I confess that I’m a nerd who loves other nerds, and Staci Hauschild is a self-confessed nerd about strategic plans. In this episode of Hourly to Exit, she and I talked about how essential it is for expertise-based service providers to figure out what to do, when to do it, and who should do it.

I know most people hate legalese, and contracts seem full of that kind of language. But services agreements and NDAs are inevitable in today’s business world. They are the lifeblood that can make or break your business.

The key to scaling your expertise-based service business is transforming your assets into something you can replicate, and an online course (an e-course) is one way to do that. I had a conversation with Molly Keyser, who has a decade of experience building, selling, and teaching others the secrets to a good ecourse.

I’ve always said that this podcast is meta in that I am on the Hourly to Exit journey with my listeners, my guests, my clients, and the many folks I encounter on LinkedIn, webinars, and in other forums. I’ve collected their wisdom in some super-charged market research, and as we enter 2023, I am drinking some of my own Kool-Aid.

In Episode 27 of the Hourly to Exit Podcast, we hear a recording of a recent LinkedIn Live session by Erin, in which she breaks down the major elements of a confusing but critical area of Intellectual Property (IP) law: Trade Secrets. Unlike the other three major areas of IP law – copyright, trademark, and patent- Trade Secrets aren’t registered to be protected. Quite the opposite.

Sometimes a single post can inspire transformative insights. Imagine if that post were about insights. In Episode 26 of the podcast, I welcomed Michelle Calcagni to the show to reflect on her career and her valuable LinkedIn post about insights. We dug deep about professional women at the top of their game and preserving our unique, acquired knowledge to pass along to a buyer, a mentee, or the next generation.

When it comes to money – especially feelings of insufficiency or inadequacy – there’s often a lot more going on than the numbers. I was so lucky to host the incredibly inspiring Joan Sotkin in an intense conversation about our relationship to money and prosperity. She shared her unique philosophy and approach to helping people with their finances.

As you grow your team, Organizational Culture becomes one of the critical moving pieces in the valuation of your business. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Lilly Smith, an expert in this subject. Together we talked about what organizational culture means and, more importantly, what it can imply to others as an essential part of your business brand.

2022 has been a special year for the Hourly to Exit podcast. Not only is it the year I started the podcast – and what a ride it’s been! – but I’ve also had some truly phenomenal guests join me in sharing wisdom about how to make an expertise-based service business scalable and saleable. Since I am on that journey myself with my own business – Think Beyond IP – the podcast has been pretty Meta. I get to ask my own questions that will hopefully resonate with my listeners.