THE LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENEUR

Read time - 4 minutes

Professional Reinvention

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle." - Steve Jobs

I recently made a big decision that will affect the trajectory of my coaching business, which is less than a year old.

I’m very excited about it - it’s a culmination of almost 3 years of soul searching, experimentation, personal and professional growth, and also substantial life changes I’ve undergone to get to this point.

While many aspects of this period may be interesting - the one I want to lay out today is what my process for narrowing down my area of focus in the coaching business.

It hasn’t been a perfectly executed plan, but it’s one that’s relevant to many people who are considering a reinvention of themselves after multiple situations:

1. Exiting a business

2. Considering leaving a corporate job for becoming a solopreneur

3. Transitioning from full-time to fractional

How I got to this point

In 2009 I started the first CrossFit gym in St Paul.

From then until the end of 2020, I was singularly focused on building my fitness empire.

First by building the largest CrossFit business in Minnesota.

Then by buildling Alchemy 365 which I launched in 2015. Alchemy 365 grew very fast, had all the growing pains a fast-growth company typically has, and got crushed by COVID.

We survived it (it’s still changing lives) and I stepped down in November 2020.

I stepped down for multiple reasons:

• I was burnt out

• We were going into our second round of lockdowns and to survive we had to do layoffs, shutter 2 locations, and drastically cut costs - our leadership team being one of them

• My main jobs were raising capital and new locations - we weren’t going to do any of that for at least a year (turned out to be exactly a year)

• My partner Tyler had energy and capacity to lead the company

• I wasn’t making enough money to support my family - I was freshly divorced and with 2 households, my relatively low salary wasn’t going to be sufficient without any forseeable increases.

I stepped down without any career plan whatsoever.

I hadn’t had to think about my career for the past decade - I was so focused on building my businesses that what happened after exiting them was never considered.

My decision process

The initial decisions had to be quick - I was on unemployment with a family to support.

Looking at my experience, interests, network, I had two broad options:

1. Find someone’s company to run for them - I really didn’t want to do this if I’m being honest. I was really burnt out, and I also thought I would still have a substantial amount of work with Alchemy 365.

2. Advise small businesses - We implemented EOS (a set of tools and frameworks that help entrepreneurial companies get what they want out of their business) in 2014 and I’m a massive fan of that system and the lifestyle of their Implementers, and Andrea (ex-wife) had become an implementer in 2019.

   So that was a frontrunner - the problem was that:

   • You need to go all-in on that business to be successful

   • The build period is about 2 years

   That didn’t seem like a viable option.

   Then I heard about another option within the same EOS space - fractional integrators - the integrator runs the leadership team of EOS companies, and apparently there were people doing it fractionally - 1 day per week per company.

   That seemed like a perfect fit:

   • I’d been an integrator for both of my companies for 6 years

   • I knew that job and could do it in my sleep

   • The pay was good - I could charge $10k per month for a 1x a week gig

   I’d found something to search for.

   Then I got a call from a great friend - that went something like this:

   “You’re available right? I’m building all the COVID vaccination sites for the state and they want me to start a rapid testing site at the airport - you want to do it?”

   An opportunity that could be pretty lucrative, fighting the pandemic that had killed my business, in a retail setting at the airport?

   I was all in. We thought it would be a 6 month gig and then would shut down.

   It lasted 18 months. We did over $5Million in revenue in 2021. I made more income in that period than I’d made in the previous 10 years as an entrepreneur.

   It was awesome.

   It allowed me to put everything I’d learned over the previous decade into practice, and see what can happen when there’s high market demand for a simple, high-profit product or service.

   It also allowed me to rest my tired brain, not worry about money, and think long and hard about what I wanted to do with myself.

   It also allowed me to have a lot of fun:

   • Great time with the kids - coming off of home schooling our relationships were really strong, and this allowed me to continue spending ample time with them

   • Getting into a new hobby - I went to my first EDM show in 2021 and fell in love immediately

   • Finding friends again - I started hanging out with fun people and prioritizing friendship after some years of letting them get neglected

   • Falling in love - I’d been dating since 2018, and in 2021 met the woman I’d fall in love with

   It was an amazing period in my life.

   Professionally it was my 3rd business - and in multiple ways the most successful business I’ve built.

   It was also a professional pause - because I was building something only temporary.

   In the summer of 2022 - 18 months after stepping down from Alchemy, it was time to build the next stage of my career.

