What’s A Soloist?
Before I start introducing you to some amazing guests in the soloist space, it makes sense to start with an important question: what exactly is a soloist anyway? And why would you want to be one?
I talk about:
Finding delight the soloist way, despite having built—and sold to the big boys—a successful firm with employees.
Why a soloist business allows you to earn more money, more reliably with none of the employee hassles that can eat up your energy and keep you awake at night.
The importance of niching, discovering the revolution you were meant to lead and going deeper into your genius zone.
The mindset of successful soloists (hint: think simplicity and ease) as we build an upward spiral of ideas, products and services.
RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
The Soloist Women Mastermind (September 2023) A structured eight-month mastermind with a small group of no more than 12 hand-picked women soloists grappling with—and solving—the same challenges.
10 Ways To Grow Revenue As A Soloist (Without Working More Hours): most of us have been conditioned to work more when we want to grow revenue—but what if we just worked differently?
The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 – 00:44
Rochelle Moulton: Your mindset is a bit like a muscle. You need to regularly exercise its limits so you can keep building an upward spiral, an upward spiral of ideas of products and services of ways to create the impact you crave with your people. Hello, hello, and welcome to the Soloist Women podcast where we’re all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I’m Rochelle Moulton. And since we’re launching this brand spanking new podcast on soloist women today, I thought we should start with an important question. What exactly is a soloist and why would you want to be 1?
00:45 – 01:24
Rochelle Moulton: For those of you who don’t know my story, I spent 10 years of my early career in a big global consulting firm, learning the craft of consulting, building practices and businesses. And I loved it until I didn’t. And basically the partnership I worked so hard for and wanted a really young age just wasn’t enough to compensate for how I felt about the work I was doing and the difference I was making. So I started my first expertise business And we built it around this idea of staffing it with MBA women, usually mothers, from the big firms
01:24 – 01:59
Rochelle Moulton: who’d had enough of working 60 plus hour weeks, living on airplanes, and still being made to feel they weren’t contributing enough to make partner. The beauty of the idea was that we had our pick of highly qualified potential consultants who were desperate for a better way to run their career and their life. And the Fortune 500 firms that were our bread and butter loved our flexible model and they sent business our way, even solo sourcing us a lot of the time. So my point is that I’ve built businesses with employees, quite a few of them actually.
01:59 – 02:39
Rochelle Moulton: And if that’s what’s calling to you, by all means go out and build 1. It’s an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. But if today you asked me to do the same thing I’d say no freaking way because I found true delight in the soloist way. No employees to feel responsible for and worry about. No big overhead that might make me say yes to work or clients I don’t want. And a hundred percent complete freedom to do whatever I decide floats my boat. I earn more money more reliably with none of the hassles that used to
02:39 – 03:16
Rochelle Moulton: eat up my energy and keep me awake at night. It’s a level of freedom and joy that now that I’ve tasted it I just couldn’t give up And if you’re at all inclined to this soloist life, I’m here to help you master it. Okay, so what’s a soloist exactly? Well, here’s how I think about it. You’re the 1 who is center stage. You might have a backup band, contractors who help you create or deliver services, or you might be totally alone in the spotlight working your magic for the crowd. But here’s the thing, Just because you’re
03:16 – 03:57
Rochelle Moulton: a soloist doesn’t mean you’re alone. You have support inside your business, like a lawyer, maybe a bookkeeper, a CPA, a web team, a VA, a coach, and you have allies outside. You have an authority circle of kindred spirits who speak or write or consult in your space and are building engaged audiences who can benefit from your message. What you don’t have is employees, which makes it far, far easier to design your work and your life to maximize the time you spend in your genius zone doing only those things you love that you do better than anyone
03:57 – 04:34
