In this week’s episode, Anna Lundberg explores the intricacies of choosing the right business model for independent experts who’ve left or are considering leaving the corporate world. This episode is all about securing freedom, flexibility, and fulfilment in your professional life. Tune in to discover how intentional business model selection can transform your venture into one that truly aligns with your personal and financial goals.

Key moments:

[00:00] Introduction and episode overview

[00:48] Discussing challenges in choosing a business model

[01:35] Common mistakes in business model selection

[04:51] Exploring scalable and alternative models

[08:54] The importance of proprietary frameworks and licensing

[11:51] Redefining success and aligning personal goals

Resources mentioned:

• The Business Accelerator Programme: Learn more about supporting your transition with this tailored programme and join the waitlist OneStepOutside.com/accelerate.
• Connect with Anna Lundberg: Reach out for personalised support on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Choosing the right business model

When we start to work for ourselves, there are so many big important decisions to make and it feels so scary. And we’re so proud of ourselves for taking this big leap. It’s scary, it’s exciting. We’re working on the website, we’re developing materials, deciding on pricing, talking to our network and so on. But one of the decisions I think we don’t spend enough time on is really deciding on which business model is right for you personally.

There are so many experts telling us we need to do courses, we need to scale, we need to do this fractional work, whatever it is that the latest label is telling us that we should be doing. But what’s really important is that you’re choosing it intentionally to fit with your income goals. Yes. But also your lifestyle aspirations, your personal preferences and so on. Because the whole point for, for most of us, for me certainly, and I know for many of you, of working for yourself, is that you become your own boss and you can design work to work for you. So don’t fall into that trap of just doing something as default. For example, when I came out of coaching school, I’d done a two year course in a condensed period of time, but of course we all came out saying, oh, I’m going to coach, I’m putting up a website, I’m a coach. This is how people can work with me, I’ll coach you.

And that was the focus at the moment. I’ve been in a speaking programme and in fact a lot of us are doing lots of diverse things but of course by its very nature it’s around speaking and it’s all okay, this is how you get paid to speak and this is how you can become a speaker. And of course one of the defaults that people tend to fall into is consulting. We leave corporate and hey, I hold my hand up here, you can’t see me, but I am because the first thing I did was sort of fall into basically freelance consulting work. And that’s great. And it’s, as I’ve always said before, sort of an easy way to translate your professional skills from corporate into working for yourself. And in fact, the last couple of weeks I was talking about how we can make sure we’re bringing our skills and strengths with us and our experience, our network and so on, because we don’t want to be starting from scratch. However, as I said, unfortunately if we just kind of launch into that model, whatever it happens to be, we might default to trapping ourselves into just another nine to five, but without the benefits.

So let’s look at a few of those common mistakes, right. As I said, the first one is sort of defaulting to consulting and of course that can hide all manner of sins and different business models. But leaving corporate and I have again said this before, and I did this myself, packaging your skills into consulting, taking on that freelance consulting work is a great way to navigate the transition out of corporate. But it’s not necessarily the only way and it’s not necessarily going to be your long term secret path to freedom or not so secret. When I first started it was amazing. It was exciting to work with different brand teams and organisations. I was getting paid more in particular one contract because I was working so much overtime, I ended up earning a lot more than I was in my full time job. And then what I would do is get the freedom by travelling in between contracts.

But soon I realised, okay, that was great, but I’m still doing the same kind of work and that’s not really the reason why I left my corporate job. Right. So that’s one of the reasons why that didn’t work for me. The other one is that it might not be scalable in the long term because if you’re billing hourly or per project and so on, you know, you’re really capped by your time. So if you’re doing X number of hours or days or weeks in particular with Maybe one or two clients, you become really dependent on those. You can’t really increase the number of days you’re not really in control of that. You’re tied into those contracts, maybe retainers and so on. And you’re not spending time doing business development to get more work.

