Indie Entrepreneur | Create A Lifestyle Not A Job With Corbett Barr
Episode 254
Episode Guide
Episode Timestamps
ChooseFI Podcast Episode Show Notes
Episode Title: From Corporate Consultant to Indie Entrepreneur with Corbett Farr
Hosts: Jonathan Mendonsa, Brad Barrett
Guest: Corbett Farr
Episode Summary:
Corbett Farr shares his inspiring journey from a corporate consultant to a successful indie entrepreneur. With the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis, Corbett discusses the pivotal moment when he realized he craved greater autonomy and satisfaction in life. Emphasizing the importance of building an audience first before launching products, he reflects on his evolution through blogging and creating courses. The conversation also delves deep into the challenges of entrepreneurship, the harmful aspects of venture capital culture, and a healthier mindset around entrepreneurship that values lifestyle choices, autonomy, and defined success.
Key Takeaways
- Understanding Financial Independence: Corbett highlights the impact of the 2008 crisis on his career path and how it led him to reevaluate his definition of success.
- Audience-First Business Approach: Emphasizes the importance of building an audience before launching products to ensure market demand and reduce risks.
- Minimum Viable Income Concept: Discusses the necessity of understanding one’s financial needs to sustain a lifestyle while pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors.
- Embracing Failure: Corbett stresses that failure is a part of the entrepreneurial process and should be seen as a learning opportunity.
Timestamps & Major Topics
- Podcast Intro
- Introduction to Corbett Farr
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Corbett's Early Career and Transition
- Corbett reflects on his career as a consultant and the dissatisfaction leading him to explore entrepreneurship.
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Lessons from the 2008 Financial Crisis
- The impact of the financial crisis on Corbett's perspective about job security and entrepreneurship.
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Building an Audience First
- The methodology and reasoning behind prioritizing audience-building before product creation.
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Minimum Viable Income
- Explanation of what minimum viable income means and its relevance in entrepreneurship.
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Fizzle and Entrepreneurial Success
- How Corbett established Fizzle, highlighting its community and educational resources.
Key Quotes
- "Taking the leap into entrepreneurship can be daunting, but finding the right support can make all the difference."
- "Discovering your audience first minimizes the risks of entrepreneurship."
- "Embracing failure as a stepping stone is key to entrepreneurial growth."
Actionable Takeaways
- Assess Your Finances: Evaluate your minimum viable income to understand what you need to sustain your lifestyle while exploring entrepreneurship. [Timestamp: 00:22:10]
- Focus on Audience Building: Start building an audience before defining your product, ensuring a market exists for your ideas. [Timestamp: 00:19:28]
- Learn to Embrace Failure: Recognize that failure is part of the entrepreneur's journey; aim to fail small and learn from those experiences to move forward. [Timestamp: 00:41:11]
Discussion Questions
- What risks come with pursuing entrepreneurship without proper financial cushioning? [Timestamp: 00:06:39]
- How can lifestyle choices impact your entrepreneurial journey? [Timestamp: 00:12:59]
- What mental hurdles do entrepreneurs face when introducing paid products? [Timestamp: 00:36:51]
Related Resources
- Fizzle Show - Corbett's podcast focusing on entrepreneurship.
- Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Workweek - A crucial book that has influenced many entrepreneurs.
Conclusion
This episode illustrates the transformative journey of Corbett Farr as he navigates the complexities of entrepreneurship and lifestyle design. His insights on creating an audience-first approach and understanding one’s financial needs serve as valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs. Tune in to gain practical advice and inspiration for your path to financial independence!
Embracing the Indie Entrepreneurship Journey
In today's rapidly changing world, more individuals are inspired to venture into the realm of indie entrepreneurship. This journey, marked by personal autonomy and a desire for a meaningful life, is not without its challenges. The story of Corbett Farr reflects a transformative path that many aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from, especially those who are looking to redefine success on their own terms.
Understanding the Origins of Entrepreneurship
Corbett Farr's journey began during his tenure as a corporate consultant to Fortune 500 companies. He built a particular image of success tied to traditional career trajectories: working hard, saving money, and eventually retiring comfortably. However, the catalyst for change was his growing dissatisfaction with corporate life and the realization that working solely for a paycheck left him unfulfilled. This awareness nudged him towards entrepreneurship, prompting the critical question that many aspiring business owners face: What if I want something different from the conventional life path?
Importance of Financial Preparedness
Before diving into entrepreneurship, it’s essential to assess your financial situation. Corbett's prior experience with a financial crisis in the early 2000s highlighted the importance of having a financial cushion. By the time he decided to shift gears, he had saved enough to last an entire year without a steady income, providing him with a safety net during his transition into the entrepreneurial landscape.
Action Item: Evaluate your current job satisfaction and how it aligns with your long-term goals. Create a budget detailing your minimum monthly expenses to determine your minimum viable income—this is essential for supporting yourself while you build your business.
Building an Audience-First Business
One of the central themes in Corbett's story is the concept of building an audience before launching any products. This approach mitigates the risk of creating something that doesn’t resonate with consumers. In today’s digital age, you can effectively connect with potential customers through platforms such as social media, blogs, and podcasts—which can serve as testing grounds for new ideas.
Takeaway: Start building your audience before defining your product. Engage with your audience, understand their needs, and gather insights to create products or services that truly add value.
Redefining Success
A turning point for Corbett was during a sabbatical, where he and his wife took a step back to reflect on what they truly valued in life. This period of introspection allowed them to design a life that prioritized happiness, adventure, and fulfillment over the pressures of conventional success metrics like wealth and status.
Action Item: Initiate the process of building your personal brand or audience online by sharing your experiences, insights, and expertise. Consider how your offerings can connect to what you are passionate about.
