My goal with this newsletter and podcast has always been to help you become more invincible in your life by starting a solopreneur business. But what do I mean by that?

Basically, that means having the confidence, courage, and means to work and live your life the way you want. To be free of someone else—or something else—controlling you, owning your time, and deciding how and where you spend your days.

I’ve written about the concept of an “Invincible Life” before and how it can apply to your personal life, your career, and your solopreneur business. The book I’ve written, and am now in the process of editing, is all about how to become more invincible in your life. I boiled it down to the principles listed below, and the book’s chapters go into much more detail on that process and journey.

The 10 Principles of an Invincible Life

1. Live where you will enjoy your quality of life

2. Work where you want to spend those hours

3. Become known for what you believe and do

4. Transform your work and life to be meaningful

5. Take control of how you work and live your life

6. Own your time to control when you work and play

7. Spend time with people who bring out your best

8. Find fulfillment by creating, helping, and improving

9. Free yourself to never again feel trapped

10. Empower yourself and never again feel vulnerable

The companion guide

I created a brief companion guide to provide additional structure for the weekly emails I will share with you this year. It’s in Google Slides format, so you can save a copy of the presentation to your own Google Drive in your preferred folder. This will allow you to edit the placeholder text to enter your answers to the questions in the guide.

Get the Guide

How to use the guide

• Every month this year will have a specific theme.

• Each week will have a set of homework questions related to that month’s theme.

• I will share a new presentation document with that week’s questions via the newsletter email and in my private community.

• Then download the new presentation, copy and paste the new slides into your editable copy of the guide, and use it to answer the questions.

I have already included all the slides and questions for January (i.e., Your Goals) in the guide. New slides will come each month this year. So, stay tuned for the emails about those!

Themes this year

1. Your Goals

2. The Blockers

3. Your Toolbox

4. Strategy & Plan

5. Making Progress

6. Becoming Invincible

7. Your Network

8. Targeting

9. Broadcasting

10. Systems

11. Resources

12. Evaluation

Schedule a complimentary call with me if you have questions about the guide and how to use it effectively.

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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!

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While AI has added a unique twist, this pattern of corporate behavior is not new. I started in tech in 1993, so I’ve witnessed many layoffs, hiring booms, and economic crashes. One recurring pattern I observed is that companies conduct large layoffs and regret the loss of talent within a few months.

• The remaining employees were soon overworked.

• Projects would start falling behind schedule.

• Unique skills would be lost with the departing employees.

At one company, I remember a manager desperately trying to convince an ex-employee to come back temporarily to help with a project. Apparently, this person was the only one who really knew how this specific piece of software worked.

As a solopreneur, you can read industry signals and more specific corporate actions to find opportunities for consulting and contract work.

For example, if a startup raises a significant funding round, it will be growing soon. They’ll use that money to hire as quickly as possible. But they usually struggle with finding great talent to fill seats quickly. And they will soon face issues scaling their organizations and processes. You can be the solution to their problems.

Another example: when a company conducts a large layoff, it usually soon discovers that the remaining teams can’t keep up with the workload (surprise, surprise!). Fully loaded headcount is more expensive than hiring consultants and contractors to help keep projects on track.

The budget for hiring consultants/contractors is also treated differently from the budget for hiring employees. At one of my past employers, we could frequently hire contractors even when the execs had frozen hiring for full-time employees.

So, if you’re looking for new corporate clients, pay attention to these kinds of signals (e.g., funding announcements, layoffs). Reach out to the appropriate hiring managers (use LinkedIn and leverage your network to identify them), and offer your services to help address the pain they are most likely facing.

Would you like to brainstorm with me about how to find new opportunities for your business? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

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!

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What do you want to achieve in your business this year?

January is a great time to identify new business goals. You can start by brainstorming a list and making a note of whether each goal is small, medium, or large:

• A small goal might be something you can work on and achieve in a few days or weeks (e.g., researching potential clients, reaching out and reconnecting with 10 people in your network, or reviewing and updating your website). You could easily have 40 to 50 small goals for the year on your list.

• A medium goal might take a few weeks or even months to complete (e.g., creating and launching a new website, creating a new product to sell, writing the first draft of a short book, launching a podcast). I could see you having 15 to 20 medium goals.

• Larger goals may take an entire quarter, six months, or even the whole year (e.g., launching a new business). You should probably have only 5 to 6 large goals.

Think about what you most want to achieve this year. Also, what did your review of the past year reveal?

• What do you need to work on to improve and grow your business?

• What mistakes or bad experiences do you want to avoid this year?

• Why did you fail to achieve some of your goals last year?

• How will you ensure this year is different?

By the way, my community and I are here to help with that. As you’ve heard me mention before, accountability is one of the most significant factors that ensures success. We can serve as your accountability partner if you allow us to.

Here are some examples of business goals I’ve heard in the past from clients and community members:

• Increase revenue by X%.

• Cut expenses by Y%.

• Build a new website for the business.

• Start a newsletter or podcast.

• Write a book.

• Take a marketing course.

