The Successful Solopreneur
Welcome to The Successful Solopreneur podcast—a show created for everyday change makers ready to break free from the 9-to-5 grind and build a life on their own terms. I built my business from scratch, and I know what it takes to hit your first $100k. This podcast is your go-to resource if you’re tired of living by someone else’s rules and are eager to create work that fuels your passion, supports your family, and transforms lives.
Every week, we’ll dive into real strategies, share inspiring stories, and have candid conversations about overcoming self-sabotage, ditching trends, and embracing your unique gifts. We’ll explore how to live by the philosophy of “Less but Better”—focusing on what truly matters and building momentum with small, consistent wins. You’ll hear from guests who have mastered the art of discipline, purpose, and authenticity, and you’ll get actionable tips you can implement immediately.
If you’re ready to reclaim your power, prioritize values over impressions, and finally start living a life that makes you and your family proud, you’re in the right place. Tune in, feel heard, and let’s unlock your unfair advantage together—because your journey to success is one conversation away.
Intro music by IsMusic
The Successful Solopreneur
Stop Chasing Clients
Ever felt trapped in the endless cycle of marketing yourself, even though it's the last thing you want to do? You're not alone. For most coaches, consultants, and creators who've dedicated years to mastering their craft, the marketing piece feels like an uncomfortable contradiction—making things about ourselves so we can eventually help others.
Today, I'm challenging you to consider a fundamental shift that transformed my business: stop chasing clients and start creating partnerships. This approach isn't about becoming better at marketing; it's about eliminating the need for it altogether. When we focus on genuinely supporting potential collaborators by solving their problems—with no strings attached—we naturally position ourselves to grow through authentic connections rather than constant self-promotion.
My business expanded significantly when I started identifying specific problems my ideal partners faced and created solutions for them. For instance, as someone with expertise in transformational psychology, I developed workshops on overcoming self-sabotage specifically to help business coaches address the mindset challenges their clients encounter. These transformational (not transactional) relationships allowed me to be introduced to audiences who already trusted my partners, creating a natural pathway to connect with ideal clients.
The beauty of this approach? You get to focus on becoming better at what you love rather than becoming a reluctant marketer. You can build meaningful relationships with people who inspire you while growing your impact organically. If you have questions about implementing this partnership strategy in your business, reach out! I'd love to create more content addressing your specific challenges. Remember, if you feel that fire in your stomach and calling in your heart, don't give up—no matter how hard or lonely the journey gets.
Connect with Me
IG: @matthewpaetz
Click Here to Unlock Your Unfair Advantage
I'm going to challenge you to make a fundamental shift today. If you're just listening to me the first time, my name is Matthew Pates and I started the Successful Solopreneur because I realized that I, like so many others that I've worked with over the years, absolutely hate marketing and, more specifically, they absolutely hate social media, and I am certainly one of those people. Now, when I say I hate social media and I hate marketing, I don't mean those things are inherently bad or that I'm anti, either because that's bad or that I'm anti, either because that's that. I would just be silly. I actually love and respect the power of both.
Speaker 1:The struggle that I find is that the majority of the people that I've worked with coaches, consultants, creators, healers that are really committed to making an impact, that have spent years upon years developing a skill in whatever their craft be it health, mindset, business, whatever, whatever their thing is they've developed the skill, skills, invested hours and years and money and sweat and tears and all the things to become great at what they do, struggle, and they struggle significantly to gain traction and create the awareness around what they do, the mission they have and the ways they can solve problems for people, because marketing takes on a different energy. It almost feels like marketing has to be all about us so that we can attract enough people to make it about them. And that never worked for me, right? It never has, and it's certainly not something that I really want to become great at personally. I'm sure that'll evolve over the years, but as I sit here right now, I'm not interested in learning how to be a better content creator. I'm not interested in learning how to be a better content creator. I am far more interested in learning how to be a better human and a better coach and a better husband and a better friend. So the aha moment that I had, and the fundamental shift I'm going to invite you to consider, is what would it look like if we completely changed or shifted your focus from getting clients to creating partnerships, collaborations, right, partnerships, collaborations, right? My business has grown significantly because I've stopped trying to get clients and instead I've started to genuinely invest my time, energy and money into developing relationships specifically with people whom I most want to work with collaborations, partnerships and the way that you do this is by first focusing on a significant problem that the people you want to collaborate with has, just like you do with your clients, right, you think about the problem that you solve for them. I want you to consider how you can solve a problem for a potential partner, for example.
Speaker 1:My background is in transformational psychology. I have worked many years in supporting coaches, specifically business coaches, as their head mindset guy. Right, they teach the strategies and the business and the money. And I'm there to support all of the human stuff the doubts, the fears, the insecurities, the ego, the overwhelm, right, all the stuff right, the shadows that inevitably creep up when we are building something that we care about. And so that got me thinking.
Speaker 1:You know, what's the problem that I can solve for the people that I most want to work with, collaborate with, partner with, and for me, that was creating a workshop, a live workshop, specifically because I believe in real connection with people, right, whether it's virtual or in person, it's live. And that workshop is focused solely on self-sabotage, how to understand it, how to overcome it. Right, so that the partners I work with and the clients they support can get better results from the strategies that they're teaching. So I'm able to support those who I want to collaborate with in a meaningful way by helping them solve the people struggle that their clients are having as they learn how to implement the strategies and the business models that they know work that are effective. So I want you to think about how to do this in your own business.
Speaker 1:Think about who you want to partner with, who you would love to collaborate with just one person for the sake of this exercise, and then look at that person, whether you know them or not, and really take a deep dive, take some time and put some effort into understanding what problems does that person specifically have? Does that potential person, that potential partner, personally have, and how can you solve that problem for them? And I want you to think about how to do this with no strings attached. This isn't to bait someone into working with you or promoting you. This is an authentic, human approach to strategically supporting those who you most want to align with right, to become a valuable member of their network, and vice versa. And in doing so, when done well, when done right, you will grow your influence. You'll grow your impact, because those partners will inevitably put you in front of their audiences that already know, like and trust them, so that you can do your work with people that really want to learn what it is that you teach who want the transformation that you can promise, and you no longer have to worry about all the marketing stuff, you no longer have to worry about all the social media stuff, but instead you get to focus your energy on collaborating with people that inspire you, whom you love to work with or would love to work with, and you do so by focusing solely on how you can benefit them, and we do this with no strings attached. These relationships are meant to be transformational, not transactional, so I hope this gets your wheels turning. So I hope this gets your wheels turning.
Speaker 1:The intention of this conversation today isn't to teach you every single strategy and every single template to develop these relationships. It's to get you to start thinking differently, shifting your focus from how do you get clients to how do you generate transformational partnerships. How can you become a value to those who you most want to work with? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Please send me any questions, let me know what comes up for you so that I can create more episodes focused on answering and solving those specific things. And until then, I wish you the best and I want to continue to celebrate and encourage you, because the road can be difficult sometimes and it certainly gets lonely at times, and I just want you to know that if you have a fire in your stomach, a calling on your heart, don't give up, no matter how hard it gets.