Invincible Solopreneurs - Make a living doing more of what you love

Let me take you on a little tour of Juneau, Alaska, while I share some business advice with you. I tried to stick to the quieter residential streets instead of heading into the chaos of the cruise ships and tourists downtown. 📞 You can always schedule a free call with me to discuss your own exit blueprint. Key Takeaways *Summary generated from the video transcript by Lumo AI. * Start with your life, not the business: Don’t fall into the trap of building a business that replicates the constraints of employment. Instead, map out your ideal daily routine, location, and social circle first, then reverse-engineer a business that supports that lifestyle.* Master the “Who, What, Where, When, Why”: Intentionally choose who you serve (e.g., specific type of customers), what you sell (digital vs. physical, synchronous vs. asynchronous), where you work (remote vs. brick-and-mortar), and how you operate to ensure maximum flexibility.* Leverage digital and asynchronous models for freedom: Prioritize selling digital goods or services that don’t require your immediate presence, allowing you to scale infinitely and work from anywhere without being tethered to a physical location or specific time zone.* Define your deep “Why” to sustain your journey: Whether it’s spending time with family, pursuing nature, or reclaiming personal freedom, your core motivation must drive your business structure so you never feel trapped by your own success.* Build your “Exit Blueprint” while employed: Design and validate your business systems thoroughly before quitting your job to eliminate financial panic and ensure a smooth transition to a life where you call the shots.From corporate exec to entrepreneur, Larry Cornett is a coach who helps you leverage your existing expertise to design a self-employment business that funds the life you want. Escape the 9-to-5 grind by creating your Exit Blueprint to freedom! ➡️ Ready to build your blueprint? Book a free call today to claim your spot. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

I often see a common business planning mistake. Too many courses, coaches, and entrepreneurs leap straight into defining the specific business and creating a plan. That skips a critical exploration that I use with my students and clients when we work together. There’s a reason I emphasize this point in my LinkedIn bio: “Escape Career Burnout, Rebuild Your Confidence, and Reinvent Yourself Without Starting Over.”I also use it in my description of this newsletter and podcast: “I help midlife professionals leverage their expertise to create a self-employment plan that helps them escape their 9-to-5 jobs without starting over.” Launching a new business and quitting your 9-to-5 job is already hard. Starting over from scratch makes it even harder. I see people try that, and that’s one reason so many new businesses fail. * The tech employee who wants to open a coffee shop, but has no experience with a brick and mortar business, the food industry, or even being a barista. * The sales guy who wants to open a restaurant, but has never been a chef or even worked in a restaurant before. * The police officer who dreams of running a bar, but knows nothing about the logistics and experience of doing that. I’m not saying that it is impossible to reinvent yourself completely, escape your professional past, and do something entirely new. Almost anything is possible with time and hard work, of course. However, it will take longer to acquire the new skills, knowledge, and experience. It will take longer to get things right and start generating enough revenue to survive. That’s hard and a little scary when you have bills to pay and your bank account is dwindling. That is why my 8-week Exit Blueprint builds on a foundation that does not require you to start over. We begin at the very first level of identifying and capturing your undeniable existing expertise. * What are the natural talents that you’ve always had since childhood?* What valuable knowledge have you acquired through your education, employment, and personal life?* What useful skills have you developed through your work and life?* What experience have you gained that can be applied to your future entrepreneurial plans?Next—before we even get into exploring a business model—we uncover your life goals, what you want most in the end, and what you enjoy doing. * Looking back on your personal and professional life to identify flow state moments.* Capturing when you feel most competent and confident. * Peeling back the layers of work responsibilities to see what you actually enjoyed doing.* Paying attention to the interests and passions you’ve had for most of your life.* Describing and defining your ideal lifestyle (e.g., how you want to spend your days).* Visualizing and defining your ideal end state after the next 20-30 years.* Identifying the next best move to put you on the path to reaching your ultimate goals. My progress pyramid structures the course and coaching engagement. We collaborate to build it up from the foundation all the way to the top with the ultimate goal of a functional and fulfilling self-employed business model and plan. 🎧 Note: I discuss this in more detail in the podcast episode audio. So, scroll up, hit play, and listen. In this episode, I take you through the exercises and questions I use to help my clients build that first foundational layer. I will share more details for each subsequent layer in the model over the coming months. By the way, I will offer The Exit Blueprint in multiple formats. One might be more interesting to you than the others. * Private coaching (one-on-one)* Cohort courses (small groups)* Workshops (online and in-person)* DIY course (on your own)I’m planning on running the first cohort course later this year, and will probably offer it again about twice a year in the future. If you’re interested in the course or a different format, please sign up to be notified about the specific dates. I’d love to work with you on your business idea! From corporate exec to entrepreneur, Larry Cornett is a coach who helps you leverage your existing expertise to design a self-employment business that funds the life you want. Escape the 9-to-5 grind by creating your Exit Blueprint to freedom! ➡️ Ready to build your blueprint? Book a free call today to claim your spot. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Summary of this Episode Note: I only used Lumo AI to summarize the transcript from the audio of me talking in this podcast episode. I did not use AI to create my outline notes (wrote those by hand in a notebook), and I did not use AI to write some sort of script. It is just me talking in one take. So, scroll up and hit play to listen to the full details of the what, why, how, and next steps of this strategic change. In this episode, I’m announcing a strategic shift away from the “Invincible Solopreneurs” brand, which I’ve found to be too limiting for the movement I want us all to build. I talk more about this in the podcast audio. Through extensive community feedback, survey responses, and conversations with friends and advisors, I realized that “invincible” felt unrealistic and “solopreneur” alienated those wanting more traditional businesses that hire employees. Instead, I’m introducing The Exit Blueprint, a comprehensive framework, guide, and playbook designed specifically for late-career professionals (primarily Gen X and elder Millennials) who are tired of the corporate grind but aren’t ready to fully retire (or may not have a large enough financial nest egg, yet). The goal is to guide experienced and ambitious people in designing a lifestyle business that gives them autonomy, purpose, and time freedom before they leave their 9-to-5 jobs. I want to ensure a safe and validated transition into their “second act” while they are still receiving a paycheck and don’t feel time and financial pressure. 10 Key Takeaways from this Episode * Rebranding Rationale * The “Invincible Solopreneurs” name is missing the mark because it feels unrealistic (can anyone truly be invincible?) and exclusive (solopreneurs only). * I think it was failing to resonate with those seeking empowered entrepreneurship rather than a solitary struggle. * My Core Audience * The Exit Blueprint targets late-career professionals (e.g., mostly Gen X, some elder Millennials) who are too young to retire financially but increasingly facing ageism and burnout in the corporate world. * Strategic Timing* The best time to build an exit plan is while you still have a steady income. * Panic-driven actions after a job loss rarely lead to well-designed businesses.* I created this business planning framework for people who’ve been working hard for 15-20 years, are approaching burnout, and are ready for something better for their lives. * Life-First Design* The blueprint flips the model: Design your ideal life and lifestyle first, then create a business model that supports it, rather than letting a job dictate how you work and live. * The Power of Autonomy* Time freedom is true wealth. * It gives you the ability to choose when and how much you work, when you play, and how you spend your days. * Avoiding Ageism* Becoming your own boss is the only way to completely eliminate the risk of age discrimination in your career. * You will never fire yourself. * You will never underpay yourself. * Different Options for You* I will offer The Exit Blueprint system in multiple ways; some will be more appropriate than others, depending on your needs and situation. For example… * Private one-on-one coaching * A cohort course with like-minded peers* In-person workshops (welcome back to IRL events!)* Weekend retreats in great locations like Lake Tahoe, California, or Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. * Escaping Corporate Fatigue* The push for creating this exit plan stems from the exhaustion of working on meaningless projects, dealing with repetitive corporate patterns, and lacking control over compensation. * I think we also grow weary of having no control over who our boss is, and the coworkers we have to work with. I sure did. * Validation Before Taking the Leap* The process emphasizes testing and validating business models while still employed, allowing for aggressive creativity without financial desperation. * There is no need to quit your job and lose a steady paycheck until you are sure your new business is going to work. * Empowerment Instead of Invincibility* This new identity focuses on being an “empowered entrepreneur” (e.g., resilient, adaptable, and in control) rather than the impossible standard of being “invincible.” Self-employed Life Is So DifferentMonday mornings during the summer hit differently when you’re self-employed. No more Sunday Night Scaries. No more Monday Morning Blues.Monday mornings during my corporate career felt like an endless series of school-year Mondays, but with no summer break. It just went on, and on, and on…As an independent business owner, I feel a sense of boundless freedom and endless options to choose what I will do with each day. Sometimes I work. Sometimes I play. But each morning starts slowly, the way I want it to. Each day unfolds with the choices I’ve made (not something an employer has decided). I can’t even begin to describe how that freedom feels after decades of not having much choice.I hope you get to experience that feeling soon (like my clients do). That time freedom is the greatest gift of all, and it changes everything!Want to talk with me about designing your own Exit Blueprint to leave your 9-5 job and start your own thing? You can book a free call! From corporate exec to entrepreneur, Larry Cornett is a coach who helps you leverage your existing expertise to design a self-employment business that funds the life you want. Escape the 9-to-5 grind by creating your Exit Blueprint to freedom! ➡️ Ready to build your own blueprint? Book a free call today to claim your spot. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

During my hike through the forest this weekend, I recorded some thoughts about empowerment and what it means for each decade of your life. Some people may find it odd that I simultaneously coach my clients on how to get ahead in their careers and also how to exit the 9-to-5 grind to enjoy self-employment and semi-retirement. However, I see an overall arc to our lives from our 20s to our final years that includes your education, traditional employment, the freedom of a lifestyle business, and maximizing your enjoyment of your final years on this planet. It all centers on empowermentMy empowerment strategy lets you squeeze the most out of your earning years and the most life out of your later years. * Empowered people have more career opportunities than others do. * Empowered people feel confident and courageous in their jobs. * Empowered people demand what they deserve from their working lives. * Empowered people create a path to greater freedom and fulfillment. * Empowered people get more of what they want out of life. * Empowered people live larger and refuse to settle for less. Summary of what I share in the video* The Unifying Thread of Empowerment * Career coaching and self-employment coaching may seem contradictory, but they share one goal: putting you in the driver’s seat of your working life, whether that’s climbing the ladder or exiting to creating your own path.* From Invincible to Empowered * My business branding is evolving. * It’s less about feeling invincible and more about being so skilled, visible, and respected that you become more empowered. * You become an opportunity magnet (I’ve talked a lot about this before). * Power Means You Can Walk Away * When you’re truly empowered, you stop tolerating bad bosses, toxic environments, and unreasonable demands. * During my long career, I have watched talented people push back and win because employers couldn’t afford to lose them.* The Value of Inside Champions * Throughout my career, former colleagues and advocates pulled me into companies and made the interview processes almost effortless. * That kind of network doesn’t happen by accident. * You have to earn it, expand it, and nurture it.* You Will Have Peak Earning Years * Research shows earning potential peaks and then declines. * Senior roles become scarce, and age discrimination is real (especially in tech). * You need to maximize your earnings while this brief window is open.* Same Hours, Very Different Pay * Would you rather earn $100K or $300K for the same eight hours/day? * Push hard for what you deserve. * Do not tolerate a one-way relationship with your employer. Get as much as you give. * The same goes for building a business. Maximize your revenue return for your time and energy. Don’t waste time on low-value activities. * Bank It, Don’t Burn It * Live leaner during your highest-earning years. * Invest aggressively, create a financial safety cushion, and start working on self-employment plans. * You’re buying your freedom through self-employment and better budgeting. * Your 20s Are for Foundation Building * Get educated* Find your people, make good friends, discover love, and find your life partner. * Start figuring out your professional path. * Enjoy this time! Don’t rush the exploration phase. * Your 30s and 40s Are Peak Earning Decades * This is your primary earning window. * Push hard, climb fast, and earn maximum value for your efforts. * Build your network (it’s one of your most valuable resources). * Quietly line up your self-employment plan and runway, so you can flip that freedom switch earlier than most do. * Your 50s+ Are for Living Large * Transition into self-employment that leverages your expertise and everything you already know. * Work when you want, where you want, and how you want. * Play a lot! I’m so glad I took the self-employment path and semi-retired early so I can enjoy my freedom and as much time as possible with the people I love. * Take care of your health and enjoy the last half of your life while you still can. * Life is short! Don’t save your bucket list for a decade where you can’t physically cross items off anymore. What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment if you have a question. Schedule a free call with me if you’d like to discuss your unique situation and brainstorm some ideas for getting more of what you want out of your life and lifestyle business. From corporate exec to entrepreneur, Larry Cornett is a coach who helps you leverage your existing expertise to design a self-employment business that funds the life you want. Escape the 9-to-5 grind by creating your Exit Blueprint to freedom! ➡️ Ready to build your blueprint? Book a free call today to claim your spot. 📘 Check out my Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

The name of this podcast and newsletter has been missing the mark, so I need your help! “Invincible Solopreneurs” has been about freedom, independence, defining your second act, quitting your job, leaving bad bosses, and living life the way you want. But something's not clicking. The name doesn't seem to match what most of you actually want. So, I dive into that in this episode. Scroll up and hit play to listen to the details. Some things I’ve heard over the years* It’s not really about “building a business”, per se. It’s about starting your own thing that makes enough money so you can quit a job that is no longer serving you well. * You want to fund your freedom. You want to control your time. * You are tired of job hopping and interviewing. * You are tired of dealing with bad bosses and toxic managers. * You don’t want to scale something into a massive corporation. You want to create something reasonable and sustainable. * You don’t want a job—or even a business—to be the center of your universe. You want to focus on your life first, then define a model that supports that. * The word “invincible” may not resonate with you. * The word “solopreneur” may not resonate with you. The name I created was a fit for my brand and my other newsletters and podcasts. But a name like this isn't about me. It shouldn’t be about me. It’s about you, what you are seeking, and what you want. So, this change is about serving you better. And I would love to hear from you about what that means. More of what you wantI want to refine the focus of this newsletter and podcast to give you more of what you want. I want to explore the right topics, have the right guests on the show, and share the kind of advice that meets your needs and gives you what you need most. If you’ve been following this newsletter and podcast, I know you care about:* Your freedom* Your independence* Having flexibility * Having time to lead the life you want* Being more than your job and profession* But… you still need to make a living and pay your bills* And you want to stretch your retirement dollars because you’re worried I know you're not really looking for a side hustle. You already have a job, and the last thing you want is more work. Instead, I think you're looking to define your second act (i.e., the next chapter of your life). You are in this in-between space that I was in, and many of my friends are in now. You’re feeling too old to keep getting hired, but you’re too young to retire. * Many of us hit this point in our 50s.* Of course, it’s more salient in some industries and professions than others.* You’re smart, ambitious, and adventurous.* You’re pretty savvy financially, and you’ve had some good successes. * You’re experienced enough that you don’t really like being told what to do. * You no longer have patience for BS, bad leadership, and corporate nonsense. * After decades on this path, you’re ready for something new. But you aren’t quite sure what that looks like yet. * You’re active and healthy, so you know you have a lot of years ahead of you. * You don’t want to fade into the sunset, sit on the porch, golf every day, or sit around playing cards. * You have a retirement plan, some investments, and some savings But, it’s not enough to support your lifestyle and carry you through for the next 30-40 years. * You want to generate an income that lets you cover your expenses and stretches your retirement dollars. * You sure ask heck don’t want to work 8 to 12-hour days, 5 days a week, anymore. You’re done with that. * But what does that mean? What does that look like for you?That, dear reader, is the whole point of this podcast and newsletter. Helping you explore, define, design, and plan your ideal second act so the last half of your life is as exciting and fulfilling as you can make it! What name best captures the essence of this?I know that “Invincible Solopreneurs” isn’t doing the job. I’m not married to any specific name or brand. * I care about the mission. * I care about this movement. * I feel so passionate about it that this is exactly what I’ve done with my own career and life. So, what should the new brand communicate? What should it promise?* It could be something that sounds like a fresh new chapter in your life. * The second act of your career and life.* Maybe how this isn’t your parent’s career path, and it’s certainly not their model of retirement. * Something that sounds like independence and autonomy. * Something that evokes a sense of excitement, adventure, and freedom.* Maybe something that hints at financial independence, but isn’t about getting rich (i.e., there’s more to life than money). Here’s where you come in. I’d love to get your input! A few questions for you I created a short questionnaire to get your thoughts on this renaming exercise. It has five questions and should only take about 2-3 minutes to complete. As one of my readers and listeners, I would really appreciate your feedback. Thanks! Next steps* You can join my free community if you’d like to discuss this in more detail with me and the other members. * After getting input from all of you, I’ll explore the ideas and come up with a few options. * In a few weeks, I should be able to share the new naming ideas with you and see what you think. * Nothing is going to change right away. I want to make a decision that reflects your wants and needs. * And the overall mission and movement doesn’t really change. It just becomes more focused on what you want. Reading & resources (mentioned in the podcast episode) * What is Coast FIRE? * Retirement calculator (what will you need?)* Gen X is facing a retirement crisis* “Company of One - Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business” by Paul Jarvis * “Free Agent Nation - How Americans New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live” by Daniel PinkWould you like to discuss your goals and plans with me? You can always schedule a complimentary call.Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious people to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal! Would you like to help support my newsletter and podcast, but don’t want to commit to a monthly fee? Check out my ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee. I’m a solopreneur, and coaching and writing are how I provide for my family. Thanks for your help! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Have you ever considered moving abroad? Do you dream of running a business in a more affordable location to improve your quality of life? If so, you will enjoy my guest for this episode, Casey Kelly. We had a great conversation about how and why she moved from Texas to Portugal, and the unique challenges of establishing and operating her small business from there. About Casey, in her own words:“I help people navigate complex, dynamic, multi-stage processes to get the outcomes they want. How? Two ways.First: I help AI-native and AI-enhanced SaaS companies plan and execute GTM, thought leadership, and customer success story content to drive sales, differentiate the brand, and generate investor interest.Second: I help Americans who want to move to Europe plan and execute their research effectively, so they can find the right destination for their needs, without wasting money or time.”Summary of what we discussed (scroll up and hit play to listen to the details)* Motivation to relocate – Casey’s research on elder‑care costs sparked a desire to leave the U.S. and explore a more sustainable lifestyle abroad.* Choosing Portugal over Spain – Portugal offered a clear, early‑adopter digital‑nomad visa, whereas Spain’s process was vague and slower.* Business restructuring – Casey wound down her U.S. S‑Corp and re‑established herself as an independent contractor in Portugal, relying on a local CPA to navigate tax and registration requirements.* Banking hurdles for Americans – U.S. reporting obligations deter many Portuguese banks from serving expats; success required persistent outreach and leveraging peer recommendations.* Cultural adjustments – Portuguese social etiquette, respect for hierarchy, slower pace of life, doing business, etc.* Language challenges – Portuguese is linguistically more complex than Spanish, with nuanced pronunciation, extensive formality levels, etc.* Work-style challenges – Maintaining U.S. client relationships requires flexible hours to accommodate time-zone differences, navigating time pressure, blocking vacation time, and clearly communicating availability. * Community building & information curation – Frustrated by noisy social media groups, Casey created the “We’re Moving to Europe” Skool community and Substack newsletter to centralize resources for Americans considering relocation. * Practical relocation checklist – Emphasizes defining non‑negotiables (e.g., healthcare, accessibility, friendliness, medication availability, income needs) before selecting a country or visa type.* Mindset shift – Moving abroad forced Casey to abandon the “always‑busy” U.S. work culture, adopt a slower rhythm, and prioritize personal well‑being over constant productivity, illustrating how our environment shapes our work habits.Where to find Casey* Her online community, “We’re Moving to Europe.”* Her Substack publication, “We’re Moving to Europe.”* Her LinkedIn profileWould you like to review your business plans with me? You can always schedule a complimentary call.Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal! Would you like to help support my newsletter and podcast, but don’t want to commit to a monthly fee? Check out my ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee. I’m a solopreneur, and coaching and writing are how I provide for my family. Thanks for your help! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

What if I told you that your office job is not important? By the way, that links to a pretty funny video from the comedian Ali Woods. I upset quite a few people on LinkedIn when I made a comment months ago that most companies and jobs don’t need to exist. I guess this really touched a nerve because I dusted off that comment recently, and someone immediately became angry with me again. Ironically, they work for a pretty reckless corporation that provides a service that is destroying our society and our planet’s resources. But hey, what do I know? Secretly, I think many of us know it’s true, though we shouldn’t say it out loud if we want to keep receiving our paychecks. Many companies (especially in tech) don’t provide any real value, except to each other in some weird ecosystem of mutual support, corporate theater, and meaningless employment. Not only do many of them not generate meaningful value, but some are actually net negative. * They damage our society. * They put our children at risk. * The world would be better off without these corporations. Case in point: Meta wasted $73B on its silly metaverse concept, which has also been exposed as putting children at risk. Now, thousands of employees are losing jobs that were dedicated to that nonsense. And Meta lawyers are ordering evidence of child exploitation destroyed and research findings buried. Another example: watch Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft playing in their infinite AI money loop (see illustration below). It’s so ridiculous. So, we have companies that don’t really need to exist, creating products that shouldn’t exist, and hiring people for jobs that are mostly pointless. David Graeber called these “b******t jobs” in his book “B******t Jobs: A Theory.” What is a b******t job? The defining feature is this: one so completely pointless that even the person who has to perform it every day cannot convince themselves there’s a good reason for them to be doing it. They may not be able to admit this to their co-workers – often, there are very good reasons not to do so – but they are convinced the job is pointless nonetheless.B******t jobs are not just jobs that are useless; typically, there has to be some degree of pretence and fraud involved as well. The employee must feel obliged to pretend that there is, in fact, a good reason their job exists, even if, privately, they find such claims ridiculous. (source)We've all encountered people working in such jobs. This famous scene in the movie “Office Space” shows “The Bobs” grilling an employee who obviously has a BS job. The Bobs are consultants the company hired to help make the daily operations run more efficiently while maximizing profits (i.e., deciding who should be fired). Outline of what I discuss in this episode (scroll up and hit play to listen to the details)* The pandemic opened our eyes * Parkinson's Law* Remote work opened up new possibilities* AI is disrupting corporate jobs* How to “play the game”* Or, redefine the gameWould you like to review your business strategy with me? You can always schedule a complimentary call.Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!Would you like to help support my newsletter and podcast, but don’t want to commit to a monthly fee? Check out my ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee. I’m a solopreneur, and coaching and writing are how I provide for my family. Thanks for your help! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Summary of Our Recent Livestream In this episode, Anna Codina - Stress Coach and I discussed what it really takes to transition from a traditional job into solopreneurship without rushing, overspending, or forcing yourself to become someone you’re not. One thing I wanted to clarify right away is that solopreneurship does not mean working alone. For me, it simply means keeping a clean business structure (i.e., one owner) while staying flexible about collaboration. Over the years, I’ve partnered with other solopreneurs, hired contractors, and worked closely with people like Anna, all without formal long-term partnerships or employees. That flexibility has saved me a lot of stress and allowed me to scale my business.We spent a lot of time on validation, because this is where most people go wrong. I strongly believe you should test business ideas with as little time and money as possible. You can do a meaningful test with a simple landing page, a clear problem statement, and real conversations with real potential customers. If no one signs up or wants to pay, that’s not a total failure. It’s just early feedback that saves you from wasted effort and money, and tells you to take things in a different direction. We also talked about patience and rejection. Silence doesn’t mean that no one is paying attention. I’ve had clients reach out years later and tell me they’d been quietly reading my work the whole time. This kind of business often has a long lead time, and relationships compound if you keep showing up and listening to what people actually need.As introverts, Anna and I also shared why you don’t need to be loud, salesy, or charismatic to succeed. Writing, podcasting, broadcasting, and one-on-one conversations work far better for me than large networking events or hard sales tactics. On my discovery calls, I don’t pitch at all. I just try to help! Most of the time, people ask me how they can keep working with me.The big takeaway is this: solopreneurship is a long game. It’s about planting seedlings (e.g., content, relationships, small experiments) and letting them grow over time. You don’t need perfection. You need consistent action, small failures, and the willingness to keep going even when it feels like no one is watching.That’s how sustainable and fulfilling small businesses are built. ⬆️ Scroll up and hit play if you want to listen to our entire conversation. Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! If you’re interested in joining my free Invincible Solopreneurs community, please complete this application form, and we’ll get back to you. Anna Codina is a peak performance coach who helps busy owners detach from work to live better personal lives. Are you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or struggling to find that elusive work-life harmony? You’re not alone. Her coaching philosophy is simple: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Get unstuck in 15 mins!I know some people would like to help support my newsletter and podcast, but don’t want to commit to a monthly fee. I get it! So, I set up a ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee to let folks contribute without an ongoing financial commitment. I’m a solopreneur, and coaching and writing are how I provide for my family. Thanks for your support! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Solopreneurship doesn’t mean you always go solo. In this episode, I talk more about how partnerships and collaborations can help you grow your business and achieve greater things when you feel stuck on your own. I also share some stories from my past businesses and partnerships, current collaborative efforts, and how others have partnered to build their businesses. ⬆️ Scroll up, hit play, and listen. Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! If you’re interested in joining my free Invincible Solopreneurs community, please complete this application form, and we’ll get back to you. Thanks!I know some people would like to help support my newsletter and podcast, but don’t want to commit to a monthly fee. I get it! So, I set up a ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee to let folks contribute without an ongoing financial commitment. I’m a solopreneur, and coaching and writing are how I provide for my family. Thanks for your support! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

