A lot can happen in 12 days!

• Miracle on Ice Hockey Tournament
• Iranian Hostage Crisis
• 12 days of the Warsaw Uprising
• Battle of Stalingrad Soviet Counteroffensive Operation Uranus
• Time since I officially left Brookfield

In this time, I have: shared my journey on LinkedIn, worked through my exit packet and signed up for COBRA, managed my time using Todo and Motion, monitored growth metrics, collaborated with Upwork clients, launched the DemographIQ beta program, conducted user interviews, and planned to create Excel tutorials on YouTube.

Emotional Impact

My departure didn't feel real until I shared it on LinkedIn, which probably sounds silly, but to me, it's a way to publicly embrace the person I'm choosing to be. I want to be an entrepreneur and consultant, and I'm excited to tell people! On the emotional side, I was nervous to announce my life update, but I'm glad I did it, and it's been great to receive support from so many people.

One of my friends, a consultant, has been particularly helpful. He passed along overflow work and helped me grow my consulting hours from 0% of my weekly target in the first week to 25% in the second week. Now, I'm already lined up for 100% of my weekly target in the third week. Despite this success, I still experience small waves of anxiety. This consulting work is certainly "eat what you kill," and every consulting hour has another 30 minutes of networking, interviewing, and marketing behind it. Balancing work and relaxation, like during Easter, is a challenge I'll have to tackle long-term.

Administrative Slog

I spent a day and a half on administrative tasks, such as working through my exit packet and signing up for healthcare via COBRA. Although it was a slog, it forced me to evaluate my time management skills. To control my time, I use Microsoft Todo to dump ideas and Motion to plan my calendar. This approach not only saves me an hour per day but also relieves anxiety.

Time Management and Control

As I wrote in my inaugural post, the main driver for this career leap was to fully control my time. So, how am I controlling that time? Well first, I'm keeping in mind that life is finite, every moment is precious, and the time I spend with the people I love is just as dear. That said, I love building businesses, so I am happy to say that everything I'm doing right now feels entirely with my life's calling, even if it's a bit overwhelming. Here's my actual workflow for time management:

First, I use Microsoft Todo as a convenient place to dump ideas so I don't forget them. I regularly go through this list to delete ideas or transition them to my calendar. If I don't think I'll tackle a task within the next two weeks, I simply remove it.

Next, I use Motion for tasks that I believe I will complete within a two-week timeframe. I only need to transfer tasks to Motion every few days, as the app quickly populates my calendar. Motion essentially puts my calendar on autopilot. I provide the app with task deadlines, urgency levels, time estimates, and information about recurring tasks and their frequencies. I also input my preferred schedules for different types of tasks and allow people to book meetings within my designated time slots.

Using Motion not only saves me about an hour each day, but it also alleviates anxiety. With this efficient system for allocating my time, I can trust that everything is organized and under control.

Metrics and growth

Here's a quick look at my analytics on the main platforms. The most exciting growth has been the DemographIQ beta sign-ups. I've had 49 leads for free on Twitter, which would have cost me at least $1,000 on Facebook Ads. I'm testing Google Ads now and hoping to bring down that cost of conversion.

Upwork clients and Experiences

Upwork is currently my only source of income, and I'm expecting revenue to stabilize to 50% Upwork and 50% referrals. I've had two clients so far. One involves doctors in northeastern suburbs buying the building where they rent 75% of the floorplate, and the other is writing a Property Management Plan for an industrial building in Seattle. Upwork requires a lot of grind, especially when starting, but it's great to have people like my consultant friend who share initial projects and help me get positive reviews.

For those who don't know, Upwork is a platform where people list jobs for hourly rates and fixed price budgets. Then people like me apply to those jobs, and the Upwork algorithm ranks us in a list showing our face, names, tagline, percentage success rating, and total dollars earned on the platform. As those stats increase, so does your hit rate. Starting can be a bit of a Catch-22, so it's great to have people like my consultant friend who share initial projects to get those positive reviews rolling in.

DemographIQ Development

Launching the DemographIQ Beta Program has been an exciting process. I've conducted five user interviews and gathered valuable feedback, which has helped me better understand the needs of potential users. So far, I've had 49 beta sign-ups and spoken with six individuals. In exchange for my Beta users' active participation and feedback, I've offered to develop projects that match their requested features.

The individuals I've interviewed represent a diverse range of Commercial Real Estate professionals, including an investor focused on necessity retail uses such as pharmacies, QSRs, auto services, and farm supply stores; a data-driven investor interested in a tool that can screen markets from both top-down and bottom-up perspectives; an NYC-based sponsor looking to identify the next up-and-coming location and the best asset classes to build or acquire within that area; two NNN investors interested in a marketplace that pairs them with tenants seeking funding; and a full-time CRE tenant representative broker focused on restaurants and retailers, interested in a tool that can analyze existing tenant locations and match their demographic DNA against untapped locations.

As for the DemographIQ platform's status and next steps, I plan to consolidate the user interviews and prioritize the features accordingly. I will then edit the design docs to incorporate the latest feedback from the user interviews. Finally, I aim to kick off the design process 2.0 early next week by collaborating with my design partners.

YouTube Plans

This coming week, I want to record and publish a five-minute LBO tutorial. This would allow me to help people in need, showcase my skills for potential clients, and generally market myself to a wider audience.

That's It for This Week!

In conclusion, the past 12 days have been an exciting and transformative journey as I embrace my new path as an entrepreneur and consultant. Sharing my story on LinkedIn has helped me gain support from friends and the professional community. I've made significant progress on multiple fronts: time management, client work, launching the DemographIQ beta program, and planning my YouTube content. Although there have been challenges along the way, such as overcoming the initial administrative hurdles and navigating the "eat what you kill" nature of consulting, I'm grateful for the support I've received and the opportunities that lie ahead.

As I continue to refine my time management and focus on building businesses, I'm reminded that life is finite and that I must cherish every moment, both personally and professionally. I'm thrilled to witness the growth of DemographIQ and my consulting practice and look forward to diving deeper into these ventures. Through platforms like Upwork and the support of my network, I'm confident in my ability to achieve success in this new chapter of my life.

In the coming weeks, I will prioritize consolidating user feedback from DemographIQ interviews, refining the platform's features, and collaborating with design partners. Additionally, I plan to create and publish valuable content on YouTube to help others and showcase my skills to a broader audience. This is just the beginning, and I can't wait to see what the future holds as I pursue my life's calling.