Latest / The Life-First Solopreneur / 244. Scale Without Staff: Fulfillment First, Growth Second Is Key For Solopreneurs

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244. Scale Without Staff: Fulfillment First, Growth Second Is Key For Solopreneurs · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: If you've ever thought, I don't have a year to wait for leads, this episode is your shortcut. Luke Hessler, PR pro and former affiliate builder, shares how to create authority fast, even as an introvert. Also, what to post and why every day matters, and the easiest place to find your clients, and how to scale without employees once the engine catches. This episode is candid, tactical, and very real, complete with the pre wedding business implosion and the rebuild that followed. Listen in and steal the steps.
• 0:31
  You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for anyone on the solo business journey, whether you're just toying with the idea, taking your first bold step, or have been running your own show for years and want to keep growing, refining, and thriving. I'm Carly Ries, and along with my cohost, Joe Rando, we're your guides through the crazy but awesome world of being a company of one. As part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all things solopreneurship, we help people design businesses that align with their life's ambitions so they can work to live, not live to work. If you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the place for you. But if you want real world insights from industry experts, lessons from the successes and stumbles of fellow solopreneurs, and practical strategies for building and sustaining a business you love, you're in the right spot.
• 1:19
  Because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. No matter where you are in your journey, we've got your back. Luke, we told you offline that we are getting great vibes from you from a first impression standpoint, and that you're already so personable and we're because of that, we're just so happy to dive into this episode because I think a big part of this show will be about kinda how solopreneurs can differentiate themselves and stand out, which I think you just did within the first three seconds of us meeting you. But before we dive in, just to piggyback off of, like, we like this guy mode. You chose the icebreaker question that nobody chooses, and so we are thrilled to ask, what is the wildest thing that's happened to you as a solopreneur?
• 2:05
  Luke Hessler: Oh, I love this question. See, it's so interesting that people don't choose it because it's like, these are the best stories, you know. So it's like, I love sharing this stuff. I also am a firm believer in life that you can learn a lot more from my scars than my accolades, you know. So I like talking about these interesting experiences because they're real.
• 2:25
  So, yeah, probably the the wildest thing that happened to me was three days before I got married, we had two things happen. So at the time I had an agency and I was a solopreneur at the agency, you know, in the sense that it was just me there doing my thing. I did have a friend that was helping with the finance side of things. And he would basically give me reports, all the time of where the numbers were at and all of those things. And this is my first time owning my own business, so I just basically blindly listened to the numbers that were there.
• 2:56
  And at the time, we were basically reselling a software that was really effective and is helping people grow their Instagram accounts, all that kind of stuff. And then I wake up one day and Instagram updated their API so we could no longer connect to it with the software, which essentially made our service be completely obsolete. So I went from having like, hundreds of clients that were on this thing to it not working overnight. Right? And so it's just one of those times where like, alright, I have to pivot quickly.
• 3:22
  So that in itself is a big wake up call. But then I go to see how much runway we have. Because there's a little cash in the bank. And I was dumb enough, frankly, to always just listen to the person that was doing the finances.
• 3:35
  He just give me a report. I think that's what the numbers was. First time I'm actually looking at the bank account. Again, stupid thing, I know. But the numbers the money wasn't there.
• 3:44
  And, come to find out the person that was doing a lot of the financing, there was some stuff that happened there and, you know, all these kinds of things, taking money, da da da da. That's another long story. So it's three days before my wedding and I have, now no business at zero. And I also figured out all the money I thought I had to be able to go and, have runway to start something out was also at zero. And the person was a relatively close friend.
• 4:06
  He was invited to my wedding. And he was the person that ended up doing this thing to me. so I had to relearn things quickly, pivot, grow from it. But I will say the positive in the story that I took from it, apart from obviously, you know, don't be dumb and manage your finances well, is the fact that it's like even though I lost everything in that moment, I was able to rebuild it. And I was able to rebuild it faster because I had skills that I had learned from the time before.
• 4:32
  And that was just something I've always taken with me, this persistency because, any day you can lose your business, you can lose your income, but no one can take away your mindset, no one can take away your skills, no one can take away your relationships, and you can rebuild just as fast as you lost it. And so that was a that was an important lesson for me to learn.
• 4:51
  Joe Rando: unbelievable. the elephant in the room is, did that guy come to the wedding?