In this episode, Anna and I discuss the trap of building a business that replicates the worst parts of being an employee, but gives you none of the benefits. We have friends and clients who have made that mistake! Below are a few questions you should ask yourself. Note: We dive deep into each one in the podcast audio. Scroll up, hit play, and listen. Do you own your time?* If you’re always reacting to client work, you’re not running the business. It’s running you.Do you have pricing power?* Jobs pay for your time.* Businesses charge for outcomes.* If clients push your rates around, you’re still in employee mode.Can you say no without panicking?* The ability to decline a project without anxiety = business maturity.Are you building systems?* A business builds assets: processes, IP, offers, funnels, and client lists.* If everything breaks without you, it’s a job with more overhead.Do you work on the business or always in it?* Time spent thinking, planning, or optimizing = actual business-owner work.* If you never zoom out, you’re just self-managing burnout. Do you have an acquisition engine?* If you rely on luck, referrals, or job boards, you’re a contractor, not a business owner. ➡️ Are you worried that your business model has become an unpleasant trap? You can always schedule a call with Larry or Anna. See links below… Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! You can schedule a complimentary call with him at any time. Anna Codina is a peak performance coach who helps busy owners detach from work to live better personal lives. Are you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or struggling to find that elusive work-life harmony? You’re not alone. Her coaching philosophy is simple: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Get unstuck in 15 mins! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Why would you repeat old pain and misery if you could choose to escape it? I think everyone would prefer to avoid that situation. Yet, many people escape a bad work experience only to find themselves right back in the middle of another nightmare. I was recently talking with a friend who had worked for a narcissistic boss. They described how bad the environment was and the horrible things this boss said and did. So, they eventually quit and found a new job. Guess what? Their new boss is toxic, too. The work environment is unhealthy, and they dream of escaping it. Again. Negative patterns have an unpleasant way of repeating if you don’t solve the underlying issues that create them. Given all this, I ask my business coaching clients to stop racing ahead with an entrepreneurial idea. I want them to pause, take a breath, and engage in some deep introspection first. If I work with you, I start the business coaching and planning process with a deep dive into: * Who you really are. * How you want to spend your days. * What you really want for your life. * Where you want to (ideally) end up when your working journey ends. In this episode, I take you through the first step of what a coaching engagement with me is like and the exercises I would ask you to complete. Scroll up, hit play, and listen to hear some ideas that can help you design your next new business. ➡️ Would you like to brainstorm some marketing ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

“Why didn’t you answer my emails this weekend?” My new client had already forgotten the ground rules I had established before we started working together. For example: * I don’t work for free.* I don’t work over the weekend. * I don’t do calls super early in the morning or late at night (I make some exceptions for clients in radically different time zones). * I’m not available for texting 24x7. * I take time off for vacations, holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions. * I'm not available for panicked last-minute calls with the expectation that I drop everything. Do you know why?Because I did all the above as an employee, and it made my life miserable. I missed weekends with my children, dinners with my family, and vacations. I worked myself to death and damaged my physical, emotional, and mental health.Therefore, I sure as hell would not design my business to replicate that misery. You shouldn’t either! As an employee, you have to put up with a lot of crap if you want to get promoted and keep your job. It’s an employer’s market now, and they know it. When you create your first business, it’s easy to overlook setting boundaries because you may not have been allowed to do that as an employee. Even if you established some limits, you sure couldn’t set all the boundaries you wanted! So, you may end up on a slippery slope of clients/customers pushing your boundaries inch by inch. It usually starts slowly with a late call here and some extra free work there. But, before you know it, you’ve let things go too far and you're finding yourself pretty miserable running a business that was supposed to set you free. Let me be your guide for this and advise you to capture what you want your working boundaries to be now. Some you’ll know right away, but some you will discover as you work with more clients. No worries! Document the new ones and add these additional guidelines to future contracts. I go into more detail in the audio of this podcast episode, so scroll up, hit play, and listen. I discuss seven critical categories to consider when establishing your boundaries with clients. * Communication Boundaries* Time Boundaries* Financial Boundaries* Scope of Work Boundaries* Professional Boundaries* Personal Energy & Emotional Boundaries* Legal & Ethical BoundariesI created a Google Doc with placeholder operational guidelines for an engagement with clients and customers. Feel free to copy it and modify as needed for your type of business! Would you like to brainstorm some boundary ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call. Larry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Business owners don’t talk about this enough… Not every client is worth keeping. Sometimes the money isn’t worth the misery. That’s what Anna and Larry discuss in this episode: * The hidden costs of nightmare clients (boy, do we have some stories!).* A framework for deciding when it is time to let a client go: * When there is a values misalignment* When energy drain > revenue gain* When it becomes a growth limiter* The Pain-in-the-Ass Index™ (PITA Score)* The red flags that tell you it’s time to fire a client* How to be a professional when you let a client go. The PITA scoring systemYou can use this scoring system to evaluate your working relationship with a client who seems to drain you. It can help you remain objective when deciding whether to keep or fire a client. A score of “1” means the client is ideal and at the top of your client list for that criterion (e.g., they are very respectful, honor your boundaries, always pay on time, never stress you, align with your values, etc.). A score of “10” means the client is toxic and at the bottom of your client list for that criterion (e.g., they are very disrespectful, do not honor your boundaries, pay late, stress you, do not align with your values, make you feel dread when they call, etc.). Final Score = (Average score of the seven criteria) + Gut Check Point (if applicable).Decision Guide* 1–3 = All good — continue engagement.* 4–5 = Some concerns — address issues or set firmer boundaries.* 6–7 = Serious warning — consider renegotiation or preparing to end it. * ≥ 8 = Actively toxic — initiate disengagement soon.Have you ever had to fire a client? What led you to that decision? Larry Cornett is an Empowerment Coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!Anna Codina is a peak performance coach who helps busy owners detach from work to live better personal lives. Are you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or struggling to find that elusive work-life harmony? You're not alone. Her coaching philosophy is simple: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Get unstuck in 15 mins! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is David Jesse, Executive Product Leader, advisor, coach, and founder of Crescendo Product Group. His company enables product teams to deliver progressively stronger customer value and business outcomes.About DavidDavid Jesse is a seasoned product management executive with over 25 years of experience in companies ranging from seed-stage startups to large public enterprises. With deep expertise in marketplaces and global expansion, David has held executive product leadership roles at DoorDash, Fetch, Groupon, and eBay during periods of rapid expansion.David is also a co-founder and co-lead of the Chicago Product Alliance. The CPA works to elevate the general practice of product in Chicago. They organize keynote speakers, panels, workshops, and meetups in conjunction with Chicago chapters of groups such as ProductTank, Women In Product, ProductCamp, and Black Product Managers.We talk about* His background in Product leadership at eBay, PayPal, Gaia Interactive, Groupon, DoorDash, Fetch, etc. * When you have high-performing teams, people can flex between roles* How he defines fractional leadership (i.e., expertise on demand) * Why companies hire fractional leaders to help them accelerate execution, solve problems with gaps, navigate change management, tap into unique expertise, etc. * Fractional vs. Interim leadership needs for a client* Product operations vs. Product execution * The value of getting an outside, unbiased perspective * How your network is one of your most powerful career assets * The serendipity of discovering new opportunities through your network * How your reputation—good or bad—follows you around * Why he founded Crescendo Product Group and how he helps companies (e.g., transformation consulting, product leadership coaching, workshops)* The value of having a leadership mentor who is in your corner* How product management has evolved over the past decades * The massive disruption, new opportunities, and risks of using AI * How people should think about their careers for the next 10 yearsScroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find more* Crescendo Product Group* David’s LinkedInLarry Cornett is a business coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become more invincible, and create better opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!Invincible Solopreneurs is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Set your solopreneur systems up more easily, launch your new business faster, and learn quickly through real testing with real customers in just a few days. That’s what Anna and I discuss in this episode. By the way, she is safe from the volcanic eruption in Costa Rica. Let’s get that out of the way first. You’ll hear us talking about it at the beginning of the episode. Once we moved past that concern, we jumped into the topic of how we set up all the basic tech and operational services for new solopreneur businesses (more details below). I recently created a new tech stack for someone’s solopreneur business. I shared this in an article a few weeks ago, so I included those 10 steps below. Scroll up and hit play on this podcast episode to hear us go into more detail about the process, why the systems are so important, and what we recommend when starting your new business. Sequence of setup operations* Email: Create an email address for your business using a trusted email provider. For example, you can set up a new business email address using Proton Mail (e.g., [email protected]) and purchase a plan that provides at least one custom email name (e.g., [email protected]).* Domain Name: Now, you can use that new email address to sign up for domain name hosting (e.g., Namecheap) and secure a suitable domain name for your business.* Calendar: Unfortunately, I haven’t found another calendar service that integrates as easily with so many other services as Google Calendar does. So, you’ll have to set that up for your business, too.* Cloudflare: I love using Cloudflare for its ease of managing DNS records, improved website performance, and enhanced security (e.g., blocking attacks). To use Cloudflare to manage your DNS records instead, update your nameservers with your domain name host (step 2).* Custom Email Domain: Now that you have your domain name, you can set up a custom email name with Proton (e.g., [email protected]) and update your DNS MX records with Cloudflare. Please verify that you can send and receive from this new custom email before you use it to sign up for any other business services.* Website: Use your preferred website builder and hosting service to set up your new business website (e.g., I like Carrd). You will want to publish this new website using your new business domain (e.g., www.yourbusinessdomain.com).* Booking Meetings: Many services (e.g., Calendly) allow people to schedule meetings, but I’m a fan of TidyCal for its “buy once, use forever” model. Once you configure this service, you can set up both free and paid appointments.* Getting Paid: You’ll need a payment service to configure your paid appointments (e.g., with TidyCal) and accept payments from customers and clients. The easiest ones to set up are Stripe, PayPal, and Venmo; however, if you already have a preferred option, many others are also available. * Banking: Set up a separate bank account for your business. This will make your life much easier for accounting and tax preparation in the future.* Meetings and Calls: Most of us prefer not to share our private phone numbers with clients and customers. So, set up something like Zoom or Google Meet so you can have audio calls or video chats with them.Scroll up and hit play to listen to us explain this process and the steps in more detail. Plus, the usual banter and laughter. We’re only human! What are your favorite tools, services, and systems that are a must-have for your business? We’d love to hear about them! Please leave a comment below. Larry Cornett is a Freedom Coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become invincible, and create new opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!Anna Codina is a peak performance coach who helps busy owners detach from work to live better personal lives. Are you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or struggling to find that elusive work-life harmony? You're not alone. Her coaching philosophy is simple: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Get unstuck in 15 mins! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Does any of this sound familiar?* Do you feel guilty if you’re not productive every day?* Do you ever feel you can’t take a vacation from your business?* Have you been taught that you need to hustle 24x7 to be successful?* Do you worry about revenue flow and hate to say “No” to any new work?If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, this episode is for you! Anna and I discuss the productivity trap that many business owners fall into. We may feel lazy if we’re not always hustling to land new clients. We worry that our businesses will fall apart if we take a break or go away on a long vacation. We take on new clients we would rather avoid because we hate saying “No” to more income, and we fear hitting a dry spell. Scroll up and hit play to listen to our advice about avoiding this trap so you can learn how to enjoy your life and enjoy running your business, too! Larry Cornett is a Freedom Coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become invincible, and create new opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!Anna Codina is a peak performance coach who helps busy owners detach from work to live better personal lives. Are you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or struggling to find that elusive work-life harmony? You're not alone. Her coaching philosophy is simple: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Get unstuck in 15 mins! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Gaslighting, lying, bullying, threatening, belittling, and generally toxic behavior. We’ve all endured some lose-lose moments in our working relationships when deals go sideways, conversations become hostile, and you wonder if you can keep working together. * Those red flags in an initial client meeting that you shouldn’t have ignored. * A friendly customer who later turns hostile and demanding. * The deal negotiation that is starting to feel like it will be a terrible idea to accept. I’m happy to have Anna Codina as my co-host for this episode (and hopefully all future episodes). Anna and I have known each other for many years, and she has been a solopreneur for most of her working life. We co-hosted a previous podcast together with another friend, Trip O’Dell, which was called the Brave New Workforce. In this episode, Anna and I discuss why so many of us had an immediately familiar and bad feeling as we watched Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the current president of Ukraine, get pulled into an unpleasant deal negotiation (regarding a mineral deal and cease-fire negotiation with Russia) that went sideways in the Oval Office on Feb 28th, 2025 with the U.S. president, Donald Trump. In just a few minutes, many red flags popped up in this political meeting that typically would take weeks or months to emerge after working with a troubling business client. Anna and I have both experienced many of these issues and learned some painful lessons. Hit play to listen to our conversation about identifying these red flag issues and how you can avoid them as a solopreneur business owner. 10 Red Flag Moments from the Oval Office* They try to control the narrative from the beginning.* The goalposts keep moving. * A positive, upbeat beginning turns into a rapid, hostile tone switch. * They start asking you to justify your worth and putting you on the defensive. * They “dangle the carrot” of the future, wonderful things. * Nothing they discuss is set in stone (e.g., everything is vague and fuzzy). * They try to force unrealistic timelines. * They criticize without offering details or solutions. * They want you to “work for exposure” (i.e., you should feel lucky to have the deal). * They trash-talk past partners, contractors, employees, etc. Scroll up, hit play, and listen to our entire conversation. Comment below if you have a story about a red flag moment with a client or potential customer. * What did you learn from it? * What advice would you give others?Larry Cornett is a Freedom Coach who works with ambitious professionals to help them reclaim their power, become invincible, and create new opportunities for their work and lives. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate! Check out his new Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!Anna Codina is a peak performance coach who helps busy owners detach from work to live better personal lives. Are you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or struggling to find that elusive work-life harmony? You're not alone. Her coaching philosophy is simple: Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Get unstuck in 15 mins! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

I have saved approximately $190,000 over the past 15 years by becoming a solopreneur. I know that number seems insane. It can’t be real, right?!?Let me share the math with you (more details in the podcast audio). Before I left my last corporate job in 2010, I was spending:* 🕰️ 750 hours/year commuting to a corporate campus. * 🚗 13,000 miles/year on California freeways.* ⛽️ $3,000/year on fuel.* 💰 About $10,000/year for other expenses like meals, coffee, new clothing, dry cleaning, vehicle maintenance and repair, various services (e.g., home repairs), etc. That Was Then, This Is Now* I work out of my home office. No commute!* I don’t drive on the freeways anymore. * My fuel costs are absurdly low. I only drive a few miles/month to check my mail in town occasionally. * I eat at home. No more expensive meals while I’m at work (e.g., going out for lunch). * I make excellent coffee at home. I used to spend thousands of dollars a year at Starbucks (BTW, how much do you spend?). * I no longer purchase lots of new clothing for work or do any dry cleaning. Hello, hoodie and comfortable pants!* My vehicle repairs dropped to almost nothing. I got rid of my expensive-to-maintain BMW and started driving a 1987 Toyota pickup, which I love. Plus, I barely drive, so wear and tear are minimal now. * All those other incidental expenses from a corporate job and commute vanished. * Another bonus? I work out every day, eat healthier, and have time to take care of myself. So, I lost 40 lbs and got into the best shape of my life. Remote work works. I love solopreneurship, and I could never return to a corporate office. However, that’s not why I wrote this newsletter and recorded this podcast. When people consider quitting their jobs to start a business, they focus on the revenue side of things. Can they replace their employment income? What most people don't consider is that they will also be reducing their expenses at the same time. Yes, you will spend money to run your business (note: this can be less than you think). But those are business expenses, not personal expenses. As such, they are tax deductible and reduce your taxable income. The money I spent as an employee could not be treated as a tax deduction. In fact, very few workers are allowed to deduct unreimbursed employee expenses now, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. So, when you run the numbers on that business you’re thinking about building; you may not need to make as much as you think to replace your current income as an employee. Do the math and calculate how much that 9-5 job costs you mentally, emotionally, and financially. I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. My wife and I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Morning journaling changed my life. I’m so glad I started doing it years ago. Before I did, I would:* Lose many of my best ideas (e.g., “I’m sure I’ll remember this cool idea later!”).* Never set aside enough time for brainstorming and creativity to improve my life and business. * Feel stressed out because I checked my email, messages, and news first thing in the morning. Journaling is a process, a habit, and a way of thinking about yourself, your life, and the world. The time for introspection, creative thinking, and calm reflection has been among the best investments I’ve made in myself. However, I’ve never been happy with the journals I used. And, oh boy, have I purchased a lot of different kinds of journals over the years! So, I finally designed what I always wanted and recently published my creation: The Invincible Daily Journals (featuring four seasons). Note: I also have a journal specifically for business owners, The Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal. Benefits of JournalingI’ve talked about the power of writing and journaling before, which you can read in the article linked below. From the Harvard Business Review: A certain kind of guided, detailed writing can not only help us process what we’ve been through and assist us as we envision a path forward; it can lower our blood pressure, strengthen our immune systems, and increase our general well-being. Expressive writing can result in a reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression; improve our sleep and performance; and bring us greater focus and clarity. (source)A New Journal DesignAfter I left the corporate world in 2010, my life no longer revolved around quarters (i.e., Q1 through Q4). Also, humans aren’t meant to behave like corporations trapped in an artificial Q1-Q4 world. We live through very different cycles influenced by: * Personal events (e.g., vacations, birthdays, weddings, birth of a child, illness, loss). * Shared events (e.g., seasonal holidays, national holidays, local events). * Seasons, weather, and daylight hours. So, I wanted a journal that recognized this instead of arbitrarily structuring the pages by quarters or even months (e.g., the experience of November in the U.S. is very different from November in Australia). I also wanted the journals to support the personal ebb and flow of life, the daily ebb and flow of creativity and energy, and the seasonal ebb and flow of what matters to you in those moments of time. You can see the seasonal design reflected in the journal covers below. As I mentioned, I tested dozens of journal styles over several years. None of them quite met my needs. * Some were too basic (e.g., blank pages with no prompts). * Others were too complex and rigid (e.g., way too much structure or structure I didn’t need). * Some were full of the author’s commentary, leaving little room for my own thoughts and sketches. So, I spent the past decade fine-tuning effective morning journaling by modifying various journals I’ve used over the years. Using my favorite new fountain pen, I created my own headings, prompts, and visual elements on the pages. Eventually, I settled into a format that I really liked. But, every morning, I had to rewrite the section headings I wanted — day after day, week after week, and month after month. Well, enough was enough. Last year, I spent several months designing the ideal journal I wanted to use. Then, I created the four versions for spring, summer, fall, and winter and published them on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Lulu. Now they are available for everyone! Each book includes 90 days of entries to kick off your mornings and much more! All the journals include this “How to” page, but let me take you through the design of the entry pages and how to get the most out of using them. I’ll go into more detail in the audio of the podcast, too. * I’ve learned that morning journaling works best if you do it before something else distracts you, saps your creativity, or ruins your mood. * Obviously, each entry page has a place to enter the date.* The circles at the top-right corner of the page let you assess how you are feeling that day on a scale of 1 to 5 (e.g., 1 = Terrible, 3 = Okay, 5 = Great). * Every day, you write down your most important goal for the season. It may or may not change throughout the 90 days, but writing it down every day reinforces how important it is for you and strengthens your commitment to accomplishing it. * More importantly, you note what you plan to do that day to continue making progress toward that goal. This process helps you hold yourself accountable. * Then, you prioritize and enter your top 3 tasks for the day. Sure, you might get more done, but this ensures you focus your energy on the most important tasks first. * The morning thoughts section is for you to capture a stream of consciousness of creative ideas, random thoughts, sketches, diagrams, or whatever pops into your head. * Finally, you can return later in the evening (or the next morning) to write down your key takeaway for the day that could improve your life going forward. What did you learn? Here is an example of a completed entry page. Over the years, I’ve created a personal note-taking system that is somewhat similar to the bullet journal notations. * I use a bullet for each new idea or thought. * Sometimes, I will nest additional bullets under a parent item using hyphens. * I use an asterisk for something I want to highlight as important. * A checkbox is for a future task. * I frequently flip through past pages to check off to-do items and remind me of things I still need to get done. * I use all kinds of boxes, circles, underlines, and arrows for additional emphasis and grouping ideas. Why Paper?So, why do I use a paper journal instead of the thousands of available digital options? I’m glad you asked! Yes, I have tried various apps and tools over the years, but nothing matches a paper journal's distraction-free focus, speed, and flexibility. * Rapidly switching between typing and drawing is still slow and clumsy in apps, even on my iPad. * Being on my iPad, phone, or laptop leaves me vulnerable to digital distractions. Notifications plague me, it is too tempting to check my email, and social media and news are a dangerous click away. * The paper pages have many subtle visual cues that make them easy to scan and search. I can dogear the corner of a really important page, insert bookmarks and tape flags, and fan the pages to browse my day assessments, notes, sketches, etc. * I can quickly and easily flip between two pages and compare the content. This is still way easier in paper books than any digital medium. * I can take my journal with me everywhere (e.g., outside on my deck, at the coffee shop, on a flight), and it never runs out of battery, gets a cracked screen, reflects the sun’s glare, or crashes.Research has shown that there is a unique value in physically writing and drawing in a paper notebook. I already do much of my daily work on my phone, iPad, and laptop. If you know my background, you know I’m not a Luddite. I spent decades of my professional career designing and shipping all kinds of software. However, spending 20 minutes writing in a paper journal while I enjoy my coffee is a rare treat every morning. I love the break from the digital world! I love sketching concepts, creating diagrams, and writing notes by hand. It feels different, and my brain appreciates it. What to Write AboutI actually started journaling a long time ago. I was about 16 years old and wanted to capture my thoughts and dreams. Even then, I realized that doing it first thing in the morning was essential. I kept a notebook on my nightstand to jot down my dreams when I woke up — before they faded away. I’ve always been a vivid dreamer, so I wanted to use that to help me write fiction. I wish I had kept journaling, but I stopped when I went off to college. Thanks to a reminder about it from people like Tim Ferris, Ryan Holiday, and James Altucher, I returned to journaling several years ago. You might be asking, what in the heck can you find to write about every day? Well, the idea is to just let your mind go wild. No constraints. Nothing is silly or stupid. Just write! The more you do it, the easier it gets. Your creative writing muscle gets stronger. For example, my journal entries include: * Ideas for new goals this year. * Sketching a high-level roadmap of goals, subgoals, milestones, and tasks. * Crazy new product ideas (e.g., sketching gym equipment concepts).* How I’m feeling that day and why. I try to discover patterns in my moments of sadness, depression, and anxiety and find ways to manage it all better (e.g., I couldn’t make time for outdoor exercise this week, so I’m feeling down and need recharged). * Future to-do items I need to remember so I don’t forget them later (i.e., marked with a hand-drawn checkbox). * Notes about things I want to research more deeply. * New ideas for marketing my businesses. * New ideas for social media posts. * Potential partnerships and collaborations. * Ideas for courses and workshops. * Outlining the concept for a new book. * Sketching changes in my business model. * Sketching concepts for book covers. * Introspective notes to help me keep improving myself. * Reflecting on past events and memories. * Adding new destinations to my travel bucket list. * Sometimes, I’ll even draw some ideas for art projects, write poetry, and plot a fiction series. What are some things you can imagine writing in your daily journal? Let your imagination run wild! This is just for you. Check Them Out!I hope you’ll check out The Invincible Daily Journals and The Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal. Even if you don’t purchase one, I hope you’ll give daily journaling a chance and see if it makes a difference in your life! I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. My wife and I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Sarah JanTausch, the Founder of SRJ Coaching and Consulting and creator of the Values-Based Career method. This method helps individuals unlock the hidden job market and ditch burnout while creating a career move rooted in their core values, ideal work style, and goals. Before starting her own business, she worked in politics and government, serving Ohio’s Governor and lieutenant governor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Science in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.About Sarah“I’m a speaker, trainer, and coach who works with individuals to create values-based careers. I also partner with organizations serving both students and job-seekers for the job market of the future. My specialties include career-pivots and generosity-based networking that makes creating genuine connections and growing your network feel almost completely effortless.Previously, I crafted my dream career working in politics and government. While serving Ohio’s Governor and Lt. Governor in various leadership roles and advocating for effective public policy, I ran multimillion dollar programs and I led a team while overseeing statewide outreach. I earned my Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University where I majored in Politics & Government. As a mid-career professional, I went back to school to earn my Master of Science in Management and Leadership at Western Governors University. I am a member of the National and Ohio Career Development Associations (OCDA) and I currently chair the OCDA’s government relations committee. Our total vocational impact includes more than just our day-to-day work. I love exploring and helping my clients define the impact they want to make on the world. For me, this includes a variety of volunteer roles I’ve held in my community, from volunteer board positions to spending approximately 15 years on political campaign work. I’ve worked on key issues including healthcare, substance abuse, education, and recreation. When I’m not working or volunteering, you can find me hanging out with my husband and our two cats Peanut Butter and Blaze or hitting up a local coffee house.”We talk about* How and why she pivoted her career even though she thought she had landed her dream job. * The surprising connection between a childhood passion and her solopreneur business. * A common mistake that many job seekers make. * How she works with her career coaching clients to uncover their values and find a job that is aligned with them. Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Sarah* Her website* LinkedIn Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Isabel Sterne, a writer, designer, and brand strategist who helps unconventional business owners build aligned brands. She offers LinkedIn visual design, content writing, marketing clarity calls, and monthly and project-based marketing and branding support.Before starting her own business, she worked for 12+ years in marketing and communications for global brands like Condé Nast and Effie Awards. She also has a B.Sc. in Communication from Cornell University. When I encountered Isabel on LinkedIn, I first noticed how funny her posts are. Then, I noticed how much engagement she was getting on those posts. She’s humble about this, but I like to say that she’s conquered LinkedIn. If you’re not following her there, you should be! About Isabel​Isabel Sterne helps founders and solopreneurs develop their reputations and attract more opportunities on LinkedIn and beyond.She provides design, ghostwriting, and strategy support for those looking to level up their LinkedIn presence and be seen as the experts they are.Late identified as neurodivergent, she's also passionate about neurodiversity advocacy and raising awareness about the challenges and advantages of thinking differently.We talk about* How she became more active on LinkedIn after being burned out by layoffs. * Why she decided to start her consulting practice doing what she had always been doing for her employers (e.g., creating marketing content).* How she would have told her younger self to put herself out there more. * What she does to be so successful on LinkedIn by being more human and authentic. * The role of AI in content creation and mistakes people make with it. * How she helps her clients get more out of LinkedIn and social media.* The challenges of being neurodivergent in the workplace. Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Isabel* LinkedIn * Substack * Her website I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Emily Schneider, a visual storyteller specializing in presentation design. She helps businesses and leaders confidently transform their messages into beautiful, effective presentations that truly resonate with their intended audiences. I love that Emily took a chance to gamble on herself and focus on her business after a layoff. She went all in and is succeeding! Many of us require this “push out of the nest” to take a big risk, like launching your own business. That’s how my first solopreneur business started, too. The startup I was working for as an employee was acquired, and we all got laid off a couple of months later. Rather than diving right into a job search, I decided to take a swing at running a solopreneur business. I had a family to support, so it was risky. But it worked out! About Emily“​My passion for simplifying complex content has become a bit of a magical knack — blending storytelling with a keen design eye. I'm not just a designer; I'm a strategic collaborator, dedicated to helping businesses confidently transform their messages into beautiful, effective presentations that truly resonate with their intended audiences.​What started with pink pixelated swirls and a questionable font choice as the invitation for my sweet sixteen luncheon has morphed into a creative business venture. My nearly two decades spent in the marketing and branding space, combined with my passion to help simplify information for clients in a vibrant and compelling way, make me a perfect partner for your presentation needs.”We talk about* Her background as an art director, creative director, and director of brand strategy and marketing. * Why she decided to start her consulting practice. * How she helps companies with presentation design and storytelling consulting. * What people struggle with the most with presentations. * Where she focuses her business. * How she finds new clients.Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation.Where to find Emily* Her consulting website* Emily’s LinkedInDuring our conversation, I mentioned the book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) (my Amazon affiliate link). Check it out! I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Today, I sent a physical letter to my subscribers with some tips on making money from a paid newsletter (Finding Ways to Fund Your Freedom). Yes, a physical letter. Imagine that! Thanks to Stamp Fans, it’s pretty easy. You can also use it to generate another revenue stream for your business. In this episode, I dive into the benefits of having an email list and why your solopreneur business needs a newsletter. I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Note: In the podcast audio, I share more details and reveal something very personal about what’s happening to me right now. So, give it a listen! My friend was dead before 60.He’d put off retirement. He wanted to take a swing at becoming a multimillionaire again. But it didn’t work out. So, he finally decided to retire. Unfortunately, he was dead about two weeks later. Most people TRY to retire in their 60s. I say "try" because more people are now reporting they'll have to work into their 70s to augment their nest egg. Note: The average lifespan in the U.S. is 76. So… maybe—if you're lucky—you get 10 years of the so-called "good life"? Let me tell you, at that age, 10 years go by in the blink of an eye. I’m pushing 60. Ugh. Just typing that was a rude awakening. I still think of myself as in my 30s. I still feel like my career just started a few years ago at Apple. I'm already experiencing a feeling of time compression. My parents tell me it only accelerates from here on. So, it’s important to live life large now! Don’t wait. I left the 9-5 grind forever in my early 40s. I haven't had a boss since. * I was tired of spending hours on the freeway commuting every day. * I was tired of working on things that didn't matter. * I was tired of corporate BS and working for someone else. Then, I semi-retired at 50 and started living the life I'd always wanted. And, no, not because I struck it rich. It was because I restructured my business and how I live my life. * Spending more time with my family. * Working out every day. * Traveling whenever we feel like it (we’re flying to Alaska today). * Hiking in the forest every Wednesday. * Skiing on the mountain every week in the winter. I don't feel a need to fully retire. I love what I do! When you build your own business, you create your ideal work and life. You can do that, too. Don't wait until your 60s or 70s to live the life you've always wanted. Start planning your path to freedom now.I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