• Create a workshop or course to sell.

• Try out livestreaming.

• Create and test a new product concept.

• Experiment with additional revenue streams.

• Update the business's software and services.

Don’t forget to include your long-term dreams and larger ambitions, too. It’s always exciting to plant a flag on the horizon and map your path to get there.

Your goals are an intentional investment in your business’s future!

So, let’s start by capturing all your goals for the year. Are you ready to commit to some of them? Are you willing to share your goals with us so we can help hold you accountable? This will set us up to develop a plan later to help you achieve them.

Would you like to discuss your goals with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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 support!

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I’m ashamed to admit that I actually said that to my wife several years ago. When I built my first solopreneur business, I was obsessed with billable hours. I wanted to make as much money as possible.

So, when my wife asked me to go somewhere with our family, I was reluctant to step away from my laptop.

But the value of everything in life can’t be measured by an objective ROI.

• Want to lead a boring life?

  • Only take part in activities that yield monetary value.

• Want to create a miserable world?

  • Value only people who generate monetary value.

Don’t fall into the trap of trying to calculate the ROI of everyone, everything, and every action in life. My years in the corporate world took me down that path, which was a huge mistake. I regret bringing this into my personal life during the first few years of running my first business. Yuck!

You don’t want to escape a frustrating 9-to-5 job only to build a business that drains your soul as well. One reason you want to leave the corporate world is that you crave independence and freedom. You want to strike out on your own because you want to be healthier, happier, and more fulfilled!

So, don’t let the bottomless pit of pursuing more and more money drag you back into the life you so desperately wanted to walk away from. Time spent on activities that enhance the enjoyment of your personal life is just as important as time spent on your business.

Please learn from my mistake!

Would you like to get some feedback from me on your business strategy and plans? You can always schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

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!

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I took the photo below as I was returning home to our cozy cabin in the woods last night. It took 25 years of planning and preparation to end up here (and a few failed attempts). Now I coach people to help them achieve their dreams much more quickly than I did!

We’d always had a dream of escaping the city to live quietly in a forest near the mountains. For example, my wife gave me this book as a gift in 1996.

Slowly but surely, we eventually made it after decades of living in places like Houston, TX, and the Bay Area of California.

• I finally got tired of waiting for a mythical retirement date in the distant future.

• I gave up on believing the corporate world would let me live this kind of life (before I died).

• I realized that no rural job paid well enough to make it happen.

So, that left me with one option: Strike out on my own and return to solopreneurship.

I left the corporate world in 2010 and never went back. I know building a small business might not be right for everyone, but it might be right for you. If this story resonates with you, I’d like to help.

I’m kicking off my new business coaching package in January to help people design their own exit, define their ideal lifestyle, and have a business plan ready in their back pocket to make it happen.

One new client already grabbed a seat, and another person is talking with me now about signing up. That leaves only three slots remaining for one-on-one coaching with me.

Message me or leave a comment if that sounds intriguing! Would you like to discuss it with me first? You can always schedule a complimentary call.

Schedule Free 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!

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!

Buy Me a Coffee

You don’t have to quit your job to start designing your exit plan.

Many successful Gen X professionals secretly want out of the corporate rat race (I know I did!). They can’t admit it at work, for obvious reasons. But they’ve had it, and they dream of quitting their jobs.

However, they’re not ready yet.

• Not financially

• Not emotionally

• Not logistically

And that’s completely normal! I remember feeling that way, too, before I finally quit forever in 2010.

Most people don’t want to leap into the unknown. They can’t take that kind of risk with all the responsibilities they have (e.g., a family to support, a mortgage to pay, college tuition to cover).

They want to prepare and build a solid plan. And they want a safer path into the next exciting chapter of their lives. Something they can step into when they decide the time is right. No one enjoys feeling rushed or pushed into making a life-changing decision like this.

I get it! So, here’s what I tell them:

Have you dreamed about quitting your job, but don’t know how you could make that work? Have you thought about running your own business, but don’t know where to begin?

Well, that’s where I can help! I created a new business coaching package for people who like to plan and be prepared, take control of their work, and build the life they dream of. After running my own businesses since 2010, I can confirm that life is so much sweeter when you decide how you spend your days and no longer have a boss telling you what to do!

Over a three-month engagement, I can help you:

• Identify a business model that matches the lifestyle you want.

• Package the professional expertise you’ve spent decades building.

• Create a solid plan that you can test quietly and safely before you quit.

• Build a detailed blueprint for a business you can activate when you’re ready.

• Design your exit timeline so you never feel you have to take a risky leap of faith.

This is the difference between panic-quitting in your 50s (because you’re burned out) and stepping confidently into a semi-retired, flexible, meaningful second act that lets you live the life you’ve always wanted.

I’m limiting this to 5 clients per quarter because our collaborative work on the business plan is deep, detailed, and personalized. A client has already taken one spot for Q1. So, that leaves 4 openings.

If you want to quietly and safely prepare your ideal future without rushing anything, send me a message to let me know if you’re interested. You can reply to the newsletter email or DM me on Substack or LinkedIn.

