Fix It in the Right Order: Ken Steven on the Five Growth Drivers Solopreneurs Keep Getting Wrong

Fix It in the Right Order: Ken Steven on the Five Growth Drivers Solopreneurs Keep Getting Wrong

What if the reason your revenue is stuck isn't that you're doing the wrong things — but that you're doing them in the wrong order? In this episode, I sit down with Ken Steven, business growth consultant and creator of the Revenue Growth Readiness Scorecard, for a conversation that genuinely shifted how I think about scaling a solo business. Ken spent years turning around companies stuck on a $5–7M plateau — with a 93.7% success rate — and along the way he kept seeing the same five growth drivers stymie progress over and over: mindset and vision, offer and business model, marketing and visibility, systems and automation, and authority and reach. We talk about why the conventional advice to "fix your weakest driver first" is often dead wrong (using a brilliant car-won't-start analogy), why most coaches and consultants leap to spending more on marketing when the real problem lives upstream in their offer, and why pricing is the single fastest lever to add $20K/month to a solo business. Ken also opens up about the moment he doubled his rate on a whim and won the gig anyway, the pivot to taking a piece of the upside on business turnarounds, and why solopreneurs who score "green" across all five drivers are often the ones quietly leaving the most revenue on the table through complacency. I took his free scorecard before the conversation — and the discussion that came out of my results made me rethink what "doing well" actually means in a solo business. If you've been throwing tactics at a plateau hoping something sticks, this is the diagnostic-first conversation you didn't know you needed. BIO Ken Steven is a seasoned business growth advisor and the creator of the Revenue Freedom Method™. For decades, Ken specialized in doubling the sales and profits of private companies, achieving that result for 93.7% of his clients. Today, his focus is on helping solopreneur coaches and consultants, and founders of service-based businesses, break through revenue plateaus. His goal is simple: to show you how to add at least $20,000 to your monthly revenue without adding more hours to your week. Website https://kensteven.com/ Social Media Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethsteven/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoachKenStevenFreebie Giveaway Link The Revenue Growth Readiness Scorecard: https://scorecard.kensteven.com/ken-ldxawjii

Take Back the Pen: Donna Thorell on Building a Wellness Business for Women Who Look Like They Have It All Together

What do you do when the medical world keeps telling you "it's just hormones" and you know it's something more? In this episode, I sit down with Donna Thorell, founder of Vitality by Donna, who became her own case study after years of being dismissed by doctors — and ended up building an entire holistic wellness practice for women out of what she learned. Donna shares how she lost 70 pounds, rebalanced her body and mind, and reverse-engineered the system that's now helping her clients do the same. We talk about why she works exclusively with "women who look like they have it all together" (but quietly aren't), how she pieces together nervous system regulation, body awareness, nutrition, and movement into a single connected approach — and why she pushes back hard on the surgery-and-shots culture that's pressuring women to fix what was never broken. Donna also shares her Safe Touch Protocol, built on a sobering statistic about how many women carry trauma into every space they enter, and why treating every client as if you know their story (even when you don't) is the foundation of trust-based solopreneurship. We dig into her three-days-on, four-days-off work rhythm, why a coach needs a coach, and the upcoming pajama-party-style retreats she's running where multimillion-dollar executives and stay-at-home moms sit side by side as equals. Her advice to anyone starting out? Find your why — and don't let the world write the ending to your story. BIO m a trauma-informed Holistic Health Practitioner and the founder of a woman-owned wellness practice built for women who have been strong for too long.My work comes from lived experience. I am a trauma survivor who had to find my own way back when support didn’t exist for me. That journey became my foundation… and now it’s the work I bring to every woman I serve.I specialize in nervous system regulation and whole-person wellness, integrating nutrition, body-based therapies, and my proprietary SafeTouch Protocol to help women move out of survival mode and back into their bodies. This isn’t surface-level care… it’s deep recalibration that restores energy, reduces inflammation, and rebuilds confidence from the inside out.I work with high-functioning, emotionally giving women… professionals, caregivers, leaders, and survivors… who are ready to stop just getting through life and start fully living it.Through private immersions, coaching, and specialized treatments, I create spaces where women can regulate, rebuild, and lead their lives from a place of clarity and power.I don’t help women cope.I help them come home to themselves… and from there, everything changes. Website Www.VitalityByDonna.com Social Media Links Vitality By Donna on IG and FB, Donna Thorell on Linkedin

From "Churning Fluff" to Sales Impact: Richard Cook on Building a B2B PR Business Across Continents

