How I Bootstrapped a $4 Million Company, with Laura Roeder

#79: When Laura Roeder was 22, she quit her job to become a full-time freelancer. She earned $30,000 in her first year as a freelancer; $60,000 in her second year. Ten years later -- (Laura is now 32) -- her company earns $4 million in annual revenue. (Can I repeat that? Did I bury the lede? *Laura went from making $30,000 per year to owning 100% of a company that earns $4 million per year.* And she did this within a decade. Oh, and she also had a baby.) (Like, whoa.) Laura is the founder and CEO of a software company called Edgar, which provides social media automation for entrepreneurs and small businesses. In this interview, I ask Laura (sophisticated) questions such as "How the f**k did you make the leap from freelancer to multi-million-dollar company owner?" Here are some of the insights that she shares: #1: You have nothing to lose. When Laura quit her job, she conquered her fears by reminding herself: "Hey, worst-case-scenario, I work an hourly retail job for awhile if I can't find any clients." Sure, that might suck. But is the worst-case-scenario *so bad* that it's a deal-breaker? When Laura realized that the worst-case-scenario was something that she could live with, she proceeded full-speed ahead. #2: Cut the cord. When Laura transitioned from freelancing to consulting (her intermediate step before starting Edgar), she knew that if she maintained her client base, she wouldn't be motivated to grow her consulting business. So she cut the cord. She dropped all of her clients, including one extremely lucrative contract, in order to motivate herself. #3: Look for what's next. Laura's transition follows a sensible narrative arc: employee, freelancer, consultant, software company founder. Each step led to the next opportunity. Freelancing turned into consulting, which turned into a kernel of an idea for a software company. She couldn't have predicted, at age 22, where she'd be in 10 years. She simply proceeded one step at a time. ____ Listen to Laura describe her story -- and share advice for people who want to start companies and/or work remotely -- in today's episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices