I share writing & editing lessons so entrepreneurs & founders can attract + convert high-value clients | Edited 3M+ words | Former Head of Content | Running on seltzer 🤩

I help solopreneurs and founders turn their scattered expertise into content that drives business. AKA, I get you out of the "recognition gap."

If you're stuck in the recognition gap, your content probably isn't making people think, "Holy sh*t, I need to work with this person."

I've been there.

After 4.5 years as Head of Content, I went solo and made every mistake in the book: scattered messaging, feast-or-famine revenue cycles, content that got likes but zero leads, relying on referrals like my business depended on it (cuz it did).

Then I had my 'aha!' moment: Stop trying to be known for everything. Own one specific problem so I can become the obvious solution. 

What I do now:

🏴‍☠️Duo Consulting: We help solopreneurs standardize, market, and sell their consulting offers

📈 How Solos Scale: Podcast, newsletter, and mini books for solos stuck in the recognition gap and keen to scale from $20K+ to $50K+ per month

📚 Cut the Fluff Newsletter: Exploring how solopreneurs and founders can cut the fluff in their content, business, and life

A few milestones for good measure:

→ Built a 90K+ audience in 3 years
→ Sold multi-six figures in courses to 2100+ students
→ Helped dozens of clients land $45K+ deals and scale to high six and seven figures. 

My philosophy: Your expertise and the way you frame the problem you solve is your edge. Let's package it into an offer your ICP knows, likes, and buys. 

✉️ Weekly insights: Cut the Fluff newsletter, How Solos Scale podcast 
🎯 Work with me: Duo Consulting 2:1 program 

Book a call: Duoconsulting.co

Erica Schneider

The real work behind LinkedIn “inbound” is outbound.

LIES: You just post consistently and watch the inbound roll in. (Especially if you sell services.)

TRUTH: You post content to open engagement loops. Then you close those loops yourself by starting real conversations. First in the comments, then in DMs.

Of course pure inbound exists. I get inbound leads often.

But that’s only after years of time here and, regardless, relying 100% on inbound means you’re leaving so many deals in the dust. So yeah I get inbound but I also start DM conversations all the time. 

Take our client Brian.

Brian spends about 7 hours a week starting conversations.

He has roughly 20 going at any time.

He gets a 30% booked call rate from those conversations.

And he makes a lot of f*cking money. 

(He loves making a lot of money but that's just Brian. The actual amount isn't the point. Having enough money to love your life is the point. And that requires getting clients.)

Regardless of how crazy Brian is (HI BRIAN) you do need to find a biz dev situation that works for you. 

And that number needs to be higher than 0 hours a week.

Cuz whether you like it or not, when you work for yourself, biz dev is literally part of your job description. 

You should be spending ~1/3 of your time on it. 

Especially if you’re in services. Services = the relationship business.

You don’t need thousands of people to become customers. You need 2-10 clients per quarter.

So TLDR:

-Posts open engagement loops
-The DMs close them
-Sometimes prospects start those conversations
-But you also need to send DMs
-Yes, inbound is possible
-But even so, stop waiting
-Go do biz dev 
-Cuz you run a business
-And you need clients to pay you to keep running said business

That’s the game. Love it or hate it.

Offer design & content for scaling solopreneurs | Co-Founder @ Duo Consulting | Running on seltzer 🤩

My twins are 3 today. I was really scared of becoming a parent cuz I wasn’t sure I’d be any good with little kids. Turns out, “good” doesn’t mean good at playing silly games or doing funny voices or making some crafty thing they’ll obsess over. It means loving them even when you suck at all the above. So by those standards, I’m doing pretty great. They also make me wanna bang my head against a wall but I’ve never loved anyone who doesn’t make me wanna do that from time to time so. 

TLDR: loving them hard = good enough ❤️

No alternative text description for this image

I get this question a lot so here's the answer: 7 months. That's how long it took for me to shift my audience upmarket.

7 months ago, most of my connection requests + engagements were coming from content people, freelancers, writers. 

Today, most of them are coming from founders, co-founders, senior marketers in-house.

Other FAQs + answers:

-Yes, my engagement dropped for a few months during the shift
-No, this did not impact my business
-In fact, I'm making more MoM revenue (consistently) than ever before

How I did it:

-Shifted from talking purely about content to growing and scaling your solo biz + occasionally how to do that with content
-Shifted away from "how to" content and focused more heavily on marketing the problem
-Vigorously followed our MP3 framework, focusing on my new ICP (market the problem, process, proof)
-Posted LESS often, but higher impact
-Still comment the same amount

TLDR: My upmarket audience doesn't need to know how to do things themselves. They need to know that:

1) Someone deeply understands their problem
2) Has a process to solve it
3) Has proof that the process works
4) A reliable partner exists to help them scale their biz

How to content is wonderful for engagement and teachable moments but if you're a service provider, in my experience, it's going to attract downmarket buyers who aren't ready/don't have the cash to invest. 