• 4:58
  Luke Hessler: You know what? He actually did come to the wedding. So, you know, I'm personally a Christian myself, and so I'm like, you know, look the other way, do the things, and so I forgave him and moved on and tried to apply those principles there.
• 5:09
  Joe Rando: You're a better man than I.
• 5:14
  Carly Ries: Did your father-in-law know all this happened three days before, and how was that exchanged at the aisle when you're looking?
• 5:20
  Luke Hessler: Great question. The answer is no. I kept this one to myself, you know, throughout this. I'm like, alright.
• 5:26
  This is my problem. And so avoided that exchange until I was able to provide the solution, And then now it's a good story. Now I can tell it because we have a solution to the story.
• 5:36
  Carly Ries: Had to ask. As of being a bride, I had to ask. Well, Luke, thank you so much for being that transparent and just sharing that story. And hopefully, is a lesson for future guests. It's a good idea to share these types of stories.
• 5:49
  But early on you built a personal brand identity that really resonated with people. And in the topic of like of just standing out in a credit market, how important do you think personal branding is for solopreneurs today? And how should they start with it?
• 6:09
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. That's a really good question. and for a little context to my answer, my first business that I started was I was in the affiliate marketing world. And so I wasn't really a solopreneur because someone else was building the product, doing all that kind of stuff. But I got paid for commissions by driving sales to the website.
• 6:25
  Joe Rando: Stop. Stop. You're a solopreneur.
• 6:28
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
• 6:30
  Joe Rando: You're a solopreneur. No. Affiliate marketers can be solopreneurs. It's okay if somebody else building it.
• 6:35
  You didn't employ them. You weren't giving them a w two.
• 6:38
  Luke Hessler: You know what? That's actually very true. Okay. So I was solopreneur in that world. You're right.
• 6:43
  Alright. Correct So I was still a solopreneur in that world.
• 6:47
  And, at that point, all you're doing is marketing and sales. That's the goal. And you get paid commissions on what you do. And if you can create a team and teach them how to do it, you get override commissions on that. so I started this when I was 19 years old in college. I just wanted to figure out a way to make money online. I knew that was the future. I wanted freedom and wanted to go and figure this thing out. And what ended up happening for me is I struggled a lot in the beginning for people to take me seriously because I had no track record.
• 7:12
  Was just college kid, frankly, at Michigan State University. Why would anybody listen to me? But what I started to learn, this is back in 2013, is that I always knew that first impressions lasted a lifetime. My parents taught me that really young, but I started to learn that the first impression oftentimes in the digital age was in online first impression. So it was like a Google search or a social media search rather than a handshake or a conversation.
• 7:33
  And so when I anticipated that and I realized that, I was like, man, what if I started instead of just posting random college stuff online, I started to post personal development stuff, talking about business, position myself as a professional, had a professional profile picture, all these little things on Facebook at the time. I'm like, then when I'm messaging these people to see if they're interested in my product or service, they're not gonna think they're talking to some random college dude, I'll actually be professional. Maybe they'll give me the time of day behind that. And so that's when I consciously started to really focus on building my brand. And I saw measurable results behind that.
• 8:04
  And through just like, frankly, trial and error, I figured out strategies to be able to go and build my personal brand. I taught my team to do that. And that's why from '19 to '23, I built an affiliate organization of, you know, 30,000 people across 50 states in 20 different countries. Average age was probably 22 years old, and it was all really on, personal branding on social media and using that to sell the products essentially. And so I tell that to be able to just say that that is so important, and that's why I do what I do today, which is, you know, I'm in the PR world, the branding world, because we tell people, listen, that first impression is a Google search or a social media search, and they're gonna judge you in a matter of seconds.
• 8:40
  And there it's gonna be a simple unconscious judgment, like this person's legit, this person isn't, whatever. But that moment is gonna determine whether or not they give you access to them if there's a further conversation. And so positioning yourself online as a credible authority in your space, I think is so important. And I look at it as an asset.
• 8:58
  I look at it as a digital asset. The bigger your brand is with time, as more attention goes online. And I think attention is the currency of the digital economy. That's gonna make that asset be worth more and more and more.
• 9:10
  And if you can start to build a reputation of being someone who's known in your space for a particular thing, referrals come from that. If you're running ads, it helps to have the conversion rates behind it. And so that being said, I think it's extremely important. The second question is like what should people do right now to start building it? It's as simple as just starting on social media and and committing to posting once a day on whatever platform you want.
