Dennis Geelen

Coaching and mentoring to help you start and scale your one-person business.

Founder

The Happy Accidents Newsletter

Happy accidents, chance encounters, and serendipitous moments have played a major role in the success of many famous individuals, companies and products. 

From scientists and inventors to artists and entrepreneurs, numerous people have experienced a Happy Accident moment that changed the trajectory of their lives forever.

 - The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming. 
 - The creation of the Post-it note by Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M. 
 - The story of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founding Apple in Jobs' garage.

...and many more!

In fact, I believe ALL success can be traced back to a happy accident!

You don't have to be the smartest, the most gifted, or special person to find success.
You just need to be ready to recognize a Happy Accident moment when it comes along, and take action when it does!

Want to read about some of the most incredible Happy Accident stories, the people who acted upon them, and the lessons you can learn from their journey? Subscribe to the Happy Accidents newsletter!

Want to see how I can help you recognize those moments and act on them?
Visit www.dennisgeelen.me

Writer

Zero In

The mission of Zero In is to help as many businesses and leaders build a brand customers love and a company people are passionate to work for.  

So where do you need to focus (or Zero In)?
Solve the problem of INDIFFERENCE!

Indifferent customers have no compelling reason to purchase your product or service rather than your competitors' product or service. 

Indifferent employees are complacent because they are not passionate about coming to work each day.

Utilize the resources, books, and courses from Zero In to increase your customer retention, improve your customer experience, and build a passionate culture of innovation giving your team the ability to find new and better ways to serve your customers.

"Customers DO NOT buy your product or service, they buy what it can DO FOR THEM"
Customer-centricity means knowing your customers and giving them what they crave.  This helps you to build trust and loyalty, but also a solid reputation.  Loyal customers become fans of your brand and refer other customers to you.

"If you don't find new and better ways to serve your customers, SOMEONE ELSE WILL!"
Being Innovative brings new ideas, which is crucial to a business being able to find new and better ways to add value for your customers.  With innovation comes creative new products and services, increases in efficiency and, as a result, improved profitability.

BE THE BRAND CUSTOMERS LOVE AND THE COMPANY PEOPLE ARE PASSIONATE TO WORK FOR

Founder and Chief Difference Maker

Solo Creator Summit

It's Never Been Easier to Be a Solo Creator

And this is great news for you!

The creator economy is more tech-enabled than ever. The explosion of software and no-code tools allows creators to run their entire business solo or work with a small number of freelancers to support the business.

The Solo Creator Summit is bringing together some of the brightest solo creators on the virtual stage to deliver tactics and strategies for launching and  scaling podcasts, newsletters, and digital products while growing an engaged audience.

Co-Founder

The Accidental Solopreneur

The Accidental Solopreneur is is getting rave reviews from solopreneurs around the globe.

Follow along in this parable as Alex Green goes through a bumpy journey of self reflection, making some major and well needed changes to his mindset and habits.

A burnt-out workaholic, Alex leaves the corporate world behind, eventually finding a roadmap for a fulfilling life as a solopreneur.

Use the tips, tactics, and learnings from Alex’s adventure to help give you a playbook for success in your own solopreneur journey.

Author

The Zero In Formula

Author of the Amazon best seller, The Zero In Formula.

This book is for organizations that want to build their foundation around being as customer-centric and innovative as possible.

Filled with strategies, tactics, and stories, The Zero In Formula is the definitive guide to building a disruptive and sustainable business through customer-centric innovation.

The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group

About the Commonwell
We are committed to profitable growth, team development, ingenuity, while having fun at work.  We offer a complete range of insurance products including residential, automobile, commercial, farm and watercraft. We encourage a work-life balance and we are serious about what we do!

About my Role
As Manager of the PMO, I lead a group project managers and business analysts to implement the project management office from the ground up.

About the PMO
Projects at the Commonwell are measured against timelines, budget, delivery of scope, but most importantly the realization of the intended benefits of each project.  Over 85% of projects at the Commonwell were consistantly green throughout 2018.

Manager, Project and Portfolio Management Office

As Manager of Application Services, I am responsible for planning, coordinating and managing the activities of the Application Services team within the Information Systems (IS) Department. This includes leadership and development of the IS team members, as well as providing direction and support for IS solutions to meet the present and future needs of the organization.

Manager of Application Services

Kawartha Lakes Food Source

Kawartha Lakes Food Source is a community effort to reduce hunger in the City of Kawartha Lakes by:

1. Maintaining a central warehouse to supply food to organizations that provide food to individuals in need,
2. Raising public awareness, and
3. Working in concert with other local not-for-profit organizations.

Board Of Directors

Operitel Corporation (An OpenText Company) 

ABout OpenText
OpenText, The Information Company™, a market leader in Enterprise Information Management software and solutions, enables intelligent and connected enterprises by managing, leveraging, securing and gaining insight into enterprise information, on-premises or in the cloud. 

About my Role
Directed a team of PS and R&D resources to develop and implement the LearnFlex LMS platform for over 40 clients.

Director of R&D and Professional Services

TELUS

Manager - Payment Solutions Development and Support

Business Coach | Keynote Speaker | Author of The Happy Accidents newsletter and The Accidental Solopreneur book

Seems as though this resonated with a couple of people.

Wonder why?

😉

How I got started as a solopreneur (with no audience)

1. Started by providing management consulting (my first few clients were previous business connections). My consulting company is Zero In
2. This helped me refine my niche, my message, and my offer
3. When COVID hit, most of my consulting was put on hold, so I wrote and published a book, The Zero In Formula
4. The book helped get me more exposure. Tons of podcast spots, articles, etc (my audience started to grow)
5. Started taking a lot of calls and messages from people asking for help with starting a consulting practice or writing a book
6. Started coaching those people
7. Wrote and published another book, The Accidental Solopreneur
8. My audience grew again
9. Launched two online courses, 'The Solopreneur Playbook' and 'The Author's Playbook' to create more passive income
10. Launched the Happy Accidents newsletter so that I could have more control over my content distribution

If I can do it, so can you.

Want help? Let me know!

12 steps anyone can take to start a freelance business with NO money

(step 7 is a must!)

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Follow me for more tips on how to launch and scale your solopreneur business

12 steps for starting a freelance business with NO money

My Top 5 Tips for Better Networking on LinkedIn 
(Number 3 is one you rarely see these days)


What's your top tip to add to this list?
Share it in the comments 👇

Top 5 Tips for Better Networking on LinkedIn

Ask yourself these 5 harsh questions to see if you're cut out to be a solopreneur.

(number 3 should give you a wake up call)

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Starting a business isn't all fun and games.
Don't be fooled by the fake Twitter gurus.

Be ready to go in with your eyes wide open.

5 HARSH TRUTHS

Confession: Your success secret? It's not selling, it's this...


Serving

I hate being sold to. So I try not to come across as salesy to others.

But you know what I do love? Being helped!

The best way I have found to attract people to my newsletter, books, courses, and coaching calls is to serve.

Give away free advice.
Point people in the right direction.
Be helpful.
Be a giver.

Trust me, your future self will thank you for it!

_____

This clip is from the podcast episode I was guest on with host Ryan Hutchinson

You've been lied to


Success is not tied to being the smartest, the most gifted, or even the hardest working person

It's actually the result of Happy Accidents and knowing how to leverage them!

Here're the 3 Part Anatomy of every Happy Accident success story 👇

______________________

Want to read some of the most incredible Happy Accident stories and learn about the people who acted upon them (and how?)

Subscribe to the FREE Happy Accidents newsletter
(see the link in my bio -> Dennis Geelen)

The Anatomy of Happy Accidents

I bet you can't eat just one!

And I also bet you didn't know the incredible (and hilarious) origin story of potato chips.

Check it out in the latest episode of the Happy Accidents podcast that dropped this morning.

Catch it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify
(links in the comments)


Your problem may not be your product
Your problem may not be your service
Your problem may not be your price

The problem could be in how you are presenting it

Use this formula to present your offer 10X more effectively 👇

How to present your offer

Impatience rarely leads to success

Go in with a long-term mindset 

99% of new coaches and consultants get this wrong

→ They're afraid of giving away advice and tips for free

But here's the thing. When you do it well:
- It builds trust
- It increases your credibility
- It makes prospective clients wonder how much MORE value they'll get when they hire you

Stop being afraid to be a giver.

Trust me, your future self will thank you for it ✌️

Are you actively casting your line?

Or just sitting around waiting for luck to find you?

The top 7 traits of the most successful solopreneur

1 - Vision
2 - Curiosity
3 - Resilience
4 - Innovation
5 - Risk-taking
6 - Adaptability
7 - Determination

(Bonus points if they also have Humility)

What would you add to this?

