I am thrilled to announce that the Hourly to Exit Podcast has reached its 100th episode! As I take a step back for the summer to revamp and rebrand, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has been a part of this incredible journey. When the podcast returns in the fall, expect a fresh title and renewed focus on what matters most—protecting your expertise for scalable and profitable growth.

Here are three key takeaways from this episode:

• Importance of Legal Protection for Leverage: Without the right legal protections, creating leverage is nearly impossible. Ensuring your intellectual property is safeguarded enables you to grow your business legally, safely, and profitably.
• Transitioning to a Scalable Business Model: Moving away from an hourly billing model to a scalable and potentially saleable business model is essential for long-term growth. This involves standardizing processes, leveraging intellectual property, and developing products that can generate income independent of your time.
• Focus on Expertise-Based Niches: Specializing in protecting expertise-based businesses, particularly those working with corporate clients, allows for more targeted and effective solutions. Owning and managing your intellectual property correctly can greatly enhance your market position and profitability.

As we close this chapter, I am excited about the new horizons ahead and eager to continue providing value in protecting your expertise. Thank you for your unwavering support!

Stay tuned, and remember, IP is fuel. 💡🔥

Connect with Erin to learn how to use intellectual property to increase your income and impact. hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Hourly to Exit is Sponsored By:

This week’s episode of Hourly to Exit is sponsored by the NDA Navigator. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are the bedrock of protecting your business's confidential information. However, facing a constant stream of NDAs can be overwhelming, especially when time and budget constraints prevent you from seeking full legal review. That's where the NDA Navigator comes to your rescue. Designed specifically for entrepreneurs, consultants, and business owners with corporate clients, the NDA Navigator is your guide to understanding, negotiating, and implementing NDAs. Empower yourself with legal insights and practical tools when you don’t have the time or funds to invest in a full legal review. Get 20% off by using the coupon code “H2E”.  You can find it at www.protectyourexpertise.com.

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

today is

an exciting

milestone

for the

hourly

to exit

podcast.

This is

episode

100, and

it is also

the last

episode, at

least for

now, I'll be

taking the

summer off.

And when I

return in

the fall,

we will have

a new title

and a new

brand that

reflects the

evolution of

my thinking

over the

last three

years.

It's hard

to believe

it's been 3

years since

I started

podcast.

So I love to

talk about

the hourly

to exit

journey,

moving

from that

unscalable

hourly

billing

model to

moving to

a revenue

model that

is scalable.

And to build

a business

that we can

hopefully

sell

someday.

But if

you've been

hanging

around here

for a little

while, you

know, that

my focus has

really been

on the legal

protections

required

to create

leverage.

So no

protection,

no leverage

that has

been kind

of the drum

I've been

beating

on a lot.

And so

looking

forward,

expect

to find a

lot more

information

that's Lane,

which is

that legal

protection

regarding

creating

leverage.

It's better

for you.

I can really

give you

a lot more

value from

focusing

on your

questions.

And I get

lots of

questions

about, how

to, make

sure you're

protecting

your

expertise.

And it

also helps

me better

define

my market

position,

the hourly

to exit

title.

Great title,

love that

title, but

people think

I'm an exit

planner

sometimes,

or they

think I'm

a business

coach and

I am not.

I am a

lawyer.

So speaking

of business

coaches

and exit

planners,

those

are great

referral

partners.

I love

working

with them.

it is not.

Possible

to build

a scalable

or saleable

expertise

based

business

without

having

those legal

protections

in place

using the

power of

intellectual

property

law and

contracts.

So we make

perfect

partners.

I just love

the title.

I really

like it.

It's so

cool.

and I really

like it, but

at the end

of the day,

I really

do want to

make sure,

you know,

being clear

is always

better

than being

clever.

I know a

wise man

told me

that, I

think it

was Jonathan

Stark

actually.

And speaking

of which,

when I first

chose the

title hourly

exit, it was

in response

to something

that

Jonathan

said about

creating

that solar

system

that you

talk about.

And when you

are starting

a podcast

you're

thinking,

how am I

going to

find enough

topics to

talk about.

looking at

this blank

screen of,

deciding

What you're

going to

talk about

week in and

week out,

having the

biggest

solar system

possible

made a lot

of sense.

And there

was some

comfort in

it, by going

with hourly

to exit

everything

from that

entire

journey, to

selling the

business.

and so it

made a ton

of sense,

but now as.

My work with

you has,

developed,

getting

feedback

from you,

hearing

the things

that you're

worried

about, the

questions

that you

have, it

has made it

really clear

that my

focus should

be really

digging

in on the

protection

of your

expertise.

now the

future

content will

emit from

a single

bright star.

And that

is, you how.