• 9:33
  You know, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, yeah, they all have their pros and cons, we can dive into that later. But if you can just pick a platform and you can actually focus on committing content and posting it every single day for a year, it's a muscle that you start to go and build. And you start to realize, wait, I can just copy that post and put it over to another platform, and now I'm posting on every platform. Right? And you'll start to, it's also a positive feedback loop.
• 9:54
  I think of it like going into the gym. You know, if you're overweight, you go to the gym, that first workout, you don't see a bunch of success. You make that first post, no one engages with it. Right?
• 10:02
  But it's a process, and if you commit to it, that's why I say for a year, you will start to see that progress and you start to build this muscle of creating content. And it actually, you know, for me, it becomes kinda fun, to be able to go out there and do. So I think that's the first step that people need to go and commit to is pick a platform that you feel comfortable creating content on and just create on it every day for a year, and it's an amazing start.
• 10:24
  Joe Rando: Can I back up for a second because of clarification? We're using the term building a personal brand, a personal brand. And I have a picture in my head that maybe matches other people's, maybe doesn't. I don't know.
• 10:36
  But I always think of a personal brand as something that not everybody can do it. Not everybody has the personality to build a personal brand, and some people are really good at it, and other people even if you do all the steps, it's not gonna work as well. You know, if you like, you have a great personality. Carly's an extrovert. I'm an introvert.
• 10:58
  Right? So I'm the kind of person that given the choice between posting on social media or getting, in front of the camera and Getting in front of a spreadsheet or, whatever, I'm gonna pick the spreadsheet. And so I'm just wondering what your take is on generally about personal brand. Can anybody develop a personal brand?
• 11:19
  And follow on since you went into social media, you say post every day, but there's gotta be some kind of best practices for what you post, how you post so that it's not just, you know, content for the sake of content.
• 11:34
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. Great great question. So to answer the first one is, like, are there certain people that are right for the personal brand versus not? You know, I am of the belief that everyone should build a personal brand. but I think that the brand needs to be your authentic voice.
• 11:49
  And what I mean by that is that people like myself or it sounds like Carly, who are more extroverted in things like this, maybe we're gonna thrive on a video platform, you know, where we can just talk and do our things and make that stuff happen. And that's amazing. And that's gonna be most comfortable for us. Someone who's more analytical and thought, provoking like yourself, maybe it's more like taking time to go out there and, do written posts and you're providing content and insight and strategies and insight and that type of the thing. But my point is that people like people who are like them.
• 12:16
  And so there are a lot of people on social media right now that think the same way that you do. They're much more analytical. They're much more logical and they actually like the slower talking, more detail, that type of thing. And they're attracted to that because that's who they are. And so you can build an audience of people who are like you in the same way that somebody who is, more like me, extroverted, you know, speaking loud and things like this, like, they would be more attracted to me.
• 12:40
  And so I challenge people when they say, hey, I'm just not the personality for a personal brand. I'm like, I don't know about that. It's like because all a personal brand is to me is taking who you are offline and putting that online. That's the idea. Is that when I work with someone, it's like I wanna take your authentic offline reputation and I wanna copy and paste that online.
• 13:00
  So when people look you up and see your content, they get the same impact as if they had a conversation with you. And they feel like they know you because of that being there. Because if you don't have that content up there, you leave it up for interpretation, whatever the algorithm pushes up or whatever that may go and be, and people's minds go a little bit crazy. So I do actually think that anyone can go and build a personal brand in that way. What was second question, what was the follow-up?
• 13:23
  Joe Rando: Just you said, pick a social media platform and post every day.
• 13:28
  Luke Hessler: Yeah.
• 13:28
  Joe Rando: But it's gotta be more than just posting. Because I mean, I can post every day about my dog, but I wouldn't do a lot for my solopreneur business.
• 13:36
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. So No. Great question.
• 13:38
  Carly Ries: Would, because he's a cute dog. So Yeah.
• 13:40
  Luke Hessler: If he had a cute dog, maybe that'll help. I would say this. I say two things with it. So number one is it's almost like, again, somebody who is extremely you know, I have a friend, for example, who's four hundred pound he was four hundred pounds. He lost 200 pounds.