   My actual decision process

   After the winter omnicrom wave of Covid that ran into early spring of 2022 - It seemed clear things were going to wind down over the next year.

   Then in the summer most of the big travel countries dropped their testing requirement.

   Testing dropped down below 50 per day, with a steady decline. It was time to move on.

   I went back to my initial analysis. I had a little capital now so I could add a third option:

   • Buy or start a small business

   • Run a business for someone else

   • Business advisor

   I did a lot of soul searching over about a six month period. I was still running the business, but I had a lot of free time. I also wasn’t in a rush because I committed to running the business full-time until I shut it down.

   In hindsight I wish I hired a coach to help me with my process.

   That would have probably helped me make a more thorough analysis of my options, interests, etc.

   It also may have given me a false level of conviction over my path forward that could have sent me climbing up the wrong hill.

   But overall I think the right one would have helped me be more strategic. Here’s the main tools I used:

   1. Used the hedgehog concept - From Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great”

      1. What am I passionate about

      2. What can I be best in the world in

      3. What drives the economic engine

      This is a great tool for businesses to find their core focus, along with individuals to find theirs.

   2. Used the IKIGAI concept - This is a japanese concept which roughly means “life-worth”

      1. What do you love (passion)

      2. What are you good at (vocation)

      3. What the world needs (mission)

      4. What can you be paid for (profession)

   3. Read “The EOS Life” by Gino Wickman - Gino is founder of EOS, and a really inspirational person. The book crystalized the lifestyle that I was hoping to lead, after a decade of putting my business first above all else.

   4. Started a strategic planning process - I outline that process in The Lifestyle Entrepreneur #8. This process involves:

      1. Regular evaluation of life satisfaction along key measurables

      2. Building a personal Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO)

      3. Establishing 3 year, 1 year, and quarterly plans and measurables

      4. Establishing a weekly scorecard

   5. Future-selfing - This is a concept involving visualizing who you want to be in the future in great detail, identifying behaviors that will keep you from that future person, eliminating those behaviors, and adding behaviors that will get you on track.

   Actual execution of these tools has been iterative. I didn’t go into a retreat, spend a week working on them, and come out with a plan (that would be nice).

   What I did was do a little of the above, take an action to start moving, and started iterating over the past year.

   This iterative process is becoming more structured, but it has been built over time - through trial and error.

   One area that’s missing that I would add back if I could - a comprehensive interviewing of my network with the question - what do you think I should work on?

   I did some of that, but not as much as I would have liked, upon reflecting.

   My plan

   In June 2022 I started actively planning my next move.

   I had ruled out running a company full-time for someone else already.

   I also started a passion project that satisfied the question whether I wanted to start another company. That was a rave company called Onesiegasm.

   That left my goal of becoming a business advisor - which I later learned meant I was going to become a coach.

   I had a few conversations with EOS implementers and determined I still wasn’t ready to make that commitment, so I decided to start working as a Fractional Integrator.

   I chose to do this because it met all the requirements of an initial step:

   • Work I was knew how to do and could do in my sleep

   • Within a niche I had built somewhat of a network in

   • With income high enough to be comfortable with just a few clients

   I began networking - somewhat casually as I was getting ready to have a baby, and was winding down the COVID business.

   And luckily got my first client in September 2022.

   And a second client in October 2022 - this was easy!

   That second client turned out to be a very short engagement, however, as their sales funnel changed and they started running out of money. So I offered to end the engagement early.

   The next few months were dominated by welcoming Baby Gabriel to our household (aka Meatball).

   And looking back, my business development was pretty weak. So come February I wanted another client but didn’t have much of a pipeline.

   I had a call with a mentor of mine - we tweaked a few of my approaches - and he also asked me, “have you started an online presence yet?”

   I hadn’t. No website, no social media content. I didn’t exist online.

   So out of frustration I began writing content on LinkedIn. To date I’ve posted every day since Febuary 22nd.

   That was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It has led to:

   • Landing new clients

   • Landing new types of clients - 1:1 executive coaching

   • Grown a following from 900 to 4500 in 8 months

   • Built a network of friends online who are working to grow their solo businesses like me

   • Started building my name locally and online as an expert in small business

   • Gotten exposed to many more business models and avenues for growth that I didn’t really know existed

   • Focused my mind on what I’m most interested in thinking about

   The last three quarters have been fun - I’ve experimented with my writing, started working with cool entrepreneurs, launched my newsletter, and developed confidence in working with small business leadership teams as an advisor.

