OMG! It's 2024!
If you are anything like me, your head is still spinning, just a bit, from 2023. 😅
However, I was able to regroup during the blissfully slow period between Christmas and New Year’s and do some deep thinking about what my goal for 2024 is.
My Goal is Your Goal
I was greeted on Tuesday with these wonderful goals for 2024 from a few ladies in my mastermind. Their authenticity says it better any carefully crafted newsletter could:
"I still do want to crack that 100k profit goal, but I am not going to sacrifice my enjoyment and free time to do it. I want to be able to sustain the growth. Basically, I want to see how much I can grow my business without losing what I enjoy about the work and freedom it gives me."
"My top goal is to build my business in a way that allows me to take summers off to travel with hubby and kiddo. I need to figure out how to have my business keep moving without me over the summer and have additional sources of income to support our traveling months."
Same, girls, same.
I Have a Story For You
In the beginning, there were wages. It came in the form of a salary from a job.
Then, after I picked up my expertise and took it home with me, it came in the form of fees from clients.
Success was equaling, then exceeding, my salary.
It didn’t take long to realize that I needed to make a lot more in wages than my old salary to cover employment taxes and health insurance and have something left to invest for retirement.
So I increased fees (a bit) and worked longer hours (a lot). But I increased my wages!
Predictably, I eventually capped out on wages. There is only so much I can charge for my labor, even as a lawyer.
So we’ve come to the point in the story where you and I probably met for the first time! I knew that if I wanted to increase the amount of money I make without working longer hours, I had to decouple my income from my time.
Thus, Think Beyond IP was born.
My Hourly to Exit Journey is to pivot from “doing” to “resourcing.”
At Erin Austin Law (my law firm), I “do” for my clients. I use my 30+ years of legal experience to draft, negotiate, and interpret legal agreements.
Master services agreements. Intellectual property licenses. Distribution agreements. Work-for-hire agreements. NDAs. Internal policies and procedures. I do the work to protect the rights flowing in and control the rights following out of my law firm clients’ businesses.
At Think Beyond IP, I “resource” my clients to progress along their own Hourly to Exit journey.
Same expertise. Similar tools. But accompanied with the resources—education, training, assessments, templates, materials, and support (aka my intellectual property) —to help you protect and maximize the value of your ideas.
Yes, it is all very meta.😅 Leveraging intellectual property to decouple income from time is both (1) how I’m making my Hourly to Exit journey and (2) how I help you make your Hourly to Exit journey.
FOCUS is My 2024 North Star
My specific goal for 2024 is to stay focused—spending my best time in my Zone of Genius and putting systems in place for everything else.
Starting next week, expect a steady rollout of resources specifically designed to address the issues that set you apart from online businesses—resources to help you confidently navigate the maze of contracts and intellectual property issues so you can safely and profitably share your ideas with clients, contractors, collaborators, and the public.
What are your goals for 2024?
Hit reply and let me know!
I’d love to find out how I can help you reach your goals in 2024 and beyond.
Cheers! 🥂
Erin