0700

You’ve built a successful consulting practice using methods, tools and frameworks you’ve developed and road-tested with clients—is it time to ratchet up your impact and revenue? Award-winning author, speaker and certification expert Pamela Slim walks through the practical and strategic considerations of scaling your IP.

Pam shares her from-the-front wisdom:

The benefits of deliberately codifying your intellectual property: your approach, method, tools and frameworks.

Why B2B programs are often an easier sell (and far more lucrative) than B2C programs.

How to tell if your business is a good candidate for developing licensing or certification programs.

One wildly successful real-life example of practitioner certification.

The value of building your marketing engine (spoiler alert: it doesn’t have to be big to be mighty).

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Pamela Slim is an award-winning author, speaker and agency owner who has spent three decades helping business owners scale their businesses and IP.

Pam’s agency specializes in the design and development of certification and licensing programs. She is the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation (Penguin Portfolio, 2009), Body of Work (Penguin Portfolio, 2014) and The Widest Net (McGraw Hill, November, 2021, winner of Best Sales and Marketing Book of 2021 from Porchlight Books).

Pam and her husband Darryl co-founded the K’é Community Lab in Mesa, Arizona, where they host scores of BIPOC entrepreneurs and contribute to the local social, health and economic development of their community.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:17

Pamela Slim: Ideas are out there everywhere. The challenge, the hard thing, is taking that idea, putting it through a specific process where you can actually end up translating it into concrete behaviors that people besides you can be doing at scale out there in the world.

00:23 - 01:07

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today I'm here with Pamela Slim, award-winning author of 3 books, speaker and agency owner who spent 3 decades helping business owners scale their businesses and their IP. Her agency specializes in the design and development of certification and licensing programs. Plus, she and her husband, Daryl, co-founded the CAH Community Lab in Mesa, Arizona, where they host scores of BIPOC entrepreneurs and contribute to the local social, health, and economic development of their community. Pam, welcome. Thanks so much

01:07 - 01:27

Rochelle Moulton: for having me. I'm delighted to be here. Well, I'm delighted to have you on the show for many reasons. But the initial spark was when I read your second book, Body of Work, just last year, and I put you on my ideal guest list. And then when you showed up in my inbox via Alastair McDermott, I figured I'd better ask you right then. So I'm really glad you're here.

01:28 - 01:49

Pamela Slim: It's so fun. We were just saying pre-show what a serendipity it is. It's amazing given the alignment of our work that we haven't met before, but I love that it took a wonderful thought leader in Ireland that actually brought us together. We could probably throw a stone from my desert dwelling to you in Palm Springs and we could hit each other. So isn't that beautiful?

01:50 - 02:15

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly, small world, sometimes big world. Well, as I was preparing to talk with you, I clicked to your website and the first thing I saw was your headline. You have the power to shape the world through your work. And I love how with that statement, you set up this idea that everything we do in our businesses not only matters, but that we can deeply connect it to the change we want to make in our world.

02:16 - 02:52

Pamela Slim: Yeah, I so appreciate you picking up on that. This is probably the thought. Usually I go in waves and cycles for months, sometimes years, of really deeply exploring a core element of the way that I'm looking at business or the way that I'm doing work with clients. And at this stage, I've been experimenting. I'm getting ready to be doing some keynotes this year, which will be really fun to be on the road. And those of you who do that know it's probably the best way to make sure you are clear in your thinking and what your

02:52 - 03:23

Pamela Slim: big ideas are, because you think about being up on stage with other people. But part of really what's been hitting me about that and around my work is 1 of the things that I observe a lot as an author and a long time business coach and somebody who works with thought leaders, especially interfacing with more mainstream publishing and the way that we tend to celebrate thought leaders, is there's a lot of focus on just the idea, whatever that idea is, you know, AI, habits, you know, amazing great things that I think a lot of us can

03:23 - 03:59

Pamela Slim: be driven by that thought of, oh, if I could just think of the thing, that big great idea, I could get the book deal, I could be distinguishing myself between other competitors, and we think about it sometimes in that singular way. Part of what has me really work it through based on 1 of my strong through lines in my own body of work is being a training and development, organizational development person, which is ideas are out there everywhere. The challenge, the hard thing, is taking that idea, putting it through a specific process where you can actually

03:59 - 04:36

Pamela Slim: end up Translating it into concrete behaviors that people besides you can be doing at scale out there in the world and that middle section involves sometimes Instructional design and change management and psychology and philosophy all of these kinds of things of what it actually takes for taking a big idea. Like, hey, we should focus on habits. James Clear's great book, Atomic Habits, such a powerful idea, it's so interesting. We think about really what it takes in order to be implementing that into our life, to really change the way that we are, that to me is this

04:36 - 05:07

Pamela Slim: interesting intersection between often the market fit of ways that we're communicating and telling our story and driving interest for ideas, the method, the way that we actually develop something that consistently over time can make change, and then the model, which is the way that we can be describing things in a way in which it's sticky so that people remember it And again, they begin to develop these habits in their everyday life where they really do things differently because we've architected it that way.

05:08 - 05:38

Rochelle Moulton: It's interesting, Pam, because I was going to ask you some questions about your business, but I will come back to that because I want to explore this a little bit more. It's a really great setup for what we're going to talk about today. But let me ask you about you, because 1 of the great things about looking at the entrepreneurial part of your career is that it's long, right? You've been doing this for a while. You've written 3 books that, again, from the reader perspective, they're quite different, and yet they're connected. So will you talk just

05:38 - 05:50

Rochelle Moulton: for a moment about how you see your body of work and the threads that connect some of the really interesting things that you've done in those in those chunks of years because I can I can kind of see where your brain was going?

05:50 - 06:28

Pamela Slim: Absolutely. So I think in the biggest arc, the early days of my work, my degree in college actually was international development. So I have a very long winded major, which was the focus was non-formal education as a tool for social and economic change in Latin America. So I studied in Mexico and Colombia. A lot of the systems that you study in economic development are extremely similar to the kinds of models that you might see in organizational development, in change management. And so I was always driven early on and just excited. I was an exchange student multiple

06:28 - 07:00

Pamela Slim: times and studied abroad and was just really interested in transformational change, especially things like really eradicating harmful systems and creating more equity in the world. So those were like my earliest roots. And I worked through more of the nonprofit model for a while, and then I kind of fell into the world of training and development, which I actually ended up being so excited by because it had some of these elements that I was really excited by that I saw in the international work. I just knew that it wasn't a fit based on my philosophy of being

07:00 - 07:29

Pamela Slim: this fresh-faced 20-something white girl from Marin County, California originally, like living in Columbia doing economic development. I was like, I've met people from there that are so much better at making that change. And I don't really believe in that like external person parachuting out from a theory of change perspective. So it allowed me to really then dig into a whole number of years while I was working inside corporate, which I actually loved, which surprises some people, knowing that the first book I wrote was Escape from Cubicle Naked.

07:29 - 07:30

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it's Not intuitive.

07:31 - 08:04

Pamela Slim: That's right. But it really is this lifelong enthusiasm for how can we make transformational change? How can we make communities, organizations more healthy, and really embracing training and development as a tool in order to do that. So I worked, my last real job was 28 years ago at Barclays Global Investors as the Director of Training and Development. I think they're BlackRock now. They went through a whole series of acquisitions, but I left there and then spent the first 10 years of my career as a management consultant in Silicon Valley. And that was so fun and interesting.

08:05 - 08:34

Pamela Slim: Got to just do all kinds of different projects, really for growing and scaling a lot of tech companies. And then around 2005, I met my husband, wanted to move to Arizona and be off the road so much. And that's when I launched my blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation, that really dove me into this exciting exploration of helping people who were in corporate who wanted to leave and start a business, which were many of the clients that I had actually interfaced with when I was a consultant. And so I spent about 10 years in a deep dive

08:34 - 09:04

Pamela Slim: there, which led to my first book deal, and then really doing a lot of work and developing my own body of work around tools to help people do that early stage transition. Then I just started to slide more in the body of work years, the way that you begin to understand body of work, many ways that was a reaction to noticing how a lot of people in the startup space were saying, you can only be creative and free if you work for yourself. It felt so limited, untrue, privileged, frankly, right? Not everybody can do it. It's

09:04 - 09:35

Pamela Slim: hard. Work is hard in general, but I think the main focus and the tools I wanted to bring forth in that next stage was to help people be more deliberate about just what is that body of work they wanted to move forward. Having a metaphor much like artists or writers do of saying you don't always have to be doing the same thing over time and you can have experiment with different work modes as you're building your body of work at different stages of your life depending on what's going on. You can choose to work deliberately in

09:35 - 10:06

Pamela Slim: different models. So it's perfectly okay if you work for yourself for a while and that works, then you decide to go back and work for an organization, awesome. Then you might work for a smaller firm, You might start a nonprofit. It's more about that context that you create and really being deliberate about driving satisfaction based on what work that you're creating. How are you using your gifts and skills to bring great work into the world? So that body of work, body of work came out in around 2014. And I just spent a lot more time easing

10:06 - 10:38

Pamela Slim: in some ways a little bit more toward people who are doing work at scale, kind of like the earlier work that I had done, you know, as a management consultant. And I'm an author practitioner, I often say. So I write books based on what I'm seeing and hearing and experiencing with clients. When clients were getting more deliberate about the work they wanted to bring forth, usually the main question was, where are my customers? How can I consistently and not in a not overwhelming way generate all kinds of leads and referrals and visibility? So that's really where

10:38 - 11:13

Pamela Slim: the widest net came around full circle, where actually a lot of the ecosystem building principles that grassroots development models absolutely fit into work that I was doing and in the way that I would talk about business development with my clients. And then as you said in the intro, about 7 and a half years ago, my husband and I also opened up this community lab here in Mesa really utilizing all the principles in that widest net method. Widest net was my latest book that came out in 2021. And so looking backwards that's often where we see that

11:13 - 11:32

Pamela Slim: through line, right? Widest net was helping people get their body of work out. Body of work was a reaction saying, hey, if it doesn't work as an entrepreneur, that's not the only way to think about it. But I didn't necessarily have that perspective from the beginning, right? I was more reacting to work that happened and issues that came forward.

11:33 - 11:58

Rochelle Moulton: Well, yeah, I was really impressed with this idea that you created a physical space that manifests the change you want to see, right? Because that's the hardest thing sometimes is to do physically what we're talking about virtually. So I think you get extra bonus points for that. Well, it's a real joy that 1 part just for brevity I left out when I was in San Francisco for about 11 years.

11:58 - 12:31

Pamela Slim: I was the volunteer executive director of an Afro-Brazilian martial art group, Capoeira, which I was a passionate practitioner and eventual teacher working with an artistic director. So I'd actually done lots and lots of work on a local level in San Francisco doing community building and engagement. So it was kind of a coming home for me, but here in Arizona of doing the local engagement work and I'm not bearing the lead. It's now been publicly communicated, but we're actually will come up on 8 years in June Which is when our lease will be up and we have

12:31 - 13:05

Pamela Slim: come full circle to be closing that project. So my husband and I, it's always been something that we knew was not by definition supposed to be something that was long-term the way that we built it. It was specific space that we opened up for. My husband is Navajo, So he's a Navajo traditional healer. So it really was a specific space that we provided at no fee to BIPOC entrepreneurs in our community to really experiment, have events, you know, sort of get support in an informal way that now where we are in the process of economic development

13:05 - 13:18

Pamela Slim: here, we'll be moving forward in a different way, like with partners moving forward. So it just another chapter and you notice it tends to be around 7 to 10 year cycles in which projects happen.

13:18 - 13:26

Rochelle Moulton: And it also explains something that I saw, I think, in social that said there's going to be some big changes this year, so now I know what

13:26 - 13:26

Pamela Slim: that meant.

13:26 - 13:51

Rochelle Moulton: That's right. Well, congratulations, though, because I like how you're looking at this as it's a process and it needed to be a physical space until it didn't. And you know, I think a lot of times we tell ourselves a story about what we did that is bad versus because it works differently than what other people might define as success. Closing the center is progress.

13:52 - 14:27

Pamela Slim: 100%. Yeah. And it really is. It's tied to, I'm a big proponent of theories of change and really having an analysis about how and why that you're doing things. And if we had 13 hours, I would go on a long diatribe about some of the critique about approaches that we can have, for example, to community projects or nonprofits. Just tangentially, 1 of the things that I noticed over and over and over is that most of the ways in which people specifically want to be engaging with BIPOC, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian entrepreneurs is by immediately coming to

14:27 - 15:03

Pamela Slim: a space, designing a program, usually without any input from the community, and just trying to put tons of focus and energy into launching it and trying to sell and pull people into the space. And my husband and I have a very, very different approach of that's actually not

How To Know If A Mastermind Is Right For You

Rochelle Moulton — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Choosing a mastermind may well be one of your biggest investments as a business owner—and yet the right one will repay that investment many times over. How can you decide if a mastermind is right for you?

In this solo episode, I explain:

The three contributing factors that will impact the success you experience with any mastermind.

Why you never want to join a mastermind where you’re the smartest person in the room.

How to evaluate the mastermind facilitator (and why your spidey sense can be a good clue).

Three types of masterminds for business owners and how to experience full value from each.

LINKS

The Soloist Women Mastermind (Apply January 2024) A structured eight-month mastermind with an intentionally small group of hand-picked women soloists grappling with—and solving—the same kinds of challenges.

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:33

Rochelle Moulton: Most experienced facilitators won't let you in if you're dramatically behind the group. But the idea is to find a group where you're literally the dumbest person in the room and think about that for a sec. Like how cool would it be to be in a room where everyone has been where you are now and sprinted past it, right? This is a room that's hard to get into, but if you do, it's a room where you want to listen far more than you speak. It's also a room where you have to maintain your equilibrium when you're surrounded

00:33 - 01:15

Rochelle Moulton: by people operating at a higher level. Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today it's just us, no guests, just some straight talk about 1 of my favorite ways to learn and grow masterminds. Now full disclosure, I run the Soloist Women Mastermind which is open right now for applications. So obviously this topic is on my mind. But what I want to talk to you about today is how to know if a mastermind is right for you. Because masterminds, mine or anyone else's, are

01:15 - 01:54

Rochelle Moulton: not the right choice for everyone. In fact, there's a bit of an art to choosing the right mastermind, which is what I want to explore with you today. So let's start with a definition, because I've seen a lot of programs called masterminds, but they don't really operate as what I think of as a classic mastermind. So a mastermind is a small group of peers, could be from the same industry and or with the same goals, who come together to brainstorm ideas, provide peer support and accountability, and offer a safe, constructive place to communicate. So even when

01:54 - 02:40

Rochelle Moulton: they're facilitated by an outside expert, the members are the main focus of discussion. It is not a place where you're being taught or coached by 1 person. Every member's input and participation is equally important. Now if you decide to explore choosing a mastermind, think of your decision as having 3 contributing factors, you, the facilitator, and your peer group. Now, first and foremost is you. To get full value from a mastermind, you'll wanna have some sort of identified challenge that you'll work on during the mastermind, which means you've got to set aside actual time to work on

02:40 - 03:17

Rochelle Moulton: that and attend the meetings, plus some headspace to work on the feedback you'll receive from the group. And you'll also want to be in both giver and receiver mode. And by that, I mean you want to be wired to do both in your mastermind, to give constructive and supportive feedback to your fellow members, and be willing to hear and work with the constructive and supportive feedback they give you. You don't ever want to join a mastermind where you feel like you'll be doing mostly giving because you're so far ahead of the others. It's not fair to

03:17 - 03:58

Rochelle Moulton: you. Instead, search for 1 that has your true peers. Ideally, your mastermind facilitator curates the group to ensure you get roughly equivalent amounts of giving and receiving, but it's something you want to pay attention to. Notice if your Spidey sense feels like maybe it's not quite the right balance for you. The second factor in choosing a mastermind is the facilitator. This is the person who will be responsible for ensuring that you get your needs met, that the container is a safe and constructive place to learn and grow, and that the peer group is truly a peer

03:58 - 04:37

Rochelle Moulton: group. So you want to choose a facilitator with experience working with other people like you. Now you might choose someone with experience in your vertical or your area of expertise or the kind of business you run. There is literally an infinite variety of choices. Now you'll also want to be aware of buying from what I call the sage on the stage and that's a leader who is more about pontificating a particular point of view than meeting you and the group where they are. Your leader needs to sublimate their ego to run a successful mastermind. And the

04:37 - 05:10

Rochelle Moulton: last factor in choosing the right mastermind for you is the peer group. Who will you be matched with? And when you're joining an existing group, it's fairly easy to shush this out, but it's a lot harder when you're joining a new 1. You may have to rely on the choices made by the facilitator, and you won't always know who will be with you until you've bellied up to the bar and committed. So in this case, you want to have mega trust in your facilitator. Okay so those are the 3 parties if you will in every mastermind

05:10 - 05:44

Rochelle Moulton: you, the facilitator, and the peer group. But there are also different ways you can use a mastermind and friend of the show Shannon Weinstein did a great episode on her Keep What You Earn podcast on the 3 situations when it makes sense for you to invest in masterminds. It looks like we're on a theme of 3 today. So the first type of mastermind is probably the 1 you were thinking about as you were listening to this so far. It's where you go to learn to practice to stretch to grow in a group with others in the

05:44 - 06:19

Rochelle Moulton: same stage as you. It's very much about the peer learning experience. The second type of mastermind is filled with people who are ahead of you. Now, this 1 is tricky because most experienced facilitators won't let you in if you're dramatically behind the group. But the idea is to find a group where you're literally the dumbest person in the room. And think about that for a sec. Like how cool would it be to be in a room where everyone has been where you are now and sprinted past it, right? This is a room that's hard to get

06:19 - 06:55

Rochelle Moulton: into, but if you do, it's a room where you wanna listen far more than you speak. It's also a room where you have to maintain your equilibrium when you're surrounded by people operating at a higher level. It's not the place to be shy or intimidated, but to soak up and learn and focus 100% on that. Now the third type of mastermind is with a group of your ideal clients. Now this is a way to hear about their challenges in an informal way to understand how they think and act as well as the language they use. Now

06:55 - 07:27

Rochelle Moulton: it can be pure gold just not in the usual way that you might think of masterminds. Now the other side of that coin is you'll be able to build some strong relationships with people in your target market and they may well sing your praises to the other folks they know or even wind up hiring you afterwards. So can you see how Any 1 of these 3 kinds of masterminds could be right for you at any given point in time. It comes down to this. What do you need most right now in your personal or business development

07:27 - 08:03

Rochelle Moulton: and who is the right facilitator with the right peer group to get you there. Now there are free masterminds and paid masterminds. There are low cost masterminds and high cost masterminds. You can even start your own. You want to decide which has the most value to you and your current situation. The general rule of thumb with paid masterminds is to get into the most expensive group you can afford to join that will also welcome you. The theory being that that's the room that will push you forward the fastest. But of course the devil's in the details,

08:03 - 08:43

Rochelle Moulton: so take a good hard look at your readiness and your commitment, the demonstrated skill of the facilitator, and the level and experience of the peer group. The right mastermind can literally catapult you into new territory when you're ready to do the work. So before we say goodbye today, if you are a soloist considering a mastermind, be sure to check out the link to my soloist women mastermind in the show notes. The next cohort starts February 8th 2024 and you can apply through Wednesday, January 31st. That's it for this episode. I hope you'll join us next time

08:43 - 08:46

Rochelle Moulton: for soloist women. Bye bye.

Make Your Own Rules with Heather Whelpley

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0700

We tend to live by a set of unconscious rules that we’ve inherited—from our families, our culture, the media and more. But when they keep you tethered to a way of life that isn’t serving your highest good? Award-winning author, speaker and podcast host Heather Whelpley says it’s time to make your own rules.

Together, we unpack:

The four types of rules we have “inherited” from outside forces and how they play out in our lives.

How to become conscious of the rules you’ve internalized and adopted—and start testing whether they are actually true.

The relationship between culturally expected perfection and imposter syndrome.

The role of “breaks”—big and small—in creating opportunities to understand, challenge and change the rules you’ve been living by.

How to start—and stick with—making your own rules to expand your business and your life.

LINKS

Heather Whelpley Website | Email List | Grounded Wildness | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Heather Whelpley is a speaker, award-winning author of Grounded Wildness: Break Free From Performing Your Life and Start Living It and An Overachiever's Guide To Breaking The Rules, and host of the Grounded Wildness podcast. She works with women to break free from perfect and create their own rules for life.

Heather has spoken to thousands of people across the US and internationally on topics like discovering your authentic voice, creating your own rules for success, and imposter syndrome. Prior to starting her business, she spent over a decade in human resources and managing leadership development programs for high-achieving women at Fortune 500 companies in the US, Australia, and Latin America.

Her first book, An Overachiever's Guide To Breaking The Rules, has won multiple awards, including gold medals from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and Living Now Book Awards as well as being named a finalist for the First Horizon Book Award for first-time authors. Her second book, Grounded Wildness, was published in October 2023 and was an instant Amazon bestseller. Heather lives in Colorado where she spends as much time hiking and exploring as possible.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:20

Heather Whelpley: I needed to overdo and achieve with everything, even in non-traditional career ways. And I finally stopped and asked myself why. And that was my first break was like, oh, wait, look at all these rules were handed in our culture as a whole that we always need to be doing more. We're not allowed to slow down. We're not allowed to take a break and really connecting our worth to success and to achievement.

00:25 - 00:49

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with Heather Welpley who works with women to break free from perfect and create their own rules for life. She's a speaker, award-winning author of 2 books and the host of the grounded wildness podcast, Heather. Welcome.

00:49 - 00:52

Heather Whelpley: Thank you, Rochelle. I'm so thrilled to be here chatting with you today.

00:53 - 01:09

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I'm delighted to have you on the show. And I want to give a shout out to Chris Jennings for suggesting that we connect Because this idea that women have to follow certain rules to be a good, successful, likeable female makes me insane.

01:10 - 01:12

Heather Whelpley: Yep, me too.

01:12 - 01:28

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So I'm excited to dig into this and talk about those rules, how they create imposter syndrome, and how we can make our own rules. But first, I do love to begin with a bit of background about how you got started in your business. I mean, you were in corporate HR, right?

01:28 - 01:31

Heather Whelpley: I was, yeah, for 10 years before I started my business.

01:31 - 01:33

Rochelle Moulton: So what made you decide to hang your shingle?

01:34 - 02:04

Heather Whelpley: Well, so I'd never thought about being a business owner. You know, I wasn't 1 of those people who was like, you know, 1 day I'll be my own boss. I know this is my destiny. I never thought about that. I was enjoying most of my work in corporate. I worked in HR and leadership development and change management. I had great colleagues, great managers, like things were good. And then 1 day my job changed. I had been doing mostly women's leadership development and my job changed to something outside of my control that I immediately knew I was

02:04 - 02:33

Heather Whelpley: going to hate. And it was my birthday, which is just, I think, a message from the universe. You know, we talk about like full body yeses. This was a full body no. Everything in my body, heart, mind and soul was like, absolutely not. Something's gonna have to change quickly because this job is not going to work. And I really took a step back for the first time in a long time and thought really deeply about, what do I want? What do I want my career to look like? What's the impact I wanna have? And for the

02:33 - 03:04

Heather Whelpley: first time, I decided to include entrepreneurship as a possibility in that it wasn't a sure thing. It wasn't, oh yes, immediately, this is what I'm going to do. But as I started talking to people, as I started reflecting, I did the Design Your Life book, which was a great activity reflection book, and gave myself some space to really consider. Then some excitement started building up, some excitement for these possibilities of what I could do if I was on my own. I could write, I could train, I could coach, I could speak, I could do what I

03:04 - 03:34

Heather Whelpley: wanted to do. And although there was a ton of fear there as well, particularly this fear of failure and having to go back to corporate, you know, with my tail tucked between my legs because I couldn't hack it on my own, Like that was all very real also, but this excitement was something that even though I enjoyed my corporate work, I hadn't felt that in a really long time. And it felt like this knowing of I need to try this out. What's really funny though, so that was 6 years ago, 7 years ago. And I found

03:34 - 04:05

Heather Whelpley: a business plan a few months ago for what I thought this business was going to look like. And really only 1 line of the 5 pages is accurate today, which was, I wanna work mostly with women. And that's still true, but everything else has changed in that time period. And so, yeah, but it really was a job change that initially initiated that reflection and that decision, but then it was the excitement and the possibilities and deciding it was worth the risk to try and figure it out and to try and run a business on my own.

04:06 - 04:25

Rochelle Moulton: I love that you actually had a business plan. I mean, I did the same thing, but a lot of people when they're, you know, first hanging out a shingle, there is no business plan. It's like, okay, how can I just make enough to pay my rent or my mortgage and put food on the table and I'll figure it all out later? So I love it. And it's not surprising that it changed over the course

04:25 - 04:25

Heather Whelpley: of, right,

04:25 - 04:26

Rochelle Moulton: you know, 6 or 7 years.

04:27 - 04:54

Heather Whelpley: Yes, I think almost everyone's would change. And it's funny when you said, you know, people just figure it out along the way. I think that's really what I did anyway. I just happened to write some things down first that ended up changing. It was everything I did not know at all how to run a business. You know, I had the leadership development background, which is, you know, still in the realm of what I do, roughly speaking, in my business. But it's, yeah, I had no clue how to actually run a business that was all learning on

04:54 - 04:55

Heather Whelpley: the job.

04:55 - 05:02

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it's a whole new skill set. You know, like consulting is a skill set. So do you consider yourself a soloist?

05:02 - 05:34

Heather Whelpley: Absolutely. Yes. I currently have no interest in growing a team. I reserve the right to change my mind about that at any time. But yeah, I'm a solopreneur. My overall theme in my business and really for my life as a whole is big impact, simple joy. So I want to create the biggest impact I can with the greatest simplicity out there. So I absolutely work with an accountant and a bookkeeper. And then I have an amazing marketing specialist that I work with like 1 to 2 hours a week who does some of the stuff on my

05:34 - 06:04

Heather Whelpley: podcast, the background things on my podcast and anything that I've ever designed that looks pretty. She probably had a role in, she's amazing. And then I work with someone else. I'm a speaker. So a few years ago I invested in having someone design my slides for me so that they look significantly more professional than when I was doing them on my own. But I don't have any employees and I don't have any interest in having any employees. Well, you're talking to the right crowd. Yes. That's why I was so excited when you when when Chris decided

06:04 - 06:05

Heather Whelpley: to introduce us.

06:06 - 06:10

Rochelle Moulton: Well, so how long did it take you to earn your first 100, 000? Do you remember?

06:11 - 06:21

Heather Whelpley: Oh, that's a great question. I think about year 3. I'm almost positive it was year 3, if we're talking about revenue that it would have been a hundred thousand. Yeah, yeah.

06:21 - 06:35

Rochelle Moulton: We talked top line because the bottom line in these kinds of businesses is all over the lot. But the beauty is that we do tend to keep a lot of what we earn versus businesses that have lots of employees or lots of overhead like rent?

06:35 - 07:09

Heather Whelpley: Very much so. Yes. I'm a completely service-based business. The only quote-unquote products that I have are my 2 books and an accompanying journal. That is it. And so I don't have any other tangible products. It's just me and the speaking services, coaching services that I provide, which does make it easy and flexible and yeah, low cost, low overhead, which makes it easier, I think, to also not having employees to take risks and try new things. Because in actuality, the risk is pretty low. It doesn't always feel low like the emotional component is still there but when

07:09 - 07:20

Heather Whelpley: I stop and take a step back and say like okay if this actually failed what am I gonna lose? Honestly the answer frequently is not that much. So it makes it easier to be more flexible, I think.

07:21 - 07:42

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I love that point. When we had Emily O'Meara on the show, she was talking about how a lot of times what we think is risky isn't really risky at all. It's like what you said about, because I felt it too, is going back to corporate with my tail between my legs. I mean, so what? Like, nobody's going to remember that for more than a nanosecond other than us. If we feel shame around it, which like, why bother?

07:42 - 07:43

Heather Whelpley: Exactly.

07:43 - 08:01

Rochelle Moulton: There's no shame in any of this. At least we tried, right? That's kind of how I look at it. Yes. Well, thank you for that. But so I really want to dive into this idea that we we and I say women, but I'm sure

08:01 - 08:02

Speaker 3: it's true for all genders is that We all have

08:02 - 08:18

Rochelle Moulton: inherited some form of rules. And I like how you define them in your new book, Grounded Wildness. You had family rules, school rules, media rules, work rules. What kinds of messages do we internalize and make our own?

08:18 - 08:47

Heather Whelpley: Oh my gosh, so many. And what you just said is the exact right way to say it of these messages that we internalize and then make our own. And that's absolving any guilt or shame around that because we all do this. And those rules that we follow don't come from inside of us. They come from our, like you said, our families, media, general cultural expectations, our work experiences, our school experiences, what you've been praised for, what you've been punished for, what's been talked about, what's not been talked about. All of these different things is how we

08:47 - 09:17

Heather Whelpley: get our rules. And absolutely, totally right. Every person gets a set of rules regardless of gender. Both my books do tend to, particularly Grounded Wildness, do tend to focus on the rules that are handed to women that cause us to prove, please perfect, and sometimes rebel and push against them. But when it comes to women, a lot of the rules that were handed, if we think about kind of how we're showing up in work and relationships, it's like, I can't disappoint anyone. I have to be responsible for everyone and everything. I have to keep everyone happy.

09:17 - 09:47

Heather Whelpley: I'm not allowed to say no. I have to say yes to everything. Things have to be perfect. I'm not allowed to make a mistake. And then that can translate into, or I should always be doing more and working harder. And that can translate into our businesses as well. So those rules apply regardless of your type of position or career or job. But as a business, I think we also get additional entrepreneurship rules of around hustling and like rise and grind and you know you always have to be doing more. It's all on you so you can

09:47 - 09:50

Heather Whelpley: never take a break. If you don't post on social media, you're gonna

09:50 - 09:51

Speaker 3: lose your followers. You always have to be doing more. It's all on you. So you can never take a break. If you don't post

09:51 - 10:23

Heather Whelpley: on social media, you're gonna lose your followers. You always have to be doing more like just in this and growing more and constantly getting bigger and not taking time off and just this hustle grind hamster wheel. And that part I will say applies to all genders. That is not women specific, the hustle culture at all, but I've seen that women can often take on, because of these rules handed to us, greater responsibility and guilt around some of these rules as well. So even though they might be handed down to all genders, they don't always impact all

10:23 - 10:24

Heather Whelpley: genders in the same

10:25 - 10:57

Rochelle Moulton: way. You know, 1 of the things that struck me as you were talking about this is that what we're praised for, the way you said that. And it's kind of like, I'm developing this theory that what we're praised for tends to be what gets us stuck in our zone of excellence versus our genius zone right and we just we get praised for things especially in an organization and it's great to be praised, you know, we can get promotions, we can win things and encourages us to work harder at the things we're good at or even excellent

10:57 - 11:02

Rochelle Moulton: at, but somehow it leaves us short of our genius zone.

11:02 - 11:28

Heather Whelpley: I completely agree. And I just listened to your podcast episode on that and I've read the big leap as well. And I really liked that concept of zone of genius versus zone of excellence. And I will also say in addition to everything you just said, I think sometimes those rules can also cause us to hold our voices back because part of the rules that women are handed about being a quote-unquote good girl or good woman is to like not make people angry and to be polite. And of course not everyone gets handed all of these rules

11:28 - 11:58

Heather Whelpley: in the exact same way, But I've definitely felt them and I've talked to a lot of other women who felt them that makes it can make it harder to disagree to put yourself out there to raise your prices to take a stand to share something that might be controversial where you might get Criticism, you know all of these things that can make it harder, which I think also makes it harder to leap into your zone of genius because I think in my experience personally, not always, that zone of genius might be a little bit more, might

11:58 - 12:27

Heather Whelpley: be a little more controversial. Like not everyone is going to love what you're doing and saying in your zone of genius. And women are so programmed to be liked. Like this is part of our value is in being likable. And oftentimes working in your zone of genius, not everyone is going to like what you do. Fewer people are going to like it more and benefit from it more, but it's not going to be likely not going to be across the board, which is a challenge if you've been told directly and indirectly throughout your life that...