I always get excited about brainstorming new business ideas. It could be an idea for an entirely new business, product, or service. In the past, I often erred on the side of executing quickly. But after many years of wasting time and money, I’ve learned to exercise a bit of caution and perform a sanity check first. After all, success is as much about saying “No” to the wrong things as it is about saying “Yes” to the right opportunities. As solopreneurs, we don’t have infinite time and money, so we must place our bets more carefully. In my Solopreneur workshop earlier this year, I shared a simple scoring system for narrowing down a choice between multiple business ideas (see image below).Of course, it’s not quite as simple as what I could fit in one table on one slide in the presentation. So, I want to provide a more complete list of factors to explore when evaluating a new idea for your business.Factors to consider (discussed in more detail in the podcast audio):* Your unique twist on this business concept (e.g., why is the product or service unique or better than the competition?)* The market timing and demand (e.g., are you solving a real, current need or pain?)* Why you? (i.e., why can you do this better than others?)* Your capabilities (e.g., talent, knowledge, skills, experience, reputation)* Your resources (e.g., network, space, hardware, software)* Speed of execution (e.g., how quickly could you spin this up?)* The startup costs and ongoing expenses (e.g., rent, equipment, services, materials, ads, staff)* Finances (e.g., financial cushion, investors, loans)* The market (e.g., size of addressable market, local, global, online)* The potential customers (e.g., do you want to interact with and help these people?)* Your ability to reach these customers* Excitement about the offer (e.g., does creating and offering this excite you?)* Motivation to drive your business in this direction (e.g., is this the future you want?)* Compatibility with your desired life experience (e.g., do you want to keep doing what it takes to sell this service or product?) * What you could charge for the goods and/or services (e.g., fixed price, hourly, project-based, retainer, etc.)* The potential sales volume (e.g., realistic demand, fulfillment bottlenecks, your 1-on-1 time)* Scalability (e.g., can sales grow and be automated?)* The demands on your time (e.g., can you support this volume?)* Profitability (e.g., projected revenue - expected expenses)* Potential risks (e.g., burnout, legal, reputation)Would you like a confidential chat with me about your business ideas? Schedule a free coaching call! I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Diana Ashbaugh, a financial advisor with Thrivent. Thrivent is a Fortune 500 diversified financial services organization that provides advice, investments, insurance, banking, and generosity programs and solutions so people can make the most of what they’ve been given.About Diana “I love working alongside individuals and families to demystify the world of finances so that they have a clear path to meeting their financial goals. As a former track and field athlete, I had great coaches who helped me understand that you can't start every race by sprinting. You have to set a pace that is realistic but pushes you to achieve your goals. I see myself as a coach to you with your financial goals. Everyone is running a race that is different than the person next to them, and you need a plan, pace, and coach who can help you navigate all the factors that affect your ability to reach your financial goals.”We talk about* Why everyone should meet with a financial advisor* Planning for your children’s college expenses* Understanding your finances when starting a new business* How to think about retirement and semi-retirement* Considerations for retirement accounts, selling stock, etc. Scroll up and hit play to listen to our full conversation. Where to find Diana* Diana Ashbaugh on the Thrivent website I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Is solopreneurship for everyone? Of course not. But I really don’t want people avoiding it because of a bunch of silly myths being perpetuated by folks who have never even tried building a solopreneur lifestyle business. For example, someone on social media recently posted that solopreneurship is bad because: * Being the only person you can count on sucks.* You can’t take vacations.* You can’t be sick.* You can’t bounce ideas off anyone.Sigh… These concerns are so misguided that I promised myself I would make a podcast episode to debunk them. So, here we go! Hit play and listen. The 8 Myths1. You can’t take vacations 2. You can’t take sick days 3. You work alone4. You have to do it all yourself5. You have no one to talk to6. You’re lonely 7. There’s no water cooler serendipity 8. Your income is limited I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, I share another peek at my Invincible Solopreneurs workshop (Build a Lifestyle Business to Escape Your 9-5 Job), which I hosted on February 26th. I will offer this workshop again in August this year. I talk about two really amazing things that are possible when you build your lifestyle business: * Design your ideal life first, then build a business around it. * Identify your ideal customers so you get to choose whom you spend time with every day/week. Enjoy!I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you take complete control of your work and life so you can become a more “Invincible You.” I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, I share a sneak peek at my recent Invincible Solopreneurs workshop (Build a Lifestyle Business to Escape Your 9-5 Job) that I hosted on Feb 26th. I describe the easiest business to start when you're an employee. It's what I did to launch my first business way back in 1998, and I was able to support my family in about a month. There are ways to evolve your business from easier to a little more complex but better, which I also talk about. Enjoy! I’m Larry Cornett, a business coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

In this episode, I share an overview of the presentation materials to give you a sense of the 2-hour workshop I’ll be hosting on Feb 26th. So, make sure to play the audio, since I’m not including 2 hours of text material in this newsletter article. "Build a Lifestyle Business to Escape Your 9-5 Job"Scroll below to find the coupon code for my early-bird discount to get 50% off. There are limited seats for that, so grab yours today! I've saved so much money by quitting my job 14 years ago and never going back to the 9-5 world. By my estimate, I’ve saved over $180,000, which doesn’t include getting my health back, improving my marriage, and having a much better relationship with my children. A dollar value can’t be placed on all of that! Before I left my last corporate role, I was spending… * 🕰️ 750 hours/year commuting to a corporate campus * 🚗 13,000 miles/year on Bay Area freeways* ⛽️ $3,000/year on fuel * 💰 About $10,000/year for other expenses like meals, coffee, new clothing, dry cleaning, vehicle maintenance and repair, various services, etc.Since then, I mostly work out of my home office. Remote work works! I wish the execs weren't trying to take it away from you. But RTO seems to be all the rage now. 😟Becoming a solopreneur means you could avoid this whole RTO nonsense and work where, when, and how you want. It's pretty darn sweet to control your days that way! That’s probably one reason you read this newsletter and listen to my podcast. Believe me. I love this location-independent lifestyle. 😊 I enjoy solopreneurship, and I could never return to an office. Since you are a subscriber, I’m sure you’ve dreamed of leaving the 9-5 grind to do your own thing. Maybe you just need a little more guidance and advice. Maybe you need some live interaction and accountability, too. Well… I'm hosting my next live workshop on how to build a lifestyle business on Feb 26th! 🔷 "Build a Lifestyle Business to Escape Your 9-5 Job" Just like before, I'll record the workshop and share the video later. So, if the time doesn't work for you, you'll have the workbook exercises and video to use just like a course.The early bird coupon code to save 50% is (limited spots available):EARLYBIRDIS202450OFFWould love to see you there!There will be breakout sessions during the workshop. So, the more wonderful people who show up, the better that experience will be. If you have a friend who is also dreaming of building their own thing and quitting their job someday, share the link to the workshop and that coupon code. I’m Larry Cornett, a business coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

It’s time! I’m opening the doors to my new Invincible Solopreneurs community for people who upgrade to the premium newsletter subscription or purchase a lifetime membership (i.e., pay once and stay as long as you want). I wouldn’t be where I am today with my business without finding supportive entrepreneurial peers who have helped me during my journey. Solopreneurship can feel lonely at times, and running a business can feel overwhelming. Being part of a wonderful community makes all the difference in the world. However, I know how hard it is to find the right supportive entrepreneurial community that can help you during your journey of designing, building, and growing your lifestyle business. So, that’s why I created my new community!* I’ve tried local business communities, but they didn’t seem to understand what I was doing with my online business. * I joined one online community of entrepreneurs, but they only seemed interested in money and talking about get-rich-quick schemes. * Another community was mostly from a single profession, and it was also way too large to be useful. I found it overwhelming and not very welcoming. I wanted to create a place for people who:* Come from diverse backgrounds. * Want to build a lifestyle business. * Crave freedom and happiness more than excessive wealth. * Are friendly, supportive, and encouraging. * Enjoy a smaller, more intimate community where we get to know each other. You can join us for $20/month (i.e., by upgrading to the premium newsletter) or pay a one-time fee of $497 and enjoy lifetime access to the community. Where are you with your entrepreneurial journey?* You have the business idea and know exactly what you want to do. * You have a few business ideas, but you’re not sure how to pick the right one. * You want to start a business but don’t have a great idea for it yet. If you already know the business you want to build, you may just need help with planning, learning a few new things, having some supportive peers, and finding the accountability that will help keep you on track with your plan. If you have some ideas, but need to narrow them down to one great idea, it will be helpful to attend my upcoming Solopreneur workshop in Feb this year. We’ll share a framework for assessing your ideas to pick the right one to take forward. Plus, you can bounce ideas off the community members to get feedback on your options. If you don’t have an idea for your new business yet, I will always recommend focusing on what you already know and do well. You have existing talents, skills, knowledge, and experience that can be combined in new ways to forge a new business plan. I often refer to this as turning your job description into a business plan. I’ve mentioned this before, but it boils down to 3 types of businesses:* Selling what you can do.* Selling what you know.* Selling who you’ve become.1. What do you already do for your job?This is one of the easiest businesses for 9–5 employees to launch. It’s based on what you already have several years of experience doing in your day-to-day job. You have either been providing a variety of services, making some sort of product, or maybe even a little of both.The first solopreneur business I launched way back in 1998 was based on this model. I was a senior designer at a tech startup that went through a massive layoff and then hired us all back for a new startup. I wanted more stability! Note: it’s a common myth that a 9-5 job is more stable than being self-employed. I hope the millions of layoffs over the past 4 years have changed everyone’s mind about that. I formed a solopreneur “design agency” in about a day and was up and running in less than a week. Before I even rejected my new job offer, I had my first client. I sold what I could already do. I had been providing my software design services for years as a full-time employee at IBM, Apple Computer, and a few startups.I encourage you to consider two different options when you use your existing job as a template for your new business. One option is probably faster and easier. The other option will make you happier. * Copy and paste your 9-5 job. * Only use the best parts of your job. My first solopreneur business was pretty much a copy and paste from my previous job as a designer. It literally didn’t feel like anything had changed in my working life. I was still working with the same people, working on a very similar product, and doing the same work tasks. Over time, I started focusing more on the work activities I enjoyed the most (e.g., creating innovative and strategic new concepts) and the things I was really good at doing (e.g., prototyping). As a consultant, I could outsource other tasks by hiring subcontractors who were better at them and enjoyed that kind of work (e.g., icon design, usability testing). So, my business slowly moved more to Option 2. The second solopreneur business that I launched before I left my last executive job behind was completely Option 2. I did not copy and paste my Product leadership role to create my new business. Instead, I focused on the value I could deliver to startups and smaller corporations through my experience with product, design, and business strategy. It was definitely more of a thinking business that “sold my brain” than a production business that sold my time and what I could produce. When you create a new business, you have a rare opportunity to take the best of your work experiences forward into your working life and leave the bad stuff behind. Why would you not try to make that happen? You can always fall back to Option 1 if necessary. Here’s the cool thing about being your own boss. You can do whatever you want! You can offer different services to different clients as appropriate. Perhaps one client just wants your strategic advice, so you provide that. Another client might want to have you take on the role of an interim employee while they look for a full-time person (e.g., an acting Head of Product). You get to decide. 2. What do you know?This type of business is more of an advisory role than behaving like a contractor or consultant. You’re not selling what you can do. You are selling what you know — the knowledge and experience you’ve accumulated during your entire life (e.g., from work, school, life, etc.). My current solopreneur coaching business is probably most of this model, with a dash of selling the best parts of my previous leadership jobs. I’ve been in different management and leadership roles since the late 1980s. Over the decades, I’ve learned a lot about managing people, dealing with employee issues, coaching folks, motivating and inspiring teams, etc. So, creating a career coaching practice over seven years ago felt like a natural extension of my experiences and leveraging what I already knew very well. In fact, many of my clients have been people who used to work for or with me during my tech career. I coached them when I was their boss inside a company, and now I coach them from the outside of a corporate environment. You will create a more scalable and profitable business when you sell your knowledge and talent instead of your time. There are only so many hours you can work in a week. But you can sell what you know to an infinite number of customers (e.g., courses, training, books, digital products). What valuable knowledge do you have locked up inside your head? Who could benefit from that the most? 3. Sell your successThis type of business works if you’ve achieved a level of success doing something that others dream of doing and accomplishing. This could be as an employee or a business owner. I recently had a guest on my podcast who is doing exactly this as part of his side business, Nate Davis. He is a talented and successful real estate agent. So, he has become a coach who offers mentorship for aspiring investors and a program that paves the way for success for others interested in real estate investments. This is the most challenging business of the three to build, and not everyone can do it. It goes beyond what you used to do or even what you know. It’s based on who you are, your career and life path, your notable success, and the resulting lifestyle you now enjoy. Ryan Holiday is a good example of this type of business. He used to work in the corporate world in marketing. Then, he went on to build his own agency and wrote numerous books that have sold millions of copies. Aspiring authors who dream of “becoming him” — and having his success — pay thousands of dollars for his advice. Without his publishing success, would he have so many loyal followers who hang on to his every word and wish they could be a writer like him? Probably not. However, you don’t have to reach the level of a bestselling author to build a business like this. You simply need to have reached a level of success in your career (or business) that others aspire to achieve. For example, I was a vice president at one of the top internet companies in the world, so some people hire me for career and leadership coaching because they want to become executive leaders and find my advice helpful. What have you achieved that someone earlier in their journey would find useful? Join my Solopreneur community!If you’re serious about quitting your job and starting your own business, we can help. As I mentioned earlier, there’s nothing like having a supportive entrepreneurial community on your side. Every business owner benefits from having like-minded peers who can help with encouragement, advice, answers, guidance, and more. I’m going to open the community up to the public soon, and the membership price may increase later. So, this is your chance to lock in a lower rate (or pay once for lifetime access). This year, I’ll be offering live workshops and short workbook exercises to prepare for those events. These will include short, simple actions you can take vs. some of the more complicated and detailed challenges I’ve shared over the last few years.Premium subscribers will have free access to the workshops throughout the year. However, I will also open up these workshops to the public to join us and attend for a fee. Of course, you can remain a free newsletter subscriber and simply choose to sign up for any of the paid workshops you find interesting.The workshops will follow the arc of choosing an idea and then designing, defining, building, launching, and scaling your new business. For example:* What is a lifestyle solopreneur business?* Identifying your new business idea* Transforming your job description into a business plan* Setting your business up online* Defining your ideal customer* Attracting your ideal customers* Creating your Invincible Content Factory* How to position your products or services uniquely * How to sell to your customers or clients (a sales strategy you won’t hate)* How to design your business around your ideal life* Scaling your lifestyle businessOne big change I’m making is to offer a lifetime membership in my private Invincible Solopreneurs community on Discord. Now, you can pay once vs. a monthly subscription fee, and I’ll invite you into my private community, where you can stay for as long as you want!Note: A lifetime membership is good for the lifetime of the community (i.e., not your lifetime). If you cancel and request a refund, the refund will be equivalent to your payment minus processing fees and the monthly subscription fee for the number of months you’ve been in the community (normally $20/month).The Invincible Solopreneurs Community is a peer group of ambitious business owners to help you accelerate your business success.What do you get with your membership?* An invitation to my exclusive community. Get the advice, feedback, and support you need to grow your business!* Weekly office hours in a private Discord channel.* Free access to the live workshops to discuss the topics mentioned above.* Engage with me and the community to get additional advice, feedback, and support.Of course, not everyone wants or needs a lifetime membership, so I will still provide a monthly subscription for only $20/month. If you upgrade from your free subscription, you’ll receive:* A group business coaching experience with free access to my paid Solopreneur workshops. * An invitation to my private Discord community, where you can stay as long as you are subscribed (vs. the lifetime membership).* Immediate access to the full archive of newsletter issues and podcast episodes.Share this with an entrepreneurial friend you think would benefit from joining us in the community!I’m Larry Cornett, a business coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

