As we close out 2024 (and Season 3 of The Soloist Life), it feels like the right time to revisit how we can best bring our light to the people we most want to serve:

Why now is the time to lean into your personal genius.

What I’m committing to for 2025 😉.

What exactly is a re*shift (and why might you be ready for one)?

The eight areas of life and work that you can custom blend to create your uniquely rich life.

Wishing you a happy holiday season and a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2025!

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:03 - 00:41

Speaker 1: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Socialist Life Podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rachelle Moulton and today I'm recording this special episode, the last to close out season 3, a little over a month after the US election results. I'm not going to lie. It pains me to know that slightly over half of my country's voters have glommed on to a dark, dark vision for the future. It's not even remotely aligned with what I stand for, and yet this is where we are right now. But we soloists still have choices. We

00:41 - 01:21

Speaker 1: have agency. We do not have to accept these attitudes or work within their confines. Instead, we can choose differently. We can choose to operate in a positive, hopeful way, bringing our light to the people we most want to serve. I've been thinking about this quite a bit, even before the election, as I saw some extreme behaviors. And I feel it even more strongly now. It all comes down to your personal genius. How can you best use your highest talents and skills to help the people you most want to serve. So just as an example, hang on,

01:21 - 01:59

Speaker 1: I don't want to say that. Okay, for example, my work has been focused on helping soloist consultants break through their revenue plateaus And that's because I'm really, really good at building expertise businesses. In fact, without false modesty, I'm excellent at that, and pieces of that work are in my genius zone. I've helped create millions of dollars in value for clients as a soloist, never mind the tens of millions I built as a partner in big firms where I led a variety of businesses. But in this new world, excellent isn't good enough. We each need to burrow

01:59 - 02:46

Speaker 1: into our personal genius, serving the people who matter most to you in ways only you can do. Now rest assured I will be walking my talk. I've decided to more fully embrace my own genius moving forward And that genius is around helping entrepreneurs navigate transitions, the kind where you're recalibrating your life and your work, or what I'm calling re-shifts. Now, my guests here on this podcast, I've actually talked a lot...

When you’ve run your Soloist business long enough, you’ll see cycles: changes in the market, changes in you/your interests and situation and your bank account. Business coach Ed Gandia shares how his business, his financials and his mindset have changed over 18 years as a Soloist:

Growing his first freelance business entirely by word of mouth—and the markers he used to decide when to invest more or pivot.

The role of fear in his decisions and business growth (and why it’s different today).

Building a community when that skillset isn’t part of your DNA—and the advantages of longevity.

How using even small wins as fuel can re-wire your financial mindset (and your finances).

Traveling the full circle of financial mindset growth—from scarcity to success to recklessness to abundance.

LINKS

Ed Gandia Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Ed Gandia is a business-building coach who helps established freelance writers and solo marketers earn more in less time doing work they love for better clients.

His High-Income Business Writing podcast has more than 1.3 million downloads. And his insights and advice have been featured in SUCCESS Magazine, Forbes, Inc. magazine, Fortune, Fast Company, The Christian Science Monitor and The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:22

Ed Gandia: I had a rule that all my side hustle income during those 2, 2 and a half years, after taxes, I would take 10% to reward myself and do something fun with or buy something cool. And then the rest straight to savings. I have 3 indicators that would show me I was ready to make the transition. And 1 of them was have a year's worth of living expenses.

00:27 - 01:10

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Molten. And today I'm so excited to welcome Ed Gandia to the show. Ed is a business building coach who helps establish freelance writers and solo marketers earn more in less time doing work they love for better clients. His high income business writing podcast has more than 1.3 million downloads and his insights and advice have been featured in Success Magazine, Forbes, Inc, Fortune, Fast Company, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ed, welcome.

01:10 - 01:16

Ed Gandia: Well, thank you, Rochelle, and I'm really delighted to be here and talking with you.

01:16 - 01:33

Rochelle Moulton: Well, I still can't believe that we haven't met before...

Categories: Growing Revnue + Wealth, Niching

Link: https://rochellemoulton.com/soloist_podcast/pulling-out-of-a-revenue-nosedive-with-chris-ferdinandi/?utm_source=subscriber

What do you do when your consistently growing revenue suddenly takes a nosedive—and your peers are feeling it too? Soloist Chris Ferdinandi walks us through the experience and the experiments he conducted to start lifting himself out of it.

Why he built his business as a side hustle and didn’t go solo until he matched his corporate salary.

The financial and emotional hit of a 50% revenue drop—and how to experiment without morphing to panic.

What to do when you’re “too feral” to go back into Corporate: the experiments that failed and those that gave hope.