Hosting A Purposeful Podcast with Lauren Popish

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Podcasting is a proven way to increase your authority, impact and revenue—but how can you produce a podcast that consistently achieves your goals?

Lauren Popish, founder of The Wave (podcast editing for women, by women), shows how to clear the obstacles keeping you from starting—or continuing to grow—a purposeful podcast.

Lauren shares her story and some frank advice:

The two questions that you want to answer before recording a single episode (and use as a touchstone as you grow your ‘cast).

How to think about hard costs vs. the value of your time when outsourcing elements of your podcast production.

What to look for when outsourcing your podcast production—and when to choose a solo or an agency.

What to tell yourself if the sound of your own voice is keeping you from podcasting (start at timestamp 43:56 for the best advice I've ever heard on this).

Why purposeful podcasting means playing the long game.

LINKS

Lauren Popish Website | Launch Checklist | LinkedIn | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Lauren Popish is the founder of The Wave Podcasting. She started podcasting in 2017 after a public speaking blunder that sparked a speaking fear and almost ended her career. She found podcasting to be a safe place to practice speaking and wanted to share it with other women struggling to tell their stories.

The Wave launched The Wave Editing, the first podcast editing service for women by women in 2021. The Wave Editing pairs female audio engineers with female podcasters so they can grow their shows by outsourcing the tedious tasks that prevent many podcast hosts from building their audience. Since then, The Wave has served hundreds of women through affordable editing services, educational resources, and digital community.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:34

Lauren Popish: How much is your time worth, truly from like a dollar standpoint? What would it cost you to sacrifice 1 hour of your day doing something like editing your podcast? If you think you can get more value from editing it yourself, then you would if you were to go use your time to do something else like do an hour of coaching services or even spend your time marketing your podcast, increasing your audience. If you think that your time is better spent editing, then it'll be a better value for you than hiring someone.

00:38 - 01:13

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Lauren Poppish, the founder of The Wave Podcasting. And she launched the first podcast editing service for women by women in 2021. She pairs female audio engineers with female podcasters so they can grow their shows by outsourcing the tedious tasks that prevent many podcast hosts from building their audience. Lauren, welcome. Thank you

01:13 - 01:18

Lauren Popish: so much for having me. It's such a treat to be on the side of the microphone, on the side of the podcast.

01:19 - 01:39

Rochelle Moulton: Absolutely. Well, I'm so excited to have you on the show. And not only because I'm a happy user of your podcast editing services, I want to put that right up front. But I also Share your view that podcasting is a great way to get over the fear that many of us have about using our voices and being heard.

01:39 - 02:15

Lauren Popish: I'm so happy to hear you say that because I think it's 1 of the undersold advantages of starting a podcast is really treating speaking like a muscle, which it is, and like any skill, any skill that we're trying to build, you have to do it a little bit. And all of us, I think, can use more practice in not just using our voices in the most literal sense, but using it for getting a message across, selling ourselves, selling our companies, our missions. And podcasting is a great way to build the practice and build up that skill

02:15 - 02:32

Lauren Popish: of using your voice. It certainly has helped me overcome what was some pretty debilitating public speaking fear at 1 time and has since truly not just helped build individual confidence, but really has helped build my brand for my business. Well, I'm so

02:32 - 02:36

Rochelle Moulton: glad you brought that up because that was actually where I wanted to start this.

02:36 - 02:37

Lauren Popish: Oh good.

02:37 - 02:50

Rochelle Moulton: Because if I understand rightly, you started podcasting in 2017 after what you called a public speaking blunder that almost ended your career. So I'd really love to hear, like, how did that go down?

02:50 - 03:29

Lauren Popish: Yeah, I was on a sales team for a tech startup that had just gone through an acquisition. And my role at that time was kind of going on a road show of, I believe it was 22 different cities over 4 weeks to sell our new company on these products that this company had just acquired and train them up, show them how to use it. And so I was flying around and doing that kind of typical TV version of what a salesperson looks like. I was flying into 1 city during 1 day, flying out to the next.

03:29 - 04:10

Lauren Popish: I was racking up the points on my credit card. And on the very last day of the tour, so this is literally the last city of that 22 city tour, I was in Charleston and I showed up for a presentation I'd given at that 0, I want to say hundreds of times, either virtually or in person, and showed up like I usually do. Felt a little tired maybe from travel but nothing out of the usual. I showed up to this presentation. I started in on my typical lines and about midway through, I just couldn't catch my

04:10 - 04:47

Lauren Popish: breath. I was a little dehydrated. I was speaking too fast And I hyperventilated to the point where I had to actually leave the room. I was in the middle of this presentation. I have a complete meltdown. I can't get any words out. I can't speak. I kind of feign a coughing fit and I was like, I'll be right back. And I walked out and speaking at that time was 1 of my best skills. It was something that, I mean, I was in a sales role. It was how I defined myself as someone who is a very

04:47 - 05:09

Lauren Popish: confident speaker. And it was my livelihood at the time. I walked out and the coordinator, she came over and she goes, Oh, let me grab you a glass of water. Let's head back in there. And I was like, I'm so sorry. I don't, I don't think I can do this. I don't think I can go back in." And she was like, what are you talking about? Like she truly couldn't even understand that I was in a moment of full blown panic attack.

05:09 - 05:10

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

05:10 - 05:45

Lauren Popish: And so I went back in, I somehow stumbled through that presentation. But that incident sparked a fear so robust. I mean, I have to say that at the time I was in the early incubation stages of having mono, I had just worn myself truly into the ground from all of this work. So my health was failing a little bit. And so I was out of commission for about a month after that, just being so sick. But when I got back, the fear had come to stay. I mean, I every single, it didn't matter if it was

05:45 - 06:16

Lauren Popish: a virtual call, There was a time where I was so afraid of what might happen to me. I just didn't, I couldn't trust my body. I couldn't trust my voice. I didn't understand why this had happened when in the past I had never even thought about speaking and all of a sudden I could be standing up there and my voice just wouldn't work anymore. Like I couldn't just speak anymore. And so I could barely be in a conference room just having a one-on-one meeting with a colleague who I knew well. I mean, that's how paralyzed with

06:16 - 06:49

Lauren Popish: fear I was about my own voice and my ability to speak and trusting myself that way. And so I was going through just such anxiety. I had to have someone like a sit in the room with me as I was doing all my sales calls. I was just so afraid that something would happen and I'd have to leave and someone else would have to jump in. And I finally called my boss 1 Sunday as I was in true dread of showing up to start my workday that Monday. And I just said, I can't do it anymore.

06:49 - 07:22

Lauren Popish: And I don't know if there's a role here for me. I don't know what that means for my career at this company. All I know is that I can't do this job anymore. And luckily, I worked at a company that was just extremely human people centric. And my boss kind of sat me down and said, hey, we're going to find something that works for you. And I moved into a product role that ultimately fit like a glove. It fit me a lot better and I had a long career with this company. It was the company that

07:22 - 07:44

Lauren Popish: I was at until I decided to break out on my own with the wave. And that's really fortunate. But had that not been the case, I would have had to just kind of leave and figure out how to have a career and how to keep supporting myself because I was just so debilitated with fear about speaking at that time.

07:45 - 08:07

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So what's fascinating to me then, I mean, because that story has so many elements. I mean, I'm 22 cities in who knows how many days. I mean, I'm not surprised you'd get mono or be sick or that your voice would just suddenly disappear. But what made you then decide that you could make a business out of podcasting? Right? Like the biggest fear.

08:08 - 08:50

Lauren Popish: Yeah, it wasn't overnight. It took a long time to kind of come to that decision. I basically immediately started a pretty robust therapy, immersion therapy. I joined Toastmasters immediately. I knew that I needed to get back to, and I will likely never ever get back to that level of carefree confidence that I had at 1 time about speaking. I now manage my fear and anxiety around speaking, but it's not gone. So I'll probably never get back to that. But I knew I needed to get to a functional state where I could hold down a job, where

08:50 - 09:22

Lauren Popish: I could come and sit in a conference room with other people and not be so afraid that I was going to have some kind of bodily mishap. And so I started that process. And at that time I was actually, I've kind of always had the entrepreneurial fire and maybe other folks who listen to your show can relate to this fact that I've worked in, for companies and in corporate environments for a long time, but I've always had that little burning fire under me that just says, I want to do it on my own. I want to

09:22 - 09:52

Lauren Popish: do something on my own. And so I was always a side hustle queen. I was, I always had something in the wings. And at the time that this was all happening, I was actually had some funding for a travel app that I was working on. It was kind of Instagramable travel app stuff. And as I was going through this experience, this really kind of life changing experience, I just kind of looked at my work that I had built around this travel app and said, who the heck cares about this? I mean, this is not, this isn't

09:53 - 10:18

Lauren Popish: important. This isn't meaningful. And on my worst days, when I get up, this is actually not gonna, I'm not gonna come to this and feel fulfilled by this. And so I really had, in addition to a pretty serious crisis around speaking, I also had a bit of an existential crisis where I was like, if you're going to start a business and you're going to put all your... Because we know it's not easy, we know it takes a lot of

10:18 - 10:18

Rochelle Moulton: time, and We know it takes a lot

10:18 - 10:54

Lauren Popish: of time. And we know it takes a lot out of us. If I'm going to pursue something, it's probably got to be so important and so purposeful and something that on my worst day, I'm still willing to get up and work on that I really need to change. I need to think about what that would be. And so I sat down, I said, what is the most important thing to me right now? And I just said, well, gosh, the biggest thing I'm struggling with right now is just debilitating public speaking fair. And even at that time,

10:54 - 11:24

Lauren Popish: I said, Lauren, that's too close to home. It's actually too close. There's no way I could attempt to build something around that. But as time went on, you're really called to the things that you're trying to overcome. And that as you're struggling with these challenges, all of a sudden I had all this empathy for all these women and these people around me who I had never experienced public speaking fear until recently. But all of a sudden, I started seeing everybody in a different light. I started seeing my sister who's always been kind of behind the scenes.

11:24 - 11:59

Lauren Popish: And I did theater in school and she was more of an athlete. She didn't like the limelight. And so I'm starting to see her in a new light, I'm starting to empathize, I'm starting to look at my colleagues who also don't want to get up in the middle of the meeting and raise their hand. And all of a sudden, I just started seeing community that hadn't been there before, because it wasn't a community that I identified with or I was a part of. Once that group started showing itself, I really started feeling called to support that

11:59 - 12:41

Lauren Popish: community. With all the tools I was trying, the Toastmasters and the therapy and the mindfulness practices and then podcasting, I really saw it as 1 of my tools for curing or trying to heal this moment in time for me, I really felt like I needed to share it. I just felt called to bring this tool to my community because I didn't really think people might be aware of how good and confidence building podcasting was if you were someone who didn't feel really comfortable in your own voice, who didn't feel a certain amount of confidence about speaking

12:41 - 12:50

Lauren Popish: out. I just knew that I had to be spending my time doing something that would support the people that I now felt close to.

12:50 - 13:05

Rochelle Moulton: Well, it's a little bit like, as I'm listening to you, like your eyes were opened. Oh, other people are afraid of public speaking. I mean, I think when they just surveyed, the only thing people fear more than death is public speaking. Exactly. Yeah. So I

13:05 - 13:43

Lauren Popish: mean, it's just, it's fascinating because you had no idea until you were thrust into that situation and experienced that fear, how alone you were not. Right? Yes, yes. And what I didn't realize until I did a little bit of research is that is true that the majority of people, I think it's something like I used to have this number memorized, but you know, it's like in the seventies, high 70% of individuals, all people fear public speaking. But the majority of that identify as female, 44% of that group. And so why is that? That seems weird, right?

13:43 - 14:19

Lauren Popish: Oh, no, that seems totally obvious to me. Exactly. Well, it does, of course, because we were like, well, we're already kind of fearful to speak up, but for other reasons that are related to our position in the world and in society, not to get too far down my feminist path that I can, that's a soapbox I can easily step up onto, but I won't. Just to say that I really just felt like there's this whole community of people and especially a sub community within those individuals who have some public speaking anxiety. You know, most of us

14:19 - 14:24

Lauren Popish: are women. Why is that? And what can we do to really support each other in that state?

14:25 - 14:57

Rochelle Moulton: It isn't easy. And not just for women, for people of color, for any marginalized community, because most of us are socialized to be quiet, to not raise our voices or we've tried to do it and we haven't been heard. So after a while we stop. Exactly. Yeah, we could go on about that all day, believe me. But that's again, I just want to reiterate and that is what I love about podcasting even in my own case I would not call myself shy by any stretch of the imagination but I did find it difficult when I first

14:57 - 15:28

Rochelle Moulton: started podcasting to just really say what was on my mind and feel like that was okay, that it would be valuable and that if somebody didn't like it, that would be okay too. Right. It just takes a little while, but when you keep doing it to your point, it's like a muscle. Exactly. And it just keeps getting stronger and stronger. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the way you've organized your business. Now, you're not a soloist, right? You've assembled a team of people to work with you. And I have to say in the

15:28 - 16:00

Rochelle Moulton: 6 months or so that I've...

Navigating The Pit Of Despair AKA Tax Season with Shannon Weinstein

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Do you cringe at the thought of tax season, wondering what ugly surprises lie in store for you? As fractional CFO to growth-minded business owners (and top podcaster) Shannon Weinstein says “You can’t hot glue and duct tape your numbers forever.”

Shannon dives deep into how to set yourself up for a smooth tax season, no matter your business stage:

Why collecting good data is an excellent place to start (and what to do if you’ve been avoiding your numbers).

How one small mid-year ask of your CPA can save you a world of hurt at tax time.

Deciding which parts of your business financial life to handle yourself vs. outsource (hint: If it’s not in your genius zone…)

How to start turning your data into smart decisions that align with where you most want to take your business.

Plus, a bonus guide to the types of financial pros serving expertise businesses and sample interview questions to ensure they’re a fit.

LINKS

Shannon Weinstein Website | Guide | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Shannon is a fractional CFO for growth-minded business owners, a CPA and a teacher at heart. Her real-talk and relatable examples simplify the financial side of business so business owners like you can stop stressing and start scaling. She is the host of the IRS's least favorite podcast, Keep What You Earn, where she releases daily episodes. She is also a frequent speaker in business mentorship communities and masterminds.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:20

Shannon Weinstein: A stress-free tax season is the byproduct of planning and looking at the numbers all year to the point where it's not a surprise. And I didn't realize this until I started my own practice that the tax bill was 25% of the problem. The surprise aspect of the surprise tax bill was 75% of the problem.

00:25 - 00:59

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today, I'm here with Shannon Weinstein, Fractional CFO for Growth-Minded Business Owners, a CPA and host of the IRS's least favorite podcast, Keep What You Earn, And kudos to her. She's landed her podcast in the top 1 and a half percent of all podcasts, which is no small feat. And she aims to bust the myth that all accountants are boring. So Shannon, I've set you up now. Welcome.

01:00 - 01:03

Shannon Weinstein: Thank you. And expectations have been set. I hope I live up to it.

01:03 - 01:38

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, I know you will. So 1 of the reasons I was so happy to have you on the show is an episode from your podcast where you describe tax season as a pit of despair for some people. And true confessions, I've been down that pit myself once or twice in the course of my business. So I'd love to have you spare our listeners from making any visits there. But I'm also fascinated with how you've built your business so far and the path that you're walking to do that. So let's just start first with your business. And

01:38 - 01:47

Rochelle Moulton: I think McDonald's deserves a shout out since it looks like both you and I had our first management jobs there at the ripe old age of 17. So high 5.

01:47 - 02:00

Shannon Weinstein: Yes, I was a baby at 14. Like the day I turned 14, my dad was like, get a work permit, make your own money. And I was cashier and cleaning the bathrooms, like internally grateful for that experience 100%.

02:00 - 02:07

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I'm impressed because the state I lived in, we couldn't work until 16. So I didn't start till 16. You were good.

02:07 - 02:21

Shannon Weinstein: Yeah, they wouldn't let us touch the fries until then. And I couldn't work past like 7pm. But trust me, my dad squeezed out with all the work he could out of me. He's like, do the minimum that you can do. And it was just great experience.

02:21 - 02:33

Rochelle Moulton: I second that awesome McDonald's experience. So what made you leave, you were in the big 4 and corporate America, what made you leave that kind of safe, secure place and go out on your own.

02:34 - 02:59

Shannon Weinstein: It's so funny, Rachelle, that you bring it up as like a safe, secure place, because it feels that way when you're in it, because there's security in certainty, in like, I'm gonna get a paycheck that I can kind of coast along, I can fall into a routine, I don't have to think too hard. I can kind of show up and do the work and go home. And I just kind of got restless because I think there are some of us who, they just want something more. They know they're meant for more than the paycheck and the

03:00 - 03:26

Shannon Weinstein: cubicle and that type of lifestyle. And I think COVID really accelerated that because I was working from home in my corporate job. I had started building my business on the side, but I really took it seriously when we went remote because I realized that, you know, this is how it's supposed to be. We're supposed to be able to integrate work and life. Like we shouldn't have to be chained to a desk for 8, 9 hours a day. And then you get to go home. It's not like school used to be or anything. I go, you can

03:26 - 03:50

Shannon Weinstein: learn anywhere. You can work anywhere. We can be productive anywhere. I said, I'm so much more productive working from home when I can set certain work hours and I can break for the middle of the day to go grocery shopping or do laundry. Then I don't get stressed out about all the stuff I have to do when I get home and I'm not burning myself out. So long story short, I really wanted that freedom of being able to manage my time effectively the way I wanted to.

03:51 - 03:57

Rochelle Moulton: Love that. So now you're not a soloist as I understand it. You've assembled a team of folks to work with you. Is that right?

03:58 - 04:12

Shannon Weinstein: Yeah, I'm still the primary CFO for all the clients, but we assembled a fantastic team of folks who support me in the marketing and podcast areas, not to mention bookkeeping and other roles as well that will help me from an admin perspective too.

04:12 - 04:24

Rochelle Moulton: So with your business, is your plan to scale significantly? I heard something on a podcast that made me think maybe that was the case. Or do you have a sweet spot that you're either in already or aiming for?

04:25 - 04:58

Shannon Weinstein: So when it comes to scaling, I define scaling as increasing the output without, you know, basically, I can't multiply myself. Scaling would include really being able to train up and to build other Shannon's. I've just kind of come down to the process of I want to build the recipes. I don't want to open more restaurants. Let me say it this way that I don't want to manage 10 chilies, but I would love to cook up the recipe that a bunch of different restaurants then buy from me. So I would rather license my methods, my systems, my

04:58 - 05:24

Shannon Weinstein: operations, everything I've learned, I want to package it for other accountants so they can start their own journey and they can pick their own clients. Because I realized that even my clients don't want to be commoditized. Like I built a business with intention that my clients aren't a commodity that can be bought and sold their relationships. So if I were to leave my business and to sell it, I'm like, that's not fair. My client roster, they picked me, you know, they didn't pick whoever bought me. So I really take care of that. And I look at

05:24 - 05:41

Shannon Weinstein: that as relationships. And I say, you know what, leave it to the other accountant to build their own relationships. But here's all the infrastructure, the admin, the operations, and here's how to run everything I've done and a massive shortcut to doing it, which I think is valuable. Plus, it can be sold multiple times. So I figure that's the route I'm probably going to take.

05:41 - 06:15

Rochelle Moulton: You know, what's so fascinating about that is I take back what I said that you're not a soloist. I mean, what you just described is exactly what a lot of soloists in my community in any way look for. I mean, they're looking for ways to license their intellectual property to leverage it in different ways. So good on you. Good on you. Okay. So before we dive into avoiding the pit of despair that can be tax time, am I safe in assuming that if you hit the pit, right, of despair, that it's not just about taxes. It

06:15 - 06:21

Rochelle Moulton: feels like it's a sign that something is going off the rails in your business. Is that true or no?

06:21 - 06:49

Shannon Weinstein: Maybe. So I look at tax season as kind of like the ultimate Weight Watchers weigh in. If you're from my generation, we're like that was the thing. It's kind of like when you come out of the holidays, you put your jeans on and you're like, oh no, I got to jump up and down and wiggle on the bed a little bit to get into these. And then that's when you realize something's wrong. So I kind of feel like When you put the jeans on and they don't fit, it's not the first sign you were heading in

06:49 - 07:14

Shannon Weinstein: direction, but it's the first 1 you can really feel. So it's starting to manifest the symptoms of lack of responsibility and ownership over your numbers, and it just starts showing up in the way of taxis and stress. It's just like when you don't fit in the jeans. In reality, there were lots of things that compounded over time that contributed to that feeling that could have been avoided. But you find yourself there because you ignored some of those other signs. That's how I would view it.

07:15 - 07:30

Rochelle Moulton: Well, maybe let's take the opposite approach. What does a mostly pain-free tax time experience look and feel like from the standpoint of, you know, a soloist business owner? Like when everything's working right, what should it feel like?

07:30 - 07:53

Shannon Weinstein: So I'll start with what the year should feel like to contribute to that. So there's a couple of key milestones you want to keep in mind. 1 is, let's just say it's post-tax season. And I'll just start from that point and then we'll work our way through the year of what it should feel like. And then I'll go through If that isn't what your year looked like, what you can do about it, because I know that we're probably at a point where there's a little control people have over what's coming up. So in the course of

07:53 - 08:20

Shannon Weinstein: the year, over the summer, you want to be reflecting on how the taxes went, how much you owed, where you're at, And you want to have a planning meeting with your accountant to go through any tech strategies you want to be implementing that year that could move the needle. Maybe that's opening a 401k. Maybe that is offering benefits or just having something in place, like an accountable plan for your S corporation. All of this is like jargon written, but these are the conversations you want to have with your accountant to say, Hey, what can I be

08:20 - 08:48

Shannon Weinstein: doing to plan? And what should I be focusing on for this year? Then you want to have a, and a lot of people don't ask for this. And we just talked about this before we hit record, which is like not knowing what to order at the counter when you go to talk to an accountant. Because there's no menu. So here's the thing. You want to order from your accountant. You want to say, Hey, would you be willing to do a pro forma return? What that means in our speak is a dress rehearsal. So if we can

08:48 - 09:17

Shannon Weinstein: do a dress rehearsal tax return in July or August, which I actually do July and August because I have up through June financials, which means do your books. And we put, we pull at least that through the half of the year, pull your January through June and then essentially double it. Or taking into account other factors, put together an estimate knowing half the year is already in ink and half the year is going to be in pencil and figure out, okay, if we plug this into a fake tax return, what comes out? And now you have

09:17 - 09:48

Shannon Weinstein: a ballpark range. It's kind of like playing pin the tail on the donkey all year, but the blindfold fades. So right now you're kind of in the dark, you can kind of halfway see through, and you're going to plot that pinpoint on the map and say, okay, it's going to be in this general region. And I think that a stress-free tax season is the byproduct of planning and looking at the numbers all year to the point where it's not a surprise. And I didn't realize this until I started my own practice that the tax bill was

09:48 - 10:17

Shannon Weinstein: 25% of the problem. The surprise aspect of the surprise tax bill was 75% of the problem. And I think that if you know, you're going to owe 50 grand, but you know it 10 months in advance, that is powerful. Yes, we are going to try to minimize that as much as possible. However, the time to minimize it is when you still have plenty of story left to write for the year. You do not want to wait until the book is done. You've written it and It's all in dry ink before you're like, hey, I don't like

10:17 - 10:18

Shannon Weinstein: that ending.

10:19 - 10:36

Rochelle Moulton: I'm just curious about something because I've never had an accountant actually suggest this to me and I didn't think to ask for it either. Exactly. So is this sort of a question not only that we should be asking, but that our CPA should be asking as well? Or is this just business owner only stuff?

10:37 - 11:03

Shannon Weinstein: In my opinion, this should be a standard offering for any tax professional. But again, I can't dictate what other people do. But I do think that you should come informed and say, Hey, I would love it if as a part of your service, and this may come in an additional fee guys, but it's worth it because I think this is the most powerful tool is if you say, Hey, could we meet in July? Because technically that's a really slow time for accountants. Like that shouldn't be a problem. So could we meet in July? And could we

11:03 - 11:30

Shannon Weinstein: go through a pro forma return and walk through like using 1 of the old tax returns and kind of coming up with a ballpark estimate of a range of what my liability might be with all these assumptions baked in, right? We're saying I fully understand that we're assuming Jan to June is going to repeat itself the second half of the year, or I'm assuming that these sales do close, right? We all know that entrepreneurship is this journey that's like always in pencil. Like, we don't know what's going to happen. But as long as you're aware that

11:30 - 11:42

Shannon Weinstein: like this isn't pencil not pen, it's better than a blank slate. So I say have something have a ballpark range, don't hold them to it from an accountability standpoint and like come run at them and say, you told me I was gonna like

11:42 - 11:43

Rochelle Moulton: that wouldn't be fair. Yeah,

11:43 - 12:11

Shannon Weinstein: no stuff changes. We don't have a crystal ball guys. But what we can do is kind of point you in the right direction from a broad standpoint and say, you're going to have somewhere between 10 and $25, 000. If I told you that you're like, all right, cool. Like I feel better now just knowing that in my power to say, if I'm going to owe 10 to 20 grand in 9 months from July, now I have the power to say, okay, but that means that if I save up 2 grand a month for the next 9

12:11 - 12:32

Shannon Weinstein: months, I'm covered. And it's like, that feels really digestible. So then when you break that down and chunk it down into your savings goal is $2, 000 a month until tax season, most solopreneurs who are probably listening to this go, I could do that. Yeah, but if I told you, if I told you like on April 14th that like you owe 20 grand tomorrow, you'd freak out.

12:33 - 12:35

Rochelle Moulton: And I've seen that.

12:36 - 12:59

Shannon Weinstein: Yes. Nobody wants that cashflow hit. And I think that a lot of the times we fall into this trap where we're just focused on the compliance aspect of the tax return and not managing the cashflow at the same time and making sure that we have the savings to pay for it. So I think the best way to minimize tax season stress is to take away its power by predicting what's going to happen and not waiting for your fate to be read to you like a fourth quarter report card.

13:00 - 13:26

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And I think the other thing is I'm thinking about that is, is part of this, depending on your CPA, is making sure that they stay on top of this. As I've asked for different things and they forget because they're in a heavy production environment and Summer is...

Claim Your Genius Zone

Rochelle Moulton — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0700

Today it’s just you and me for a special bonus episode on the cusp of a brand spanking new year. I ask you an important question: how would your life be different if you stopped working on things that drain you and directed that energy to your genius zone instead?

Get re-energized and re-inspired by your business for 2024:

The four “zones” of activities and why only one is worthy of your focus.

What makes your genius zone so powerful (and unique to you).

The surprising thing that happens in your business when you shift your work to your genius zone.

One way to identify your genius zone, understand its triggers and revamp your calendar so you’re excited to open it again (hint: it’s a 5-day challenge starting Monday January 8th, 2024).

TAKE THE GENIUS TIME ZONE CHALLENGE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:44

Rochelle Moulton: Part of your challenge is to decide what breaks the barrier from your excellence zone to your genius zone and Then to craft your time so that you're firmly in your genius zone as much as you possibly can be And this is a worthy challenge if you want to live a life that is joyful, abundant, and high in impact. Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today it's just you and me on a special bonus episode because on the eve of a brand spanking

00:44 - 01:22

Rochelle Moulton: new year, I want to ask you an important question. How would your work and your life be different if you stopped working on things that drain you and directed that energy to your genius zone, to things that energize and inspire you? Now this question is actually pivotal to not only how much you enjoy your life, but how much you can earn in your business. And my goal for you, for all of us, is to spend as much time in your genius zone as humanly possible. Doing those things only you can do so you have the greatest

01:22 - 01:57

Rochelle Moulton: impact where you most want to direct it. So let me set the stage a bit in case you haven't heard me talk about your genius zone before. The author Gay Hendrix coined the term zone of genius in his book, The Big Leap, which I highly recommend by the way. And I love how thoughtfully he positioned the 4 zones of our activities in the world. There is the zone of incompetence. And think of that is all the things you really suck at. And you probably actively dislike doing like for me, it would be fixing stuff. Like some

01:57 - 02:38

Rochelle Moulton: people can look at a broken anything, a kid's toy, a computer part of plumbing do hickey and magically know which end goes where. I can't do it and I've given up trying. I have made reservations for the wrong day more than once, sent packages to 2 addresses ago, accidentally blown up my bookkeeper's spreadsheets. Administrative tasks, I suck at them. I suck at being a corporate cheerleader, or really a cheerleader of anything I don't believe in. I suck at pretending to think the latest corporate rah-rah speech is brilliance personified, probably why I'm a soloist. Give me bold

02:38 - 03:15

Rochelle Moulton: truth and I can work with it. I'm not waving my pom-poms for anything I don't believe in. Sitting still, I suck at that. Don't make me sit through 8 hours of talking head workshops or 2 hour speeches. I suck at sitting motionless in a room without windows. Let me move around and see a little daylight or I'm worthless. I suck at midnight anything. Literally no part of a night owl resides in my body. I suck at doing anything after the clock strikes 12 and if we're really honest, it's probably earlier than 12. There's more, trust me.

03:15 - 03:58

Rochelle Moulton: I suck at drawing, algebra, football, video games, pretty much anything requiring hand-eye coordination. Now the reason I'm sharing my zone of incompetence with you is I want to encourage you to cop to your suck-ats. I guarantee that you've got a long list, too. Don't be shy. Just claim your list of I never need to do this again. Then we have the zone of competence. And these are things that you do just fine, but lots of people can do them, in fact, better than you. Like bookkeeping is usually not an entrepreneur's strength, or doing taxes, or coding

03:58 - 04:38

Rochelle Moulton: your website. Those are better left to pros who find joy and meaning in them. Now the trickiest zone, I think, is the zone of excellence. And it's tricky because these are things that you're quite good at. In fact, you probably have regularly gotten compliments and accolades on your work at these things. And if you've ever been in a corporate environment with a boss who values your zone of excellence, it can be a velvet lined trap that keeps you from expanding beyond excellence to your true genius. And longtime clients can fall into this category too. They've decided

04:38 - 05:15

Rochelle Moulton: that they truly appreciate your excellence at something and they have no desire for you to change. Finally, we have the zone of genius, your genius zone. And these are the activities that no 1 else can do exactly the way that you can and you find joy and magic in them. You lose track of time when you're head down deep into them and you may feel a call to do more and more activity inside your genius zone once you've gotten a taste for how lovely it is there. And it is lovely. So here's the thing. Your genius

05:15 - 05:55

Rochelle Moulton: zone is unique to you. So part of your challenge is to decide what breaks the barrier from your excellence zone to your genius zone and then to craft your time so that you're firmly in your genius zone as much as you possibly can be. And this is a worthy challenge if you want to live a life that is joyful, abundant, and a high in impact. And here's why. When you live in your genius zone, you automatically dial up your joy factor and the impact you make in the world with your special thing. But you will also

05:55 - 06:32

Rochelle Moulton: be much more likely to increase your revenue. Because when you're deep in your genius zone doing the work that only you can do, it looks like magic to your ideal audience, to those who don't have your skill set. It's like when a mechanic fixes my car. It looks like magic to me because it's just not a skill I possess. And the same is true when you match up your genius zone with a specific group of clients and buyers who will value the transformations that you deliver. Now, discovering and living in your Genius Zone is a process

06:32 - 07:10

Rochelle Moulton: that anyone can master, although you will need at least a small dose of courage to experiment. And courage is a whole lot easier to tap into when you're surrounded by others that are going through the same process. So I decided to put together a 5 day genius zone time challenge for those of you who are ready to direct your energy to your genius zone. It starts next Monday, January 8th and runs through Friday, January 12th. Every day for 5 days, I'll send you 1 short video and 1 homework exercise. Then you'll pop into our Slack space

07:10 - 07:47

Rochelle Moulton: to share your homework, your questions or your ahas with me and your fellow participants. I'll be there every day to help ensure that the lessons stick and you're making progress. And I'll be leaving the Slack space open through the end of the month so you have a place to test and share how your Genius Zone keeps unfolding as you build this awareness. By the time you're done, you'll have built some clear boundaries around your genius zone. You'll know which triggers plus and minus to pay attention to, and you'll have revamped your calendar So you're actually excited

07:47 - 08:26

Rochelle Moulton: to open it again. I've included a link in the show notes so you can check it out. In the meantime, just start doing 1 thing on the regular. Notice when you're happily ensconced in work and Time simply flies. What were you doing? Where were you doing it? With whom? Once you start asking yourself these questions and paying close attention to the answers, you'll start defining the edges of your genius zone. So check out the challenge and sign up if you want to start 2024 operating at your highest, clearest frequency, doing what no 1 else can replicate.

