Brilliant, Elena! Thank you for consolidating your thoughts into this single newsletter and breaking down the path to solopreneurship by growth levers.
As I read this, two questions came to my mind:
1. ‘Start with Advising’ - what do you recommend to acquire the first couple of clients if someone doesn’t have a distribution channel like Reforge?
2. How easy was it to hiring advisers for areas that were not your core expertise when you were CMO at Miro? I always struggle w impostor syndrome ‘shouldn’t I know all of this as a leader’ ‘would the CEO tell me: ‘that’s what we hire you to solve instead of spending add’l money to advisors’
Brilliant read, Elena. This clarifies so many questions in my head.
A personal challenge I've had is explaining to companies the difference between a coach, advisor, consultant and part-time employee. Many orgs conflate all of those and that just sets up the wrong expectations.
Ex: You mention in the article, "advisors aren't responsible for outcomes". However, many orgs will still judge those advisors by business and product metrics as opposed to their contributions to the individual or team's knowledge or process growth.
How do you create clarity/alignment on what to expect (and what not to) with orgs that hire you early on in the relationship?
Great read Elena. It can be tough to make the jump from FT to solopreneur, so it’s awesome to see you encouraging more people to make the leap (and giving them a step by step process to make it happen.)
Such an amazing read, thank you for sharing! You’ve outlined this all so well! I started my Solopreneur journey just 5 months ago doing consulting and it’s been amazing. I decided to build my business in public as so many wanted to learn how I was doing it. Would love your feedback as an expert: blakeharber.Substack.com
Must read this weekend, thanks so much Elena 🙌 . Additionally, I recommend that younger professionals in the industry apply for existing jobs to get their first freelancing opportunities. They can also start by commenting on social media posts to provide value before creating content, especially if they don't have many portfolio companies to showcase. It's important for them to strategically choose clients that can provide references to help level up their freelancing, using an ABM/ABS approach. ✌️
Okay this is the best thing I have read this week on Substack! 👏 Thank you Elena for sharing a path for folks like me who have been thinking about this for a long time!
Brilliant, Elena! Thank you for consolidating your thoughts into this single newsletter and breaking down the path to solopreneurship by growth levers.
As I read this, two questions came to my mind:
1. ‘Start with Advising’ - what do you recommend to acquire the first couple of clients if someone doesn’t have a distribution channel like Reforge?
2. How easy was it to hiring advisers for areas that were not your core expertise when you were CMO at Miro? I always struggle w impostor syndrome ‘shouldn’t I know all of this as a leader’ ‘would the CEO tell me: ‘that’s what we hire you to solve instead of spending add’l money to advisors’
I love how much you overshare. It's as if you crack open the black box.
Thanks for sharing!
Inspiring and calling to action.
Absolute
bomb
of a newsletter !!
You could just read this and ignore all the noise.
Thank you !
Thanks for this, Elena!
Do you have good resources on what to expect/negotiate for advising with a cash + equity set up?
Brilliant read, Elena. This clarifies so many questions in my head.
A personal challenge I've had is explaining to companies the difference between a coach, advisor, consultant and part-time employee. Many orgs conflate all of those and that just sets up the wrong expectations.
Ex: You mention in the article, "advisors aren't responsible for outcomes". However, many orgs will still judge those advisors by business and product metrics as opposed to their contributions to the individual or team's knowledge or process growth.
How do you create clarity/alignment on what to expect (and what not to) with orgs that hire you early on in the relationship?
Great read Elena. It can be tough to make the jump from FT to solopreneur, so it’s awesome to see you encouraging more people to make the leap (and giving them a step by step process to make it happen.)
Such an amazing read, thank you for sharing! You’ve outlined this all so well! I started my Solopreneur journey just 5 months ago doing consulting and it’s been amazing. I decided to build my business in public as so many wanted to learn how I was doing it. Would love your feedback as an expert: blakeharber.Substack.com
this resonated so much with me, Elena! I just wrote a Linkedin post about your article adding some guiding questions that have helped me tremendously as part-time solopreneur: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tanjalau_is-solopreneurship-right-for-you-activity-7055480354240884736-HwMZ
Must read this weekend, thanks so much Elena 🙌 . Additionally, I recommend that younger professionals in the industry apply for existing jobs to get their first freelancing opportunities. They can also start by commenting on social media posts to provide value before creating content, especially if they don't have many portfolio companies to showcase. It's important for them to strategically choose clients that can provide references to help level up their freelancing, using an ABM/ABS approach. ✌️
So good. Thanks for sharing, Elena!
This is clever!
Okay this is the best thing I have read this week on Substack! 👏 Thank you Elena for sharing a path for folks like me who have been thinking about this for a long time!
This was so well written, thorough and inspiring. Thank you for sharing all of this detail!