How to Quit Your 9-5 and Become a Solopreneur in 366 Days

The blueprint I used to leave my 9-5 job and build a 6-figure income in my first year as a full-time writerpreneur

In 2017, I landed my dream job in finance.

But there was a problem.

I looked at the company’s executives in their glass corner offices — the people I desperately wanted to become over the next decade.

They drove Mercedes to work. They wore expensive suits and Rolexes. They had fancy “Partner” titles earning $500K-$1M a year.

To me, they seemed rich and unhappy.

I could see myself going down the same path. Golden-handcuffed to a salary that required me to work 60 hours a week on someone else’s dream.

Stuck on the hamster wheel of:

• Earning a high salary

• Trading my time for money

• Keeping up with the Joneses

• Mortgage, cars, private school

• Waiting ‘til 70 to retire & enjoy life

That scared the shit out of me.

So I started plotting my escape from the 9-5 corporate career and learning skills for becoming my own boss.

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In today’s article, I’m sharing the blueprint I used to go from burned-out corporate employee to highly-fulfilled writer and solopreneur.

1. How to start

2. How to build a plan

3. How to find a mentor

4. How to leverage social

5. How to launch a side hustle

6. How to replace your salary

7. How to go full-time solopreneur

This is a beast of an “ultimate guide to quitting your job”.

Bookmark this and work on each step one at a time.

Anything worth doing takes time, so expect to execute this plan over 6-12 months for the best results. There is such a thing as quitting too early.

Read time: 10 minutes

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Step 1: Start now

Before becoming a solopreneur, you need important pieces of leverage that require you to “just start and figure it out along the way.”

• Building your brand

• Growing an audience

• Launching a side hustle

• Earning your first $1,000

At the start, everyone feels like an imposter.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
”I don’t know where to start.”
”What if people laugh at me?”
”What if I fall on my face?”

The trick is giving yourself permission to try, fail, iterate, and try again until you figure things out.

If you wait until you feel ready, you will wait forever.

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Step 2: Design an escape blueprint

Leaving your 9-5 and building a business is a massive goal that requires a plan.

It doesn't need to be a 10-page PowerPoint business plan.

But you will need to get clear on a few important details before starting, even if it’s with a pen and journal.

• Set Clear Goals: What does success look like for you? Is it a certain income level? A specific number of clients? Clear, measurable goals will keep you focused.

• Create a Financial Plan: Calculate your monthly expenses and determine how much you need to save to comfortably transition out of your 9-5 job without going backward financially.

• Identify Your Skills and Interests: What skills have you built in your career so far? This is the best place to start monetizing. Teaching, coaching, writing, and sales will always be in demand.

• Research the Market: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Look for a specific need in the industry you’ve worked in. Identify pain points for potential clients and present your skills as the solution.

• Create a Timeline: Put milestones in the calendar for launching your side hustle on LinkedIn, winning your first solopreneur client, and leaving your 9-5. Dates might change. But putting it on the calendar will create a sense of urgency and give you a goal to hit.

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Step 3: Find a mentor 1-2 steps ahead

The best decision I made before quitting my job:

Hiring a mentor who was doing what I wanted to do.

Mentors come in many forms:

• 1-1 coaching

• Online communities

• Podcasts and YouTube

• Blogs and creator content

The right mentor will save you time, help you avoid mistakes, and accelerate your transition from 9-5 to solopreneur.

LinkedIn is a great place to find one.

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Step 4: Create a LinkedIn publishing system

Your Brand = Your Online Reputation

People work with people they know, like, and trust. 

Celebrities were first to figure out how to leverage the power of social media.

• Grow a loyal fanbase with content

• Build trust with them over time

• Listen to their wants & needs

• Create solutions for them

• Sell directly to them

Having “1,000 true fans” gives you the ultimate form of leverage.

And you don’t need a massive audience to benefit. You can earn six figures with a relatively small fanbase.

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The Best LinkedIn Content Strategy

• Write to your clients’ PQR2 (problems, questions, roadblocks, results)

• Show personality in your content to build your personal brand

• Focus 80% of your energy on writing and re-writing good hooks

There's an art and science to it.

Here are 5 essential elements of LinkedIn posts that drive leads.

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1. The Hook

The "hook" is the first two lines of your LinkedIn post.

This is the first thing people see when they scroll on LinkedIn.

Your goal is to write a hook that makes the person click "read more".

Hooks Best Practices

A strong hook catches the reader’s attention by using power words, numbers, images, and a promise to deliver something the reader wants:

• solutions to their problems

• answers to their questions

• relief for their pain

“People will only react if they feel something.”

Work backward from an emotion.

• Sadness/Sentimentality

• Curiosity

• Anger

• FOMO

• Shock/Confusion/WTF

• Happiness

• Excitement

• Inspiration

Use numbers or statistics.

• Specific numbers > round numbers

• Numerals > words ($1,000,000 instead of $1M or $1 million)

Use transformations, credibility, social proof.

Talk about the results your ideal clients want to see and position yourself as the go-to expert.

Hooks Checklist

[ ] Did you spark an emotion?
[ ] Did you use a specific number?
[ ] Did you use power words?
[ ] Did you ask a question?

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2. The Meat

I write 5-10 hooks, giving me 5-10 post ideas, before writing the actual posts.

The "meat" of the post is where you deliver what you promised in the hook. 

People are going to skim this section, so formatting matters.

• Use bulleted lists

• Use short sentences

• Use repetition in phrases

• Use "You" writing to 1 person

Educate with actionable tips that make your ideal reader say "Wow I need to learn more about this".

