July 15, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, we sit down with Stan Ward, coach, author, and spreadsheet whisperer, who shares how it took him five years to develop a system he now teaches in just 60 days, how he turned his finances from chaos into calm, and why paying yourself twice a month might be the smartest move you haven’t made yet.
Stan’s approach blends structure with soul, systems with self-care, and yes—he’s got a daily ABCD checklist you’re going to want to steal. If burnout has been creeping in or your bank account’s been throwing tantrums, this episode is your wake-up call.
Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business. So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!
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Episode Transcript
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Carly Ries (00:00):
You don't need an MBA to build a business that
(00:02):
supports your life. You justneed systems that work. In this
episode, we're joined by StanWard, founder of The Profitable
Coach, who shares how he turnedfive years of financial trial
and error into a system that nowhelps other coaches stress less
about business. We dive into theexact structures he uses to
manage cash flow, pay himselfconsistently, and avoid burnout,
(00:22):
all while living the solopreneurlifestyle on his terms. If your
finances feel like a rollercoaster or you're tired of
winging it, this is the episodeto continue listening to.
You're listening to the AspiringSolopreneur, the podcast for
those just taking the bold stepor even just thinking about
taking that step into the worldof solo entrepreneurship. My
(00:44):
name is Carly Ries, and mycohost, Joe Rando, and I are
your guides to navigating thiscrazy but awesome journey as a
company of one. We take pride inbeing part of LifeStarr, a
digital hub dedicated to allaspects of solopreneur ship that
has empowered and educatedcountless solopreneurs looking
to build a business thatresonates with their life's
(01:04):
ambitions. We help people workto live, not live to work. And
if you're looking for a get richquick scheme, this is not the
show for you.
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time
around or want to learn from themissteps of solopreneurs who've
paved the way before you, thenstick around. We've got your
back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
(01:27):
alone. Stan, we are so excitedto have you on today. Even just
talking to you offline for likethe past few minutes, I'm like,
this is a good guy. I'm excitedto get into it with him.
But before we do, we wanna askan icebreaker question, and that
is, what do you wish you hadknown before becoming a
solopreneur?
Stan Ward (01:45):
That you don't have to have an MBA. I think I had a
lot of assumptions about myselfbecause I had I'd spent a lot of
time in education and evenbefore that, I'd done work in
ministry. So a lot of time in anon profit space, higher
education as well as secondaryeducation. In fact, education
these days almost feels likeanti profit. So I went in with
(02:07):
this mindset that gosh, I'mlacking basic tools.
I don't know what I'm doing. Andlooking back, I mean, yes, I
didn't know what I was doing.But it wasn't as hard as I
thought it was gonna be in myhead.
Carly Ries (02:22):
You're the second person in two days to say that
running a solopreneur businessisn't as hard as you thought.
I'm like, we need to have whatthey're having for breakfast
Joe, and we need to hang outwith them.
Joe Rando (02:34):
I'm telling you, it took 200 episodes with nobody
ever saying that, and now 200and out of what are we, four
now? Five?
Carly Ries (02:41):
204 something.
Joe Rando (02:42):
We got two post 200. So maybe The Aspiring
Solopreneur podcast is having animpact on the world. I don't
know. I claim that.
Stan Ward (02:55):
Well, now let me qualify that just a little bit.
Yes, it's hard. I had a greatconversation with a guy the
other day that was, we'resharing stories about our
coaching business. And he'slike, man, why is it just so
hard? I'm like, because it justis.
It's not that you're doinganything wrong. It's not that
I'm doing anything wrong. It'sjust work. But it's not as
difficult as what I made up inmy head.
Carly Ries (03:17):
Okay. That I can get on board with. And that I agree
with.
Stan Ward (03:20):
Okay.
Carly Ries (03:21):
You seem like the guy to talk about running a
successful business, especiallyas it comes to finances. So I
wanna know, with the profitablecoach, you said that it took you
five years to figure out whatyou now teach in just sixty
days, which I'm so excited Whatto like were some of your
biggest lessons from thatjourney, and kind of explain
(03:42):
that that approach?
Stan Ward (03:44):
Yeah. Well, in summary, it's about putting
sustainable structures in place,and what I call that is I
basically say, look, I can'thelp you create a stressless
business, but I can help youstress less about business. And
what's interesting is lookingback, there are seasons where
I've had more clients, moreincome, but my financial
(04:06):
situation was less stablebecause I didn't have the
systems in place. So part ofwhat the experience has been for
me is discovering that once youput some systems in place and
things begin to kinda take careof themselves, oh my goodness,
it can create margin in life,which is just so nice to have.
Carly Ries (04:25):
Were you saying that it wasn't sustainable because of
like, you were facing burnout?Because you had so many clients,
you were making more becauseI've had that feeling of like
having the most clients andmaking more than I've ever made
in my life, but couldn't hangout with my husband, couldn't
see my friends because it wasjust I was working around the
clock.
Stan Ward (04:43):
Yeah. And thanks for bringing up burnout. So my main
gig actually is coaching leadersaround stress management,
burnout prevention, conflictresolution. So yeah, all too
aware of that space. And yes,some of it was that I was
working at a pace that was notsustainable as far as just that
self development or what I wouldcall self maintenance that's
required to keep lifting dayafter day as a solopreneur.
Carly Ries (05:06):
So what are the biggest lessons you've learned
from the Profitable Coachjourney?
Stan Ward (05:12):
Yeah, it's not as complex as I thought it was
gonna be. And what I mean bythat is again, I guess in my
head, I thought I had to be anMBA and and be able to, you
know, speak to my accountant ina knowledgeable way, in order to
get through the day. And that'sjust not the case.
Joe Rando (05:29):
I Have an MBA. And I don't speak to my accountant in
a knowledgeable way.
Stan Ward (05:32):
Okay. There you go.
Joe Rando (05:33):
Yeah. Fair. You were fine. You were fine.