• 13:52
  He heeded body program, and now he helps people with, like, massively obese body transformations. That's his thing. And whenever he works with somebody for the first time, the goal is not to go to the gym and do all these, here's your workout routine and go do that. It's just like, go for a walk. Walk go for a walk.
• 14:10
  And a walk can be literally to the end of your driveway and back. And then you maybe go a little bit further the next day, and then a little bit further the next day. And you just start taking this small incremental steps that's a little bit better than where you're at today. And so when I talk about the personal branding thing committing to going in and posting, it's kind of like someone committing to just going to the gym. You're not committing to the specific lifts you're gonna do when you go to the gym.
• 14:31
  You're just committing that you're gonna actually go to the gym. And if you show up to the gym, you're probably not just gonna show up and leave. You're gonna pick up some weights and start doing some stuff. And so the concept of posting is just building that muscle of posting some sort of a content.
• 14:43
  Now when we're talking about what do you post, that's a little bit of a different story. You know, I always teach people to create content buckets. And so what I mean by that is think of them like pillars of your brand. So if you think of like who you are, for me, I do like my family, I have business stuff, and then I have lifestyle things, you know. And those are kind of like all the content that I post is like falling within those three buckets.
• 15:04
  And so we talk about kind of like posting your dog. It's not gonna do much for your solopreneur business, but you'd be surprised. Some people are dog people, and they just see that side of you, and they're like, oh, wow. He's a dog person. Me too.
• 15:14
  And now there's some, relatability that's being there with some person. So I don't say only post your business stuff twenty four seven. Post who you are, you know. And from a business standpoint, there does need to be some strategy there.
• 15:27
  So like for me, for example, we're working with a lot of people who are thought leaders. So like consultants or coaches or things like this. And so I'm going to be posting content that's relevant to that audience. Like, I'm not posting about real estate because that has nothing to do with my audience that's there. And so when it does come to posting, you do wanna think about, okay, who is the person that I'm intending this to go to?
• 15:48
  Like, who am I creating this content for? And what problems do those people have that I can solve with this content? And you create the content with the end user in mind. I like to think of it as if I'm just talking to one person, and I'm just talking to one person, was a conversation, they have a problem, and I'm just talking them through that. And I'll pretend I'm having that conversation to then create that content around that.
• 16:11
  And it's really helpful with that way. And so I would say, again, that the key is just showing up and being there. If you actually show up and post every single day, I guarantee you, you will start to figure out the content because you're gonna get sick of posting your dog every single day. You're gonna be like, I gotta actually post something else. And then you're gonna think about what else should I post?
• 16:30
  And you'll start to kinda start this creative process of figuring it out. And quite frankly, you'll never know if you have the perfect you're never gonna have the perfect content. But you use the engagement as a feedback loop. Like, you'll make one post that gets a lot more engagement than the other ones, and you're like, oh, people like this topic. Now how can I create other iterations off of that one?
• 16:48
  And now your focus is more around that thing. So if you are showing up and you are posting based on the engagement, you'll get feedback of what type of content your audience resonates with, and then you iterate around that.
• 16:59
  Joe Rando: Yeah. Definitely makes sense. Thank you.
• 17:02
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. Great questions.
• 17:03
  Carly Ries: I Wanna circle back for a sec because you kinda went through something really quickly. Can you restate those stats of when you scaled your affiliate business? Because those were mind blowing, and I want you to restate them because I have a question for you after that.
• 17:18
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. Absolutely. So We scaled it from when I was 19 to 23. We scaled it from me to about 30,000 people across 50 states in 20 different countries.
• 17:28
  Joe Rando: What were you selling?
• 17:29
  Luke Hessler: It was a health and wellness product, a healthy energy drink, believe it or not.
• 17:33
  Carly Ries: Well, so I wanted you to reiterate that because I think one of the things that solopreneurs mess up a lot is scaling. And they try to do it too quickly or they don't have the timing rate. You clearly scaled something well. What advice do you have for solopreneurs who want to scale without employees, and any red flags that they should avoid?
• 17:54
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. It's a great question. The answer is number one is you have to have your fulfillment dialed in. Like if you're selling whatever service, you have to make sure that that can be fulfilled with some sort of a partner that can take that taken care of.
• 18:06
  So if you're all in web services, make sure whoever's creating your website has the capacity to take on a lot more clients, right? Or whatever the service is, if you're kind of have vendors that are there. And so you have to have the back end in place. That's like the first most important thing to scale. Because if that's not in place, you can create all these new sales, but then customers aren't happy and then it starts to go in the wrong direction.
• 18:28
  And so I would say that's the most important thing is having that foundation in place. And if you can get the foundation for your fulfillment in place, then, like for me, that's what I was saying. Was like, okay, not really a total sole entrepreneur, but I was. You know, you're right. You corrected that because I worked with a company that already had like, their whole model is like, we do the fulfillment, you guys do the distribution. so all I had to do is focus on the distribution, and that was the only thing that was there. And so it was so simple for me to scale because literally everything in the back end worked, all the technology, all the fulfillment, everything, I decided to get people to click buy, and I knew everything else was taken care of. So that's really important to have.
• 19:03
  Carly Ries: Okay. that's great. But yeah. It was just so funny because you mentioned that. And I was like, that sounds like a big number.
• 19:10
  Luke Hessler: It was pretty cool. And another thing to mention, think it's worth talking about on that is that, I also had no experience before that. I was a dumb frat rat college kid at 19, you know, I had no experience. And just frankly, had some things happen. I made bad choices in my life where I was just like, alright, I gotta get my life together. I had like this naivety enough to believe that I could go and do it. You know, it was like this company had been around for, a long time. I mean, not that long, but ten years, you know, before I got into it. And, they hadn't done over $71,000,000 in sales, you know? And then we started this kind of like young person thing within it.
• 19:46
  And we took the company to I think $230,000,000 in sales. And so the point is it's like sometimes you just have to have the courage to try, and there's a certain level of naivety that does have to go in it. Because if I looked at the stats of what percentage of people succeed and this type of stuff, like, was all working against me. I had no prior anything, But with the right, I guess, ambition and dream ambition, as long as you continue to learn and grow, anyone can really go make anything happen.
• 20:12
  So don't let your past hold you back from starting. I think that's a big thing for people.
• 20:17
  Joe Rando: I used to work with a guy that had a saying, which was, we can do anything because we're stupid. I love that. And it's true. you see so many amazing things happen from people that weren't educated, knowledgeable enough to know that everybody believed it couldn't be done and just went and did it.
• 20:35
  I love that. I love your story.
• 20:38
  Luke Hessler: Yeah.
• 20:38
  Carly Ries: so so good. Well, so Mhmm. Okay. You were talking about you run a PR firm now and you help people stand out and help them get leads and everything. But my question, so we were talking about social media and the putting in the reps for a year, but what if there's a solopreneur that has limited time, limited budget, and they're like, well, Luke, that's cute and all, but I don't have a year to start bringing in leads. what would you say is the most cost effective efficient way to generate leads for Silicon these days?
• 21:13
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. That's a really good question. So the way that I did it when I first started is you start off with your warm market that you have. So everyone knows people, and you know people who know people. And the people closest to you, sometimes they don't support you, you know, and that's tough, I dealt with that.
• 21:32
  But oftentimes, they do also really want you to go and succeed. And so just creating a list of people that you know, I mean, literally, I took pen and paper and just sat down of like, who are the people that I know that could potentially be interested in this? And I just wrote down a name. I just sat there and built as big of a list as I possibly could. And then I literally just called every single person and just saw if they'd be interested in what it is that I was doing. I'll also say this, in the very beginning, if you're in the very, very, very beginning of what you're doing, people may not trust you yet. Because you're just starting this thing. And so another thing that I did in the beginning that worked well is that I created what I called it quote unquote beta group. And so basically, it was just some people that I was doing services for free in exchange for testimonials and for case studies.
• 22:21
  And I would go and do that. And so I would say, hey. I wanna do the service for you. I'll do it for free. This is what I want in exchange.
• 22:28
  If you like it, make a testimonial, record a case study for me. And if you know anyone, if you make an introduction, that would be amazing. And that is a great way to build goodwill with people. Build up some case studies because that again, you're just starting off. So people are like, do they actually know what they're doing?
• 22:45
  And if you can be like, yes, look at what this person's experience was. Look at what this person's experience was. And then you also build some positive goodwill within your network because a lot of stuff in the beginning comes from warm market referrals. That's just the reality of it Until you can start to invest into some sort of form of marketing.
• 23:00
  Carly Ries: Yeah. I know. so many people that we've had on this show have been like, I forgot to tell people what I do. it's like, oh, and I tell a funny story of, over a decade ago, listening in on a conversation my parents were having. And they were like, yeah, she's a creative director for an ad agency.
• 23:20
  I didn't work at an ad agency and I have never been a creative director. And it's just like those low hanging fruits that you don't think about, like your warm list and all of that. Where it's oh, yeah. Like that, people think it has to be so complicated and they have to go buy these best practices from a marketing formula and it can be as simple as what you just said.
• 23:39
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. I mean, I try to get people to just think of it as math. Like, it's literally just a law of averages, you know. there's a certain number of people out there who are interested in your services and a certain number of people that aren't. Okay?
• 23:49
  And your job is not to convince the ones who aren't to want it. It's to sort through all of them to find the ones who are looking for what you have. that's the goal. And you can do that, with ads.
• 23:58
  You can do that with, high cold outreach and, automated email campaigns and all these types of things. But you can also do that by just writing down a list and calling people. And so it's just the numbers have to make sense. That's it, you know?
• 24:09
  It's like there's a law of averages. Again, you do something often enough, a ratio appears. You call 10 people, maybe one of them is interested, right? So now you have a 10% conversion rate.
• 24:18
  You want 10 clients, call a 100 people, you know? and whatever your rates are. I think you just have to have the grit to be willing to kind of like trudge through the mud and get a bunch of these no's in order to find the few yeses, that are there. But I think that's challenging for people because especially if you're a first time solopreneur, it feels very vulnerable, and you're putting yourself out there. And sometimes when people say no to your business, you can feel like they're saying no to you as a person because it's such a personal part of you.
• 24:46
  So you almost take it as a personal rejection. And it's not. They're just not ready for the business. So you move on and go to the next one. But some people can't get through that kind of emotional gymnastics or mental gymnastics that it holds them back from making all those phone calls or doing the things that you need to do or posting on the brand because they're scared of what people think. And just you if you wanna be successful as solopreneur, you can't have that. You have to get through that fear. And the only way you get through that fear is by running straight at it and doing it even though you're scared, you know. And then you start to realize, oh, it's wasn't so scary,
• 25:18
  Carly Ries: Well, so if you were just starting out today, I'm assuming this would be one of the first things that you would do, but what else would you do to start building momentum? This, posting every day, anything else? If you were your 19 year old self right now, with your current business, what would you do?
• 25:35
  Luke Hessler: Well, I mean, as a solopreneur, the first goal is to get profitable. Right? Like, that's the first goal. So for me, if I started up a business today, the very first thing I would do is figure out, how can I get profitable as quickly as possible? I would try to get my first few customers that are there. But the reason I would do that is because I already have the mindset with it. Like, if I was talking to my 19 year old self yet who'd never done this before, the first thing I would do is get his head straight, and start to get them expectations, managed a little bit. I think so many people also see these people on Instagram living these crazy lifestyles and they think it happens overnight and it doesn't. It takes time, you know. Like, I try to tell people think in decades instead of days, and it's hard to do in today's society. But if you can have that long term mindset, if you can have the resilience and understand that, every no is just taking you closer to another yes, you know? And you get that mindset with it, And so I would really try to really communicate to myself having the correct mindset around entrepreneurship and solopreneurship.
• 26:38
  And I think if you get that straight, the tactics and the techniques, you will eventually figure them out. I mean, there's the story of I think it was Thomas Edison, creating the light bulb. You know? He failed so many times.
• 26:50
  He was interviewed like, you failed 10,000 times creating the incandescent light bulb. Why didn't you quit? And he answered by saying, you see, that's the difference between you and me. I didn't fail 10,000 times. I just found 10,000 ways that didn't work. And I eventually figured out a way that works. And so the way the most of the world look at is 10,000 failures. He looked at it as 10,000 successes cause he figured out all the ways that didn't work. And it's a simple shift in the way you think, but it makes all the difference, I think.
• 27:15
  Carly Ries: Mhmm. I love love that. That's right on. you know, you find those failures and people get pushed down. They just feel like, I can't do this, and it's like, no. No. You just figured out something that doesn't work. Great great perspective.
