Creating businesses is MUCH EASIER that you might think. Imagine having multiple streams of passive income making you money without you working. Our expert today is going to show us how to be a solopreneur business owner to have complete freedom in our lives.
Stephen has not had a regular job in 20 years. After being laid off on election day 2000, he knew he needed to make a change. He, like many others, had been taught to work for someone else and taught to be employed.
Before Stephen Warley Was Successfully Unemployed
That wasn’t what he wanted to do. For five years he was in media working for corporations such as CNBC, CBS Sunday Morning and was part of the .com bust of 2000. Stephen felt something just didn’t feel right.
He knew he always had entrepreneur tendencies so began to think about how he could get out of traditional work. At the time, the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad really made him think.
Today, Stephen is a solopreneur who teaches other people how to work for themselves, start a business without debt around something that they already know. He turned his digital broadcasting job into something he does as a consultant and now makes more and is working less.
How Stephen Warley Affords a Nomadic Lifestyle
Stephen believes in building your life around you and not your job. He sold his condo, put all possessions in storage and has been on the road for a year. He loves living minimally.
He knows it may not be forever, but for now, it works. Doing this for the last year has radically focused him on how he wants to spend his time. Not worrying about what he is “supposed to do.”
Dustin recalls telling friends and family all the time that he was “just busy” and wondering why he was so busy all of the time. He realized he didn’t always have to be busy with what people expected him to be doing.
He realized he could be “busy” with things he enjoys and filling his time with what he wanted to be doing.
Stephen recalls a family he knows with four kids and two dogs sailing around the Caribbean. He says you can do it, too. People’s brains love familiarity and you might be thinking you could never do that.
Always Be Learning As a Solopreneur like Stephen Warley
However, Stephen says you definitely can through educating yourself, listening to people like himself and Dustin and really live the fullest version of themselves.
He believes that is what it’s all about. Many people are happy in conventional work, but they always have something to complain about. Entrepreneurs do as well but it is never draining, it is usually just challenging.
Dustin says entrepreneurs know that everything rides and falls on their shoulders. They know they are problem solvers and their paycheck comes from themselves and their hard work.
It is growing away from the concept of conventional money making that helps you in your entrepreneurial path.
Successfully Unemployed and Master Passive Income and even rental properties, Dustin just likes to help people because the more you help people, the more your life gets better.
The idea of mindlessly chasing larger and larger amounts of money, shows that some people with so much more money than Stephen are nowhere near at the level of happiness that he is.
Ideal Lifestyle Calculator for Solopreneurs
One principle he teaches is learning how much money you need to make to live your ideal lifestyle.
He offers a free calculator at lifeskillsthatmatter.com/calculator. There are video tutorials on how to use it as well. Stephen believes we are all caught in the comparison circle.
We all have a different amount of money we need to make to live the ideal lifestyle and Stephen wants to help people prioritize their spending. When you do that, you find what is really important. You can decide then how much money you need to make.
Many people think that to achieve this, they have to work more and more. This is not sustainable, your body will rebel against it. For example, Stephen was once working for 20 hours a week, and bringing in $600,000 doing his content business.
He felt guilty for not working more to achieve that level of income, but in reality he didn’t have to do that.
Dustin took a year off of doing anything once he quit his traditional job. Now working less benefits him and his family by possibly being able to pass that down to his children by building more and more value for him and his family.
Traditional work means you are selling your time, and it is the least valuable way to spend your time as an employee. Stephen is working towards having his companies work less time and make more money by utilizing automation.
As a solopreneur, it is important to systematize your work. The only heavy lifting Stephen does is having awesome conversations on his podcast.
How to Transition From Traditional Work to Solopreneurship
Stephen says entrepreneurship is a journey and there are several little steps you can take. He explains that first there are four learning curves:
- Managing yourself
- Validating your idea
- Finding customers
- Setting up the business
First, take an inventory of yourself. Find out what you have that can translate into a freelancer, consultant, etc. Find out what you are really good at, your marketable skills.
Someone is probably already paying you to do this skill, such as an employer, so you have the potential to find work for it on your own. You are your biggest obstacle in your business, Stephen says, so schedule time for yourself to work your business.
Most businesses fail because the founder does not assess themselves, Stephen believes.
Also, don’t overlook your current employer as your first client. Turn your employer into your first client. If you are good at what you do, they will want to work with you in whatever capacity they can.
Listen to the Solopreneur with Stephen Warley Here:
As a freelancer, you are selling your services over and over and eventually you are going to hire people to do the sales for you. Then it may turn to a course once you get more comfortable and confident.
Stephen also says your mindset is important.
How do you want to work, set up your business now because you have been trained to be an employee for so long. You have to realize the energy, time, money and yourself are so different when you work for yourself. It is a huge identity shift and transition.
Step 1: Learn How To Manage Yourself
Ask your employer if you can work a day from home and see how you’d manage your work day.
Try working outside. Learn your peak performance period, when we are most productive or in the zone.
If your peak performance period is in the evening, think about how a 9-5 could be difficult for you to be productive.
Step 2: Validate the Idea You Have
Ask yourself if you are good at it and if you are energized about it. Make sure you have confidence, whether people want or need it and are willing to pay for it.
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Make sure you show you’re excited about working with your customers, Stephen says.
Your employer is basically selling your skills at a much higher rate than they are paying you. When you become a freelancer or consultant, your hourly rate is significantly higher, granted you have to pay for yourself to learn, find clients.
Offer A Tangible Way to Validate Your Idea
Stephen says it’s simple. Go find your audience, talk to them, listen to their frustrations and what changes they want to see.