Stan Ward (05:39):
I don't know what your MBA stands for, Joe? Maybe
I'm thinking of a different kindof MBA,
Joe Rando (05:42):
Oh, no. No. I got the good old fashioned finance
management. But anyway, I have aquestion that you said, you used
the word structures. And I justwanna know if you can explain a
little bit about how you definethat term.
Are you talking about likestandard operating procedures?
Are you talking about policiesor all of those?
Stan Ward (06:02):
Thanks. I think that's what Carly is trying to
get me to. So I'm glad you'repushing that direction. Yeah, a
lot of it is standard operatingprocedures and I'll just give
you the deal. So I had to spendfive years reading different
sources, trying differentexperiments.
And yes, thankfully I did find agood accountant who's very
patient with me, as I kind ofbumbled about. But now I'm at a
(06:25):
place where I know, okay, I havea system. It's like a grain
elevator. It's just this, I haveone business bank account, it's
my operations account. Andbecause I'm a coach LLC, I'm low
6 figures gross, right?
So all that operating money goesinto that grain silo and it sits
(06:45):
there and then it's dispersedthrough different channels,
right? And so if you're familiarwith Profit First, Mike
Michalowicz, right? Kind ofadapted his system, simplified
it to work for me. And so kindof what that has looked like is,
all this money goes in theoperations account. It sits
there.
That's influenced coaching mybusiness. And then a percentage
(07:06):
of that, I put into a taxaccount to hold for Uncle Sam
and I treat it like it's notmine. Now we'll say some years,
I put in more than I need. Andwhen I have that conversation
with my accountant, I'm like,yay, that goes to my retirement
plan. Another piece of this thenis I pay myself, just depending
on what our season is between 50to 60% average.
(07:29):
We'll talk about paycheck herein a minute. But I kind of
budget that in my head is gonnabe where I'm shooting for. And
then that gives me about 30% asan operating expense account. So
now I have some goals for myexpenses and I can answer the
question, can I afford that ornot? Well just because there's
money in the account doesn'tmean I can really afford that.
And then of course the last 5%can go to either my emergency
(07:51):
fund, which I've got in a highinterest savings account or my
ASAP IRA, right, my retirementaccount. And so just setting
that up alone and then gettingthat stuff to flow, has just,
it's just nice. Because now I'vebeen doing this long enough, I
kind of have a sense of whatthose averages are gonna be. And
(08:11):
so I can put myself on a twice amonth paycheck, get paid on the
last day of the month. Just soall the money's there right
before the bills hit on thefirst day of the month.
And I get paid and I pay myselfon the fifteenth to handle the
second half of the month bills.And so as income may go up, and
certainly the last couplemonths, just to be honest, it's
been really slow for me. Andactually that's what's convinced
(08:33):
me the system works. Becausethere was grain in the elevator
and because it was coming out ina steady amount, I can still
assign those dollars where Inormally would.
Joe Rando (08:45):
Yep. No, that's cool.
Carly Ries (08:46):
Why do you think it's so hard for solopreneurs to
focus on the business side oftheir business? I mean
obviously, they got into itbecause they wanna be coaches or
they wanna help people. But theydon't get into it because
they're like, I like planningfor my quarterly payments. and
doing that whole side of things.
I mean, why do so many peoplestruggle? And what happens if
(09:07):
they kinda put it on the backburner and focus on the main
part of their business and don'tthink about everything you just
talked about.
Stan Ward (09:14):
So my hunch, Carly, is probably in this show, and
Joe, I bet you're familiar withthis one, The E Myth Revisited.
Are you guys familiar with thatone?
Joe Rando (09:22):
Well, think it's the number one book that's brought
up on this podcast. I'm prettysure.
Stan Ward (09:26):
Yeah, because it's so relevant to the kind of things
we do, right? There's the personwho loves the service side of
the business, then there's aperson that needs to be the
manager of the business, andthen there's the person that
kinda needs to be the executivewho's going out there and
growing the business. And thoseare three different pieces of
ourselves that we have to beable to engage with. And I've
got a system for that later I'dlove to share with you on how I
(09:48):
do that. And so because we tendto become solopreneurs because
we love being on the serviceside of it, yeah, we naturally
put our energy into that, right?
We get energy back. You couldtalk about that as the idea of a
strength, right? How do you knowsomething's a strength? Well, it
gives you reliable results andtends to energize you. And the
problem is, it's kind of like ifI only do curls and I never
(10:12):
extend my tricep, guess what'sgonna happen?
I'm gonna end up looking likethis, right? Because the only
way my arm can fully extend,it's not that my bicep relaxes,
it's that the tricep engages.And so the service person can
only do the service thing andthe way you're gonna be able to
straighten your business out isto have those other
personalities put some tensionon you to keep you on track.
Carly Ries (10:36):
So I do wanna hear your system that you put in
place. But also like how can youget those triceps to kick in?
Stan Ward (10:46):
Oh yeah. Well, sometimes it's just school of
hard knocks. You know, I left a,well, I don't wanna say cushy
job, I left a good job wherethere was good money and good
benefits and I have a family.And boy, was a shock to the
system when all these thingsthat were done behind the scenes
(11:09):
for me, suddenly now I had tofigure out, right? You Know,
when you're part of a largerorganization.
So that's one piece of it. Ithink just like, I recently
started working with a personaltrainer. I'm somewhere in my 50s
and I tell you, I feel ten yearsyounger. It's been great for me.
And I say that to say, yeah, youwill need to partner with
(11:30):
someone or a system that willcreate the discipline to make
sure you're doing those tricepexercises.
That's the only way it's goingto happen. Because just if we're
left to our whimsy, we'll justdo what we wanna do and what
feels good. And for most of us,that's not gonna be managing the
business and it's not gonna begrowing the business.
Carly Ries (11:51):
Okay. So going back to the basics. You were saying
that you figure out what to payyourself. You have extra money
on any given month. You put thatinto retirement.
Well, from a basic level,solopreneurs have a really hard
time pricing their services tobegin with. So how do you coach
them in pricing what they'reworth? And if they've already
(12:11):
gone down the path of pricingthe wrong serve or pricing their
services poorly, how can theyfix it?
Stan Ward (12:17):
Yeah, great question. And so, you know, getting paid
what you're worth is difficult,right? Because most of us are
providing services that havemore value than what the
market's gonna pay us dollar fordollar, Or we do squishy things
coaching, right? And sometimesit's hard to say, okay, this has
the x dollar value.
(12:39):
So what I do, when I work withcoaches, say look, coaching is a
lifestyle business for most ofus. We're doing this because
there's a certain way we want towork in the world, certain
number of hours we wanna work.So rather than starting with
what I think the market will payor what I think a person can
afford, and I'm gonna chargethat. Let's start with what you
(13:01):
need in order to have the lifethat you wanna have. And that
becomes an anchor.
Doesn't mean you're gonna getthat, but that is always the
goal. And then especially withcoaches, because we tend to do
other things like speaking,maybe workshops, possibly
plenary type stuff,facilitation. Then once you
(13:22):
kinda have that base number inplace, there are some formulas
where you can play with thatnumber and then that starts
telling you what you need to be,if not charging now, what you
need to be working toward. Andfor those who are not charging
enough, then it's gonna be ajourney. All right, we're gonna
figure out how to get you there.
(13:45):
If you've got a lot of long termclients, then slowly you're
gonna have to adjust those ratesif you wanna keep them. But
certainly I've encouraged them,any new clients you're taking
on, charge the new rates. Andyou can do that if you don't
have on your website, this iswhat I charge.
Joe Rando (14:01):
Yeah. going back to kind of I don't know if you know
who Marcus Sheridan is, but hewrote they ask you answer, and
he's a proponent of putting yourpricing or the best you can do
in terms of helping peopleunderstand pricing for your
services on your website. Don'tmake them engage, people who
don't wanna engage anymore. AndI do think that if you are
(14:22):
charging now let's just use someround numbers. Let's say you're
charging a $100 an hour, and youreally should be charging a 150,
but you've got a bunch ofgrandfather clients in, and you
put a 150 on your website,they're not gonna complain.
They'll be perfectly fine withthat. You know? It's like so
keep you know, if you if you'rea 150 now, put it on your
website, 150 dollars a sessionor whatever it is, and they're
(14:43):
not gonna argue. And eventually,when you do kinda hit them up
for a price increase, they'regonna be like, oh, you want a
120? Well, it's less than what'son your website.
So I just think that's important
Stan Ward (14:55):
Yeah, good perspective. I also wanna say
for a lot of us too, pricing perhour can be tricky. So I tend to
think in terms of client facinginteraction time, And how many
hours a week do I wanna be faceto face with clients doing some
kind of work? Okay, that thenstarts telling me where I start
(15:18):
creating my anchor, if you will.
I'll just use the term anchorhere. So it's what do I need to
make in order to take care of myfinancial obligations? And okay,
from that, then how many hours aweek do I wanna work? How many
weeks a year do I wanna work?Okay, do some division, right?
And then that comes out toclient facing hours, what I need
(15:40):
to charge. And because I tend tosell packages rather than just
individual hours, that thenhelps me when I go to build my
package, or when I go to buildmy speaking portfolio, that kind
of thing.
Carly Ries (15:52):
Yeah. That's so helpful. But you said something
a little earlier in theinterview that I thought was so
interesting. so let's say theyset their prices, they're
getting paid, they can they cankinda predict what they're gonna
get every month like you weresaying.
But then you're saying you payyourself twice a month. And that
seems so, I don't wanna saycorporate, but it seems so
(16:13):
structured for a solopreneur tobe like, oh, well the first and
the fourteenth of every month,I'm gonna get the paycheck. Why
that mindset? Why do you mindexplaining why you have that
thought process of sticking withthat pattern?
Stan Ward (16:26):
Yeah. Well, you know, for those who have access to
video, maybe just because I'm abig nerd. But besides that, what
I have found is, and it's reallyinteresting that when I would
pay myself just once a month,something about that cash flow
just didn't work quite as wellwith matching up with bills and
(16:48):
things like that, right? And sopart of this is saying, okay, I
make sure there's a certainamount of money in my account in
order to take care of a certainamount of bills, but I'm not
gonna take more out of thataccount than I have to take out,
knowing that it's gonna be doingthis all the time. And so rather
than taking out large chunks,rather than just paying those
(17:09):
quarterly taxes once everyquarter and taking this huge
chunk of change out of mybusiness account and going, oh
my gosh, what am I gonna do?
That grain is just flowing outslow and steady. I can watch
slowly but steady, just thesewaves in what's in that account.
And it doesn't panic me. Youknow, think about if you're
(17:31):
watching your stock account andone day it's here and then the
next day the equivalent ofquarterly taxes are being paid
and wham it goes down here. Whatdo people do?
They panic.
Joe Rando (17:40):
But you know, I just think it's really smart the way
that you're doing this in a kindof an organized and disciplined
fashion that keeps youcomfortable with the
organization and disciplinebecause, you know, it can be
tempting when you're the onlyboss. I remember my dad, he was
in the restaurant business and Iwas a kid and he was talking
about somebody that was reallyirresponsible with their
(18:01):
restaurant. And I said, whatdoes that mean? And he said, oh,
like, he'll just go to the cashregister and grab a few $100 and
go to the racetrack. And I'mlike, really?
And, it would stun me, but thepeople sometimes, you know,
that's an extreme example. But,you know,
you close a big deal, you getsome cash in, in the bank,
and you're like, oh, cool. Youknow? Now all of a sudden, it's
(18:22):
time to whatever, take the tripto Vegas for the long weekend or
something. And it's just thatdiscipline is really smart. I
respect that a lot.
I think it's really smart.
Stan Ward (18:35):
Yeah. And you really are investing in yourself and
investing in the business thatway. Because again, 5% of that
every, every month is goingtoward some sort of investment
account, whether it's a highinterest savings or IRA. And so
that's money going to work tomake money for me, right? And
(18:56):
then again, when I have thoseseasons where things are great,
I don't get greedy because Iknow there'll be seasons when
things are slow.
And I want to be able to enjoylife just as much when things
are slow as I'm able to enjoy itwhen things are great.
Carly Ries (19:09):
That's so great. Well, you're saying to keep
money in your account for thoseexpenses for your business. What
are some expenses that often getoverlooked by solopreneurs or
overdone or any thoughts there?
Stan Ward (19:25):
Yeah. And so I'll speak to kind of the coaching
industry in particular sincethat's what I'm most familiar
with. Right? So it's really easyas coaches to get excited about
continuing education and gettrained on all sorts of systems
and assessments and not have aplan for how we're gonna sell
those things. And you can spenda lot of money and not really
(19:46):
get in, yeah, I feel like I'mbuilding my business, but really
educating myself.
I'm just spending money. And soactually that goes to this
system. Do you mind if I pivot alittle bit to talk about kind of
the daily habits? Yeah. We'llcall it the ABCDs, okay?
So I just came to have thismental ABCD I go through every
day to check myself to make sureI'm covering my bases. So A is
(20:10):
author content, right? As acoach, I wanna make sure I'm
creating, whether it'scurriculums, I'm creating maybe
social media, creating talks,whatever. But every day I'm
contributing in some way to somecontent, some intellectual
property that I'm working on.Then B is build business.
Building business means newpeople or new money. A new
(20:31):
product is not buildingbusiness. Building business is
new people or new money. And soI make sure that daily I'm doing
something that's eitherconnecting me with new people.
It may be connecting me to acentered influence, Somebody who
connects with the kind of peoplethat I wanna coach and just
building that relationship.
It may be building business,getting money in the sense of
(20:53):
I'm sending out invoices or I'msending out a proposal. But it's
easy for me to procrastinate.And so I have found by making
sure that when I look at mychecklist, I've got a B on there
somewhere. Okay, I'm taking careof things. C then is my client
relationships.
Those are so important. That'swhat's gonna keep you in
business. And so sometimes it'sfollowing up on my calendar and
(21:14):
saying, oh, so and so, it's beena month and they haven't
rescheduled. So I need to gocheck on them and see what's
going on. It could be it'ssomebody's birthday, so I reach
out or something like that.
Hey, I saw this great thing onsocial media. Congratulations,
looks like you're having fun. Dis develop self. So that goes
out to the burnout piece, right?Self development can include
(21:37):
professional development, but italso includes the things you
have to do just to maintainyourself because there is a
psychology to being anentrepreneur.
Yes, it is hard. And yes, it canbe so overwhelming when you look
at the tasks and the challengesand try to figure out the market
and just all that stuff. So wehave to be intentional about
(21:59):
disciplines that help help us bestrong from the inside out. And
then I like to say on the dayswhere I have ABCD in place, then
E, I just enjoy.
Carly Ries (22:11):
I love that. you seem very process oriented,
which I obviously think is good,one, as a coach, but also now
that you're talking about,finances with coaches, it's also
a good thing. So I'm curious,what is it as it relates to
building that business, what'sone small but like a high impact
(22:31):
action a coach can take likeright now or this week? To start
becoming more profitable.
Stan Ward (22:37):
So I went through this with someone who's going
through my profitable coachbusiness this morning. So that
client, we sat down and we ransome numbers, looked at some
things. He was in a place wherehis expenses were not gonna
allow him to pay the kind ofsteady paycheck we've already
talked about. But we didrealize, you know what, you can
put aside an average of 5% intoa high interest savings or that
(23:01):
retirement plan. And then that'sa little bit of money that goes
to work making more money.
I think if you can just startdoing that, you'll be pleased
with what you see a year fromnow.
Carly Ries (23:12):
I think this is such an important reminder for Mid
year, when people are kind ofreflecting on the past six
months, they they have half theyear to go and they're kind of
rethinking not only theirbusiness but their finances. I
just think this episode cannothave been recorded at a better
time. And so, Stan, you helppeople not only find success
(23:33):
financially, but avoidingburnout and everything. So we
have to ask you, what is yourfavorite quote about success?
Stan Ward (23:38):
On both counts, both the burnout piece and
financially, you have to definesuccess for yourself. Because
you'll exhaust yourself ifyou're chasing someone else's
dream. That's just something Itry to tell people all the time,
whether it's clients, or evenmyself. You know, whose dream am
I chasing?
Joe Rando (24:01):
Yep. That's very good advice.
Carly Ries (24:04):
Stan, where can people find out more about you
if they want to learn more?
Stan Ward (24:08):
Yeah. So I would encourage you take a look at my
LinkedIn, Stanley j Ward. Greatplace to connect with me or my
coaching website, which iscoachingforinfluence.com. A lot
of letters, That's why I sayStanley J Ward on LinkedIn a
(24:30):
whole lot easier.
Carly Ries (24:31):
I was like, let's turn the spelling into a song.
All of that will in be our shownotes as well.
Stan Ward (24:38):
Oh, good. Yeah and in fact, if we do have show notes,
then I'd love to add a link to aquiz that I use for folks. It's
a self assessment that'll letyou know what percentage of this
system you've already got inplace, and it'll give you a
sense of what you need to donext.
Carly Ries (24:52):
Awesome. Yep. Send that our way and we will be sure
to include them. But Stan, thankyou so so much for coming on
today.
Stan Ward (25:00):
Yeah. Carly, Joe, you guys have really been wonderful
hosts. I really do appreciateit.
Carly Ries (25:05):
And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As
always, leave that five starreview, share this episode with
a friend, and subscribe on yourfavorite platform, including
YouTube. And we will see younext time on The Aspiring
Solopreneur. You may be goingsolo in business, but that
doesn't mean you're alone.