08:26 - 08:32

Rochelle Moulton: Okay, so that's it for this episode. I hope you'll join us next time for Soloist Women. Bye-bye!

Free Time with Jenny Blake

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 02:00:00 -0700

How can we earn twice as much in half the time, with joy and ease, while serving the highest good? That’s the fundamental question award-winning author and podcaster Jenny Blake set out to answer in both her business and her now classic book “Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business”.

Jenny shares some candid insights:

The thrills and challenges of moving from a rollercoaster life (high pressure, fast paced) to one of joy and ease.

What can happen when you remove yourself as the bottleneck in your business (hint: there are a lot of zeros involved).

Why she started a pay wall with her new content Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h (and the value of continuing to experiment with your business model).

The low-stress, frictionless way to design your own workable systems—even if you suck at systems.

How to encourage non-linear breakthroughs vs. the “up and to the right” thinking that business owners are often encouraged to follow.

LINKS

Jenny Blake Substack | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jenny Blake is a podcaster, Substacker, and the author of three award-winning books, including Life After College (2011), Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One (2016) and Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business (2022). Her latest project is Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h: Divine Disaster Diaries from a Breadwinning Business Owner Living in New York City.

She has two podcasts with over two million downloads combined: in 2015 she launched Pivot with Jenny Blake for navigating change (in the top 1% of podcasts), and in 2021 she added the Webby-nominated Free Time with Jenny Blake to set your time free through smarter systems (top 2.5%).

Jenny is a lifelong bookworm and aims to work ~10-20 hours each week, leaving plenty of time to take her angel-in-fur-coat German shepherd Ryder to the park to play with sticks on their favorite grass-covered hill every afternoon. She lives in New York City with her husband Michael, a contemporary fine artist.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPTS

00:00 - 00:22

Jenny Blake: Say no to sailing the sea of shiny shoulds. Everybody says now, oh, you should be on YouTube if you're a podcaster, you definitely should be on social media. I don't do any of it. I don't want to. I will stop doing the thing altogether. And I think you just learn that about yourself, what you can really say no to. So you funnel your best energy into the thing that you're uniquely skilled at.

00:28 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I am so excited to welcome Jenny Blake. She's the author of 3 award-winning books, including my absolute favorite, free time, lose the busy work, love your business. And she has 2 podcasts with over 2 million downloads, 1 in the top 1% of all podcasts and the other in the top 2.5%. And a fascinating new substack on rolling in dough. All of that plus, and I quote, she aims to work 10 to 20 hours each week,

01:10 - 01:22

Rochelle Moulton: leaving plenty of time to take her angel in fur coat, German Shepherd rider to the park to play with sticks on their favorite grass covered hill every afternoon. Jenny, welcome.

01:23 - 01:29

Jenny Blake: Thank you so much, Rochelle. You included the favorite bit from my bio, which most people leave out. It's hanging out at the hill every day.

01:29 - 01:38

Rochelle Moulton: I'm sorry. Ryder has captured my attention. I've watched a couple of your short videos of him with the hose and yeah, Ryder's my guy.

01:39 - 01:52

Jenny Blake: Thank you. That's so sweet. Well, I guess having a dog is kind of a forcing function to take better care of even ourselves. Yeah. Food, water, exercise, grass and dirt. That's what he's brought into my life.

01:53 - 02:23

Rochelle Moulton: So 1 of the reasons that I knew we had to talk is the way that you describe free time in your podcast introduction. You say, how can we earn twice as much in half the time with joy and ease while serving the highest good? So let's start with how did you come to adopt that worldview? I mean, I know you're a Google alum, So I kind of imagine you were used to riding the roller coaster, right? High pressure, fast-paced environments. Like, what changed for you?

02:24 - 02:53

Jenny Blake: I started working at Google in 2006 when there were 6, 000 employees. And by the time I left, 5 and a half years later, it had grown to 36, 000. And I was working on really exciting global drop-in coaching programs. Life was good. And yet, I was feeling like so much of my time was spent in meetings and answering emails, that I was probably doing the work that I was uniquely qualified to do and that I most enjoyed 10 to 20 percent of any given day or week. And all the meanwhile I had been blogging so

02:53 - 03:21

Jenny Blake: I set up my first website Life After College in 2005 and this was kind of my side hustle but just as that phrase and that concept was getting off the ground. So what was happening is that at some point, I knew that I couldn't juggle both of those things any longer because I was hitting burnout. I would just burn out, crash, recover, burn out, crash, recover. My blog became a book. I got the book deal in 2010. And so right as it was launching, I was taking a sabbatical to start. I didn't think I was going

03:21 - 03:51

Jenny Blake: to leave. I was completely overcome with financial anxiety. I had been 1 of those kids that saves their birthday money. Like I was annoyed about money and really obsessed with having enough. And I just was so afraid, well, what if I leave Google? And then I end up in a van down by the river. Now it sounds cliche. Now it's a dime a dozen. Oh, why I left my six-figure job to start my own company. That's getting a lot of coverage. But at the time, it just seemed like a crazy thing to do. And in fact,

03:51 - 04:18

Jenny Blake: 1 of my mentors, who was a coach on the outside, when I told her I was thinking of leaving, she said, "'Oh, well, can I have your job? "'Could you put my name in?' And I thought, that's discouraging. If even the someone I'm looking at, admire on the outside, wants my job, what am I doing? And so I was so afraid, what if I go broke? What if I go broke over and over? This was the record playing infinitely in my mind. And I said, you know what, I can ask that question. What if I go

04:18 - 04:48

Jenny Blake: broke? At least let me at the same time ask, and what if I earn twice as much in half the time? That became a guiding light for me. Over the years, I've now been self-employed for 13 years. Just earning twice as much and half the time is no good if you hate the work, it's not making an impact. If it's kind of soulless, that doesn't interest me. So over the years I've added with joy and ease, it's just as important to me how I'm working as what I'm creating or how much I'm earning. And then that

04:48 - 05:18

Jenny Blake: last piece that serves the highest good for all involved is kind of doing business in a heart-based way, which you were so generous to give a shout out 1 of your recent episodes, is kind to create abundance for everybody, not just the owner benefiting from free time and systems, but the team members, the customers, the clients, the broader community, that there are so many businesses that kind of grow at all costs and then step on people to get there. That didn't interest me at all. So all 3 parts of the phrase are now equally important.

05:19 - 05:53

Rochelle Moulton: Wow. I could so feel that as you said those words. I felt like I was with you on the journey. I love what you said before you launched Pivot, your second book. And you said, So I committed to building a better, more blissful business, 1 that would be heart-based, systems-focused, delightfully tiny and fun. And so sort of on the same theme, can you parse that out for us a little bit? I think you just told us what heart-based is, but what are systems focused and delightfully tiny to you? What does that look like?

05:54 - 06:26

Jenny Blake: Well, 1 problem I had when Life After College, my first book came out, is that I was the bottleneck. The more success the book had and Target picked it up to be in the new Grad NCAP displays like among just 3 other books at that time, that was a big deal. And yet I was completely the bottleneck in terms of fulfilling any services that marketing the book would generate. So whether it was one-on-one coaching or speaking, if I got tired and I needed to take a break, the entire business engine ground to a halt. And that

06:26 - 07:02

Jenny Blake: was so stressful. I hated that feeling. I hated that feeling that if I needed to take time off, everything stopped. Or if I no longer wanted to do those one-on-one or even one-to-many services, that the business revenue stopped. So I became absolutely determined with my second book to build scalable revenue streams. Like I like to stay delightfully tiny as in have the minimum possible team or minimum viable team while still creating work that can scale far and wide. Again without me getting in the way of that. So it was very deliberate with Pivot of setting up

07:03 - 07:31

Jenny Blake: things like corporate licensing for licensing the IP, things like training a team of coaches so that I was no longer doing one-on-one work that when we got demand coming from people reading the book or listening to the podcast, they could work with somebody on the team and we would have a revenue share agreement. Those clients would even be built on monthly retainers, so there's recurring revenue. And I created a private community where it was the same amount of work if I had 10 members, 100. I never did get to a thousand, but that too was monthly

07:31 - 07:46

Jenny Blake: recurring revenue and licensing was annually recurring revenue. So it meant that speaking gigs became, they were very lucrative for me pre-pandemic, but they weren't the only thing that if I needed a break, those other 3 streams would keep working.

07:46 - 08:03

Rochelle Moulton: Well, that's always the challenge with speaking. I mean, you have to be there. And not only do you have to be there, you have to get on a plane usually. And so it's not just an hour to do a keynote. It's all the prep. It's a day of travel on either end at a minimum, depending on where you're going. It's definitely not scalable.

08:04 - 08:37

Jenny Blake: Absolutely. People kind of their eyes pop out of their head when they hear sometimes keynote fees. I mean, pre pandemic, I might've charged 25 K to do a cross country event, but Exactly as you said, it's minimum 3 days, but most likely I'll spend Monday packing, Tuesday flying, Wednesday doing the event and listening to other people's sessions, Thursday flying home, Friday completely exhausted and useless. There will be no work getting done. And that's the best case scenario if you don't get sick or come down with something, which is very much a possibility now. So it's really

08:37 - 08:40

Jenny Blake: not the hour that you're on stage. It's the week of opportunity cost.

08:40 - 08:52

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. I think we forget about that. But do I remember correctly in the book that you talked about when you did this, when you license your pivot programs that translated into almost $700, 000 of revenue that year?

08:53 - 09:26

Jenny Blake: Yes, I had 2 licensing clients. I really for 8 years tried to land a third. The pandemic hit right in the middle of those efforts, so I never did. But it was six-figure contracts that would recur annually, and now I'm down to 1 client. But between those 2 clients, I mean, that was at least halfway to earning what I earned. And yes, that was 2019 that I hit 700k. And I actually wrote a post on Rolling and Doe about why revenue goals don't work for me because

09:26 - 09:27

Rochelle Moulton: I just read that yesterday.

09:29 - 09:56

Jenny Blake: Yeah, I'd been so obsessed with hitting the elusive 7 figures that I didn't really appreciate the 700k that I could have, would have, should have, knowing that it was only going to go down for the next few, having so much disruption these last few years. And you know, I'm kind of, I have to own my part in that too, that I wrote a book called Pivot about being agile. Sometimes I feel like the disruption shakes me up because I'm meant to do something new and different. I'm not the type that will just give the same stump

09:56 - 10:36

Jenny Blake: speech for 25 years. So a combination of factors, but yes, licensing was super joyful. I mean, talk about the intersection of revenue, joy, and ease, because I joked that this 1 at that time, it was Microsoft Word. This 1 Microsoft Word file landed $150, 000 book advance, paid out in 4 parts over 2 years. And then the licensing generated almost a million dollars over the next 8. All from these ideas in my head. That's what I found so mind blowing about what's possible for licensing IP. And once you create IP with a really strong brand around

10:36 - 11:07

Jenny Blake: it, I don't think it's just IP, it's everything else that goes with it. Having a book and a workbook and a process and method that really resonates, companies seem to love that. But it was just so incredible to me that that 1 little word file could generate so much. And also, it made me really happy that keynote speaking, I am the bottleneck to the information getting out into the world. But with licensing, people can teach each other within companies and they can teach in their own language and it just made me really happy once I let

11:07 - 11:23

Jenny Blake: go of the perfectionism of trying to control exactly how the pivot material was taught everywhere. To actually let it loose, set it free, let it spread And I think ultimately that has also helped with other parts of the business like book sales or podcast listeners and things like that.

11:23 - 11:55

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I think about just the, on the impact alone, you've got all of a sudden you have multiple people using this material, learning it, teaching it to each other. You could never do that 1 by 1, 1 at a time, even speaking, it's still limiting. Totally get that. I love that. Absolutely. Well, you kind of led me into my next question because I was looking at Rolling and Doe and what you're doing with that, and this is the outside looking in, so please tell me if I've got this wrong, it's something that I mostly see with

11:55 - 12:20

Rochelle Moulton: journalistic writers. So you've created a paywall and sub stack, right? So you have a revenue stream from your content. And can you walk us through your thinking about that, and especially how it plays into spending your time? And I'm wondering, because it feels experimental. Like, maybe there's another book incubating there. I sort of feel like I'm seeing book number 4.

12:21 - 12:53

Jenny Blake: Thank you for saying that. Yes, people have asked. The story behind Rolling and Doe is that I lost my biggest and favorite licensing client and hint, hint, it's my former corporate alma mater. So I don't want to say it publicly because I sign all kinds of NDAs and whatnot. But I loved every year for 7 and a half years working with them and I loved when I would come in for keynotes. I always think it's just I got them, they got me. But it's been a very strange year in business. 2023 started with the fastest bank

12:53 - 13:26

Jenny Blake: run in history with Silicon Valley Bank. WeWork declared bankruptcy. I mean, things are still very wonky despite all the headlines saying that, oh, we have a soft landing and immaculate deflation. Like, I don't think I'm feeling that in small business. Neither are any of my small business owner friends, maybe with 1 or 2 exceptions. And so what happened when the pandemic hit was that I lost 80% of my income in the first 2 weeks of March after the lockdown between speaking gigs that were canceled 2 years out into the future. I had an $80, 000 workbook

13:26 - 13:55

Jenny Blake: licensing contract that was overdue to be signed. They were supposed to sign by end of January. They pulled out at the last minute. So I just watched my entire business. I mean, it was beyond every worst fear that I had of what could happen running my business. It was just so much worse than what I had ever imagined. And I'm the breadwinner for our family. So it's me, my husband and Ryder, as you mentioned. The difference between that moment and then losing this biggest favorite client in 2023 was that now I was out of runway. I

13:55 - 14:27

Jenny Blake: had spent 2 years investing in free time, creating the most beautiful book that I could imagine, launching the podcast, launching this whole new part of my business that was really where my heart was, which was working with small business owners with delightfully tiny teams. But now this time losing that client and having 2 days later, another licensing client who had a proposal out for a year came back and said they're going to go with another vendor. So once again, 150 K wiped off the table in a week. And now I'm tired and I don't have any

14:27 - 14:57

Jenny Blake: more savings. I'm just at my wit's end. And I did not know...

Why We Need To Take More Risks with Emily Omier

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 02:00:00 -0700

You’ve made bold moves to get where you are, including having the guts to buck the norm and go solo. But are you still taking new (calculated) risks to build the business and life you’ve imagined? Consultant to open source start-ups—and confirmed risk taker—Emily Omier believes we need to take more risks.

Emily shares her gutsy story and what it’s taught her about risk:

What happens when you hit rock bottom in your life (while running your business) and must pull yourself out of it.

The difference between something that is risky vs. something that feels risky.

Why we—women in particular—don’t take nearly enough thoughtful risks.

The road from “mercenary” (where it’s mostly about the money) to collaboration (where it’s all about relationships and outcomes).

How paying attention to these two emotions will teach you what risks are worth your time and investment.

LINKS

Emily Omier Website | Podcast | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Emily helps open source startups accelerate revenue growth with killer positioning. She writes about entrepreneurship for engineers, and hosts The Business of Open Source, a podcast about building open source companies.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:32

Emily Omier: It's not about not being afraid. It's about doing it anyway. And I think that that's a message that both men and women need to hear, but I think it's probably especially for women, that something can make you really uncomfortable, but you do it anyway. And I mean, you wanna be obviously like conscious of I'm doing this because like, I think it's gonna be good for my business, but don't let the fear of looking bad or the fear of humiliation stop you from doing things that are gonna be really good for your business that are basically, you

00:32 - 00:34

Emily Omier: know, putting yourself out there.

00:38 - 01:17

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today I'm here with Emily O'Meer, who I like and respect so much. And 1, because she pretty much says exactly what she thinks and it's always interesting. And 2, because she's never shied away from adventure or made excuses, even when life dealt her a rough hand. So Emily helps open source startups accelerate revenue growth with killer positioning. She writes about entrepreneurship for engineers and hosts the Business of Open Source, a podcast about building open source

01:17 - 01:24

Rochelle Moulton: companies. And she's also a card carrying member of the soloist women community. So Emily, welcome.

01:24 - 01:27

Emily Omier: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on, Rochelle.

01:27 - 01:49

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I'm so excited about this. So we could talk about your recent move from the US to Paris, and I suspect we will. But I know that that's not even close to the riskiest move you've made. So we've got a lot to talk about. I'd like to start with what made you decide to first start your business. Do I remember rightly? Did you begin as a content writer?

01:50 - 02:21

Emily Omier: Yes. So I'm going to go ahead and start at the beginning-ish, if that works for you. Sure. So first of all, thank you for having me on the show. And I also just wanted to mention like why I'm so excited to come on the on the show. There's something in it for me too, which is that I've noticed at this point in my career that a lot of things that I did really early on that didn't used to really make sense to me are starting to make sense. Like I feel like I'm pulling together a lot

02:21 - 02:53

Emily Omier: of experiences that I've had, but I still feel like it's a little bit disjointed. And so I'm actually using this as an opportunity to figure out where all the threads are and make sense of things. So I'm gonna go ahead and start at the beginning. So I am from Oregon. I lived in Switzerland when I was in high school. When I was in college I lived in Russia for a while. Well I did like a year in Russia, but I also worked in a bar there. So it was not like your average year abroad in some

02:53 - 03:30

Emily Omier: ways, some very important ways. And then I finished college and I was like, I've got to get a job and got like an office job. And I just like, so bad, so bad. And I think a lot of people in the community have had the experience of like getting a job and then being like, what the hell was I thinking? Like, this is, this is not me. But I got the hell out of there. I moved to Spain with my boyfriend at the time, later became my husband. And you could say like, that was the first

03:30 - 03:48

Emily Omier: time that I had a business, I was like I was teaching English, but it was freelance. So like I had to go, I had to hustle for clients and stuff like that. And then I also had an idea to build a company doing audio podcast tours. This never took off.

03:48 - 03:51

Rochelle Moulton: You didn't know that about your story. Okay.

03:51 - 03:54

Emily Omier: I know. I know there's a lot of things you don't know about me, Rachelle.

03:55 - 03:56

Rochelle Moulton: Well, good. Let's hear

03:56 - 04:32

Emily Omier: it all. So I had this idea and at the time iPods were kind of new and I was like I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna do this and so somebody asked me or no so I asked somebody like how do I build a website like I don't I don't know any of that and they recommended that I use this software called Drupal. Drupal incidentally is an open source software. So is WordPress, which is their main competitor, at least at the time. And anyway, WordPress would have been the better option. Drupal is really, really fucking complicated. And

04:32 - 05:09

Emily Omier: this was terrible advice, but I like figured out how to do it and I built this website on Drupal. I never made a business out of my iPod tour guides, but I did record, like I did record actually a bunch of, they existed. It's just that I was really good at marketing myself as a service provider and not good at marketing a product. I wouldn't even say that I was not good at marketing a product. I lacked the self-confidence to even tell people that this existed. That's a problem. Yeah. In fact, when I think back now,

05:10 - 05:47

Emily Omier: as somebody who later went on to professionally do marketing communications, I think that part of some companies, even real companies, not like my fake company, are like, it's a lack of confidence issue that can be behind some marketing issues, almost like people not being really confident that like, hey, this thing I created is like so cool that you should check it out and buy it. So anyway, then after a couple of years, I moved to New York City. I was a tour guide. So I had the tour, the podcast tour ideas. I was like, how am

05:47 - 06:19

Emily Omier: I gonna figure out how that works? Well, I'm gonna be a tour guide when I move to New York. So I did that. I did tours in, I did tours in English. I also did tours in German and Spanish. And I really liked it. It also was really good for learning how to be comfortable speaking with public speaking because every day you were speaking in front of a group and it was always different. There was always something that you couldn't control about what was going on. So I did that. Then I went to graduate school. I

06:19 - 06:39

Emily Omier: went to graduate school at Columbia University and then here in Paris at Sciences Po. And then tried to be a freelance journalist for 3 years. I went to journalism school and that like being a journalist that was financially an absolute complete failure. Yeah, period.

06:40 - 06:43

Rochelle Moulton: Well, usually nobody goes into journalism for the money.

06:43 - 07:21

Emily Omier: Yeah, well, you don't go into journalism for the money, but like you do hope to like be living somewhere like slightly above the poverty line and that didn't work out for me. So anyway at a certain point, well not just at a certain point, so then I got married then a couple years later I got pregnant and my husband when I was pregnant was diagnosed with cancer and he fucking died. So that sucked. And that was, It was actually not just his death that made me like, wow, I better like stop fucking around and like make

07:21 - 07:41

Emily Omier: some money. That made me decide that I really need to get serious about like a business that actually pays. And guess what? Journalism is not a business that pays. I didn't start my business immediately, incidentally. So my mom also died a year after my husband. So like an infant, my mom was sick. I was taking care of her.

07:41 - 07:44

Rochelle Moulton: So your husband passed away after your daughter was born?

07:45 - 08:21

Emily Omier: Yeah, 2 months after she was born, but he was very ill. So he was diagnosed with cancer when I was 5 months pregnant. And then he was like from moment of diagnosis to his death, very, very ill, like increasingly ill, but like even at the beginning, we're talking like multiple hospitalizations, like doctor's appointments almost every day. I mean, it was really a nightmare. And I do wanna like put this out there because a lot of people have asked me, they're like, Emily, how did you keep your business going? Well, all these other things were going on.

08:21 - 08:57

Emily Omier: And I'm like, I didn't. Like, I mean, you don't like there, there is a point at which you just can't realistically keep a business going because it's so in the situation I'm thinking about literally like there would be an urgent doctor's appointment like every other day you can't have a meeting with a client like scheduled because you would just be canceling it all the time and you have all these other you know managing somebody's illness is it's like a job in and of itself, like you're making appointments. Anyway, long story short, if you're like going through

08:57 - 09:07

Emily Omier: a really rough time like that, do not think, oh, everyone else out there is like managing this and keeping their business afloat, because they're not. They're not. Exactly.

09:07 - 09:12

Rochelle Moulton: And so where were you in the world when all this happened? Were you back in the States, or were you overseas?

09:13 - 09:14

Emily Omier: Yeah, I was in Portland.

09:15 - 09:18

Rochelle Moulton: OK. And then your mother passed away. So here you are

09:18 - 09:58

Emily Omier: with really lots of major, somewhat terrifying life changes. So what did you do? Well, my husband was from Nicaragua, and I moved to Nicaragua. Which is sort of funny to talk about afterwards, but at the time I was like, well, in spite of being very cynical about journalism, I had a book project that I wanted to work on that required doing research in Nicaragua. It's a book that is still worth, it should be written. I'm not sure if the archives that I was researching at still exist. I hope so. But so my mom died and I

09:58 - 10:05

Emily Omier: was like, I'm moving to Nicaragua. Yeah, my daughter was 20 months old when we moved there.

10:06 - 10:06

Rochelle Moulton: Gutsy.

10:07 - 10:33

Emily Omier: You know, it's interesting because I didn't really even think, I didn't think like that. I think it also just goes to show you how sometimes the, you know, people are different, the things that seem like risky or gutsy to you. At the time, I was just like, I want to write this book. I want to make sure my daughter gets Nicaraguan citizenship. Not that like a Nicaraguan passport is like the golden ticket, but I thought it was really good to have a connection to her dad.

10:33 - 10:35

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it's her father.

10:35 - 10:53

Emily Omier: And you know, and I wanted to write this book and plus like stuff is cheap in Nicaragua and like you can like child care doesn't cost an arm and a leg. So I was like, that's also not a bad thing. So yeah, and you know, I'd been there before, like I kind of didn't know 100% what I was getting into, but it wasn't a total unknown either.

10:54 - 11:01

Rochelle Moulton: And so what happened while you were there? Yeah. I know the answer, but I want

11:01 - 11:01

Emily Omier: to hear

11:02 - 11:04

Rochelle Moulton: it. Our listeners want to hear this.

11:04 - 11:43

Emily Omier: So Nicaragua being not a very large country doesn't always get tons of news coverage. But in 2018, there was pretty massive civil unrest that for a while, at least from on the ground, it looked like it was going to civil war. It didn't. The government sort of effectively, though fairly violently, suppressed the civil unrest that was going on. But yeah, so I left. There was a period of about a week where everybody that I knew like all the expats all the Nicaraguans with like the means to do so they like fled the country. Some people ended

11:43 - 12:01

Emily Omier: up going back but far from everybody. So yeah then here we are We're a little over 2 years after my husband had died and my mom, my mom's died and and I've just like fled Nicaragua. I will mention like if you ever have to buy a ticket at the airport this is a bad situation.

12:03 - 12:09

Rochelle Moulton: I just have this picture in my head of you and your daughter like fleeing for your lives, trying to get

12:09 - 12:44

Emily Omier: the last plane out. I mean, it wasn't quite that like dramatic, but yeah, there was like no moment when I really feared for my life. But it was just that you, you know, when you're in a situation like that, that's fluid, you wanna sort of mentally make a line, like at what point does this become untenable for us to stay? And what happened is like the line was crossed. We actually had plane tickets to come back to the US just for the summer and they were for like a week later. And I was like, no, we're

12:44 - 13:19

Emily Omier: not waiting a week. We're going to the airport and leaving now. So on the 1 hand, I think it was probably less dramatic than it sounds. On the other hand, I think in terms of how it affected me emotionally, not because of the drama of leaving the country in a rush, but rather that I had to abandon this, first of all I had to abandon this professional project that had been fairly important to me and I had to sort of abandon what I thought of as was my plan for the next several years at least. And

13:19 - 13:53

Emily Omier: at the same time, like nobody could relate unless they had been there. Whereas at least when you have a conversation with someone and you're like, my husband died, they're like, oh, I have a mental image of what that would be like. Or my mom died. Okay, I can like I have, I have in my head and understanding of what that means. But like, I just had to abandon this project that was really important to me and leave this country. It wasn't my country, but like I was invested in staying there for a while and I had

13:53 - 14:26

Emily Omier: a pretty real connection because of my husband. And now I'm like sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my dad's spare bedroom with my 2 year old daughter and like thinking what the fuck's next. That's not a thing that people could relate to. And that was really the moment I was like, I don't know where I'm gonna go next. And at that point I had my business, my business had already been started for, I'd been working on it for a good year and a half. I started it before moving to Nicaragua. So I knew where

14:26 - 14:45

Emily Omier: I was going with my business, but I had no fucking idea what I was doing with my life. It was like the third straw or the third shoe drops and it was, yeah, it's pretty intense. So I tried to answer your question as fully as possible 20 minutes later.

14:45 - 15:23

Rochelle Moulton: I mean, no, but this is why I wanted you to come on the show, because this odyssey is so unusual. And yet there are so many pieces of this that are relatable. I mean, most of us have been metaphorically on the mattress wondering what's next. Not your specific set of circumstances, but I mean, the question becomes, what do you do when you're at your lowest point? Like, how do you get yourself back up and do the next thing? Right? So, So your next thing was the shall I call it a writing business content, strategy content, writing.

15:23 - 16:06

Emily Omier: Yeah, so at the time, and that wasn't new, when I sort of restarted my professional life after my husband's death, actually after my husband's death, as my mom was declining, I had really thought through how do I take the skills that I already have, apply them to something that I think is reasonably interesting that I'm not gonna hate doing, but also where they're...

How Productized Services Can Change Your Life with Pia Silva

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Moving from traditional custom projects to productized services can completely change how you run your business: think more revenue, more free time and more joy in your work and your life. No BS Agency founder Pia Silva did it for her own branding agency and now teaches others to do the same.

We had a candid conversation about:

What happens when your business is successful financially, but not sustainable.

Why you want to evaluate both the revenue and profit of each service before deciding to launch—and how to build your confidence in making new offers.

The mindset and behavioral shifts required to shrink 3-6-12 month projects down to just a few days.

Your freedom calculator—Pia’s formula to design and price your work so that you have “enough” revenue, free time and flexibility for the life you want.

What it’s like to shift from serving clients to teaching and coaching other people like you (and why Pia went all in immediately).

LINKS

Pia Silva Crash Course | LinkedIn | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Pia Silva is the founder of No BS Agency Mastery where she teaches 1-2 person branding agencies to scale to $30k months without employees. She’s also a TEDx speaker, a Forbes contributor, podcast host and the author of Badass Your Brand.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:29

Pia Silva: That was the light bulb moment. It was, wow, I’m surrounded by people who will pay us $3, 000. And that is more profitable. And we had just let our employees go. And Steve and I said, let’s go all in. I’m not kidding when I say like overnight, we completely changed our website. And I called back, I had a bunch of outstanding proposals and I actually just called them all up and I said, hey, you know that big project that you’re still thinking on, consider that moot. We are no longer doing that, but I can do basically

00:29 – 00:39

Pia Silva: the same project for you for 3, 000 or if it was bigger, I said 2 days of 5000. I closed all of those on the spot and that was the beginning of it.

00:43 – 01:17

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with Pia Silva, whose work I’ve been following for a few years, much admired. Pia is the founder of NoBS Agency Mastery, where she teaches 1 to 2 person branding agencies to scale to 30K months without employees. And we love that here. She’s also a TEDx speaker, a Forbes contributor, podcast host, and the author of Badass Your Brand. Pia, welcome.

01:18 – 01:20

Pia Silva: Thank you so much, Rochelle. So happy to be here.

01:21 – 01:47

Rochelle Moulton: Awesome. Well, 1 of the reasons that I’m excited to talk to you is that you’ve made productized services work so well in a niche that’s littered with people working lots of stressful hours and frankly not pulling in nearly as much as they could in revenue. So let’s start with what made you decide to first start your business, which if I understand correctly was initially a brand agency that you founded with your husband, is that right?

01:48 – 02:16

Pia Silva: Yes, I don’t even think I would call it starting a business. He was my fiance then, and he was a freelance graphic designer. And I was in the gig economy before we called it that. And at some point, it just became clear, hey, you’re really talented at this thing, maybe not as talented at finding the clients, managing the clients, invoicing all of that stuff. And while I have absolutely no experience in the design world, you know, I’m a fast learner. I can figure

02:16 – 02:16

Rochelle Moulton: this out. And I think I could

02:16 – 02:18

Pia Silva: do it better than you, no offense, because you’re

02:18 – 02:37

Rochelle Moulton: an artist and you should just do what you do best and let me figure this out and that’s actually how it started. Oh, I love that. I love that. So let’s talk revenue. So if you can think back to like your first couple of years, 1 of the things we love to ask people is how long did it take you to hit your first hundred thousand dollars? Do you remember?

02:37 – 02:59

Pia Silva: Absolutely, because we did it our first year. We did, but you have to remember we are 2 people who were working not just full-time, probably 7 days a week, living in the middle of New York City in 1 of the most expensive neighborhoods. So eking out $100K, I don’t know if we could have survived making less, frankly.

02:59 – 03:09

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. New York is a challenge. So how painful was it then? I mean, does do you remember that as being sort of a painful process to get that thing going?

