Breaking Down My First $10,000 Solopreneur Month

So you can achieve your first $10K month, too.

In 2019, I left my financial advisor role for Solopreneurship.

It was an epic fail.

• $0.00 in sales

• Ran out of money

• Pivoted back to 9-5

Maybe I’m just hard-headed. 

But I gave Solopreneurship another go in December ‘22.

It’s going A LOT better. 

Two months in, I cracked the first milestone many Solopreneurs aim for.

My first $10k revenue month.

So I shared the math on Twitter.

Anthony Carlton, CFP @ant_carlton

The math behind my first $10k Solopreneur month: - $4,900 for 1:1 coaching package - $1,200 for 1:1 coaching retainer - $1,250 ghostwriting package - $3,000 ghostwriting retainer Nothing fancy. But not bad for my 2nd month in business.

It was my best-performing Tweet to date with 11k views. (Slowly growing over there. Let’s be Twitter friends!)

I didn’t expect people to be interested…but they were.

Today I’ll share the 3 biggest reasons why I failed in 2019 — and why I’m seeing different results this time around.

Anthony Carlton, CFP @ant_carlton

28 yo me as an entrepreneur: - Do it alone - Zero audience - Complex offers 31 yo me as an entrepreneur: - Asks for help - 14k+ fan base - Simple offers Guess which one is making more money?

#1. Building alone is a recipe for failure.

Solopreneurship doesn’t mean building alone.

I didn’t get that until recently.

In 2019, I tried doing everything myself as a first-time entrepreneur and coach.

• Bought the fancy logo

• Tried building a website

• Wasted hours on shiny objects

I was so stubborn and ignorant…I forgot the most important part:

Sales and marketing.

I didn’t make one sale. I did zero outreach and had no audience on social media.

I was cluelessly trying to will a company into existence.

That doesn’t work.

What did I do differently this time?

After going back to a 9-5 with my tail between my legs – I started asking for help.

I hired mentors and coaches from LinkedIn to learn:

• Social media

• Marketing

• Sales

Now I view investing in coaching and courses as the best hack in business.

Find someone 2-5 years ahead of you who’s done what you want to do.

Asking for help allows you to skip ahead and avoid mistakes that your coach has already made and found solutions to.

#2. You can’t survive without distribution.

Here’s the secret to making money online.

Get on social media:

• Twitter

• LinkedIn 

• Instagram

Start sharing actionable advice that solves problems for your ideal customer.

People buy from people they know, like, and trust.

I totally missed this in 2019.

I had zero audience or personal brand on social media.

I expected my customers to magically find my shitty website and sign up. Guess how that worked out?

No distribution = No sales

Here’s how I went from basically 0 followers on LinkedIn to 14k community in 18 months.

Btw all of my clients in 2023 have come from inbound LinkedIn leads.

I’ve done zero outreach.

But if you’re starting from zero building your brand on social media – make these a daily habit.

1. Get clear on your ideal client

2. Post actionable daily content just for them

3. Create FREE solutions to their problems (newsletter)

4. Comment on 10-20 large creators with overlapping audiences

5. DM and connect with 20 ideal customers every single day

You have to build trust first. 

People won’t buy from you if they don’t know, like, and trust you.

Show up daily and stay top of mind with actionable social content.

After building trust and getting to know your ideal customers…

Now you present an offer: your service or product.

#3. Create simple offers that sell.

If you haven’t read Alex Hormozi’s book $100M Offers, order it on Amazon. 

It’s a $20 investment worth 6 to 7 figures if you act on the advice.

In 2019, I wanted to work with everyone.

My coaching offer included 4 different tiers with 12 ways to customize.

By appealing to everyone, I appealed to no one.

After many failed attempts, I learned that offers are the key to selling your services.

Offer = How You Present Your Service to Prospects

Here’s why I’m able to sell services at $4,000-$9,000 per month this time around.

1. I built trust with my LinkedIn content

2. I show client results, screenshots, testimonials

3. I’m better at presenting offers people actually want

Old offer: 

“I’ll coach you for 3 months for $4,000.”

New offer:

“I’ll help you grow your following and increase your sales by $8k per month. If I don’t achieve these metrics, I’ll work for free until I do.”

This is simplified, but it includes expected results, ROI on my fee, and a risk reversal.

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