In fact, millions of people arein your shoes, running a one
(25:26):
person business and figuring itout as they go. So why not
connect with them and learn fromeach other's successes and
failures? At LifeStarr, we'recreating a one person business
community where you can go tomeet and get advice from other
solopreneurs. Be sure to join inon the conversations at
community.lifestarr.com.
You don't need an MBA to build a business that
(00:02):
supports your life. You justneed systems that work. In this
episode, we're joined by StanWard, founder of The Profitable
Coach, who shares how he turnedfive years of financial trial
and error into a system that nowhelps other coaches stress less
about business. We dive into theexact structures he uses to
manage cash flow, pay himselfconsistently, and avoid burnout,
(00:22):
all while living the solopreneurlifestyle on his terms. If your
finances feel like a rollercoaster or you're tired of
winging it, this is the episodeto continue listening to.
You're listening to the AspiringSolopreneur, the podcast for
those just taking the bold stepor even just thinking about
taking that step into the worldof solo entrepreneurship. My
(00:44):
name is Carly Ries, and mycohost, Joe Rando, and I are
your guides to navigating thiscrazy but awesome journey as a
company of one. We take pride inbeing part of LifeStarr, a
digital hub dedicated to allaspects of solopreneur ship that
has empowered and educatedcountless solopreneurs looking
to build a business thatresonates with their life's
(01:04):
ambitions. We help people workto live, not live to work. And
if you're looking for a get richquick scheme, this is not the
show for you.
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time
around or want to learn from themissteps of solopreneurs who've
paved the way before you, thenstick around. We've got your
back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
(01:27):
alone. Stan, we are so excitedto have you on today. Even just
talking to you offline for likethe past few minutes, I'm like,
this is a good guy. I'm excitedto get into it with him.
But before we do, we wanna askan icebreaker question, and that
is, what do you wish you hadknown before becoming a
solopreneur?
Stan Ward (01:45):
That you don't have to have an MBA. I think I had a
lot of assumptions about myselfbecause I had I'd spent a lot of
time in education and evenbefore that, I'd done work in
ministry. So a lot of time in anon profit space, higher
education as well as secondaryeducation. In fact, education
these days almost feels likeanti profit. So I went in with
(02:07):
this mindset that gosh, I'mlacking basic tools.
I don't know what I'm doing. Andlooking back, I mean, yes, I
didn't know what I was doing.But it wasn't as hard as I
thought it was gonna be in myhead.
Carly Ries (02:22):
You're the second person in two days to say that
running a solopreneur businessisn't as hard as you thought.
I'm like, we need to have whatthey're having for breakfast
Joe, and we need to hang outwith them.
Joe Rando (02:34):
I'm telling you, it took 200 episodes with nobody
ever saying that, and now 200and out of what are we, four
now? Five?
Carly Ries (02:41):
204 something.
Joe Rando (02:42):
We got two post 200. So maybe The Aspiring
Solopreneur podcast is having animpact on the world. I don't
know. I claim that.
Stan Ward (02:55):
Well, now let me qualify that just a little bit.
Yes, it's hard. I had a greatconversation with a guy the
other day that was, we'resharing stories about our
coaching business. And he'slike, man, why is it just so
hard? I'm like, because it justis.
It's not that you're doinganything wrong. It's not that
I'm doing anything wrong. It'sjust work. But it's not as
difficult as what I made up inmy head.
Carly Ries (03:17):
Okay. That I can get on board with. And that I agree
with.
Stan Ward (03:20):
Okay.
Carly Ries (03:21):
You seem like the guy to talk about running a
successful business, especiallyas it comes to finances. So I
wanna know, with the profitablecoach, you said that it took you
five years to figure out whatyou now teach in just sixty
days, which I'm so excited Whatto like were some of your
biggest lessons from thatjourney, and kind of explain
(03:42):
that that approach?
Stan Ward (03:44):
Yeah. Well, in summary, it's about putting
sustainable structures in place,and what I call that is I
basically say, look, I can'thelp you create a stressless
business, but I can help youstress less about business. And
what's interesting is lookingback, there are seasons where
I've had more clients, moreincome, but my financial
(04:06):
situation was less stablebecause I didn't have the
systems in place. So part ofwhat the experience has been for
me is discovering that once youput some systems in place and
things begin to kinda take careof themselves, oh my goodness,
it can create margin in life,which is just so nice to have.
Carly Ries (04:25):
Were you saying that it wasn't sustainable because of
like, you were facing burnout?Because you had so many clients,
you were making more becauseI've had that feeling of like
having the most clients andmaking more than I've ever made
in my life, but couldn't hangout with my husband, couldn't
see my friends because it wasjust I was working around the
clock.
Stan Ward (04:43):
Yeah. And thanks for bringing up burnout. So my main
gig actually is coaching leadersaround stress management,
burnout prevention, conflictresolution. So yeah, all too
aware of that space. And yes,some of it was that I was
working at a pace that was notsustainable as far as just that
self development or what I wouldcall self maintenance that's
required to keep lifting dayafter day as a solopreneur.
Carly Ries (05:06):
So what are the biggest lessons you've learned
from the Profitable Coachjourney?
Stan Ward (05:12):
Yeah, it's not as complex as I thought it was
gonna be. And what I mean bythat is again, I guess in my
head, I thought I had to be anMBA and and be able to, you
know, speak to my accountant ina knowledgeable way, in order to
get through the day. And that'sjust not the case.
Joe Rando (05:29):
I Have an MBA. And I don't speak to my accountant in
a knowledgeable way.
Stan Ward (05:32):
Okay. There you go.
Joe Rando (05:33):
Yeah. Fair. You were fine. You were fine.
Stan Ward (05:39):
I don't know what your MBA stands for, Joe? Maybe
I'm thinking of a different kindof MBA,
Joe Rando (05:42):
Oh, no. No. I got the good old fashioned finance
management. But anyway, I have aquestion that you said, you used
the word structures. And I justwanna know if you can explain a
little bit about how you definethat term.