How selling to a 640-person email list outsold the results from a 14,000 list—by over 3X (hint: the new sale was in his genius zone).

Two moves to make when your revenue is tanking—and one surprising upside.

LINKS

Chris Ferdinandi ADHD Tips | Mastadon

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Chris helps people build a simpler, faster, more resilient web.

Early in his career, he felt like he couldn’t get anything done. Since then, he’s discovered a bunch of systems and strategies that let him turn his ADHD into a superpower. His ADHD tips newsletter is read by hundreds of developers each weekday.

He creates courses and workshops, publishes several daily newsletters, speaks at events, and has advised and written code for organizations like NASA, Apple, Harvard Business School, Chobani, and Adidas.

Chris loves pirates, puppies, and Pixar movies, and lives near horse farms in rural Massachusetts.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:20

Chris Ferdinandi: I also feel very positive about my ADHD. Much in the same way on your episode, the phrase like ruthless self-acceptance or there...

When you started your business, you probably imagined steady revenue growth under your original business model—only to discover that the only way to grow the way you want is by experimenting! Business Coach Jessica Lackey (a McKinsey and Nike alum) shares her year-by-year experience in crafting her ideal business model:

How she contracted for “bridge jobs” in Year 1 to ensure cash flow—and why she’d do it again.

Year 2: building a “whale” delivery model with enough whales so you’re not overly dependent on any one.

Why she pivoted from a 1-1 delivery model to group and membership options (and it wasn’t because she had a large email list).

The pros and cons of running multiple revenue models as you pivot vs. making a faster shift.

How building interchangeable assets allows you to leverage your authority faster.

LINKS

Jessica Lackey Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jessica Lackey is a strategy and operations advisor who blends business strategy, practical application, and a human-centric approach to create sustainable businesses.

With a background in corporate leadership, McKinsey & Company consulting, and a Harvard Business degree, Jessica knows a thing or two about hustle culture and what it feels like to judge success by the bottom line…at all costs.

Now, she combines her deep experience in consulting, Fortune 500 operations leadership and coaching to help businesses grow without sacrificing the well-being of their clients, team, and community.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:19

Jessica Lackey: I had a social media team, but I actually dropped Instagram in 2023 and I stopped doing as much LinkedIn. And I really focused on those marketing platforms that took more time, but had a bigger result. So again, I write once a week, I guess teach once a month. And people are like, you do that for free? I'm like, well, yeah.

00:24 - 01:05

Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all...

If this last year was NOT smooth sailing for your Soloist business finances, now is an ideal time to pave the way to better. There’s still time to avoid unpleasant surprises (think giant tax bills) and start streamlining your financial life before year-end:

The five strategic pieces of information you want in your hands before year-end.

How to think about your financial team (and why it’s worth investing in the right experts).

How a financial surprise made me completely shift how I managed my business cash flow.Why you want to build a cash reserve for your business and a resource to get you started.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Consultants + Money podcast episode on cash reserves (Erica Goode)

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:43

Rochelle Moulton: Think of it like a non-emergency emergency fund for your business. It's a way to smooth out the inevitable cash flow variations in our kinds of businesses. And once you fully fund a cash reserve, I can guarantee you will like the comfort and freedom that it provides. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I want to talk to you about getting your finances straight. It's late October as I'm recording this and it's the perfect time to get both strategic and tactical

00:43 - 01:18

Rochelle Moultob: as you pave the way for the year you want for your business and for your life. So let's start with the strategic. Okay, at this point in the year, you wanna have several things in the bag. 1, you want a reasonable idea of your current and projected financial position. That means how much revenue have you already closed and what's likely to hit before year end. Same thing with your expenses so you can get a feel for your bottom line year. It also means how much more can you tuck away in your taxed advantage solo 401k. Now

01:18 - 01:59

Rochelle Moultob: remember, you can make additional employer contributions above and beyond your salary deferrals. Don't have a solo 401k yet? Talk to your financial advisor or your CPA about the best options for you. Contributing consistently to your 401k is a baller move, especially for soloists since we don't have anyone funding our future life but ourselves. 2, take this understanding and

When you’re in the midst of an overwhelming business challenge—your revenue plummets, your audience dries up, you can’t seem to make a sale—what do you do?

Award-winning author and podcaster Jenny Blake takes us through the messy middle, sharing her story of challenge, resilience and percolating without yet knowing the answer:

Why her first reaction to a pandemic-induced 80% revenue drop was “I wrote a book called Pivot—I’ve got this.”

