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Welcome to The Corporate Escapee hosted by Brett Trainor,
We are on a mission to help 10,000 GenX professionals escape the corporate confines and find freedom and balance. We focus on helping you replace your corporate income by monetizing your experience and working fewer hours.
GenX was raised without many rules and a lot of independence. We want to show you how to reclaim that freedom
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Welcome back to the Corporate Escapee podcast. I'm your host, Brett Trainer. And today, I wanna share with you a 5 step plan to help you find your first customer with the twist being you're still in corporate. I find a lot of folks that really do wanna exit and get out of the the 9 to 5 grind are stuck for a couple reasons. 1, not sure where to start, and 2, don't have that confidence level or, yeah, confidence level to break free from that, drug we call a salary salary and benefits.
Brett:So I wanted to do today was help you basically figure out how to land that first customer while still in corporate. That way, even if you never leave corporate, you can develop a second income stream, you know, help you diversify some of that risk. And 2, if you do wanna exit, this will give you the base, you know, you can start to build to replace some of that corporate income. And then when you're ready, you can pull the trigger. One this is one of the things I tell people that I had, the the regret of going back.
Brett:Maybe regret's a little strong because it worked out. But, you know, 4 plus years ago, didn't have a plan. I knew I wouldn't do consulting on my own, but that was the extent of it. So it would have probably saved me 6 plus months of, trial and error had I actually gone through this process that I'm gonna share with you today. So, hopefully, you find benefit to this.
Brett:And if you've already escaped, corporate, I think some of these 4 steps, maybe go back and realign. Have you done all these types of things? And if not, then now would be a good time to just go back and, you know, spot check and see maybe there's one of your gaps. So, anyway, first step is really not a step other than to check your employment agreement. Not legal advice, but, you know, I can share when I was still in corporate, I started this podcast, believe it or not, that 4 plus years ago.
Brett:And one of the things I was super nervous about when leaving or before I was even leaving while I was there is that, you know, I would lose the IP to the podcast, which is kinda silly because it just started. There was no real following or or value to it. But, I mean, I get the the fact. And so highly encourage you to check out your employment agreement, Dust it off if you've been in there for a while, and read the fine print just to make sure that as you go through this process, you're not there's no conflict of interest or some of those other pieces. So that's step 1, check your employment agreement.
Brett:2, identify the problem you will be solving. I know this sounds basic, but, the default for a lot of people, including myself, was, hey. I'm gonna be was to to share the solution or, what I'm gonna be offering. Right? Here's my features and benefits.
Brett:And in my case, it was, hey. I'm gonna do digital transformation for smaller b to b companies looking to grow. That didn't really appeal to anybody. Everybody knew about b to b and digital transformation, but it didn't really resonate and it didn't, connect with anybody. So until I repositioned that, pivoted that to helping, you know, small to midsize companies grow, right, that are stuck, revenues are flat or declining, and then further refined it, into businesses between $15,000,000 that it'll yeah.
Brett:It gained some traction. Right? Because there were specific things I was talking about, and we'll get into your target market here in a second. So so go through and identify the problems that you're solving today. You're solving if you're employed by a company, you're you're hired to solve some type of problem.
Brett:So figure out what that is. You probably do it in multiple different ways or multiple problems. Figure out the one you wanna do and the one you wanna start with and and focus on that. And I don't care if you're in sales, marketing, IT, legal, right, whatever it is, that problem that you're having in corporate that you're solving for, they have it in small businesses, nonprofits, and startups. So, again, it's gonna apply and it's the easiest way to translate.
Brett:Because when you talk to these business owners later, we'll talk about this in step 2, you know, it's all about how you you can help them solve that problem. It's so much easier than trying to sell, again, features and benefits. So spend the time, go through it. You can iterate. It can change.
Brett:It can, you know, pivot over time, but pick one of those problems to start with. Number 3, step 3 is identify your initial target market. One of the mistakes many folks make is say, I can do this for anybody. Right? Just give me an opportunity.
Brett:I can help any company grow, in my case. And the fact is nobody will remember you. You have to pick a very specific target market. The more niche, the better. Whether that's in software, like, in my case, it was service company b to b service companies between $15,000,000 that revenue was flat or declining.
Brett:Still probably a little bit broad, and I probably could even narrow that down into specific industries. But that was enough for me to get started and and find those right businesses. So, again, go through you don't have to be locked into this forever. But since you're in corporate, spend the time. Think about the ideal target market that you'd like to go after.
Brett:Maybe it's nonprofits. Right? We've talked about the opportunity for fractional and some of these advisory work within the nonprofit space. Maybe that's where you wanna focus. So take the time, identify your target market, and, it'll help you once you get to the next step, which is starting to think about how to leverage your network.