Don't just show the highlights.

Show us what you went through to get here.

That's what creates a strong personal brand.

Do you agree?

You can change the entire trajectory of your life in the next 2 weeks

How, you ask?

It all comes down to trying a few different things outside your norm.

Listen, we all know that staying inside our comfort zone isn't going to lead to anything new and great.

But making major changes and leaning into the discomfort can be super hard.
It's not your fault, we are all just wired this way.

That's why I teamed up with Parmjit singh 🐊 to put together this super helpful guide on 15 small things you can do to increase your luck surface area in the next 2 weeks.

Pick just one of them and see what happens.
Put 2-5 of them into practice and you'll be miles ahead of most people.

And hey, you might just end up as a guest on the Happy Accidents podcast some day!

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What would you add to this list?

15 ways to increase your luck surface area

Picture this:

Chicago, 1891, an entrepreneur is facing fierce competition in the soap industry. 

Feeling the pressure, he seeks some bold and innovative ideas.

But it wasn't until he introduced some free give aways (what we would call 'lead magnets' today) did he find some unexpected success.

Turns out, his customers were more excited about and clamored for the free give aways over the soap itself!

The result?

A whole new business emerges from the lead magnet.
One that's now a household name and still wildly successful to this day.

Who was this entrepreneur?

And what was the free give away he was offering that turned out to be a Happy Accident?

Find out in today's edition of the newsletter (drops at 9:30am EST)

_______

Not subscribed?
Join Elijah and 1100+ other weekly readers.
See the link in my Featured Section.

5 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Luck Surface Area
(without selling your soul)

I talk a lot here on LinkedIn about increasing your luck surface area. 

And in my weekly newsletter, Happy Accidents, I share stories (and lessons) of some of the most incredible unexpected successes in history.

So let's talk about how YOU can increase YOUR luck surface area 👇


____________

Hey, I’m Dennis Geelen, The Accidental Solopreneur

If this post resonates with you, you might enjoy my weekly newsletter, Happy Accidents.

Warning, it's NOT for everyone (thank goodness!)

A different true story each week about a wildly successful person, product, or company who’s origins can be traced back to a chance encounter, serendipitous moment, or Happy Accident!

See the link in my profile to subscribe

5 ways to increase your luck surface area

Today, Sara Blakely is worth an estimated $1.3B US

But prior to 1998? 

She was selling fax machines door to door!

Her big break into becoming an entrepreneur must have been the result of an extensive business plan that was in the works for years, right? right?

Wrong

It was the result of a Happy Accident. 
And it's a great story!

Check it out in today's episode of the Happy Accidents podcast
(links in the comments)

One of the worst things you can do as a coach, consultant, or freelancer is sell your time by the hour

Unless you are a sought after guru with people lined up to pay you an exorbitant amount!

For the rest of us, here's some different strategies you can use for selling your services at a fixed price 

Basic, Standard, Premium Tiers
- Clearly define three distinct tiers with increasing levels of features or services. 
- Position the Basic tier as an entry-level option, the Standard tier as a balanced choice, and the Premium tier as the comprehensive, top-of-the-line offering.

Feature-Based Differentiation
- Tier your pricing based on specific features or benefits. 
- Clearly outline what each tier includes, emphasizing additional features or enhanced services as clients move up to higher-priced options.

Usage or Access Levels
- Structure pricing tiers around different levels of usage or access. 
- Again, not by the hour. For a fixed price.
- For example, you could offer a tier with limited access, a mid-tier with moderate access, and a premium tier with unlimited access or additional privileges.

Duration or Support Levels
- Differentiate pricing tiers by the duration of service or levels of support provided. 
- This could include options such as basic support for the entry-level tier, extended support for the mid-tier, and personalized or priority support for the premium tier.
- But remember, they are not paying by the hour. They are paying a fixed price per level.

Scalability or Customization
- Tailor your pricing tiers to reflect the scalability or customization of your services. 
- The Basic tier may cover essential services, the Standard tier could include customizable options, and the Premium tier might offer extensive flexibility or personalization based on client needs.

Pick the one that best suits your offer and your services.

Combine this with the advice I gave in my post on Monday about how to increase the perceived value of your offer and now you are cooking with gas!


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What other pricing strategies or tips would you add here


Want a simple and easy to follow framework for crafting a compelling story?

Try the PIXAR story framework

(P.S. This is the framework I used when writing The Accidental Solopreneur)

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