How that reaction turned to “I couldn’t fake it anymore—I couldn’t pretend anymore. I didn’t have any hope left…” when she lost a six-figure client.

Channeling her angst and uncertainty into a popular (paid) substack as she semi-publicly worked through what to do next.

The health scare that made her dramatically change how she was working.

The glimmers of her next chapter—how they appeared and how she thoughtfully nurtures them.

LINKS

Jenny Blake Substack | Free Time | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Jenny is an author and podcaster who runs a Delightfully Tiny media company. She is the author of three award-winning books, including Free Time (Ideapress, 2022) and Pivot (Penguin/Random House, 2016). She hosts two podcasts with over two million downloads combined: the Webby-nominated Free Time for Heart-Based Business owners, and Pivot with Jenny Blake for navigating change.

On her Substack Rolling in Doh, she shares personal essays about the messier parts of running a small business.

She lives in New York City with her husband and her angel-in-fur-coat German shepherd Ryder.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:30

Jenny Blake: I have no judgment about anybody working at a job, but I get sick with that kind of work schedule or the meetings and calls. It drains me of all life, all the creative juice I have. It's just not the format. I've known that about...

Being a podcast guest pays some excellent dividends: introducing you to new audiences, practice delivering your point of view and honing your message for starters. But how do you get yourself booked?

The qualities that will make you a solid, bookable podcast guest.

The 5-step system to get consistent results to your podcast guesting requests.

The one thing you must have before pitching yourself to a single podcast.

Why smaller, niche podcasts may be ideal, especially when first starting to guest.

How to craft your pitch—and the 3 paragraph format to improve your chances of a YES.

LINKS

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:42

Rochelle Moulton: The best pitches are short, impactful, and do not make the host do any work to say yes, because the second you require them to do work, your chances of a yes drop dramatically. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Molten and today I want to talk about getting yourself booked on podcasts. Now, maybe it's because I've seen some of the most god-awful pitches in the 7 plus years I've been hosting podcasts. I so don't want you to write pitches like those. But it's

00:42 - 01:23

Rochelle Moulton: really because I believe in the merits of guesting on podcasts, even when, maybe especially when, you're not hosting a show of your own. Being a solid podcast guest pays all sorts of dividends in terms of introducing you to new audiences, filled with potential clients and buyers. You also get to practice delivering your point of view and honing your message, becoming a better communicator of your message in the process. Now, what do I mean by being a solid podcast guest? Well, you like to be interviewed and have a conversation. You have some compelling stories to share and

01:23 - 02:04

Rochelle Moulton: you have something valuable to teach. If all you're trying to do is sell your services or products and you genuinely don't like to be interviewed or share stories or teach something valuable, podcast guesting is not a good strategy for you. But if you wanna do more guesting, it helps to create a very simple system, 1 that you can partially outsource if you like to get consistent results. And think of it as 5 steps. So number 1, decide why you want to be on podcasts. Number 2, Research

You’ve heard the hype about AI, but how can you tactically and strategically use it to manage and grow your Soloist business? Global AI consultant Heidi Araya—who says “experts should be experts, not task-jugglers”—gets highly specific on how we can best use AI right now:

Why your most productive use of AI starts with where friction currently lies in your business.

Saving time: buying or building AI assistants for the time-intensive tasks typical with knowledge work.

Creating a “librarian” to answer questions from your existing content—internally, externally (with or without monetizing).

Protecting your proprietary content from being used to train large learning models (LLMs).

Strategic use cases that may surprise you (and replace the thousands of dollars you might otherwise spend to uncover this data).

LINKS

Heidi Araya Website | LinkedIn

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

BIO

Heidi Araya is a global consultant, keynote speaker, and patented inventor who has dedicated her decades-long career to driving multimillion-dollar business improvements using a people-first approach.

Fueled by a desire to continuously learn and push boundaries, Heidi pivoted from leading large scale change initiatives inside organizations and has embarked on her third career, first upskilling in AI and then starting her own AI Agency. Leveraging her deep expertise in business operations, coaching, and change management, she now empowers solopreneurs, startups, and small businesses to unlock their full potential in the AI era.

Heidi's passion lies in bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI technology and practical applications for small businesses. She doesn't just talk AI, she implements it. Her people-centric approach focuses on AI enablement, AI automation, and productivity coaching, allowing smaller businesses to compete with larger corporations.

When she's not empowering businesses with AI, she enjoys raising butterflies, tackling home improvement projects, and staying active.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE

RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS

Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.

Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather, connect and learn.

The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:18

Heidi Araya: I had 1 creative agency who their clients were asking for competitor insights. So it could go out and actually look for the competitors on the internet and...