03:09 – 03:39

Pia Silva: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I hadn’t, like I said before, I had no context or idea what I was doing. So the first month and a half, it was just Craigslist. It was literally just me refreshing Craigslist and applying to every gig I could find. 1 of the gigs I found, the woman that we did this job for invited me to her B&I group. I did not know this idea of networking even existed. She was like, oh, you should come to this thing I do. And I joined. I was like, this is the answer. And then I just

03:39 – 04:10

Pia Silva: networked my face off for about a year and a half. And I, when I tell you, like, I went all in on this. It was every day, all day, meetings, events. I joined other groups too and I built a network very quickly. So, you know, just between that, I mean, we were charging by the hour at that point. When we first started, we were charging $30 an hour. We charged her, I remember, I mean I love numbers so I remember every number, we charged her $40 an hour and she convinced us that we needed to start

04:10 – 04:13

Pia Silva: charging $65 an hour and we probably charged that for a while.

04:15 – 04:23

Rochelle Moulton: It’s funny how hard it is psychologically sometimes to just make that shift when you’re in hourly or even a flat price and making it higher. It’s

04:23 – 04:23

Pia Silva: just some

04:24 – 04:26

Rochelle Moulton: kind of resistance around that, right?

04:26 – 04:34

Pia Silva: Rochelle, I remember when I told my dad, who’s an accountant, that we were making $65 an hour and I was so proud. I was like, we’re going

04:34 – 04:36

Rochelle Moulton: to be rich. He was like,

04:36 – 04:44

Pia Silva: that’s not a lot of money, Pia, $200 an hour, maybe. It’s like $200 an hour. Like that will never happen. Pretty amazing.

04:45 – 05:01

Rochelle Moulton: It is. I love the journey. So I remember either seeing or hearing about how the light bulb went off in your agency business that started you down the path of the product I service you’ve created, the no BS agency idea and model. I mean, can

05:01 – 05:37

Pia Silva: you tell us the story? Like, how did you get to that place? Yeah, so it was 2 moments. The first moment was in 2013 with a business coach, and I was pushing to get these $30, 000 clients. I had assessed our process and how much our overhead was and figured out that these projects we were doing needed to be charging about $30, 000 for us to eke out a living, honestly, because we had 2 employees at the time. I had this big network. People seemed to like me and trust me, but I could not get these

05:37 – 06:04

Pia Silva: to close. And so they were few and far between. And I said to this business coach, I’m talking to all these people who wanna work with us, but they just don’t have the budget at all. And he said, well, what budget do they have? I was like, I don’t know, $3, 000. And he said, well, what could you do for $3, 000? And I said, I mean, we could actually do a lot of stuff in a day. If they would just pay us for the day, I think Steve and I could act, Steve’s like we could

06:04 – 06:31

Pia Silva: build a web. This was right at the beginning of Squarespace and we were using it. We could probably build like a home page and maybe an interior page and a logo and a business card. And I could kind of consult on the branding. So we had this as a secret offer. I didn’t want anyone to know about it because I wanted to sell the big thing and we Sold that out of my back pocket for a year sporadically it didn’t sell that well at the time who was we weren’t really all in on it a Year

06:31 – 07:06

Pia Silva: later we find ourselves in $40, 000 of debt, which at the time was us completely maxed out, freaking out, had to let our employees go. And that’s when we kind of looked at this thing, this Brand up, we called it a brand up, this secret brand up, and we said, you know what? $3, 000 for this 1 day is so much more profitable than even the $30, 000 projects that we are closing sporadically. If I tally up all the energy and time that we spend doing that $30, 000 project, it takes way more than 10 full

07:06 – 07:39

Pia Silva: days of our time to execute. And if I just do the math, 1 day at $3, 000 is more profitable than probably 20 plus days for the $30, 000 project. And that was the lightbulb moment. It was, wow, I’m surrounded by people who will pay us $3, 000, and that is more profitable. And we had just let our employees go, and Steve and I said, let’s go all in. I’m not kidding when I say like overnight, we completely changed our website. And I called back, I had a bunch of outstanding proposals and I actually just called

07:39 – 07:57

Pia Silva: them all up. And I said, Hey, you know, that big project that you’re still thinking on, consider that moot. We are no longer doing that. But I can do basically the same project for you for 3, 000 or if it was bigger, I said 2 days of 5, 000. And I closed all of those on the spot. And that was the beginning of it.

07:58 – 08:27

Rochelle Moulton: Mic drop. Mic drop. So I want to pull out a couple of things you said here. I mean, the first thing is sort of the difference between revenue and profit, right? Cause it’s easy to like the 30, 000 feels like the big shiny thing that we should want to have. And I love that the $3, 000 thing was secret until you figured that out. And I hate to say it, but it’s almost like you had to have that pile of debt and the pressure of employees and having to let them go to be able to see

08:28 – 08:29

Rochelle Moulton: what was right there.

08:30 – 08:46

Pia Silva: A hundred percent. Yes. I would have just kept going because I had an unrealistic vision of what this was supposed to look like. And I didn’t connect the fact that those $30, 000 projects were actually unprofitable. I just didn’t get it until I was forced into a corner.

08:46 – 09:23

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Well, why would you? Right? I mean, you did what humans do. We look at, well, 30, 000 is better than 3000. Right. Right? Yeah. But yeah, every dollar is not equal. Nope. Right. So when you think about like the traditional agency model, especially with I think of graphic design where you’re dealing with websites and timelines and strict budgets. I mean, what challenges do you see people like graphic designers and brand strategists facing when they organize that way and more of an agency, traditional, either hourly rate or fee for service

09:23 – 09:59

Pia Silva: way. Well, how much time do we have, Rochelle? It’s every step of the process I see a problem in now, starting from the very beginning. My experience of all of those pitches, it was a very defense place to come from. It was you, the prospect, have all the cards, you have all the power, And I’m here tap dancing and trying to convince you that I’m worthy of you. I’m putting so much time and energy into talking to you and meeting with you and making decks and proposals and following up and all of this. And you just

09:59 – 10:36

Pia Silva: get to say yes or no, or nothing at all. I mean, you get ghosted, right? Even when we did close on those, I mean, I was starting to use some of the strategies I use now to build the authority within the relationship. But I do think the free pitch, it starts the relationship off on the wrong foot. You’ve just done a ton of free work. And so it’s an unequal relationship. Whereas now where we teach to actually pay for that first step, there’s immediate respect and value of your time and your expertise. So that would be

10:36 – 11:12

Pia Silva: the first part. And then I think probably overall there is this thing that I’ve noticed happens with creative projects that are stretched out over many months where there’s a lot of excitement and momentum in the beginning from both sides. And then it kind of dwindles and it kind of gets exhausting and the client has different ideas that pop up or somebody says something and there’s lots of wrenches being thrown in because it’s happening over time, and that makes it take even longer. And by the end, everyone just wants it to finish, and there’s punch lists, and

11:12 – 11:44

Pia Silva: all of these things are what make it exhausting. It loses the fun and excitement of it because your creative work is getting often watered down by that process, right? Either by the client or by the committee or by the client’s friends and family. But whatever it is, the thing that you’re doing this for, it doesn’t usually look exactly like that at the end. And sometimes it looks quite different. And it’s really upsetting when you do a project and you are so excited about it and you put all this energy into it and then it gets watered

11:44 – 11:52

Pia Silva: down by committee. And then the thing that goes out in the end, you’re not even that excited to show on your website. So those are just a couple off the top of my head.

11:55 – 12:13

Rochelle Moulton: Well I’m struck by the length of the project. I mean, I think that’s, I mean, we all know, right, the longer a project goes on, unless you’re doing certain kinds of change work, the longer a creative project goes on, the more voices will get in the mix. What is that? The camel is a horse designed by a committee?

12:14 – 12:15

Pia Silva: I’ve never heard that.

12:15 – 12:20

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So once you get the committee in there, it does not look like the horse you had intended

12:20 – 12:22

Pia Silva: from the beginning. Oh my God.

12:22 – 12:39

Rochelle Moulton: That’s funny. So obviously you have a solution to all this, Pia, but I’d like you to have you talk about how you advise these folks to get off that hamster wheel of attracting serving clients on projects that stretch out over months versus days?

12:40 – 13:18

Pia Silva: Well, I think there’s a lot of mindset shifts that have to happen in order to shrink a project. The way we position it is we shrink multi-month, 3, 6, 12-month projects down to a couple of day intensives. So right now, our company, most of our clients would be a two-day intensive for $40, 000. And a lot of people think the mindset is, well, I’m paying more for less, right? I actually heard that yesterday. Someone said, but why would they pay more for less? And I said, they’re not getting less, they’re getting more. What they’re getting is

13:18 – 13:49

Pia Silva: 6 months of their life back. What they’re getting is actually the version of the work that they need, not the version of the work that they watered down. What they’re getting is the ability to get that brand out there to sell at a higher price point, to position them as an expert, to show their authority. 6 months earlier, I mean, the longer it takes to do this kind of work, there’s such an opportunity cost in not doing that. And, you know, they’re getting their mental space back. I’ve hired a lot of service providers over the years

13:49 – 14:20

Pia Silva: too and when it goes on forever, it’s this thing that just takes up real estate in your brain, wondering how it’s going, I have to get on more meetings. You know, oh, now I gotta give feedback. It takes away from running your business. So I think 1 of the biggest mindset shifts is shrinking it down does not mean delivering less value. In fact, it can mean, and it should mean delivering more value. And just to be super clear, When I say $40, 000 for a two-day intensive, we are not doing the work in those 2 days.

14:20 – 14:42

Pia Silva: We are doing the work beforehand, completely actually. The 2 days is the time where we present it to the client. We take them through a process of getting feedback and making revisions in real time, such that at the end of the 2 days it’s launched. But we have as much time as we need to do the best job possible. And that is always the goal.

14:42 – 15:05

Rochelle Moulton: Couple things strike me there. 1 is the word that comes to mind is speed, right? Clients do pay for speed. And what you’re doing is, as you said, they get 6 months of their life back. And I would absolutely use that in my marketing if I were doing that. And I think then the other piece is that this $40, 000, this is what you used to do for 3 to $5, 000, correct?

15:06 – 15:38

Pia Silva: Technically, but I would say the project’s definitely got bigger, but the value also got higher because we got more strategic, right? So we’re better at it. I have more authority, so there’s a lot of trust there. And I find that in creative work, it’s not just doing good work. There’s a lot of people out there who do amazing work. There are students out there where if you look at their portfolio, it’s beautiful. It’s really not about the craft anymore. To me, it’s an assumption. I assume that your work is good. What we need to layer on

15:38 – 16:10

Pia Silva: top in order to get this higher price point and this higher value is your own confidence in the work and how it relates to the goals of the...

Selling For Soloists with Shannyn Lee

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Selling doesn’t have to be a grind—in fact it can be a joyful opportunity to help your ideal clients and buyers achieve their vision. That’s the refreshing viewpoint of sales maven and Win Without Pitching leader Shannyn Lee.

We explore:

How to take control of conversations around fees and value (hint: you may need to kick some old baggage to the curb).

Developing selling frameworks that define how you’ll respond in each stage of your buyer’s journey (including how you’ll vet them).

Why you want to be “kind but ruthless” (and exactly what that looks like).

The surprising role joy can play in your selling and marketing efforts.

Using LinkedIn to engage future clients and build relationships—and one winning way to turn “cold” into warm.

LINKS

Shannyn Lee | Website | YouTube | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Shannyn Lee is the Managing Director for Win Without Pitching and an unstoppable force of human empowerment.

She spent a decade in senior marketing and communication roles in Fortune 500 companies before moving to a business development leadership role at a well-regarded Seattle design firm. She also spent four years at Catapult New Business where she worked with agencies of various disciplines and size, building and leading their business development programs.

Her time on the front lines of agency business development coupled with many informative years on the client side, has given Shannyn a unique perspective into what marketers are looking for in agencies and what agencies must be doing in order to compete and win.

Shannyn’s empathetic and encouraging coaching skills have helped her clients translate the lofty Win Without Pitching ideals into real behavioral change with lasting results.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:01 – 00:31

Shannyn Lee: Pick the 1 thing that you enjoy doing. Maybe it’s writing, maybe it’s a podcast, maybe it’s videos on a YouTube channel, and go all in on it and do it well, and then leverage that content to turn it into other things. So you might write an article that you then chunk up and use for LinkedIn posts or tweets, right? But you’re 1 person, you can only do so much. So you need to get disciplined about what’s the 1 thing you’re going to be good at. And you need to block it on your calendar, 1 hour a

00:31 – 00:42

Shannyn Lee: day, 3 days a week, that’s non-negotiable unless the house is burning down. And then you need to have some fun with it, frankly, so that you keep doing it and find some source of joy and inspiration in it.

00:47 – 01:16

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with Shannon Lee, who is the managing director for Win Without Pitching, and I quote, an unstoppable force of human empowerment. And having seen her in action, I can attest. She’s also a salesmaven with off the chart empathy and encouragement skills. So Shannon, welcome.

01:16 – 01:20

Shannyn Lee: Thank you so much, Rochelle. I’m so excited to be here with

01:20 – 01:51

Rochelle Moulton: you. Well that makes 2 of us. 1 of the reasons I’m really excited is because you’ve got such a rich and varied set of experiences in B2B conceptual sales that I think will be hugely helpful to our audience. But you also have a point of view around sales that I’d love to dial into. So let’s dive in. Sounds good. And I’d like to start with your story. Now you’re clearly not a soloist and yet I couldn’t wait to have you on the show after we spent just a little bit of time together. So tell us some

01:51 – 01:56

Rochelle Moulton: more about how you got to this place and your role today with Win Without Pitching.

01:57 – 02:30

Shannyn Lee: Yeah, you bet. Whenever I look back on my journey, I think there are just key moments along the way that I think, well, did it get me here or not? But what I have come to realize is there’s some varied experience that has allowed me to just step into who I am and be really comfortable with that and really try to help others in these moments, specifically now around selling. And so I’m a big fan of varied experience. And so professionally, I started on the corporate side and worked for some of the biggest companies in the

02:30 – 03:02

Shannyn Lee: world, AT&T Wireless, for example. And I was thick in the politics of what that means to work for a big organization and navigating my way through. And I learned I liked a smaller opportunity and jumped over to the design agency side of the business, where I worked for small firms that built brands and designed annual reports. And that’s where I landed in my first sales role. And when the opportunity was presented to me, I really had no idea what it meant to sell for a design agency. But I just was brave and said, yeah, I want

03:02 – 03:32

Shannyn Lee: to do it because I want to be around creative people. I want to make an impact. And I really took to it and really found that it was a superpower for me. And I was fortunate enough at that agency to meet Blair Enns, who’s the founder of Win Without Pitching, because we had him come in and teach us how to sell the Win Without Pitching way. And it was in that moment that I realized kind of how much of myself I had lost on the big corporate giant side, and how much permission he was giving me

03:32 – 03:38

Shannyn Lee: in that moment to sell from a place of help and empathy and creating value.

03:39 – 03:40

Rochelle Moulton: Imagine that.

03:40 – 04:09

Shannyn Lee: Yeah, right. Be yourself and see if you can help. And it just took off from there. We stayed in close touch. He was a mentor and he asked me about 9 or 10 years ago to join as a coach. And I’ve been doing this for all of those years and now moving into a leadership role in January where I’m taking over day-to-day operations of the company. So it’s just been a great ride. It’s been filled with some ups and downs, like everybody goes through, but I really feel like I’m working in my unique ability and helping

04:09 – 04:10

Shannyn Lee: people.

04:11 – 04:26

Rochelle Moulton: And I just love the trajectory of this because it’s, you know, big corporate and then you start to find your way. And then you just find that place where I call it your genius zone, where you’re firing on all cylinders and doing the work that you were meant to do.

04:27 – 04:37

Shannyn Lee: Yeah. And it feels good to Allow yourself permission to find that and then find the right company that sees that. And man, it’s just unstoppable if you can get there.

04:37 – 04:39

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, when you get there.

04:39 – 04:41

Shannyn Lee: When you get there. Not if, you’re right.

04:43 – 05:01

Rochelle Moulton: So Shannon, there are a few things about selling that I’d really like to 0 in on. So I guess the thing I’d kind of like to start with is why do so many of us have such a hard time selling ourselves? I mean, because as soloists, that is what we do. I mean, we’re mostly selling our expertise and ourselves.

05:02 – 05:39

Shannyn Lee: Yeah. A couple things come to mind for me. The first is, I think, so many of us equate selling with something icky and pushy and feeling like we were being duped, right? Like being convinced of something. And so I think that’s the first thing is people’s baggage or perceptions that they bring to selling service roadblocks. The other piece of it is, I think a lot of times people struggle with how to communicate who they help and how and what the value is they think they can create for that client. And I’m talking about positioning there and

05:39 – 05:49

Shannyn Lee: you know very well how important that is. So I think those things combined oftentimes crash and people just can’t overcome them. And that’s where the hangups can be.

05:50 – 05:56

Rochelle Moulton: Do you think as women, do we have a harder time with this than men do just on average?

05:57 – 06:14

Shannyn Lee: Yeah. And I wish the answer was no, but I think it’s, I know it is completely possible to overcome and be quite effective and quite helpful as a woman in the sales environment. I think there’s some additional things we have to overcome as women for sure.

06:14 – 06:43

Rochelle Moulton: You know, it’s interesting because I thought 1 of my superpowers back when I was in a big firm was that I was empathetic and I would listen because I didn’t think of myself as a power seller, which sometimes people would look at it that way. And I found that leaning into my natural personality, which wasn’t soft, but wasn’t hard either, it felt like I was bucking the system, but it worked for me.

06:43 – 07:22

Shannyn Lee: Yes. And so What I love about that is you were uniquely okay with being you and not trying to step into a role or turning into a sales robot because you felt there was some way that this had to be done. But you let that true you come out and use those strengths and superpowers to help you guide those conversations. And selling should come from a place of empathy. Selling should be about having conversations and uncovering, can I help? And there are vulnerable moments on either side of the equation, and you should be yourself and figure

07:22 – 07:31

Shannyn Lee: out what is it about you that really matters in those conversations so that that person across the table can see you in a true manner.

07:31 – 07:51

Rochelle Moulton: I love that. Well, and the irony, feel free to tell me if you disagree, but the irony strikes me that it’s actually easier to do that as a soloist than it is inside an organization where there is a model for how to sell versus you create your own around your unique strengths and your vision for the work you’re doing?

07:51 – 08:17

Shannyn Lee: Yeah, I agree. And I would think so. And I think that the soloists that I’ve worked with at Win Without Pitching eventually get there once they’re given permission. And I think a lot of times the soloist entrepreneur has a lot of pressure on them because they have to play every role in their business. And that can be where things get challenging and where things might feel harder than they need to.

08:18 – 08:48

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. 1 man band or 1 woman band in this case. Right. So let’s meander over into this idea of how we can do a better job talking about money, about our fees, like giving a big ass number to something and not choking when you’ve said it. I’ve done that a couple of times. It seems like we spend a lot of time getting in our own way around these fee conversations. What do you think about all this?

08:48 – 09:22

Shannyn Lee: Well, I think it starts with understanding your motivators that cause you to do those things in the sale, like the inability to talk about money. Why is it hard for you? I think you have to examine those motivators. And those motivators could be things like you have a high affiliation score, which means you have the need to be liked and you have the need to create comfort and make things easy for people in these conversations. So you seek to kind of ease the tension versus bring a healthy tension to these sales conversations. So I think once

09:22 – 09:41

Shannyn Lee: you can identify like, what are my motivators? Why does it feel uncomfortable to talk about money and name it and explore it? And then frankly, like flick it off into the universe and get yourself in the right mindset. That’s the beginning to this journey of gaining confidence around talking about money.

09:41 – 09:49

Rochelle Moulton: Well, talk some more about healthy tension. I totally agree with that. I can feel it in a meeting. You can describe what that looks like for people.

09:49 – 10:26

Shannyn Lee: Yeah, what that looks like, for example, in an initial sales conversation that we call the qualifying conversation, just like many do out there, is your ability to demonstrate some selectivity. You should be equally as selective as that person looking to hire you is when they’re assessing the right fit. And so when you get into a sales conversation, you should feel very empowered to take charge from the get-go and let that person know, hey, I also have a process when it comes to deciding who’s a good fit for me and my expertise. And so I’m gonna ask

10:26 – 10:56

Shannyn Lee: you a bunch of questions on this call to assess, is there a fit? And if we decide, yeah, at the end, this makes sense, then we’ll keep talking and we’ll schedule the next conversation, which will be largely around what’s the value that we think we can create for your organization working together. We’ll identify metrics. What’s happening is here is from the beginning, you’re taking control of that conversation and letting that person know, hey, I’m checking you out just as much as you’re checking me out because I’m most interested in seeing if I can help you. And

10:56 – 10:59

Shannyn Lee: if I can’t, I’m going to be really honest and let you know upfront.

11:00 – 11:36

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, taking the reins from the very beginning. And I think it’s not always natural when somebody first starts a solo business because usually they’ve come from being an employee somewhere else. And this idea that you have a process, not just of who you’re going to work with, but how you’re going to work. Just taking the reins from the beginning while still engaging the client and getting them to talk about their challenges and their environment, all of those. It feels like those are confidence builders. I almost felt myself sit up straighter as I thought about handling a

11:36 – 11:37

Rochelle Moulton: meeting that way.

11:37 – 12:07

Shannyn Lee: Well, and I know I sit up straighter when I handle my sales calls that way, because you’re right, I feel confident. And part of why I feel confident is because I have frameworks to follow that tell me what I need to do in each conversation throughout the buyer’s journey. So I’m organized and I’m clear and I don’t feel like I’m making it up each time I have a new sales conversation. So that’s the other piece of it is adopting some selling frameworks for yourself to get yourself organized around this journey you’re about to go through as

12:07 – 12:11

Shannyn Lee: you’re working with a potential buyer to decide if, you know, you’re gonna do this together or not.

12:11 – 12:24

Rochelle Moulton: Well, let’s dig into that. That’s just too juicy to ignore. So when you say selling frameworks, it sounded like you were talking about the conversation. So we’re talking about the conversations versus the process, the entire sales process.

12:25 – 12:58

Shannyn Lee: Yeah. So we think about things in terms of the buyer’s journey and What are the things that need to get done during the buyer’s journey to help decide are they a fit, should we work together? And so for us, it starts with this idea of what we call the probative conversation, which is this is positioning, essentially. This is there through your thought leadership or through referrals, people are hearing about you. You aren’t necessarily present. They’re forming an opinion about you, maybe stuff you’re posting on LinkedIn, and they see you as an expert. And they raise their

12:58 – 13:37

Shannyn Lee: hand and say, I want some help. And then the first kind of in-person or via Zoom conversation happens where you qualify. That’s the next framework is the qualifying framework, vetting to see if an opportunity exists if the fit is good. If it is, you proceed to what we call the value conversation. And the value conversation is all about bringing transparency to metrics, measurements, needs, but more importantly wants, like what’s the future vision? How do we get there? What do we think we can be accountable for as the solopreneur to contribute to that vision? What do we

13:37 – 14:13

Shannyn Lee: think together a fair range of investment is to get this work done? And okay, now you’re collecting all this information. And that means you can then go away and create a proposal. And in When Without Pitching Land, we like a 1 page 3 option proposal. We don’t want a big long daunting document. We want 3 high level ideas for different ways you can work together within a budget range that was agreed upon. And then you come into a closing meeting, but it’s more about facilitating a choice and really saying, okay, we’ve arrived at this place where

14:13 – 14:34

Shannyn Lee: we know enough about each other and enough about the project and enough about what the right investment is that it’s time to decide. I’ve got 3 options, which 1 makes the most sense for you. So it’s following these frameworks, these 4 conversations to help guide this journey and be effective, but be efficient. So it’s not a long drawn out sales process.

14:35 – 14:51

Rochelle Moulton: You know, 1 of the things I love about the way you just framed that is the value conversation. And I have the advantage of having heard Blair just talk about this in the last month. It sounds way less intimidating, the way that you just described it than I think people think about it.

14:51 – 15:23

Shannyn Lee: Yeah, I think what it really brings is integrity and transparency, honestly, because you’re demystifying how you price things. You’re putting it all on the table for the client to say, these are the things that need to be true at the end of our engagement. These are the metrics that matter to me most. And you’re sitting across the table saying, these are things I feel like I can hit. I’m going to think about solutions to do that. This is what I think the value is that can be...

How Much Money Can I Make As A Soloist?

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0700

When speaking about positioning at a conference for creative business owners, a soloist approached me. After pivoting from a multi-employee business during the pandemic, she was pleasantly surprised at how much more she was earning solo.

Our conversation inspired me to record this episode to share what is possible for soloists—and we’re not talking unicorns:

The journey from something that looks suspiciously like freelancing to employing leverage in your business.

The three types of leverage most soloists use to evolve their business.

The pros and cons of using different types of leverage in a soloist business model.

Why you want to be delivering high value transformations to maximize your earnings without working more hours.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:44

Rochelle Moulton: If you are setting, say, a 2 times rate on your contractor, so they charge you $25, 000, you bill them out to the client at $50, 000, then you're making 100% gross markup. Now I know that sounds like a lot, but remember, you're typically paying them some upfront before your client pays, so you have cash flow risk. You also have to spend coordination time and you're still doing all the usual client-facing activities including billing and collections And you're on the hook in every way, including legally, for the satisfactory performance of the work. Hello, hello. Welcome to

00:44 - 01:21

Rochelle Moulton: Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm sharing a short solo episode on a topic near and dear to many of us. How much money can you actually make as a soloist? Now, I recently spoke about positioning at David C. Baker's MYOB conference for creative business owners, where a soloist approached me when I finished. And it turns out she'd had a multi-employee business for many years, but the pandemic brought their client work to a halt. So she pivoted to a soloist model and now brings in

01:21 - 01:59

Rochelle Moulton: contract help only when she needs it. And she said something like, I've never had more money in my bank account or felt freer in my life. And I was thinking, amen sister, the soloist way. She seemed pleasantly surprised that such a simple pivot could bring more money, more free time, and more joy, which is why I wanted to record this episode on a related question I get asked a lot. How much money should I be making and how much money can I make with my expertise? Let's agree to just tossed should off the table. I don't

01:59 - 02:38

Rochelle Moulton: believe in shoulds, But I would like you to know what's possible. Not unicorns, but the kind of business models that actually exist out in the real world. Most of us start with something that looks suspiciously like freelancing, right? You start out charging an hourly, daily, weekly, or even fractional rate. And if you do well, you eventually hit against a revenue ceiling, often somewhere between about $100, 000 up to roughly $250, 000, depending on how expensive a problem you're solving. And you suddenly realize that the only way to make more money under your current business model is

02:38 - 03:19

Rochelle Moulton: to work more hours. And you just can't, or you don't want to. And that's when the great experiment begins. You start to explore how to use leverage. Your central question becomes, how can I earn more without working more hours? Well, here's 1 way to think about it. You can create a soloist business with any combination of 3 kinds of leverage, pricing, people, and product. Pricing leverage is when you set your prices so they are unlinked to your time. They'll usually be based at least partly on value, but not always, And this allows you to charge way

03:19 - 03:58

Rochelle Moulton: more than a set rate for your time. People leverage is when you hire people on a contract basis, assuming you're a soloist, to do client work. You make money on the spread between what you pay them and what you charge the client. And product leverage is when you develop products like books, courses, and even memberships that allow you to charge flat fees for a concentrated investment of your time and then you make money on Volume I think most people assume that you have to have people or product leverage to break the upper revenue Echelons. Well, I'm

03:58 - 04:39

Rochelle Moulton: here to tell you that you don't right? I've worked with soloist clients whose only leverage was pricing. They solve big, expensive problems for a very specific client niche, and they passed a million dollars in revenue. Soloist business. No employees, no products, but an outsized reputation in a very slim but rich niche. And as you know, if you're already a soloist, you take home a huge chunk of your top line revenue when you're not paying employees and maintaining a product structure. Now, if you add just a book, an authority book, to that mix, it gets even better.

04:39 - 05:19

Rochelle Moulton: Your book can act as a moneymaker on its own. I've worked with a handful of clients who managed out-sized book profits. But more often, it's a driver of revenue rather than a producer of it. So you publish a book, a tightly branded 100% on point book sharing your expertise. You promote it to your list on social media, you pitch yourself on podcasts, and word grows. Maybe you speak at conferences, word spreads still more, and that book becomes an entrée, sometimes the entrée, to your pipeline. Maybe you make a few thousand a year on the book, but

05:19 - 05:59

Rochelle Moulton: it drives hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue. 1 client writes a book about every 5 years, and while they sell anywhere from 50, 000 to 150, 000 copies over those 5 years, which by the way, is still a nice chunk of change. The real money is in their high-end consulting gigs, about $500, 000 a year, and speaking fees, 250, 000 or more in non-pandemic years. Now, before we talk about other types of leverage, I do want to point out something about only using pricing leverage. This model is still dependent on your producing value directly for

05:59 - 06:38

Rochelle Moulton: your clients. It typically doesn't produce a business that you can sell and should you get sick or want to retire permanently from it, the spigot shuts off. So you want to have solid and expensive, unfortunately, disability insurance and sock away a good chunk of your profit every year. And by the way, Sallowis have lots of options for tax advantage savings. So you want to sock away a good chunk to preserve your options. Now people leverage can also be profound, although not without its challenges. In fact, my very first business leveraged people, employees and contractors, and I

06:38 - 07:21

Rochelle Moulton: was able to sell it to Arthur Andersen for a very nice premium that more than made up for the occasional lean year. Now, as a soloist, you can hire contractors as versions of yourself, mini-mes, right, to complete client work or you can hire people with related skill sets so that you can complete more complex work that you could not do by yourself. So this requires comfort with selling, with pricing work that other people will deliver, and leading your team. You will sometimes have to have difficult conversations and find yourself either thrilled or horrified with the actions

07:21 - 07:56

Rochelle Moulton: of your people. But if you choose your talent well, you have a consistent selling machine and a process to get the work done well, you can do quite well financially. So let me give you an example. If you are setting, say, a 2 times rate on your contractor, so they charge you $25, 000, you bill them out to the client at $50, 000, then you're making 100% gross markup. Now I know that sounds like a lot, but remember you're typically paying them some upfront before your client pays, so you have cash flow risk. You also have

07:56 - 08:36

Rochelle Moulton: to spend coordination time and you're still doing all the usual client-facing activities including billing and collections, and you're on the hook in every way, including legally, for the satisfactory performance of the work. If they quit midstream, guess whose problem that is. When I owned a boutique firm, I marked up rates 2 to 3 times what I paid the consultant depending on my prior experience with them, the specific skill set they had, the rarity or lack thereof, and the personality of the lead client. So more recently, 1 of my clients, he does a little bit of what

08:36 - 09:13

Rochelle Moulton: I think of as reverse engineering. He sells the project himself. He has a very high end reputation with his ideal clients. He scopes it out and he negotiates a usually value-based price tag. So he then takes that scoped project to a member of his extensive team of contractors, and he asks them their price to do the work as its outline. And inevitably, I know this won't surprise you, there was a significant difference between those 2, between the price he got with the client and the price that the consultant delivered. The contractor would often base their price

09:13 - 09:49

Rochelle Moulton: on their expected hours for the project, and they'd come in sometimes even comically low. I mean, sometimes the client had them redo their bid to be more generous to the contractor and the client would then mark up their price by a factor of 4 or 5, sometimes even more. I'm guessing it won't surprise you that this consultant's gross after paying his contractors was well in excess of a million dollars a million dollars a year. It came with some risk, I mean certainly more than a solo practice, but it was a fairly low and pretty manageable risk,

09:49 - 10:33

Rochelle Moulton: especially since he had a slew of pre-qualified contractors ready to step in if somebody dropped out. Now product leverage is another area that some soloists consider the holy grail. And it can be, although you usually will need a pretty significant audience size, an email list, to make significant revenue from products. The exception, productized services where you're selling some sort of assessment or strategy session to deep-pocketed buyers. Those can be a six-figure-plus revenue stream just by themselves, even with a small list. And when I say a small list, like under $500. So products can be books, courses,

10:33 - 11:17

Rochelle Moulton: memberships, anything you essentially create and then, at least in theory, put on autopilot. So selling $39 ebooks is a very slow roll. But selling, say, $7, 500 memberships can move your revenue line north pretty quickly if you've identified the right niche, offer, price, and compelling branding and messaging. How much can you gross? A lot. You just have to work through the challenges of scaling and you might wind up wanting an employee or 2. I've seen gross revenues as high as 6000000 to just under 10 million, but each of those had significant contractor and technology expenses, not

11:17 - 12:02

Rochelle Moulton: to mention running a constantly moving business. They were working serious entrepreneur hours. What I see more often in my practice is soloists adding a product or 2 in experimental mode, small at first and then expanding as their audience grows if they find they're suited to it because not everybody is and Some wind up splitting the difference between products and services to build productized services selling them to high-end corporate or business organizations So all of this is a detailed way to say this. With the right niche, making high value transformations and a working authority machine, you can

12:02 - 12:45

Rochelle Moulton: make mid 6 figures, 500 to 600 thousand dollars, pretty consistently without working a traditional full-time schedule. And you have the opportunity to make far more if you're motivated to do that. Not everyone is. So if you're still working on your business model and you know let's face it aren't we all, take heart. All right there is a way for you to build a joyful, sustainably, highly profitable, soloist business with your expertise. You just have to keep experimenting to find your sweet spot. Okay, so that's it for this episode. I hope you'll join us next time for

12:45 - 12:46

Rochelle Moulton: soloist women. Bye bye.