My guest for this episode is Nate Davis. He’s a top real estate agent in my county and also a real estate investor and coach. Nate is an old friend whom I met through our local CrossFit gym. He has a fascinating story about his career path, personal development, and reinvention. As a solopreneur, I always recommend you diversify your income streams. So, I think you’ll be interested in what Nate has been doing with his investments and coaching to augment his income as a realtor. Nate is a standout figure in El Dorado County’s real estate domain, boasting a decade-long record as a Top Producer, earning a Lifetime Achievement Award and consistently lands in the top 1% for sales. Nate’s production has earned him a spot in Real Producers Magazine's top 25 agents under 35. Nate’s expertise extends beyond transactions. He is an accomplished Real Estate Investor who specializes in Wholesale and Fix & Flip ventures. He is also a passionate real estate coach and offers mentorship for aspiring investors, offering a program that paves the way for success in today’s dynamic real estate investing opportunities. We talk about* Why it’s so important to look at the people above you on your career ladder and decide if you like what you see. * The approach Nate took to pivoting his career. * How important it is to surround yourself with people who inspire you to be your best self. * The power of continuous self-education. * How he has diversified his income streams.Where to find Nate* Instagram* Navigate Realty* Facebook* TikTok I’m Larry Cornett, a business coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Planning a new business can already feel a bit scary.It’s even more overwhelming if you tell yourself that you need to come up with a multimillion-dollar business idea. Or, even worse, a billion-dollar idea. True story: I experienced that last bit of stress when I met with a potential investor to discuss a startup I was planning back in 2011. I still think it would be a cool product and business, by the way. Imagine backstage access to your favorite performance artists during their informal practice sessions, for example. Yeah, I still want it! He said, “I don’t think we’d be interested. At most, that idea would generate $50M/year. We only invest in startups that have the potential to reach a billion.” Ok then… Let’s not set a ridiculous goal like that for your business. Hey, if you do end up making millions and billions from your idea, kudos! But I know a more realistic goal will set you free from your 9-5 job more quickly and give you an enjoyable life during your business journey. Do you know what that goal is? Just replace the income you receive from your current 9-5 job. The first lifestyle business I created did that easily within the first few months. Even better, it started generating a greater annual income than my previous 9-5 salary by the end of the first year. I was doing well enough to be the only income earner supporting my family of four. We were renting a house, bought a new SUV with cash, and felt pretty darn comfortable with our lifestyle. However, maybe you’re not familiar with the term “lifestyle business.” So, let me start with a nice definition from WallStreetMojo: A lifestyle business is a type of business that is designed to support the owner’s preferred lifestyle rather than solely focusing on maximizing profits or achieving high levels of growth. Owners of lifestyle businesses prioritize personal goals, such as flexibility, work-life balance, and the pursuit of their passions, over the traditional business objective of maximizing profits.I like the point they make about the owner prioritizing personal goals over business goals. That’s a tremendous difference from being an employee at a traditional company. There is no way your personal goals would ever be more important than the business goals of the company. Even when someone is a founder and owner of a traditional business, they often put the company’s goals ahead of their own needs. That’s a recipe for burnout if you ask me. Here’s my shorter definition of a lifestyle business:A lifestyle business generates profit equivalent to the compensation you’re currently receiving from your job, and it immediately enables you to live a better life right now. That last part is essential. This isn’t about building a business that may eventually generate millions in revenue so you can live a lavish lifestyle later, but you’re miserable now working yourself to death to—hopefully—get there before you die. If you reach this level of revenue, you can maintain your current lifestyle without a hitch. For some people, that’s easier than they would imagine (e.g., they’re currently working a minimum-wage job). For other folks (e.g., a tech executive), that number might be a lot higher and perhaps more challenging to achieve. I’ll let you in on a little secret:You get to define what “lifestyle” means for you. For example, I made pretty decent money as a tech exec in my past life. I also lived in one of the most expensive parts of the U.S.; the Bay Area of California. So, if I had stayed in the Bay Area and had to replace my executive compensation, I would have had to create a business that generated considerable revenue and profit. I did that for a while, but it was pretty stressful. I considered grinding harder to make it work. However, I finally realized that my life could be much easier and better if I reduced my cost of living. So, we sold our house and moved to a more affordable location. We downsized our home and life, which was a good idea anyway, as we became empty nesters. What’s the point of an enormous house when it's only two of you? It wasn’t only about reducing our cost-of-living expenses, though. I was tired of the city life, crowding, and traffic jams. We had always dreamed of living in the country with more land, near the mountains for skiing, and close enough to a forest to go for quick hikes. So, I intentionally designed the life I wanted and a business to enable it. It wasn’t about getting rich. It was about being free, controlling my time, and living a good life while I was still young enough to enjoy it. “When you make a company, you make a utopia. It’s where you design your perfect world.” — Derek SiversSo, be creative and explore different models of what your potential business would have to generate to support different lifestyles. Let me tell you, I don’t mind living a little leaner since it means never having a boss again. I haven’t had a job in over 13 years and the freedom to decide how I spend my days is pretty darn sweet. 5 creative examples of lifestyle businesses:* Copy and paste your job description* Fill an empty seat as an “interim employee”* Dog walker* Life coach * Calligraphy business1. Copy and paste your job descriptionOne of the fastest and easiest ways to build a lifestyle business is to leverage your current job description. Get paid directly by clients to do the same work you do every day for an employer. This is exactly how I created my first solopreneur business. In my last year working at Apple, a startup wooed me away. However, I don't think I worked there even a full year before a much larger company acquired us. The new parent company took our technology and patents and then laid all of us off. Our founder and CEO relaunched the company as a new startup a few weeks later. Most of the employees rejoined that new company, but I saw this as an opportunity to work with them as a consultant instead of becoming an employee again. I had been working with several consultants at the previous company, and we became good friends. They encouraged me and helped guide me as I ventured into the solopreneurial world for the first time. My lifestyle business was a solopreneur design agency that offered web and application design services to startups. As a design consultant, I delivered the same work to my clients that I had been providing as an employee (i.e., I copied and pasted my job description). My very first client was the new startup (i.e., my former employer), and I started working with more clients later that year.Of course, running a business is more complex than being an employee, but this is an excellent example of using your job description to define a business plan. You're still doing what you did before in your 9-5 job, but now you're providing those services as an independent business owner. 2. Fill an empty seat as an “interim employee”This business is a slight modification of the first one. I often tell my clients that a job opening is a chance to pitch your services to fill that seat. I’ve had a few engagements like that. One tech startup wanted to hire a full-time CPO and approached me about the role. Unfortunately, it would have required an international relocation for my family. So, I said that I wasn’t interested in becoming an employee, but I could play the role of the interim CPO until they hired their full-time person. I consulted with the company on retainer for years. Another company wanted to hire a full-time Head of Design. Again, I wasn’t interested in full-time employment, so I offered to consult with the company as their interim Head of Design and help them find and hire my replacement. That gig lasted about 1.5 years. When you’re experienced and good at what you do, you can build a business around being an interim employee (e.g., an interim CPO) or providing fractional services (e.g., a fractional CFO). Offering a fractional role is great for companies that don’t need—or can’t afford—someone in a full-time position. For example, smaller startups need someone to play that role at key points in their lifecycle (e.g., raising funding). 3. Dog walkerI’m going to keep sharing fun and unexpected examples of solopreneur businesses over the coming months. The intent isn’t to give you an exact example of a business you should create. I’m really just trying to inspire you and spark your creative thinking about what is possible. For example, who knew that a dog walker could earn over $100,000/year? Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that some dog walkers in NYC are earning six figures. They suggested that this is due to people getting dogs for companionship during the pandemic, which was all well and good. But, now companies are asking employees to return to the office (Boo!). So, these dog owners need someone to take their pets for walks while they are stuck at work. Entrepreneur shared more information about Bethany Lane. She founded her dog-care business Whistle & Wag back in 2014, and charges around $35 for a walk. She was looking for a way to pay rent and pay off some loans she’d taken on while pursuing a public health career. I’d say her lifestyle business has worked out well: * Her business is in the six-figure range (she wasn’t specific).* She paid off her loans. * She’s hired more dog walkers (so no longer a true solopreneur, if they’re employees). * She was able to purchase a vacation home!"If I would have told my younger self I can make a living caring for dogs, I never would have believed it."— Bethany LanePretty cool to make a comfortable living doing something you love, isn’t it?4. Life coachLife coaching is an unregulated profession. You don’t need a license to become one, although some people do get certified. There are no oversight boards, no standard curricula for training, and there really isn’t a standard code of ethics. Basically, if you want to say you’re a life coach, you can. No one can stop you from putting up a website to start finding and working with clients. From Verywell Mind:Life coaches can help you clarify your goals, identify the obstacles holding you back, and then come up with strategies for overcoming each obstacle.They tend to work with people on life issues (e.g., how can I break this bad habit?), financial challenges (e.g., I can’t seem to stop wasting money), relationship problems (e.g., why do all of my dating relationships end in disaster?), and even career coaching (e.g., why am I struggling so much at work?). Stacey Smith is a life coach who built a six-figure business before she even had a website. She did hire a coach and got certified before getting the business up and running (Note: many coaches have their own coach, too). She’s location-independent and does everything via Zoom or phone, which is the same way I operate my coaching practice. I’ve seen life coaches offering sessions for anything from $65 to $600/hour. Obviously, coaches with more experience, specialty services (e.g., executive coaching), and credentialed backgrounds tend to charge more. 5. Calligraphy BusinessOne of my business group acquaintances has over 40 years of experience as a professional calligrapher. Her lifestyle business directly provides calligraphy services (e.g., beautiful custom calligraphy on invitations). But, she has expanded and diversified her business to sell books and courses on calligraphy, too. It reminds me of this Forbes article by Adam Coffey. He described his sister’s calligraphy business as the “quintessential lifestyle business.” She earned money by teaching calligraphy seminars all over the world. However, she wanted to diversify her income streams and eventually be able to retire and sell her business. That can be challenging as a solopreneur when you are your business. However, she was able to come up with ways to scale her business and transform it into an asset that could be sold later. She built a studio other artists could rent, began teaching online seminars to reach a larger global audience, recorded her seminars to create online courses, etc. Now, she doesn’t have to worry about taking breaks or even retiring. This is a great example of why it’s so important to get out of the model of selling your time for money. I love my 1-on-1 coaching, but I knew I had to scale and create diverse income streams. That’s why I started my private community, a paid newsletter, courses, and more. Always be looking for ways to scale your business and create products that can sell 24/7. You need to sleep, take vacations, and retire someday! I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

It is so hard to open a new restaurant when you need to find a physical location to rent, hire staff, acquire licenses, get inspected, etc. It takes a long time to set up a new retail store, which is almost as complicated. It’s challenging to launch a tech startup when you have to hire employees, find office space, and secure funding. However, it’s pretty cheap and easy to test a location-independent solopreneur business idea. The biggest barrier is you. Yep. The biggest barrier standing between you and your new business is you. * Your perfectionism. * Your fear of failure.* Your ability to focus. * Your time management. * Your pride. The tipping point will occur when the pain of your current situation is greater than your fear of the unknown. When the alternatives are so unpleasant, you blast right past your risk aversion. I remember hitting that tipping point over seven years ago when my tech startup failed. I had spent a year winding things down, saying goodbye to my partners and employees, and working with my accountant and lawyer to turn off the lights for good. It was sad, painful, and depressing. The pain of staying in that situation was greater than any fear of the unknown. Anything was better than wallowing in my depression, thinking about my failed startup, and having no income to pay my bills. I considered the alternatives. * Found a new startup and try to raise funding again.* Return to a job with a Silicon Valley tech company. * Take a job with a tech company somewhere else and relocate my family. Again. * Take a basic 9-5 job at a local business, but make way less money. Or a fifth option, take a swing at launching a solopreneur coaching business and see what happens. What did I have to lose? The first four alternatives seemed so unpleasant that I just went for it. * I crushed my perfectionism into a tiny ball and shoved it to the back of my mind. I could always make the business better and tune it as I went along. * My fear of failure? That was funny. I had already experienced a massive failure and the gut-wrenching embarrassment of my startup failing. Failure no longer had any power over me. * It’s a lot easier to focus when you fear you’re going to lose your home and won’t be able to feed your family. Everything became crystal clear. * I was “lucky” in one way, I guess, that time management was no longer a big issue. I could focus on building my new business, but I was spending some time exploring alternatives. * I swallowed my pride and closed the door on my 23-year tech career. It really did help to focus on helping other people. Being outwardly focused instead of inwardly obsessed. So, if you’ve been thinking about starting a business but waiting and waiting for the right moment to do it, I highly recommend launching something smaller right away to test your ideas. Do not wait until everything feels perfect. Do you know why? You are most likely going to change things, anyway. There is nothing like reality to shake up your business dreams. Nothing beats interacting with real customers to figure out what they really want, what will really sell, and how you really want to operate your business. The sooner you get that feedback, the better. My exampleI soft-launched my coaching business about seven years ago in October of 2016. I started when I wrote a Facebook post about defining the “Business of You” on Oct 14th. When I talk about defining and creating the "Business of You," it's really about taking control and intentionally designing the career you want and the life you deserve.All too often, I think we let the river of life take us where it will. Early in life, we build our little boat and set off from the shore where we think we want to go.Then, life happens.The education you choose pushes you in one direction.The jobs you take push you even farther downriver in another direction.You make minor course corrections as the river of life continues to flow. But, you start to realize that you're being carried inexorably towards a destination that you couldn't see when you first set off. And you now know that it isn't where you want to go.Turning around and trying to row directly back upstream results in failure. People try. But, it's too hard, the flow is too powerful, and they tire and just give up.That's what a lot of people do. They stay in the unpleasant "known" because of inertia and fear. It is just too hard to change.I'm not going to lie and tell you that you can start over from scratch. You are no longer 18 years old with your entire future in front of you, standing before a blank slate.You have decades of knowledge and skills and experience. You may think that can only be applied very narrowly to what you currently are and always have been. But that's not true. The "Toolbox of You" is invaluable and can be leveraged with great success in so many different ways.You get to decide that. You may not be able to return to the beginning, but you can also do a lot more than just make minor course corrections.It won't be easy. It will take effort and willpower and some bravery. But, you can adjust now and aim for a new destination. Use everything that you know now and make a better choice of where you want to be.How do you want to live the rest of your life?Where do you want to end up?That can start today.10 days later, I cross-posted the same content to create a native LinkedIn article. This time, I added a more specific call to action (i.e., CTA). Ready to redefine your career and reclaim your life? I provide one-on-one career consulting for a limited number of clients. Let's talk to see if I can help you with your career transformation. *  Schedule a free 15-min discovery call with me * I landed my first retained client about two weeks later. About a month after that, I started hinting about my coaching topics on Twitter. I knew I was onto something that people needed, so I scaled up my writing and marketing efforts in a big way. A few things to note:* I didn’t spend money on a new fancy coaching website. I just updated my WordPress site I had already been using for corporate consulting. * I was marketing for free by posting on LinkedIn and Facebook, then tweeting links to my LinkedIn articles on Twitter. Later, I started writing lots of articles on Medium. * I spoke to people’s emotions. How they might be suffering. How much better life could be. * I didn’t spend money on ads. * I didn’t do an aggressive sales pitch in my discovery calls. I just asked questions, listened, and helped people as much as I could during that call. Most people would then ask me how they could continue working with me. * I coached my first client over the phone (e.g., no Zoom). * I had no fancy payment gateway (e.g., clients mailed checks or used PayPal). * I didn’t have everything figured out. I learned and adapted while learning from each new client engagement. You could research, study, and theorize about your business forever and still not know if it will really work. Or you can set aside your perfectionism, test some ideas, get feedback, and learn from the real market. If your offer is helping people solve a problem, they’re happy and want more, and you’re attracting new clients, you’re onto something! If something isn’t clicking, make changes and try again. And again. It sure is nice to dial in your business model and strategy while you’re still receiving a 9-5 paycheck. That keeps you from panicking, rushing things, and making poor decisions. Test and evolve things until you’re getting traction. Then, scale and decide when you’re ready to go all in. It’s faster, easier, and cheaper than ever before to launch and test your business idea. I’m here to help and support you. My community of solopreneurs is here to encourage you. My workshop will help you get started. What are you waiting for? 😊 I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

During my lifetime, I’ve had thousands of business ideas. I’m not exaggerating. I ran small businesses to earn extra money when I was a kid. I’ve been buying books on business and entrepreneurship since I was a teenager. Even then, in the back of my mind, I knew I would never be happy working for someone else. However, I spent most of my career doing precisely that: working for someone else. For over two decades, I moved from employer to employer (e.g., IBM, Apple, Ridge Technologies, Adaptec, eBay, Yahoo) and tried to be a good little employee. For the most part, I succeeded. I performed well, got promoted often, and climbed the career ladder to executive roles. But I was always dissatisfied. I never really enjoyed being told what to do. 😂I left the corporate world in 2010 and started consulting independently again. I then founded a startup and tried to create a “real business” with a product, employees, investors, a board, and all the bells and whistles. It failed. “From the ashes, a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring…” — J.R.R. TolkienAfter a few months of depression, I decided I just couldn’t return to being someone’s employee, so I started a new business about seven years ago. But, after the pain of my startup’s failure, I vowed not to repeat the same mistakes. I would not push another boulder up a hill. So, what do I mean by that? Building and operating a new business is already challenging enough. Running a business when you don’t have everything you need to be successful is frequently a recipe for disaster. I’m sure you’ve seen this happen. How many small businesses and restaurants have you watched launch and operate for a few months (or even a few years) but ultimately fail? I’ve watched five restaurants come and go in the same retail space in my small town over the past seven years. I often see new business owners and startup founders creating a business that requires much more than they personally can deliver. For example, they need: * Investment or loans. * Talent, knowledge, skills, and experience the founder or owner lacks. * Education or credentials the founder or owner doesn’t have yet. * Employees to deliver the products or services for the customers. * Expensive office or retail space. * Expensive equipment. They’re pushing a giant boulder up a hill by trying to create a business they can’t even begin to operate by themselves. Now, I won’t say that companies like that never succeed. Of course, they do. Mega corporations abound! However, I’m not that type of business owner, and I’m not that type of business coach. If your dream is to build a massive corporation that generates billions in revenue, plenty of entrepreneurial resources already exist to support you. I can’t help you with that. Instead, my mission is to help people like you—if you’re still reading—break free of the 9-5 grind and build a solopreneur lifestyle business to support you and your loved ones. I love simple businesses that let you focus on enjoying your life instead of working hard 24x7. I want to maximize your odds of success. That means eliminating variables and complexity that will make your life harder and increase your chances of failure. I remember a conversation with someone who wanted to open a new restaurant. As we talked, I discovered they had zero experience in the restaurant industry! * They had never worked in a restaurant. * They had no connections in the industry. * They didn’t know how to cook for a restaurant. * They wanted to take out a huge loan to build a new one. * They didn’t even know where to begin. Now, I can’t predict the future, but I had a pretty good sense of how quickly this business would fail. I encouraged them to pursue a business idea closer to their existing talents, strengths, knowledge, and experience. While my tech startup failed, my other three businesses were (and are) pretty successful. I was able to support my family on just my income from them. We weren’t wealthy, but we were comfortable and happy. I’ve mentioned them before, but I want to talk about those businesses in the context of this article. My first business offered my design services to software companies. I already had 95% of the skills, experience, and equipment needed to succeed. I had to learn some sales and marketing, but that was about it. I landed my first client in less than a day. That business doubled my annual income from what I had been earning from an earlier employer.I created my second business in about a week as a potential side hustle after I quit my corporate job in 2010. Again, I had about 98% of the skills, experience, and connections I needed to succeed. This time, I deliberately avoided a production job requiring me to create deliverables (e.g., design work). I was selling my knowledge as a consultant and advisor. I immediately landed a part-time client with a retained engagement of $10K/month. I built my third business in about two weeks after I shut my startup down. I’ve been running this business for almost seven years now. This time, I had about 99% of what I needed to succeed. I intentionally designed my solopreneur business to require no employees, special equipment or software, or a physical location. I can—and have—run this business from anywhere in the world from my phone and laptop. It gives me the ultimate freedom to live life on my terms. Unless you have ambitions to be the next Amazon or Google, I encourage you to be realistic and build a business that you can operate successfully with low risk from day one. Don’t try to push a boulder up a hill and set yourself up for failure. Thank you for reading Invincible Solopreneurs. This post is public so feel free to share it.I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Working for yourself has many incredible benefits (e.g., freedom, flexibility, control over your calendar). But there is another beautiful side effect of solopreneurship. I discovered it a few years after leaving the corporate world in Silicon Valley and working for myself.I'm finally allowed to grow older and have gray hair. No more worrying about looking "too old" for the job, being the victim of ageism, or dyeing my hair to get through an interview. I did for several years toward the end of my corporate career. I didn’t go wild with it, but I knew people judged my ability to be energetic, innovative, and creative by my appearance. I was treated differently as my hair turned grayer. I always told myself I’d stop doing it and that it was ok to age naturally. Right? I mean, it should be. However—inevitably—I noticed the reactions and received passive-aggressive comments (e.g., “Oh, letting your hair go, huh?”, “Have you always been this gray?”). So, back to dyeing, I went—until I finally broke free from that rat race and launched my independent business. To hell with changing your appearance for employers. Many of my friends still do it, but I'm happy to leave it all behind. It is incredibly freeing. My older career coaching clients are experiencing ageism in the industry. They are no longer receiving promotions. It’s taking much longer to land a new job than ever. One friend recently told me their boss said they don’t hire anyone over 40. Some employers and leaders deny it, but there are too many documented incidents for it to be our imagination. * Making ‘Dinobabies’ Extinct: IBM’s Push for a Younger Work Force * The median age for Google’s workforce is 29, compared with 42.8 years for computer programmers and 41.7 years for computer-hardware engineers nationally.* Is Verizon's Voluntary Separation Program An Attempt To Layoff An Older Generation Of Workers? Personally, I know it happens. I used to be on the hiring side of the table and hear interviewers making ageist comments about why we shouldn't hire an older candidate (e.g., "They're too old to be innovative,” “When did they graduate from college?!”). A good friend of mine would be in the job market and navigating interviews. Mind you; this person is so incredibly talented. I worked side by side with them for years. Potential employers rejected them repeatedly until they remembered it was time to dye their hair again. One dye job later, and voilà! - they received a job offer. How ridiculous is that?I experienced this discrimination when we raised a seed round for our startup. A partner at one firm said we were too old to have the energy for startup life again. A partner at a different firm walked into the meeting room, looked at us, and said, "There sure is a lot of gray hair in this room." No, I didn’t punch him in his smarmy little face. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I will admit it took me quite a few years of running my solopreneur businesses before I realized I could stop being fake with my appearance. Old habits are hard to break, I guess. I kept thinking it would hurt my chances of success with my business. But, slowly but surely, I noticed my clients valued me precisely because I was older and had “been there, done that.” They didn’t expect me to be some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youngster with sparkling stars in his eyes. They wanted my battle scars, war stories, and wisdom from years of being knocked down and getting back up. My message is about learning from my mistakes so you can avoid them with your business and career. Use my pain for your gain. Sidestep the landmines. Reach your goals more quickly with less stress than I experienced. Solopreneurship is so damn amazing because I get to be ME. I don't have to pretend to be someone else. I don’t have to look younger to coach people who need my help and advice. What a relief! I wish the corporate world would change overnight, but it won't. Sadly, you will most likely reach a point in your career when you feel the unforgiving hand of ageism holding you back, too. That may be the day you bid a fond farewell to all of the broken corporate cultures and strike out on your own. Do you know why? Because you are so damn good at what you do precisely because of your age, accumulated knowledge, and decades of experience. You have deep wisdom, and your advice is so valuable. You can set yourself up as an advisor and consultant, so everything you offer can be provided to clients who will value you. And, let me tell you, that feeling of being appreciated for who you genuinely are is oh-so-sweet. You’re gonna love it! Oh, and throw away those bottles of hair dye. You won't need them anymore. Ways to turn your age into an assetThere are many ways you can transform what you’ve learned and accomplished over your lifetime into valuable assets for your business. Here are some examples of folks who achieved success—often reinventing themselves— at a later age. * Raymond Chandler was 51 when his first book was published.* Ray Kroc was 52 years old when he started McDonald’s.* J.K. Rowling was 32 when Harry Potter was published.* Colonel Harland David Sanders was 65 when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken.* Julia Child was 49 years old when her first cookbook was published.* Bob Ross spent 20 years with the U.S. Air Force and only started his famous painting show on PBS when he was 41.Your knowledgeIf you’re one of those people constantly learning and growing, you’ve acquired a fantastic amount of valuable knowledge. Every year, you know more that can help others and be applied to solve their problems. Expertise matters, and this continues to develop throughout your life and career. For example, a study of radiologists found that their “interpretations of screening mammograms improve during their first few years of practice and continue to improve throughout much of their careers.”Can younger people also have valuable knowledge? Of course, they can! I’m not saying they don’t. But you’ve had more years to accumulate even vaster amounts of it unless you’ve been resting on your laurels and stagnating. Note: never let that happen. Your experienceNo one has precisely the same life and work experiences you have had. Everything you have experienced impacts who you are and how you think. You can bring your unique perspective to bear on any problem that needs to be solved for your customers and clients. One way to maximize your experience is to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Step up into bigger roles and take on more responsibility.Do things that scare you. Growth happens when you stretch yourself to do and become more.Your unique experiences enable a diversity of thinking that no one else can replicate. They have not lived your life.They have not walked an identical career path (my path is kind of crazy). Embrace this, recognize how your experiences contribute to your unique value, and leverage it to your advantage. Clients love it when you have a deep well of stories that can help them navigate their problems. Your wisdomKnowledge alone does not solve problems. Wisdom helps you understand how and when to apply your knowledge.If knowledge is information, wisdom is knowing when to apply that information to solve a problem and how to look across all of that knowledge to create a metal-level solution rather than some micro application of a tiny piece of information in isolation. You may have heard some variation of this anecdote that illustrates the power of wisdom. This can be applied to your own consulting business, by the way. Charge for your wisdom, not just for the work completed. A town’s electricity generator failed, and various engineers were unable to fix it, so an elderly professor was summoned. He examined the generator carefully, then tapped it lightly once with a hammer, and power was instantly restored. He submitted his bill for $1,000.02 and itemized it: “Tapping — $.02. Knowing where to tap — $l,000.” (Source)Older folks do gain more wisdom. Yes, yes, I know. We are suffering some types of decline. But wisdom improves with age and survival. The bold young buck steps into the crosshairs of a hunter’s rifle. The older and wiser buck has the wisdom to recognize and avoid hunters. Your networkYour network's breadth, depth, and power all grow as you age and keep active. My network is quite valuable from my years at IBM, Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and all the consulting I did in Silicon Valley. I also traveled the world and spoke at events in other countries. I keep active with my online network and build friendships everywhere!You can tap into your network as a business owner; the more valuable your network is (as an older person), the better the results. * Looking for talented people to help you with a project (e.g., a great engineer). * Seeking investors for your business (e.g., having multimillionaires and billionaires in your network is nice). * Finding smart partners who might want to join you in a new venture (e.g., almost all of my startup partners were old friends and colleagues). * Helping introduce your clients to well-connected people (e.g., for a job). * Getting an intro to someone to help close a deal (e.g., selling into a corporation). My network was so small and weak in my 20s. Luckily, I had a few great people who helped me get into graduate school. But my network didn’t really grow and become more powerful until my 30s and 40s. Now, in my 50s, I feel like I know someone at every tech company (or someone who knows someone). Lean into your advantages as you grow older. Don’t let someone tell you you’re “too old” to do something. And that’s the beauty of solopreneurship; you are in charge. No one else can tell you what you can or cannot do! I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Are you thinking about starting your first business? It can feel overwhelming, and it's too easy to focus on the wrong things.In this article and podcast episode, I talk about: * Ten things to forget about. * Ten things to obsess about. * Ten things you must do. I talk with many folks interested in quitting their 9-5 jobs and launching their own business. They look for helpful information online, but it frequently recommends many activities that aren’t that important when you’re first starting. In fact, spending too much time on them is such a waste of energy that it jeopardizes your success. Many years ago, I was part of an entrepreneurial community. Everyone was excited, energetic, and bursting with cool business ideas. Unfortunately, people love to spend too much time on the fun parts of designing and defining a new business. They focus on those activities so much that they don’t spend enough time on the fundamentals that will make or break the business. For example, a cool logo is fun to design but won’t keep your business alive if your customers aren’t happy. Several years later, one of my friends from that community remarked, “I think we’re the only ones still in business with our original ideas.”She was right. Most of the businesses had already failed and disappeared. A few people had shut down one or more business ideas and moved on to something new. Many folks went back — or stayed — in 9-5 jobs. I will share more details in the podcast audio for this article. So, scroll up and listen to hear everything. There’s just too much I want to share, and I don’t want this newsletter to get too long. Ten things to forget about — for nowAspiring business owners should stop worrying so much about the ten items I share below. Note: There is a big difference between a virtual business (e.g., career coaching) and a physical business (e.g., retail store, restaurant, bar, auto repair business). For example, some items below can be put off for the future when you’re running a consulting business online. But, if you have a physical business, you must deal with them before you can open your storefront. Will they be necessary for every business at some point? Sure, some of them are necessary to address in a growing company. But, some of them are still not that important for solopreneurs. So, it’s a waste of time and energy to focus on them before your business is even off the ground! * Your business name.* Your business structure (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation). * Your logo. * Your branding elements. * Professional photos. * A fancy website. * Business cards and letterhead. * Scaling your business. * Hiring employees. * Being popular on social media. Many of these things are putting the cart before the horse. Most waste your precious time and money when you can least afford to spend them. With my first business, I had a paying client before I even had a business name, domain, website, or business email address. With my second business, I operated profitably for many years before forming an LLC. One of my favorite local bakers creates gluten-free pastries, breads, and other delights. I’ve watched his business launch and grow over the past few years. He did it the right way. While other local businesses struggled or died during the pandemic, he thrived. He didn’t make the mistake I see many small businesses make. They dive right in and spend lots of money on a storefront, remodeling the space, hiring employees, etc. This guy bakes out of a home kitchen certified under the Cottage Food Law monitored by the California Department of Health. He doesn’t have a storefront or retail space. He has no employees. It’s just him. He started by delivering baked goods to your doorstep. Then, he partnered with local coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants to offer his treats in their retail space. He caters and holds events at wineries in their venues as a win-win. His business is slowly growing, thriving, and expanding into more products when he knows customers want them — and he’s perfected the recipe. He’s always asking what we want next to ensure demand before wasting time and money on something customers won’t love. Don’t focus on the wrong things when starting your business. There will be time to reevaluate and deal with them later. Right now, there are more important things you should be obsessing about. Ten things to obsess about Here are ten things you should obsess about: * Your ideal customer. * The problem they have. * Your solution to their problem. * What your core offer is.* Your elevator sales pitch.* Your product-market fit. * Making customers happy.* Building your email list. * How you’re feeling. * The lifestyle you’re creating. I was talking with a friend about many of these items. You should always be customer-obsessed, but it’s the only way your business will survive in the early days. You won't last long if you don’t deliver value and make them happy. That’s why it’s essential to fixate on who your ideal customer is and their problem that only you can solve with what your business offers. Also, selling feels easy when you know you have something that can genuinely improve someone’s life. Why would you keep it a secret? Why would you not use it to help people? And, when you have happy customers, you don’t want to lose touch with them. Don’t let social media, search, and other companies come between you and them. That’s why you should obsess about building your email list. You will always want a direct connection with your customers and potential customers. Finally, one of the reasons I love solopreneur businesses is that you get to design your lifestyle. You decide when, where, and how you work. You can choose who you spend time with and how hard you want to work. So yes, I want you to obsess over how you feel during this journey. Are you on the right track? Do you love what you’re building? Is it giving you the kind of lifestyle you want? And I’m not just talking about the money you’re making. I’m talking about the freedom and flexibility to live your life on your own terms. With all of that being said, there are some things you must do if you want to run a functional business. Ten things you must do Here are some items you'll need to take care of to operate your business and get off to a good start. Some of these overlap with the obsession list. * Talk with an accountant and lawyer to see what’s required for a new business where you live. * You may need legal agreements and contracts ready, depending on the work you do (e.g., consulting with corporations). * Have somewhere online where people can learn about your business and what you sell. * Help potential customers discover you (e.g., marketing and maybe ads). * Have a way for potential customers to contact you. * Prepare your offer and create your pitch. * Have a way to accept payments connected to your business bank account. * Deliver real value to your customers. * Get testimonials and reviews from happy customers. * Retain your customers for repeat business and get those referrals! I live in California in the U.S., so my experiences running my businesses here are pretty different than what others deal with in other U.S. states and certainly quite different from what you may experience in your country (e.g., stricter regulations). Please take my advice with a grain of salt and speak with a local accountant and lawyer. They will help you navigate the legal requirements for starting and operating a business where you live. I don’t want you to get into trouble! The items above are the critical components of any sustainable business model. People have to know your business exists, they have to be able to contact you and buy from you, and you have to be able to accept payments.I know some of this sounds silly and obvious. But, you’d be surprised by the number of new business owners who don’t have an online presence, set up a new bank account, or have any way for them to accept payments from customers. Then, they’re scrambling later when potential customers ask: * “Where can I learn more about your services?” * “How do I hire you?”* “How do I buy from you?”* “Where do I make a payment?” Get the basics right with your new business first, then focus on your obsession list to build a thriving customer base. Reevaluate and deal with that first list later, after you’re up and running and ready for that level of detail. Thank you for reading Invincible Solopreneurs. This post is public so feel free to share it.I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