If you would like to chat with me first to learn more, you can schedule a complimentary call.

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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 Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!

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!

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and I co-hosted a discussion about transitioning from traditional employment to solopreneurship, covering practical advice for aspiring and current small business owners. You can watch the replay on my YouTube channel.

By the way, we are always happy to answer questions or discuss any topics that viewers want. We had several people watching us live, but I think folks were too shy to speak up in the chat. So, you can send us messages any time (or leave a comment below), and we’ll add them to our topics for future livestreams!

Key Topics

What is Solopreneurship?

• Being a solopreneur doesn’t mean working entirely alone

• It means maintaining a solo business structure while collaborating with partners and contractors, when necessary or desired

• Avoids the complications of formal partnerships, employees, and shared business ownership

• Offers flexibility in choosing collaborators and scaling up or down as needed

Three Phases of Solopreneurship

1. Validation: Testing if your product or service solves a real problem that people will pay for

   • Start with lightweight testing using minimal investment

   • Create simple landing pages to gauge interest

   • Conduct beta tests with early users

   • Get direct feedback on pricing and value

2. Client Acquisition: Finding your first customers and building momentum

   • Expect rejection and don’t take it personally

   • Maintain consistent outreach because people may need time before they’re ready to buy

   • Build relationships even when there’s no immediate sale

3. Scaling: Growing profitably without trading all your time for money

   • Group coaching, digital products, and content creation (on places like Substack) allow you to help more people

   • Always keep marketing and networking, even if you’re busy and happy with your revenue flow

Common Challenges and Solutions

• Mindset shift: Move from hourly thinking to value-based pricing (e.g., packages, retainers)

• Overcoming introversion: Build social skills gradually. One-on-one conversations and content creation work well for introverts

• Fear of failure: Embrace small failures frequently to learn faster. Perfection paralyzes progress

• Long lead times: Results often take years! People may read your content for years before reaching out

• Staying visible: Consistent content creation and networking, even when no one seems to be paying attention

Practical Tips

• Turn your current job skills into a service offering

• Partner with complementary businesses without formal mergers

• Offer free discovery calls to build relationships naturally

• Create content in whatever format feels comfortable (faceless videos, podcasts, writing)

• Be patient! Building trust and community takes time, sometimes spanning years or even generations

Would you like to brainstorm some business ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

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!

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I recently discovered a pretty cool AI tool called Granola. They describe the product as “The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings. Granola takes your raw meeting notes and makes them awesome.”

I have been critical of the AI bubble. Most of the stuff I’m seeing is kind of silly or useless. You push too hard, and the AI tool lets you down or breaks. Granola, however, seems to be the real deal.

I set it up to record audio from my meetings last week. Granola transcribes your device’s audio directly, so no meeting bots join your call. You can also take additional notes manually in the app during the meeting (they provide desktop and mobile applications). The cool thing was that I could focus 100% on the conversation without the distraction of trying to take comprehensive notes during the meeting.

When the meetings ended, Granola generated notes and a structured summary in a nice outline. They also provide other customizable note templates. This was not a direct transcription, unlike some other tools, which do so to varying degrees of success. The output was way more useful!

Features in the free Basic version

• AI meeting notes

• See limited meeting history

• AI chat within and across meetings

• Shared folders for collaboration

• Customized note templates

• Multi-language support

For $14/month, you get everything in Basic plus

• Unlimited meeting notes and history

• Access to advanced AI thinking models

• Advanced integrations with Attio, Notion, Slack, Hubspot, Affinity, and Zapier

• Centralized billing & user management

Granola also has an interesting set of tuned AI prompts they call Recipes. It combines your work context (e.g., calendar meetings, notes from recorded meetings) with human expertise (e.g., yours, or that of a notable expert in a specific field).

For example, they have a Recipe created by Lenny Rachitsky that guides you to fill out his PRD template for a feature of your choice. Lenny is a prominent tech writer, investor, and former product leader from Airbnb and Uber, known for his popular Substack newsletter, Lenny’s Newsletter, which offers practical advice on product management, growth, and career development.

I created my own Recipe to generate a follow-up email after I finish the initial Zoom meeting with a potential new client. It leverages data gathered during the meeting, as well as information about my coaching style and approach to working with people. It shows initial promise, but I need to keep tuning it to get it just right.

I also used a Recipe to analyze my calendar and recent meetings. It then provided some helpful advice on how to network with potential new clients, automate more tasks, and create additional templates, among other suggestions. It wasn’t perfect, as it didn’t include all the context of my interactions, tools, and documents. But it provided some cool nuggets of ideas that I want to test!

You can try Granola for free and see what you think! Let me know how it works for you.

➡️ Would you like to brainstorm some ideas with me to optimize your small business? You can schedule a complimentary call.

Schedule Free 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! 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!

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My focus in the community is helping ambitious members reclaim their power by building their own businesses, becoming more invincible in their professional lives, and maximizing freedom and flexibility in their personal lives. This allows them to do more of the work they love and less of what they hate!

