I was 28 years old when I was a solo freelancer and made over $270k in revenue in a year.
I’m still proud of that younger version of me.
I don’t live in a big city. I grew up in a place called Preston, Nova Scotia. I was a kid who sold doo-rags from his locker. I was identified as an underprivileged youth by a capitalism funded charity that 100% changed my life. I didn’t have any uncles or aunts who could introduce me to the next big thing. But I was able to crack a quarter of a million dollars in revenue as a solopreneur before turning 30.
It felt good. I wrote about those lessons on Reddit… And even here on my blog.
But that’s not what I want to write about today.
Today, I want to give back to the industry and hopefully inspire the person who is in their parents basement drinking instant coffee thinking about their own growth. The person who wants to build a solo-business that serves brands & provides them with enough money to never need to apply for a job again because they have cracked the freelance, fractional, solopreneur code.
Let’s get into it.
But first…
What Is A Fractional CMO?
A Fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) is someone who supports companies on a part-time basis in a role that oversees and provides strategic direction around the marketing function of the company. The fractional role tends to be used by companies who either can’t afford a full time CMO or don’t believe they need a full time role to do what a full time CMO can provide.
The Foundation: Your Personal Brand Matters
What shows up when someone googles your name?
Do you like what you see? Is it representative of what you believe a potential customer would connect back to you and say: “Yeah, I want to work with this person!” or does it leave them feeling indifferent?
If someone wanted to work with you… Could they find you through Google? Are you easy to find on LinkedIn? Does your accounts on these channels suggest that you’re someone who knows what you’re talking about and is worth trusting with their business to achieve results?
All of the answers to the above should be: Yes.
A few quick wins for you:
→ Buy your own domain and create a personal website
→ Create landing pages on your site that speak to your offer
→ Make sure your website speaks to past / current clients & your niche
→ Create 4-5 blog posts minimum that would help your customers succeed
→ Update your LinkedIn account to tell a story about your career, impact & work
→ Use tools like Distribution.ai to keep your LinkedIn feed filled with great value adds
One of my favorite quotes is “it takes years to build a reputation and minutes to destroy it.”
The power of a strong personal brand cannot be understated…
We’ve all seen this play out over the past few years.
People who the masses admire get caught up in a scandal and are cancelled in the matter of minutes. Or people who no one knows at all getting caught on a big screen at a sports game hugging it out and then having their lives flipped upside down in the matter of minutes.
Building a personal brand can help you prevent this… But it can also help position you in the market as a leading expert. It will help position you in the market as someone worth trusting. And that’s the key.
But you can’t just look the part. Now it’s time to back it up.
The Work: Use AI & Talent For Leverage
My business today is more than just me. I run a full service marketing agency that serves some of the biggest brands in the world. From publicly traded companies to some of the fastest growing private companies… Our team has worked with and done excellent work for all kinds of different businesses.
But the only reason that happens is this:
Excellent work.
You need to hold yourself accountable to doing excellent work. You need to look at your competitors and say… I’m going to outwork every single one of you. You need to look at your clients and say to yourself… I’m going to deliver so much additional value on top of what I’m already doing that you’re going to talk about me with all your friends. Here’s how I used to do it….
A client would hire me to write 10 blog posts a month. I’d happily accept that contract but when I delivered those blog posts it wasn’t just the blog post. I delivered it with the titles, meta descriptions and 6-8 social media posts that they could share on LinkedIn, Twitter (now X), Facebook and more.
This little surprise of additional value is something we call Guac at Foundation. We call it that because there’s no better feeling than going to a burrito shop asking for guac and they give you an extra scoop. Especially when they don’t charge you for it… This is client satisfaction at its best.
And today… Thanks to AI marketing tools. You can deliver more guac than ever before.
Here’s some of my favorite tools:
You can use AI tools like Fathom to record your sales calls so you don’t miss anything. You can use AI tools like Superhuman to write emails faster than ever before. You can use AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity & Grok to bounce ideas off of. You can even use these tools to assist you in doing analysis, reporting and more. AI has truly given us all super powers.