• 27:32
  Well and I feel like if I were listening to this episode, I'm like, okay. I need to figure out what's profitable. I need to do social. I need to reach out to my warm leads. There's so much to do and I feel it's kinda like a hustle hustle hustle hustle, get it done.
• 27:44
  But you're not big on hustling, at least not anymore. I imagine your 19 year old self may have been scrappy
• 27:50
  Luke Hessler: yeah yeah.
• 27:50
  Carly Ries: Or just trying, because you could. But for solopreneurs that got into solopreneurship for a lifestyle and to make it to their kids ballet or recital or whatever, what kind of systems can they put in place so that they're not working around the clock, not constantly hustling, and actually living a well balanced life?
• 28:11
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. That's a really good question. In my opinion, you know, it's my experience. Okay? In my personal experience within it, I actually do think you have to have a little hustle beginning.
• 28:21
  You know? I really do.
• 28:23
  I think of it like a like a jet plane taking off. If you look at the fuel, they use 80% of their fuel on takeoff. but then once they're up there, they can just glide with it, and it's pretty simple to go and do. So to, get the rocket to take off, to get the thing off the tarmac, it takes a certain level of energy. And there are sacrifices that have to go out there and be made. And that's it. That's an unavoidable reality is what I found in my career.
• 28:50
  Once you do it, you know, once you figure it out, then you can build systems around all of these things. like, take the most important thing to build the system around is customer acquisition. Like, how can you consistently and predictably create customers? And for you, what is that model? There are so many different strategies. You can create a lead, a landing page, and drive traffic to that. You can go and do an affiliate program, and maybe affiliates are referring people to you in that way.
• 29:13
  Maybe you're doing cold outbound on email. You find a vendor that sends a bunch of emails on your behalf, and they set up leads for you. Right? there are so many different ways that you can go out there and do this. So the specific tactics and strategies are unlimited.
• 29:25
  But you have to figure out the core basics of number one, like, who is my customer, and how do I solve the problems? And you have to figure that out and then just be like, how can I consistently get them in front of me? And again, I wish I had an answer where it's like, if you're starting out today, you do A, B and C software and you can work hours a week and make, you know, 5,000 a month for the rest of your life. but in my experience, that dream is not real. And you have to actually put in a short term sacrifice to get this thing going. And so for me, I had to restart, right, like, with my wife when we got married and restart, like, I'd have a conversation with her. I was like, listen, I went back to zero just so you know. Alright?
• 30:04
  So I need to build this and it's gonna take a lot of energy and effort, And I want you to know that, I'm doing this for you and, if it ever gets too much and you need more of me, I need you to communicate that to me. But right now, I just have to get this going for us and our future family. And it was a lot of work in the beginning.
• 30:21
  But as you mentioned, as you start to build them out, you can systemize this with especially with software and technology and everything that you have now, like, you can basically take the things you were doing manually and you just automate that, Like, you get a technology to come in and do it for you. You get a vendor to go in and do it for you. So I think first you gotta figure out what works by going through that process, but then after you figure out it works, the next question is like, alright, how can I outsource it essentially? how can I leverage this through a software or maybe a third party vendor that can do this for me?
• 30:47
  And then you get that time back and you work on the next thing, you know? And you just do that throughout your business until all the components of it have been, outsourced essentially through technology or some sort of a support vendor. And that's when you can have this freedom, to really do what you want. But I really think it's unrealistic to think that happens in the beginning. I think you gotta put in some time.
• 31:07
  r the other thing is that there's a certain amount of time that's required, and if you don't kinda sprint at it, is what I have done in the past, you can do it slower, but you just then have to understand it's gonna take time. Like let's call it a hundred hours. Right? Like it's more than that. But just call it a hundred hours, it's like I could freaking grind out a hundred hours in a week and just go crazy with it.
• 31:27
  And then I'm done in a week. Or you can do, you know, one hour a day for a hundred days, and it's gonna take you a hundred days to get that done. But you gotta do the hour. You gotta put the hours in regardless of how often you're gonna go and do it. So I think you also kinda have to match what sacrifices are you willing to do, with your desired outcomes.
• 31:44
  And then that kind of can structure the lifestyle around that a little bit.
