My First Year as a Solo Entrepreneur

Note: This is a longer post from Newsletter!?TLDR:?These are my reflections of Year 1 as an Entrepreneur, written for those who are curious about making the leap from corporate to entrepreneurship, or those who are on their journey. Read more of that’s interesting. And if not,?here’s a great podcast interview?I did that you might enjoy about how Salesforce hires diverse talent.

Year 1 As an Entrepreneur

I am wrapping up my first year full-time as a self-employed entrepreneur and I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect upon the year and share some of the learnings, takeaways and insights from the experience.??

In many ways, my decision to leave my corporate job and become a full-time entrepreneur was a no-brainer and something that was always going to happen as well as a natural extension of a side hustle and nights and weekend business that I had been working on for many years.?(More on that here)

And while that gave me a sense of familiarity and confidence in terms of having the ability to make the leap, I can assure you that even with a head start, there were plenty of things that I did not know would unfurl this year.?That said, it was a great year!

Baseline: My Initial Goals For 2022

Back in January 2022, I started the year with 5 key goals.?

They were:

1. Generate revenue today through consulting work?
2. Expand into corporate training and facilitation
3. Build a cohort learning program
4. Expand content creation activities and grow my audience
5. Scaling By Doing Less

Here’s a breakdown of how that went:

Goal # 1: Generate Revenue today through consulting work?

I knew I needed to get money into the door, so I focused first on doing consulting work for a few clients. The good news is that money did come in the door. The learning from this was that I needed to do some more work in figuring out what the right type of consulting engagement was for me and the work that I wanted to do. As a result, once the milestones for each of the engagements were reached, I stopped them.?

This was good learning for me, as it was difficult at first to figure out, and then to communicate my desire to step back from this work. However, once I did it, I knew it was the right decision, and I learned in the process A) how to say no but retain the relationship B) that even if it feels bad to turn down paid work, there will be other opportunities that come when you say no to something because it means you can say yes to something else. I do think that I will revisit consulting again over the next few years, but I am working on what that right type of engagement looks like.

Goal # 2:Expand corporate training and facilitation work?

When I went down the self-employed path, I knew that getting more into the corporate learning and development space to deliver training and leadership development was something I wanted to do and knew this could be an area where I could grow my business. Through a mix of using my network to find training opportunities, and then working with larger companies that work with independent consultants and trainers like me.?

This was the biggest area of revenue growth for my business, and an area I?plan on focusing on and investing in for the years to come. I think I am just at the beginning here. As an example, I was able to get 3 clients this year just from this newsletter alone.?

Goal #3: Build a cohort learning program?

I’ve done countless workshops and training programs for companies and higher education institutions, and always have always loved the idea of creating my own “academy” to teach people. I wanted to put this to test this year by launching my own cohort learning program. I spent the first three months of 2022 working on a leadership and soft skills training program for emerging product marketers.?

I followed a methodical process to designing and launching this program, talking to 50 product marketers, designing the curriculum, putting together a sales and marketing campaign, and in the end, I got 3-4 people to say they were interested. This wasn’t enough to run the course, and while it was a disappointment, it was a good learning experience. I hope to do this, and already am thinking about how I am going to try again in 2023. More to come next year.

4)Commit to Creating and Embracing it??

This one I knocked out of the park this year. MBA Insider grew listenership and sponsorship dollars, I was accepted into the Linkedin Creator Program, I launched a new?podcast, and shipped a new edition of this newsletter every single week of 2022. The sheer volume of content that I’ve put out has been pretty significant, and I am fortunate that shipping work consistently is not an issue for me, at least right now. But I do want to focus on honing my craft, and being more intentional about how I spend this time. Last but not least, I’ve been able to do some cool things and meet some great people along the way.?

5) Scaling and growing by doing less?

A mistake many entrepreneurs make is thinking they have to do it all. I know that I can’t and knew I needed to find ways to intelligently scale and get myself out of doing it all. I’ve had help for years with running?MBASchooled’s?blog, but needed to get more help and be serious about getting out of other parts of my business. I hired additional contractors to support the podcasts I run, hired a bookkeeper, tax accountant, and brought on support for things like curriculum development, project management, and graphic design. This is hard because you want to stay light and keep your burn rate low, but in order to grow, you need to A) invest and B) focus on the highest value activities.

Takeaways From This Year

Overall it was a good year!?Overall, I had a good year doing interesting things I enjoy doing and am good at working with people that I enjoy being around. I love the agency and autonomy that I have as an entrepreneur to incorporate my diverse skill sets and interests into the work that I do and get paid for and the ability to pick and choose who I get to work with. Furthermore, the diversity of work that I get to do which counts as “work” is pretty incredible, at least to me. The fact that I get to make money for a living?