Things we value in my solopreneur community

• Honesty and authenticity

• An owner-first philosophy

• Confidentiality of what we share

• Ambition, drive, and determination

• Support, compassion, and encouragement

• Empowerment, freedom, and personal control

Things we do not tolerate in the community

• Harassment, hate speech, illegal activities, offensive material, cyberbullying, etc.

• Racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and transphobia

• Doxing, spamming, or soliciting community members

• Arguments about politics or religion

• Rude or mean behavior

We aim to foster healthy discussions within the community, enabling us to offer one another guidance, feedback, encouragement, and support to maximize our small business success.

Sometimes, this free group setting is precisely what someone wants and needs to overcome issues, benefit from accountability, and achieve their business goals. However, at other times, someone might need more intensive one-on-one coaching or may not feel comfortable sharing personal details in the group. That’s why I also offer confidential coaching via a private channel in the community or through live Zoom meetings each month.

My premium subscribers on Substack will have access to the private, members-only channels, weekly office hours, and a live monthly call. My coaching clients will also have access to everything, of course.

If you’re interested in joining my Invincible Solopreneurs community, please complete this application form, and we’ll get back to you. Thanks!

Apply to Join My Community

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!

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!

Buy Me a Coffee

Solopreneur business owners often have multiple revenue streams. It's a smart strategy.

We sometimes do this out of necessity if business slows down (e.g., you’re a realtor and the real estate market is struggling). But actually, we should always have multiple revenue streams to create a financial cushion and income security.

Here’s an idea to consider: if you have a pleasant voice, it may be a hidden goldmine that could generate some additional income!

One of my friends is a very talented voice artist. She’s recorded commercials for world-class brands such as Mastercard, GMC, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Airstream, Nintendo, and dozens more.

I was exposed to the world of voice talent after working with her on a project. My view of the potential markets for voice artists had been pretty narrow (e.g., music, animated movies, cartoons, video games). However, I soon discovered how many industries rely on voice-over actors.

We first met several years ago. At the time, I didn’t notice one of the best benefits of her freelance work:

She can work from anywhere in the world.

She’s her own boss, works the hours she wants, and can choose to record her voice sessions at home, in a studio, or on the road. She has a lot of freedom in her lifestyle, and it’s pretty cool that she can generate income simply with her fantastic voice.

Now, I’m guessing that almost all of you already have a primary profession, and that’s how you make a living. But, as I’ve said before, it’s smart to have multiple income streams and a backup plan.

I’ve always been on the other side of the table, looking for voice talent (e.g., for a song, my startup, an audiobook). But as I explored and used these voice marketplaces, I couldn’t help but notice that people sometimes make a living doing this. Or at least, they are generating additional income from it as a side hustle.

I want to share a couple of the largest voice marketplaces with you. The fascinating thing about these opportunities is that you don’t need a magical, melodious, singing voice to be in demand. There’s a need for all kinds of voices from people of all ages around the world.

Voiceover work

I met my friend, Michelle Sundholm, on Voices.com. By the way, if you are looking for extraordinary voice talent from one of the nicest people in the world, check her out.

They provide voice talent for advertising, animation (e.g., cartoons, movies), broadcasting (e.g., podcasts, radio, television), consumer brands, education, financial services, gaming, healthcare, nonprofits, publishing (e.g., audiobooks), technology solutions (e.g., apps, text-to-speech, explainer videos), and other video production.

Professional voice artists can make a pretty good living. For example, Nancy Cartwright, who voices Bart Simpson on The Simpsons, has a net worth of about $85M. But the average voice actor makes around $76K. Still not bad!

Even if you only want to record a voice gig here and there, you can still make hundreds or thousands of dollars doing so. Voices.com shares that you could make around $100 for a local radio commercial or up to $10K for a national commercial. You could make between $100 and $1K if someone wants your voice for a short animation or in a video game.

Maybe it’s just me, but it is pretty cool to imagine your voice being heard around the world in a video game, animated show, or even a commercial. I’ve had a small taste of that with my podcast.

It’s even more amazing to get paid just for recording your voice in the comfort of your home. Yes, you do need a reasonable microphone (more on that below), the ability to take direction and read a script, and some basic audio editing software. But the investment (i.e., your time, energy, and money) is much lower than for many other side hustle options.

If you’re interested in checking it out, you can learn more here.

Backstage is another service where you can get hired for voiceover jobs. Every week, they send me casting calls for movie extras, ad voiceovers, video game character voices, animated character voices, etc.

Audiobook narration

I discovered the ACX marketplace while I was researching what it would take to publish my book. I was already interested in the print and Kindle formats. But my good friend and podcast co-host, Trip, reminded me of how valuable it would be to create an audiobook version, as well.

ACX is a service that connects authors, literary agents, publishers, and rights owners with narrators, engineers, recording studios, and other producers to create finished audiobooks. Much like the Voices.com platform, you can hire a narrator to read your book.

As I explored the service and learned more, I found that it also includes open submissions for book titles. You can essentially audition to be hired as the narrator by the author, publisher, agent, or rights holder.