I hosted another live fireside chat via Zoom last month. In this podcast episode, I share some of the questions and answers we discussed. I started with a conversation about the power of writing and publishing. It’s not just good for your career as an employee. It’s also powerful for solopreneurs to connect with their ideal audience and clients/customers. As usual, people sent me questions ahead of time. But in this session, we also covered questions raised during the Zoom. For example:* “What is the best industry for generating case studies for my new business?”* “How do investors and VCs evaluate startups and founders?”* “How should I describe what I do so it resonates more with CEOs and founders?”* Why it’s so important to talk with potential clients to understand how they talk about their problems in their own language. I recorded the call and uploaded it for this newsletter’s podcast episode. Scroll up, hit play, and enjoy! By the way, if you’d like to attend the next fireside chat, I’m hosting it on May 30th. Sign up here to save a seat. I’ll be sharing feedback on LinkedIn profiles and answering other questions you submit using the form on the event page. There’s still time to send me yours! Hi, I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop (coming soon). I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Many years ago, I was miserable. When I was still an executive working for a corporation in Silicon Valley, my life was not my own. My long days comprised 2-4 hours on the freeway for my daily commute, running from meeting to meeting, and going where my calendar told me to go next. It started with early-morning standup calls, and it ended with late-night calls with teams around the globe. I left all of that behind in 2010 when I quit the corporate world and started my own consulting business. Life was certainly better after that. I worked with amazing clients, and I worked fewer hours. I had more control over my schedule, so I spent more time with my family. However, I was still trapped in a familiar cycle of a daily work schedule, commuting on freeways, working in clients’ offices, and not taking much time off for vacations. Even after I founded my own startup, I followed a similar routine (e.g., commuting, long hours), although I had way more control over my “coworkers,” working hours, and how I spent my days in the office. I guess I had considered nothing very different because I had spent decades in a traditional 9-5 model. Although I was the boss, I essentially replicated many of the old patterns of “having a job.” It wasn’t until years later—when my startup failed—that I challenged my conventional notions of work and running a business. I had always lived my life in the margins around my jobs. I also lived my life around my first businesses. But this time, I designed my new business around my life instead. I challenged myself to create an operational model that let me have a good life while I am still young enough to enjoy it. Ok, young-ish. 🤣 Here are a few of the must-have elements of the new business I created:* A solopreneur model with no dependencies on anyone else (e.g., no employees, partners, or investors). * No more daily commutes! * No expensive office space in a fixed location. * A location-independent business that can function anywhere in the world. * No equipment or resource demands other than a laptop, phone, and internet. * No requirement to meet with clients in person. * Complete control over who I decide to work with as a client. * No set hours other than what I choose to work. On that last point, I recently applied “Day Theming” to further improve my life and design my business around it. About 5 months ago, I decided to block off Wednesdays for outdoor activities with my wife every week. We went skiing every Wed morning this winter, and now we're doing long hikes and trail runs on that day. Why Wednesdays? I don’t enjoy crowds. After much experimentation, we discovered we often have the ski slopes and mountain trails mostly to ourselves when we go on Wed mornings. Roughly, here is how I’ve structured my week to give each day a theme and focus: * Mon: Live meetings with my communities (here’s a video from one)* Tue: Business writing and podcasting* Wed: Outdoor activities and fiction writing* Thu: Client meetings and business tasks* Fri: Client meetings and business tasks* Sat: Running and fiction writing* Sun: Walking and business writingOf course, this doesn’t detail every single little task I do, and some emergency stuff comes up that I have to take care of, even if it doesn’t fit a day’s theme. But you'll notice how much of my time I dedicate to my personal life. And yes, I’m having some fun writing fiction for the first time in my life! I’m now considering taking this concept of theming and designing my business around my life to another level. There are times of the year when I just need to set work aside, recover, and be with my family. I want to take summer vacations with my wife, visit my children, and see my extended family, too. I want to take time off during the holidays in November and December. So, I have some more business design work to do. Creating that healthy balance is an ongoing task that requires maintenance, evaluation, and tuning. I also structure my days to have time to work out every day, spend mornings the way I want (e.g., coffee, journaling, workouts, and breakfast), and enjoy meals with my wife. I don’t take client calls at night or over the weekend. I’ve had to establish some rules to maintain my quality of life, which I sadly never did with the old corporate jobs that almost killed me. You deserve to live a good life! Now. Not later. Right now. Yes, you need to make a living. We all do. But you don’t need to “sacrifice living” to make enough money to have a good life. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I believe in establishing what “having enough” means for you. If you are seriously focused on becoming a multimillionaire or billionaire, then I’m not the business coach for you. My goal is to help you replace the income you make from your 9-5 job so you can break free and be independent. Heck, if you do build an amazing business that generates even more money and still allows you to have a great life, then go for it! I’m not opposed to making a lot of money. But I am opposed to pursuing money with such a vengeance that you give up enjoying a good and healthy life now. What’s the point of wealth if you sacrifice your health? What’s the point of becoming rich if you sacrifice your relationships along the way? I want you to build a business that gives you the balance of making enough money to be comfortable and still enjoying your daily personal life. As Invincible Solopreneurs, we believe in creating business models that give you everything a 9-5 job took away from you:* How you spend your time. * How much time you spend working. * The freedom to live where you want. * The freedom to control your calendar. * The power to choose who you work with every day. * How you make your money. * How much you get paid. We believe you should design your business around your life, not your life around work. In this article, I intentionally said this is about designing your life in harmony with your business, not “lifestyle design.” The word lifestyle has been ruined by the rich and shameless. People think an ideal lifestyle means living like an obscenely wealthy person. You can’t have a great lifestyle unless you own a mansion, summer house, ski cabin, high-end sports car, yacht, etc. Bullsh*t. That’s all about material possessions. It’s not really about your life and how you live it every day. So, instead of focusing on the shallow and superficial, I’d rather have you focus on the deep and meaningful. How can you design your business to enable you to live a life of fulfillment, happiness, purpose, health, love, and meaning? If that makes me sound like some happy California hippy, then so be it. I am happy. I’m happier than I’ve ever been before. You should be able to make a good living, work less than you did as an employee, and deliver amazing value to the clients you help with your unique talents, skills, knowledge, and experience. When you build the right business model for you and them, it’s a win-win-win for everyone. Don't treat your life like an afterthought by squeezing it into the margins of time around your job. Instead, design your work around your ideal life. This post is public, so feel free to share it with someone who needs more balance in their working life.Hi, I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop (coming soon). I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

When should you talk openly about the business you’re building, and when should you keep quiet about it?Several entrepreneurs promote the benefits of talking about your business while “building in public.” This differs greatly from the traditional “stealth startup” model that most of us have seen and experienced. When I ran my solo design agency during the Dot Com Boom, many of the early-stage startups I helped were in stealth mode. They didn’t share any information publicly, and they certainly didn’t broadcast their experiences during the journey. For one thing, social media didn’t exist yet. But, blogs sure did. So, what does it mean to build in public? Building in Public (BIP) consists of building a company or product and transparently sharing the behind scenes of how you do it. Founders generally share their wins, struggles, learnings, anecdotes, and business metrics. (source)If you’re active on Twitter, I’m sure you’ve seen quite a few startup founders, creators, and even investors talking about it. * Arvid Kahl: “This is why I build in public…”* Tibo: “Here’s how to test an idea in under 2 weeks…”* Andrew Gazdecki: “How to generate leads for your startup on a budget...”Benefits of building in publicHere are some key benefits of building in public:* You can get early feedback on your product or service that will shape its future and hopefully increase your odds of success. * You can start building a community that believes in what you’re doing and supports you. * Transparency builds more loyalty and trust with your customers and community. * You can create friendships with other builders who are on a similar journey. * People can share helpful advice if they know what you’re trying to accomplish. * You will build a reputation as an expert, develop a stronger network, and gain a following on social media. * The more visible your business is, the more likely you’ll attract the attention of relevant investors (i.e., if you want that). * The more visible your business is, the easier it is to attract potential talent (i.e., if you want to hire employees or contractors). When it’s not a great ideaThis is a pretty good summary of why one entrepreneur stopped building in public. He switched from being “radically transparent” to something he calls “thoughtfully transparent”.While I agree with the premise of sharing your journey, there are times when it’s a bad idea to build in public. For example: * When stealth competitors can use your data against you (e.g., pricing strategies, where you find great talent, your business plans and forecasts). * When there is a significant first-mover advantage and you don’t want competitors to see what you’re planning before launch. * When you’re still not sure what product or service you want to focus on for your business, so things may radically change (e.g., you end up offering an entirely different service from what you originally planned, and it’s no longer relevant for the people who followed your journey). * When you’re spending so much time managing your online presence and community that you’re not spending enough time building your business, product, and services. * When sharing data transparently hurts your business (e.g., you share churn data, and it scares away new customers). * When your side hustle jeopardizes your 9-5 job. I want to talk more about that last point. My “Employee to Solopreneur” strategy assumes you can safely test the waters with your new business concept before giving up a steady paycheck. Funny thing, you can think more clearly when you aren’t worried about paying rent or buying groceries. Building in public is all well and good when you’re an entrepreneur fully committed to your new business. You’re not risking a day job. If you do decide to quit your job and go “all in” on your new business, you can choose if building in public is right for you.However, it’s quite another thing if you still have a 9-5 job and you’re experimenting to see what business idea will work. You don’t necessarily want your employer aware of your side hustle. If you're trying to validate your business model and land enough customers before you go all in, you don’t need the extra stress of losing your job. Quite simply, if you’re still employed, building in public is a very risky strategy. You could very well lose your job if your boss finds out. Now, some employers are more understanding than others. Some countries, regions, and states encourage the entrepreneurial spirit more than others and support it legally. For example, here in California in the tech industry, most people assume everyone is working on some sort of side hustle or startup idea. NOTE: If you’re currently employed by someone else, review your employment agreement and local employment laws and business practices before working on your business idea. For example, most employers have non-compete agreements — even if they’re not fully enforceable everywhere (e.g., California). However, you’ll be interested in what the FTC recently announced. Why and how to keep your business secret* How would you feel about an angry customer showing up at your home? * Do you want your friends and family to question your business idea? * Are you really ready to let everyone know about the business you’re creating?* Are you ok with everyone knowing about your business if it fails?* Do you want to wait until your business is successful before you start talking about it?I do share quite a bit about the businesses I’m running. I’m pretty sure all of my friends and online connections know about Invincible Career, Invincible Solopreneurs, Invincible Life, and Brilliant Forge. Yes, I know. I publish and post a lot! I also practiced building in public for my tech startup, Voicekick. We shared our journey, and we also shared our failures. That was painful. However, I’ve also tested dozens of other business ideas over the past 13 years. Most of those happened in secret. I didn’t see the point in talking about them until I thought there was a there there. Most of them didn’t get traction, so I quietly shut them down and moved on to new ideas. An insulating layer of anonymity isn’t a bad idea in the early days of testing your business. Also, some distance between your personal life and your business entity is always a good idea. Here are some things to consider and steps you can take to protect yourself and keep things a little quieter while you test ideas:* Anonymous domain registration (e.g., Google Domains offers free WHOIS privacy). * A business website that’s all about the business brand (i.e., you don’t have to mention your name). * A business email address (e.g., create a new Gmail account for your business). * A separate phone number from your personal number (you could even get a virtual number). * Business social media accounts (e.g., sign up using your business email). * A business suite for a physical mailing address (e.g., UPS offers business mailboxes). * An LLC or corporation protects you and your personal assets a little more from lawsuits. * You may want to take additional steps to hide your ownership of the company. * A separate bank account for your business. * Always use your own equipment (e.g., laptop, phone). * Always use your own internet service (i.e., not your employer’s network). * Always work during your personal time (i.e., not during hours your employer expects you to be working for them). Another benefit of keeping your business secret is it frees your creativity to consider wilder ideas. You might be worried about your friends and family being aware of what your new venture is. You might fear damage to your personal reputation if a crazy business idea fails. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve spun up and quickly tested dozens of ideas for new businesses. No one knows about those dozens of failures. Well, I do, of course. But, I could lick my wounds and sunset the idea without people constantly asking me, “What happened to that new business you started?” In the end, you know yourself and you know what business ideas you’re considering. You’ll have to decide if you’re ready to build in public — with its pros and cons — or if you should keep your business a secret for now (or maybe forever). “And just as Steve loved ideas, and loved making stuff, he treated the process of creativity with a rare and a wonderful reverence. You see, I think he better than anyone understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished.”— Jonathan Ive Feel free to share this article with a solopreneurial friend!Hi, I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop (coming soon). I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. If you’re a solopreneur like me, it’s easy to put your head down and work for long hours without a break. But, it’s not the healthiest to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen all day. So, I’ve been sharing my workouts every day to help keep myself accountable. You’re welcome to comment and talk about what you’re doing to stay active! Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