Stepping Fully Into Your Genius Zone with Rachel Huff

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0700

You're an expert at one thing that you know the market needs, but you’re feeling tugged to do something else—something that just might be in your genius zone. Do you go for it? Communication maven turned agency matchmaker Rachel Huff did—and she shares her experience.

We discuss:

The challenges of starting a new business on the cusp of a global pandemic (with two tiny children and no day care).

Generating the courage to pivot from what you’re very good at to your genius zone.

The importance of building a new pipeline after a pivot—and allowing enough time for it to jell.

Giving yourself permission to lean into your genius—even when other “experts” try to change your mind.

Why creating and sharing your point of view is so critical for soloists.

LINKS

Rachel Huff | Website | LinkedIn | Rosie’s Place

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Rachel Huff, President and Founder of Victoire & Co, sits at the intersection of great companies and great agencies. Her passion lies in building brand-agency partnerships that drive long-term success.

With a keen understanding of clients’ communications and business needs and a network of trusted agency connections, she specializes in guiding companies toward their best agency fit.

Rachel previously led business development and agency marketing at Weber Shandwick and 360PR+ and has consulted for agencies of all sizes, drawing from a decade on the account side developing integrated communications campaigns for brands including John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, DraftKings, CVS and Life is Good.

Rachel extends her professional expertise through her nonprofit involvement. She serves on both the Board of Directors and the Marketing & Development Committee for Rosie’s Place, the nation’s first women’s shelter and a sanctuary for poor and homeless women.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:28

Rachel Huff: When I started off on my own, I actually always did have this idea in mind of being an agency search consultant and that that was somewhere that I wanted to get 1 day in like 5 years or so. But I was so used to doing certain work and I was, I just sort of had, I don't want to say pigeon-holed myself, but maybe. And I think, I just think it's really important. It's something that I learned. And I think this was part of my making that pivot was just because somebody didn't listen to your expertise in

00:28 - 00:34

Rachel Huff: the past, or just because somebody didn't necessarily empower you to be an expert on something, it doesn't make it true.

00:39 - 01:07

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Rachel Huff, who serves as a matchmaker for brands and agencies through her firm Victoire & Company. And her background includes over a decade inside an agency developing integrated communication campaigns for brands like John Hancock, Verizon, Ocean Spray, and CVS. Rachel, welcome.

01:08 - 01:10

Rachel Huff: Thank you so much for having

01:10 - 01:38

Rochelle Moulton: me, Rochelle. Well, 1 of the reasons that I asked you to join me is that you started your business right smack dab at the beginning of a pandemic with 2 tiny children. But, but I'm also planning on picking your brain for an idea or 2 on PR and thought leadership for soloists. So let's dive in. I guess let's start with what made you decide to start your business. Maybe you could set the stage for your first few days and weeks as a soloist.

01:39 - 02:09

Rachel Huff: Absolutely. Yeah, as you alluded, I spent my really whole career in agencies working on communications campaigns and my last few years in the agency world, I had transitioned into a business development and marketing role. So I was really responsible for helping the agency that I was working at to bring in and onboard their new clients. And I had this idea that had been sort of percolating, you know, I had kind of always had it in the back of my mind about going out on my own and continuing to do that work, which I really did enjoy

02:09 - 02:36

Rachel Huff: that work, but to continue doing that for a number of different agency clients. So either agencies who were smaller size, who didn't necessarily have their own dedicated business development person or, you know, sometimes midsize or even larger agencies who just needed a little bit of outside perspective and help to really help those agencies with their marketing and growing their business. So that was really what the idea was when I went out on my own in March 2020. I had set the ball in motion.

02:37 - 02:40

Rochelle Moulton: Let's stop there for just a second. March 2020.

02:41 - 03:14

Rachel Huff: Yeah, I had really good timing. Impeccable. I had kind of like set this ball in motion already to leave this, you know, the so-called real job and start my own consultancy. But yeah, then this little thing called COVID happened, worldwide pandemic. And yeah, my 2 kids were at the time 6 months old and 3 years old. And suddenly we no longer had full-time childcare for them. So yeah, this vision that I had for launching my own consultancy, it definitely was a little different from what I had initially anticipated. But I did pretty quickly start to take

03:14 - 03:29

Rachel Huff: on new clients and work. It just for that first year, really a little more than a year, it really was my workday consisted of really nap time and nighttime after the kids went to bed. So yeah, a little different from how I thought it would have gone.

03:30 - 03:38

Rochelle Moulton: So given that and you're trying to squeeze this in between nap times, how long did it take you to hit your first 100, 000?

03:39 - 04:09

Rachel Huff: So that first year was, like I said, it was like part-time, part-time, right? And then it took me about a year to really officially then I said, you know, I'm really committed to doing this. My, my kids were now in full time childcare. So I established my LLC. I launched Victoire and co in 2021, you know, officially now had my own business and felt a little more real. And then really in that second year, it took me, it took me that second year to hit a 100 K Mark. And it was interesting because even then I

04:09 - 04:30

Rachel Huff: was still part time. I still wasn't working full time. And I had this, I guess I had a moment of shock when I was crunching the numbers after 2 years in business and I realized I had made as much money working part time and doing this for myself as I had made in a full time salary job before that. So that was really exciting for me. So yeah, yeah.

04:31 - 04:41

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that transition. I mean, that moment when you really realize, oh, I can make money at this. And when you realize that you can make more and work less.

04:42 - 04:44

Rachel Huff: It's wonderful. It's freeing.

04:44 - 04:56

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. So what's your viewpoint on hiring employees or contractors inside your firm? Like, do you have a point of view about that or have you kind of moved off employees, no employees?

04:56 - 05:25

Rachel Huff: Yeah, I've had some subcontractors on like project basis, but it's really interesting because I have a friend who owns her own agency. And I feel like every time I talk to her, she's like, just wait by the next time we talk, you're going to have your own employees are going to start growing soon. I'm always like, oh, no, no, no, thank you. That's actually I really enjoyed listening to your podcast and how some of your guests are like, no, I know that I'm a soloist. I'm fine with that. I'm cool with this. So that's really how

05:25 - 05:45

Rachel Huff: I feel. I mean, I never say never, but for me, it is very freeing not having the responsibility of mentoring people, coaching people that need to really always keep them busy, you know, make sure I can deliver a paycheck to them. It's really I really like having accountability to myself and only myself. That's part of why I'm doing this.

05:45 - 06:09

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And isn't it funny how the outside world just puts that expectation on us? Oh, you're going to get employees. You're going to be fabulous. It's like, well, I'm already fabulous. It's kind of your response, right? I love working this way. But yeah, it takes a little getting used to, to being counter the prevailing quote unquote wisdom, right, of starting your own business.

06:09 - 06:23

Rachel Huff: Yes. But yes, I've been very happy being a soloist. I loved working on big teams. I used to work on big teams. I used to mentor people and manage people, but I'm pretty happy working on my own and I still get to work with great people, just not within my own business.

06:23 - 06:35

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, exactly. So how did you land on your current specialty where you're basically matchmaking brands with agencies, agencies with brands? How did you get there?

06:35 - 07:03

Rachel Huff: I sort of took this parallel path. So when I started, I was really focused on consulting for agencies. And then I would get requests from time to time for people I had worked with in the past who are now in-house and needed help with running a search because you know They they were now in-house and needed help getting an agency and didn't even know how that process necessarily worked so I it started as me just sort of helping a few folks and then had a number of these searches under my belt and continued down that path.

07:03 - 07:34

Rachel Huff: So I had these parallel paths where I was doing the agency consulting and then helping companies run their agency searches. And I really just enjoyed that work so much. I don't know if I wanna say so much more, but I felt like that's really where my expertise, like I could really shine in my expertise and take all of my knowledge from having been agency side and bring that to in-house teams and helping them find the right agency partners for whatever their needs were. So I did make the decision at the end of last year, so the

07:34 - 08:01

Rachel Huff: end of 2022, to pivot with my consultancy and really double down there. I just felt like I, it almost was a little bit like the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, where I just was like doing the same work over and over. I've been doing it for so long with the agency, you know, the agency side work. And I knew how to do it. I was really good at it. I was helping people with it. But I was just running into the same things over and over. And I really am enjoying this new avenue for my business.

08:02 - 08:13

Rochelle Moulton: Well, it's I don't want to put words on your in your mouth, but it almost sounds like you went from your zone of excellence to your zone of genius, like that there is a line that you crossed. Somehow.

08:13 - 08:40

Rachel Huff: Yes, completely. That's exactly right. It's my zone of genius. And then it's also, it's work that just really energizes me. And it's very intentional. And I've really enjoyed doing that. And I think 1 of the challenges that I found, I'll be, I'll be transparent about this. 1 of the challenges that I found in making that transition was that the agency work that I was doing was either in some cases retainer based work or a lot of recurring project work where I do a project for a client and then it would lead to another project and then

08:40 - 09:09

Rachel Huff: it would lead to another project. So it was a lot of that. This work isn't necessarily like that because if I run a search for a company to help them find a external marketing or communications partner. I set them up with a great agency, and then in some cases they're done with me. Obviously bigger companies have a number of agencies that they work with, so I have done some recurring searches for companies, But it is definitely a different model. And so, and it requires like a really pretty steady pipeline and a constant pipeline. So the first

09:09 - 09:26

Rachel Huff: half of 2023 was a bit slow for me as a result of making that pivot. And I just spent a lot of time marketing myself, networking, really putting myself out there and it's definitely been paying off. I would say the second half of this year has been, I quickly ramped up and it's been very busy

09:26 - 09:55

Rochelle Moulton: again. Well, it's funny you mentioned pipeline because that's the first thing I was thinking when you said, oh yeah, I have a client once, right. And then we're done until they need another search. And hopefully, if you've done your work, well, they don't need another search. Yeah, for quite a while. Yeah. So how long did it take you to really get traction? I mean, I know you said 6 months, like, what was that like? Because what you did is you faced the fear that a lot of us have when we do a pivot. Yeah. There's still

09:55 - 10:07

Rochelle Moulton: people that you know, but the way that you work is changing and the way that you market and sell yourself is changing and the way you set up your pipeline is changing. So I just, I would love you to walk us through a little bit of that.

10:07 - 10:32

Rachel Huff: Yeah, that's true. You know, it's funny because when I first started out on my own in again, March, 2020, I had a friend and a mentor who had said to me, you know, really prepare yourself. It's going to be like 6 months for you to ramp up. It's going to take a while for you to really get to a place where you have the steady stream of work. And I think part of it honestly might've been the fact that I, like I said, I only had so much time in the day that I could work. But

10:32 - 11:02

Rachel Huff: I think part of it was also that I did, I do have a really pretty incredible network and pretty large network. I think part of that is just the nature of the agency world. You have fantastic, people don't stay in agencies or in any specific agency for very long. So a lot of wonderful people who I worked with either as my colleagues or as past clients had ended up in a lot of really interesting places. So I was fortunate to get a really steady stream of work from the very beginning and kind of thought that was

11:02 - 11:32

Rachel Huff: going to be like continue for eternity. But it's funny because it then ended up happening, right? When I finally made this pivot at the beginning of this year, those first 6 months of the year were pretty quiet. And that was a little scary. But I think what was interesting about it was it's not like I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs I was working a lot and I think this is something that happens a lot as soloists we do a lot of unpaid work marketing ourselves networking And obviously we have to factor that in when we're

11:32 - 12:00

Rachel Huff: thinking about our time. But I felt like there were a few months there where I was like, I'm working so hard, I have nothing to show for it. Like I don't have a paycheck that you have when you're in a salary position, that's like constant regular paycheck. But I just kept at it and I had a lot of meaningful conversations. I think part of it You know, the economy has been kind of tougher just weird the past year or so No people a lot of stops and starts right people who were excited to work with me

12:00 - 12:13

Rachel Huff: and then oh, sorry Like our budget isn't approved Not sure not sure if we're going to make an agency change and we need your help with that or not. But it all ended up, you know, a lot of great work has come. As a result, it just, you know, I just had to be patient, but it has paid off.

12:13 - 12:47

Rochelle Moulton: I think you're being modest because, yeah, you had to be patient, but you were also working your system. And I love how you describe the agency world where people are constantly moving, but you stayed in touch with them. Not everybody does. I think that's, that's this key. And when you start a business like ours, if you've got this existing network of people, and I mean network in the best possible way, right? People you actually know and where you appreciate each other. It's an asset that you take into the business. And I think it helps you get

12:47 - 12:50

Rochelle Moulton: off the ground a lot faster than if you didn't have that.

12:50 - 13:20

Rachel Huff: Absolutely, yeah. A lot of the people who I've worked with, again, as a client, as a colleague, bosses of mine, people who reported to me, I feel like when we do interact with each other, even if it's been 10 years, we just immediately have that connection and trust, like inherent trust in the way that we work. So I've had a lot of people, a lot of my clients, pretty much most of my clients have been former, people I've worked with in some capacity in a past life and just like inherently trust the quality of the work

13:20 - 13:23

Rachel Huff: that I do because they are part of that network.

13:24 - 13:46

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that reputation value from actual experience with you is huge. You know, when We talked offline, you had mentioned a scenario, and I'm trying to remember if it was before you made the pivot into what we might

What’s The Point? A Value Conversation with Katie Burkhart

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0700

How can we do more of what we and our clients and buyers value—and less (or better yet, none) of what we don’t? That’s the focal point of essentialist thinker Katie Burkhart’s mission to evolve the way we work.

We explore:

The question to ask yourself before saying yes (and the freedom you give yourself when saying no).

Why work life balance is a myth when what we really want is to integrate the two.

How we have changed our collective view of what work really means (even if not everyone has caught up yet).

Why making an impact is “the caboose” behind providing value to your clients and buyers.

How to think about relationships without converting them to currency.

LINKS

Katie Burkhart | Website | Substack | LinkedIn | Entrepreneur

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Katie Burkhart is the mastermind behind MatterLogicW, the only system for running a business in the value economy. An essentialist thinker, Entrepreneur contributor, thoughtful speaker, and jargon slayer, she shifts your focus by asking “What’s the point?” For more of her thinking, connect with her on LinkedIn and subscribe to WTP.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:33

Katie Burkhart: I'm a big believer that you need your core, which has 5 pieces, purpose, vision, outcomes, mission, and values, because we need to know what that core is so that we can make choices based upon it. That's what constitutes a strategy. And when you think about impact, right, Impact is the caboose that comes at the end. We need to deliver value and have value delivered successfully in order to hopefully make an impact. Impact is difficult to measure. It's difficult to put our hands around, but most of us, and it sounds like soloist women, are really looking to

00:33 - 00:36

Katie Burkhart: make that impact and I know a lot of the people I work with do too.

00:41 - 01:07

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Katie Burkhardt, who is an essentialist thinker, entrepreneur contributor, thoughtful speaker, and my favorite, jargon slayer. She is also the mastermind behind MatterLogic, which is a system for running a business in the value economy. Katie, welcome.

01:07 - 01:11

Katie Burkhart: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

01:11 - 01:40

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I'm excited to have you. So 1 of the reasons that I just had to have you on the show, is your focus on turning what's the point into this key question that we ask with our work, this idea that you can make saying no the way that we get more done and to make value our focus. And I know you normally work with teams inside organizations, but when we met, I was fascinated with how your principles apply to the soloist model. So I want to spend some time

01:40 - 02:16

Katie Burkhart: on that. 100%. You know, so I love getting to know you, you know, a little separately and then spend some time really digging into what a soloist is, which I think you've crystallized really well. And I think we assume work if businesses, big teams are doing it. Small teams may not be doing it, but the great thing about this is it applies to people as people. It applies to soloist businesses. It applies to small teams. It applies to big teams. And the way I want to chat about this is through a story. So I don't know

02:16 - 02:41

Katie Burkhart: if you ever did this as a kid, but my grandparents held an Easter egg hunt every Easter when we were really little. And they used to put a lot of time into putting like coins into some of the eggs and candy into some of the eggs. And you know, The Easter egg hunt was not really the thing. You could just go eat the candy later, but as a kid you didn't understand that. You were really excited for the Easter egg hunt. In my mind, there are 2 ways of doing the Easter egg hunt. The way most

02:41 - 03:12

Katie Burkhart: people do it, which is to take their bucket and as soon as the thing goes off run as hard and as fast as they can in all sorts of different directions. They're bumping into all the other kids. In some cases, they're smashing the eggs. They're trying to throw whatever they can into the basket. They're a hot, sweaty mess by the time they get to the end, and they have really variable results. The other way to go about doing it is to determine very specifically what value it is that you wanna deliver. What is it that you're

03:12 - 03:43

Katie Burkhart: really looking at? Set a specific focus and to be able to go out and assess the eggs that you're confronting and then put the ones that fit into your basket. At the end, you're gonna have a lot less eggs, most likely, but you are gonna be in a much stronger position because you're not exhausted, You're not hot and sweaty, you're not super distracted, and the eggs that are in your baskets are good ones. They're whole, they're not crushed, and they're what you really need to have to actually be able to get the job done and move

03:43 - 04:09

Katie Burkhart: forward. And that's the way I really like to look at this, is to really be able to say, what's the point? You know, what's the point of why my business exists, whether you're a soloist or a bigger team, you need to be able to answer that question. And in the value economy, it needs to be based on the value that you deliver to someone actual meaningful value. I'm the first to say that that comes in many different shapes and sizes. You know, you don't have to change the whole world. You do not have to save the

04:09 - 04:44

Katie Burkhart: whales, but you need to deliver value that you can articulate. And that means something to the person you deliver it to. Once you know that point, everything that you go through should have a point and should align with that fundamental point. And that's where that no piece comes in, right? This isn't about minimalist, you know, about, well, We just want to have less. That's true. But no is really a strategic tool to say these don't fit. This is aimless. This doesn't have a point or its point does not really fit with the strategy that we're here

04:44 - 04:47

Katie Burkhart: to advance. You know, we need to say no.

04:47 - 05:07

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I feel like you were watching me at my first Easter egg hunt. So there's that. And I was the first 1, not the second 1. Let's be clear. So Katie, what made you? I mean, you started your business. What made you start your business? And then did you immediately focus on this? I mean, did you land on this mission right away or was this a process?

05:08 - 05:40

Katie Burkhart: Oh, it was a process, mostly accidental. You know, when I started, my very first job was as a lifeguard And I worked at a pretty safe pool and spent a lot of time sitting on my chair staring at mostly empty pool water or the same 2 or 3 kids who came every day who we know were not going to drown. So you were pretty much there by yourself on this chair listening to the clock sort of tick by your life in 15-minute increments until you went to the next chair and you did it again. And what

05:40 - 06:15

Katie Burkhart: I walked away from that experience with was that was not how I wanted to spend my life. Time was far more value than that. And I think you and your soloist manifesto really recognize that true wealth isn't simply money. Time and the ability to have true time freedom is really where wealth comes in. And once I understood that that was particularly motivating to me, I both wanted to pick a career, something that utilized my skills and my interests, however broad that might be. And then, you know, flip side, how do I help other people kind of

06:15 - 06:52

Katie Burkhart: not waste their time, you know, and what it was that they were doing. And I started, as young people do, very focused on the first, and actually spent time as a designer and did work all over the place, in theater, in systems, in data, in anything where you wanted to design a broader system, I was willing to take it on and ended up backing into my first company, Matter 7, which still exists today, where we initially did branding and big brand systems, we have shifted over the years to being truly focused on where, non-surprisingly, our clients

06:52 - 07:24

Katie Burkhart: are looking for value, which is how they tell their story. And at this point, our storytelling studio, but that process led me to see how difficult it actually is for companies and bigger teams to be that second egg hunt team, to really have that level of discipline, to have structure and systems that allows them to do that and really set out to how do I build a methodology? How do I come up with approach? How do I create tools? How do I ultimately teach them, you know, how to go about doing that? So it was a

07:24 - 07:35

Katie Burkhart: little bit of a following where there was a need or where there seemed to be an ability to do something better and seeing if I couldn't find a way to do that. It's interesting the

07:35 - 08:08

Rochelle Moulton: way you described that you were focused on designing things, but you were spreading your efforts in a lot of different directions, which is something most soloists, myself included, can identify with, especially at the beginning of their journey. When you're figuring out in those first, typically 2 or 3 years, you're trying to figure out how to make your business model sustainable and have some consistent revenue. And so we take on some things that later we go, oh yeah, I wouldn't do that now. So let's just talk revenue for a moment and then I want to dive back

08:08 - 08:13

Rochelle Moulton: into your specialty. So do you remember how long it took you to hit your first 100, 000?

08:15 - 08:43

Katie Burkhart: Probably 2 years, although I'd have to really sit back and think about that. But I think it was 2 years with the first company. My second company, the company I spent most of my personal time with at this point, the Matterlogic company, we initially started as a technology company. So we sort of went into it knowing the first couple of years would be non-revenue generating. But when we shifted away from that and wanted to go out into market in a different capacity, that took me slightly more than a year to get us to our first 100,

08:43 - 09:21

Katie Burkhart: 000, which was exciting and very cool to do. But you made a point about when we first start, we kind of go out and take on whatever knocks. Especially as a soloist that kind of, and admittedly if you're a smaller team, It doesn't actually go away, it just looks different. That fear that like if I don't say yes to this project, there won't be another 1. 1 of the things I've learned is that there are many projects that cost more than they pay. And that strategic ability to say no, takes some exercising and takes some practice

09:21 - 09:50

Katie Burkhart: to learn when to say no. But as you're looking at clients and assessments, 1 way to always look at it is when it's early, we took a lot, you know, because I wasn't sure, you know, exactly where I wanted to land. I can't say I really set out to quote unquote make a business. But once I started to figure out, these are the types of people I like to work with, here's why. These are the types of clients that can afford to work with us so that we can do a really good job, here's why. You

09:50 - 10:23

Katie Burkhart: know, we could start to develop a better profile of mutual benefit where I'm excited and ultimately my team's excited to do the work and they're in a position to actually invest enough to get the value that they're looking for. So 100% trial and error starts, but it took me a little longer than I wish it would have to start saying, no, I'm sorry. You aren't really a good fit for us. And then to be able to take the time I would have spent on that project and invest it into another area of my business, which would

10:23 - 10:32

Katie Burkhart: help me get to that right fit client versus struggling with a client who wasn't right fit. I'm sorry, that was a tangent. No, that wasn't a tangent at all. In fact,

10:32 - 11:02

Rochelle Moulton: I was really struck by something you said that many projects cost more than they pay. And that is so true. And I think for soloists, especially because we're selling our expertise, right? We're not selling a widget. And so we're Hopefully we're not selling our time. Hopefully we're selling our expertise based on value, but a lot of times when solas first start, they're selling time. And it's easy to not think of your time as a cost until it starts to get ugly. And then, you know, the light bulb goes off.

11:03 - 11:36

Katie Burkhart: Oh, it's so time is my focus, you know, and starting to get people, even though I think there are some people who recoil and are like, that's so transactional, you know, our goal isn't to make it transactional, but to recognize that you can make more money, but you cannot make more time. So really thinking hard about, you know, what's the point of doing this and really making sure that that's going to be worth the time you exchange for it is a critically important question. And sometimes the answer is like the point of, in my case, watching

11:36 - 12:02

Katie Burkhart: the Karate Kid for the 87th time is because I like it and I'm going to find it relaxing and I'm good with that, but I asked the question, rather than doing it and then finding out later that this wasn't a good use of time. I think it's James Clear or someone else makes the statement that, or it's an adage, that every yes is a no to everything else you could have done with that time. So make sure that you're good with that.

12:02 - 12:37

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, the yes is a critically important word. So 1 of the things that you talk and write about is the old assumptions about work that keep pulling us back from the brink of changing them. Will you talk some more about that? And I'm curious, especially in this soloist experience, because I found that a lot of soloists, when they're in like a big corporate environment and then they leave, they tend to strip away all of those must-dos, at least when they first start. But then some of those old habits kind of come slowly back into the business.

12:38 - 12:59

Katie Burkhart: Well, I know that you actually have full corporate experience. What was the phrase you used? Suit with the pearls? Sort of curious, before I answer your question, you know, what were the things that you were really walking away from specifically and are you finding that people are still walking away from those things or are they walking away from different things?

13:00 - 13:34

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, That's a good counter question. I was walking away from being told what to do by people who weren't good at what I did. And I kept feeling like my value system was bumping up against a corporate, and I say corporate, it was a big consulting firm, but against a system that didn't allow me enough flexibility to do what I thought was right for my clients and for the business. So it was mostly that, but yeah, I didn't really wear the pearls much after. But it was less about that because I have to be clear, I

13:34 - 14:02

Rochelle Moulton: really loved my work. I loved what I did. I really enjoyed most of the clients. I enjoyed a lot of my colleagues, but it was like time to do what I wanted to do. So it was those kinds of things. I don't think I was rebelling against a corporate structure so much as saying you are not gonna let me do what I want and I'm tired of you trying to put me in a box. So I'm gonna go build a new box and because my first thing wasn't as a soloist it was building a firm that

14:02 - 14:35

Rochelle Moulton: was run the way that I was envisioning a good, healthy firm would be run. But what I see a lot in terms of other women, and it's funny, I saw it back when I first did this and I see it now, is that a lot of women are saying, you know, I want a different kind of life. And it's probably not about whether they have to wear, you know, stockings, God forbid, or a suit, but it's about having time for the other things in their life. And a lot of times that's children or taking care of

14:35 - 14:51

Rochelle Moulton: elder family, but not always. A lot of times it's, you'd be surprised at how many people just have these other interests in their life and they're just kind of done donating or dedicating a good percentage of their life energy to somebody else's goals.

14:52 - 15:26

Katie Burkhart: Yeah, so I have so many ways to try to respond to that. I'm going to try to do this in a way that makes any sense, a little bit of sense at least, because you're hitting on a number of just really good points. And 1 of the things that I like to talk...

B2B Storytelling With Heart with Camille DePutter

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0700

It’s a conundrum: we know stories help make us better communicators, but we’ve also been told that too much personality “just isn’t appropriate” in a B2B context. Communication specialist Camille DePutter tells us exactly how to use storytelling to make an impact as a soloist.

We talk about:

Why storytelling is leaning into your thoughts, ideas, opinions, unique perspective and experiences.

The questions that will help you uncover your best stories (and the role shame may have played in keeping a challenging story untold).

Being both authentic and effective as a storyteller (hint: there is no one else exactly like you isn’t just a cheesy line).

How to not only excavate your best stories, but refine and polish them.

Why you might want to develop a story vault—and how to get started.

LINKS

Camille DePutter | Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Camille DePutter is a storytelling specialist who helps high-performing individuals communicate better.

Through her work as a communications coach, consultant, and writer/editor, Camille helps her clients express themselves effectively and authentically, so they can level-up their leadership, build their reputation, and make the impact they were born to make.

Her client portfolio includes internationally-recognized brands, Olympic Gold medalists, world champion athletes, and highly respected founders, industry disruptors, and thought leaders.

Camille hosts the Storytelling with Heart podcast, is the author of two books, including Share Your Story: A Storytelling Workbook, and publishes regularly at camilledeputter.com

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:31

Camille DePutter: It can be very easy to feel like, oh well, no, I need to speak professionally, or I need to follow this template that other people are saying, or I need to say it this way because that's what other people are saying, or they're telling me that's how I have to talk to my audience, or even I need to care so much about my audience that I forget about myself and I want you to be able to bring yourself into this whole process because a I care about you and it's more fun this way but b also

00:31 - 00:35

Camille DePutter: it's actually more effective. So it all works together.

00:40 - 00:59

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rachelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Camille de Putter who helps high-performing individuals level up their storytelling so they can make the difference they want to make. Camille, welcome.

01:00 - 01:07

Camille DePutter: Hello Rochelle, thank you so much for being here. Or I guess that was my own podcast. See what

01:07 - 01:12

Rochelle Moulton: happens when we podcast is like, we forget which side of the mic we're on. It's so funny.

01:12 - 01:19

Camille DePutter: This is my podcaster positioning just autopilot. Sorry about that.

01:20 - 01:54

Rochelle Moulton: I love it. No worries. So when I first met you Camille, I was really taken by the way that you told your story on the about page of your website. It felt so authentic and real. And then my personal experience with you mirrored that perfectly. So I'm so excited to have you talk more about how to do that for soloists wanting to make an impact. But first, I'd just like to talk to you a little bit about how you got here doing what you do. So what made you decide to start your business?

01:55 - 02:36

Camille DePutter: So I'm going to kind of tell you 2 stories here as a way to answer that. And I'd say in a way it was sort of a convergence of similar themes. The first reason and more kind of pressing reason of why I decided to go out on my own, I have worked in communications in various aspects of the communications industry. So I did actually freelance a little bit when I was first starting my career. I've worked within agencies, marketing agencies, public relations. I've worked in-house in nonprofit. Public relations, I worked in house, in nonprofit. But eventually

02:36 - 03:21

Camille DePutter: I became just dissatisfied working for other people, in part because I felt like I was constantly trying or being sort of told to fit in a box, like to do, just do your job. And I would have other ideas or, you know, enthusiasm or passion for how we could do things better or more or differently. And I would look at the organization as a whole and feel strongly about how we could change it or make a bigger impact or do things better or what have you. And eventually I got to a place where I had a

03:21 - 03:23

Camille DePutter: bad boss. Many people

03:23 - 03:25

Rochelle Moulton: I think are out there. We can relate.

03:26 - 03:55

Camille DePutter: Yeah. We, you know, often that can be the kind of tipping point, right? And it certainly was for me where I'm like, I got to get out of here. I have to leave. And in fact, a friend of mine who I sat down with at 1 point and I was just expressing to her the kind of work that I wanted to have and the kind of environment I wanted to work in. And she said, you know, I don't know that you're going to just find that if you really want to make that kind of difference and

03:55 - 04:30

Camille DePutter: live that kind of life and do that kind of work, you might have to make it up yourself. And that really resonated with me. And I just thought, yeah, that's, that's right. That's what I'm gonna do. And so I quit that job and I started my own business, not with a ton of clarity, not knowing exactly what I was going to do. But as I looked at my resume and I looked at my past experiences and I thought back to myself as a kid and what I've always loved to do. I've always been writing and self

04:30 - 05:10

Camille DePutter: publishing and making things and I thought, oh, I'm a storyteller. That's what I've been doing my whole life and my whole career. And so I saw already this kind of sort of narrative thread of my life and my life's work. And I thought, okay, I don't know exactly what this is going to look like or how I'm going to do it, but there's something around this and I'm going to go and explore it. So that was the real sort of jumping off point. But there's also another kind of thing that was going on here in my

05:10 - 05:54

Camille DePutter: life at the same time. And that is the story that I told and that you kind of alluded to that's on my website that was about growing up with a heart condition and that in many ways in my life including with a physical difference that I was born with I have kept a lot to myself. I was not always really open and expressive about who I was and what I was feeling and in particular for years growing up until well into adulthood. I had kept the secret really about first having a heart condition and then my

05:54 - 06:23

Camille DePutter: experience having a pacemaker. And so I around the same time got on stage and told this story and claimed it and owned it for myself. And so I think that even more than really made me want to commit to sharing my own story, being myself, expressing myself, and helping others do the same.