To protect

your

expertise

so that you

can grow

legally,

safely, and

profitably.

And those

three

elements

growing

legally, we

think about,

do I own

what I think

I own, and

if I don't

own it, do

I have the

right to

use it very

important

to make sure

that you

have the

legal rights

to use the

elements

in your

training

or product.

And I talk

about.

the

increased

risk when

we move from

one on one

services

to one to

several to

one to many.

So it's

really

important

to make

sure we have

the legal

rights to

use those

elements,

safely.

We want

to be able

to get

our ideas

out there

without

losing

control

of them.

People

play small

because

they're

afraid

people are

going to

steal their

stuff.

How do we

make sure

that you can

grow safely?

And we want

to make sure

we have the

protections

in place to

make sure

that our

competitors

and our

clients

aren't using

or reusing

Our work

without our

permission

or without

getting

paid for it.

And then we

want to be

able to grow

profitably.

That's when

we get the

leverage

piece.

How do

we create

income

streams

that are

decoupled

from our

time?

And the

only way

to do that,

of course,

is through

intellectual

property

assets.

that is our

profitability

piece.

So for old

time sakes,

before I

retire the

hourly to

exit title

completely,

I wanted

to give you

an update

on what's

happening

and think

beyond IP

and, kind

of going

through the

hourly to

exit self

assessment.

So I was

looking in

my notes

and the last

time I did

this was

February

2022.

Where did

the last two

and a half

years go?

if you

are not

familiar,

the hourly

to exit,

self

assessment

is a

beautiful

graphic.

I'm going

to share

my screen

if you're

watching

this on

YouTube.

that has

it, but, if

you don't

have it,

if you're

listening

to this on

audio only,

I'll have

links to

it in the

show notes.

And of

course,

anywhere

you find the

podcast on

YouTube, on

LinkedIn,

it is a

graphic that

illustrates

through 19

different

variables,

what the

indicators

are, where

you are on

that hourly

to exit

journey.

Are you

still

at that

unsustainable

freelance

model?

Or have you

moved along

to more

sustainable

expertise

based All

the way to

the fully

saleable,

complete

independence

from the

owner

ownership of

assets that

can be sold,

revenue,

visibility,

client

diversity,

all sorts of

good things.

And so that

is what it

looks at.

So where is

think beyond

IP on this

journey?

and here

are the 19

variables.

Starting

from

unsustainable,

the

freelancer

model,

operator

model,

CEO model,

and legacy

model.

And these

are kind

of your

mindsets.

What kind

of business

are you

thinking of

yourself as?

So where

am I?

right now

I am moving

from the

operator

mindset

to the CEO

mindset.

And why am

I kind of

stuck here?

I am a

lawyer and I

am the only

lawyer in

my business.

I absolutely

have a team.

I depend

on them

very much.

but I'm kind

of stuck

here so long

as I am the

only lawyer

providing

legal

services.

but what

I am

transitioning

to is really

building

out, my

team,

especially

with respect

to the

things that

I don't

have to be

a lawyer

for that.

You don't

have to be a

lawyer for.

I am still

doing too

much of the

marketing

and too

much,

frankly, of

the sales.

And so I

am going

to build a

marketing

and sales

function

that

requires

less of me

and lets

me kind

of stay up

here at the

CEO level.

on the

authority,

I, uh, Am

viewed as

a business

partner.

Actually,

I just,

kind of

mentioned,

earlier,

the way I

think about

working

with,

business

coaches,

and exit

planners

is that I'm

not just the

lawyer, but

I'm also the

person that

can help

get results

for the end

clients.

They

recognize

as an

authority.

Obviously,

I do this

stuff all

the time.

I talk

everywhere

and creating

more content

to help

build the

authority.

I like to

think that,

when I look

at niche and

specialization

that I

really have,

unlike many

lawyers.

Created this

niche of

expertise

based

business,

especially

those who

work with

corporate

clients.

I have my

career.

I've been

working

with large

corporate

clients.

So I really

understand

their

issues and

obviously

the

intellectual

property

issues

as well.

So, both

niche and

expertise.

specialization,

I do think

I am working

my way

into the

authority

there, the

business

model.

this is

a tough

1 again,

because of

the legal

service,

what's

the legal

services?

I do have

some.

Productized

services,

that are

solution

based, but

in some ways

they're also

time based.

And that is,

something

that I am

working on

is really

to get away

from any

time based

solutions.

I don't

bill hourly,

but I do

sometimes

price things

with a rough

estimate

of how

long it not

completely,

but there's

something in

there that

still Gets

me so I am

working on

completely

decoupling

my pricing

from time.

my

exclusivity.

as we

speak, I'm

developing

a number

of, Products

that will

be available

for sale,

that will,

be exclusive

to me.