   I also hit my initial 1st year revenue goal, which is a huge milestone.

   Once I hit that base where I felt I could earn enough income doing this kind of work, looked to the future.

   The future

   Writing online exposed me to a slew of online business models, the personal branding model of business building, brilliant people, snake oil salesmen, and everything in between.

   One thing I discovered is that my approach is pretty well documented as a great way to build a solo business online.

   1. Find something you can do in your sleep to sell people

   2. Do it with clients and get experience and testimonials

   3. Figure out how to repeat that with more clients

   4. Scale yourself in one of many ways (courses, books, masterminds, etc)

   I accidentally bumped into this business model, and writing content online was the key to opening up a world of opportunity that was previously limited.

   At the 6 month mark was time to revisit my long-term plan. I knew it was time to make a decision.

   I liked the work I was doing, but I was nearing my capacity - and my income wasn’t quite where I would like it. In order to increase my long-term income potential I had to do a few things differently.

   The numbers are roughly - in my first year I’ll earn about $175k, which is awesome!

   My goal is to build a $1MM a year business in the long-term though, and if I maxed out my work as a fractional integrator, I’d earn $340k. With a few 1:1 executive coaching clients I could get up to $400-450k - but that would be MAXED out.

   So I had a big gap between realistic and goal I needed to fill.

   One option was to commit to becoming an EOS implementer - which I’d been thinking about for about 3 years now. I won’t get into the differences between that and the fractional integrator work here - but I liked both, the Implementer work is a little bit more strategic, easier to replicate, more scalable, marketed better by the EOS brand, and has double the income potential.

   Having crossed off all my previous concerns - and also learned I love working with other business owners - I decided to take the leap.

   So this month I’m going to EOS bootcamp to go all in on becoming an Implementer.

   This satisfies a few key needs as I move forward:

   1. It’s work I love that I can see myself doing for a decade

   2. The income potential is aligned with my goals

   3. The professional development opportunity is high

   4. I feel aligned with the brand

   This new step is phase 2 of my solopreneur plan. I’m only going to focus on this until I have a stable business that has the number of clients I want.

   How I’m Positioning Myself

   All of the work I’m doing, and decisions are aligned with a long-term goal, which follows the playbook I laid out above.

   The heart of it all is 1) build a personal brand, and 2) do work I love that pays well

   This work also positions me for multiple different avenues to explore, depending on interests as they evolve, including:

   • Books

   • Speaking

   • 1:1 executive coaching

   • Mastermind courses

   • Retreats

   It’s been a fun year - and I feel lucky to have so many options, and that I get to spend my time with people I like doing work I love.

The Negatives

The above run hasn’t been 100% roses.

There are many challenges to building a solo practice, and I’ve experienced most of them. They involve:

• Difficulty building a pipeline of new business

• Imposter syndrome

• Feeling things aren’t working and I’m going to “have to get a job”

• Feeling at capacity even though I’m only 50% at capacity

• Overwhelm from the complexity of online tools, apps, funnels, etc.

• Wasting time trying things that didn’t work

• Saying yes to clients that ended up not being a good fit

I could probably continue this list. I’ve made many mistakes. I’ve thought about quitting. Nothing has worked out exactly as I thought.

All of the above are identical to what I experienced building all of my businesses, so one thing I have going for me is that I’ve done this a few times, so I rarely stayed down on bad days.

I know this is part of the game.

What I’d recommend you do now

My story is unique - but the lessons are relevant to many people on the precipice of change.

If you’re someone who may change things up at some point in the next 2 years, here are some recommendations for you.

I recommend doing some or all of these, depending on your goals, capacity, timeline, financial situation:

1. Use the planning tools I laid out to start building a long-term plan with possible avenues

2. Start building your personal brand - I started with LinkedIn and that’s what I recommend for most people

3. Start doing work for someone - Find a client to do work for. Do it for free if you’re not able to charge for it yet. This is what nights and weekends are for.

4. Start building your network - Buildng a network is one of the most important things. It takes a long time to build, so start now. Meet with people, listen to them, find ways to help them somehow. Repeat. That’s how you build a network.

Building something new takes time, and all of the above take time too. My main other advise is to understand everything will take longer than you think, so start now.

And things will go poorly. You’ll have many days and nights where you want to quit. Everyone does. The difference between the people you admire and everyone else is only 2 things - the ones you admired started, and they never quit.

Talk to you next week,

Mike