06:24 - 06:46

Rochelle Moulton: I have to say, Camille, I know they're still coming back. I got goosebumps hearing you tell that story because it was a secret for you. And uncovering the secret changes dynamics, it changes the energy around it. It's the freedom to feel like, yeah, this is me, accept me as I am.

06:47 - 07:29

Camille DePutter: Yeah. And that's why I called my business Storytelling with Heart because that was you know it's sort of that dual message. It's like yes I want to bring my passion into what I do and help people express themselves effectively but also authentically. But it was also me saying, I'm not going to hide. My heart, my history, who I am is part of all of this. I'm going to bring that into my work and commit to really doing this kind of stuff truly from the heart, literally and metaphorically.

07:30 - 08:06

Rochelle Moulton: LB. Literally, Yeah. It's interesting because the last interview I did, we talked about money shame. And I feel like for a lot of us, there's a part of there may be, I don't want to assume there may be a part of our stories that somehow we've applied shame to and for no good reason. Right? Right. And so I'm really struck by that lifting of potential shame and I don't want to put words in your mouth or anybody else's But I think a lot of us have secrets like that. And I'm not talking about deep dark secrets.

08:06 - 08:16

Rochelle Moulton: I'm talking about things we just don't talk about about our experiences in a business environment. So, yeah, I really want to dig into this some more.

08:17 - 08:56

Camille DePutter: Yeah, I'm happy to for sure. I mean, I know in my case, absolutely, this was a story that involved shame. It involved something that really could be seen quite neutrally, you know, as like something about myself. But for various reasons, it doesn't really matter what the reason is, you know, I grew up feeling a sense of shame about it. And I had processed a lot of that by the time that I got on stage. It was still difficult to talk about. It's really not difficult to talk about now, although I suppose in any kind of personal

08:56 - 09:35

Camille DePutter: story, if you want to really get into it, you know, it can be. But I had done a lot of the sort of processing around that shame. So it wasn't super raw, fresh, traumatic, but it was something that was still, it was a place where I was still holding back, the place where I gave the speech was at a motivational speaking kind of event, maybe not quite motivational, but a place for people to come and tell personal stories and some of them, you know, maybe with a bit more of an inspiring bent and the person running

09:35 - 10:19

Camille DePutter: the Event I had known for years. He was my mentor a former employer we were quite close and he invited me to come and talk about something and I said, oh, I think I want to talk about growing up with a heart condition. And he's like, what? What? There were people in my life close to me who had no idea about this. And I think it's important when we talk about bringing personal stories into the professional, that these stories don't have to be, like you said, the biggest, you know, deep, dark, really heavy stuff. And nor

10:19 - 11:01

Camille DePutter: does it need to be you know really dramatic or traumatic but often these these things that have happened to you that have been challenging to you or that have shaped you or yes you may feel some discomfort or even a little bit of shame or a fear around are quite likely the things that are going to connect us that somebody else is going to want to hear about because they are actually going to relate to it and there's going to be some relief on their part because they see another human being grappling with the same kinds

11:01 - 11:04

Camille DePutter: of things that we all grapple with.

11:05 - 11:43

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, yes. And I think the other piece of that is that those big chunks of our story have helped make us who we are and formed our superpowers. And we don't always understand where our superpowers come from. Sometimes we're just born with them. But other times, the situations in our lives, the stories in our lives are what help to form them. And that's powerful for other people to understand. So it's it's witnessing, yes, but it's also, oh that makes sense. I see why they're so good at X.

11:44 - 12:15

Camille DePutter: Yeah, absolutely. I mean 1 of the 1 of the things that I often do are kinds of questions or prompts that I will ask clients is like, well, how did you get here? How did you learn that? That thing that you know now or that you care so much about or that you're so good at? Okay, how did you get there? And let's go back and retrace some of the steps. And sure, on the surface you might say, oh well, you know, I have experience in this, or you know, I have education in this. But if

12:15 - 13:04

Camille DePutter: we really go deeper, there's usually a moment or multiple moments, experiences that shaped that and allowed you to develop that. And those can be large or small. You know, I can talk about for myself as a communicator, as a storyteller, I can share the story of, you know, how sharing a personal story transformed my life and set the tone for my business. But I could also tell you about being a kid and reading Archie comics and writing in to the editor to correct their grammar or complain about the sexism in the Archie comic. And it's like,

13:04 - 13:27

Camille DePutter: that tells you also something about the fact that I have been, that I have cared about what we say and how we say things my entire life. And so we can kind of go, if we can go back and retrace our steps, then we can likely find lots of stories along the way that will help us show, not just tell who we are and what we're all about.

13:28 - 14:02

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. 1 of the things you said when you first started describing how you got into your business was that you saw the narrative thread. And I think that's the thing that sometimes is a sticking point for us because it's, you know, we usually can only understand it looking backwards and we have to really think about it sometimes to see that thread. So I think that's, that's kind of the first challenge, but I'm really impressed that you did it so early in your business journey. Let me just ask you 1 more question about the business and then

14:02 - 14:21

Rochelle Moulton: let's go all in on storytelling. So do you remember how long it took you to hit your first hundred thousand in revenue? It seems like that tends to be the demarcation line where we start to feel like, yes, have a business, it's going to work, I don't need to worry about this, I just need to keep growing and adjusting.

14:22 - 15:06

Camille DePutter: Yeah, I think so I started my business halfway through the year. And if I remember correctly, I think I hit it. So the first half of the year, I made some money. And then if we start that next year, January to December, I'm pretty sure I hit it that year. That's awesome. That's awesome. I have to be honest, I have not struggled in the way that freelancers, especially people in writing and communications, I feel like there's sort of this idea that if you're a writer, then you're sort of squeaking by and there's kind of this idea

15:06 - 15:34

Camille DePutter: of, you know, it being kind of nickel and dime type work. And when I talk to people, especially people who are maybe younger and just thinking about going off on their own. I recognize that we're not all going to have the same experience, but I kind of want people to know, well, this is possible. And you don't have to just take these little teeny little writing jobs and be barely kind of squeaking high.

15:35 - 15:42

Rochelle Moulton: The dollar a word projects. Right. So did you ever have employees or contractors or have you always been a

15:43 - 16:24

Camille DePutter: solo? I've certainly used contractors and I do have like I have a virtual assistant for example and I've you know I've worked the odd time very rarely with another writer so on but I right out of the gate I knew I wanted to operate solo do my own thing and that I wasn't trying to be an entrepreneur and create a business that I could then sell or grow to have employees. And there's kind of been some, I have felt at different points, maybe sort of some pressure. Like there's not as many resources or even, I don't

16:24 - 16:43

Camille DePutter: know, celebration out there of this kind of company of 1. Not that freelancer stuck in, you know, hustle mode, barely getting by, but also not the, you know, person who's trying to grow a business and add employees and, you know, become an agency or something.

16:44 - 17:19

Rochelle Moulton: There's a lot of, I think of it as societal pressure, at least in the US. I don't know if you find the same in Canada, but there is this idea that, you know, it's not a real business until you have employees or until you have like a physical location. And it's so complex. And there's all sorts of reasons why someone might want to have employees. But there is such a wonderfully fulfilling life as a soloist when you're focused on creating transformations for people that you really care about and making the impact that you want in the

17:19 - 17:23

Rochelle Moulton: world. So yeah, this is about celebrating the soloist way.

17:23 - 17:40

Camille DePutter: Yeah, I love it so much. We need more of that. And yeah, like I said, wanting people to know that it's possible. I mean, it feels like this little, you know, like best-kept secret sometimes. Like, how am I getting away with this?

17:40 - 18:13

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. It's like almost guilt because I think so many of us have been taught you have to work really, really hard. And if...

Top Financial Moves When You Hit 3 Revenue Milestones with Erica Goode, CPA

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Have you noticed how no one talks about what to do financially when your business hits certain milestones—and then you’re left wondering what financial moves make the most sense? CPA Erica Goode is out to change that.

We discuss:

Building a solid financial base for your brand-new expertise business (and why it’s OK to start with a spreadsheet).

How shame around money can keep you from getting the help you need—and why you want to reach out anyway.

The value of consistency—in paying yourself a salary, staying current with the IRS and starting to direct funds to the causes you care about.

When to think about saving for short and long-term goals, including tax-advantaged retirement.

Being aware of your money mindset and where you live on the SPEND to SAVE continuum.

LINKS

Erica Goode | Guide For Coaches + Consultants | LinkedIn | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Erica Goode, CPA is the host of the Coaches, Consultants, and Money podcast where she helps business owners get their money right. She also runs a virtual accounting firm supporting coaches and consultants with bookkeeping, tax planning, and CFO services. She’s a former Director of Finance at Walgreens and started her career as an auditor at KPMG. Erica also loves avocados and a heavy dose of sarcasm. She lives with her two kids and fellow-CPA husband in the mountains of Idaho.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:28

Erica Goode: There's a lot of professionals who will tell you how much you need to save, but nobody's holding your feet to the fire per se and nobody's keeping you accountable. So like, it sounds all well and good that, yeah, I should put away $20, 000 a year or whatever that may be. But having somebody come alongside you and say, okay, in July, we're doing 10 and in December, we're doing 10. It's in your cashflow forecast, I think makes the hugest difference in the world.

00:32 - 00:57

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with my pal, Erica Goode. And she is a CPA who runs a virtual accounting firm for coaches and consultants, and she hosts the Coaches, Consultants and Money podcast where she helps business owners get their money right. Erica, welcome. Thanks so much for having

00:57 - 01:01

Erica Goode: me, Michelle. This is so great.

01:01 - 01:15

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I am so looking forward to this discussion for like a multitude of reasons. But 1 of them is because I feel like no 1 ever talks about what to do financially when your business hits different milestones, you know, until it's usually too late.

01:16 - 01:24

Erica Goode: Yeah, yeah, I think that's a huge question I get is, or just some confusion out there of like, what should I be doing first? What should I be doing next?

01:24 - 01:41

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, what do you do when? And so what we're going to talk about today is what to do before you have any revenue. And then when you hit your first 150, 000 and then 300, 000. And Erica, I like how you refer to those as revenue toll gates. You guys are really

01:41 - 01:47

Erica Goode: helpful. Yeah. Yeah, we're all on a journey, and we hit different points around the path.

01:47 - 02:11

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Well, in addition to that, I'd really love for our listeners to hear how you've gotten to this place. Because whenever we talk, whenever I watch you on Instagram or LinkedIn, by the way, follow her. It's hysterical and helpful at the same time. You exude so much happiness for your life and passion for your work. Let's start with what made you decide to start your own business.

02:12 - 02:43

Erica Goode: Oh, how I got to where I am. I recently said this and it was 1 of those things where people like said it out loud and I heard myself and I was like ooh isn't that the truth I said it's taking me a lot of years and a lot of tears I am very happy nothing fake on social media for me when you see that I appear happy, I'm very happy. I have a long, long, long career corporate career, like I think a lot of the listeners might hear as well. But I came out of college

02:43 - 03:26

Erica Goode: in a traditional CPA kind of way. I went to Big 4 Public Accounting, spent some time there and what I call Accounting Boot Camp, I did audit there and if anybody's familiar with Big 4 Public Accounting, it is a boot camp for sure, but it teaches you well. And after that, I went to Fortune 50 retailer did corporate finance there, and spent years learning, SPNA, financial planning and analysis and budgeting, and just a whole bunch of the corporate race, if you will. And they came a time where it was just, just time to go home. I

03:26 - 04:00

Erica Goode: had had some burnout, I had had some come to Jesus moments. And it was just when I left that role it was you know it was a big big time in my career and at that time that I left I was in a good place actually but I had had enough experience in the corporate life to know that this is not what I should be chasing right now. What I really wanted to chase was our then 5 year olds and 1 year old at home. And I just wanted to be very present at home in that

04:00 - 04:20

Erica Goode: season of life. And so with lots of spreadsheets, and talks with my husband, it was time for me to come home. And he was fully supportive of that. I came home for a few years. And I say I was quote, just mom. Because anybody who is a parent knows that just being mom is still a lot of work.

04:21 - 04:22

Rochelle Moulton: Full-time plus.

04:23 - 04:57

Erica Goode: Yes, but I do say that it was easier than juggling both at the same time, a big corporate career and being mom. And so I was really just happy to be home and be present for for our littles and make PBJs and do bus stop pickup. And so I did that for a couple years and really just missed I missed the work. I never left my corporate gig because I didn't like what I was doing. I have been budgeting and forecasting since I was 8 years old. And I did not leave that job because I didn't

04:57 - 05:07

Erica Goode: like the work. And so I got to a point where I really just missed the accounting, missed the finance aspect of my old career. And so I, you know, accidentally started my own accounting firm, as we do.

05:08 - 05:12

Rochelle Moulton: Now, how did you wind up in Idaho? Because I know you were in Chicago.

05:13 - 05:47

Erica Goode: Yes, I'm lifelong Chicago suburbs, went to college in Illinois. And my husband, who also is a CPA, who also started at Big 4 Public Accounting at the same firm, which is how we met. But he was in Idaho, and I was in Chicago, and we just happened to meet at a conference in Florida. And the rest is history. We got married within a couple of years. And so I always say he did my place for 10 years and we're doing his place for however long we left here now in Idaho.

05:48 - 06:10

Rochelle Moulton: I love that story. You know, all the times we've talked, I never knew when you moved to Idaho and the story behind that. So that's awesome. Yeah. So let's talk revenue for just a minute. Like how long did it take you to hit your first hundred thousand? Like if you were doing it accidentally, like were you not really focused on the revenue but on the work? I mean how did you approach that?

06:10 - 06:45

Erica Goode: Yeah, it really did happen on accident. I accidentally picked up my first client because it was a coach of my daughters who was then said 6 or 7 years old. And, and I really wasn't worried about making money, we had obviously planned financially for me to not have an income. And so it wasn't a financial need for me to go start a business. It was really just a missed passion. And so I picked up my first client and I honestly back then I had never even looked at QuickBooks. Like I came from a huge corporate background.

06:45 - 07:01

Erica Goode: I had never seen QuickBooks. I had to learn software. Yeah, I was I was an SAP. I was in BI tool like these big fortune 50 tools. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, I have to learn how to use a bookkeeping program.

07:01 - 07:02

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

07:03 - 07:43

Erica Goode: And so I did. And so it was really just more of a quiet building of a business. And I didn't do any marketing for probably 3 or 4 years. And that was very intentional because because I had experienced burnout and in my life before that really had to work I was very very diligent and I held my boundaries very strong that I wasn't going to build a business that I had to work outside of when my kids needed me. And so I always said, my business is going to grow as fast as my kids grow. And

07:43 - 08:06

Erica Goode: we say they grow fast, but when you're trying to build a business, and if that's your cadence, they also grow very slow. And so my business grew very slow intentionally and happily, because I only worked when they were not in the house when they were in preschool when they were in kindergarten. And so every year they grew an age and a grade, I got to work a little more.

08:07 - 08:13

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So more of a stair step, kind of like the kids are growing stair steps. So is your your business and your revenue.

08:14 - 08:24

Erica Goode: Yeah. And so I probably didn't hit my chance your question. I probably didn't hit my first 100, 000 until 3 or 4 years in the very intentionally because it didn't tell anybody I had a business. I would not tell anybody.

08:25 - 08:39

Rochelle Moulton: But the other thing is, is you're earning 6 figures and you're not working full time. And when I say full time, I don't mean 40 hours either. I mean, you know, full time in a job job now, nobody works 40 hours. It's always significantly more.

08:39 - 09:01

Erica Goode: So right. Right. Yeah. And even to this day, I don't I don't work 40 hours. And so I still hold true to I only work with my kids are at school and I also and actually where we live, we only do 4 day work weeks. Like the town works on 4 days in the school operates on 4 days. And so I have to operate on 4 days as well.

09:02 - 09:04

Rochelle Moulton: Wow, that's, oh that's a whole other conversation.

09:04 - 09:07

Erica Goode: But I know, yeah it is, fascinating.

09:07 - 09:15

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it is awesome when you can work your life around that. It probably wouldn't be if you had trouble with that fifth day, but that's a whole other topic.

09:15 - 09:16

Erica Goode: Right.

09:16 - 09:42

Rochelle Moulton: Okay, so thank you Erica for sharing that. Yeah. So let's, let's get down to the kind of these financial moves that we can make. I hate using the word should, but the things we really want to be smart about. So if a listener is just getting started with their expertise business, just starts having revenue come in, what should she be thinking about?

09:43 - 10:01

Erica Goode: Yeah, so I think of kind of the toll gates and the path that we should be on as a pyramid that looks like a hierarchy, you know, way back when we would have called it a food pyramid and put all the carbs at the bottom because we needed to eat all the carbs, right? That's how the 80s were. I don't remember. I don't know if you remember that.

10:01 - 10:05

Rochelle Moulton: Still works that way for me. I'm all about the carbs.

10:05 - 10:43

Erica Goode: Yeah, I'm going to live in that decade because those are tasty. So what I think of the financial hierarchy of what business owners need, it's really layering that first financial foundation at the bottom. And that being setting up your LLC, getting your business insurance, getting your business bank account, setting up your bookkeeping procedures or process, how whatever you want that to be and really laying that that foundation so that everything you build your business on top of kind of has that solid financial and legal foundation so that everything is safe and solid on top of it.

10:43 - 10:58

Erica Goode: It's really hard to go back And you almost have to redo everything. If you don't do the LLC, the EIN, all of that seemingly unfun stuff at the beginning, you're going to wind up having to unwind it and rewind it later down the road.

10:58 - 11:10

Rochelle Moulton: So is the current thinking, like if you're starting your business right now that you want to start with an LLC, like right out of the gate versus, you know, like just doing business hours with a separate account.

11:11 - 11:44

Erica Goode: I mean, I think it's easier down the road. I think an LLC always protects you legally. And the reason we set up an LLC is because an LLC kind of acts and I'm not getting legal advice here for the record. LLC kind of is a box and everything you put in that box is your business. All of the risk lives in that box. And so should somebody for example, should somebody, I'll use me as an example, should somebody sue me for bad financial advice, they're suing my LLC, not Erica Goodie. And so they can't touch my

11:44 - 11:49

Erica Goode: house or my cards or my personal assets, they can only touch the assets of that LLC.

11:50 - 12:04

Rochelle Moulton: Perfectly said. It's like I would be petrified to start a business without putting some kind of a ring around it. A ring of protection is kind of how I think about it. Okay, so the LLC you mentioned, insurance?

12:05 - 12:23

Erica Goode: Insurance, so if LLCs protect your personal assets, your business insurance protects your business assets. So the 2 of those are kind of like your, I don't know, powerhouse twins that kind of protect you on both sides of your of your now life. You have a personal life and a business life and you want both of those to be protected.

12:24 - 12:39

Rochelle Moulton: And so when people are just starting out, like are you typically recommending that they have like long term disability insurance, some kind of, you know, business interruption, loss, liability insurance, Like what do you usually recommend right at the beginning?

12:40 - 13:14

Erica Goode: Yeah, I mean, again, I'm not an insurance salesman by any means, but I think just having a general liability professional insurance coverage just to kind of house what you're doing. Some professions have specific coverage like CPAs need E&O insurance and if you're a coach who's also a therapist you might need malpractice insurance And so there's different professions that might need additional items specifically, but in general, I would say a good professional general liability policy is going to cover you at the beginning.

13:15 - 13:42

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I think the other thing like we just have to tackle right now is the bookkeeping side because it just feels like so many people start the business and it's not till tax time in their first year that they start to go, oh, what do I do? And God forbid if it's a shoebox full of receipts, right? What do I do now? So how do you, how should people start with the bookkeeping process at the very beginning stages of their business?

13:42 - 14:15

Erica Goode: Yeah, I'm probably going to be the only CPA who says this. It's okay to start with a spreadsheet. I mean, we all start somewhere, and I think especially in an expertise business where you don't have heavy cost of sales and you don't have heavy expenses, I think a spreadsheet, if that's what you're comfortable with, is perfectly fine to track where your revenue is coming in, what expenses are going out. If you've gone ahead and gotten a business bank account that makes it super extra easy because everything in and out of your business is just filtering through

14:15 - 14:16

Erica Goode: 1 bank account.

14:16 - 14:47

Rochelle Moulton: I like the idea of starting with a spreadsheet. When I started a little side business a while ago, that's what I started with, was just a spreadsheet because it was an easy way between that and the bank account. I could figure out what was there. But Once you start to get more revenue, what I like personally is I love watching, whether it's QuickBooks or FreshBooks or whatever platform somebody uses, I love watching all those little expenses go into the right categories and being able to just click on a report whenever I want.

14:48 - 15:04

Erica Goode: Yes, I mean, I love I love a good accounting software. That's me. And that's why I say it's okay to start with a spreadsheet. I get a lot of clients who come to me embarrassed that they have a spreadsheet like, oh, I just have a spreadsheet. I'm like, no, no, no, you have a spreadsheet. That's fantastic.

15:05 - 15:07

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, it's probably more than a lot of people start with. Yes.

15:07 - 15:35

Erica Goode: I find it especially women will come to me with a little bit of shame, a little bit of their shoulders up, and a little embarrassed that they have a spreadsheet, which is ironically usually far better than what their male counterparts are coming to me with. And so it's so interesting that like, as women, we like, expect

A New Way To Think About SEO For Soloists with Sarah Moon

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0700

If you’re like most of us in the soloist expertise space, you probably think of SEO—if you bother with it at all—as picking the right keywords so that maybe you’ll get discovered in a google search. But marketing consultant Sarah Moon has a different take.

We explore:

Why SEO is not the mysterious, robotic box we’ve heard about—and a new way we can think about it.

How to discover—and capitalize on—the big questions your audience is asking when they search.

When SEO can help you discover a new audience you didn’t even know existed.

The three key elements of game-changing SEO for knowledge businesses.

Aligning your authority not only with your vision and point of view, but with what your ideal clients and buyers are searching for.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Sarah Moon is a Portland, Oregon-based marketing and business strategist on a mission to rethink modern marketing so it works for us—instead of making us miserable. She's known for her unique knowledge of SEO and how solo consultants and "personal brands" can leverage this underutilized approach to get found and make an impact. She founded Sarah Moon & Co by mistake in 2008 after a layoff from a cushy public sector public relations job and never looked back.

Outside of work, Sarah is a servant to two Australian Shepherds and is an avid cyclist, bread baker, standup paddleboarder, and local food nerd.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:29

Sarah Moon: Nothing makes me more excited when I see someone sort of take something that I have said like, hey, this we can do this better. And they play off of what I've said and kind of make it their own. It's like that. That's that impact that just, yes, obviously I want to make a good living. I want to have a life that's enjoyable and comfortable. I want to be able to buy my dogs a fancy dog food. And yet I want other people to kind of take ideas and make them their own and continue that impact. And

00:29 - 00:31

Sarah Moon: for me, that's part of how wealth is defined.

00:37 - 01:02

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Sarah Moon, who I think of as the movement marketing champion for people like us who are leading revolutions. And she is on a mission to rethink modern marketing so it works for us instead of making us miserable. Sarah, welcome.

01:03 - 01:26

Sarah Moon: Thank you. That made me sound really fancy. You are. You're fancy. You're fancy. I am on a mission though. That is something I feel so strongly about because I hear so many people say, Oh, I hate marketing. I hate marketing. I'm like, I don't hate marketing. I love talking about the stuff I care about. And then when I say that to people, they're like, wait, that's marketing. I'm like, uh-huh. It is.

01:27 - 02:01

Rochelle Moulton: Exactly. The new definition. So 1 of the reasons that I asked you to join me is that is really what you have to say about SEO for Soluis because I've you know beyond thinking about choosing smart keywords I've always thought of SEO as a thing that product-based businesses use or like truly local service businesses like you know say a plumber but as you know in the last couple of months I've been reading what you have to say on this and you've been changing my mind, which I love. Yes. So I'm excited to dive in and see

02:01 - 02:17

Rochelle Moulton: if we can't open some eyes to SEO. But first, just as kind of an introduction, I believe our listeners want to hear a little bit about how you got here doing what you do now. So maybe we could just start with like, what made you decide to start your business?

02:18 - 02:54

Sarah Moon: Well, I'd never decided to start a business. And I don't know if you've heard this kind of story before. I bet you have. I was 1 of the many, many, many victims of the 2008 financial crisis. I had a great career in public sector communications. So I had fancy job titles like communications director, public information officer, those kinds of things, working in the public sector, helping the communities that I worked in understand various issues that impacted them by using media. It was the beginning of social media doing a little bit of that. I wrote my city's

02:54 - 03:06

Sarah Moon: first social media policy. So doing a lot of that. And then in 2008, basically the public sector was hit really hard and I, you know, everyone looks around, they're like, we got to get rid of the marketing people. What do they do?

03:08 - 03:09

Rochelle Moulton: Always the first to go, right?

03:10 - 03:47

Sarah Moon: And I was just, you know, I'd been lucky enough to kind of be have like very fast acceleration of my career. And that was very humbling to go from kind of like this sort of young star to like no job. It sucked. I mean, I wish I could be like, it was such a great learning experience. No, it sucked. But what I discovered was because I'd always been experimenting with new ways of helping people get the information they needed, whether it be blogs or it was very early in using Twitter. We played with Twitter for our

03:47 - 04:27

Sarah Moon: bureau, things like that. And I was like, well, this is, I have some interesting knowledge. And I started applying for jobs and it was brutal out there because it was the economic collapse, really. And so I actually was able to pitch my previous employer on a project and did a project for them. And so I kind of did that like, I guess I'm a freelancer now. And we've always thinking like, well, when the right thing came along, I would jump back in to what I was doing. And that never happened. And so my business, it's interesting

04:27 - 04:57

Sarah Moon: because when I started out, I was doing a lot of basically various marketing strategy consulting. And as that progressed, I started doing a lot more work more very much on the digital side and more execution, which I'm gonna be really honest, execution is not my top strength. I'm a strategist at heart. And actually slowly kind of accidentally built up almost an agency model. I had a handful of employees. I realize I bet you understand this story.

04:57 - 05:02

Rochelle Moulton: I totally do. I totally see that. So you had actual employees, not contractors.

05:03 - 05:04

Sarah Moon: You had employees.

05:04 - 05:05

Rochelle Moulton: Yes, actual employees.

05:05 - 05:05

Sarah Moon: And are you

05:05 - 05:06

Rochelle Moulton: saying past tense had?

05:07 - 05:39

Sarah Moon: Yes. Yes. Okay. I technically have 2 employees, but 1 of them is me and the other 1 is my husband. So now. So I don't think we count. And sort of had this agency model that was, I think, quite successful, but it did kind of send me professionally down a direction that was less that me doing that consulting stuff, which I'm really good at, the consulting and the strategy and the really creative problem solving into a lot more of this rolling out work. And I was like, I need to get back to what I really am

05:39 - 05:56

Sarah Moon: awesome at and started emphasizing the Sarah time really being focused on that strategy. And over the last couple of years, that side of the business, I was like, wait, this is what people want. People were literally telling me, Hey, this is what we want from you. Yes. That's the

05:56 - 06:07

Rochelle Moulton: G zone, right? Because we think you have to do certain things to grow your business. But then your people start saying, no, no, no, no, we don't want that from you. We want this thing.

06:08 - 06:41

Sarah Moon: That is such a gift. It absolutely is. And I love that I have been so fortunate to work with really wonderfully aligned humans, many of whom have worked with me for many, many years. So they do tell me these things and they stay in touch and are like, oh, I'm so excited about what you're doing. I can't wait to get in on this and that kind of thing. So, you know, as that agency model is people moved on, I didn't replace them and brought in, you know, contractors to service some of the clients we had like

06:41 - 07:17

Sarah Moon: on a smaller scale. And so now it's kind of scaled back down, which I think in sort of the business world, sometimes people think of in a negative way, which bothers me a lot. But I know this is a safe place to talk about, because what I'm doing now is really actually very much back to my roots 15 years ago, which is really having the space and time to help clients develop really creative strategies that actually work for them and leverage their strengths. I have a lot to say about that. And 1 of the things though,

07:17 - 07:51

Sarah Moon: in that time of that more agency life of this business was I really started figuring out some great ways for my clients to expand their visibility and for me to expand my visibility using the search engine and or using the data that the search engine was telling us. And that kind of got to be something I was really known for. So it kind of all coalesced a couple of years ago in this methodology that I use now. And that's how we got that. They said that pretty quickly, actually. Go me. Yeah.

07:51 - 08:09

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, like 15 years in a nanosecond. So just 1 more question before we dive into the SEO. So I'm asking everybody this because it's so fascinating, the diversity of answers. So do you remember how long it took you to hit your first 100, 000? And if that was like before you had employees or after?

08:09 - 08:46

Sarah Moon: Yes, it was before. It was just me. And I was trying to remember this the other day because someone asked me and I changed bookkeeping systems. So I'm like, I can't look that up. I'm going to have to guess. In my mind, it was probably pretty far along. Like, because I also missed I skipped the step, the part of the story where I had a part-time job for 3 years, doing writing. And so that was, I don't, that time was weird. So I think it was at the year after I left that part-time job. So 4

08:46 - 08:47

Sarah Moon: or 5 years.

08:47 - 08:47

Rochelle Moulton: So I'm

08:47 - 09:00

Sarah Moon: going to put it up. Yeah. So it was the year, it was that year that leaving that kind of safety net, which was really scary was actually I had 2 part-time jobs because I forgot about how the first 7 years I had a part-time college teaching job as well.

09:03 - 09:28

Rochelle Moulton: Well, you know, everything after 2007, 2008, I mean, it was just, yeah, there was a weird time. Yeah, we all did some weird things then. I hear you. I totally hear you. Okay, well, let's get down to SEO for soloists because I think we might change a few minds here, maybe blow a few minds here. Do you want to start with this basic description of SEO just so that we're all on the same page?

09:28 - 09:51

Sarah Moon: So when you hear people talk about SEO, what they generally mean is they want to get found in Google. And that's the most possible basic way of saying it. Now when I ask people for more information beyond that, they will say something like, Well, what I want is if someone Googles business coach, I wanna come up. And I'll say like,

09:51 - 09:53

Rochelle Moulton: okay. That's a tough 1.

09:53 - 10:23

Sarah Moon: Yeah. Oh, you know what my answer is. That's a tough 1. And also I would argue they don't actually wanna come up when someone is Googling business coach, because the person who is the intention, this is where the fun part of this is, the person who is just at those, like, I want a business coach stage, they actually don't have a lot of clarity on what they want to get out of that experience. So my argument is, actually, that's kind of not where you want to put your efforts anyway in the search engine because you want

10:23 - 10:53

Sarah Moon: to be reaching someone who knows the results they want to get. They know what the outcomes they want to get. And so when I talk about SEO, I talk about it very much deep into understanding your audience and their intention and what they need and all that kind of stuff. But at its core, what it is, is if someone is doing a search of some sort, whether it's in Google or YouTube, because that's a whole part of the search engine as well, or even image searches, that's the results that come up. I do want to say

10:53 - 11:12

Sarah Moon: that about 90% of online experiences start in a search engine. The reality is that most of our audiences, when they have a question, they're going to Google first. So that's something to keep in mind too. I'm like, that's the reality we live in. We may as well figure out how to make it work for us.

11:13 - 11:38

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. You know, when we were emailing back and forth, you made this comment that search engines aren't just for discovery. We can use search data to help us better understand our audiences and their intention and then develop messages that take flight through that work. I call this SEO-fueled movement marketing. So talk some more about that, would you?

