I made a big change.

Honestly, I went into last year thinking it would be slow. I thought I was gonna struggle getting new clients and, well, I didn’t— to my complete surprise, I ended up working with around 60 people on YouTube and LinkedIn.

Which was amazing- I did NOT expect that! But two things that kept bugging me:

→ Too much fluctuation in revenue. For example, October was my biggest month ever then November was my worst ever. It all worked out, but I’d rather not have huge swings like that.

→ Since my coaching program is only 4-6 weeks long, I don’t have long to work with my clients. That means I can’t always help them as much as I’d like to, because a lot of things take longer than 6 weeks to figure out.

→ I don’t like spending 3-5 hours a day on Zoom. I know tons of you do it every day and I have NO FKING IDEA HOW. I’m an introvert, so being on that many calls feels like a wizard casting an exhaustion spell on me.

So this year, I’ve shifted to a new model:

→ 80% of my work is from retainer clients

I can really get deep in their business, work on things that may take a few months to pay off (eg, growing a newsletter), and revenue is more stable.

And for these clients I’m not just coaching, I’m DOING: ghostwriting for LinkedIn, designing graphics, writing newsletters, building out marketing campaigns/ infrastructure, crafting positioning, etc.

→ 20% is from one-time coaching clients

I still keep some time open for working with coaching clients because I like meeting new people.

What’s also cool is that I end up learning a lot from my clients— eg, thanks to a couple really smart clients, I know 10x more about AI and SEO than I did a year ago (shoutout to the folks at Omniscient, Pattern and Chad Wooters).

Why am I telling you this?

→ Look for recurring revenue

This is super tactical, but important. You don’t want to start over at $0 every month. Find a way to create recurring revenue (like my retainer clients).

→ Play to your strengths

What can you offer that nobody else can? Or at least, that very few people can?

For me, at the risk of sounding like a douche, not many people can do writing, design AND marketing at the level I can. Hiring me is like getting 3 people in one, so that’s a pretty sick offer— I’m cost effective, and there’s less communication overheard than coordinating with 3 people.

→ Do what you enjoy

This might sound like a dumb platitude that your weird aunt would post on Facebook as a Minion quote meme, but it’s not— it’s the only way you can actually have a thriving, successful business.

Of course there are times we all have to do sht we don’t like (like putting together my tax docs every year 🤮). But if you’re spending the majority of your day on things you hate, that just isn’t sustainable.

I realized that I just don’t like being on Zoom all day— it drains the fk out of me. But when I’m doing strategy or writing/designing, I can go forever. Pushing myself makes me feel MORE energized, not less.

The point:

If something in your business is grinding you down, pushing through it isn’t always the answer.

Don’t be afraid to rethink things. It might be uncomfortable in the short term, but it’s almost always the right move.