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3. The Question

Comments are more important than likes on LinkedIn.

At the end of your posts add a question that sparks comments from people who read your post.

Example: if you write a post "How I purchased my first rental property with $0 money down"

Questions that can drive maximum comments:

• What questions do you have about this strategy?

• What's stopping you from making your first real estate investment?

• What tips would you add to this post for new investors?

The goal with a question at the end of your post is to spark a conversation in the comments.

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4. The Call to Action (CTA)

Your CTA is what converts readers into followers, connections, and leads.

It's the last line on your posts.

A little P.S. for the reader that:

• Calls out your ideal reader

• Tells them what to do

• Teases results

• Sounds human

 Examples of strong CTAs:

• Enjoy this post? Follow me for more daily tips like this.

• Want to dive deeper on this topic? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter for more: [insert link]

• Ready to achieve [goal related to your offer]? DM me to connect and dive deeper on a 1:1 strategy call

Play with CTAs that drive the result you want from a particular post.

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5. The Image

Our team has studied LinkedIn algorithm reports, and we know for a fact that LinkedIn prioritizes posts with images over just text.

• Selfies 

• Quote cards

• Infographics

• Screenshots

Images are essential for maximum reach and stopping the scroll on LinkedIn. 

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Step 5: Make your first $1,000 with a MVSO

Most people overcomplicate Solopreneurship.

"Before I can make money online, I need [insert excuse]"

• 10,000 followers

• $5,000 website

• Perfect biz plan

• Viral content

 I'm here to tell you...these are lies.

You can start monetizing with LinkedIn right now.

LinkedIn is the best place to grow your brand in 2024 because it's a "content-deficient" social media platform.

The easiest and fastest way to monetize: A Minimal Viable Service Offer

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What is a Minimal Viable Service Offer?

You already have a six-figure business idea in your head that combines your unique skills and interests.

How fast can you go from launch to winning your first client?

That's the name of the game with a MVSO.

Forget the fancy bells and whistles.

• LinkedIn is your website

• Create a simple service offer

• Sell outcomes, not hours worked

• Build with free tools ‘til you hit $5k/mo

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Proven MVSO Business Models

1. One-on-One Coaching

2. 1099 Consulting for Businesses

3. Freelance Writing for Businesses

These are client-centric businesses that only require your expertise. The only things you need to monetize is a no-brainer offer and a LinkedIn profile.

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How to Create a No-Brainer Offer

• No-brainer offers are simple.

• No-brainer offers are specific.

• No-brainer offers are not fancy.

• No-brainer offers are not scalable.

Step 1: Choose a service

• Example 1: Freelance writing

• Example 2: One-on-one coaching

• Example 3: 1099 business consulting

Step 2: Choose a package

• Example 1: I will write 10 LinkedIn posts that drive at least X leads for you

• Example 2: I will help you achieve [outcome] over four 1-hour coaching calls

• Example 3: I will help your business achieve [outcome] over 30 days by implementing [deliverables]

Step 3: Choose a price

• Example 1: I will deliver 10 LinkedIn posts by [date] for $1,000

• Example 2: I will coach you over the next 4 weeks for $1,000

• Example 3: I will achieve [outcome] by [date] for $1,000

Boom! You have a no-brainer MVSO offer. This works for writers, consultants, coaches, you name it.

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Step 6: Stash 3-6 months of living expenses in a HYSA

The last thing you want when you quit your 9-5 and leave your salary behind is the pressure to pay your bills with your new solopreneur business.

In my case, I hit $10,000 a month in my second month in business. But I’ve also had months closer to $5,000 a month. Running a business means uncertain income.

The best thing you can do before quitting:

• Don’t spend your side hustle $$

• Open a high-yield savings account

• Grow it to 3-6 months of expenses

This is your safety net to smooth out any slow months.

Hopefully, you never need to use it, but it’s there for you if you need it.

Don’t risk losing this money by investing it. A high-yield-savings account earning 4-5% with little to no risk is where you park this money.

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Step 7: Build undeniable social proof

Your first client isn’t about making tons of money.

It’s an opportunity to do a great job, turn them into a case study, and use “social proof” to raise your prices and sell to more clients over time.

Here’s how to build social proof:

1. Gather Testimonials: Ask your clients for testimonials after you’ve delivered results. My favorite way to collect them is https://famewall.io/

2. Build Case Studies: Create case studies using Canva or Google Docs that highlight the problem your client faced, the solution you provided, and the results achieved. Share these on your LinkedIn profile and website.

3. Share Client Success Stories: Post about your client results once a week on LinkedIn. You’ll attract more people who want the same results.

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Step 8: Patiently build for 365 days

I promise this won’t happen overnight.

The first 6-12 months is like giving yourself an MBA in solopreneurship. You need time to build skills, land your first few clients, and gain confidence before you quit your job.

Rushing into it is not the answer.

My recommendation is to patiently build for 365 days before go all in.

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Step 9: Jump into the abyss

With the blueprint above, you have what you need to become a full-time solopreneur.

Making the leap is the scariest part.

What if I fail?

Then you can always go back to your old job or find a new one.

But also…what if you don’t fail?

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See you next week,
Anthony

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When you are ready — here are 3 ways I can help you:

1. I ghostwrite for finance, real estate, and VC founders at CREdigital.io

2. Create content faster with my favorite writing tools Taplio (LinkedIn) and TweetHunter (Twitter)

3. Schedule a 1-1 consulting call with me here