ashley-dennison.com

7 reasons to become a consultant (and 7 reasons not to)...

Read it here (no paywall):
solopreneur101.substack.com/p/faea9ef9-e...

When you’re paid what you’re worth, you don’t have to work all the time.

If your salary is your only source of income, you’re one step away from poverty.

This is a quote from Warren Buffett, and as a person who’s been laid off twice in my life - it really hits.

Build multiple streams of income, folks.

About 12 times a week I have to remind myself that running a successful solo business comes down to 5 things:

1. Networking
2. Nurturing
3. Outreach
4. Content
5. Visibility

As long as I stay focused on those 5 things, I win. The rest is noise.

A lot of solo pros ask me how they can find paying work fast / land clients in a hurry. This is how.

open.substack.com/pub/solopren...

Oh no, Substack is down.

Almost 20 followers?! This girl is on fire.

A huge part of becoming known as an expert is just declaring that you are one.

The Big 3 When I get overwhelmed and I want to go back to basics (and laser-in on growing my business), there are three focus areas I come back to again and again.

When I get overwhelmed and need to go back to basics to grow my business, I always come back to the big 3.

solopreneur101.substack.com/p/the-big-3

Official website of World Cancer Day by UICC | 4 February An international awareness day led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to raise worldwide attention and inspire action for a cancer-free future.

I encourage all of you to check out these links to support these orgs, explore volunteering opps to help people who are battling the disease, and reach out to your loved ones today.

World Cancer Day: worldcancerday.org
ACS: cancer.org

Today I honor my mom, who battled lung and brain cancer with her entire body, mind, heart and soul for FOUR years before succumbing to this devastating disease at the young age of 64. Her name was Cyndi and she was brilliant, biting, and adventurous.

Instead of calling it World Cancer Day, we should call it World Kick Cancer's A** Day. 💪

Me when I remember that I own my time and absolutely no one can drop a meeting on my calendar without my express approval.

#solopreneur
#goodbyecorporate
#meetinghell

Integrity is behaving in private the same way you do in public.

Do #hashtags do anything here?

Like if I drop a #solopreneur will I meet other solos?

If I drop a #communications will I find others from my industry?

If I drop a #waffles will I meet my new best friends?

5 Reasons Why People Fail The majority of solopreneurs don't stay solo forever - they eventually revert back to full-time employment. Why? These are the top five reasons I see again and again.

Most solopreneurs and independent consultants end up going back to searching for full-time employment. Often within one year. Why?

solopreneur101.substack.com/p/5-reasons-...

Queen.

Lolz

I won’t stop reporting the truth. The First Amendment is the bedrock of our democracy, and I’ll continue to fight to protect it 🤝🏾🇺🇸

If you’re not doing these things, and instead you’re just sitting around waiting for someone in your network to serve up a project on a silver platter, girl you’re gonna be waiting a long time.

The reason I got so many leads “through my network” is because I was consistently doing two things, day-in and day-out.

1. Meeting new people all the time - not just those who might hire me but anyone who might someday connect me

2. Staying VISIBLE with content, nurturing and events / groups

In 10+ years working for myself, every single client project came my way through my network.

BUT. There’s more nuance to it. It’s not about knowing the “right” people. That’s the least of it.

It's going to be hard anyway. Choose your hard.

Likewise, it's no longer true that switching from solo back to full-time will make things more stable and predictable. If you don't believe me, just ask the tens of thousands of people who have been laid off (from big stable, profitable corporate brands) in the last 3 months.

People who are unemployed and searching for their next full-time role tend to view consulting and contract work as an easy stopgap. Something they can pick up fast to pay the bills.

Maybe that used to be true but it isn't true now.

Employees peek over the wall and say "Gosh it would be nice to make your own hours, and have all that freedom and flexibility."

Consultants and solopreneurs look longingly at their colleagues working full-time and say "Man it would be great to have a paycheck and that kind of security."

It's going to be hard either way.

Whether you're working for someone else, or working for yourself. It's going to be hard.

Too many people seem to look to the other side of the fence and imagine it's an easier, gentler path.

If you're out here making a name for yourself on Bluesky, I'd love to hear what you've learned about the platform and what you're doing to find your people.

What works? What doesn't? Why?

I think it's going to take a long time, and I'm ready for that. On my other platform, it took me about 2 years to reach 20,000 followers. I know every one of these spaces is different and what works on one won't necessarily work on another.

I'm eager to learn.