I’ve been working with some objectively amazing Parachute Plan clients over the past few months:

• A seasoned Big Tech software engineer watching the shape of his role become unrecognizable, and now has his eye on advising, speaking and teaching
• A jack-of-all-trades VP of biz ops for a regional homebuilder ready to offer his lens to other trades businesses independently, while building a new side-hustle business of his own
• A sharp-eyed, tenured product designer feeling soul-sucked and hamstrung in a full-time contract that pays the bills, decidedly repackaging his skills and product instincts into a more optimized and fulfilling business model

Across these clients’ stories and many others, the pattern is strong:

1. They built up skills and experience over a couple decades
2. They added significant value to their full-time employers
3. They still feel underutilized or unfulfilled

But I’d argue that this sequence, unfortunately, describes 50% of mid-career corporates, if not more.

So, what makes these clients stand out?

They’re actually taking concrete steps to redeploy.

And the step to get there?

You have to recognize your unique expertise.

Easier said than done, I know — because we’re trained to stay in our lane, and remain tightly focused on our defined square in the corporate grid.

But once you have your eyes opened to what the market sees as your "oh my god we need you now" expertise, you unlock all kinds of creativity around how you can offer it, more lucratively, by your own design.

I break down all of this, including my own “Wow, I’m the expert in the room” moment on Pia Silva’s “No BS Mastery” podcast this week.

Pia is one of the top voices and coaches on scaling a solo business to a size that works for you, so I was definitely fanning out to talk her through the key pillars of my book, The Expert’s Privilege.

Enjoy!

💡

-Wes

P.S. If you’re here feeling stuck in corporate and just haven’t quite found the nerve to shift gears, learn more about the Parachute Plan at myparachuteplan.com - and book a free 20-min call with me to see if working together would be a good fit.