"My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice. Instead he got a safe job as an accountant. All of that fell apart when my dad lost his job and the family fell on hard times. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love." — Jim Carrey Even the tech industry is not immune to the layoff contagion this time around. 344 tech companies have already laid off 103,767 employees in 2023. In 2022, there were 1,535 layoffs at tech companies with 241,176 people impacted. I have several friends, clients, and acquaintances who have lost their jobs in the past 14 months. Some of them felt safe because they worked in a hot industry that seemed to be growing. Sure, there was some growth, but there was also a lot of over-hiring. Some of them also felt safe because they worked in large corporations that had dodged the economic troubles so many smaller companies and startups faced in 2020. However, the truth is no one’s job is ever “safe.” Heck, “having a job” is never safe. Your source of income is never safe when you work for a company that can eliminate your job in an instant when it needs to make the numbers work. I hope we’ve all learned a lesson from this. No industry is a safe haven. Big companies are no longer better than smaller companies when it comes to employment security. Leaving your fate in the hands of an employer is always risky. I know that many of us do it. Look at me, I did it for decades. It’s how most of us are raised and educated. Your goal is to get a great job and climb the ladder to higher success. But what if job security is no longer guaranteed? What if you hate your job so much that you can’t stand going to work every Monday morning? What if you do everything you were supposed to do, work hard for an employer that makes you miserable, and you still lose your job and need to scramble to find a way to pay your bills? What a kick in the teeth! I don’t know about you, but I always hated wasting my precious time working on meaningless projects. I hated working for someone who was a lousy boss and a terrible leader. I hated watching the company make bad decision after bad decision, knowing we’d all have to suck it up and deal with their incompetence later. That’s what you do as an employee. Unless you’re a C-level executive making the decisions, you don’t have much of a choice. If you don’t like it, you have to leave and find a new job with a new employer. You have to hope you find one that is more competent! Or, if you’re anything like me, you finally reach a breaking point. You decide that enough is enough, and it’s time to bet on the one person you can always count on no matter what:YOUThings you can’t control When you work for someone else, so many things are out of your control. I remember my employees being frustrated that their performance targets and bonuses were tied to factors beyond their control. They knew that a lot of things could go wrong — despite their hard work and best efforts — and their income would take a hit. These factors can also take a company down, and there’s nothing you can do about it. I have a few clients who went to work for a hot company and received stock options that made their total compensation pretty darn sweet. But, the company made some bad strategic decisions and now their total comp is less than they were making at a previous job. It sucks, but there’s not a darn thing you can do about it. Corporate culture It takes several years to change corporate culture. So, if you’re working in a toxic environment and hoping it will get better, good luck. As an individual, you are not in control of fixing a corporate culture. Even if you can start moving it in a better direction, it’s going to take time. A long time. Executive actions You cannot control what your executives say or do. I think we can all remember times when a CEO said or did something that made their company’s stock take a tumble. In some cases, it never recovered. Through no fault of your own, you will financially suffer if your executives say or do something stupid. Corporate strategy Unless you’re a C-level executive or board member, I’m guessing you don’t have much control over the corporate strategy of your employer. When the strategy is sound, times are good. But, when the strategy is flawed, there’s not much you can do about it as an employee. Corporate plans Similarly, the execs and board create a lot of plans that the lower-level employees have to live with. When I was a junior employee, I assumed that senior executives must be so wise and experienced that they knew what they were doing. But, the higher I climbed the corporate ladder, the more I saw “how the sausage was made.” The more you know, the more worried you get about the plans they are making, but there’s not much you can do to change those plans. Corporate investment I remember when my team knew we needed to make an investment in infrastructure and talent. Even though our business unit brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, we weren’t allowed to invest it in the way we knew we must to remain competitive and generate even more revenue. The C-level execs vetoed our plan and slowly killed our organization over the next few years. Corporate spending As an employee, you have very little control over corporate spending (unless you’re the CFO). If the company is burning cash too quickly, there isn’t much you can do about it. Guess what happens when companies are in financial trouble and need to reduce expenses quickly? That’s right. Layoffs. Your manager Now, I do coach my career clients to do everything they can to choose their manager when seeking a new job. A great manager will do wonders for your career. A terrible manager can tank it. But most folks don’t get to select their manager. Companies have too many re-orgs for you to stay in control of that. There were times when I was working for an amazing boss. Unfortunately, it didn’t last forever. The company would have a re-org or my boss would decide to leave for a better opportunity. I certainly didn’t get to choose my new boss. That was out of my control (and didn’t end well). Your management chain Likewise, you aren’t in control of the leaders in your management chain. You might have a good direct manager, but the leaders above them aren’t so good. The higher they are, the more power they have and the more miserable they can make your life. Your coworkers If you interview candidates, you may have some say in a few people who join your organization. But, for the most part, you do not get to choose your coworkers. Sometimes they’re great, but sometimes a few are pretty toxic or downright incompetent. Team competence We’ve all worked on teams before. I’m sure you have memories of those experiences. You’re probably working with a team right now. The competence of your fellow teammates can be 100% excellent (rare), average to pretty good (more common), or quite bad (it happens). Work sucks when your colleagues aren’t very good at what they do. Team effort Similarly, some people work harder than others. That’s reality, and there’s not much you can do about it if you’re an employee (not the manager). Folks might be competent, but they don’t like working as hard as you do. Now, your overall performance — and odds of success — are dragged down by your lowest-performing members. Execution velocity One thing that many corporate employees complain about is slow execution. If you’ve ever worked for a startup or smaller company, the change in execution velocity at a large corporation probably drives you crazy. Why do things take so long? Well, there’s nothing like having “too many cooks in the kitchen” to drag a project to its knees. Decision making I founded my own tech startup several years ago and worked with cofounders and employees. My head of Design literally sat right next to me in our tiny office. He’d create a new design for one of our app screens and say, “Hey, Larry. Can you take a look at this and let me know what you think?” I’d roll over, review the design, and say, “Looks great! Push it to the engineers.” One day, he said, “You know, this is the fastest decision-making I’ve ever had in my working life. I love it!” But, when you work for someone else in a larger company, good luck with that. Decisions have to flow through so many layers that they take forever. Market conditions Of course, no one can control market conditions. But, you should be able to control how you respond to changes in those conditions. And, you should be able to quickly adjust your strategies and plans when necessary. Well, that’s not in your control when you work for a larger employer. You’ll see what’s happening in the market, you’ll know what changes should be made, and you’ll be incredibly frustrated to see the decision to make those changes take forever (or never happen). Competitors Likewise, no one can control the actions of their competitors. But, you should be in control of how you deal with what you’re competitors are doing. Unfortunately, when you work for an employer, that’s not your call. You’ll have to wait and see what the leadership decides to do (if anything). We all know several companies that failed to respond to competition quickly enough, which led to their demise (e.g., Blockbuster). The economy Finally, no one can control the economy (or can they 😂)? But, again, you should have control over how you respond to economic changes. Smaller companies (and solopreneurs) were able to pivot quickly and survive during the quarantines a couple of years ago. Larger companies struggled to adapt, and there wasn’t much their employees could do to take control of the situation. Heck, that’s even happening now with the current economic uncertainty, hence the layoffs. Things you can controlI bet you can see why I love running a solopreneur business so much now. My corporate experiences left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. As a solopreneur, you have complete ownership of your decisions and actions. No one can slow you down. No one can stop you from doing what you know needs to be done. Your strategy It’s a huge responsibility, but you are in full control of your business strategy as a solopreneur. Your plans You are in control of the plans you create to execute your most excellent strategy. Your preparation You decide how much preparation (e.g., research, designing, building) is required before you launch your service or start selling your products. Your time and effort You control how much time, energy, and effort you put into your business (e.g., I love working hard on my own business). The harder you work, the better your business will do. Your velocity You can move as quickly as you want when executing your vision for your business. Your decision making You are the top decision-maker, which can be a little scary sometimes but is also incredibly empowering. Your custom team You’re not stuck with coworkers you didn’t hire. You can choose who you want to hire (e.g., contractors, consultants, vendors) or partner with to make your business successful. Your response to competitors You are in control of how and how quickly you respond to moves by your competitors. Your response to market conditions You can respond quickly to changes in market conditions and do what’s necessary to survive and thrive. Your response to economic changes Similarly, you can respond quickly to economic changes to adapt and keep your business running (e.g., reducing your own salary, expenses, etc.). Your investments It’s so amazing to get to invest in what you know your business needs most (e.g., software, training, marketing, advertising, product development, equipment) without some higher-up telling you, “No.”Your spending Finally, you control your budget and can dial spending up (e.g., when times are good) or down (e.g., you lose some clients) as needed. It’s your call. Whew! That’s a whole lot of things that are in your control when you run your own business. But, that’s what it means to “bet on yourself.” You are willing to take on the responsibility because you want to be in control of your future and not subject to the whims of an employer (who may or may not be competent). I know it’s not easy to leave a steady paycheck. The good news is, you don’t need to leap straight from employment to unemployment and hope that your business ideas will work out. You can ease into testing the waters. You can also build a business that leverages your years of experience. Once you see that it’s all working well, you’ll feel more confident about quitting that job that’s making you unhappy. I quit my $500k career My total compensation was over $500K/year when I left the corporate world in 2010. For some people, that seems like a crazy amount of income. I can tell you that my younger self never imagined earning that much. For other folks, that’s a pitiful amount of money. I know that many of my tech friends are earning millions in total comp these days. I also know that many of them are very unhappy with their jobs. I was pretty unhappy, too. So, I walked away from that executive salary and the Bay Area lifestyle. What’s the point of making great money and having a fancy home if you’re miserable and rarely get to enjoy any of it, anyway? I took a nice long vacation with my family. I did some consulting to get income flowing back into my bank account. I entertained the idea of going back to a 9-5 job. But, the longer I stayed away, the less I wanted to return to the corporate world. I was tired of trying to change toxic corporate cultures, forcing myself to endure toxic bosses, and working on projects that were pretty meaningless in the big picture of life. Finally, I decided to bet on myself. I would create the kind of company I wanted. I would build a business around work that made me feel good about what I do. How I stayed away I haven’t had a boss for almost 13 years now. I never did go back to a 9-5 job. I may not be the next big multimillionaire, but I’m so much happier and healthier than I was before. I created Invincible Solopreneurs to help others take a similar journey. There are plenty of entrepreneurial consultants who will promise you riches. They tell you that you’ll be making six figures in two months. They dangle wealth in front of you and hint that becoming a billionaire is not out of reach. Yeah, sure. If you want to get rich, find one of those consultants. I will never promise you that you’ll become rich by following my system. Instead, I want you to have enough. I want you to be able to comfortably support yourself and your loved ones, but not hate your life every day. I want you to be happy, healthy, and successful enough. "I want to be the most successful person no one knows." — My rather successful anonymous friendSome people call that a “lifestyle business.” I prefer to think of it as keeping everything in balance and knowing what matters most in life: happiness, health, and love. You do need enough money to feel secure. But, the pursuit of excess wealth will always risk your happiness, health, and love. Just take a look at the lives of the few billionaires on this planet (e.g., Musk, Bezos).Obviously, I go into more detail about this in my coaching and workshops. But at a high level, here is how I’ve managed to run my own business and stay free for 13 years.* I love working hard on something I believe in.* My work gives me purpose and keeps me going.* I radically reduced my expenses. * I’m not shy about marketing myself and my businesses. * I explore new ideas constantly. * I pivot when I need to make a change. * I slowly expand and diversify. * I keep adding new revenue streams. * I focus on scalable activities and income (this is essential). I feel grateful for this life I’ve built. I’m glad that I finally learned that “having enough” and being happy with that is the secret to breaking free and owning your future. Are you ready to take control of your destiny? Reach for the moon, but…“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” ― Norman Vincent PealeI love dreaming big, and I think you should, too. But don’t miss a chance to live an excellent life because you refuse to settle for anything less than your vision of financial perfection. I encourage you to be pragmatic enough to build a business that pays your bills, even if you dream of creating an empire. Bet on yourself, but don’t gamble away your freedom and future with crazy investments and ventures. We’ve all heard stories about people who lost their life savings with risky business ventures, real estate investments, crypto schemes, etc. They wanted the big prize so badly that they were willing to risk it all. So they did, and they lost it all. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with building a lifestyle business. My business is exactly that. I earn enough to support my family and feel secure. I’m not crazy rich, but I don’t care.Do you know why? Because I have what I always wanted. I now have things that I did not have when I made way more money. My solopreneur business gives me:* Autonomy and freedom* Ownership of my time* More time with my family* Time to exercise* Less stress, anxiety, and frustration* More happiness, purpose, and fulfillmentNow, don’t get me wrong. I still have big dreams. I spend 30-60 minutes every morning exploring new business ideas, models, and plans to continue growing my entrepreneurial kingdom. It’s in my nature. I can’t help it! However, I am so grateful for what I already have. I wake up every morning and feel happy that I get to work for myself instead of facing a boss every day. Bet on yourself Hey, if you’re reasonably smart, talented, ambitious, self-motivated, and a good decision-maker, you should be working for yourself. You’ll do well! You’ll be able to build a business that generates a profit and responds quickly to changes to remain successful. If you’re reading this newsletter, I know you’re going to be frustrated working for anyone else. You can tolerate it for a few years. Most of us do. But, you’re going to become increasingly irritated by the incompetence around you and long to break free one day. If you’re going to bet on someone, bet on yourself. Share this with a friend who needs some encouragement to bet on themselves! Hi, I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop (coming soon). I currently live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely. One thing I love about working for myself is that I can make time for exercise every day (it has probably saved my life). If you don’t know me, I’ve become a bit of a fitness fanatic over the past 14 years and share many of my workouts on Instagram for accountability. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

One of my author friends recently announced: “Well, it finally happened. I’m making more money from my books than I do in my day job. I guess it’s time to quit and go all in on my writing!” Ok, I’ll admit that I felt a brief twinge of jealousy before congratulating them. Writing fiction for a living was — and probably still is — my vision of an ideal job and lifestyle. I wanted the independence, freedom, and flexibility of deciding how I spent my days, when I scheduled working sessions, and where I spent that time writing (I always pictured a cabin in the woods). I had always admired my favorite childhood authors and dreamed of being like them one day. However, my life went down a different path. * I thought I had to study engineering in college to have a “respectable career” later. * But I didn’t enjoy it. * Then, I changed majors and graduated with a degree in Psychology. * But I couldn’t find a good job. * Went to graduate school, focused on human-computer interaction, and got my Ph.D.* So, I began a successful career in the Silicon Valley tech industry. * Woke up about 20 years later and realized I was unhappy, unhealthy, and unfulfilled. * So, I left my tech career behind and started my own business as a coach and consultant. Making a living doing more of what you love and less of what you hate is possible. I have friends who are doing it, and I have been doing it for over 12 years now. I’m finally enjoying what I do for a living, working with great people, owning my schedule, deciding where I work, living where I want to live, taking care of my health, and just generally happy with my life! Now, I’m finally coming full circle and returning to writing, too. I’m even working on some fiction. Who knows? Writing might be my “3rd Act career” (after I actually retire). Of course, I’m not saying that everything is blissful and easy. Work is still work! I work hard, and I wouldn’t say that running my business is easy. But the big difference is: I don’t hate it! There are many days that I truly love what I do. And I’m seriously addicted to the freedom it gives me. I’m not part of the camp that believes you must follow your passion to be happy with your work. But I’m also not part of the crowd that gives up and says, “Hey, work sucks. That’s reality. Just find a job to pay the bills and enjoy your life on the weekends.” No thank you! Life is too short to only enjoy your weekends, live with dread every Sunday evening, and feel depressed when you start work on Monday morning. Why should you spend every Monday through Friday doing something you don’t enjoy? It may not be easy to find a way to make a living doing more of what you love and less of what you hate. But it is possible, and it is worth it! My author friend is now doing it. As I said, I’m doing it. And you can make it happen, too. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Imagine a different futureWhat if you no longer had a boss telling you what to do? What if you could start doing more of what you love to make a living? Can you imagine a life where you no longer have to do things you dislike to get paid? When we need money from someone else, we get stuck in a bad dynamic. We can’t say “No” when we’re afraid of losing our jobs. That’s especially true during tough economic times like right now. For many years, I was chasing titles and income. But, the more money I made, the more our lifestyle expenses grew. Gotta love that Silicon Valley "keeping up with the Joneses" life. So, I felt trapped. I was stuck. I had to keep my job, keep making money, and put up with a life that was making me miserable so we could pay our mortgage, cover our expenses, and take care of my family. My health wasn’t the greatest, my stress and anxiety were at an all-time high, and things weren’t getting better, so I knew something had to give. We finally said enough of that and drastically downsized. We sold our house in the Bay Area, moved somewhere we love, and live more simply. I could support my family on my solopreneur business income because we pushed our burn rate line (i.e., our monthly expenses) below my income line. I was free. I never had to return to a 9-5 job again. So, now I get to spend my days writing (which I love), podcasting (which I love), and working with great clients (whom I love spending time with). And I spend several hours every day with my family, working out, going for walks and runs, skiing, etc. I haven't had to do anything I hate for work in over 12 years. It’s a pretty amazing feeling!Now, I want you to imagine your ideal future. * What could your life be like if you loved the work you do? * Where would you live if you no longer had an employer? * How would you spend your days if you were in complete control of your time? * What would you do with the time you recovered from eliminating a daily commute? * With whom would you spend your time if you no longer had to spend your days with a boss and coworkers? Create a vision board if it helps you see it more clearly. Creating a vision for your ideal future isn’t a waste of time or some fantasy exercise. When you set your intention, you set things in motion. You will see new opportunities that you would have missed before. Once you have a clear vision for what you want your working and personal life to be, go deeper: * Create goals. * Make a plan. * Set a timeline for making it happen.* Build an annual and monthly roadmap for the work you need to do. Change your daily and weekly habits to chip away at the roadmap to make your vision become a reality. Write your love/hate listsIf you already know exactly what it is you’d rather be doing, great! You have an idea for your business. Now, you just need a strategy and a plan to execute it. However, if you’re not sure what it means to “do more of what you love and less of what you hate,” it’s time to create lists of activities to make it clear. I often have my career clients do this exercise when they want to find a much better job or change careers entirely. But the ultimate career change is building your own business and having the opportunity to define your own job! As you go about your day for the next few weeks, pay attention to your work and life activities, and start capturing the following lists:* What do you notice that you are good at doing? You already have the talent, skills, knowledge, and experience required to excel at these tasks. * What do you not seem to do very well? Note: this could be because you haven’t really learned how to do them, you need more experience, or perhaps you don’t actually enjoy the tasks or care about the work.* What do you seem to enjoy doing? Note: you may find yourself repeating some items from lists 1 and 2 here, and that’s ok. There’s a difference between how well you do something and how much you like doing it. * What do you hate doing and never want to do again? Pay special attention to this list. These are tasks and activities you want to eliminate from your working life. * What do you wish you could start doing (or do more of)? This is aspirational. What have you always dreamed of spending more time doing in your working life? By the end of the next few weeks (e.g., 2-4 weeks), you should have some pretty long lists of tasks and activities that you love and hate. If any of the items are high-level or vague, try to break them down into more specific details. For example, I’ve had clients tell me, “They love design.” But what does that mean? What do they mean by “design”? I asked them to break down the high-level topic of design into more detailed subtasks and activities, so we could be clear about what they loved about the process. As we did this, we discovered that they loved some parts of design (e.g., brainstorming, collaborative whiteboard sessions, and prototyping) but really disliked other design activities (e.g., creating mockups for all use cases, writing detailed design specifications, generating endless revisions). Your lists can now be used to define your “ideal job.” As a solopreneur, you get to build the business of your dreams and your role within that business. This is your opportunity to write your own job description and fill it with the responsibilities you enjoy, the activities you love, and the work you’re great at doing! Describe your ideal job Let’s have some fun with this. I usually ask aspiring entrepreneurs to: * Describe their ideal customers. * Capture the problems those customers are having. * Create a solution for those problems. * Define their ideal business. * Create a profitable business model and plan. * Etc.But I want to approach this exercise from a different angle. If you could write a perfect job description that lets you do the work you’re great at doing and love doing but none of the work you hate, what would that look like? How would you start your morning? How would you spend your days? What is your ideal work schedule for the week? Once you have this job description, let’s talk about how this person would get paid (this person is you, by the way 😉). * Who needs the work this person can perform? * Who would pay for it? * How much would they pay for it? * How could they up-level the value delivered and get paid even more? I saw a recent conversation about two solopreneurs who had similar businesses but approached their product and service offerings very differently. * One only provided 1-on-1 consulting services and was making about $70K/year. There was a hard limit on how many clients they could take on, with only 24 hours a day and seven days in a week. * The other solopreneur did some 1-on-1 consulting too, but also sold self-serve access to digital downloads and systems that let customers leverage that solopreneur’s knowledge to solve their own problems. Since this was scalable, the second entrepreneur was making about $350K/year. The point of sharing this story is I want you to be creative with your ideal job description. Don’t artificially limit yourself to the way your work was performed in the past for an employer. This is your chance to set yourself free and work how you want, when you want, where you want, and with whom you want. You get to call the shots! Test, scale, and set yourself free You’ll notice that my author friend didn’t quit their day job until it was obvious they could make a living from their books. They wrote a little in the morning before work, wrote some more in the evenings, and carved out a few hours for dedicated writing time on the weekends. It took about four years of writing on the side, building up their list of books for sale, testing and improving their marketing, and watching their income slowly but surely increase. * Four years of hard work. * Four years of patience. * Four years of loving the work of writing, though. It was worth it for them because they love publishing books! They could see the light at the end of the tunnel: the day they could quit a job they hated and make a living doing what they wanted to be doing instead. Making a living as a writer isn’t a slam dunk for 99% of authors. That business is a different beast than the path most of us solopreneurs take. If you follow my model of turning your ideal job description into a business plan, your path to profitability should be much shorter. As I’ve shared before, my first solopreneur business replaced my 9-5 job income almost immediately. I launched my little design agency in about a day after my layoff, started working for my first client right away, and invoiced them about two weeks later. So, I had enough money in the bank to support my family in that first month of business vs. my writing friend, who had to wait almost four years. You can design and test your business model while you’re still employed (of course, check your employment agreement and local laws). That’s the safest approach. You’re essentially using your current paycheck to fund your solopreneurial exploration. You are your own investor! Finding real customers will help you validate if what you offer provides enough value for them to purchase it. Once you have happy customers, repeat business, and you know it’s working, it’s time to start scaling your business to increase that income stream. When you’re making enough that you know you could make a living if you were running your business full-time, you’re ready to cut ties with your old job and set yourself free! I can’t even begin to describe how much better work will feel when you control what you do (or don’t do), the clients you accept, and how you spend your days. Life is just better when you enjoy how you make a living! As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I am planning a live workshop to dive into the details of designing and launching a solopreneur business. It will be an interactive session, so you can get your questions answered. Let me know if you’re interested! Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop and community (launching soon).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Mastodon. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Can you give me a little feedback? I’ve been planning an upcoming 2-hour workshop for all of you who are interested in solopreneurship. The focus will be on transitioning from a 9-5 job to launching your solopreneur business quickly, easily, and inexpensively. My goal is to show you how you can define, design, and test a business concept in just a few weeks. I want you to generate revenue as soon as possible. A steady stream of income from your business will give you the confidence you need to leave your job someday and say goodbye to your boss forever. I want to focus on the core essentials you need to create a simple and effective business based on what you already know and can do well. I will not overload the 2-hour session because I don’t want to overwhelm anyone. I’m always here, and my solopreneur community will always be available later for people who want to keep engaging, learning more, and getting feedback as they build and grow their businesses. So, starting with the basics is okay since we can expand on specific details and more advanced topics later. My questions for you are below. You can also leave a comment with more details about what you’d like to see in a workshop like this. Subscribe to receive updates in your inbox!Workshop formatI’ve attended “Talking Head” workshops before (i.e., pure lecture format with an instructor). They were ok, and I did learn new things. But, I’ve always preferred more active workshops when we made time for discussions and Q&A. So, I want you to engage, talk with me and others, and ask questions. That’s why I’m planning this as a workshop instead of a webinar or live lecture. How do you feel about that? What’s your preferred format? Ok, now let’s review the proposed agenda. I would love to get your feedback on this, too. Rough agendaIn the podcast audio for this newsletter, I go into more detail about each of these agenda items. So, scroll up and hit play if you’re interested in hearing more about them. * Transforming your current expertise into a business model and plan. * Breakout session: What is your business concept? * Building the simplest website possible. * Qualifying interested leads with discovery calls. * Writing proposals for potential clients. * Breakout session: Service models and pricing strategies. * Setting up your purchase and payment flows. * Writing consulting agreements and contracts. * Working with your customers to deliver value. * Asking for testimonials and referrals. There will be some time at the end for Q&A with me, too. * What’s missing from the agenda? * What would you like me to include?* Is there anything you’d like me to remove?* What changes would you want to see with the agenda? Let me know in the comments. I really do want to make this workshop useful and valuable, so please share your thoughts. More thoughtsI’m considering offering a few options for the workshop:* Workshop only.* Workshop + an hour of 1-on-1 business coaching with me. * Workshop + monthly membership in my Solopreneur community.* Workshop + lifetime membership in my Solopreneur community. What are your thoughts on these options? Which ones do you find most interesting? Note: the community membership would also give you access to workshop replays, discounts on future workshops on other topics, and free sessions with various domain experts (e.g., podcasting, newsletters, sales, marketing, etc.). Thank you for taking the time to respond! I appreciate it. 🙂 Your input and feedback will help me create a better workshop that meets your needs. I’m looking forward to it! By the way, do you have a friend who might be interested in this workshop, too? Please feel free to share this article with them. Thanks! Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop and community (launching soon).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Mastodon (it’s better than Twitter 😉). Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Losing your job can feel like the end of the world. That’s especially true in a tight job market like the one we are experiencing right now. Several thousand people in tech have been laid off in the last few months, and more layoffs are coming. I’ve been through it before, and I can tell you it’s a frightening feeling. It’s downright terrifying if you’ve been living at the edge of your income without a significant financial cushion to tide you over until you land your next job. Unfortunately, it is taking people much longer to find one now. Here’s some data from a recent Harris poll:* 71% of those looking say the job search is more complicated than expected (it often is).* 63% say they’ve searched for a new job for over 6 months. * 48% report applying to over 50 positions (I know someone who applied for 100 positions before finding a job). * 72% of job seekers say that companies are acting like they don’t want to hire anyone (e.g., slow response times, canceling interviews, ghosting people). Now, you could keep interviewing and hoping your next job is right around the corner, week after week and month after month. Or you could take advantage of this push “out of the nest” and turn lemons into lemonade (I’m mixing my metaphors a bit). Quickly launch a solopreneur business, start talking with potential clients, and get some income flowing in right now while you’re interviewing for a full-time position. “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”― Alexander Graham Bell* You might discover that your new business can support you, so finding a new job is suddenly not a burning necessity. * You may also realize you’re tired of leaving your career and life stability in the hands of an employer who can abruptly eliminate your job when the company needs to cut expenses. * You may enjoy being independent so much that you actually don’t want to return to a 9-5 job. * Finally, you might be surprised by how much you grow when you leave the comfort zone of a job that narrowly defines what you can and cannot do. This has happened to me a couple of times during my career. I started my first solopreneur business in Silicon Valley right after my first layoff. I built it in less than a day, and it doubled my annual income from what I had been earning from an earlier employer. I talked about that in this article. I started my second solopreneur business when I left my last corporate job over 12 years ago. Originally, I had only intended to do some consulting while I was looking for my next leadership role. But, as the months went by, I decided to stop interviewing for full-time jobs. As the years went by, I realized I was never going back to the 9-5 world. The freedom is addictive, and I simply can’t give it up to be put back into an employee box. If you’ve lost your job, I’m not saying you must give up searching for a new one. It is nice to have an employment option in your back pocket, just in case your new business isn’t quite meeting your financial needs. However, if you’re reading this and subscribed to Invincible Solopreneurs, escaping the 9-5 is what you want, anyway. Right? In an ideal world, you would rather not be working for someone else. But you’ve probably been reluctant to make the big leap and go all in on your business. Well, now’s your chance. If you’ve already lost your job, this is your opportunity to see if you can make a go of it on your own. If you can give it a few months, be patient with fully replacing your previous income as an employee. It takes a little time. * With my first business, I was lucky enough to land a full-time client immediately and replace my income completely. * With my second business, I landed a retained client within a week or so. It didn't fully replace my income, but it was enough to support my family. * With my current business, it took about 6 months to generate a decent revenue flow. I didn’t feel comfortable with my sales pipeline for about a year, so I had to be more patient. If you can’t seem to make it work this time, there’s no shame in returning to an employer. I have several friends who flow back and forth between jobs and running their own businesses. Work is more elastic than we think, or at least how I used to think. Ok. Let’s talk about what it takes to spin up a business and start making some money from it. The good news is that this process is way faster and much easier for a solopreneur vs. an entrepreneur who needs to secure funding, hire employees, find office space, etc. I previously wrote about starting a business in 30 days, but that assumes you have a job and can build your business in parallel while you feel secure with your employment income. But, if you’re out of work, you need revenue ASAP. The focus is different. The timeline is tighter. You don’t have much time to explore and experiment. You need to get your solopreneurial business up and running as quickly as possible and land clients to get some income flowing. Here are 10 steps to making that happen. 1. Define a simple business model Time is of the essence, so you can’t spend months defining your new business, exploring various products and services, and testing ideas. If you already have a product or service unrelated to your old job, great! But, if you don’t, I highly recommend you use your old job description to define your new business model and the services you provide. Your pricing model can be based on factors such as:* Your desired annual salary. * What you think your billable hours will be (don’t forget to account for vacations, holidays, etc.). * What competitors typically charge. * What a fully-loaded employee would cost a potential client to do what you do (e.g., base salary, bonuses, stock options, insurance, other benefits, equipment, software, office space, etc.). * A high end of your range that you think you deserve based on value delivered. * A low end of what you need to survive (i.e., it’s not even worth your time if you can’t get paid this rate). * Your estimated total expenses to run the business. * Your profit margin (e.g., 20%) that you will use to reinvest in growing your business. * How you want to sell your goods or services (e.g., hourly, project-based, monthly retainer, packages, etc.). Don’t worry about creating the perfect business model and pricing right now. You can course-correct and improve things later. As you serve more happy customers, gain experience, improve your offering, and feel more confident, you can raise your prices appropriately.2. Update LinkedIn with your new businessI often recommend to my career coaching clients they add a consulting business to their LinkedIn Experience section (with no end date). Doing this eliminates any employment gaps, plus it can be a nice source of side hustle income. Since you’re actually launching your new business, update your LinkedIn to list it and include a few bullet points about the services you provide (or goods sold). Time is of the essence, so don’t worry about coming up with some fancy name, applying for a trademark, etc. Just use your name (e.g., Miller’s Software Consulting) or whatever you want right now. You can come up with a more polished business name later. LinkedIn also provides a guide to getting started as a service provider. You can create your Service page, add info about your services, and get listed as a provider. I receive new client project requests almost every day from LinkedIn. 3. Put your business out there Don’t be shy and don’t wait too long. The sooner you launch and get your first client, the sooner you’ll generate revenue. You’ll also learn and improve your business marketing and offers as you get customer feedback. Believe it or not, I announced one of my new businesses on the day I resigned from my last corporate job. I wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to do with it, but I leaped off the cliff and built my wings on the way down. The story linked below includes the actual blog post I published that day. You don’t have to have everything figured out ahead of time. And you can change your mind later as you learn more and evolve your business. Nothing is set in stone or permanent. Go and flow! 4. Connect and ask for testimonials Testimonials are essential for a small business owner. People need to feel like they can trust you and you’ll deliver what you promise. As a solopreneur, your personal and professional reputation transfers to your business reputation. Using your professional reputation helps you overcome the “cold start” problem every business faces. Before you leave — or lose — your job, connect with your coworkers on LinkedIn and social media. It’s a lot easier to do this while you’re still connected through work. If you enjoyed working with some of your colleagues (and managers) and you had a great relationship, ask for a testimonial. They’re called “Recommendations” on LinkedIn, and I suggest you ask for one there. It provides more credibility than text on your website. 5. Engage your networkI’m always talking about using the power of your network to find a new job. Well, your network is also a powerful resource for your business. When you light up your connections, you’ll turn up more opportunities. A significant number of my clients are people I used to work with in my past corporate jobs. It’s been really cool to keep the connection going and still be helping people with their careers. I also receive a lot of referrals from past clients, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances in my network. I just recently spoke with someone about her upcoming job interviews and offer negotiations. A mutual friend referred her to me. Referrals are the lifeblood of any business, but especially for a solopreneurial business running on a lean marketing budget. So, don’t be shy about talking with the folks in your network. Be clear about what you’re doing, what you offer, the clients that benefit the most from your business, etc. You can keep it fairly casual. Here’s an example:“Hi Toni! I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m no longer with Cooper and Associates. I recently launched my own accounting practice, and primarily work with small business owners to provide bookkeeping services. If you know of anyone who might benefit from my 12 years of accounting experience, I would appreciate it if you could send them my way. Thank you — and we still need to have that lunch soon (on me)!” 6. Find your circle of advisors Your employed friends are going to say you’re crazy to leave the security of having a job (which is funny if you’ve just been laid off or fired). Some will actively discourage you and try to scare you back into the arms of an employer. In the best case, your employed friends simply won’t understand what you’re doing because they aren’t experiencing it. They can’t give you advice, commiserate, or fully support your endeavor since they aren’t walking the same walk. One of the most valuable segments of my network is my circle of self-employed friends. They were the ones who helped me when I launched my first business. They’re the people I could turn to when I had questions, faced issues, doubted myself, and was struggling. So, create your trusted circle of solopreneurial advisors. If you can’t make one, join one. That’s the point of this newsletter and my Invincible Solopreneurs community. * Meet regularly.* Share your issues. * Ask for feedback. * Get advice.* Receive and provide support and encouragement. * Return your value to the group, too. You don’t have to do this alone! 7. Create an online presenceI shared a lot of details about domains and website hosting in the past article. When you have the time, you should definitely invest in a decent website to promote your business (note: decent doesn’t mean expensive). However, when you’re in a hurry to get your business up and running, keep it simple and move fast. For example:* Set up a free one-page website on Carrd. * Publish a free website using Wordpress.com. * Use Substack to create a free website and get a free newsletter and podcasting hosting with it! Basically, you just need a site to describe your business, its goods and services, and a way to sell, take payments, schedule time with you, etc. Speaking of payments…8. Set up paymentsGetting paid is the whole point of launching your business and making enough money to support yourself. When I first started a business, I had to mess around with invoicing and waiting weeks (or months) to get paid for the consulting work I provided. Now, I prefer to sell my services up front, which ensures you get paid and are not left hanging later (e.g., some of my old startup clients went bankrupt before they paid my final invoices). People can retain me for monthly coaching engagements, purchase coaching calls, and subscribe to premium experiences and communities. Some easy ways to get paid online: * Venmo - 1.9% + $0.10* Stripe - 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge* Paypal - 2.99% to receive money for goods and services* Gumroad - 2.9% to 9%+30¢ on each transaction* Bank transfers - Fees vary9. Set up your social mediaOver the years, I’ve changed my mind about social media. I used to set up new social media accounts for every new business I launched. But, you know what? People don’t enjoy following most businesses on social media. As a solopreneur, you are the business. Now, I simply talk about what I do and offer my thoughts on social media from my personal accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. I link to my newsletters, free coaching calls, and services. I post a mix of personal and professional stuff, which may turn some people away. So be it. I’m a solopreneur, so the lines between my personal and professional lives are a bit blurred. But it gets way more engagement than my business social media accounts ever did. 10. Market consistently Most small business owners suck at marketing. When I first started running a business, I didn’t like to do it. It felt strange. I guess it was because I had always relied on a sales and marketing team when I was an employee. However, as a solopreneur, it’s all you! I would say I spend most of my time doing some sort of marketing and lead development. Some of it is active (e.g., engaging with people online), and some of it is “passive” through content marketing that I published years ago. People need to know that you exist! They need to know what your business offers and how you can help them. People can’t hire you if they don’t know who you are, what you do, and why it matters to them. * How can you improve their lives? * How will you solve their pain?You must keep your sales pipeline full. Too many small business owners market and sell in bursts of activity. They land clients, start working on projects with them, and ignore their marketing and sales until they need a new client. But it takes a while to spin things up again, which causes a gap in your revenue stream. Find ways to scale and automate so you can handle more clients. If you truly have overflow and can’t serve everyone, consider partnering with another solopreneur, hiring contractors, or sending referrals. We all send business to each other, which is one of the additional benefits of maintaining a circle of trusted business peers. Bonus: Have some fun!Losing a job is never enjoyable. But look for the silver lining in this push to finally do your own thing and never work for a boss again. This is your chance to build a business around your life instead of living your life around your job. Losing a job and launching your new business is your opportunity to:* Do more of the work you love (and less of what you hate). * Work with the people you enjoy spending time with. * Set your own working hours. * Own your calendar and how you spend your days. * Work as much — or as little — as you want. * Get paid what you’re worth. * Work where you want. * Work how you want. I know this article is just the tip of the iceberg of what it takes to launch and run a business. But that’s why I created the newsletter and community. I’m a solopreneur too, and have been running my most recent business for over 6 years now! We’re on this journey together. Don’t be shy about reaching out to talk with me. Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