Are you talking about likestandard operating procedures?
Are you talking about policiesor all of those?
Stan Ward (06:02):
Thanks. I think that's what Carly is trying to
get me to. So I'm glad you'repushing that direction. Yeah, a
lot of it is standard operatingprocedures and I'll just give
you the deal. So I had to spendfive years reading different
sources, trying differentexperiments.
And yes, thankfully I did find agood accountant who's very
patient with me, as I kind ofbumbled about. But now I'm at a
(06:25):
place where I know, okay, I havea system. It's like a grain
elevator. It's just this, I haveone business bank account, it's
my operations account. Andbecause I'm a coach LLC, I'm low
6 figures gross, right?
So all that operating money goesinto that grain silo and it sits
(06:45):
there and then it's dispersedthrough different channels,
right? And so if you're familiarwith Profit First, Mike
Michalowicz, right? Kind ofadapted his system, simplified
it to work for me. And so kindof what that has looked like is,
all this money goes in theoperations account. It sits
there.
That's influenced coaching mybusiness. And then a percentage
(07:06):
of that, I put into a taxaccount to hold for Uncle Sam
and I treat it like it's notmine. Now we'll say some years,
I put in more than I need. Andwhen I have that conversation
with my accountant, I'm like,yay, that goes to my retirement
plan. Another piece of this thenis I pay myself, just depending
on what our season is between 50to 60% average.
(07:29):
We'll talk about paycheck herein a minute. But I kind of
budget that in my head is gonnabe where I'm shooting for. And
then that gives me about 30% asan operating expense account. So
now I have some goals for myexpenses and I can answer the
question, can I afford that ornot? Well just because there's
money in the account doesn'tmean I can really afford that.
And then of course the last 5%can go to either my emergency
(07:51):
fund, which I've got in a highinterest savings account or my
ASAP IRA, right, my retirementaccount. And so just setting
that up alone and then gettingthat stuff to flow, has just,
it's just nice. Because now I'vebeen doing this long enough, I
kind of have a sense of whatthose averages are gonna be. And
(08:11):
so I can put myself on a twice amonth paycheck, get paid on the
last day of the month. Just soall the money's there right
before the bills hit on thefirst day of the month.
And I get paid and I pay myselfon the fifteenth to handle the
second half of the month bills.And so as income may go up, and
certainly the last couplemonths, just to be honest, it's
been really slow for me. Andactually that's what's convinced
(08:33):
me the system works. Becausethere was grain in the elevator
and because it was coming out ina steady amount, I can still
assign those dollars where Inormally would.
Joe Rando (08:45):
Yep. No, that's cool.
Carly Ries (08:46):
Why do you think it's so hard for solopreneurs to
focus on the business side oftheir business? I mean
obviously, they got into itbecause they wanna be coaches or
they wanna help people. But theydon't get into it because
they're like, I like planningfor my quarterly payments. and
doing that whole side of things.
I mean, why do so many peoplestruggle? And what happens if
(09:07):
they kinda put it on the backburner and focus on the main
part of their business and don'tthink about everything you just
talked about.
Stan Ward (09:14):
So my hunch, Carly, is probably in this show, and
Joe, I bet you're familiar withthis one, The E Myth Revisited.
Are you guys familiar with thatone?
Joe Rando (09:22):
Well, think it's the number one book that's brought
up on this podcast. I'm prettysure.
Stan Ward (09:26):
Yeah, because it's so relevant to the kind of things
we do, right? There's the personwho loves the service side of
the business, then there's aperson that needs to be the
manager of the business, andthen there's the person that
kinda needs to be the executivewho's going out there and
growing the business. And thoseare three different pieces of
ourselves that we have to beable to engage with. And I've
got a system for that later I'dlove to share with you on how I
(09:48):
do that. And so because we tendto become solopreneurs because
we love being on the serviceside of it, yeah, we naturally
put our energy into that, right?
We get energy back. You couldtalk about that as the idea of a
strength, right? How do you knowsomething's a strength? Well, it
gives you reliable results andtends to energize you. And the
problem is, it's kind of like ifI only do curls and I never
(10:12):
extend my tricep, guess what'sgonna happen?
I'm gonna end up looking likethis, right? Because the only
way my arm can fully extend,it's not that my bicep relaxes,
it's that the tricep engages.And so the service person can
only do the service thing andthe way you're gonna be able to
straighten your business out isto have those other
personalities put some tensionon you to keep you on track.
Carly Ries (10:36):
So I do wanna hear your system that you put in
place. But also like how can youget those triceps to kick in?
Stan Ward (10:46):
Oh yeah. Well, sometimes it's just school of
hard knocks. You know, I left a,well, I don't wanna say cushy
job, I left a good job wherethere was good money and good
benefits and I have a family.And boy, was a shock to the
system when all these thingsthat were done behind the scenes
(11:09):
for me, suddenly now I had tofigure out, right? You Know,
when you're part of a largerorganization.
So that's one piece of it. Ithink just like, I recently
started working with a personaltrainer. I'm somewhere in my 50s
and I tell you, I feel ten yearsyounger. It's been great for me.
And I say that to say, yeah, youwill need to partner with
(11:30):
someone or a system that willcreate the discipline to make
sure you're doing those tricepexercises.
That's the only way it's goingto happen. Because just if we're
left to our whimsy, we'll justdo what we wanna do and what
feels good. And for most of us,that's not gonna be managing the
business and it's not gonna begrowing the business.
Carly Ries (11:51):
Okay. So going back to the basics. You were saying
that you figure out what to payyourself. You have extra money
on any given month. You put thatinto retirement.
Well, from a basic level,solopreneurs have a really hard
time pricing their services tobegin with. So how do you coach
them in pricing what they'reworth? And if they've already
(12:11):
gone down the path of pricingthe wrong serve or pricing their
services poorly, how can theyfix it?