11:40 - 12:11

Sarah Moon: Yeah, so this is such an interesting thing because often when I work one-on-one with clients, What I'll do is I have a whole bunch of software subscriptions that make understanding what's going on in the search engine easier. And I will often pull 1 of those up and I'll plug in just some basic words that I'll ask a client. So what are some of the big questions people ask you when you first talk about your subject matter. So not things like how much does this cost, but more around subject matter expertise. And let's plug them in and

12:11 - 12:21

Sarah Moon: see what people are asking this Google, because sometimes when people are asking Google and what people are asking us are 2 really different things because we're embarrassed to ask the professional sort of our basic questions.

12:23 - 12:24

Rochelle Moulton: That's juicy. Right?

12:24 - 13:03

Sarah Moon: And it's true. It's absolutely true. Like when I was hiring an intellectual property attorney to help me with some trademark stuff. Do you know how much Googling I did so I didn't look like a ding-dong when I was talking to her? So what's interesting is it's almost like a chance to eavesdrop on what people are asking the search engine. And so for example, I was talking to a client yesterday and we were looking, she's a fellow marketer, and we were looking up information around marketing is actually a very interesting keyword in general to start digging into,

13:03 - 13:39

Sarah Moon: we're like, let's see if what you think your people know and what the data is telling us are aligned. Well, it turns out that her folks are at actually a much more, they need a lot more foundational information than she thought they did. So a lot of them don't have, they think that marketing is posting on Facebook. Like that's, they're like marketing. Yeah, I do my posts and that's not marketing. So they don't even the idea of having a strategy, they think that's actually just action steps. So that's what that keyword data told us is basically

13:39 - 14:02

Sarah Moon: like, oh, a strategy is a checklist. So she was speaking at this level that was assuming sophistication and knowledge that her people didn't have. And that doesn't mean that it's time for her to dumb down her message. It's actually time for her to add more context around her messaging so that people feel that she is someone who can actually help them understand and make progress towards their goals.

14:03 - 14:21

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking about that. I mean, what an interesting use of SEO. I mean, it's sort of like, when I say inbound, I don't mean like inbound marketing, but it's like you're taking what's coming in versus pushing stuff out. It's, you're actually using it to decide what to do.

14:21 - 14:55

Sarah Moon: Love that. Exactly. And yeah, I have a lot of clients who are web designers because that was a service that we used to offer. And they saw that I had a successful web design product that did really well and was very successful. So I actually have a lot of clients that I help with marketing strategies for their web design business. That is a fascinating 1 to start looking at the keywords. My clients will think that their potential clients have a lot of understanding of what they need in a website, what content goes on the website. Yeah,

14:55 - 15:27

Sarah Moon: I know. What platforms to use. And then when you look at the data, it's like someone's like, you see all these searches like do I need a website redesign or a website refresh? And I was again, having a conversation this week where this is what we pulled up and my client was like, oh, I never thought to explain which 1 of those is, and this is a person who offers both of those options and never thought to explain those 2 because it seemed like someone would already know which they need, but they...

Downsizing A 7-Person Agency To Go Solo with Laurel Scherer

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Over nine years, Laurel Scherer built her digital marketing agency to a highly engaged and talented team of seven employees. In 2023, she decided to go solo—she shares her experiences with shedding employees for the freedom and flexibility of a solo business.

We dive into:

The day-to-day realities of running a firm with employees.

How having employees impacted revenue and profit growth plus the owner’s personal bottom line.

The emotional, cognitive and time commitment of being responsible for employees, their career growth and the underlying business.

The pleasant surprises from shifting daily responsibilities for an agency of employees to a solo model.

LINKS

Laurel Scherer | Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Laurel started her professional life as an Air Force public affairs officer, working in internal communications and media relations, then managing the consolidation of several hundred base websites into a single news and information site for the AF. Ultimately, she decided to depart from her original career path, and moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she began a far less predictable endeavor, starting a web development business.

Over the next several years, she grew her small operation into a 7-person digital marketing agency. Then, in 2022, she shifted gears again, and slowly scaled the agency back down. Now she's a soloist, focusing on why she started this journey in the first place.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?

The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:16

Rochelle Moulton: My new definition of wealth is money, revenue, money, time, and flexibility. So what you just picked up is a form of wealth that you didn't have before, which is the flexibility to make decisions you might not have been able to make before.

00:17 - 00:33

Laurel Scherer: Right, and that's the irony is you go into business to have that flexibility, and then you grow an agency and realize that you really don't have nearly as much of it as you do if you're working more independently and collaboratively without the responsibility of the employees.

00:38 - 01:03

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Laurel Shearer who built a seven-person digital marketing agency but decided to convert to a soloist model, a process that she literally just finished a few days before we're doing this recording. Laurel, welcome.

01:04 - 01:06

Laurel Scherer: Hi, thanks for shell. Thanks for having me.

01:06 - 01:39

Rochelle Moulton: Well, 1 of the many reasons I wanted to have you on the show, Laurel, is your experience of shedding employees to go solo. So, you know, I really appreciate your willing willingness to come talk about it as it's kind of almost unfolding in front of us. And plus, I'd really love for our listeners to hear how you've gotten to this place. Because I suspect that you're not alone amongst expertise business owners who built an employee model. I've heard this more than once, and I felt it myself when I did my first business with employees. So why

01:39 - 01:45

Rochelle Moulton: don't we start with what made you decide to start your own business in the first place? And when was that?

01:45 - 02:26

Laurel Scherer: The business that I've had, the agency that I've had, I started actually in 2014. I had been working as a freelancer, web developer for several years before that. And at that point, I was also running a different type of company, a photography and action photography business. But I realized that I was a great developer, but I really sucked at design. And I needed some design help. And I started partnering with a designer and decided that it was time to ask him to join forces with me. And so it just kind of started out that way as

02:26 - 02:30

Laurel Scherer: a two-person agency, 1 designer and 1 developer, and it grew from there.

02:30 - 02:35

Rochelle Moulton: Wow. Were they typically employees versus contractors?

02:36 - 02:51

Laurel Scherer: Yes. I've done a lot of collaboration over the years, but I did grow this as a payroll employee business, which sometimes I second guess and is a good part of the reason why I am now downsizing.

02:53 - 03:03

Rochelle Moulton: Well before we talk about that, let's talk about revenue. So how long did it take you to hit your first hundred thousand in your current business?

03:03 - 03:08

Laurel Scherer: We hit a hundred thousand in our second year with the 2 of us.

03:09 - 03:17

Rochelle Moulton: And from there did you plateau at all or was it more of a steady climb you know because you're bringing in new employees of course?

03:18 - 03:44

Laurel Scherer: Yeah it was a fairly I mean in my mind it was a slower than I might have liked climb, but it was fairly steady. So I guess it would have been year 3 that we brought on a second developer. And that was mostly because I was the only developer and was becoming a bit of a bottleneck for projects. My designer could design faster than I could develop and run the business.

03:45 - 04:16

Rochelle Moulton: So when I think about having employees, I always think the revenue line is interesting, because there's the revenue line and the profit line. And when we're soloists, those 2 lines are usually pretty close together, but not so much when we have employees. So how did your profit change as you added employees? I mean, when you thought about your own income, were you kind of steady? Or did you have more of a personal up and down depending on, you know, revenue and your employee volume?

04:17 - 04:46

Laurel Scherer: Oh, it was definitely very up and down for me personally. I was able to maintain a fairly steady salary with small incremental increases, but there were certainly times when I had to not take a salary for a short period of time as we grew. But I always managed to make it up by the end of the year. But I would say as I added employees, revenue grew quite steadily, but profits did not.

04:47 - 04:49

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, that's the rub, isn't

04:50 - 05:15

Laurel Scherer: it? Yeah, definitely. We were profitable in most years, but we added a second designer in year 4, an SEO strategist in year 5, a junior developer and sales guy in year 6. And you know, it's just every time you have more mouths to feed the profit margins certainly don't tend to grow quickly, I guess, at least not in my case.

05:15 - 05:35

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So did you ever find yourself frustrated with your bottom line even when your top line's looking pretty amazing? Like if you're growing year over year, that feels good. But the bottom line, so when you paid yourself a salary, did you have profits left over most years or was it more just you know 0 sum?

05:35 - 05:49

Laurel Scherer: Honestly it was it was enough profit left over to over the years to build a rainy day fund but it wasn't enough to really take a lot out of it as a business owner until the downsizing began.

05:50 - 05:53

Rochelle Moulton: And when did the downsizing begin actually?

05:54 - 06:27

Laurel Scherer: 2019 was an interesting year because my sixth hire really didn't even last a full year. That just turned out to not be a great fit, the junior developer. And then of course in, yeah, so I guess I got down to 6 people in that year. And then in 2020, of course the pandemic hit and I had to let our sales guy go. So that put us down to 5. And at that point I determined that I was gonna stay at 5. I didn't have a desire to try to grow the agency anymore. I was feeling very,

06:27 - 06:52

Laurel Scherer: as most agency owners are, I think very overworked and stressed out because that comes with the territory when you have employees to be responsible for. Part of that profit equation is that I really had a strong desire to try to increase salaries for my employees as much as I could year over year. And so some of our increased revenue went to that.

06:53 - 06:57

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Well, I mean, you share the wealth, right, on some level.

06:58 - 07:19

Laurel Scherer: Yeah, absolutely. And I just had such a 1 really rewarding thing for me is just what a wonderful team I had. The 5 of us really enjoyed working together and I always wanted to do my best to make sure that I was using the revenues as well as I could to increase their pay. And so that's where I put my priority.

07:20 - 07:56

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And frankly, I'm really happy to hear that, right? Because, you know, we're focusing on soloists here, but when we take on employees, I've always felt like we have a duty, you know, beyond the legal duties, but we have like a moral and ethical responsibility and duty when we take people on. And that's the thing that nobody really talks about, but that can really weigh on you. Like during a pandemic, how do you take care of your people when something bad happens in 1 of their lives, how do you replace them at the office with and

07:56 - 08:18

Rochelle Moulton: still keep them part of the firm going forward. It's, you know, I think this is the thing people just don't really talk about. And was that part of your decision-making process? You just get to the point where you said, I don't want to worry about this anymore? Or how did you decide to skinny down your business more once you got to the 5?

08:19 - 09:04

Laurel Scherer: To be perfectly honest, 1 key event really happened at the end of 2021. And I will say at that point, I was kind of been doing this long enough. I was tired, but really working hard to continue to increase that revenue. And at the end of 2021, my lead developer found another job doing something strictly in a technology that he had started to take our agency in the direction of using. And I was pretty devastated by that news having such a small tight-knit team at the time. But I very quickly came to the realization after that,

09:04 - 09:36

Laurel Scherer: kind of getting through the emotional part of that with the team and also thinking about the impact of him leaving. I pretty quickly got through that phase and It was a no-brainer for me to say I'm not hiring another. I'm not hiring replacement for him I'm going to use contract developer help from this point forward and I am a developer And I've always known how to get the right person for the right job so that's the direction that I decided to go in at that point. And then the rest of it was pretty organic, fortunately for

09:36 - 10:14

Laurel Scherer: me, because I didn't want to just close down the agency or try to sell it or anything at that point. But I talked to the team, the 4 of us that were left and we decided we would go through the rest of the year with having contract support and me not replacing this lead developer. And then everybody was okay with that, although it was a tight-knit team, like I said, so it was tough for them because they really enjoyed working together. Then a few months later, my creative director, who's the first hire that I made, also

10:14 - 10:44

Laurel Scherer: departed. The rest of the team was pretty frustrated by that after he had, you know, kind of agreed to stay on for the year. But at the end of the day, that put us down to 3. And it was 3 women, which was fantastic. And we worked really great together. And there was just a lot of transparency and open conversation between us from that point forward. And I told them that I thought we should go through the rest of the year with the 3 of us and make a decision at the end of the year. I

10:44 - 11:19

Laurel Scherer: wasn't gonna make that decision on my own. So I kind of let it go through the rest of the year. We agreed we'd meet in the fall of 2022, which we did. And I kind of knew what was going to happen. I knew that 1 of them was going to want to go and 1 of them was going to want to stay. And that's exactly how it played out. So, we began 2023 with just 2 of us with me knowing, and with my last employee, pretty much having an understanding that, that we probably needed to part

11:19 - 11:38

Laurel Scherer: ways unless we could really make some sales that really fit her skill set and So we just continued the conversation and just as of last week she is now in a new position and I am happily down to a one-person team with some contract help.

11:38 - 12:11

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I feel like I should say congratulations. But what a ride though. This is the other part that when you don't have employees you don't necessarily appreciate is every time 1 person leaves or 1 person joins it changes the nature of the group. It can change it for the better, it can change it for the worse. It's kind of a crap shoot. And the other thing that's really interesting is it sounds like each of these people had what I would call an employee mindset. In other words, they were looking for another job. It's not like they

12:11 - 12:24

Rochelle Moulton: were going out and looking for some contract assignments. They wanted what I call a job job, a salary, a place to go. Actually, did you have a physical office space or was this all virtual?

12:24 - 12:49

Laurel Scherer: We did. We had a physical office space, 2 different ones over the course of the years, all the way up until about a year and a half ago. It's kind of during the pandemic, we decided to go all virtual. But and I will say that, you know, that's another expense too, you know, you're, you've got the, you've got this office space that you're dealing with. And it's just, you know, that's, that's always been a little bit of an added stressor in a way.

12:49 - 13:22

Rochelle Moulton: Oh, that's where I was going next is, you know, having that it's kind of like a noose around your neck because, you know, you usually have to sign a lease for some specified period of time. And the other thing you said earlier was that you wanted to bring in some assignments that suited 1 of your employees skill sets so as the owner you've got these responsibilities for the expense side that may not be changeable very much like the rent and then it's not that you just go out and look for work that with the kinds of

13:22 - 13:46

Rochelle Moulton: clients that you'd love or the kinds of projects you'd love or the areas of expertise you'd love but you have to keep your people busy Which means yes, and I'm not saying you did this, but sometimes people take on assignments that they really didn't want to in order to keep the lights on and keep their people busy or keep them engaged because employees are usually happier when they're busy versus when they don't have enough to do.

13:47 - 14:10

Laurel Scherer: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that there is a lot of freedom in not having to do that. And I'm at a point now where I'm really looking forward to being able to, like, I've learned how to say no to potential clients over the years that are not going to be a good fit. But now I have so much more freedom and flexibility in how often I can say no.

14:11 - 14:31

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, you just hit on, I don't know if you've heard me say this, but my new definition of wealth is money, revenue, money, time, and flexibility. So what you just picked up is a form of wealth that you didn't have before, which is the flexibility to make decisions you might not have been able to make before.

14:32 - 14:50

14:50 - 15:18

Rochelle Moulton: Oh yeah, I mean when I had my firm, I was looking at the, I had employees and contractors, and I was looking at them going, I want their life. They're having fun, they're going out, and we only had them do projects they were excited about. And we could do that because most of them were on contract. And they would have fun and we had a no fault, no policy. So if they didn't want to do a project, they could just say no and we still love them. But I was there, right? I was there all the

15:18 - 15:49

Rochelle Moulton: time fixing the technology when it broke, making sure we had sales, if we had conflicts come up, you know, that was all in my lap. So yeah, there is a whole piece to that. And I think at least in America, we think that when we start businesses, other people judge us by, oh, how many employees do you have? How big are you? And I think a lot of us just kind of buy into that. Well, of course, we're going to grow a firm. Why wouldn't we? And, you know, we, a lot of us like to have

15:49 - 16:06

Rochelle Moulton: colleagues. We like to have people to bounce ideas off of. But yeah, this is why I just I'm loving hearing this because it's allowing people who might be thinking about having employees to really think about whether this is a responsibility they're prepared to take on.

16:07 - 16:48

Laurel Scherer: Yeah, definitely. I always wanted to make sure that they had opportunities for professional development, and...

Winning The Scalability Game With Erin Austin

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0700

How can you scale as a soloist in the expertise space? You turn your expertise into assets that will work for you. Erin Austin—strategic lawyer and consultant—explains how to increase your revenue and impact by moving from fully customized services to leveraged income streams.

We talk about:

The eight business problems we create for ourselves when we only provide custom services.

The “buckets” of intellectual property and how to think about them in your expertise business.

How to decide which of your ideas make sense to protect and nurture.

Why you want to develop a signature service that only you can provide—and how to get there from where you are now.

LINKS

Erin Austin | Website | LinkedIn | Hourly to Exit Podcast

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Erin Austin is a strategic lawyer and consultant who uses her 25+ years of practicing law to help female founders of expertise-based firms meet their growth goals through the creation of scalable IP-based revenue streams.

Her experience as a lawyer and as an executive—at the intersection of business and the law (including roles as COO and general counsel at IP-driven companies such as Warner Brothers, Lionsgate (formerly known as Artisan), MGM, Teaching Strategies, and M3 USA Corp)—informs the elevated legal and strategic business advice she provides to her clients.

Through her Hourly to Exit podcast and her legal practice, Think Beyond IP, Erin guides women on the journey of transforming their businesses from an unscalable income-generator into a saleable wealth building asset.

In her spare time, Erin likes to clear brush on her farmette, search for the perfect gluten-free baguette (all leads are appreciated!) and work on her backhand.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:34

Erin Austin: If you are someone who's just kind of selling your time, like as an extra pair of hands, you're a very good marketer, you're a very good copywriter, you're saying, I can write whatever you need me to write for you, but you don't have, you're not developing your own signature solutions, your own signature methodologies or frameworks, then you probably have some very weak positioning. People are gonna have you talk about this all the time, you know, the ability to be referable and for people to kind of understand, you know, exactly what you do and who you do

00:34 - 00:44

Erin Austin: it for. And so if you are using your expertise to create really strong packages, and that helps cement your positioning in the marketplace.

00:49 - 01:30

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And today I'm here with Erin Austin, who, in my opinion, is the maven for female founders of expertise firms who want to build scalable IP-based revenue streams. Erin, welcome. Thank you so much for having me, Rochelle. I'm excited. So 1 of the many reasons that I'm so excited to have you on the show is you have this 100% clear-eyed view on what it takes to scale an expertise business using your intellectual property. And plus, kind of

01:30 - 01:45

Rochelle Moulton: like as a bonus, I'd really love for our listeners to hear how you've gotten to this place because in my head, you're the poster child for carving out the life you want in the place you want to be. So I want to dig into that a little bit too.

01:45 - 02:26

Erin Austin: It too. Well, thank you. Well, I do kind of describe myself as my own avatar as a female founder of an expertise based business who has taken that journey from having, you know, unscalable hourly based business to creating 1 that is expertise based, creating intellectual property, creating a new revenue streams that decouple my income from my time. That is why I'm here and to help other women do that. And So just a teeny bit of my back story is I've been working with intellectual property based corporations, large corporations, my entire career. And then I got to

02:26 - 03:00

Erin Austin: a point where I wanted to not just help big companies get bigger, but to help women, especially women who have expertise-based businesses, maybe they are lifestyle businesses, but they have a mission and a purpose. They want to do more for their families, for their communities, to help them increase not just their income, but hopefully to build wealth with their businesses as well. You know, I like to say that wealth in the hands of women can change the world. And so helping men, yeah, you know, helping women build wealth because, you know, at the end of the

03:00 - 03:12

Erin Austin: day, wealth, you know, has influence in this world. And so if we want to spread more of that wealth around, we need to help more people get access to the tools of wealth, which is ownership of assets.

03:13 - 03:24

Rochelle Moulton: Well, Erin, In all the time I've known you, I don't think I've ever asked you this question. What actually made you decide to start your own business? Because I mean, you worked for some very top names in America.

03:25 - 03:57

Erin Austin: Yeah, well, it really was moving to middle of nowhere, frankly, and having a kid. So I was at the front end of being able to work remotely. When I first moved to, I live in the exurbs of Washington DC, which at the time I had dial up and I was able to work with my former clients doing work with them. At the time, I was still doing a lot of film work, and I had, 1 of my old clients had a film library that they wanted me to look at, and it was easier for them to

03:57 - 04:17

Erin Austin: download the documents, put them on a CD, and mail them to me than for me to try to do that remotely. Over time, I've been able to work from home while raising my kid out here. And so fortunately, I've been able to have the best of both worlds of working with my large clients and working remotely, working for myself as well.

04:17 - 04:40

Rochelle Moulton: I guess the other thing that I know from other conversations we've had is that you have Really for a long time walk this intersection between law and business, right? You trained as a lawyer, but you've been in business almost forever So can you talk us through what it was like entering the consulting space and then finding your niche with helping women experts scale?

04:41 - 05:15

Erin Austin: Yeah, it took me a little bit. I mean, you know, I get I've been practicing law for 30 years, working with large corporations, and having to kind of do the type of business development that's required to work with, you know, a larger audience and 1 that's different from the 1 that I've worked with traditionally has been some work for me to learn how to make sure I'm showing up in the places where my audience is, learning how to stop with the legal speak, you know, the large corporations that I work with. I mean, they all totally

05:15 - 05:55

Erin Austin: get it. They have legal departments. They, you know, their assets are intellectual property. They love lawyers, frankly, versus a different population, which might be afraid of lawyers might think that they're inaccessible or not understandable. And So being accessible and understandable and having materials that are implementable has been a real process for me and 1 that I really enjoy. Like I found that people tell me I'm pretty good at translating the legalese into things that make sense and that are applicable. I love a good analogy. I love a good graphic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so to me, that's

05:55 - 05:59

Erin Austin: part of the joy is being an educator along with being a lawyer.

06:00 - 06:18

Rochelle Moulton: Awesome. Awesome. So 1 of the questions I've been asking guests is about revenue. So how long did it take you to hit your first like 100, 000 after you went out on your own? Like was it really fast because of your legal background or did it take a while? Yeah, it did.

06:18 - 06:35

Erin Austin: I mean, because I just kind of flipped from being in house to being an outside resource. And so it did not. I mean, that was my first year, frankly, of, you know, doing retainer work, or doing flat fee work. And that is just, you know, a function of yeah, where I was coming from.

06:36 - 06:44

Rochelle Moulton: And did you plateau or did you find that, you know, since then, or do you find that you have kind of a steady climb over time? Just curious.

06:44 - 07:19

Erin Austin: Yeah, there were some plateau mostly because, you know, I had whale clients for a very long time and I'll say I still have 1. And so you and there's a comfort with having those whale clients and so long as they stick around right. But it makes you a little bit lazy and I was very comfortable and so I definitely plateaued And so it was on me to kind of find that fire, just do business development as I'm working with this new audience. When you have when you still have those clients. But yeah, yeah.

07:20 - 07:26

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. Well, you know, you can make a wonderful business with whale clients, right? As long as you don't just have 1,

07:26 - 07:26

Erin Austin: you

07:26 - 07:59

Rochelle Moulton: know, you've got 3 or maybe 4 or 5, I think any more than that's probably not a whale. But so let's get down to scaling our expertise businesses, a subject I know you and I both love to talk about. And I really want to talk about how we can scale even if we want to stay solo. And I was looking at your website before we talked, and I just want to read what you said on there. If the only way you make money is you providing custom services, your score is 0 out of 8 in the

07:59 - 08:12

Rochelle Moulton: scalability game. And then you go through basically 8 different points in the game. So can you walk us through the business problems that we create for ourselves when we focus only on custom services?

08:12 - 08:53

Erin Austin: Yeah absolutely and These are all indications that we aren't taking advantage of our expertise and turning it into either assets that we can use internally to become more efficient or perhaps even assets that we can sell externally. So the issues that are the symptoms that you have a problem if you're not effectively using utilizing your expertise as an asset are 1, you know, you have a client concentration problem. I mean, there are only so many clients that you can serve at 1 time. You know, whether or not you want to increase your revenue through the addition

08:53 - 09:32

Erin Austin: of employees, and let's just say we were soloist women, and we're all, we all wanna stay soloist, but there are ways that we can use our expertise to create efficiencies in our business so that 1, maybe you have that will client problem. And so you can handle more clients when you build efficiencies into your business through standards and procedures, through templates, through models, so that helps you be more efficient. Other ways that helps you perhaps create other offerings that you can provide at different price points. So maybe you're only doing very custom services, maybe you add

09:32 - 10:10

Erin Austin: some productized services to the mix too because you have developed a specialty, you know, so that kind of signature solution that you have productized that you can deliver more efficiently at a different price point and so that would also appeal to a different client as well. Other ways you might have problems is you know when you have client concentration problem you usually have a revenue concentration problem. So you just have that 1 type of revenue in this case we're talking about one-on-one services And so when you are packaging your intellectual property, packaging your expertise into intellectual

10:10 - 10:37

Erin Austin: property assets, then you can create new revenue streams off of that. Not just one-on-one services, but also some leverage services that decouple your income from your time, such as maybe workshops or digital products. Another problem will be the earner concentration, and that's just you. It's only you out there. If you're not delivering services, there's no money coming in.

10:37 - 10:39

Rochelle Moulton: No passive revenue.

10:39 - 11:14

Erin Austin: Yeah. And you know, 1 of the ways to create, you know, more earners in your business is either through, you know, effective use of employees, if that's 1 way you wanna go, but also using contractors as well. There are people who do workshops and some of them are doing them on their own. They're traveling, you know, if they're doing them in person, They're traveling around the country to deliver those workshops. If you are able to systematize your workshops and document them, then you're able to engage facilitators on a subcontractor basis so that there's somebody else delivering

11:14 - 11:48

Erin Austin: your work. But you're getting paid for it without you going on the road or out that without that taking your time personally Mm-hmm, then the revenue ceiling problem, you know, I like to say unless you're Tony Robbins You know, there's only so much you can charge for a private coaching session, right? And so, you know, even making a very good hourly rate, there's still a ceiling on your hourly rate. And so if you haven't figured out a way to, again, to decouple your income from your time, then you will hit that revenue ceiling. I like to

11:48 - 12:23

Erin Austin: talk about the licensing process of having your expertise packaged in a way that someone else can deliver it, whether it is through a facilitator like we mentioned earlier, or perhaps it's something that a client can license directly for you. If we go back to that workshop model and you have been the facilitator for your clients, they may have someone in-house that can be the facilitator. And so you license your workshop to them and then you are getting paid a license fee for them to deliver it internally using their own resources.

12:25 - 12:25

Rochelle Moulton: Train the trainer.

12:26 - 12:59

Erin Austin: Yeah, train the trainer model. Other symptom is that inconsistent cash flow. You have that feast or famine cycle when you're doing you know high ticket, high touch custom services. Those can have very long sale cycles. So you're you know you're working, working, working to get the sale and and then you get it. Then you have all the work. Then you're completely overwhelmed by the work so you're not doing anything else until the engagement's over, then you look up, okay, now I got to go do it all again. And I guess it's like kind of a, what

12:59 - 13:34

Erin Austin: is it, the hunting, like big game hunting, right? Where you go, you feast, and then once you're out of meat you gotta bring it back out there and bring down another beast but when we you know set up multiple revenue streams we have 1 that is not necessarily passive but 1 that's perhaps recurring such as you know maybe you have resources that you can sell subscriptions to, or maybe you have a community that you can sell subscriptions to, or other types of assets that can be offered on a recurring basis so that you can even out

13:34 - 14:10

Erin Austin: your cash flow. Another symptom would be your weak positioning. Like if you are someone who's just kind of selling your time like as an extra pair of hands, you're a very good marketer, you're a very good copywriter, and you're saying, I can write whatever you need me to write for you. But you don't have you're not developing your own signature solutions, your own signature methodologies or frameworks. Then you probably have some very weak positioning. People are going to have you talk about this all the time, you know, the ability to be referable and for people to

14:10 - 14:25

Erin Austin: kind of understand, you know, exactly what you do and who you do it for. And so if you are using your expertise to create really strong packages and that helps cement your positioning in the marketplace.

14:26 - 14:28

Rochelle Moulton: And makes you worth more in the eyes of the market.

14:29 - 14:34

Erin Austin: Absolutely. Speaking of which, you know, stagnant profitability would be 1.

14:34 - 14:35

Rochelle Moulton: 0, there's that.

14:36 - 15:14

Erin Austin: Yeah, absolutely. Well, 1, you know, it depresses what you can charge, right? But also, if you're starting from scratch with every engagement, then how do you get the benefit of efficiencies? How do you get the benefits of systemizing your services? How do you get the benefit of having templates and models that you're starting from? When you aren't billing by the hour, you know, the more efficient you get, the more profitable that same service becomes. And so that means not just having your expertise in your head, but actually creating systems from it. And that can also become

15:14 - 15:49

Erin Austin: more profitable when you lower the cost of the resources, you know, you are the most expensive resource in your business. You know, can you use less expensive resources such as contractors or even technology, maybe even, if you understand like where the elements are that you might be able to plug less expensive resources in. And then the last 1 is the impact ceiling. I mean, we all got into this business because...

From $35,000 to Gunning For $1 Million with Mindi Zissman

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Mindi Zissman started her specialized B2B content firm so she could work from home and replace her then $35K salary. Today, she’s gunning for the $1 million mark and no one in their right mind would bet against her.

We talk about:

What it takes to leave a comfortable job to start your first business.

Revenue progression: hitting your first $100K and busting through your significant income plateaus.

How to leverage through hiring/contracting “mini me’s” to do client work (and why systems will become your saving grace).

The magic of committing to exactly the right niche (and why it might take a hot minute to get there).

LINKS

Mindi Zissman | Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Mindi Zissman is the President of Zissman Media, a B2B content firm specializing in the risk, insurance and compliance industries. Mindi started Zissman Media in 2004 to be the voice of her clients, expressing their industry expertise through thought leadership. Mindi is passionate about doing project research and connecting one-on-one with her clients.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:25

Mindi Zissman: There was definitely a point in my business where I would freak out when new projects would have come in instead of being so happy because I just didn't have the capacity. I didn't know how I would do it. I didn't know who would do it. I didn't want it to not be perfect or great. I didn't want it to not be like my A work because I was charging people a lot of money and I did have a reputation to uphold. And so that's definitely a big piece that I now have kind of that frame of

00:25 - 00:29

Mindi Zissman: mind where I can say, okay, I can hand this off to somebody.

00:34 - 00:55

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to So Louis Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Mindy Zisman. She is president of Zisman Media, which is a B2B content firm specializing in the risk, insurance and compliance industries. Welcome Mindy.

00:55 - 00:59

Mindi Zissman: Hi, Rochelle. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

00:59 - 01:21

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. So 1 of the reasons I was so excited to have you on the show is that literally every single time we talk I feel like you figured out another way to grow your business and still lead the life that you want It's like you have this real zest for your work for your clients and your allies in your craft So I can't wait to just dive

01:21 - 01:24

Mindi Zissman: in. Okay, let's do it. I'm excited.

01:24 - 01:40

Rochelle Moulton: Okay, so just so we're clear, you're not currently operating as what we might call a peer soloist. You do have a couple of employees, But 1 of the many reasons I wanted you to share your story is that your model could just as easily work for someone who doesn't want to deal with employees and hires contractors instead.

01:41 - 01:50

Mindi Zissman: Correct and I also do actually hire contractors. I do happen to have like 1 or 2 people working in the business as well, but mostly I hire contractors. So that is true also.

01:50 - 01:57

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. So let's start with how you found your way into starting your own business. I mean, where did it all begin for you?