So it sounds amazing, but you’re not fully in control of your work. So not only is it perhaps not as fulfilling as you’d hoped, you don’t have the freedom and autonomy and you aren’t necessarily able to scale that if scaling and growth is what you want. So your income is really capped by your time. And I think we ignore then the alternative models that exist, partly because we don’t even know they exist and partly again, it is just, as I said, a label, right? Because there’s different models and they might come and go in trendiness and so on. You know, I know when I started in the coaching world, all the Facebook content, because that’s where I got it all was about launching courses and doing webinars and all this. And it’s all about sort of, it shouldn’t be one to one, it’s high ticket or group programmes and so on now. And I saw someone voicing their disgust for this term. But fractional has become quite a trendy word.

And because you’re basically like a part time executive, you can be fractional cmo, cfo, CEO for multiple companies. You could argue it’s the same thing as consulting or contracting, freelancing, but it’s really a higher level strategic positioning without full time commitment. And it means the organisation as well, probably a startup. A scale up can get access to your wisdom and without paying for a full time employee. So it’s a win win there. And again, just come back to the mistakes. So, you know, defaulting to a model, you’re not going to be able to scale long term. You’re ignoring alternatives and again you’re recreating that 9 to 5 trap, if we’re going to call it that, because.

Because if we’re overworking, undercharging, feeling like you’re just in that kind of nine to five anyway, you’re not really acting as a business owner, you’re bringing those corporate habits and ways of working with you. So just briefly to map out, I guess a few different models to consider and we’ll talk more about this and if you follow me on Instagram, Anna Se Limberg or Facebook or LinkedIn, we’ll talk about these as well. As I mentioned, fractional leadership, you know, acting as A part time executive, Sarah, for example, she’s a former HR director, so now she works as a fractional chief people officer for a handful of startups. Can make, you know, 8, 10K a month while only working three days a week. That’s sort of juxtaposed, I guess, versus just, just being a freelancer. And this is no hate always on these different words. It’s just kind of juxtaposing the different labels and models. And again, people can have all sorts of labels and the reality is very different.

But if you’re underpricing and just slipping into that, hey, I’m just kind of doing tasks for you rather than really positioning yourself as an expert and an authority that can get in the way there and also, you know, getting too involved in execution basically. Even when I was the external consultant, I ended up being that person. I was in there. And the team, you get kind of bogged down in all the meetings and so on. So the positive of that is that you get to feel part of the team, but it means that you’re no longer as autonomous and free as you had wanted to be. Perhaps, you know, there’s retainers as well where clients pay a fixed monthly fee accessing your input. It could be calls messaging, structured sessions. Again obviously you can end up over delivering or undercharging because you’re just giving more and more and more scope creep.

They ask you to do more and kind of forget that you’re an external employee. And again allowing them to kind of treat you just like an on call contractor rather than a trusted advisor. But it can give you that predictable income without having to constantly focus on client acquisition. And if you enjoy mentoring and kind of strategic guidance, that could be interesting. Obviously there’s other more kind of scalable so called passive models licencing. I’m a big fan of creating your own frameworks, your own IP intellectual property. So having proprietary framework methodology toolkits, licencing those to businesses and other consultants even, you know, you can have training programmes, assessments, consulting models that only you have. By definition that really helps you overcome imposter syndrome and have a really strong brand because you are the only person in the world who has this particular framework.

And it means, you know, you can really separate yourself if you want to from the work that you’re delivering. Right. You can licence your work, train the trainer sort of to corporate teams or again you can have, let’s say associate coaches delivering your work. I don’t love that idea because I do enjoy my work and I think you probably do too. If you love your work, then you don’t want to become like a CEO, an executive of a team. You want to actually do the coaching, do the speaking. But that’s an option, obviously. Selling online courses, memberships, toolkits, digital downloads.

