✈️ Solopreneur Nightmare? 😱

Welcome to the 'Brief', your favorite newsletter where we unlock hidden growth levers in your business.

Each week, I reveal valuable insights building my 8-figure personal holding company.

Jetsetters, here's what we've got for you on today's flight FCF6:

• 💵 Creative Sponsorships

• 🤝 How to Make Your First Hire

• 🤯 Debunking the Myth of Solopreneurship

• 🤖 How I Use AI to Generate Podcast Art Covers

• 📈 I was in LinkedIn Jail... and My Engagement Increased?!

We're closing the gates — last call for boarding!

✈️ Episode Itinerary

Solopreneurship is all the rage these days thanks to an explosion of no-code tools enabling anyone to go from idea to product faster and cheaper. Now, it's easier than ever to spin up a beautiful website, design like a professional, publish your ideas, build an audience, and start monetizing. No wonder solopreneurship has grown in popularity.

I took advantage of the rise of no-code tools starting my e-commerce shop, Urban EDC, back in 2015 on Shopify. It took me just a couple months and a few hundred dollars to get my shop up and running.

But it's not just these no-code tools that have emerged that's enabling anyone to become a solopreneur. There are a lot of benefits to running a solo business.

You have no employees to manage, no investors breathing down your neck, and no time commitments. You can work at your own pace whenever you want, wherever you want. If you want to go for a long walk during the middle of the workday, no one is going to fault you. If you want to travel to Europe for a couple weeks and work from a cafe in Paris, you can do that too.

You are your own boss.

Sounds like a dream come true, right?

Well, yes and no.

While the benefits of solopreneurship are clear, there are some hidden costs that I don't see being talked about enough.

Today, I am debunking the myth of solopreneurship, exposing the harsh reality of flying solo.

By the end of this episode, I'll show you how you can still enjoy the benefits of solopreneurship while removing the roadblocks that come with being solo.

I'll also dig into how you should approach your hiring strategy and where you should look to find your best employees.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Rise of Solopreneurship (1:46)

• Two Hidden Costs of Flying Solo (6:03)

• Strategies on Hiring Your First Employees (11:04)

• The Important of Your Zone of Genius (12:11)

• Hiring Freelancer vs. Hire Employees (14:34)

• Ask Me Anything (19:45)

🧠 Insights of the Week

Creative Sponsorship Ideas:

Let's start with a selfie, shall we? This is Justin Moore, Mr. Creator Wizard himself. We met up for Shrimp Po'Boys and Seafood Gumbo on Thursday and talked for 2 hours about sponsorship strategies.

Here's what I learned:

• Sponsorships are not just about metrics (downloads / email size).

• Brands want to associate themselves with YOU as a brand.

• Be authentic — Promote products you love already.

• Make it a win-win-win (You, Sponsor, Audience).

Get creative about your sponsorship package:

• Sponsorship exclusivity

• Make a booth appearance

• Invite them on your podcast

• Ask if they'll share your content

💡 Lesson: When it comes to sponsorships, go beyond just the numbers. Get creative. Make it a win-win-win for yourself, the sponsor, and your audience.

AI-Generated Podcast Covers:

I discovered a new AI tool to generate unique podcast artwork. Now, instead of having to pay a designer for podcast cover art (or not have one at all!) I can generate these unique cover art photos for each episode of my podcast... for free.

Use a prompt like "French bulldog in colorful clothing."

I choose "Abstract" as the image style. Then, it gives me options like this:

Now, if your prompt doesn't give you the photo you were looking for, revise your prompt or run the same prompt again! You'll get different results.

I had to run my prompts a few times to get the image I really liked. But each image is completely original and unique. This is the one I went with:

Pretty cool, huh?!

Check out all the other AI generated artwork on my latest episodes:

👍🏻 Recommendation: Looking for AI-Generated Artwork? Try Artifec.

Behind Bars: LinkedIn Jail

The LinkedIn Gods sent me to jail last week for exactly 72 hours for "viewing too many profiles at once." They suspected it was bot activity (it wasn't), which they heavily discourage.

I was disappointed and feared that I would lose all the momentum that I had built up.

But when I logged back into my account, I was in complete shock:

My 7-Day impressions & engagement had actually increased by 50%. How could this be?

It turns out that the older posts were STILL getting impressions, likes, comments, and even re-posts.

I gained over 100 followers while I was in LinkedIn jail... not bad!

It seems like content (at least on LinkedIn) has a much longer tail than I anticipated. The compounding effect of posting regularly adds up significantly over time.

💡 Lesson: Keep posting great content consistently and watch your numbers compound over time.

🎛 Metrics Dashboard

Why do I share these numbers?

Because it's fun, that's why! I'm building First Class Founders in public. So each week, I share my numbers exclusively through the 'Brief' newsletter.

Step inside the cockpit... (Watch your step!)

Podcast:

This week's 7-Day Downloads were consistent with last week's lower download numbers.

This was a bit surprising to me. I dug into the analytics and it looked like I was losing a good chunk of listeners during the first 20 seconds.

The culprit? My pre-roll.

I put up a pre-roll promoting this newsletter each of the past two weeks. Now, I'm not 100% certain that this is why the download numbers are lower. But, I don't want to risk it. So I am removing the pre-roll starting this week. We'll see if this makes a difference!

The good news? My overall numbers from 90 days ago are higher, which means that the podcast is growing when we zoom out.

Here are the download numbers:

• 90-Day Downloads: 12,908 (+714)

• 30-Day Downloads: 3,545 (-1,683)

• 7-Day Downloads: 504 (-114)

👍🏻 Recommendation: Thinking of starting a podcast? I love using Buzzsprout.

Newsletter:

Newsletter sign-ups continue to roll strong. Last week, I had a decent uptick in my followers on both LinkedIn + Twitter.

I'm still using the DM strategy for new followers and that's been surprisingly effective.

Let's look at the numbers:

• Subscribers: 502 (+77)

• Open Rate: 47%

• Click Rate: 13.2%

👍🏻 Recommendation: Interested in starting a newsletter? I highly recommend Beehiiv.

🔍 Community Spotlight

This week, Jeff Perez Jr. has the floor.

Jeff and I connected over Twitter after discussing newsletter growth strategies. Jeff's specialty is newsletter growth so if you're working on a newsletter, check out his work! He sends out a weekly newsletter on Saturdays to teach you email marketing.

Here's the pitch...

"Teaching coaches and creators strategies that will make them more sales from their email lists."

Go check out Jeff's newsletter on newsletters!

💬 Final Word

I recorded another podcast episode this week, this time with Matt Giovanisci! Matt has an interesting background. He has an e-commerce store selling pool cleaning gear, hosts two podcasts, and owns a home brewing content site.

We talked about:

• How to build by serving your community

• The 10 commandments for starting a business

• How to launch a business from scratch successfully

This one was a good one. I can't wait to release this one!

Here's my obligatory "inside my wife's closet" live capture:

That's a wrap for this week.

Have a productive rest of your week!

Yong-Soo Chung — Serial Entrepreneur, Podcaster

P.S. If you enjoyed this, I would LOVE it if you shared it on Twitter with your audience. 🙏🏼

🤝 Let's Work Together

When you're ready, here are 3 ways we can work together:

1. Want to work directly with me? Book a 1:1 session.

2. Want to cross-promote your newsletter or podcast? Email me.

3. Want to join our community? Join our First Class Founders Membership.