01:58 - 02:30

Mindi Zissman: I was a trade magazine editor working at a trade magazine company. We had 150 titles, you know, everything from hotels magazine to hairstyles magazine. I mean, really everything. And I worked at 2 magazines that were for architects and engineers. None of us were architects or engineers. We were all writers who kind of learned the industry and that was really my first job out of college. And I did that for a while and I had a couple kids and I was you know I had 2 little kids at the time and I remember we hired a freelance

02:30 - 02:57

Mindi Zissman: writer or 2 and I would edit their stuff laid out on the page etc and at 1 point I like almost turned myself and said why are you not doing that and this was 2004 there was no gig economy I didn't know anybody that worked for themselves certainly no women and maybe some men who had their own businesses. I didn't know any women who worked from home for themselves. Nobody worked from home again. This is like, you know, I'm really dating myself here. But I really just decided to go off on my own. I took a

02:57 - 03:24

Mindi Zissman: crazy plunge. My husband's an accountant and I remember him turning to me and said, you can't just do that. And I was like, oh, really? Yeah, let's try that. Let's see how that works. You know, he was very worried about that salary, that little salary. I think my first job at, I was an assistant editor at a trade magazine, I think I was making $35, 000. And he was so worried, you know, I had to bring that $35, 000. And we had 2 little kids. And I was like, all right, let's try it. I don't know

03:24 - 03:52

Mindi Zissman: if I would have as much gumption today as I did then, but I did. And I went off on my own and I took 1 business owner who was on our editorial board at the magazines. He was an engineering MEP engineering firm downtown. He owned this firm and he was my first client. He said sure I'll hire you to do some writing for our firm. And again this was like before anybody was looking for a freelance writer. So people would say to me, so what do you do? And I would just say, well, I'm a technical

03:52 - 04:13

Mindi Zissman: writer. And everyone just assumed that meant I wrote the book that came with their earn. Right. And I was like, no, I didn't. You know, we write articles, we go we ghost write for people, you know experts in the engineering and architecture space and those articles go into magazines, they might go on the company's website and again this is 2004 so it was like the beginning of even companies having websites.

04:14 - 04:14

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

04:14 - 04:39

Mindi Zissman: So it was that but anyway that was me going off on my own. And what did I do? There was no social media then. How do I let people know that I was going off on my own? I actually, this is so funny, I created, I guess it was in Word, but I made it look like a newspaper and it was a 1 page. I had it printed at Kinkos in Glossy, you know, page. I made it look like a whole newspaper and it was like, Zisman goes off on her own. I wrote a whole article

04:39 - 05:11

Mindi Zissman: and I sent it to all my contacts in the architecture and engineering world in like a manila envelope. And I got a few calls and it was just word of mouth for many years. And people would recommend me clients. I worked really in the architecture and engineering space then. So clients of mine at certain engineering firms would leave and they'd go to another engineering firm and they'd bring me with them. So that was really how the business grew. And my original editor at the time at that engineering magazine, he went off and started an architecture magazine.

05:11 - 05:37

Mindi Zissman: So he brought me with as 1 of his contributing editors. So I had a bunch of gigs and it just kind of grew over time, but I really was home with my kids and doing what I wanted to do and still making money and being connected to something I loved, which was writing and, you know, telling stories. And at the time I loved that architecture and engineering space too. And I did that for a bunch of years and again, it was just word of mouth. And then about 9 or 10 years ago, a client of mine

05:37 - 06:08

Mindi Zissman: who was in healthcare at the time I was doing some healthcare stuff actually right around the time of the Affordable Care Act, I was working for a nursing home education company basically. They did continuing ed for nursing home nurses and administrators, just all their staff. Anyway, I had the Affordable Care Act downloaded on my desktop and I wrote 7 white papers on the Affordable Care Act. I think I was like the only 1 that read the majority of it. Wow. This client of mine, she moved over to commercial insurance and she brought me with as a

06:08 - 06:41

Mindi Zissman: ghostwriter. I was their first writer. And I thought, okay, I know insurance. I have that insurance card in my wallet. We go to the doctor, I got this. And I very quickly realized, and so did she, that commercial insurance is Totally different than health care and having a card from you know, Blue Cross Blue Shield So commercial insurance is the umbrella over businesses So it's the same thing whether that's cyber insurance transportation transfer trucking companies, you know property insurance if you have an office General liability if someone slips trips and falls on your rug in your

06:41 - 07:11

Mindi Zissman: lobby, that's everything. That's what commercial insurance is. And about 3 years ago, right around the time of the pandemic, I decided I loved commercial insurance and risk so much that I wanted to niche down on it. And I will actually say that Rochelle, you and Jonathan from the Business of Authority really had such a hand in that. I was listening to your podcast, you know, just regularly, I still do. And you guys kept talking about niching down and I'd go to listen to another podcast for business owners and they were talking about niching down and everybody

07:11 - 07:40

Mindi Zissman: was talking about niching down. And I was kind of falling out of love with my engineering and architecture clients because they didn't like to spend money. Really marketing wasn't such a big deal for them. It was kind of, you know, back end. Okay, we'll do that later. And I loved risk and insurance. And so I just said, you know what, I'm going to double down on it. And I really took a risk, really a big risk for myself, as a business owner. And I, I remember hearing so much, let's say for sure on the business of

07:40 - 08:09

Mindi Zissman: authority, but you know, on other podcasts and just other experts as well, saying things like you feel, And I know Jonathan says this all the time, you know, you think when you're going to niche down that you are closing in on a smaller pool of potential clients, but really what you're doing is you're actually giving everybody an opportunity to only use you if you're in that market. And that's really what happened. And so I did that and right around the time of COVID, my youngest went to school full time and I'd always had a thousand ideas

08:09 - 08:19

Mindi Zissman: to grow my business. And so I decided I'm gonna work full time and niche down the business and it just totally exploded. And I think that's, I think mission down was a big piece of that.

08:19 - 08:36

Rochelle Moulton: Well, it's funny because you absolutely captured that. You always have a thousand ideas on how to do it, but you focus yourself pretty quickly. So I just have to ask a couple of questions about the journey, because I'm picturing somebody sitting there wondering, how long did it take you to make back your 35, 000 and tell your husband see

08:36 - 08:39

Mindi Zissman: oh that first year I made that money yeah yeah

08:40 - 08:46

Rochelle Moulton: and do you remember when you made your first hundred thousand when you broke that that barrier

08:46 - 09:18

Mindi Zissman: yeah I do remember I can't remember what year it was, but I do remember that because I remember being like, oh my gosh, I really could do this. And I now I see even today I'll see on you know, copywriting emails that I get from like just different groups and people say like, oh, who broke that hundred thousand dollar barrier? And I'm grateful, listen, my business and pushing towards that million mark. That's, that's where my next I is. And I hope I'm headed there in the next year. That's my plan. But I remember being like that

09:18 - 09:35

Mindi Zissman: was, and I'll tell you something, there was also even a threshold. And this really speaks to that whole idea of hiring freelancers or getting more people under you in your business. There was a threshold that I was at, I want to say it was about 120, 130, where I just couldn't get over it if I didn't hire somebody.

09:35 - 09:36

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

09:36 - 10:08

Mindi Zissman: And I was there for a long time, because I really was very nervous to hire people. I thought people were hiring me for my expertise. How can I grow that? How do you grow your own expertise, how do you clone yourself, how do you... I had so many thoughts and so many things that held me back. And I wasn't able to scale over that 130 for a really long time. And only when I opened myself up to using other writers, getting a VA, getting an editor. Each 1 of those was a process, just because this whole

10:08 - 10:17

Mindi Zissman: business has been me forever. And so that was really hard. It's still very hard. It's still very hard to delegate, but I've gotten better at it over time. And I see that it's the only way to grow.

10:17 - 10:49

Rochelle Moulton: I kind of put that in the category of leverage, right? Cause a lot of people in this kind of expertise space, we get stuck around the hundred to $150, 000 mark. And you know, you can typically leverage broadly like in 2 ways, right? 1 is to go and clone yourself or hire people. So you leverage through people. Actually, I should make it 3 ways. Another is that you can leverage through pricing. You could say, okay, this thing that used to cost 20, 000, now it's 40. So you can play with those prices, or you create something

10:49 - 11:06

Rochelle Moulton: where you sell something to many people and you leverage that way like a membership program, for example. But that's a completely different business model that was not the, you know, let me do this high end really thought leadership pieces for this specific vertical.

11:07 - 11:34

Mindi Zissman: Correct. And the other thing that I'll say, I've never been much of a subscription model. I mean, I definitely have retainer clients, but I feel like that's different than subscription. I'm not really selling like my thought leadership. And then also, I've never been able to like wrap my head around creating a product. I never wanted to create a course. I never wanted to like teach people what I'm doing. But I will say that I am doing something new now, which is a little bit in that realm. And I really had never thought of this, but I

11:34 - 12:09

Mindi Zissman: had a client, 1 of my large commercial insurance brokerage clients, who hired me in June to come and speak at their Women in Sales Summit. And I created a two-hour workshop on leveraging LinkedIn for like insurance sales. And that was just based on my LinkedIn knowledge, not necessarily what our business does. You know, we go straight for these companies. So they're a client of mine, but I was speaking to their sales team and I love LinkedIn. It's something I've really enjoyed over the last few years. You know, so it's something that I have a mass knowledge

12:09 - 12:38

Mindi Zissman: on. And again, it's not something I sell. Like I don't sell LinkedIn posts. You know, we don't do social media for our clients. I mean, I will do, I have a few clients that we write some of their posts, but that's not, that's not like our bread and butter at all. And it's only after we're working with clients on other pieces. But so I created this whole masterclass for insurance producers. That's what salespeople call themselves. It's kind of like an internal term Anyway, now I'm going to leverage it and do it here in Chicago for the

12:38 - 13:06

Mindi Zissman: first time early September I'm doing a full morning of LinkedIn for insurance producers and I'm gonna see how it goes. Yeah, so I had created it and so I found a way to add more to it you know once I had done it I met with a few just like you always say to do some of that market research so I met with a few of the people who were at that Women in Sales Summit And now I have it's not a productized business model because I still have to be there and I'm still doing it

13:06 - 13:32

Mindi Zissman: and it's still live. But I hope to be able to give it to like between 20 and 50 people every time I do it. And that's a huge morning for me. You know, that's a huge, a huge financial and I really love it. I have to tell you, I love teaching it. I love being in front of people and answering their questions and figuring it out on the spot and just talking about the knowledge that I've gained from that platform. So I'm really excited about doing that. And it's really kind of an adjunct to the business.

13:32 - 13:46

Mindi Zissman: Like these, the people who would come to it, these insurance producers, the insurance salespeople, their companies could hire me but they independently wouldn't, you know, wouldn't be hiring us to write, you know, blogs or annual reports or anything like that for their companies. So.

13:46 - 14:02

Rochelle Moulton: You know what's so fascinating is you said earlier, yeah, I don't want to teach people what I do, but I can hear the passion for teaching this. Right? Yeah. It's like the moral of the story is maybe you just have to find the right thing to morph into being a teacher.

14:03 - 14:29

Mindi Zissman: Yeah, exactly. And I actually teach at the high school level, which I think you know also, that's more of like a, I actually have an under...

Carving Out Your Niche And Discovering Your Mission with Geraldine Carter

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Geraldine Carter started her business because she didn’t want to be an employee again. EVER. But when she discovered how much she loved coaching CPAs, she set a clear and compelling mission: helping overworked CPAs create the accounting firm and the life they have always wanted.

Geraldine joins me for a no-holds-barred conversation about business, money and impact:

What to do when you have to make your business work because you never want to be an employee again.

How to find your people and zero in on your mission to serve them.

Why it’s easier to make your second $100,000 than your first.

What happens when your revenue crosses over to your personal definition of “enough”.

The costs and pleasures of committing to ruthlessly staying solo.

LINKS

Geraldine Carter | Website | Podcast | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Geraldine Carter is a business coach for overworked solo CPAs and firm owners who want to go down to 40 hours without giving up revenue. Her clients routinely shave hundreds of hours off their to-do lists and get back above water, so they can reshape their practice into one in which they thrive. Her podcast, Business Strategy for CPAs has more than 100,000 downloads and is ranked in the top ten podcast for CPAs, by Apple Podcasts.

Geraldine holds a BS in Engineering from Cornell University, is the co-founder and CFO of a company where her cashflow forecasting models resulted in millions of dollars for climate change efforts. In her free time, she can be found mountain biking forested trails or running after her two small children in her hometown of Ketchum, ID.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:28

Geraldine Carter: I’ve just stopped looking at the money, which is so not normal for me. Counterintuitive. At the risk of sounding however this sounds, I’ve almost lost track because it’s not the main thing that I think about in my business. The main thing that I think about is how do I delight clients? What is the delight that they want? And how do I delight them as fast as possible? Best possible results, least amount of time, best experience. Hello, hello.

00:32 – 00:56

Rochelle Moulton: Welcome to Soloist Women, where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton, and today I’m here with my pal Geraldine Carter, force of nature And business coach for overwork solo CPAs and firm owners who want to go down to 40 hours a week without sacrificing revenue. Geraldine, welcome.

00:57 – 00:59

Geraldine Carter: Hi, Rachelle. I’m so happy to be here.

01:00 – 01:22

Rochelle Moulton: Well, 1 of the many reasons that I am so thrilled to have you on the show is the way that you’ve established and grown your soloist business. I mean, I find it both aspirational and inspirational. And plus, we’re going to talk about 2 of our favorite topics, right? How to keep making more money without working more hours and staying solo.

01:23 – 01:24

Geraldine Carter: Ooh, I love it.

01:24 – 01:34

Rochelle Moulton: Okay. Great. Well, let’s bring everybody kind of up to speed. Let’s start with what made you decide to start your own business. Like was there a catalyst that sent you in this direction?

01:35 – 02:30

Geraldine Carter: I don’t want to say that I needed something to do, but I needed something to do. And I needed to put Cheerios in the bowl. And I had started a previous business with a friend that we had built and it was successful and I knew I wanted to go in a different direction and I knew that I was gonna start family and I was like okay now what do we do now what do I do what does this look like so when I started I actually wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that

02:30 – 02:54

Geraldine Carter: I didn’t want to grow a giant company, or at least I thought I knew I didn’t want to grow a giant company. But I was like, all right, do I be a CFP? Cause I like money and I like managing money and investments and all that stuff. And I think my women especially need a lot of help with that kind of thing. But I went down that rabbit hole and I was like, oh, 2000 hour qualification, no thanks. And then I was like, You know, everybody says I make, I love making ice cream, sort of a

02:54 – 03:07

Geraldine Carter: terrible. It’s a, I love making ice cream and I make delicious ice cream. If we’re doing raw Geraldine, The name of my ice cream and I have labels for it is creamy cheese inappropriately delicious.

03:08 – 03:11

Rochelle Moulton: I can so see that. Oh my goodness.

03:11 – 03:17

Geraldine Carter: It turned out the minute that I wanted to turn that into a business and somebody said health department I was like I’m out.

03:17 – 03:18

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah food is tough.

03:19 – 03:46

Geraldine Carter: Yep and then at this point I forget what the other ones were, but at the end that left coaching. And I was like, well, this is the last 1 on the list, and it’s time to get some Cheerios in the bowl. So I signed up for a coaching certification program. And the minute I signed up the first class I was like, this is where I meant to be. I love this. And that was about 8 years ago. I was pregnant with my first kid. And that’s how I got into it. And I’ve just been finding my

03:46 – 03:48

Geraldine Carter: way exploring ever since.

03:49 – 04:08

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I know from some of our other conversations that it was kind of a twisty road that got you from there to here. So maybe can you talk us through what it was like entering the coaching space and especially finding your niche because you’re not a CPA and yet you serve CPAs. I’m just curious how you got there.

04:08 – 04:42

Geraldine Carter: Yeah. So Twisted Road is exactly it. And I, you know, like many business owners who hang their own shingle thought that I could just sell coaching. And doesn’t everybody want mindfulness coaching? Doesn’t everybody want to think better thoughts? Well, maybe, but it turns out it’s really hard to sell that by the session. So I had to do my own exploring to figure out what it is that I was offering and how I could benefit people or how that skill set could benefit people in a way that made sense for business. And simultaneously, I was having conversations

04:42 – 05:19

Geraldine Carter: with colleagues and we would always shocker, wander into the money because that’s where I was so at home. And we’d start talking about the money and I’d be asking them questions about whatever and it was on their balance sheet and they’re like, I have no idea. And they didn’t know, they knew very little about the, they knew very little about the state of their money. So I just sort of followed my nose and I started helping business owners understand their financials. And I would ask, where’s your accountant? Where’s your CPA? How come they’re not explaining this

05:19 – 05:42

Geraldine Carter: to you? And they would say, oh, they don’t have time for me or they talk over me or they talk down to me. And I was like, huh, that’s not like what’s going on there. And then simultaneously, I had a couple of CPAs reach out and they were like, hey, you know, I’ve heard about the work that you’re doing and I think I’m wondering if you might be able to help us. And that was a real head scratcher for me because I thought, wait a minute, you guys are CPAs, you’re exposed to business all day, don’t

05:42 – 06:15

Geraldine Carter: you guys understand business by osmosis? And once I got behind the curtains, I was like, oh, you guys are business owners just like everybody else and you have a skill and a craft, but that doesn’t mean that you can turn that around and point it at your own business and be a super duper awesome business owner. We all get sucked into the craft of our business and have a hard time seeing how to run and operate our business from the outside looking in. And so that was how I got into coaching CPAs and you know we’re

06:15 – 06:39

Geraldine Carter: like I’m snug as a bug in a rug because I have an engineering degree. So we talk money, numbers and math and we do spreadsheets all day long and it’s super fun. Whereas with the, you know, the physical therapist and the license, whatever the, the, the family therapist, there was more money and number aversion. So it just wasn’t as easy. So I feel like I landed right where I was meant to be with the numbers people.

06:40 – 06:57

Rochelle Moulton: There’s also a word you use that I love, which is easy. It’s Like, you know, when you find that intersection of what you love with the people who really need it, there’s that sense of ease that comes from that. Did you ever feel like you’d have to like get a CPA?

06:58 – 06:59

Geraldine Carter: Oh, no.

07:03 – 07:05

Rochelle Moulton: You don’t have to be 1 to understand the business.

07:06 – 07:08

Geraldine Carter: Well you don’t have to understand tax,

07:10 – 07:10

Rochelle Moulton: right?

07:11 – 07:15

Geraldine Carter: Right. And tax gives me hives. The minute someone says 1120S I’m out.

07:16 – 07:19

Rochelle Moulton: But I don’t even know what that is. So I’m with you.

07:20 – 07:55

Geraldine Carter: So I know I have learned some of these things, but tax still honestly gives me highs, but it’s not, I don’t need to know tax. I need to understand the business and the business model. And especially because accounting and tax and CPA and so on come out of an hourly billing space. There are all the classic problems, downstream symptoms in their businesses that are mostly born of hourly billing and the mentality that comes with hourly billing. And even though they maybe half, not quite, probably have moved off of hourly billing as a pricing mechanism, there’s still

07:55 – 08:09

Geraldine Carter: the mindset that is lagging, if you will. It’s still an hourly billing mindset, even if the pricing mechanism is different. So we’re doing more the high-level Business model business strategy and I don’t go anywhere near tax

08:09 – 08:42

Rochelle Moulton: You know, it’s interesting though is I think you said this earlier is that you know, these are CPAs. So they’re presumably people who are logical thinkers and plan things. And your engineering background feels like it would be simpatico with that. And I mean, that’s another thing I think that’s really helpful when we’re trying to figure out, you know, what’s our niche, who are people is where we think like our audience and then where we’re different because the difference is usually the part of the Venn diagram where you are observing them. Yeah.

08:42 – 08:53

Geraldine Carter: And that has been super helpful because we think alike enough, we get each other, but we don’t think exactly the same. And the differential between the 2 is of enormous value.

08:53 – 09:01

Rochelle Moulton: It’s kind of like saying, well, what if what you think you see isn’t really what you see? I mean, it’s a fresh set of eyes.

09:01 – 09:27

Geraldine Carter: Yeah. And there’s so many things in the accounting space that have just been done this way for years. It’s just every space has this, right? Every industry has its culture. And accounting tax is no different. So there, I wouldn’t say they’re sacred cows, but there are a lot of things that are just taken as a given as this is how we do things. And like you say, it takes a fresh set of eyes to come in and be like, wait, what you do this? How? How now?

09:27 – 09:28

Rochelle Moulton: Why do you do that?

09:28 – 09:36

Geraldine Carter: Yeah, why do you do this? Why do you not plan out your tax season and who your clients are going to be and know how much room you have and shut the door when you don’t have room for more? How come you don’t close your door when you’re full?

09:37 – 09:40

Rochelle Moulton: That just boggles the mind right there. But okay.

09:41 – 10:02

Geraldine Carter: I mean, they have rationale for it. And if you follow it, it makes sense. You can follow their logic. And yet it leads them right into the same trap of being overworked but it’s just how they do things in the accounting space so it takes the non accountant to come in and be like okay hold on a minute this makes no sense and not only does it not make no sense I

10:02 – 10:02

Rochelle Moulton: mean it makes sense in the

10:02 – 10:27

Geraldine Carter: way that you think about it. But not only can we find a better way, that way is imminently doable, you will like it better, and you will make more money and you won’t have to work as many hours. But because they’re because the force of history is so significant, and they look around and they don’t see other people doing it in a new way. All they have is evidence for the other way. It feels really risky to try anything different.

10:27 – 10:34

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, risky especially in a profession that is generally risk-averse. I mean, you want your accountant to be the steady

10:34 – 11:03

Geraldine Carter: man. They say that they are risk averse and they love this thread. I’m just gonna pick it up for half a minute. They love saying that they are risk averse, but they work long hours and risk missing their lives. They under price and they risk having to work extra hours in order to make up for it. They are generalists and risk having clients who are all over the map. Accountants love to say they are risk averse, but honestly, I can find a list of 10 ways that they are taking risks with their lives and with their

11:03 – 11:05

Geraldine Carter: business and with their profits and with their time.

11:06 – 11:14

Rochelle Moulton: I love that so much. I’m thinking of all the CPAs I’ve ever met and it describes a lot of them right there.

11:18 – 11:23

Geraldine Carter: I’m not going to any friends by saying this, but honestly, the phrase, well, we’re accountants, we’re risk averse is like a webby.

11:23 – 11:52

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, yeah, I know. I hear that. It makes sense. Well, and truthfully, they’re not that different from the rest of us, if you think about it, because we’re all risk averse when, when we think there’s only 1 way to do something because it’s the only way that we’ve known. It’s kind of like coming out of corporate and starting consulting and saying, okay, So I’m going to have an hourly rate and then I’m going to take what I used to make. I’m going to throw in the benefits. I’m going to divide by however many hours I think

11:52 – 12:00

Rochelle Moulton: is right. And that’s going to be my hourly rate. I mean, you just have to start thinking differently and experimenting, right, until you find the right thing.

12:01 – 12:35

Geraldine Carter: I think 1 of the things about my audience is part of being a soloist and being inside your niche is really understanding how they think in ways that are different than how I just assume people think. And as an engineer kind of background, scientist-y kind of background, I don’t have any problem experimenting. I learn by breaking things and trying to put it back together. So that to me, that way of doing things seems to me like the normal and of course you would do it this way kind of way. But the thing that I needed to

12:35 – 13:00

Geraldine Carter: come to appreciate about the way that my people think is that they really like guidance, they really like rules, they want to do a good job, they want to do the right thing, and they need the guidance, the in-air quotes rules in order to be able to do a good job. And it provides them some ballast, if you will, to know that they’re in the right lane.

13:00 – 13:01

Rochelle Moulton: Yeah.

13:01 – 13:37

Geraldine Carter: So, I have to appreciate where they’re coming from and be able to appreciate their way of thinking about things so that I don’t just barge in with my own sort of like let’s just experiment what’s the big deal kind of attitude because it won’t work. It won’t be effective for them. And I think if I come in with that, it might kind of, I don’t want to say scare them off, but they might be more reluctant. Rather than if I come in kind of appreciating how they view changing things, going against the grain, in air quotes,

13:37 – 14:09

Geraldine Carter: risk, and doing it in a way that feels safe, that doesn’t feel like they’re gonna blow a hole in the boat of their business. Doing things in a way that does feel like, okay, I can just run a swatch test on the segment of clients to see how this goes. And if it goes horribly, nobody will know. So there’s, I think, real value in being different from your niche, understanding, being the same as you’re, like, in some ways similar to your niche in some ways different but also really appreciating how they view the world and not

14:09 – 14:14

Geraldine Carter: assuming that your worldview is doesn’t everybody have this worldview.

14:14 – 14:45

Rochelle Moulton: Yes and I think that’s important to insert into your point of view and then you fold that into the practices that you create to actually do your work. I mean, when you were describing it, the word that kept flashing in neon for me was coach. I mean, because what you’re doing is you’re meeting them where they are, and then figuring out where they want to go and helping them to get there. It’s like you’re building the bridge, or maybe you’re bringing part of a bridge that’s already built and then you build the rest together.

14:46 – 15:18

Geraldine Carter: Yeah, and the thing that I’m, the thing that I love doing the most is help them get where they want to go, but even...

What's A Soloist?

Rochelle Moulton — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0700

Before I start introducing you to some amazing guests in the soloist space, it makes sense to start with an important question: what exactly is a soloist anyway? And why would you want to be one?

I talk about:

Finding delight the soloist way, despite having built—and sold to the big boys—a successful firm with employees.
Why a soloist business allows you to earn more money, more reliably with none of the employee hassles that can eat up your energy and keep you awake at night.
The importance of niching, discovering the revolution you were meant to lead and going deeper into your genius zone.
The mindset of successful soloists (hint: think simplicity and ease) as we build an upward spiral of ideas, products and services.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

The Soloist Women Mastermind (September 2023) A structured eight-month mastermind with a small group of no more than 12 hand-picked women soloists grappling with—and solving—the same challenges.
10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?
The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:44

Rochelle Moulton: Your mindset is a bit like a muscle. You need to regularly exercise its limits so you can keep building an upward spiral, an upward spiral of ideas of products and services of ways to create the impact you crave with your people. Hello, hello, and welcome to the Soloist Women podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton. And since we're launching this brand spanking new podcast on soloist women today, I thought we should start with an important question. What exactly is a soloist and why would you want to be 1?

00:45 - 01:24

Rochelle Moulton: For those of you who don't know my story, I spent 10 years of my early career in a big global consulting firm, learning the craft of consulting, building practices and businesses. And I loved it until I didn't. And basically the partnership I worked so hard for and wanted a really young age just wasn't enough to compensate for how I felt about the work I was doing and the difference I was making. So I started my first expertise business And we built it around this idea of staffing it with MBA women, usually mothers, from the big firms

01:24 - 01:59

Rochelle Moulton: who'd had enough of working 60 plus hour weeks, living on airplanes, and still being made to feel they weren't contributing enough to make partner. The beauty of the idea was that we had our pick of highly qualified potential consultants who were desperate for a better way to run their career and their life. And the Fortune 500 firms that were our bread and butter loved our flexible model and they sent business our way, even solo sourcing us a lot of the time. So my point is that I've built businesses with employees, quite a few of them actually.

01:59 - 02:39

Rochelle Moulton: And if that's what's calling to you, by all means go out and build 1. It's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. But if today you asked me to do the same thing I'd say no freaking way because I found true delight in the soloist way. No employees to feel responsible for and worry about. No big overhead that might make me say yes to work or clients I don't want. And a hundred percent complete freedom to do whatever I decide floats my boat. I earn more money more reliably with none of the hassles that used to

02:39 - 03:16

Rochelle Moulton: eat up my energy and keep me awake at night. It's a level of freedom and joy that now that I've tasted it I just couldn't give up And if you're at all inclined to this soloist life, I'm here to help you master it. Okay, so what's a soloist exactly? Well, here's how I think about it. You're the 1 who is center stage. You might have a backup band, contractors who help you create or deliver services, or you might be totally alone in the spotlight working your magic for the crowd. But here's the thing, Just because you're

03:16 - 03:57

Rochelle Moulton: a soloist doesn't mean you're alone. You have support inside your business, like a lawyer, maybe a bookkeeper, a CPA, a web team, a VA, a coach, and you have allies outside. You have an authority circle of kindred spirits who speak or write or consult in your space and are building engaged audiences who can benefit from your message. What you don't have is employees, which makes it far, far easier to design your work and your life to maximize the time you spend in your genius zone doing only those things you love that you do better than anyone

03:57 - 04:34

Rochelle Moulton: else. Now think about that for a moment. You get to work not on your weaknesses or even to polish up the things you're excellent at, you are focused on eliminating all of that and zeroing in on what you do best that happens to make time fly by because you're so in flow when you're doing it. A soloist is constantly searching for and testing the boundaries of their genius zone, which is 1 big reason why we niche, right? We burrow into a finely tuned set of clients, an area of expertise that allows us to multiply our value

04:34 - 05:18

Rochelle Moulton: because we understand our niche so well. We constantly magnify ourselves to attract our ideal clients and buyers. Almost No 1 starts our kind of businesses knowing exactly who they're going to serve. It's definitely a process. But once we've proven our business model usually around the hundred thousand dollar per year mark, we start to get pretty relentless about working only with people who inspire and energize us. Because we've gotten a taste of nirvana and just a taste isn't enough, we want the whole 5 course meal. A soloist has the freedom to explore new ideas, to play with

05:18 - 05:57

Rochelle Moulton: a concept, to drop into potential rabbit holes and talk about them to see if maybe there's something there. That something might just be a momentary thing that you wind up discarding, or it might wind up being a significant chunk of your body of work. The point is there is no 1 to tell you not to pursue your ideas. You get to choose. Which brings me to the soloist mindset. The most successful soloists punch through their fear on a pretty regular basis and by the way anyone who tells you they have no fear is a liar well

05:57 - 06:42

Rochelle Moulton: or associate bath. Your mindset is a bit like a muscle. You need to regularly exercise its limits so you can keep building an upward spiral. An upward spiral of ideas, of products and services, of ways to create the impact you crave with your people. And a soloist, think of the rock star Prima Ballerina gets paid more than anyone. And I will argue probably to my dying breath that soloists not only can but must charge premium prices because we are delivering focused high-value transformations to our clients and buyers and we believe deeply in being paid what we're

06:42 - 07:24

Rochelle Moulton: worth and because we're building not just for today but for rainy days and gloriously sunny days when we want to go out and play instead of working. Soloists charge based on the value we deliver and we're not shy about it. Which brings me to something else that's really important, especially once you've proven your business is viable and sustainable. What's the revolution you most want to lead? Because that's where you and your business can make a serious dent in the universe. You can change lives and have an impact far beyond just yourself. So Lewis also embrace simplicity

07:25 - 08:05

Rochelle Moulton: and ease because we choose to focus on only what moves the needle. We want systems that work, that are low maintenance, and allow us to spend the maximum amount of time in our genius zone. And frankly, this is true no matter your gender. Solists don't buy into the bro hustle model. We don't blindly try to grow just for gross sake. We're always looking to optimize revenue, free time, flexibility, and impact for our vision of the lives we most want to lead. We create our own vision and we dance to our own music. So I realized that

08:05 - 08:50

Rochelle Moulton: I've just thrown a whole lot at you. So let me summarize how I see soloists. A soloist is the only 1 on center stage. A soloist has no employees. A soloist is relentlessly focused on discovering their genius zone and moving all of their time to it. A soloist works only with clients and buyers who energize and inspire them. A soloist niches down into a finely tuned set of clients, an area of expertise that they can own. A soloist punches through their fear on a regular basis because they're looking for that upward spiral of ideas, of products

08:50 - 09:36

Rochelle Moulton: and services, of ways to create the impact they crave with their people. A soloist charges premium prices without apology. A soloist chooses a revolution to lead and goes all in. A soloist embraces simplicity and ease. And a soloist rejects the bro hustle model. So I wanted to set the table for this podcast by sharing my vision of what a truly amazing soloist business can deliver to you, to those you love, and to those you wish to serve. It's with that vision in mind that I've chosen the upcoming guests. In the next episodes you'll hear some I

09:36 - 10:05

Rochelle Moulton: think very inspiring stories from soloists who've crossed the dip in their business. It wasn't always pretty but they're going to share some hard-won tales from the front and we'll show you what is possible as they work on their upward spiral living and working in their genius zone. And you'll meet some revolution leaders whose ideas and wisdom are exactly what we need to hear right now. So that's it for this episode. I hope you'll join us next time for Soloist Women. Bye-bye.

Trailer

Rochelle Moulton — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 02:00:00 -0700

The Soloist Life podcast welcomes you into real, gutsy conversations with revolution leaders, authors, and Soloists who are kicking butt and taking names. We’re uncovering the very best ideas, strategies and mindset shifts to build your ideal life the soloist way. Hosted by Rochelle Moulton, author of The Authority Code and champion of the Soloist life.