Brett:Most of us, it's been corporate for, you know, 20 or 30 years, have a pretty extensive and solid network, that we used to think about just for jobs. Right? Hey, next employment. I'm looking for a new job. Do you know anybody that's hiring x, y, and z?
Brett:Well, now is a good time to actually go and take an inventory of your network and see the folks that you're looking for 2 things, high impact and also high or low effort. You wanna make it high effort. So in those the areas, right, you wanna find people that either have the problem that you're looking to solve and could could become potential customers or people that have connections to your the customers or prospects that you're looking for. So those are really and, yeah, definitely throw in the third one that, they can treat this as confidential. Because again, as you're still in corporate, you're not gonna be broadcasting to the masses that you're you're starting a new gig and you're looking for things.
Brett:So you're doing this quietly. And that's why it's important to go through and prioritize your network and figure out who the best contacts are. And my guess is as you go through this exercise, you might find between 5 20 people that would have access or in need of what you're serving. And I think that's a big piece of it. Again, I didn't do this.
Brett:Right? Hindsight's 2020. I do this now to help figure out more when I'm helping other people to introduce them into my network. Do I have anybody that's there? But, again, it's super important to do this while you're still in corporate trying to land that that first client.
Brett:So that's step 4 is review and prioritize your network. And step 5, which is probably gonna be the most time consuming of this is thinking about your messaging, positioning, and what that initial offer is. Because once you identify those targets in your network, you're going to have to have something to talk to them about. Right? You you're gonna reach out.
Brett:You can't say, hey. I'm starting something new without having clarity about what you wanna do. For me, if use my example again. If I was gonna reach out to my network and say, hey. I wanna help b2b companies with digital transformation, my network would have listened and said, yeah, I'll not.
Brett:I'll I'll let you know if I can think of anybody that needs that help. And then they'll never come back to it again because I was not specific enough about what I was looking for, the help that I was looking for in what I wanted to do. So this is where, again, don't over complicate this and you don't have to have it finalized exactly what the offer, But it may go something like this that, hey. You know, I'm start starting to think about my own thing. I'm still in corporate.
Brett:I I wanna start small, maybe some advisory or workshop. And here's who I'm targeting. I'm targeting small business owners between 15 in revenue. Their revenue is flat or declining, and I I think I'm I've got a free offer for them. Right?
Brett:I'll I'll get to that in a second. But that's who I'm looking for, and that's who I'm asking my network for. But I think one of the key things in what I forgot to mention upfront is you're having these conversations with your network is ask them for advice. Right? Say, hey, I'm thinking about starting this new thing.
Brett:I could really use your advice. And I know and I've talked about this in previous episodes, semantics of advice versus feedback. Feedback's looking backwards, and they're gonna tell you or nitpick something that you may have told them in the past. But advice is, hey, they're this is my offering. This is what I'm thinking about.
Brett:Here's who I'm thinking about going after. Do you have any advice for me? And it's just a better conversation when you're asking someone to share, again, advice. Right? Feedback's harder because then you're being critical or critiquing.
Brett:This is, hey. They're giving you their true feelings on this. And, again, this at this stage, you're not looking to go straight to the cell. It's just, hey. I wanna learn.
Brett:I wanna have this conversation. So your your goal from that session is, 1, to learn. Right? Get that advice from your network to see what they say. Get any feedback incorporated.
Brett:2, is see if they know anybody they can introduce you to. Again, that's the key. If you can get 2 people from each of your networks, it starts to open up and eventually you're going to come across somebody that needs this help. So, I mean, again, I hate outreach just for the sake of, hey. This is all about me.
Brett:But in this case, you're looking for that advice. But then on the flip side, if there's anything you can do for them, make sure you're returning the favor. But, again, when people reach out to me for advice, I have no problem sharing it. And if there's somebody that I can introduce them, I'm more than happy to do it. So so don't be afraid to have those conversations.
Brett:Again, be selective. Make sure somebody can keep it confidential. But, again, the objective of this is to find 1, 2, or 3 potential prospects that your service will make sense for. And what I always like to add into that when you're talking to your network, if they think of somebody they can introduce them to and say, hey. Right now, I'm just in research phase.
Brett:I'm looking to learn from these business owners from whatever service you're offering. And, in return, you'll do a free 20 minute or a 30 minute strategy session with them. You answer all their questions, share any of the insights that you have, and in return, just ask for 10 minutes. So that's why I call it a 20:10. 20 minutes of them asking you questions, advice, strategy, and 10 minutes of you just asking questions about the business, where their challenges are, just validating what you think your offer can solve.
