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Midlife Creatives Turning Our Weird into Wealth.
Find the support you deserve, stories that make you laugh & the tools you need to turn your lived experience into income.
When I lost my career in my 50s, I didn’t know what to do. I was a laid-off tech manager living in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas, forced to make a go at working for myself because nobody else was hiring.
Holy moly, was I in for a wild ride.
I started by “pursuing my dreams,” which is just shorthand for “I’m starving and can’t pay my bills.” I quickly moved to freelancing and found out that wasn’t much better. Over the last three years, I tried it all:
UGC Creator: Making short-form video ads for Facebook & TikTok.
Amazon Influencer: Reviewing products for spare change.
Dollar Store Clerk: Getting desperate enough to work at the only place hiring in my zero-stoplight town.
The Shift: From Creator to Asset Builder
Everything changed when I stopped playing the exhausting content creator game and examined what I really wanted:
To make money from my unique experience, skills, and stories.
To build sustainable streams of income that support me & my family for the rest of my life.
I knew I needed to find a way to turn all my weirdness into wealth. Because come on — how many other people have the crazy stories and life obsessions that we do? We’re a rare breed, and our kind is in danger of extinction.
The Blueprint (Super Easy, Lemon Squeezy)
Here’s exactly how I’m doing it right now, without the algorithmic hustle:
One Story at a Time: I focus on writing short pieces about my work experience, life skills, and even family drama.
The Ecosystem Hub: I bundle those stories and how-to lessons into books, workbooks, memberships, and kits.
Zero Social Media Fatigue: I stopped catering to algorithms. I don’t run a “high-ticket” coaching program, and I don’t charge hundreds of dollars an hour to hop on consulting calls.
🛑 Stop Hustling. Start Building.
If you are a midlife creative who is tired of the 15-second video hamster wheel and wants to turn your lived experience into passive, predictable income, you belong in the Solo family.
I run a simple loop between my Substack website & my YouTube videos. No social media posting at all unless I feel like it, which is almost never. I haven’t posted on Instagram in over a year!
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Where to Start (My Greatest Hits)
These are just a few of the articles I’ve written that I turned into serious, repeatable passive income.
🗃️ If you want to understand my entire business model, read this first.
This is the most profitable article I’ve ever written. It earned $5,000 in less than a month and is currently being bundled into a book I have coming out later this summer.
📚 If you’re new to Substack start here…
These will help you understand what Substack is and what you can do with it:
🤑 If you dream of being a paid writer…
I always wanted to be a writer who lived in the woods and told stories that keep the reader up at night, turning pages by lamplight to get to the end. If you want to get paid to write, start with these:
📈 Want to Know What’s Possible in Year One?
I’m about to wrap up my first year of turning my weird into wealth. I spent the first six months chasing terrible guru advice, then I threw the playbook away and went my own direction. In the last six months, I’ve earned what I used to make in about three months at my 9-to-5 job.
I know that’s not the overnight 6-figures those “high-ticket coaches” promise, but it’s the truth. I replaced half of my $100K tech manager salary in six months. Not overnight, but by telling ONE story at a time and turning them into multiple streams of income. By this time next year, I’m betting I’ll have doubled my tech salary.
🏎️ Here’s a few articles to get your motor revving with realistic numbers:
🐿️ For the Introverted, Neurodivergent Super Squirrels
If you have a million ideas, hate traditional sales funnels, and get easily overwhelmed by complex tech stacks, this one is for you:
🎬 Ready to Use Video (Without the Burnout)?
If you want to leverage long-form video to build unshakeable trust and drive high-intent buyers & readers to your writing, check out these two case studies:
Whew, you made it to the end!
❤️ Solo Shannon