The side-hustle income from ACX differs slightly from that on Voices.com and presents a unique opportunity to earn passive income for years! You can choose a per-finished-hour rate for a project, paid upon successful completion of the audiobook. Most experienced narrators charge between $200-$400 per finished hour, but you will probably start at a lower price as a novice (e.g., $80-100).

The interesting passive income option is to share royalties from the finished audiobook sales with the author or rights holder. Rather than getting paid a flat fee for the completed project, you receive 50% of the sales on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. If a book is “evergreen” and popular, you could receive royalties for years.

Learn more about how you can earn both active and passive income as a narrator on ACX.

Necessary equipment and setup

I wrote a detailed article about podcasting equipment for my career newsletter today. I use the same equipment for my voiceover and narration projects.

I won’t repeat the info in that article, so read more about it here.

Give it a shot!

If you have an intriguing voice, you might be surprised by how valuable it is to others. You’ll never know unless you try. 😀

Would you like to brainstorm more revenue stream ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

Schedule Free 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!

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!

Buy Me a Coffee

As a business owner, you no longer have to work with people you don’t enjoy spending time with.

My political and moral beliefs are no secret. I’m pretty active on Substack Notes, where I share my thoughts and feelings daily. For example, people know that I’m not a Trump supporter. I know some people don’t like that. So, I know I’ve lost their business, and that’s okay with me.

I would rather not work with or spend time with people who are:

• Racist

• Sexist

• Homophobic

• Transphobic

• Xenophobic

• Massive hypocrites

I'll get by just fine without their dirty money. I would rather spend my time with good, kind, empathetic, compassionate, and honest people who aren’t celebrating the collapse of our democracy, disregard for our constitution, and reckless endangerment of our citizens.

When you leave a job and build your own business, you get to decide who you spend your time with every day (e.g., business partners, collaborators, clients, customers). This is especially true for a solopreneur.

Are you familiar with these signs that you see in cafes and restaurants?

Guess what? You can do that, too.

Note: You cannot discriminate against customers based on protected characteristics such as race, gender, or disability under federal and state laws. However, you can refuse service for non-discriminatory reasons (e.g., hostile behavior from a potential client).

If my personal beliefs haven’t offended you by now, you can always schedule a complimentary call to talk more with me about your business ideas and plans.

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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!

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!

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“Self-employment rates rise dramatically as people age. Nearly 30% of employed people in their 70s work for themselves, almost double the share of self-employed people in their 60s,” says Cal Halvorsen, an associate professor of social work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “That translates into about 1.3 million septuagenarian entrepreneurs.” (source)

As I approach my late 50s, I already see what is coming. I’m too young to retire, but too old to be hired. I’ve been watching my older friends and colleagues struggle in the current job market. Some have spent 1-2 years looking for their next job after a layoff. One mentioned they had applied to over 500 jobs and had not landed a single interview!

Some friends commented on that post, and the gist was, “Welcome to age discrimination!” It does take longer for older, more experienced workers to get hired. The phrase “overqualified” is often used to explain why a candidate doesn’t receive a job offer, but it can also be a code for ageism.

However, older folks still need to cover their rent or mortgage, pay for insurance, and buy that pesky food we all need to eat to survive. So, if no one wants to hire you, what are you to do?

Well, as many people are discovering, the only path forward is to create your own job. Build a business, become your own boss, and leave behind that annoying workplace age discrimination.

You can transform those decades of work experience, life lessons, and wisdom into all kinds of potential business models and offers. As I often say, it’s a bit like deconstructing your previous career’s “Lego pieces” and rebuilding something new and valuable with them.

Would you like to brainstorm some business ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

Since becoming a solopreneur in 2010, I have taken my cooking skills to a whole new level.

One of the unexpected perks of self-employment has been having the time to cook and eat healthier meals. No more grabbing a donut or bagel for breakfast as I run to a conference room for a stand-up meeting.

My body thanks me for it, too. I had a physical with full blood work a couple of weeks ago. Everything looks great! That wasn’t true during the final years of my corporate career. I was overweight, unhealthy, and on the fast path to a premature death.

When you work for yourself, you own your time. You control your calendar. So, make sure you block off time to take care of yourself, make healthier meals, and savor your food.

Rushing my meals was one thing that really irritated me during my corporate career. I either gobbled something on the run or had a stressful meal during meetings, which included food they provided (e.g., donuts, pizza, sandwiches). No wonder I was in such terrible shape!

Good, healthy food is one of life's wonderful pleasures. So, take advantage of your solopreneur freedom and ensure you enjoy your meals every day, while keeping your health and wellness in mind.

This morning, I took the extra time to caramelize an onion to spruce up my omelet. I also tried something a little crazy to boost the fiber in the omelet today: added a small amount of oats and chia seeds. I couldn’t even notice them in the final result, so I’ll keep that going.