And so

I will,

register

them, for

copyright

protection

and those

will be

mine.

they'll

have enough,

creativity

that they're

eligible for

copyright

protection.

And so I'm

definitely

working

on the

saleable end

for that.

For

visibility,

definitely

better.

Like I can

pretty much

predict how

many leads

I'm going

to get and,

understand

what my

sales

will be.

I don't have

complete

visibility

cause it's

definitely

referral

based.

I'm very

referral

based.

Or, know,

people who

will follow

me for a

while and

then they'll

be ready.

So it's not

something

that I can

turn on and

off like

you can,

like someone

who has a

very large,

audience,

they can

kind of

turn it on.

They

can say,

okay, I'm

launching

something

and they

can turn it

on and they

can have it.

And I

don't have

that yet.

I'm in the

scalable

right now.

Standardization.

This is a

big part

of creating

my team.

lots of,

and I am

the worst

at this,

but that's

what the

team is for.

And we have

lots of, S.

O.

P.

S.

that we're

putting in

place and

standardizing

some issues.

So I'm

feeling

pretty good.

We're not

manuals.

Well, I

guess,

you know,

if it's

digital,

it's in

click up.

I guess that

makes it

a manual.

we're kind

of between

scalable

and scalable

here.

absolutely.

professional

liability

insurance

is a must

when you're

a lawyer.

and then

also risk

mitigation.

That's

something

that I

think about

as I have

products

that.

Provide

legal

education,

but don't

provide

legal

services.

So that is

definitely

part of the

next stage.

I did

it again

delegation.

Also, my

revenue

generating

tasks are

mostly legal

services.

I'm the

only lawyer.

So, as I.

Develop

products

that don't

require me

and a team

that can

sell them.

I will

definitely

be moving

over from

scalable to

saleable,

client

concentration.

again, the

more variety

of the ways

you can

engage with

me, the more

diverse my

client base

will be.

If it's Only

me, then

there's a

certain,

you know,

fee involved

with that.

And I'm

going to

have fewer

clients,

but as I

have more

variety of

offers, then

my, client

base will

get more

diverse,

profitability,

increases

in revenue

results and

increases in

profitability.

there are

ways to

do that.

Also while

providing

one on one

services, I

can still,

increase my

profitability

by having

those

services,

the.

Better I

get at them,

the more

efficiently

I can

deliver

them.

The more

I can read

my client's

minds and

get to the

solution

quicker.

And that

increases

profits.

So it's not

just about

products.

It's also

just about

becoming

more

efficient,

always sign

contracts.

And I

do have

standardized

ones as

well.

effective

use of

automation.

I realized

that I

created

this, you

know, two

and a half

years ago

before AI

was really

a thing.

and I

do, have

implemented

some AI in

my business,

mostly

regarding,

when I

think about

some of my

content, I

use it as

a starting

point,

obviously,

I mean, you

know, my

voice and

you know,

what, comes,

what gets

published

is different

than what I

got out of

AI, but I

do use it.

And I use

it to think

through

something.

Sometimes

I'm not

anti AI, as

you know,

and you can

effectively

use

automation.

expertise

based

services.

Yes, that is

absolutely.

what.

I am working

on both

in what

I provide

directly

to clients

and in the

products

that I

will be

developing a

standardized

sales

pipeline

and process.

that is

something

that I'm

working on.

That will be

part of the

marketing

team that's

coming

on that

will get

a better,

process

in place.

Leveraged

business

model.

yeah, I left

behind the

hourly based

a while ago.

So I do

have the

leveraged

business

model

through,

kind of

having

productized

services.

I still

tend to

like someone

needs

something

that's a

little bit

custom.

I'll still

do that.

We're

working with

corporate

client,

your B2B

client with

corporate

clients and

the issues

regarding

your

copyright,

know,

protecting

your

expertise.

I'm still

sticking in

that so I

can create

a leveraged

business

models

around

that and

paid upon

engagement.

All my

engagements,

you pay me

in advance

to book the

time and my.

Income

decoupled

from

founder's

time.

it's not

completely

decoupled

from my

time again,

because I'm

the only

lawyer.

So as I move

into some of

these, other

offerings,

then I will

be moving

over there

as well.

So again,

you can

get this

assessment.

On the

website

and all

the places.

If you

can't find

it, just

email me and

we'll get

it to you.

So have a

wonderful

summer.

I'm looking

forward to

coming back

with some

new ideas.

in the fall,

of course,

I'm always

happy to

hear your

ideas and

what you'd

like to hear

more of.

and thanks

again for

hanging out

with me for

the last 100

episodes.

don't forget

IP is fuel.