Stan Ward (12:17):
Yeah, great question. And so, you know, getting paid
what you're worth is difficult,right? Because most of us are
providing services that havemore value than what the
market's gonna pay us dollar fordollar, Or we do squishy things
coaching, right? And sometimesit's hard to say, okay, this has
the x dollar value.
(12:39):
So what I do, when I work withcoaches, say look, coaching is a
lifestyle business for most ofus. We're doing this because
there's a certain way we want towork in the world, certain
number of hours we wanna work.So rather than starting with
what I think the market will payor what I think a person can
afford, and I'm gonna chargethat. Let's start with what you
(13:01):
need in order to have the lifethat you wanna have. And that
becomes an anchor.
Doesn't mean you're gonna getthat, but that is always the
goal. And then especially withcoaches, because we tend to do
other things like speaking,maybe workshops, possibly
plenary type stuff,facilitation. Then once you
(13:22):
kinda have that base number inplace, there are some formulas
where you can play with thatnumber and then that starts
telling you what you need to be,if not charging now, what you
need to be working toward. Andfor those who are not charging
enough, then it's gonna be ajourney. All right, we're gonna
figure out how to get you there.
(13:45):
If you've got a lot of long termclients, then slowly you're
gonna have to adjust those ratesif you wanna keep them. But
certainly I've encouraged them,any new clients you're taking
on, charge the new rates. Andyou can do that if you don't
have on your website, this iswhat I charge.
Joe Rando (14:01):
Yeah. going back to kind of I don't know if you know
who Marcus Sheridan is, but hewrote they ask you answer, and
he's a proponent of putting yourpricing or the best you can do
in terms of helping peopleunderstand pricing for your
services on your website. Don'tmake them engage, people who
don't wanna engage anymore. AndI do think that if you are
(14:22):
charging now let's just use someround numbers. Let's say you're
charging a $100 an hour, and youreally should be charging a 150,
but you've got a bunch ofgrandfather clients in, and you
put a 150 on your website,they're not gonna complain.
They'll be perfectly fine withthat. You know? It's like so
keep you know, if you if you'rea 150 now, put it on your
website, 150 dollars a sessionor whatever it is, and they're
(14:43):
not gonna argue. And eventually,when you do kinda hit them up
for a price increase, they'regonna be like, oh, you want a
120? Well, it's less than what'son your website.
So I just think that's important
Stan Ward (14:55):
Yeah, good perspective. I also wanna say
for a lot of us too, pricing perhour can be tricky. So I tend to
think in terms of client facinginteraction time, And how many
hours a week do I wanna be faceto face with clients doing some
kind of work? Okay, that thenstarts telling me where I start
(15:18):
creating my anchor, if you will.
I'll just use the term anchorhere. So it's what do I need to
make in order to take care of myfinancial obligations? And okay,
from that, then how many hours aweek do I wanna work? How many
weeks a year do I wanna work?Okay, do some division, right?
And then that comes out toclient facing hours, what I need
(15:40):
to charge. And because I tend tosell packages rather than just
individual hours, that thenhelps me when I go to build my
package, or when I go to buildmy speaking portfolio, that kind
of thing.
Carly Ries (15:52):
Yeah. That's so helpful. But you said something
a little earlier in theinterview that I thought was so
interesting. so let's say theyset their prices, they're
getting paid, they can they cankinda predict what they're gonna
get every month like you weresaying.
But then you're saying you payyourself twice a month. And that
seems so, I don't wanna saycorporate, but it seems so
(16:13):
structured for a solopreneur tobe like, oh, well the first and
the fourteenth of every month,I'm gonna get the paycheck. Why
that mindset? Why do you mindexplaining why you have that
thought process of sticking withthat pattern?
Stan Ward (16:26):
Yeah. Well, you know, for those who have access to
video, maybe just because I'm abig nerd. But besides that, what
I have found is, and it's reallyinteresting that when I would
pay myself just once a month,something about that cash flow
just didn't work quite as wellwith matching up with bills and
(16:48):
things like that, right? And sopart of this is saying, okay, I
make sure there's a certainamount of money in my account in
order to take care of a certainamount of bills, but I'm not
gonna take more out of thataccount than I have to take out,
knowing that it's gonna be doingthis all the time. And so rather
than taking out large chunks,rather than just paying those
(17:09):
quarterly taxes once everyquarter and taking this huge
chunk of change out of mybusiness account and going, oh
my gosh, what am I gonna do?
That grain is just flowing outslow and steady. I can watch
slowly but steady, just thesewaves in what's in that account.
And it doesn't panic me. Youknow, think about if you're
(17:31):
watching your stock account andone day it's here and then the
next day the equivalent ofquarterly taxes are being paid
and wham it goes down here. Whatdo people do?
They panic.
Joe Rando (17:40):
But you know, I just think it's really smart the way
that you're doing this in a kindof an organized and disciplined
fashion that keeps youcomfortable with the
organization and disciplinebecause, you know, it can be
tempting when you're the onlyboss. I remember my dad, he was
in the restaurant business and Iwas a kid and he was talking
about somebody that was reallyirresponsible with their
(18:01):
restaurant. And I said, whatdoes that mean? And he said, oh,
like, he'll just go to the cashregister and grab a few $100 and
go to the racetrack. And I'mlike, really?
And, it would stun me, but thepeople sometimes, you know,
that's an extreme example. But,you know,
you close a big deal, you getsome cash in, in the bank,
and you're like, oh, cool. Youknow? Now all of a sudden, it's
(18:22):
time to whatever, take the tripto Vegas for the long weekend or
something. And it's just thatdiscipline is really smart. I
respect that a lot.
I think it's really smart.
Stan Ward (18:35):
Yeah. And you really are investing in yourself and
investing in the business thatway. Because again, 5% of that
every, every month is goingtoward some sort of investment
account, whether it's a highinterest savings or IRA. And so
that's money going to work tomake money for me, right? And
(18:56):
then again, when I have thoseseasons where things are great,
I don't get greedy because Iknow there'll be seasons when
things are slow.
