209. Going from employee to consultant with Reza Saeedi
I recently interviewed Reza Saeedi—a marketing strategist and former Director of Marketing at On Deck—about his transition from employee to marketing advisor to employee again with advising as a side venture.
In this episode, we chatted about things like:
- How Reza got into marketing and eventually, as a mentor/advisor to entrepreneurs
- How he was able to get one fractional CMO and two advisory clients quickly after leaving his job at On Deck
- The role of casual networking and how it led to unexpected opportunities down the line
- The difference between being specific and niching down in business based on your strengths and interests
- The role of risk-reversing guarantees and discussing prices against value during sales conversations
- Why turning away poor-fit clients helped with his overall confidence and contributed to his early success
- How to internally handle the fact we can’t guarantee successful outcomes
- The value of factoring in word of mouth and referrals into your marketing plan
- The intersection and overlap between teaching and advisory work
- How Reza plans to do part-time advising in a low-labour, sustainable way
- How Reza stays productize and organized in his work
- The importance of exercise, habits, and mental health optimization
Plus many fun tangents along the way!
Whether you currently have a job and are thinking about advising full or part-time, or you’re already independent but looking to get into advisory work, this episode will have a ton of insights to offer you.
Key links and mentioned resources:
- Reza on LinkedIn
- Reza's personal site
- Reza on X.com
- Passage.com
- Episode 200: Kevan Lee on part-time advisory work, mentorship, equity compensation, and more
- The Win Without Pitching Manifesto (Book)
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- 4,000 Weeks by Robert Bosman
- Readwise App