Embrace it.
Another form of leverage that you can tap into is talent.
I didn’t do all the work at $270k in revenue. I had to partner with people to get things done. I brought on an editor that I found via Upwork (shout out to Carrie / Hope all is well) and they ensured that every word I wrote was better than it would have been had I just wrote it myself.
I’ll never forget sending a few pieces to my client Bill and him catching typos back-to-back months. I was like “Nah, this has to stop…” so I bit the bullet and hired an editor. This was a huge win. No more typos. I extended that relationship for 2-ish years.
Talent (especially people better than you) are worth every penny. Embrace it. Get the help.
The Revenue: Diversify Your Income Streams
Now here’s where things get fun. In the early days, I wasn’t just selling services…
I had an ecommerce company. I had 2 affiliate sites. I had 2-3 courses. I think I had 2 ebooks. And I spoke at conferences and events for a small fee… I diversified my revenue streams.
Some of these things worked nicely together but some of them were a bit of a distraction. I think creating courses, ebooks, speaking and building sites that are relevant to your niche are a great way to grow your practice. But going into new niches just because you want to…. Yea. That was energy that should have been spent taking that $270k to $350k. Hindsight is 20-20 though.
Here’s what I would do today:
1) Embrace public speaking: This is still the best investment I ever made in my career. Learning how to speak on stage has given me the chance to get into board rooms that wouldn’t have been possible by simply writing a blog post on a topic.
2) Embrace referral programs: A few months ago I saw a wire hit our account for over $20k because we sent someone in the ecommerce space a deal that is worth over $500k. At Foundation, we pay thousands of dollars every month to Fractional CMOs who refer clients our way who need help in executing AEO/GEO/LLMSEO/E-I-E-I-O strategies or Reddit Strategies… This is a great passive income for a fractional marketer or freelancer looking to generate revenue. If that’s you… Get in touch.
3) Publish helpful content weekly: The same way you make time in your calendar to eat. You should make time in your calendar to create. It could be YouTube videos, podcasting, blog writing or long form posts on LinkedIn. Whatever it is you do… Create content and make it ridiculously helpful. If you can sell a product, tool or resource that is complementary to your service… Even better !
The Growth: Ignore The Bread & Circus
It’s so easy to get lost in the hype cycle of news and media today.
Ignore it.
Don’t let the hype cycle pull you away from your goals. I’m serious.
If you’ve made it this far reading… You’re clearly serious about trying to win. You clearly want to succeed. So let’s prioritize that for the rest of the year. No more arguing with trolls on X about whether it should be called AEO or GEO. No more reading the comments on a TikTok video that says PPC is dead. No more doom scrolling because the markets crashed and AI is eating SaaS alive…
None of that.
Stay focused.
You’re going to see some of the most popular figures in your industry press publish on things saying freelancers are dead. You’re going to see media publications say RIP Fractional CMOs. You’re going to see people you trust and respect say that AI is going to kill the service industry and there’s absolutely no reason why anyone should ever hire an expert again because Claude is the best!!!
Stay focused.
Ignore it.
The only thing you should be worried about is whether or not you’re better than you were yesterday. And here’s the thing…
I’m not just talking about as a marketer.
I’m talking about as a person.
You are the CEO of both your business & your own life. Be a good CEO.
Take care of your physical health. Take care of your mental health. Take care of your client projects. Take care of your social circles. Take care of your family and friends. Take care of the things that matter to you so you don’t get so lost in the sauce that you forget why you started.
That’s going to be key.
And my only feedback on that would be to make sure you do the inner work. Read books like How Will You Measure Your Life, The Inner Game Of Tennis & The Courage To Be Disliked. These books are great for helping align your mindset around the things that actually matter.
And if you can do that.
I think the growth will follow.
Instead of scrolling. You will be creating.
Instead of arguing. You will be adding value.
Instead of complaining. You will be building.
Instead of fighting. You will be sending invoices.
Instead of losing sleep. You will be relaxed & winning.
Go get’em. I’m rooting for you.