Hey Reader,

Does your business model match the lifestyle you want?

Most creators stumble into their business model rather than deliberately choosing one. They see what others are doing and think, "I'll do that too," without understanding if that approach aligns with their values and lifestyle goals.

The truth is, there isn't one perfect business model—there's only the right one for you based on what you value and the constraints you're working within. But let's explore the main categories:

Service-Based Models

These models involve delivering your expertise directly to clients, often with higher price points but more personal involvement:

1. High-end group coaching

Dan Martell has built a very successful group coaching business with SaaS Academy, which has generated millions in revenue. Premium-priced offers can be incredibly profitable at scale with the right systems in place. Some charge as much as $5,000-10,000 per student. This model works best if you value teaching, enjoy direct interaction, and are willing to invest in good systems.

2. Client services agency

Greg Isenberg and Sahil Bloom use their audiences to drive leads to their agencies. Your audience provides deal flow while the agency operates as a standalone business. This model suits those who enjoy solving client problems but want to build something beyond personal services.

3. Productized service

Jon Youshaei offers video roasting as a service with a twist: clients get to see and learn from other clients' examples. Similarly, Jay Singh's Casper Studios combines AI expertise with a productized approach. This model works well if you value systems and can identify service components that improve with scale.

Product-Based Models

Focused on creating assets once and selling them repeatedly, these models offer greater leverage of your time:

4. The product ladder

This is where you create increasingly valuable offerings at different price points. Jay Clouse does this well with products ranging from $50 ebooks to $2,500 programs. This approach is ideal if you value creating once and selling many times while giving people multiple ways to work with you.

5. Membership model

Jo Franco’s JoClub and Jay Clouse’s Creator Science provide recurring revenue through monthly memberships. This model requires consistent value delivery but provides predictable income (often $29–$199/mo per member). It works if you value community building and consistent content creation.

Audience-Based Models

Capitalizing on the attention you've built, these models monetize your audience either indirectly or directly:

6. Brand-building audience

Some creators build audiences without directly monetizing them. I've done this with my personal brand for years—building my audience while directing attention to Kit. This approach works if you have a separate business that benefits from attention or if you're playing a long-term personal branding game.

7. Advertising-supported audience

Monique Volz of Ambitious Kitchen generates approximately $5M/year with 80% coming from advertising revenue. This model works best with larger audiences and is a good fit for those who value content creation and prefer less direct interaction with customers.

Alternative Approaches

These models don't fit neatly into the above categories but represent viable creator business approaches:

8. The public speaker

David Burkus has built a thriving business delivering dozens of paid speeches annually, commanding as much as $20,000-$30,000 per event. This works if you value travel, high-energy performances, and have a message that resonates with organizations willing to pay for keynotes.

9. The deliberate solopreneur

Josh Kaufman has built a highly profitable business with no employees, selling over a million copies of his books and generating seven-figure revenue. Justin Welsh similarly built a business making over $2M with no full-time staff. This approach maximizes margins but limits scale. It's perfect if you value simplicity, independence, and maintaining direct control over all aspects of your work.

Questions to ask yourself:

What do you value most?

• Maximum impact
• Location independence
• Collaboration with others
• Complete freedom of time
• Whole days of uninterrupted creation

What are your non-negotiables?

• Types of work you refuse to do
• Maximum weekly work hours
• Location requirements
• Managing others
• Public visibility

Too many creators rush into copying someone else's model without recognizing the fundamental differences in values and constraints. The creator whose business you admire might thrive on high-touch client interaction while you prefer independent creation, or they might love managing a team while you want zero direct reports.

The beauty of understanding these models is that once you identify your values and constraints, you can find creators operating successfully within similar parameters and adapt their approach rather than reinventing the wheel.

Homework: Identify three creators you admire, analyze their business models, and honestly assess whether those models would work for your specific values and constraints. What evidence do you see of their choices? What compromises have they made?

What business model are you currently using, and does it align with your values?

Hit reply and let me know.

​

PODCAST

Success Story: How to Scale a Coaching Business to $1M+

Today, I interview Tiffany Uman, a career strategy coach and workplace expert, about building a million-dollar coaching business.

We get into the four pillars behind her success and reveals how she transitioned from corporate L’Oréal to launching her business during maternity leave. She also outlines her proven strategies for scaling revenue and driving client transformation.
​
In this episode, you'll learn:

• The four pillars that fueled her growth
• Practical strategies for sustainable business success
• How she overcame key man risk and shifted her mindset

​Watch or listen to episode »​

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AI

ChatGPT 4o image generation is crazy

I recently used AI to help with planning Kit Studios NYC. I wanted to see if it was viable to shrink one of the rooms down to 8.5ft square.

To visualize this, I asked ChatGPT to generate an image of an 8x8ft two-person meeting room with two solid walls—one with a window to the outside and the other with a glass door.

The initial result was fairly boring. So I asked to make it trendier. The result improved but only a tiny bit. So I uploaded a photo as inspiration, and the result was really good. I didn’t like the chairs it gave me, so I told it to swap out the chairs (not pictured), and it did a great job of keeping everything the same and just changing the chairs.

In the past, you’d get an image that’s 90% what you want, but when you ask for a change to the last 10%, it would change everything. Now, you can truly just have it swap out one detail—like the chairs, which I love.

What neat use cases have you found?

Have a great week!

—Nathan