What are some of your favorite meals to prepare? Would you like to brainstorm some ideas with me about how you can block time on your calendar for that? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

As I often say, the easiest solopreneur business to launch is one that directly leverages your existing job description. Copy and paste your talent, knowledge, skills, and experience into a new business model. You already have everything you need to get started!

Fractional consulting is a great example of this. Many of my friends and past colleagues have built businesses on that model (e.g., Ha Nguyen, David Jesse). They stepped away from full-time operational roles to offer their valuable services to clients directly, rather than seeking another employer.

If this sounds intriguing, check out Go Fractional. It’s a marketplace that connects leaders and executives with companies that are seeking fractional talent. In addition to coaching individuals directly, I offer fractional leadership and consulting services to corporations. So, I’m familiar with the model and benefits of this type of arrangement. It immediately provided a lucrative revenue stream for my new business when I launched it in 2010.

Why might you be interested in a fractional role? Well, it’s a great way to dive into well-paid consulting work that essentially replicates how you’ve already been operating as an employee. However, instead of being tied to a single employer, you can apply your talent, knowledge, skills, and experience to work with multiple clients.

Why are companies interested in hiring fractional talent? I’ve been on both sides of the table—as a corporate leader hiring someone for their consulting expertise and as a consultant working with a client on a part-time basis.

The benefits include:

• Immediate access to the expertise you need without the inevitable hiring delays.

• Flexible staffing model to scale up as demand requires more help and back down when things are quiet.

• The cost savings of a consultant versus an employee that requires a full compensation package (e.g., salary, bonus, stock options, benefits, equipment, insurance, etc.).

• Reduced risk since you can easily end a consulting agreement and move on, versus the challenges of firing an employee.

Go Fractional has a helpful article that explains this in more detail: “What is Fractional Work? Benefits, Use Cases, and Hiring Tips.”

They manage the matchmaking, agreements, billing, and payments. Go Fractional charges a 20% fee of the total revenue for an engagement with a client, so adjust your rates accordingly. They do encourage monthly retainers, which is a nice way to generate a steady revenue stream.

The application process is pretty quick, and I think you have nothing to lose by trying it out!

Would you like to talk more with me about how you could leverage your background for fractional consulting? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

I can’t stand people who use false pretenses to trick me into a sales call. It’s been happening more often lately.

• Someone asked me to be a guest on their podcast and then spent the next few weeks endlessly pitching me about their services.

• Another person said they were excited to interview me and share my story with their audience. Then, they tried to sell me their services.

• Another person pretended to need my coaching and booked one of my complimentary calls. They wasted 30 minutes of my time on the call behaving like a potential client before unveiling their real motive: recruiting me for their platform.

It’s downright dumb to use sales tactics like this. I end up blocking them, blocking everyone in their company, and reporting them to LinkedIn for spam.

Don’t do it. Put in the proper work to get noticed the right way.

• Don’t spam.

• Create useful content.

• Share real case studies.

• Don’t neg potential clients.

• Post your actual testimonials.

• Impress people so that they refer you to others.

• If you want to do cold messaging, just be honest about it!

One of the best cold emails I received was from someone who took the time to record a thoughtful and helpful video. They offered value with no expectations. So, I replied and thanked them. It worked!

Would you like to brainstorm some marketing ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

Many years ago, I recall feeling too embarrassed to talk much about my new coaching business.

My confidence was at an all-time low, having just come off the failure of my tech startup. Previously, I had worked as an executive at a large corporation. Even though coaching made a lot of sense, given my degree in psychology, my work experience as a leader, and who I was as a person, it felt like a strange compromise. After all, my friends were still in the middle of it all, taking swings at new startups, climbing the corporate ladder to become C-level executives, or cashing out with tens and hundreds of millions of dollars from acquisitions of their companies.

I felt “less than.” So, there I was, starting a new business and hoping it would grow without talking much about it.

Pro tip: That doesn’t work very well. 😂

Luckily, word of mouth, referrals, and networking are powerful. I landed enough new clients to give me the confidence to continue. Additionally, after about a year, I began to look at things differently. Instead of feeling embarrassed or shy about my business, I felt proud and happy.

Some things to keep in mind that might help you if you’re feeling nervous about promoting your business (and knowing that friends, family, and old colleagues will see it):

• It takes courage to break free of traditional employment and start a business. Be proud of that!

• Only about 7% of the world's population ever starts a business.

• However, about 32% of the adult workforce in the U.S. has done it, so you’re not alone! These people will cheer you on.

• About 31% of employees work for a toxic boss, and 71% have worked for a bad manager at some point in their careers. You no longer have to deal with that, which is something people dream of!

• As your own boss, you will never have to face ageism, layoffs, or toxic coworkers again.

• As a business owner, you control pricing, so you can give yourself a raise when appropriate (no more begging a boss for more money).

• You control your schedule, so you can take a day off or go on vacation at any time you want.

• Most people will silently cheer you, and the few who jeer you secretly wish they dared to quit their miserable jobs to start a dream business.

When you think about your new business that way, it sounds pretty damn impressive, doesn’t it? You’re creating something that is a heck of a lot more exciting than working for someone else.

