“Staying Ahead” Handed Me a Six-Figure Solopreneur Career

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Under my management, my employer achieved their most profitable year since their founding 14 years earlier.

But, I felt miserable.

Before becoming a full-time solopreneur, I managed teams across five states for a subsect of a multi-billion dollar health insurance company. I built more profitable workflows, digitized manual paperwork operations, and delivered high-performing results.

When I realized how much money I was making them compared to my own pay, I resigned, cashed out my $3,000 401(k), and left behind a much-needed $50K salary that paid my rent and put gas in my car.

I had no reserves, no access to credit (due to a previously failed business), was scared out of my mind, and got down to 145lbs because I couldn’t afford to eat very often.

When I tell you that I was hungry, I wasn’t talking about a hunger for success.

But then, I landed my first client. (I will tell you that story someday soon.)

In my first 18 months as a full-time solopreneur, I tripled my previous Corporate America salary. By the end of year two, I was managing 30 monthly clients.

I did not believe that I was the smartest or most talented person in the room.

I knew that I brought something unique to the table (that I was surprised to find out was uncommon during my time in Corporate America) — I had an unwavering work ethic and I cared deeply about the bottom line. That stands out.

I never once advertised my work, but I started to become aware that people were responding to how I was staying ahead of their needs. A lot of clients operate on a yearly cycle, so after I did it once, I started planning for how it would impact year two and the years after, and then I showed up prepared.

I arrived at meetings ready to go with data that showed what my work had accomplished. It was a provable fact, not an opinion.

I showed up with printed needs, to-the-point questions, and what I was working on next.

I didn’t want to talk about the weather. I wanted to amplify the work.

I learned my clients’ rhythms by compensating for the ones that were lazy, showing up hard for the ones that were driven, and being present for everything.

You would find me at board meetings, committee meetings, staff meetings, events, volunteer groups, and then the one-on-one lunches and dinners. I learned everything I could about the people in an organization, as much as I did about the organization itself.

I made my self indispensable.

What happened next was incredible.

Instead of advertising, I became the product, and my work became the byproduct.

I allowed my work to speak for itself, and then someone would talk about my work to someone else, and that person would reach out to me for help. It snowballed.

I can trace all of this back to “staying ahead.”

When I worked on Sundays to show up hard for Mondays, people paid attention.

When I showed up as a contractor to a room full of employees and I was the only one with defined data, needs, and goals printed and ready to go, CEOs and managers noticed.

When people started recognizing that I never caused them extra stress, problems, loss of money, or issues with their staff, they wanted more.

I was in survival mode, but what I was recognizing was that I was delivering a form of self-imposed excellence because I knew one mistake could cost me my livelihood.

My focus was to make enough money so I wouldn’t have to go back to the hell of Corporate America, and I knew that delivering real results for clients was how I did that.

Everything was personal, and “staying ahead” was the subconscious lifeline that I didn’t have words for at the time, but it gave me a whole new life.

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