I’m getting closer to finding product market fit -?One interesting element of this year is that each quarter, a different part of my portfolio of services was the leader when it came to generating revenue.

• Q1: Consulting
• Q2: Training and Facilitation
• Q3: Keynote Speaking
• Q4: Podcast sponsorships

As an entrepreneur, finding product-market fit is critical, especially in making sure you have something that people want to buy from you. But the other side of it (what do I enjoy doing) is also something that I am learning about.?

While I started the year thinking that consulting was going to be a big area of my business, that is not something I am currently doing at the moment. So as I think about next year, I’m thinking about, how am I going to invest that time, and how is my “portfolio mix” going to evolve??

On the other side of things, I really enjoyed doing keynote speaking, and while I do think there are more opportunities to come, I also know it’s going to take a big investment in getting my name out there and getting in front of meeting and event planners. The net of this is that I think the portfolio mix is going to look different next year, and that is okay. It means I’m listening to the market, and learning on how to evolve. As of now, next year my focus and priority for revenue estimates (as well as where I focus my time) looks like this:

• Training and Facilitation (Across Corporate and Higher education)
• Podcast & Media Sponsorship
• Keynote Speaking and Conference/Events
• New Product Launch (more to come in 2023)

My niche is forming and evolving?- If you talk to any entrepreneur or creator, they’re probably thinking about their niche, who they serve, and their “ideal customer profile.” As a trained product marketer, I have literally been thinking about these questions since the day I started, and what I’ve learned from this is that it’s a process more than an outcome. Some people, yes, they just know who they are serving or they have a known niche, but for many folks it's a journey. For me, I’ve realized what’s really resonating both from the market and from my?interests is around developing human skills of employees and leaders, and?helping executives make sense of leadership and talent challenges in the workplace.

While this was not necessarily a surprise, it’s taken a lot of reflection, feedback and thinking to get to this. This is also why it’s important for me to create, as often, the ideas and feedback come from this process.

It’s okay to shut things down that don’t work?- I had to put consulting on pause and walk away because it wasn’t working out. Admittedly, I felt a lot of stress while going through the process of trying to walk away from this, especially because it felt silly to walk away from guaranteed money. But the moment I did this, my stress levels went down significantly, and I loved having that time back to work on other things. Being self-employed means always having a fear of turning down work or walking away from something, but I’m learning to reframe this in a healthy way.

Creativity is my accelerant -??I honestly have never identified with being a creator until the past year or so, but now I see it as an integral part of my business and what fuels a lot of my ideas and perspectives of what I do. I think I’ve always associated creators with being creative and artistic, things I never thought I was. But I’ve learned over the past year or so, through feedback as well as just paying attention, that I actually love the creative and creation process. As someone who is in the business of ideas, creativity is really my secret sauce for how I do my work. Now, I try to make sure I intentionally design time and protect it, so?have the ability to actually come up with ideas and to create, and then to use that in the work that I do, and in the channels and areas where I show up (podcast, newsletter, etc)

Highs and Lows

Highs

• Keynoting with my Dad, and other Keynote Speaking Opportunities?- I got the chance to do a keynote with my Dad back in October on the topic of the future of work. A topic I care deeply about with someone who I admire and respect personally and professionally takes the cake as my highlight for the year. I hope I speak more and get on bigger stages in the future, but this is something I will remember forever.
• Launching a new podcast -?I knew that I wanted to launch another podcast to start talking about other topics in the future of work and leadership development space. Having started 2 podcasts previously I had a good idea of what to do but I needed to dedicate the time to do it. I put together a plan, and made it happen. I just wrapped up season 1, and am reminded by how hard it is to build something from scratch, but I am super excited about it and already have season 2 in the works (you can check it out here)
• Finding a home as a Leadership Facilitator/Consultant?- I’ve always known I had a knack for developing others and facilitating dialogue and learning, but this year I saw it in action as a result of the work I did, both within companies and on my own. I get so much energy and aliveness from being in a room rolling up my sleeves trying to help others work through ideas and challenges. Oftentimes, after a training or session, I’ll feel exhausted, but it has to do with how much energy and effort I give when I am in the thick of it. While this feeling of exhaustion is exhausting, it also feeds my soul knowing I am doing something I feel so alive in.
• Progressing my skills in business development and sales?- I worked a lot with sales when I was at Salesforce and routinely thought to myself “I could never do this.” It’s why I had so much empathy and respect for my cross-functional partners who worked in sales. Well, now that I am in business for myself, I am responsible for selling! Seeing some tangible outcomes from the progress I’ve made for business development and sales has been incredibly rewarding.
• The People?- This is trite, but the people are a big reason for why I do the work that I do. Getting to meet people, through speaking, training, going to events, producing content, and just connecting with strangers online has been so rewarding and energy giving
• Linkedin Creator Program?- Getting accepted and participating in the Linkedin Creator Program was a great step in my journey as a creator and entrepreneur. Furthermore, the ideas and learnings from that program are very much being baked into the approach I take with my strategy for next year. One of the memorable experiences for me was getting a chance to speak on LinkedIn’s Live show with Minda Harts about the topic of leadership.

Lows

• Built a Leadership Program and Then Canceling it-?I tried launching a leadership development program for emerging product marketers. I did 30 interviews with potential prospects, but an entire curriculum, sales process and ran a demand generation campaign to try to attract paying customers and in the end I got 3 people who were interested. I worked on this project for 3 months before deciding to shut it down. In the end, it was a valuable learning experience, but certainly not the outcome I hoped for
• Shut down a Podcast due to lack of alignment with a sponsor -?After running a podcast in partnership with another organization, I started to realize that A) I did not have enough time for other priorities and B) the organization was not stepping up to the plate with their commitments and the quality of the podcast was faltering. As a result, I decided to step away from it to focus on other priorities.?
• The 2 hours after every sales rejection?- I had numerous proposals that were rejected, and look there is no other way to say it, it stings! For me, so much around pricing and selling is correlated with self-worth, so when someone rejects your proposal or questions your pricing it is so difficult to not take it personally. I know other entrepreneurs and self-employed business owners feel this pain, but it's real!
• Waking Up One Day In November and Realizing I had no Business in Q1 FY ‘23?- One day I woke up in November and asked myself, “what does next year look like?” When I realized that I had no bookings for the first quarter of 2023, I had a pit in my stomach. I began to feel nerves and uneasiness, knowing how long sometimes sales cycles take, or how sporadic work can sometimes come my way. It was a humbling moment for me, in realizing that you need to be intentional and persistent with focusing your efforts on building relationships and business development if you want a steady flow of work.?
• Feeling Like I haven’t done enough or been “productive”?- There are days when I get to the end of the day and question whether or not I “did enough” or was productive enough. This scarcity mindset then fuels me either to keep working, or sometimes create work for myself. I think this is just a lot of leftover residue from working in corporate for so long, but it’s a really crappy feeling that is hard to escape?
• Constant moments of self doubt?- This is just a catch all, but there are many moments when I didn’t feel confident in what I was doing, and felt a sense of insecurity, fear, or shame such as
• Attending events and meeting people with bigger businesses, larger audiences or followings or more “successful” results
• Any conversation around pricing of my services or offerings that were met with questions
• Posting articles, sharing podcast episodes or sharing ideas that don’t get traction
• Reading through feedback from speaking opportunities that is mostly positive but includes 2-3 constructive pieces of feedback.

The highs absolutely outweigh the lows, but the lows can sometimes feel pretty crappy!

What I’m Thinking About For Next Year

As I think about the year and plan for next year, I’m still processing how this year went and what I am going to take from this year to fuel the growth for next year. Here are a few things I am pondering at the moment

• How do I get consistent and repeatable business?
• Am I comfortable with where I am at with my niche?
• Am I offering the right mix of services that will generate income and be aligned to my interests?
• How will the economy impact my work?
• Am I spending the right amount of time on the right priorities?
• How do I do fewer things well?

At this point, I don’t have fully baked answers, but these are a starting point for how I will think about my business going into next year.

Conclusion

When I started this journey, I told myself that I would only do this if I wanted to do it for at least 10 years. After 1 year, I am super excited and happy with the results. While I fully expect that as the business grows, so will the challenges, I am proud of what I have done this year, and very excited for what’s ahead in 2023.

PS?- I hope this was helpful in understanding what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. If you are thinking about making the leap I hope this is helpful. And if you're a solo entreprenuer who's also on your journey, I'd love to hear about your experience?

Finally, If you’re looking for some help for your learning and development, team meetings or professional development for next year, I’d love to work with you: Here is how I might be able to assist:

• Team Trainings & Professional Development:?Happy to facilitate?training or professional development opportunity for your team & organization - common topics include: career development, influence without authority, effective relationship building, and stakeholder management
• Support Your?Offsites & Meetings:?Speak or facilitate at your team’s offsite. Need a guide to facilitate or speak at an upcoming offsite, QBR or all hands? Happy to engage here.
• Leadership & Learning Programs:??Formal training and leadership development in your company, such as new manager or new leader training, or skill-based programs.

Feel free to contact me directly for more details!

#entrepreneurship #leadership #talent