You wouldn’t think that a late frost could kill your business. But, if you’re a small farmer, that’s precisely what can happen. I grew up in the Midwest, so I know how much the weather can make or break a harvest, and farmers often walk a thin line of profitability. After 30 years of living in cities, my wife and I finally made our way back to a rural lifestyle. We now live in an area that is known for its fruit orchards. Unfortunately, we had a late cold snap in the Spring, and snow eliminated most of the apple crop. Some orchards closed their doors for the season, which is when most make all of their income for the year. I don’t know what will happen to them. But others diversified and are doing what’s necessary to survive. * One is selling spooky Halloween walks through their forests and orchards. * Another transformed its facilities into a small events center, and they just hosted a wedding last weekend. * Another farm has hard ciders, wine tasting, and family activities to fall back on since they can’t sell fresh fruit. Now, dear reader, I know it is highly unlikely that you are planning to start a farm for your solopreneurial business. But there is still a lesson here for all of us. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, and find relevant ways to expand and diversify your business income. You should definitely diversify your business portfolio and income sources. But you need to do this the right way, so you don't become fragmented. A bewildering business expansion muddles your brand, confuses customers, and distracts you from your primary focus. If the work you do for your business requires your active involvement, bias for alignment amongst your lines of business as you diversify and expand. This will reduce the cognitive load of switching gears. For example, I've worked hard to align my coaching practice around common themes that can apply to work, business, and life (e.g., freedom, flexibility, confidence, empowerment). I've also diversified my different practices under the same business umbrella, with scalable and non-scalable business offerings. * 1-on-1 coaching* Group coaching * A community* Courses, workshops, digital downloads My other businesses and income sources can be more distant from my core business since they don't require a lot of my active involvement every day or week. For example:* Rental income * Investments* Residual income from courses * Passive income from articles Ok, let’s dive into the details of how, when, and why you should diversify your business. But before you can expand, you must build a foundation and reinforce your brand. * Establish a foundation * Build and expand your brand * Diversify for growth * Diversify for survival * Maximize flexibility and freedom Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my writing.1. Establish a foundation Don't fragment your attention and your business focus before you establish a solid foundation. Occasionally, I’ll talk with someone about their business plans, and they describe a full portfolio of goods and services they want to sell to customers. They have plans for expansion before they’ve sold a single product to a customer or provided services to their first client. Now, it’s ok to have a grand vision for your business and picture what success looks like 10 years from now. That can be inspiring! But you need to create a clear short-term strategy and roadmap to “ship” your first product or provide your first service. There’s also nothing wrong with imagining a full suite of products and services that your mature business will eventually provide. I do this all the time. I can’t help myself! However, before you actually begin diversifying your business, establish a solid foundation first. Build your loyal customer base. Consistently sell your first product or service to create a profitable and recurring flow of revenue. Make sure you have happy customers and a proven, repeatable business model that works well. Once everything is up and running and humming, reach that point of comfort when you feel you have things well under control. Then, start thinking about how you can leverage your strengths, brand, and competitive advantage to explore adjacencies. Diversification and expansion always come with risks. The closer you can stay to your core foundation and competitive advantages, the greater your chance of success is. “Before diversifying, managers must think not about what their company does but about what it does better than its competitors.”— Harvard Business Review For example, I’ve watched a local multigenerational family orchard use this strategy. They spent decades running a farm, selling fruit, and offering various goods based on their harvests (e.g., juices, pies). * Then they expanded into hard cider. * Slowly but surely, they remodeled their buildings and increased their income from tourist activities. * A few years ago, they added a vineyard. * Last year, they built a nice tasting room with a view of the orchards and vineyards to provide a beautiful tasting and drinking experience for their wines and ciders. * Now, I can see how they are going to expand this venue to support more events. This process has been going on for several decades. They didn’t immediately leap into providing dozens of products, expanding the farm, and going into debt. They leveraged their well-loved family brand and success to build on their solid foundation. I did this with my coaching, too. I took it slow to test the model, establish my foundation and reputation, and then slowly started adding more services. * First, I only provided 1-on-1 career coaching, which was my foundation. * Then, I started offering job search and interview support. * Then, I built a community and started inviting people into it. * Then, I created a group coaching program. * Then, I offered leadership coaching to individuals and corporations. * Then, I created several DIY courses. * Now, I’m expanding into more coaching and communities for solopreneurship and life coaching. This didn’t happen overnight. I’ve been building and expanding my business slowly for the past six years. 2. Build and expand your brand Diversifying too early is a risk before you've built a brand and become known for something. It’s good to place small bets, test ideas, and explore multiple revenue streams. But, you want to envision these explorations as smaller branches feeding off your core business and brand. Once you've built a core brand, you can carefully and strategically expand. But you still don't want to fragment your brand. Expand in ways that enhance and strengthen your core brand. Businesses that got it right: * A tax preparer that expanded his brand into more general accounting services for small businesses. * Apple created an ecosystem of well-designed hardware devices, software, and a unified app platform. * A fitness trainer who expanded her business to provide nutrition plans. * LinkedIn acquired Lynda.com to create LinkedIn Learning for ongoing professional development. * A musician who expanded beyond selling his music to provide guitar lessons. * A photographer who sold her photos and provided event photography but expanded her business to teach other photographers how to start their own wedding photography businesses. Businesses that damaged their brands with confusing fragmentation: * Amazon baffled customers (and the industry) with a poorly-designed smartphone that didn’t solve a problem or meet anyone’s needs in a useful way. * Similarly, Facebook confused their user base with a bizarre smartphone offering. * Google damaged its brand with the massively costly mistake that was Google+ (trying to compete with Facebook). Make sure your brand makes sense at the core and your new lines of business seem rational. Talk with your current customers to see what they think of your plans. Ask your circle of advisors for input, too. 3. Diversify for growth When is it time to diversify your business for greater growth? Well, it depends. * Do you actually want to grow your business? Maybe you're happy with how things are right now. * Do you need more income from your business? Is there no way to increase your revenue without offering new products or services? * Is your business growth limited by your available time every day? Sorry, but you do need to sleep, eat, and have a personal life too. * Is your growth limited by how quickly you can create what you sell? Have you hit a ceiling in your production efficiency? * Could you scale if you automated more tasks? You could probably automate more than you think. * Could you scale if you brought on a partner, hired employees, or outsourced some things? Do you want to do that? It is possible to grow a business with one product line or one service offering. But, you may eventually hit a ceiling. Diversification allows you to grow your business and offer more products and services. But, as a solopreneur, you have to be careful that you don't spread yourself too thin. As a coach, I frequently run into this issue. If I want to grow my business and increase my income, the obvious answer is to take on more clients. But, I quickly hit max capacity. I find it becomes challenging to spread my attention beyond ten or so 1-on-1 clients. I can scale myself a bit with my group coaching. But even that has its limits. A group session with over 30 people drifts quickly from discussions to lecture mode. So, since I wanted to diversify my business to enable greater growth, I had to embrace asynchronous service models (e.g., office hours in my communities) and more scalable products (e.g., DIY courses, digital downloads, books). Over the years, I’ve watched other business owners successfully scale through similar models. Some examples include:* An artist who sells paintings and handcrafted jewelry but expanded her business by offering one-to-many live watercolor courses, DIY online courses, and a guide to finding your style as an artist. * A musician who performs at venues, sells music online, and provides online guitar lessons. * A fitness coach who provides 1-on-1 training but also sells nutrition plans and online lifting programs. * An engineer who provides development services but also began providing interview coaching to help engineers land jobs at top tech companies. As I always do, I recommend you take a lean approach to diversifying your business and adding new products or services. You want to make sure there is a “there there” before you invest a lot of time or money in a concept that might not pan out. There are a few ways to test your new business concept. * Talk with your inner circle of trusted business peers and advisors. * Ask your current clients and customers what they think of the idea. * Test the idea with some potential clients during sales calls. * Create a sign-up form for early access and beta testing a new product or service. * If you feel confident that you can deliver later, pre-sell the new offering at a discount. * You could even try a Kickstarter campaign. Long story short, validate your new concept before you commit too much money or time to it. Make sure it's on brand. Make sure it makes sense. Test the features and pricing. Even if your business is growing with one revenue stream, you are more vulnerable than a diversified business. A disruption of that primary income source can kill your income quickly. 4. Diversify for survivalOver the past few years, I've lost power and internet access at my home. Sometimes the outage lasts a few hours, but occasionally it goes on for days. We lost everything for over a week a few years ago. Did my business crumble? Did I have to close my doors and shut it all down? No. No, I did not. Living in a remote rural area near or in the forests and mountains has always been our dream. We knew that there's a price to pay for this lifestyle. You need to be independent and self-sufficient. You need to think ahead, have backup plans, and be ready for the worst-case scenarios (e.g., no power during the coldest winter weather). I intentionally designed my business for maximum freedom, flexibility, and resilience. I wanted a business that leveraged the internet, so I could work anywhere in the world (e.g., moving out of the city and into the mountains). I also wanted a business that I could run from my phone when I travel and go on vacations. I'm going to encourage you to follow a similar model for your business. If the pandemic taught us anything, it showed us that activities and businesses are fragile and vulnerable when they require physical locations and face-to-face interactions with colleagues and customers. Many brick-and-mortar businesses failed during the past 2-3 years. They had to shut their doors during the height of the quarantines. Many never recovered. The businesses that survived had an element of their products or services that could be delivered remotely without a storefront. I'm not saying that 100% of your business should be conducted solely over the phone (although it can be). But you should be able to fall back to remote interactions and survive when necessary. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy in-person meetings, workshops, and talks. But, I don't depend on them. I've also watched business fail during an economic downturn. Smart diversification can help your business survive. In good times, it helps you thrive.The pandemic was a test of resilience. Some businesses couldn't survive without walk-in customers. Others quickly diversified to survive. * Spinning up an online retail shop. It now sells even more than their physical storefront. * Offering takeaway foods with curbside pickup. Our local brewery sold pizzas and growlers to go. * Providing a new home delivery service for customers who could no longer drop by. * Offering online fitness programs and a community. They went from $0 to millions in revenue in just a few months, while other gyms struggled and closed their doors. It’s impossible to predict the future. Who knows what the next business challenge will be? But, if you diversify your products and services, you are more likely to successfully weather any new storm. 5. Maximize flexibility and freedomIf you're anything like me, you don't want to build a business that becomes more of a grind than your 9-5 job. As you're expanding and diversifying, bias for giving yourself more flexibility and freedom. Focus on creating new lines of business that are scalable instead of being limited to your available time. I considered several options for my business that would have required leasing a physical space and providing services in the physical world. But I realized how much that would tie me down to a physical location and synchronous experiences happening real time. * I want the freedom to live anywhere in the world. * I want the flexibility to work when I want and take time off for vacations with my family when I want. * I want offerings that scale infinitely, since I’m already limited by my time and availability for coaching. So, if you can, expand your business in ways that increase and maximize your freedom and flexibility. * Digital goods * Books * Courses * Virtual events * Working remotely (over Zoom and phone)* Asynchronous services Before you think of me as a “shut in” who never leaves his remote cabin, I should explain that I do love real-time experiences in the physical world. I love public speaking in front of a live audience. I enjoy hosting workshops. I love meeting my clients face to face. I'd probably love owning a small coffee shop and bookstore. However, I've learned that these types of products and services should be only one part of my portfolio. I'll never make my business fragile and vulnerable by relying on a single source of revenue, customers in the physical world, or a storefront in the physical world. Diversify or die My business will always be diversified. I'll always have virtual services and digital goods. I'll always be able to work with clients and have customers anywhere in the world. So should you. Are there examples of successful businesses that have survived by only providing one product or service? Sure, there are a few that seem to have nailed down their value, secured a loyal customer base, and weathered every storm. But why risk it? Why hope that you’ll be one of the few magical businesses that can survive without a robust diversification strategy? It’s simply too dangerous to put all of your business eggs in one basket. For every business that pulled that off, there are hundreds more that failed when the bottom fell out of their baskets. Diversify, survive, and thrive! But do it the smart way.Thank you for reading Invincible Solopreneurs. This post is public so feel free to share it.Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Why do I love so-called “lifestyle businesses”? Why do I think they’re a brilliant choice for people who are ready to leave the 9-5 world but feel overwhelmed by the idea of building a large company with investors, employees, and a lot of complexity? Well, let me take you on a walk with me down memory lane to illustrate how quickly you can start a simple business like this to replace the income from your job. * I created my first lifestyle business in less than a day after a layoff. It doubled my annual income from what I had been earning from an earlier employer. * I secretly created my second lifestyle business in about a week as a potential side hustle. I immediately landed a part-time client with a retained engagement of $10K/month. * I built my third lifestyle business in about two weeks. I’ve been running this business ever since then, and I haven’t worked in a 9-5 job for over 12 years. Nothing will give you more freedom and security than running a business you fully control. But, let me be clear about something. A lifestyle business isn’t about getting rich (although it could happen). A lifestyle business is about being free. If you value freedom more than wealth, this article is for you. If you love money more than your health, well-being, happiness, and family, click away and read some other article about the hustle and clawing your way to the top of the corporate ladder. Could I still be making more money as a senior exec at a tech company? Sure, I probably could. I know some of my friends do. But then again, I’d probably have to be kissing up to some narcissistic sociopathic boss every day. I’d have to put up with all the corporate politics, games, and BS that drove me crazy and made me hate my working life. I’d be spending my precious time and life energy building someone else’s dream instead of my own. No thanks. When you break free from your 9-5 job and start your own business, the benefits are many. * You no longer have a boss. * You no longer have coworkers. * You choose your clients. * You pick your projects. * You determine your compensation. * You choose your title. * You work when you want. * You work where you want. * You work how you want. * You work with the people you want. * You take vacations when you want. * You make all the decisions. Is it the right choice for everyone? Of course not! Some people truly do enjoy working for someone else. They like going to an office and having coworkers. They don’t want the responsibility that comes with owning and running a business. Other people dream of creating a larger company than a lifestyle business. They want to hire employees and build a team. They have set their sights on running the next billion-dollar company. But, if you like the idea of being free to do your own thing and earning enough money to be happy and make a living, this may be the right path for you, too. Yes, I’ll repeat it: I love running a lifestyle business! I’m not sure why they get such a bad rap. Well, maybe they don’t get badmouthed so much elsewhere, but they sure do in Silicon Valley, where I lived for over 20 years. You don’t get respect there unless you’re a full-blown entrepreneur, raising millions in venture capital, and trying to build the next billion-dollar startup. Hey, I went that route several years ago. I loved the experience, and I don’t really regret it (although I’m not happy about the outcome). I had little freedom, couldn’t quickly pivot to an entirely new product or business, and I had a team of employees counting on me. It was super stressful! A lifestyle business is a different beast. You’re not trying to create the next billion-dollar company that will support thousands of employees and service millions of customers. You’re essentially replacing the income you’re used to making from your 9-5 job as an employee. Your goal is to make enough revenue to provide a comfortable lifestyle for you and your family. You don’t have to deal with investors, a board, partners, or employees. It’s still hard work, of course. But you are in control, you have way more freedom, and it’s way less complex and stressful. At a high level, building and launching your lifestyle business is a 3-step process:* Build your lifestyle business.* Market your lifestyle business.* Sell your knowledge and services. If you want to accomplish this in 30 days for less than $30, it’s hard to beat the speed and affordability of launching a services business. I call this the “Employee to Solopreneur” model. You essentially transform your job description into a business plan. It works very well for knowledge workers (e.g., designers, engineers, project managers, marketers, accountants, lawyers, architects, data analysts, coaches, researchers, and writers). It’s more challenging to apply this model to other types of small businesses that sell goods or require retail space (e.g., restaurant owners, bakers, craftspeople, dentists, barbers). They require more planning, legal paperwork, and financial investment up front. But many of the steps and recommendations I will share are still valuable since most modern businesses require websites, digital communication, and online marketing. A lifestyle business does require some planning as you begin defining and building it. But, the simplicity of the model means that you don’t need to spend as much time upfront before you can start quickly testing, learning, and evolving your business while you are already generating revenue from it. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.1. Build your lifestyle businessI recommend moving quickly while defining Phase 1 of your new lifestyle business. What you define and create at this point will not survive first contact with your first customers or clients, anyway. You want to move fast, learn, and adapt quickly. Yes, you will feel like your business isn’t ready. You do need to offer something valuable, but it doesn’t need to be perfect. “I've long believed that if you're not embarrassed by your first product release, you've released too late.”— Reid Hoffman If you’re defining and building your business in about two weeks (which is what I recommend before you move into marketing and selling), you don’t have time to reinvent the wheel. You must sell what you already know and do. The fastest path from being an employee to becoming a solopreneur with your own lifestyle business is to sell one or more of these three things. * Selling what you can do. * Selling what you know. * Selling who you are. I defined and “launched” my first lifestyle business in less than a day. I immediately had a client and enough income to support my family. I was selling what I could do. I had been a software designer working for employers like IBM, Apple, and a startup. So, I went direct and sold my design services to tech corporations and startups. I worked solo for some clients, and I partnered with other designers, engineers, etc. on larger projects. I defined and “launched” my second lifestyle business in about a week. In a few days after I left my corporate job, I had a part-time retained client providing me a 6-figure annual income. I was selling what I knew vs. what I could do as an individual contributor. The work I performed for clients was more strategic and often in the role of an acting head of product or design. I defined and launched my third lifestyle business in about two weeks. This one took longer to ramp up, because I wasn’t dedicating myself to 1-3 corporate clients with big budgets. In some sense, this business is a combination of selling what I know and who I am (or who I used to be). My clients want help to get ahead at work, solve problems, get promoted, or find new jobs. They want to learn how to climb the corporate ladder (like I did) to reach an executive level in a corporation.In this business, I began working directly with individuals, so it required a new business model and strategy. It also required a whole new marketing plan that included building a new professional brand and “putting myself out there” in a way I’d never done before. 2. Market your lifestyle businessSpeaking of putting yourself out there, if you want to make a living from your small business, people need to know that it exists. They have to know who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. If you only build it, they will not come. Traffic to your website won’t occur magically. Very few people are going to stumble across your business and hire you or purchase your product.My first two lifestyle businesses were powered 100% by networking and referrals. I still believe they are incredibly powerful ways to find customers for your business. A decent percentage of my business growth is because of my friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and clients sending people my way. However, if you want to scale your business and keep your pipeline of leads full and flowing, you must learn marketing. You need to create useful content (e.g., articles, videos), put yourself out there (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn), and consistently be present in people’s feeds. Organic marketing is wonderful, but you may want to experiment with paid advertising as well. In the beginning, your system can be fairly simple. You’re selling one thing (e.g., consulting) and leveraging social media, some content, your network, and referrals to attract new clients. However, as you grow and scale your business later, you will have multiple marketing and sales channels. You should also have multiple revenue streams. 3. Sell your knowledge and servicesSelling is all about relationships, listening, and providing value. I can’t say that I was some sales expert when I was running my previous lifestyle businesses. Sure, I had to negotiate and close deals with corporate clients, but it differed greatly from what I’m doing now. Selling to individuals is a whole different game. Initially, I took some sales training and tried traditional sales methods. However, I hated it. It felt inauthentic, and it didn’t seem to work well for me. So, I changed things up completely. I stopped selling, and I started helping. I’m going to recommend that you try this approach, too. * I give freely. For the past six years, I have written hundreds of articles that help people solve problems in their professional lives. I’ve had people read an article and then tell me they already knew they wanted to work with me before we even talked. * I offer free coaching calls. I try to help people as much as I can with that call. I've literally had people tell me they received more value in 20 mins than they had received in months with another coach. I’m proud of that! And, again, it’s free. * I don’t make a hard sell at all. In fact, I don’t even pitch to people during those free calls. But, do you know what happens when you give and help and deliver value freely? About 98% of the time at the end of the call, people ask me how they can keep working with me. They ask me vs. me pushing my services on them. That’s the secret to selling. Listen to people, care about them, and do your best to help solve their problems. Let them see that you’re a good person who really wants to help, and they’ll want more from you. You’ll stand apart from all the folks who “go for the kill” and only want to close the deal. People will want to work with you instead of them. Send a follow-up message with your proposal that meets the client’s needs and describes how you’ll solve their problems. Transparently provide pricing options that give people a range from affordable to a number that is a more considered investment. You will have to decide what each potential client needs and how you sell your services and provide value for them. For example: * A fixed price and time engagement (i.e., a package). * An ongoing retained engagement (e.g., $X per month). * One-off consulting calls ($X per hour). * Group services at a discounted rate. * DIY solutions using your information products, courses, etc. Get started for freeFree is a great price and a lot less than $30! You actually don’t need to spend any money to: * Announce your business and services. * Start attracting leads and clients. * Create an online presence. * Schedule the work. * Accept payments. I built my very first lifestyle business in less than a day with a $0 investment and a paying client ready to go. It was definitely a case of opportunity, timing, and a leap of faith happening all at once. * $0.00 - Existing laptop that I already owned. * $0.00 - Existing software that I already owned (no subscriptions back then). * $0.00 - Free email account. * $0.00 - Phone that I already owned and used. I was an employee at a startup that was acquired by a much larger company. The honeymoon only lasted a few months before they laid off our entire team! So, the founders and original investors regrouped and relaunched the company as a new startup. However, I decided I didn’t want to be an employee again in this new company. So, I told my manager that he could hire me as a consultant to receive exactly the same design services I had provided before when I was an employee. We signed a contract, and I immediately got back to work. However, now I could offer my services to other tech companies and startups, too (which I soon did). All of my new business came through my network and word of mouth from past clients. You can launch your new business for free. For example, you could:* Set up a storefront on Gumroad (e.g., to sell digital products, courses, subscriptions). * Announce your new business and services on LinkedIn and Twitter. * Spend time helping solve people’s problems online (e.g., demonstrate your value in a subreddit).* Let people know they can DM you to learn more. * Create a PDF doc that summarizes your goods and services for potential clients. * Respond to inquiries and schedule calls with potential clients to check fit. * Accept payments via Venmo or through Gumroad. Launch with minimal investmentWhen I launched my coaching business six years ago, I used what I already had in terms of equipment, software, and services. I invested a little money in a domain, website hosting, and scheduling service (e.g., Acuity Scheduling). But I didn’t spend very much until I knew the business was working and I was ready to take on more clients. However, that small investment did allow me to create a more professional business presence online. For example:* I wanted to host my website on my domain (e.g., invinciblecareer.com), not the free subdomain most services offer (e.g., larrycornett.carrd.co). * $10/year for domain. * $10/month for hosting.* I wanted to make it easier for people to schedule appointments with me. * $14/month for scheduling service. * I wanted to integrate payments with my website and scheduling service. * Stripe at 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge. But that was it! I ran lean for a long time before I started scaling things later. I want to emphasize how important it is to make money before you spend a lot of money. Too many new business owners get excited about building out all the bells and whistles of a “real business” before they have customers and revenue flowing in. Heck, I know a few local business owners who spent tons of money remodeling their retail space and shut their business down before they even opened their doors! To start a business, you do not need:* A fancy logo (I designed my own logo). * A complex website (I designed and created my own WordPress website). * A trademark for your business name (I didn’t trademark anything until several years later). * Patents for anything, yet.* Custom contracts crafted by a lawyer (I used Rocket Lawyer). * An expensive accountant (I used QuickBooks and TurboTax). I know people who spent several thousand dollars setting up a business that never generated a single dollar. Why would you do that? Start simple, land your first paying client, and make sure you have a desirable product/service and reasonable business model before you invest more time and money in growing the business. Spend smart money after you’re making money. Scale and formalize everything letter when you know you’re going to continue. For example, I was operating one of my businesses for several years before I bothered incorporating it. One day, I said to myself, “My business is working, and I guess I’m never going back to a 9-5 job. I suppose it’s time to make it official!” On the other hand, I launched a different business with some partners who wanted to be more formal and buttoned up before we launched. So, we spent money on incorporation, a website, and various other services. Guess what? After two years of running that business, it still hadn’t earned a single dime. Focus on your customer pipeline, learning as much as you can, refining your business model and offerings, and making money. Revenue is the lifeblood of your lifestyle business, and a steady flow of income is what will keep you going and supporting you and your family. Start now and scale laterWhen I launched my coaching practice, I started with a single one-on-client. We agreed on a coaching engagement, established a schedule, signed a contract, and got started right away. That was it. I didn’t add additional clients until I knew that my business plan was working. I didn’t want to invest more time and money until I was sure I wanted to continue the coaching business. You don’t have to have it all figured out before you get started. When you keep it simple and focus on your first client, you have time to test, learn, refine, adapt, and evolve your business model before you bring on new clients. You learn more and get better as you go. As you become more confident and have things dialed in a bit, you can start adding clients to fill your reasonable capacity. Be careful about trying to scale too quickly. It’s easy to get excited about your early success, eager to grow your income, and bite off more than you can chew. Time is your most finite resource. As a solopreneur with a lifestyle business, you are it. So, plan accordingly. Calculate the number of 1-on-1 clients you can handle based on the time commitment. But this will have a ceiling when you hit your maximum capacity. For example, I find it mentally challenging to juggle over 10 clients at a time. However, you can still scale your business in other ways, and you should. You want to create multiple revenue streams to increase your income potential, provide more financial stability and security, and give you more freedom and flexibility. After all, what’s the point of building your own business if you’re so busy and stressed out that it’s just as bad — if not worse — than being an employee? This is your business! Intentionally design it to give you the lifestyle you want. I’ve carefully expanded and scaled my business over the past six years, and I’m always testing and exploring new ideas. Some work. Some don’t. That’s ok when you have a business model that gives you some breathing room to try things out! I think of this as a portfolio model. The different components of my business model require different amounts of my time and yield unique value. Each ROI is different, and some of these experiments are longer-term investments that will pay off much later.Some examples from my business revenue portfolio: * Retained 1-on-1 coaching with individuals * Consulting with corporate clients * Community memberships * Live paid workshops * Group coaching * Affiliate revenue* Subscriptions * Call packages * One-off calls * Downloads * Courses * Etc.Of course, you will learn more about your business, what your clients want, how to differentiate yourself from the competition, and the growth model that is right for you and the kind of business you're building. For example, you could choose to scale your business by hiring employees, using contractors, or bringing on a partner. More income is always nice, but consider the associated costs of the additional complexity and potential loss of flexibility and freedom (e.g., losing some of your decision-making power and speed). Some useful business services and toolsMy go to services and tools that I use for my business include (some links are my affiliate links): * Google Domains.* Cloudflare for DNS and performance. * Flywheel for WordPress hosting. * Substack for my newsletters and podcasts.* Ulysses for writing. * ConvertKit for my email lists (although I’m switching to EmailOctopus).* Acuity Scheduling to schedule client appointments.* Zoom for video chats.* Slack for my original career community.* Mighty Networks for my community platform.* Podia for my courses and digital downloads. * Hypefury for social media scheduling.* Zencastr for recording podcasts with guests. * And various services to publish and share my content (e.g., Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Instagram, YouTube). Here are a few more services and tools that can help you build and operate your lifestyle business. Let me know if you’ve discovered other tools that you think are amazing! * Domain Registration - Price and features vary by service, so do your homework (e.g., check renewal fees). Cheaper isn’t always better! Here is an example using the same domain name as a test. * Pair Domains - $8/year * Namecheap - $9.58/year * Domain.com - $9.99/year* NameSilo - $10.95/year* Google Domains - $12/year* Free Websites - Check the features to see what will work best for your new business. Most require a subscription plan to support custom domains. * WordPress.com * Free website * Open-source software * Multiple themes, blog, and other pages (e.g., portfolio page)* Carrd* Free one-page site* Simple and fully responsive * Dozens of templates* Webflow* Basic site for free* No-code website designer* Feature-rich design tools * Wix* Free blogging site* Visual builder * Dozens of templates * Weebly/Square* Business-focused website* Set up an online booking page* Set up to take payments* Gumroad* Free storefront* Sell digital products, courses, subscriptions, memberships, etc.* The more you sell, the lower the fee is * Cloudflare - Free website protection and performance * Fast, Easy-to-use DNS * Unmetered DDoS Protection * CDN * Universal SSL Certificate* Canva (my affiliate link) - Free design tool * Create elegant designs easily * Access to thousands of templates, images, and other media * Collaborate with others on your designs * Hypefury (my affiliate link) - Free social media tool * Grow your Twitter audience with scheduled tweets * Create new content seamlessly * Inspiration features to overcome writer’s block* Scheduling Appointments* Calendly - Basic plan is free* Acuity Scheduling - Lowest plan is $14/month* Accepting Payments* Venmo - 1.9% + $0.10* Stripe - 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge* Paypal - 2.99% to receive money for goods and services* Gumroad - 2.9% to 9%+30¢ on each transaction* Bank transfers - Fees vary * Substack - Free email list, newsletter, podcast, online archive of articles* Free newsletter (with the option to upgrade and offer paid subscriptions)* Free podcast hosting* A website of sorts (landing page, about page, articles)What’s next?I know this article just scratches the surface of what’s required to build, launch, and operate a successful business. But, I hope it was enough to intrigue you to learn more and explore the possibilities of running a lifestyle business. Do you know what else is less than $30/month and will be an incredible investment in your business success? * My Invincible Solopreneurs courses and community, of course! Learn more about how we can help you build, maintain, and scale a thriving solopreneurial business. Thank you for reading Invincible Solopreneurs. This post is public so feel free to share it.Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Are you ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship? * How are you feeling about your job right now? * Are you still committed to starting your own business? * Is now the time to make a move and do it?It's challenging to think about all of this with a million thoughts buzzing around in your head. You may have a good gut feeling about your eagerness to start something new. Your passion and excitement for your business idea may tempt you to rush right into it. I get it. I’ve been there!I value qualitative judgments (e.g., how excited you are), but I'm also a fan of quantitative assessments to understand your state of planning and preparation. So, I created a series of statements to assess your solopreneurial readiness. You can take my free quiz online to find out! Your score will be automatically calculated and emailed to you.Or you can think about your reactions to the statements below and manually score your responses instead. Regardless of your final score, I think you’ll find that these statements will get you asking yourself the right questions about your future business. Be brutally honest with your reactions and how you score yourself. It will help you get a sense of how prepared you are to make this move and jump into entrepreneurship. It also gives you a sense of how much planning you may still need to do.Score each of the following statements on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 means that you "strongly disagree" with the statement. A score of 5 means that you "strongly agree" with the statement.* Strongly disagree* Disagree* Neutral* Agree* Strongly agreeThanks for reading Invincible Solopreneurs! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Solopreneur Readiness QuizThink about the current state of your business planning while scoring the following statements on a scale of 1-5. Note: I go into more detail about these questions in the podcast for this episode. So, scroll up and listen if you’re wondering what I mean by some of these questions. * I have a clear vision and passion for the business I want to build. Score: * I can visualize where my business will be in 10 years. Score: * I know what I must do to make my business vision come true. Score: * I know my mission and the positive change I want to make in people’s lives with what I will offer. Score: * I know exactly what problem my business solutions will solve. Score: * I can clearly and succinctly state the value proposition of my solution. Score: * I have a ridiculously focused and detailed description of my ideal customer (i.e., my niche). Score: * I’ve talked with several people who fit my ideal customer profile to understand their problems, needs, and wants. Score: * I’m prepared to leave my 9-5 job and go out on my own. Score: * I have saved money and created a financial cushion that can support me for 6-12 months. Score: * I have a budget to tightly manage my expenses, benefits (e.g., health insurance), and “burn rate” until I’m sufficiently profitable. Score: * I have a backup plan that I can quickly put into motion if my business fails. Score: * I’m comfortable working alone and managing my schedule and productivity. Score: * I have a place where I can work and focus every day. Score: * I know exactly what the product or service is that I want to offer. Score: * I have already prepared my products or services to offer to customers. Score: * I know how to price my products or services. Score: * I have created a solid business plan. Score: * I have prepared a detailed business model that ensures profitable success. Score: * I have identified all of my potential sources of revenue. Score: * I have documented my potential business expenses and the cost of delivering my goods and services. Score: * I have a marketing and sales plan ready to go. Score: * I have created a plan to reach my ideal customer through various channels. Score: * I have a great name for my business. Score: * I have the brand identity ready for my business (e.g., brand attributes, tagline, great logo). Score: * My business name and product name are available for trademark registration. Score: * I have secured the domain for my business name. Score: * I’ve created social media accounts for my business. Score: * I have a website designed and built for my business. Score: * I’ve identified potential business partners and suppliers. Score: * I have determined the appropriate legal entity for my business (e.g., LLC, corporation, sole proprietorship, partnership, co-op). Score: * I have my business systems, services, and tools up and running. Score: * I’ve identified vendors, specialists, and consultants who can help me with my business (e.g., lawyer, accountant, admin, designers, engineers, support). Score: * Potential customers can easily find me and communicate with me. Score: * I understand the competitive landscape and have identified my potential competitors. Score: * I know exactly how to successfully differentiate my business from competitors and close a sale. Score: * I could sell my product or service to a potential customer this week. Score: * I’ve already started selling my products or services. Score: * I have a supportive community of friends, family members, and entrepreneurial peers. Score: * I have business advisors I can turn to for help and advice. Score: Your Total ScoreAdd your scores for the 40 statements and divide the total number by 2 (round up if necessary). Here's how to interpret your total score:* 80-100* Congrats! You have a pretty clear idea of what you want your business to be and the problems you will solve for customers, and you seem ready to go. * Would you like to connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter? 😊* 60-79* You have some ideas for what you want to do with your business and how to run it, but you need to do more research and define things clearly before moving ahead. * It might help to schedule a complimentary call with me to discuss your plans. * 40-59* Your business idea and plans are a little fuzzy in different areas, so use these statements as a framework for digging into the details and preparing more. * Learn more about my business coaching, solopreneur community, courses, and more!* 20-39* Most of the details are missing for what you will need to plan and launch your new business. No worries! Now you have some homework to do. * Let's talk so I can help you put together a strategy to define your solopreneurial plan.I’m excited for you!I’ve been an entrepreneur before. I founded and incorporated my company with partners, built and managed a team of employees, and outsourced various services. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot.However, I have now returned to being a solopreneur, and that was intentional. There are many benefits that I missed when I was an employee and an employer. Being a solopreneur gives you incredible freedom that is hard to find in any other business model or employment relationship. When you structure your business the right way, you can enjoy the benefits and avoid most — if not all — of the potential downsides.I know this quiz may seem a little overwhelming. But I tried to touch on the essential questions you must ask yourself as you define a new business. The good news is you don’t have to have everything completely figured out before you begin. Start small, learn as you go, and expand and grow when you’re ready. I’m here to help! You can email me with questions and I’ll do my best to answer them here in this newsletter. Also, you can learn more about my new solopreneur courses and peer community launching later this year. Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe

Making a living from learned skills is certainly possible. Billions of people do it every day. But that doesn't mean it's easy. Obviously, working as an employee is how most people leverage their skills to get paid. But, you can also package up your skills, knowledge, and experience and build a business from what you do as a professional. In some ways, this is the easiest business to create. You essentially transform your job description into a business plan. I used that approach for my first two entrepreneurial ventures. But, I never would have suspected that a layoff would give me the confidence to launch a business! Thanks for reading Invincible Solopreneurs! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Business 1 - Copy paste your jobLike many people, I joined the corporate world after receiving my degree. I worked for IBM right after completing my Master's. Then, I joined Apple as I wrapped up my Ph.D. While I was at Apple, I had an opportunity to join a startup. I don't think I worked there even a full year before a much larger company acquired us. Unfortunately, the "honeymoon" ended within a few months. Our new parent company absorbed our technology and patents but laid off our entire organization. The founder and CEO relaunched the company as a new startup within a few weeks. Most of the employees rejoined that new company that was focused on a more advanced solution than what we'd created in the first startup. But I saw this as an opportunity to work with them as a consultant instead of becoming an employee again. I was lucky enough to be working with several consultants at the company that year, and we became close friends. They encouraged me and helped guide me as I ventured into the entrepreneurial world for the first time. I don’t think I would have had the courage to make that leap without their proof that it was possible. So, I’d like to take a moment and thank the following folks for advising and supporting me during that process:* Anke de Jong* Peter Nicklin* Kit Fitzpatrick* Joe Buczek* John Maloney* John DeBriereMy business was a solopreneur design agency offering web and application design services to tech startups. I was able to transform my talent as a designer into a full-time independent business that supported my family. Doing this is more empowering than you can imagine. It was an eye-opening experience for me. As a design consultant, I delivered the same value to my clients that I had been providing as an employee. My very first client was this new startup (i.e., my former employer), but I started working with additional clients later that year. Obviously, running your own business is a bit more complex than being an employee, but it's an excellent example of turning a job description into a business plan. You're still doing what you did before in your job, but now you're providing those services as an independent consultant. I wrote a bit more about this in this previous article:You may ask, "Why bother? How is this any different from being an employee?"Well, it is different — and I would say better — in several ways:* You're not tied to one employer. You can work with as many clients as you can handle. * You control your earning potential instead of a boss dictating your compensation. If you want a "raise" because you're good at what you do, you can increase your rates any time you want. * You can scale your business by offering higher-value services, hiring contractors or employees, and expanding your offerings. * You diversify your revenue streams, so you're not dependent on one source of income (e.g., a salary with one employer). * If you get bored with the work or a client becomes a pain, you can wrap things up and easily move on. When you have multiple clients, dropping one is no big deal. * If you're good at what you do and in demand, you can pursue new domains and projects that interest you. * Your schedule and work environment are flexible. As an independent consultant, you're supposed to be in control of how, when, and where you do your work. I was "working remotely" in 1998, long before the pandemic made remote work so popular. * You can take breaks from working whenever you want. I would enjoy weeks off between clients, take long vacations, etc., and never required the approval of some "boss." I knew one consultant who would regularly work hard for six months and then take a six-month break to travel the world every year. Good luck doing that as an employee! * Finally, you can purchase the equipment, software, and supplies you need without an employer's approval ("No, you don't really need that new MacBook. Here's a crappy standard issue Dell laptop. Enjoy!"). Business 2 - Take the best of your jobI launched my second business when I left the corporate world for the last time over 12 years ago. It kind of happened unintentionally. I assumed I would take a short break to enjoy the summer with my family and then start interviewing for my next role when I was ready to go back to work or get serious about launching my own startup (which I finally did in 2014).I remember thinking to myself, “Maybe I should do some consulting as a side hustle.” So, I quickly designed, created, and launched a business website and let the world know through a blog post that got picked up by TechCrunch. I said:“I am bootstrapping my own stealth startup. In parallel, today I’m launching a consulting practice to provide advisory services to other startups and more-established companies. After over eight years in the big corporate worlds of Yahoo and eBay, I’m excited about taking everything I’ve learned from my experiences at those two great companies and returning to the entrepreneurial world.”Several people reached out to me about my consulting practice over the next few weeks, and I began working with a few clients. One thing led to another, and I finally realized that I would never go back to being an employee. I stopped interviewing. The interesting thing about this second business is that I was able to take much of what I had enjoyed in my previous role as a Product and Design executive and offer that as services. For example:* Product and Design strategy* Organizational consulting* Business strategy and exploring revenue models* Guiding and coaching tech leadersIf you’re considering a transition to consulting from your 9-5 job, you can take the best of what you enjoy about your current role and leave the worst of it behind. When you build your business, you get to design your offering to optimize for things you’re great at doing and enjoy doing. Don’t bring the unpleasant job responsibilities forward into your new life! My consulting company, Brilliant Forge LLC, is still running, but I rarely take on startup clients for it now. I've been focusing most of my attention on my latest business that I launched almost six years ago. Business 3 - Base it on your talentsMaking a living from what comes naturally to you almost feels effortless. When it happens, you'll hear people say, "I'm still amazed that people pay me to do this!"I can't say that building my current coaching practice was quite this effortless for me. But discovering it was an "Aha" moment. Several years ago, I was managing the final stages of my failing tech startup. It took a couple of years of experimentation to finally find a product that people seemed to love. Unfortunately, we were almost out of money. We'd raised a seed round, and careful management had allowed us to hire a small team and design, build, and test our software for a few years. But, we needed an infusion of cash to keep paying the team and take our new product to the next phases of growth. Unfortunately, our investors didn't want to put more money into our startup. So, as the CEO, I had the unpleasant task of working with our accountant and lawyer to shut down the business during the final year. It was one of the most depressing times in my life. As things were winding down, I was trying to decide what was next for me. * Should I take a swing at launching another startup? * Should I return to the corporate world and look for a job? * Should I go back to consulting? As always, I was discussing options with my wife to get her thoughts. She said, "Do you know what you've always been doing for as long as I can remember? Giving people career advice. Helping people find jobs. Have you considered turning that into a business?"Now, I wouldn't literally call "career coaching" itself a natural talent. But when I looked back on my adolescence, I remembered I was always a good listener, and people came to me for advice to help them solve problems in their lives. They knew I would listen without judgment, keep the conversation confidential, and help them think through solutions. So, perhaps my natural talents include empathy, compassion, problem-solving, and a willingness to be someone's champion. I love to help good people feel more confident, believe in themselves, and put their lives back on a good path. Coaching people through personal and professional development was always something I loved about my job as a manager and leader. I looked forward to 1-on-1 meetings with my team. I enjoyed helping people solve problems. I feel like my current coaching practice, Invincible Career, has allowed me to turn some of my natural talents into a business more than any of my prior companies. It’s also allowed me to lean into my talent for writing, which I appreciate. While it is more straightforward to create a business based on your skills, knowledge, and experience, it’s fulfilling in an entirely different way to build a business that leverages your natural talents. Your business ideaNow it's your turn. What is it you have always naturally done or been good at doing? You may still do it now. Or, perhaps you did it frequently during your childhood but gave it up when you pursued a career based on your education and training instead. How does your natural talent or behavior help solve other people's problems? Approaching it from the other side — what problems do people have that could be addressed by what you naturally do? Who are the people that need your help the most? In other words, who are your ideal clients?Are they willing to pay you to help them solve their problems? The only way to really find out is to test your business concept. You don't have to go all-in or spend much money. Take a Lean approach and test your MVP with a few potential clients. I did precisely that with my coaching practice. I added a new services page to my existing website and put the word out that I was offering leadership and career coaching. Within a week or so, I landed my first client. I kept refining my coaching practice as the months and years went by, and the rest is history. If someone is interested in your goods or services and willing to pay you for them, you're onto something! You have a potential business waiting to be explored.Once you’re independently able to make a living from your talents, you’ll never want to go back to working for someone else. Are you ready to find out how that feels?I wish you the best of luck! Feel free to reach out if you need advice or guidance. Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor. If you’re interested in starting your own business or side hustle someday (or accelerating an existing one), check out his “Employee to Solopreneur” course (launching later this year).Larry lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice to help others take complete control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett. Get full access to The Exit Blueprint at newsletter.invinciblesolopreneurs.com/subscribe