And I want to be able to enjoylife just as much when things
are slow as I'm able to enjoy itwhen things are great.
Carly Ries (19:09):
That's so great. Well, you're saying to keep
money in your account for thoseexpenses for your business. What
are some expenses that often getoverlooked by solopreneurs or
overdone or any thoughts there?
Stan Ward (19:25):
Yeah. And so I'll speak to kind of the coaching
industry in particular sincethat's what I'm most familiar
with. Right? So it's really easyas coaches to get excited about
continuing education and gettrained on all sorts of systems
and assessments and not have aplan for how we're gonna sell
those things. And you can spenda lot of money and not really
(19:46):
get in, yeah, I feel like I'mbuilding my business, but really
educating myself.
I'm just spending money. And soactually that goes to this
system. Do you mind if I pivot alittle bit to talk about kind of
the daily habits? Yeah. We'llcall it the ABCDs, okay?
So I just came to have thismental ABCD I go through every
day to check myself to make sureI'm covering my bases. So A is
(20:10):
author content, right? As acoach, I wanna make sure I'm
creating, whether it'scurriculums, I'm creating maybe
social media, creating talks,whatever. But every day I'm
contributing in some way to somecontent, some intellectual
property that I'm working on.Then B is build business.
Building business means newpeople or new money. A new
(20:31):
product is not buildingbusiness. Building business is
new people or new money. And soI make sure that daily I'm doing
something that's eitherconnecting me with new people.
It may be connecting me to acentered influence, Somebody who
connects with the kind of peoplethat I wanna coach and just
building that relationship.
It may be building business,getting money in the sense of
(20:53):
I'm sending out invoices or I'msending out a proposal. But it's
easy for me to procrastinate.And so I have found by making
sure that when I look at mychecklist, I've got a B on there
somewhere. Okay, I'm taking careof things. C then is my client
relationships.
Those are so important. That'swhat's gonna keep you in
business. And so sometimes it'sfollowing up on my calendar and
(21:14):
saying, oh, so and so, it's beena month and they haven't
rescheduled. So I need to gocheck on them and see what's
going on. It could be it'ssomebody's birthday, so I reach
out or something like that.
Hey, I saw this great thing onsocial media. Congratulations,
looks like you're having fun. Dis develop self. So that goes
out to the burnout piece, right?Self development can include
(21:37):
professional development, but italso includes the things you
have to do just to maintainyourself because there is a
psychology to being anentrepreneur.
Yes, it is hard. And yes, it canbe so overwhelming when you look
at the tasks and the challengesand try to figure out the market
and just all that stuff. So wehave to be intentional about
(21:59):
disciplines that help help us bestrong from the inside out. And
then I like to say on the dayswhere I have ABCD in place, then
E, I just enjoy.
Carly Ries (22:11):
I love that. you seem very process oriented,
which I obviously think is good,one, as a coach, but also now
that you're talking about,finances with coaches, it's also
a good thing. So I'm curious,what is it as it relates to
building that business, what'sone small but like a high impact
(22:31):
action a coach can take likeright now or this week? To start
becoming more profitable.
Stan Ward (22:37):
So I went through this with someone who's going
through my profitable coachbusiness this morning. So that
client, we sat down and we ransome numbers, looked at some
things. He was in a place wherehis expenses were not gonna
allow him to pay the kind ofsteady paycheck we've already
talked about. But we didrealize, you know what, you can
put aside an average of 5% intoa high interest savings or that
(23:01):
retirement plan. And then that'sa little bit of money that goes
to work making more money.
I think if you can just startdoing that, you'll be pleased
with what you see a year fromnow.
Carly Ries (23:12):
I think this is such an important reminder for Mid
year, when people are kind ofreflecting on the past six
months, they they have half theyear to go and they're kind of
rethinking not only theirbusiness but their finances. I
just think this episode cannothave been recorded at a better
time. And so, Stan, you helppeople not only find success
(23:33):
financially, but avoidingburnout and everything. So we
have to ask you, what is yourfavorite quote about success?
Stan Ward (23:38):
On both counts, both the burnout piece and
financially, you have to definesuccess for yourself. Because
you'll exhaust yourself ifyou're chasing someone else's
dream. That's just something Itry to tell people all the time,
whether it's clients, or evenmyself. You know, whose dream am
I chasing?
Joe Rando (24:01):
Yep. That's very good advice.
Carly Ries (24:04):
Stan, where can people find out more about you
if they want to learn more?
Stan Ward (24:08):
Yeah. So I would encourage you take a look at my
LinkedIn, Stanley j Ward. Greatplace to connect with me or my
coaching website, which iscoachingforinfluence.com. A lot
of letters, That's why I sayStanley J Ward on LinkedIn a
(24:30):
whole lot easier.
Carly Ries (24:31):
I was like, let's turn the spelling into a song.
All of that will in be our shownotes as well.
Stan Ward (24:38):
Oh, good. Yeah and in fact, if we do have show notes,
then I'd love to add a link to aquiz that I use for folks. It's
a self assessment that'll letyou know what percentage of this
system you've already got inplace, and it'll give you a
sense of what you need to donext.
Carly Ries (24:52):
Awesome. Yep. Send that our way and we will be sure
to include them. But Stan, thankyou so so much for coming on
today.
Stan Ward (25:00):
Yeah. Carly, Joe, you guys have really been wonderful
hosts. I really do appreciateit.
Carly Ries (25:05):
And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As
always, leave that five starreview, share this episode with
a friend, and subscribe on yourfavorite platform, including
YouTube. And we will see younext time on The Aspiring
Solopreneur. You may be goingsolo in business, but that
doesn't mean you're alone.
In fact, millions of people arein your shoes, running a one
(25:26):
person business and figuring itout as they go. So why not
connect with them and learn fromeach other's successes and
failures? At LifeStarr, we'recreating a one person business
community where you can go tomeet and get advice from other
solopreneurs. Be sure to join inon the conversations at
community.lifestarr.com.
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