Have normal conversations with them and ask what their pain points are and how much are they willing to pay for your service or product.
To begin with, this might make people uncomfortable but it can be easy, you can frame your own cost. Stephen says too many people tie up their self worth in their hourly rate and says you shouldn’t get too caught up in that.
Step 3: Find Your Customers
People pathologically resist outreach, Stephen says. In the beginning, you have to go talk and listen to real people.
You should listen to a minimum of 20 people you think may be interested in your service or product. Most likely it is not the close relationships you have. Look for conferences or online groups that you can join, called social watering holes by Stephen.
Find where they are and start being part of that group. Use the niche tribe model, which is when you do something well, you become the go-to person in your tribe for that topic.
Business came to Stephen after he used this model. He was referred to others by his group of people or his tribe. Additionally, you will want to build relationships, go to conferences, talk to bloggers and podcasters where you can use their brand to get attention.
Solopreneur Pro Tip: A tip from Dustin is to get around the people who you want to help, and be helpful with other people.
Stephen and Dustin agree that most people freeze up hearing the word networking and talking to people. Try to make friends, not connections first.
Feel the value connection and the vibes first, then you can talk about the product or service. One great book that helped Dustin was How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.
Providing Value Is the Best Way To Serve Your Customers
You want to provide more value and not just try to sell right away, or talk about yourself too much. Attention grabbing emails are helpful, talk more about the person you are talking to more than yourself or your product/service.
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Stephen says to educate, not sell. The mass market is disintegrating into infinite niches, your greatest value now is to just be yourself and the approach has to be unique. Find your people who light you up, and you light them up.
Dustin mentions a story about how he was able to attract a client. There are a lot of real estate gurus out there who are flashy and all about their success. Dustin has really played his strength of just being a regular guy, and it has benefited him finding clients because he seems more relatable.
After 10 years, Dustin wanted to move out of California, now lives in a 1250 sq. ft home with his wife and 4 kids. They are very frugal with spending and really just want to help people out. Just being your next door neighbor type is what sets Dustin apart.
You don’t want to focus on money at all costs. Stephen says to remember your attention, energy and time. Money is a stored energy.
We have over focused on money when we should be focused on our attention, energy and our time. More people can work for themselves than people realize. Entrepreneurship is defined as what you want it to be.
You get to create work that works for you and you create your lifestyle. Value goes to you when you work for yourself, and not a boss or corporation.
Step 4: Set Up Your Business
Lastly, step four is your business set up which is not that complicated. Stephen believes you should work with a lawyer, an accountant and a website designer. Count this as costs of business and just accept them.
Eventually you will want a team of advisors around you who will look at the business from a legal perspective or digital perspective.
If you haven’t considered working for yourself, you are avoiding looking at yourself. You need to create work that is so easy for you to do and get paid and work on your own terms.
Successfully Unemployed Rapid Fire Round
Stephen’s One Piece of Knowledge to Starting Freelance or Consulting
You must talk and listen to people. The ultimate hack in business is when you talk to other people, you learn about yourself, and your potential customers. The single most powerful action you can do.
Humans evolve to work together so if you are not meeting one new person every single day, you are not going to grow.
Dustin was able to talk to people about real estate because everyone needs a place to live and with Master Passive Income, everyone kept asking him how he is quitting his job and doing real estate.
With beginning the Successfully Unemployed podcast, he realized the market was there after he was at a conference where he wore a shirt with Successfully Unemployed on it.
People loved the shirt and wanted to talk to and learn from him.
Another tip from Stephen is don’t ask for something right away, it is awkward and turns people off. You want to make connections and build relationships first.
Stephen’s shirt he is wearing during this podcast and is part of his merchandise caught Dustin’s attention. Stephen describes the shirt as the person is you and you are getting out of the box people in society said you have to be in to have a safe and secure life. You don’t have to do that, form your own path and break out of the box.
Stephen’s Advice to His Younger Self
Don’t get an MBA or any degree for that matter. Go out and find a business owner in your dream field and work as their apprentice. Have someone pay you to work and learn about yourself. The most effective way to learn is to do it for yourself.
The One App or Tool Stephen Uses
Stephen’s tool is not technically an app or physical tool but more of a life tool. And it’s that you need to stop more. Once you feel like you getting revved up, stop. Pay attention to yourself and your body. You can’t just continuously be going and working.
Feel fresh and more productive. We think that we have to be working constantly and we shouldn’t. Our brain needs a break.
Dustin says he naps everyday and even dreamed about naps when he was at his traditional job. Now has the ability to stop and relax because he is successfully unemployed.
The Non-Fiction Book Stephen Recommends
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki. He says it is presented in such a way that he feels he was taught about money so incorrectly. The whole system is set up to keep the powerful more powerful. 
Society keeps us buying stuff we don’t need, and the rich don’t want to share secrets. They keep us just doubtful enough to not question their authority. The gig is up, why can’t we all have enough, is a question we should all be asking ourselves.
Dustin realized if he has a course, the money he gets from customers is not new money. It has always been there, it has been paid to other places like big producers and conglomerates.
Stephen mentions being careful about building your business on third party platforms since they are still big corporations. They could change their terms of service without your knowledge and still get a lot of money from you.
You want to use those platforms as promotional tools.
Where to Find Stephen Warley
You won’t find him on Facebook or even Instagram but you can find him on twitter @stephenwarley. In his business, Stephen has learned people on average have been thinking about working for themselves for 2+ years before they go see him and his team.
In just 30 days and with $1500, they can help you get your business started on a really accelerated timeline.
His podcast is Life Skills That Matter and his website is LifeSkillsThatMatter.com/getstarted.
How to Quit Your Job with Passive Income
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