There is no reason to feel embarrassed about having the courage to take a different path than most people in this world (who dream of doing what you are doing). You are making it happen! I’m proud of you, and you should feel proud of yourself, too.

So, it’s time to take off the gloves and fight harder to get noticed.

• Stop being shy online (and in real life).

• Talk about your business every day and week.

• Share your wins, what you do, and how you think.

• Let all the potential customers know you exist and make it easy for them to buy from you.

➡️ Would you like to brainstorm some marketing ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

Schedule Free 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!

What if your business tapped into your energy instead of your time?

Decades of living our lives around 9-5 jobs have trained us to manage our work by the clock and calendar. Even when I was a VP, I didn’t have much control over my day.

• Early-morning conference calls from my car as I commuted to the office.

• Back-to-back meetings all morning, fueled by donuts and terrible coffee.

• A working lunch meeting with unhealthy food (and probably more stale donuts).

• Back-to-back meetings all afternoon, with hasty bio breaks here and there.

• More conference calls from my car as I crawled home in heavy freeway traffic.

• A quick dinner and then back to work with late-night calls with my remote teams.

I lived with an unnatural working rhythm, day after day, month after month, year after year. I certainly wasn’t able to tune my day to my natural energy to optimize my working style.

But when you become a solopreneur and build your lifestyle business, the rules change. You have the chance to design your business around who you are, how you want to live, and when you do your best work.

Step back and track your natural highs and lows during the day and night. Heck, you should even notice your weekly, monthly, and annual rhythms. For example, I recently embraced that I just don’t want to push as hard during the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. I want to unwind, enjoy the holidays, and spend more time with family and friends.

Take some time to note your rhythms and determine when you prefer to do different kinds of work for your business (or no work at all).

• When do you want your working day to begin?

• What kind of work do you enjoy doing most in the morning?

• What activities are best for your afternoons?

• Do you have some types of work that fit your evening energy?

• Are there days of the week that are better for certain tasks?

I’ve mentioned before how I use time blocking and day theming to manage the work I do for my business. I did that because I paid attention to when my energy ebbs and flows, and when I feel best doing specific types of working activities.

For example, I set up recurring time blocks for:

• Morning journaling with my coffee (I need slow morning starts).

• Daily exercise, which I’ve been doing consistently for 16+ years now.

• Recording and editing my podcasts.

• Writing newsletters and articles.

• Marketing activities on Substack, LinkedIn, and social media.

• Time with my private online communities.

• Strategically working on my business (instead of always in it).

• Meetings with my 1-on-1 clients.

• Time with my family and friends.

Over the years, I’ve moved away from letting anything be scheduled on my calendar at any time on any day. Now, I’m doing a lot more day theming and time blocking. This ensures I have large chunks of time to write my books, collaborate with my clients, work on my business, invest in my health, and spend time with my family.

Here’s how I theme my days:

• Mondays - Community office hours (for premium subscribers) and research for my newsletters.

• Tuesdays - Writing newsletters and producing my podcasts.

• Wednesdays - Spending the entire day with my wife (e.g., hiking, skiing, dating).

• Thursdays - Calls with 1-on-1 clients and my complimentary calls.

• Fridays - Business tasks, calls with 1-on-1 clients, and more complimentary calls.

• Saturdays - Some business tasks and personal life activities.

• Sundays - A few business tasks, personal life activities, and some writing.

So, take a look at your energy and how you want to run your solopreneur business. For example, if you’re sharpest in the morning, protect that time for creative efforts (e.g., writing, brainstorming, strategy work). If you feel more social in the afternoon, schedule your discovery and sales calls then. If you tend to feel burned out by Friday, consider making it a shorter working day or taking that day off to enjoy a 3-day weekend every week.

You’re in control now! Design your business around your ideal life and how you want to spend your days. What would your ideal rhythm look like if you no longer let yourself be bound by the old 9-to-5 rules that someone else controlled?

Would you like to brainstorm some ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

Schedule Free 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 Invincible Solopreneurs Daily Journal!

Do you have a board of advisors for your business?

If not, you should! It’s not just something for big, ol’ fancy corporations.

I run a few solopreneur businesses, and I have created a small, unofficial board of advisors for each one. They help me so much! For example:

• Brainstorming new business ideas

• Giving me feedback on a new strategy

• Helping me understand the customer mindset

• Being a sounding board for decisions

• Providing insights and expertise I don’t have

• Introducing me to potential partners

• Referring customers to me

Your board should be about 3-5 people you can trust with your innermost business secrets. You don’t want anyone involved who could be a competitor or might disclose your business ideas to others.

But where do you find people like this? Well, here are some potential sources:

• Past colleagues with whom you’ve had a strong relationship.

• Friends who have valuable skills, knowledge, experience, and connections.

• Online friends and acquaintances with whom you have built a trusting relationship.

• Your most valuable long-term customers and clients.

Some of my best advice has come from great people who used to be my clients. They know me and my business. And they’ve seen it from the buyer's side. You’d be surprised by how often loyal customers want to help you grow and succeed. Some of them would be happy to be a sounding board for you. When I was working for eBay, we called this the Voices of the Community.