Again, I’m not, I mean, I’m a fan, but they could be quite hard because you end up, you know, maybe building a course without actually having an audience or demand yet you underprice them, you need a massive audience to sell them and you just don’t have that. So, you know, as much as it’s great and I love teaching and content creation and so on, unless you have a big audience, that’s probably not the, the easiest scalable solution. Most likely it’s going to be some kind of hybrid approach. So you might do some fractional leadership and something else. You know, a bit of consulting courses. I mentioned the speaking community where we’re speaking, coaching, training, advising, you know, mentoring, whatever you want to call it. Probably you don’t want to try to create all those things from day one, but have that in mind that you’re able to layer on those different things. And at the early stage, perhaps you want to be experimenting lots of different things as well to make sure you know what you do enjoy and what’s working, what’s resonating.

And if you are multi passionate, as many of us are, that really helps to give us the variety and multiple income streams, which is also really smart. So how do you sort of, you know, again, this was an exhaustive list, but I just wanted to kind of open your minds to different models and so on. Not to also let you procrastinate now on not moving forwards with your ideas, but just to stop and, and pause and revisit. Perhaps especially if you’ve been doing a particular model for a while, maybe you want to say, oh, is this still delivering? Is this still taking me where I want to go? So of course check in and remind yourself of your personal definition of success. What’s your why and has it changed? What’s your priority as well? Right, because different models can serve different goals. So is it income right now? Impact freedom? I am all about having income and freedom, but sometimes one is more important than the other, at least a priority at the moment. And, you know, really shifting your mindset from being kind of a service provider, a contractor, to a business owner, even if the business is just you, but really thinking of how can I scale, how can I leverage, how can I design systems? And that let me focus on the Bits that I really love and where I can really make a difference while kind of automating, simplifying, doing away with the rest and ultimately, of course, avoiding the dreaded burnout and really building something that’s going to last. Right? Something that’s going to be sustainable, not just short term revenue.

So I cannot underestimate. No, I cannot overestimate. I cannot over exaggerate is the word I’m looking for. I cannot overemphasise. Even better, I cannot say this more than I am saying it now. Choosing the right business model is the difference between freedom and frustration. It’s what’s kind of holding you back from not thinking big enough, not earning enough, tying, you know, your time to money, not enjoying it, etc. Etc.

Almost always it’s not about, oh, I need more clients or I need this, that and the other, I need to charge more. No, it’s about the business model. Okay, so if you want to chat about this, obviously get in touch, you can get me on socials. Anna S.E. lundberg, you can email me@podcastonestepoutside.com and of course I have a few options in terms of either working with me one to one, reviewing your business model or joining us in the business accelerator where we’re really looking at refining that model and making sure it brings you meaningful success. But if I want you to leave this with one takeaway, it’s really to, huh, okay, there might be some, you know, hybrid model, some variation of business model that I hadn’t considered. Maybe I’ve just kind of latched onto this thing because it felt comfortable and was something I knew could work. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean that you want to or that you should going forwards.

And so let’s really think about, okay, what would serve you in this next phase of your career, your business and your life. Okay, thanks for listening. Bye for now.

All right, so if any of this resonates and you’re ready to build a business that truly works for you, without the overwhelm, without the hustle, all that constant second guessing, then I’d love for you to join us in the business accelerator. I’m bringing together a small group of like minded experts, coaches, consultants, solopreneurs who want that personalised support, clear action step and above all, real accountability. If you want to get in early, then head on over to onestepoutside.com/accelerate to register your interest or join the waitlist. Let’s create the business and the life that you have always wanted. Can’t wait to see you inside.

WORK WITH ANNA

Let us help you design a business and a life that gives you freedom from the 9 to 5. There are several options for how you can work with us. Choose the programme that’s right for you.

The Outsiders Business Accelerator

A mastermind for service-based business owners, freelancers and online entrepreneurs who are ready to achieve success on their own terms. onestepoutside.com/accelerate

The Outsiders Business Academy

A self-paced course for you to work through in your own time, to learn – and implement – the foundations of building a profitable business that lets you escape the 9 to 5. onestepoutside.com/course

1:1 Coaching & Mentoring

If you’re looking for one-to-one support to help you achieve your specific life and business goals, Anna has a limited number of spots for individual coaching and mentoring. onestepoutside.com/coaching