(Doesn't mean don't do it, but instead wrap it in your process rather than a viral teachable moment)

"OK, I get MP3 (Problem, Process, Proof). But what about the personal stuff?"

We've had this conversation at least a dozen times since releasing MP3.

Fair question.

Some of the most magnetic solos on LinkedIn share way more than their frameworks. They share their kids, their existential crises, their "I don't have this figured out" admissions. And it works for them.

So is that a fourth P? And do you need it?

Here's what we've landed on: MP3 is required. MP4 is optional.

MP3 = problem, process, proof
MP4 = problem, process, proof, parasocial

My co-founder Nick Bennett 🏴‍☠️ doesn't do parasocial content. It's not his thing. Hasn't hurt his business. 

Last month, Anthony Pierri admitted he's never posted a personal thing ever. He's got a massive audience and a highly successful business.

I do share parasocial content. The parenting chaos, the mindset work, the unfiltered admissions. It's part of how I connect. But it ONLY works because MP3 is already there.

The trap I see people fall into is when parasocial runs ahead of the foundational stuff.

People get to know you, but not the problem you solve.

So they like you. Maybe enough to get on a call. The vibes are there. But they were never sold on what you do or how you help, so it ends with "let me think about it," and then they never hire you. They keep engaging with your stuff cuz vibes, but yeah, they're not opening their wallet.

The takeaway:

People need to care about the problem you solve in order to hire you. Caring about you may bring them into your world, but it will not make they give you money.

SO how do you decide whether to do parasocial content or leave it?

I went into more detail in my newsletter, so go check it out.

https://lnkd.in/eT78bQ3p

A warning: I know solos with 50K, 60K, 70K followers making less than our clients with 2,000.

Because they built an audience of consumers, not buyers. People who love free education. People who leave "omg this is gold" comments and would never in a million years pay $5K a month for anything.

Once you're known for being known, it's very hard to reprogram yourself because the feedback loop is brutal:

-The personal content gets engagement 
-The dopamine hits 
-You wake up the next day and play again
-More dopamine 
-A month later, you realize you haven't done any problem, process, or proof content 
-A client churns
-"I need a client" 
-So you write something about the problem you solve 
-It gets 10 likes instead of 200 
-You feel like shit because it "didn't perform"
-And now you're trapped

Stuck craving dopamine and money and having no idea how to satiate those needs in tandem.

I am speaking from personal experience because this was me a year ago.

So here's what I've learned, and I hope this helps:

The dopamine isn't real. The money is.

That said, you can have both. You can post the personal stuff, have fun, make jokes, share the chaos. But it has to be layered on top of a foundation, not instead of one.

And yeah, reprogramming yourself to care less about likes and more about income is uncomfortable. 

You have to watch posts "flop" and not spiral. 

You have to trust that the 10-like post about the problem you solve is doing more for your business than the 200-like post about your morning routine.

It takes time. It takes intention. It takes looking at your bank account instead of your impressions.

But it works. I'm proof. Nick's proof. Our clients are proof.

I wrote more about this in my newsletter yesterday. Go read it if this resonates.

https://lnkd.in/eX3iMWQ7

First time I ever met Louis Grenier was on his podcast. It was the most fun I'd ever had being interviewed. His fiery no BS questions aligned perfectly with my fiery no BS personality. 

Naturally, we moved our friendship to WhatsApp. Actually I think we facetimed at first, but I digress.

We both had (have) toddlers. We both have our own businesses. We both are epic.

Anyways, when he started his community a few months back, he asked if I'd come be a guest speaker.

"DUH OF COURSE ANY TIME," I replied.

And so, alas, that time is tomorrow. And apparently it's the most RSVPed event so far. 

"NO PRESSURE," he says. 

"I EAT PRESSURE FOR BREAKFAST," I reply.

Or I just what I said in the screenshot but I thought that.

So yeah are you coming? Because Louis is giving away a free 7 day trial offer for his community just so you can come hang with us.

Comment "NO PRESSURE" and I'll give you the link. 

(I'm also just gonna post the link below but hey, engagement bait is always FUN)

Workshop topic: How to turn LinkedIn likes into money (cuz engagement doesn't pay the bills)

See you there!

https://lnkd.in/eAp6WyPj

Hey service providers: If you're constantly drained by your clients, it's not because you're bad at boundaries or because you need to "toughen up."

It's because you're attracting parachute seekers when you want to work with partners.

Here's the difference:

🪂 Parachute seekers want you to do the hard work for them. 