Rochelle Moulton: else. Now think about that for a moment. You get to work not on your weaknesses or even to polish up the things you’re excellent at, you are focused on eliminating all of that and zeroing in on what you do best that happens to make time fly by because you’re so in flow when you’re doing it. A soloist is constantly searching for and testing the boundaries of their genius zone, which is 1 big reason why we niche, right? We burrow into a finely tuned set of clients, an area of expertise that allows us to multiply our value
04:34 – 05:18
Rochelle Moulton: because we understand our niche so well. We constantly magnify ourselves to attract our ideal clients and buyers. Almost No 1 starts our kind of businesses knowing exactly who they’re going to serve. It’s definitely a process. But once we’ve proven our business model usually around the hundred thousand dollar per year mark, we start to get pretty relentless about working only with people who inspire and energize us. Because we’ve gotten a taste of nirvana and just a taste isn’t enough, we want the whole 5 course meal. A soloist has the freedom to explore new ideas, to play with
05:18 – 05:57
Rochelle Moulton: a concept, to drop into potential rabbit holes and talk about them to see if maybe there’s something there. That something might just be a momentary thing that you wind up discarding, or it might wind up being a significant chunk of your body of work. The point is there is no 1 to tell you not to pursue your ideas. You get to choose. Which brings me to the soloist mindset. The most successful soloists punch through their fear on a pretty regular basis and by the way anyone who tells you they have no fear is a liar well
05:57 – 06:42
Rochelle Moulton: or associate bath. Your mindset is a bit like a muscle. You need to regularly exercise its limits so you can keep building an upward spiral. An upward spiral of ideas, of products and services, of ways to create the impact you crave with your people. And a soloist, think of the rock star Prima Ballerina gets paid more than anyone. And I will argue probably to my dying breath that soloists not only can but must charge premium prices because we are delivering focused high-value transformations to our clients and buyers and we believe deeply in being paid what we’re
06:42 – 07:24
Rochelle Moulton: worth and because we’re building not just for today but for rainy days and gloriously sunny days when we want to go out and play instead of working. Soloists charge based on the value we deliver and we’re not shy about it. Which brings me to something else that’s really important, especially once you’ve proven your business is viable and sustainable. What’s the revolution you most want to lead? Because that’s where you and your business can make a serious dent in the universe. You can change lives and have an impact far beyond just yourself. So Lewis also embrace simplicity
07:25 – 08:05
Rochelle Moulton: and ease because we choose to focus on only what moves the needle. We want systems that work, that are low maintenance, and allow us to spend the maximum amount of time in our genius zone. And frankly, this is true no matter your gender. Solists don’t buy into the bro hustle model. We don’t blindly try to grow just for gross sake. We’re always looking to optimize revenue, free time, flexibility, and impact for our vision of the lives we most want to lead. We create our own vision and we dance to our own music. So I realized that
08:05 – 08:50
Rochelle Moulton: I’ve just thrown a whole lot at you. So let me summarize how I see soloists. A soloist is the only 1 on center stage. A soloist has no employees. A soloist is relentlessly focused on discovering their genius zone and moving all of their time to it. A soloist works only with clients and buyers who energize and inspire them. A soloist niches down into a finely tuned set of clients, an area of expertise that they can own. A soloist punches through their fear on a regular basis because they’re looking for that upward spiral of ideas, of products
08:50 – 09:36
Rochelle Moulton: and services, of ways to create the impact they crave with their people. A soloist charges premium prices without apology. A soloist chooses a revolution to lead and goes all in. A soloist embraces simplicity and ease. And a soloist rejects the bro hustle model. So I wanted to set the table for this podcast by sharing my vision of what a truly amazing soloist business can deliver to you, to those you love, and to those you wish to serve. It’s with that vision in mind that I’ve chosen the upcoming guests. In the next episodes you’ll hear some I
09:36 – 10:05
Rochelle Moulton: think very inspiring stories from soloists who’ve crossed the dip in their business. It wasn’t always pretty but they’re going to share some hard-won tales from the front and we’ll show you what is possible as they work on their upward spiral living and working in their genius zone. And you’ll meet some revolution leaders whose ideas and wisdom are exactly what we need to hear right now. So that’s it for this episode. I hope you’ll join us next time for Soloist Women. Bye-bye.