While your advisors are an excellent resource, don’t abuse the relationship and lean on them too often. Unless you are compensating your advisors, they are usually helping you for free.

I have been a paid advisor, and I have also played that role for free. When I was getting paid, I was happy to answer questions from the business owners more frequently. But, I also had a few unpaid advisory roles where the founders pinged me every single day. That’s not cool.

Would you like to talk more about how to build your own board of advisors? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

“How in the hell did I end up creating a business that has all the pain of my last 9-5 job, but none of the perks?!”

My friend was lamenting the lifestyle they had created with their current gig. The contract with the client required commuting to work in their office every day of the week. But, as a consultant, they received none of the full-time employment perks, of course. No health insurance, retirement benefits, equipment, stock, etc. They were feeling pretty sad about the whole thing.

I made the same mistake with one of my earlier business models and first clients. As I’ve mentioned before, it is the easiest solopreneur business to start. Copy and paste your job description to create a business plan. But instead of being tied to one employer, you’re paid by clients.

However, if you’re not careful, it’s easy to slip into the familiar way of working like an employee for an employer. Working under their rules. Working where, when, and how they want you to work for them instead of how you wish you could be working.

That’s how I found myself hitting the freeway every morning at 6 AM to commute through heavy traffic to my client’s office. Then, I’d badge in, grab a cup of coffee, and head for my assigned cubicle to do work that I would rather be doing from the comfort of my home, a cozy coffee shop, or on a warm beach. I made great money doing this as a consultant, but I didn’t receive any of the usual employment benefits, of course. And I hated feeling like an employee again.

So, I promised myself to design my next business more carefully. I reverse-engineered the model by starting with my desired lifestyle first, then developing a business model that would enable that lifestyle.

For me, that meant:

• No more daily commute to someone’s office.

• Working where I wanted to work every day (e.g., home, coffee shop, my child’s apartment when we go for an extended visit).

• Working the hours I wanted to work (e.g., no more early-morning meetings).

• Working how I wanted to work (e.g., using my tools, my processes, my way).

• Working with the people I choose to work with (e.g., choosing my clients, partners, vendors, etc.).

Most importantly, I created a 100% remote business that I could run on my own from anywhere in the world. Gotta love solopreneurship!

I never wanted to be tied to a single geographic location ever again. I never wanted to have my travel plans controlled by a client who required me to be in their office. I wanted to travel the world, take long working vacations, and spend several weeks with our children instead of the usual rushed visits.

For example, I am writing this newsletter right now from Juneau, Alaska, where two of our children live. We are spending five weeks visiting them! I never could have done this as an employee or with my old business model that locked me up in a client’s cubicle.

I always recommend that my clients create location-independent businesses so they have control over how, where, and when they work. You want to behave like a high-value consultant, not a copy-and-paste contractor who is filling an empty seat.

When you design your own business, you have the fantastic opportunity to take the best of how you like to work and leave behind the worst of employed life forever. Fight hard to create a business that will be more enjoyable for you to operate than any past job you’ve ever held!

Would you like to brainstorm business model ideas with me? You can schedule a complimentary call.

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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!

Does your accountant do your taxes for free?

How about your lawyer? Do they do free work for you?

Your doctor? Dentist? Plumber?

If so, I'd love to get their contact information! But I’m guessing they don’t.

Yet, we often experience people asking us for free work. I know it happens to me often.

• “Hey, can you look at my LinkedIn profile and tell me how to improve it?”

• “Can you give me feedback on my resume?”

• “Can you just hop on a quick call to give me some advice?”

Yes, I do offer a lot of free help. I’ve written several hundred free articles offering business and career advice. My podcast episodes are also free. I even provide a complimentary initial call to help business owners.

However, if you give away too much of your time for free, you will soon struggle to pay your bills.

It can feel awkward when someone asks for something, but they don’t seem to be interested in paying for it. What do you do?

Do you just say no? Do you suggest a price on the spot?

Well, I’ve learned to use a simple and effective tactic when it happens: I offer to send a proposal. It’s a short and sweet response that:

• Makes it clear I don’t offer a service or product for free.

• Doesn’t create an awkward conversation.

• Gives me time to scope and price things appropriately.

The conversation sometimes looks like this:

Them: “Hey, can you give me some feedback on my resume?”

Me: “I’m happy to do that! I do provide a resume review service, so I can send you a quick proposal. Take a look at it and let me know what you think.”

Them: “Oh, ummm… I was wondering if you would do it for free. It shouldn’t take that long.”

Me: “Well, doing it well does take time. And it’s not completely about the time. It’s about having the expertise to provide the right feedback. I don’t provide my valuable expertise for free. But, I do have a free article that can help you improve your resume on your own. Do you want me to send it to you?”

Them: “Okay, sure. Thanks.”

Try a variation of this script the next time someone asks you to work for free!

Would you like to brainstorm some ideas with me? You can always schedule a complimentary call.

Schedule Free 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!