Embracing Failure as Part of the Process
Failure is often seen as something to be avoided, yet for Corbett, it became an integral part of his journey. He emphasized that experiencing failure is essential for growth and innovation. Each setback provided lessons that informed his next steps in entrepreneurship.
Key Insight: Entrepreneurship reshapes your perception of work and life. Embrace failure as a stepping stone—learn to fail small and fail forward, using each lesson to guide your next move.
Lifestyle Design: The Path to Achieving Financial Independence
As entrepreneurship has evolved, so has the understanding of what it means to be successful. The traditional metrics often do not consider lifestyle choices that lead to happiness and satisfaction. Building a business that aligns with your lifestyle—often referred to as "lifestyle design"—can create a perfect intersection of passion and profession.
Corbett's journey illustrates that entrepreneurship doesn't always need to lead to a high-stakes scenario fraught with pressure. Instead, a lifestyle business can be fulfilling, offering flexibility and personal satisfaction.
The Role of Community in Entrepreneurship
Lastly, the importance of community cannot be understated. Throughout his journey, Corbett developed a support system through his audience, bringing like-minded people together for shared experiences. Fostering a community not only provides encouragement but also creates networking opportunities that can lead to collaborative projects and partnerships.
Actionable Takeaway: Start today by connecting with others in your field. Join online forums, attend networking events, or simply reach out to fellow entrepreneurs. Building and nurturing these relationships can prove invaluable in your entrepreneurial journey.
Conclusion: Taking the First Step
Embarking on the path of indie entrepreneurship is an empowering decision that allows individuals to create their own definitions of success. By assessing your financial situation, building an audience first, embracing failure, and engaging with community, you can forge a path toward a fulfilling entrepreneurial journey.
Remember, the road to financial independence and personal satisfaction doesn't have to follow a predetermined route. It can be dynamic, allowing you to design a life that resonates with your values and dreams. So, take that leap and begin your adventure today!
Corbett Barr
- Website: Fizzle
- Podcast: The Fizzle Show Podcast
What You'll Get Out Of Today's Show
- Building a business online has never been easier than right now, but Corbett Barr was forging his path in the early 2000s when it was hard. We're diving into his origin story to learn what gave him motivation and why he believed entrepreneurship was for him.
- Working as a consultant in Fortune 500 companies, Corbett had the kind of job a lot of people really wanted and could build a career around. Though he wasn't aware of financial independence at the time, he didn't want to climb the ladder only to find it had been leaning up against the wrong wall.
- Unhappy with his career, he was nudged toward entrepreneurship but was scared to take the leap until a friend asked if he wanted to become involved in a new project, which he was able to do without risking any of his own money.
- In his early 20s, Corbett was furloughed from his job during the 2000-01 financial crisis. During his efforts to stay afloat, he was ashamed and learned how important it is to save as much as possible. His savings gave him enough of a cushion to last a year or so in order to find out if he had what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
- His picture of entrepreneurship at the time was working yourself to the bone, sleeping under your desk, and hitting a home run before earning a bunch of money and doing whatever he wanted. But he found that he still had a host people he still needed to answer to and felt even more trapped than if he were an employee.
- After putting in so much time, effort, and money, it was painful to realize he didn't have much to show for it. But after having a taste of entrepreneurship, it was hard to imagine going back.
- Rather than jump into another project, Corbett and his wife took an eight-month sabbatical in Mexico to clear his head, reset and pivot.
- The Mexican sabbatical allowed him to put some space between himself and the friends, family, and San Francisco venture capitalists influencing his life to see that something else was possible.
- It was around that time he discovered concepts of location, independence, lifestyle design, and digital nomads. He realized that perhaps what he wanted wasn't to be wealthy, but instead to have enough time and control to do the things he wanted, like working on the things he wanted or spending time with friends and family.
- When discussing the dark side of entrepreneurship, Corbett says we don't often see the path of destructions can leave in people's lives. However, it has become much more democratized in recent years where you don't have to take investment money or big-name advertisers. It allows you to really be in control and think about how you go about doing it.
- Though he originally envisioned building a product and then finding customers who wanted it, he decided to go with an audience first business where he would find customers who wanted a product he would then build for them. An audience first strategy ends up taking a lot of the risk out of things.
- In the beginning stages of entrepreneurship, it's all about finding your topic and what you are going o building toward. It's good to jump into something you are interested in and can become good at. It can take experimentation and doesn't necessarily come overnight.
- Something that Corbett teaches is "minimum viable income" where you cut back all of the fat. Though he jumped in with both feet and lived off savings, people like Brad did things on the side. And adding an extra thousand or two in income through a side project, it can change the entire trajectory in terms of FI.
- Some of Corbett's observations about working for yourself are: you have no one to blame but you, when you work for yourself, you don't have to worry about a new boss, you decide when you work and when you don't, no pointless, actionless meetings, no cubicles, and the coffee is amazing.
- When living a nomadic lifestyle, Corbett and his wife consider the total annual cost of their home base, including any rent they might receive back. Some locations are better than others, so you may need to get creative about it.
- In 2009, when Corbett began building his audience first business, he began with free ebooks on affiliate marketing, followed by an online course, and then another, and another. He began to realize that he wanted to layer coaching and community on it. He's been doing that through Fizzle since 2012, along with a podcast.
- Free consultations are a great way to understand what questions your audience has and then build it into your product. There are ways to ease into charging for the product you are creating to find out if it's viable.
Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation
- Quickly and securely send money to people with PayPal
- Get a $75 credit to boost your job posting on Indeed.com
- Wondering what it would look like to make work optional? Go back through the ChooseFI archives or visit ChooseFI.com/start