-They need validation on every decision. 

-They second-guess every move. 

-They're ultimately looking for someone to save them.

🤝 Partner seekers know it's going to be hard, but they thrive when they push themselves out of their comfort zone. 

-They just need a guide. 

-Someone to go back and forth with. 

-They're strong, they trust themselves (despite having limiting beliefs), and they want you in their corner as they figure it out.

Here's the rub:

The way you describe your work determines which type of person shows up.

If you lead with failure indicators (everything that's broken, everything that's not working, how bad things are), you'll attract parachute seekers. 

People who are scared, stuck, and don't have the resources (financial or emotional) to actually do the work.

If you lead with success indicators (what they've already built, what they're ready to scale, where they're headed next), you'll attract partner seekers. 

People who are ready, resourced, and capable of executing.

Same problem you solve. Different frame. Completely different client.

Nick Bennett 🏴‍☠️ and I work exclusively with partner seekers. 

People doing consistent $20K months who want to scale to $50K+. 

People who have already proven they can build something, and now they need help optimizing it.

The work is the same. The conversations are completely different.

It all starts with how you frame the problem you solve. Which is why "problem framing" is always the first step in our program.

(Followed closely by engagement model, POV & positioning, then business vision.)

We're gonna write and podcast more about this over the next few weeks, so subscribe to the stuff and things (in my profile).

Or reach out if you're our ICP and looking for your next partner in your scaling journey.

I've fallen down an N8N rabbit hole and I'm not coming back up. I vibe coded so hard last week my arm started tingling (not in a good way).

These 5 workflows are saving us a disgusting amount of time:

Context: I'm using Claude side-by-side with N8N to help me map out the workflows and write the code for them. I have no idea what the f*ck I'm doing, but it works.

1. Meeting recap automation

When a meeting ends, the Fathom link gets sent to a Notion database, which triggers Claude's API to create a structured recap, then sends it to the right Slack channel automatically.

2. Meeting pre-agenda

Looks at my calendar for the next day, finds just client meetings, pulls up the most recent call transcript, which triggers Claude's API to create a structured agenda, and sends it to the right Slack channel.

3. Sales call to HubSpot

Anytime a sales call gets booked, it creates a new deal in HubSpot and sends us a Slack message with their form details.

4. Voice of customer from sales calls

Grabs the transcript after every sales call and runs it through a prompt that extracts: context about them, direct quotes, pain points, desired outcomes, current solutions, urgency/triggers, and objections. All automatically organized in Notion.

5. Client meeting insights

After every client call, it captures: breakthroughs they had, blockers they're facing, limiting beliefs that surfaced, and content ideas based on what we discussed.

(Bonus) 6. Slack channel history past 7 days

Get all the messages (including threaded messages) from the past 7 days summarized so you know wtf you actually talked to clients about async over the past week. So helpful.

We're about to roll some of these into client workspaces too. They don't even know it yet. Just gonna appear. 

Just sharing because this is genuinely fun. And sharing actually good AI use cases makes the world a better place.

Anyone built anything else genuinely useful in N8N? Or Zapier, which I can just translate into N8N.

PS. I can't stress enough that I am not a developer or ops person so if there are manual ways to do this that are cheaper/better than N8N I'm not interested cuz I have no idea what I'm doing k thx.

"Should I do this?" is a question I bet you've asked yourself 400 times this month with no one to answer.

This is the part of solo life that sucks, tbh. The loneliness tax. The way every decision lives in your head, bouncing around, never landing.

“Should I raise my prices. Should I fire this client. Should I take this call. Should I pivot. Should I hire. Should I wait.”

The longer you sit with them, the heavier they get. Until the thing that would've taken five minutes to decide becomes this massive weight you've been dragging around for months.

Yes, you can join a community. I'm in a few. They help. But there's nothing like one-on-one attention for your problems. It just hits different.

Which is why this is my favorite "I didn't know how bad I needed this" problem we solve for clients. 

Yes we have a foundational program to standardize your offer, apply our MP3 content framework, elevate the problem you solve, improve your sales talk track. All the critical stuff.

But my favorite moments are the ones where clients have been agonizing over whether or not to fire a shitty client, we talk for 20 minutes, they fire them that week, and feel so free.

Or when they've been thinking about hiring a contractor for six months, we clarify what they actually need, and they post the job the next day.

It's an unintended benefit, but a few clients have started calling us their non-equity co-founders. 

Cuz lez be real, most solos don't have the luxury of bringing in equity partners to help them scale, or hiring a COO or a co-founder to share the load.

Boom boom pop. Decisions non-stop. 

So if you're doing $20K+ months and at full decision fatigue, hit me up. This is the work we do. On top of all the foundational stuff we advertise 🤝

taplio