Early Exit #38: April Finance Update

My best month ever. Dropping clients. Angel investing.

You’re reading Early Exit Club — a newsletter about leaving the 9-5 workforce to build a $20k/month solo business by Nick Lafferty.

• Last time: What happens if I lose all of my clients?

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Welcome back to my monthly finance update where I transparently share my income to help unmask what it takes to build a $20k+/month business.

This month I broke $40k in total income thanks to finally getting paid for some affiliate deals from the last two months and retaining 100% of my existing client base.

However, my income will decrease over the summer months for a few reasons:

• I will stop working with one of my two hourly clients.

• I’m pausing work with one of my retainer clients over the summer

I’ll unpack both of those reasons below and talk about how I’m learning more about Angel investing.

Reducing my client workload

Every month I’m faced with the same two choices:

1. Say yes to more work that comes my way and bring on help to build a marketing agency

2. Continue being selective with the clients I take on and willingly cap my earnings

And every month I choose option 2. I am still not willing or frankly interested in the work or stress that building an agency would create.

Here’s how I’m operationalizing that.

Stopping some hourly work

I am selectively reducing my current client roster to give myself back some time by managing one of my very first clients out of my business. They received a sweetheart deal and are one of only two clients I bill hourly instead of on a flat monthly retainer.

My net billables to them every month hover right around $1,000. I’m more than willing to trade $1,000 for more hours back in my week, which is a privileged position to be in.

Pausing over the summer

Over the last 3 months I’ve been working with the co-founder of early stage startup on their LinkedIn ads strategy. We’ve quickly iterated through many different combinations of ad formats + messaging + target personas and found a winning combination that works to not only generate leads but open pipeline.

Those three months just ended and I’m building a roadmap for what comes next. One thing I’ve learned in the last year is that I am more successful when I can work directly with a marketer instead of a founder/co-founder.

I’m going to pause working with this client while they hire a full-time marketer and hopefully reactivate towards the end of summer.

This also coincides with a major move I’m doing over the summer, so I feel good about freeing up more of my time 🙂

Angel Investing

I recently joined Angel Squad, which is a community of aspiring and current Angel Investors. It’s built by the VC firm HustleFund and it allows people to invest in super early stage startups for as little as $1,000.

I am fascinated with the world of venture capital and private equity. I’ve seen first hand what happens when you have equity in a startup that gets acquired and nearly all of my clients are venture-backed software companies.

I am joining Angel Squad to fast-track my knowledge of angel investing, grow my network (potentially meeting some prospective clients along the way), and to invest very small checks into companies and teams that I believe in.

This isn’t a sales pitch but I promise to keep y’all updated on how my Angel Investing journey goes!

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Thank you in advance and see you all next time.

Cheers,

Nick

My wife and I at dinner the other night.