Building a product biz that'll take a long time to reach a comfy revenue, like SaaS? Need an infusion of cash to survive? Drop that venture capitalist, and learn how to Be Your Own Angel. Enjoy these slides with the actual audio, too! Right here: https://unicornfree.com/2015/be-your-own-angel-a-revenue-model-for-slow-startups

1. Be Your Own Angel
let’s talk about MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!

5. 80$

8. $15,000
$30,000
$45,000
$60,000

9. $15,000
$30,000
$45,000
$60,000
$1,739,680
* 6.5 years

10. $5,000
$10,000
$15,000
first year?
Jan 2009

11. $5,000
$10,000
$15,000
$27,202first year?
Jan 2009

12. THE HOLY GRAIL
RECURRING
REVENUE

13. THE HOLY GRAIL
RECURRING
REVENUE
slowly…

14. DOOMhow’d we survive?

16. THE SPECTRUM
be glad it’s not one of those grid chart thingies

17. Trust FundJob Consulting Agency Product
Less
Power
More
Power

18. Trust FundJob Consulting Agency Product
Less
Power
More
Power

19. Trust FundJob Consulting Agency Product
Venture
Less
Power
More
Power

20. Job Consulting Agency Product
easy-ish natural WTF!?

21. easy-ish natural
Job Consulting Product
ServiceBusiness
Agency
quick & easy money

22. easy-ish natural
Job Consulting ProductAgency
hard & slow

23. hard & slow is my specialty.

24. 3.5 mil$
hard & slow is my specialty.

25. 3.5 mil$
4 mil>$ by our students
hard & slow is my specialty.

29. raised rates

30. raised rates
taught workshops

31. raised rates
taught workshops
self-pub’d ebook

32. raised rates
taught workshops
self-pub’d ebook
kept going.

34. January - December

35. 32,831$
January - December

37. JS Master Class
JavaScript Performance Rocks!
Freckle, obv
YoH

38. $0
$100,000
$200,000
$300,000
2009 2010
30x500 JS Workshops JS eBook Freckle

40. What happens when
you stop thinking of
money as something
that happens to you,
and start thinking of how
you could happen to
money?

41. What happens when
you stop thinking of
money as something
that happens to you,
and start thinking of how
you could happen to
money?

42. “It’s liberating, and addicting. Liberating
because, unlike with a ‘job’ or even putting all
my eggs into a single SaaS basket, I’m in
complete control of growth.”

45. 6,000
$

47. Double Your Freelancing Rate
Planscope
Master Class
DYF Clients

48. Double Your Freelancing Rate
Planscope
Master Class
DYF Clients

50. you’ve got SO MANY more options
than “strike it rich” or “fail”

51. Free up time & energy to stick it out.
STRATEGY?

52. STRATEGY?
Free up time & energy to stick it out.
TACTICS
charge more, consult less
create income portfolio

53. charge more,
consult less
essentially a way to buy your own time
* for employed peeps, too

55. 4-day work week, same salary

56. Raise rates, fewer projects
4-day work week, same salary

57. Raise rates, fewer projects
4-day work week, same salary
Productized consulting

58. time
revenueshare
a path to transition…

59. time
revenueshare
product
hourly/wage
a path to transition…

60. build your
income portfolio
(where does income come in from?)

62. salary

63. salary
hourly wage

64. salary
hourly wage
transaction fee

65. salary
hourly wage
transaction fee
one-off sale

66. salary
hourly wage
transaction fee
one-off sale
recurring sale

67. salary
hourly wage
transaction fee
one-off sale
recurring sale

68. salary
hourlywage
transactionfee
one-offsale
recurringsale
FIVE REVENUE TYPES

69. one-offsale
salary
hourlywage
transactionfee
recurringsale
FIVE REVENUE TYPES

70. one-offsale
salary
hourlywage
transactionfee
recurringsale
FIVE REVENUE TYPES

71. one-offsale
salary
hourlywage
transactionfee
recurringsale
FIVE REVENUE TYPES

72. one-offsaleone-offsale
salary
hourlywage
transactionfee
recurringsale
FIVE REVENUE TYPES

74. how to create
a windfall

75. Focus on your customer.
this solves most problems.

76. Help them achieve results.
results: better than expertise, fame, reputation, money…

77. Build your list.
from day one.

78. Offer them something
they already need, want,
& are ready to buy.
people are in pain right now. don’t get clever.

80. Value.

81. Value.
money

82. Value.
money pain

83. create customers for your future
help customers NOW

84. Use your byproducts.

85. product formats
★ ebooks
★ screencasts
★ video courses
★ templates, libraries, themes
★ teleconfs & workshops
★ tools (*careful!)
product = self-serve, no intervention, little to no maintenance

86. Start at $19 & work backwards.
yep, that’s right, don’t think, just do what I say

87. Create events.

89. Seriously, get over yourself.
no, you are not a “perfectionist”

91. 3,681
$

93. Think like an investor.
(NO, it won’t pay immediately. that’s ok.)

94. stick with it

95. yes, it’s slow.

96. “
… I discovered that
this simple formula of
doing good work and
getting paid for it was
supposed to be slow
for modern business.

97. “
… I discovered that
this simple formula of
doing good work and
getting paid for it was
supposed to be slow
for modern business.
PSHAW!!!

98. tiiiiime, why you punish me?

99. $15,000
$30,000
$45,000
$60,000
$1,739,680
* 6.5 years

101. $27,202
the first year

102. $27,202
the first year
$570,000
this year (ARR)

103. $27,202
the first year
$570,000
this year (ARR)
$267,643
on average

107. With the same amount of practice, the
long-term-commitment group
outperformed the short-term-
commitment group by 400 percent.

108. With the same amount of practice, the
long-term-commitment group
outperformed the short-term-
commitment group by 400 percent.

109. What happens when
you stop thinking of
money as something
that happens to you,
and start thinking of how
you could happen to
money?

110. Security.
The freedom to grow slowly.
Independence.
To do what matters.
Serving others.

111. “You may delay, but Time will not.”

112. unicornfree.com/peersconf
$5 off

113. @amyhoy