Brett:And I guarantee you, over time, you're gonna come across businesses that will become a customer. Because you didn't go in there with a hard pitch and say, hey. I'm selling this. Do you need this? It's like, hey.
Brett:Here's my advice. If we can work together, fantastic. If not, you know, they're gonna, you know, introduce you to somebody else, especially if you added value in those those 20 minutes. So that's kinda over the all over the place there. So let me recap that a little bit.
Brett:So, again, through your network, you're looking for advice on an offering that you're thinking. So having a general idea what you're what you're planning on. If it's again, if you're in corporate, you're not gonna be fractional. So it's gonna be more advisory or even a workshop for for business owners. You can structure that differently.
Brett:But you're looking to have conversations with, you know, 2 if they know 2 people that they can invite and introduce you to that you can share, and in return, you're happy to provide, you know, a free 20 minute, 30 minute. You can even give an hour. I don't care how much time you give. I just find if you're having more conversations, the 2010 works, but there's nothing wrong with, you know, 4515 if you wanna spend a full hour with these business owners, trying to land that first customer. And again, that's just gonna keep the conversations going.
Brett:If you always ask if they know 2 other people, they're usually gonna connect you with with 2 other folks. So, again, I'd like to take that process. And then once you get to that customer, then, you know, maybe I could add it as a a 6th step to this. It's really figuring out just putting a program or advisory or small engagement around helping that customer solve that problem. Again, you're gonna know how many hours that you have to do this.
Brett:Right? Whether it's in the evenings, weekends, or maybe you only work 4 days a week. I don't know that your situation. But, typically, it's probably gonna be evenings or weekends, and you can do some obviously, you can do something virtually that you can help these businesses. So so don't get hung up on the the actual specifics of what the offer is and what the service and how much, how much it's gonna cost.
Brett:Because if you find that that that prospect that has a problem and you can help them, you can figure out how to value it. Again, that's gonna be the good the good challenge or the good problem for you when you get to that point. Because what you're really trying to do is just gain the confidence and an understanding of where your value prop is gonna fit within, within these market space. So treat it as learning, treat it as gaining confidence. Then worst case, like I said, you've got diversified your income streams.
Brett:You know, second case, maybe it gives you the confidence to to exit corporate and start your own thing. Or 3, right, you've got a plan b if, you know, at corporate exits you, which is becoming more and more frequent. So you don't wanna be caught flat footed. So, again, I'll just do a quick recap of the the 5 steps. One is review your employment agreement.
Brett:That just makes sense. 2, identify the problem you'll be solving at least to get started. 3, identify your initial target market. 4, review and prioritize your network. Again, looking for those folks with, you know, high value, low, low effort.
Brett:And 5, the messaging positioning and your initial offer. Right? It's critical to get your messaging into your network, But then you're just learning. Don't don't over complicate this. Don't overthink this.
Brett:Right? Because it's not the end of the world if one customer doesn't work out. Next, there's 33,000,000 small businesses. So unlike corporate where you're afraid to make mistakes or not allowed to make mistakes for fear of being fired. This one, if, you know, say something wrong to the the prospect, you know, no harm, no foul.
Brett:Just try to add value every time you have a conversation with them, and I guarantee you in the long run, it's gonna work. What I found, you know, over the last, I don't know, year that I started working with with escapees is the folks that do are are excelled at this, right, because too many people overthink, don't take action, try to build the perfect plan, which I've been guilty of. You know, as my colleague, Calvin, used to remind me all the time, hey, done is better than perfect. And in this case, action is better than planning. Right?
Brett:So have general idea, figure out, then just go do it. Go have the conversations, put a program together. So what if you underprice the first one? All of a sudden, you've got learnings coming from it. You know how much time you have to spend on an engagement.
Brett:You know, if that's the ideal customer for you, there's so much learning that's gonna come out of it. Don't worry about, you know, the some of those other details. Do you need a website? Absolutely not. Do you need to do anything else?
Brett:Do you need to update LinkedIn? No. I would just have, again, part of your messaging, if you wanna put some content around the problem that you solve, maybe a checklist or something that you can share with the businesses you're gonna connect with. But the value you're adding is the free strategy session. So, anyway, I I hope this helps.
Brett:Again, this is one of those, express type of episodes, but I just wanna provide a little more thought, a little 4 step, 5 step plan. Technically, it's only 4 if the employment agreement is is just something as a a step that you should do to protect yourself. So, again, appreciate you guys listening. And if you have any thoughts, questions, please do let me know. Drop me the email atbt@brettrainer.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Brett:I'm open to connecting and your feedback on what you wanna hear in future episodes. Thanks again for listening. Take care.