What do you do when a client tells you your entire industry is "churning fluff"? If you're Richard Cook, you let it shake you — and then you use it to reinvent the way you work. In this episode, I sit down with Richard, founder and managing director of London-based B2B PR consultancy Champion Communications, for a conversation that ranges from accidental solopreneurship to running a UK business from São Paulo. Richard shares how his original business partner's maternity leave nudged him into going solo by design, how that single offhand "churning fluff" comment pushed him to redefine PR as a demand-generation engine instead of a press-release factory, and why he believes it's never been a more possible time to build a service business alone. We dig into his 5 AM routine (born of necessity, kept by choice), why he's traded LinkedIn for Substack as his daily intellectual fuel, and the surprisingly elegant way he's using Claude to map out which media outlets have OpenAI licensing agreements — so his clients' stories land where AI models are actually reading. Richard also shares the most underrated piece of advice he wishes he'd taken seriously: don't be afraid of fear. The terror of solopreneurship doesn't go away — but you can learn to use the adrenaline instead of running from it. If you've ever wondered whether the panic you feel is a sign you're failing or a sign you're paying attention, this conversation will reframe the whole thing. Bio Richard Cook is the Managing Director of Champion Communications, a London-based PR and communications consultancy specialising in helping B2B technology companies grow. Founded in 2008, Champion has grown into a tight-knit, high-performing team, making Richard no stranger to the challenges of building a small business.Rather than chasing vanity metrics, Richard is relentless in his pursuit of growth, showing the real value of PR through campaigns dedicated to generating leads and driving web traffic. It's a mindset that resonates deeply with founders and small business owners who need their marketing to move the needle.With a background spanning the Prince's Trust International, Kaizo, and Big Group, Richard brings a well-rounded perspective to communications and business growth. He has a passion for helping smaller companies punch above their weight, earn credibility, and get noticed in competitive markets. Website https://championcomms.com/ Social Media Links https://uk.linkedin.com/company/champion-communications

The Founder's Number Two: Beth Sanders on Fractional COO Work, Getting Crystal Clear, and Why Solopreneurs Need a Thought Partner

What happens when sheer will gets your business to the point where willpower alone isn't enough? In this episode, I sit down with Beth Sanders, founder of Ballast Ops and a fractional COO who specializes in being the "number two" for founders who've outgrown going it alone. Beth shares why she left full-time work to partner with multiple founders at once, how being EOS-certified shaped her approach, and why she flexes to what each business needs instead of running the same playbook for every client. We dig into the irony of being great at time management for everyone except yourself, the change management framework she used to lead an entire company through becoming AI-first, and the personal ROI calculator that's reshaping how she says yes (and no) to work. Beth also shares the single piece of advice she'd give every new solopreneur — and why spending two months getting really, really clear on what you offer paid off more than any networking event ever could. If you've been white-knuckling your way through running every part of your business and quietly wondering whether you need a thought partner, this conversation will help you see what's possible on the other side. Bio Founders usually find me when execution starts slipping under growth: deals stall, customer retention softens, priorities collide, and teams lose clarity on what matters most.I step in to rebuild execution at the system level - aligning leadership, installing operating discipline, and turning strategy into results without adding friction or bureaucracy. Over the last several years, I've helped companies: - Scale revenue 5x+ across multiple growth stages- Increase close rates and shorten sales cycles- Improve customer retention and customer experience- Install EOS-based operating systems that teams actually run- Stabilize execution during inflection points, transitions, and downturns I think like an owner, execute like an operator, and lead without ego. I work best with founders who want a true operating partner - someone who owns execution across functions and builds results that compound. Fractional COO and EOS Growth Integrator. Operating style & assessments: Predictive Index (Captain) - Kolbe 8-6-3-3 - EOS Integrator (Masterclass Certified 2024) https://www.ballastops.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethksanders/

Built, Not Branded: Sarah Choudhary on Running Four Ventures, Solving Broken Systems, and the Permission-to-Authority Shift

What happens when you stop waiting for permission and start building because you can see exactly what's broken? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sarah Choudhary — PhD in data science, Forbes Technology Council member, and CEO of ICE Innovations — for a conversation that completely reframed how I think about solopreneurship at scale. After 20+ years building AI strategy for 150+ organizations including Fortune 500s, Sarah is now bootstrapping four ventures simultaneously: ICE Rideshare (paying drivers fairly with a 25% commission instead of 30–60%), iChef (a home-cooked food marketplace), Sprowberry (a barter economy app), and Zora (an AI-powered decision engine for solopreneurs). We talk about how she runs multiple companies as one architecture instead of four separate chaos factories, why differentiation has to be built into the product (not the marketing), and the mindset shift she calls moving from permission to authority — the realization that wasted years of her career waiting for someone to green-light her ideas. We also dig into why AI is leverage (not labor replacement), why compounding only rewards the founders who stay in the game, and why protecting your sharpest 90 minutes is one of the most important business decisions you'll make. If you've ever felt the pull to build something but kept waiting for someone to validate the idea first, Sarah's story is the permission slip you didn't know you needed — and the proof you don't need one at all. 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-solo/id1802739542 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-solo/id1802739542] Bio Sarah Choudhary is a seasoned technologist, serial entrepreneur, and visionary leader with over two decades of experience spanning AI, machine learning, data science, and cloud computing. From pioneering integrations of artificial intelligence with real-world applications to founding and scaling multiple successful companies, Sarah's journey is one of relentless innovation. Holding a PhD in Data Science and having consulted for industry giants like Ernst & Young and Accenture, she now leads ICE Innovations — building the next generation of AI-powered platforms that redefine how we live, move, and eat. Website sarahchoudhary.com Social Media Links https://linktr.ee/sarahchoudhary