• 31:49
  Joe Rando: that's a topic I'm really interested in. And I have a thought on it, and I want your take on what I think. And that is that if you have a choice between, a hundred hours in a week and a hundred hours in a year or whatever, there's a sweet spot where you're going to if you do it in a week, you're not gonna be learning in between those hours so that that next hour is optimized, and there's an optimal amount of time to kinda sprint, that works the best for kind of learning lessons, processing stuff, and being able to implement it and adjust as you go. Would you agree with that?
• 32:27
  Like, you don't wanna be doing a hundred hours for six months. You're better off doing, you know, fifty hours for a year because you'll wind up with a better result. It may take longer, but
• 32:38
  Luke Hessler: That a good question. Yeah. No. It's a good question. I can only answer based off of my experience. I think it's really a personality type and probably, an environmental situation type because it's like when I first started at 19, it really was just the grind. Like, it was all I thought about all the time twenty four seven, and it actually helped me iterate quicker because it wasn't like I had an idea and then I put it down for a day and then had to come back and be like, what was I thinking? It was like I could just quickly go through all of that kind of stuff.
• 33:06
  So at that time in my life, I was single, I had no responsibilities, I had no family, I had no anything. And so it allowed me to like actually put in that time and focus and still reflect on it. And so, but I think that's a unique situation. I think for most people, what you just said is probably the best thing for them. Because at the end of the day, you have to make it be sustainable. Because if you put in a hundred hours in a week and then you're burned out and you never do anything after that, it's no good, you know? And so you have to know your own endurance, with this. Like we are running a marathon, And it's like, you can't sprint an entire marathon, that's the reality of it,
• 33:41
  And so it's like, I think a lot of it is also just knowing who you are and what you can do and not burning yourself out and realizing that this is a long term commitment. So if you had to choose a hundred hour sprint burnout versus, you know, a hundred hours in a year or whatever, but it's consistent and then you can do that next year and then the year after that and the year after that and the year after that, the latter of the two is always the the right choice, I think. Yeah. Great question on that.
• 34:03
  Carly Ries: Well, Luke, you've had such great nuggets throughout this episode, and I just think this will help so many people. So I have to ask you, what is your favorite quote about success? Oh, my favorite quote about success. I think it's this Zig Ziglar quote. It's you can get anything you want in the world by helping enough other people get what they want. Or you can get anything you want in the world by yeah. That's what it is. By helping enough other people get what they want. And that's kind of our philosophy. It's our ethos of what we do here. You know, our mission statement at Ace Branding is to serve those who serve others.
• 34:30
  Luke Hessler: So we wanna go find impact driven thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and businesses, and amplify their voice through digital PR. So I look at everything we do as service, you know, even our sales team, when we teach our philosophy around sales, it's to play the numbers game without making people feel like a number because they aren't. And there are kinda three components to that, but the most important part is the comma at the end where it says because they aren't because that's a core belief of ours.
• 34:54
  It's like we are talking to people, humans that have real lives and real things going on, and they're not just a number. we need to get to know these people and genuinely figure out how can we serve them and how can we help them. And by doing that, it leads to long term retention. It leads to all these great things that have great business outcomes, but I think that ethos behind it is really really important.
• 35:15
  Carly Ries: Mhmm. Well, and Luke, you've been such a trooper because we had all these questions we wanted to ask you about your solo journey, and we didn't even mention ACE branding yet. I mean, you just talked about it a little bit, but where could people find out more about you, more about the company? Give us all the links that we can include in our show notes.
• 35:32
  Luke Hessler: Yeah. Just go to acebranding.com. You guys can all look at my Instagram. It's Luke_Hessler if you wanna go it out there. And, I kinda gave a little bit of what it is.
• 35:39
  But but, yeah, I think for us, it's I tell people, you focus on PR after you get the marketing stuff dialed in. So for you guys that are, solopreneurs in the very beginning, frankly, I would not be investing my resources in PR at this point. You know, I think if you're a company that's doing like a million a year looking to scale, PR is a beautiful thing to go out there and do. And it makes a ton of sense, at that point. I always like to just tell people who it is and who it isn't for as well.
• 36:04
  But, yeah, if you are that type of person, you're over a million, we of course love to see if we can serve you guys.
• 36:09
  Carly Ries: Well, Luke, thank you so so much for coming on the show today. This is such a great discussion. And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, leave that five star review. Share this episode with a friend.
• 36:19
  Subscribe on your favorite platform, including YouTube. And we will see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures?
• 36:41
  At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.