We were lucky to catch up with Tim Peakman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tim, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

One of the biggest risks that I have taken in the past was to leave a secure career in pursuit of building my own online business. Having served 16 years in the Royal Air Force, some of the countries in which I served were not without risk, but the thought of ‘going it alone’ and leaving the safety of being an employee filled me with equal levels of fear and doubt.

I remember the day I made that decision: I had served almost 12 years and had a career ahead of me for another 14 years if I wanted. Shortly after purchasing my first house, I received a notice to move. This was my 12th move to a new role in as many years, and I knew that the frequency of disruption wasn’t about to let up any time soon.

A career in the British Military is challenging and dynamic, allowing for diverse opportunities and fast personal growth. This was something that I had relished and had accrued a massive amount of experience during my years of service. However, after my 12th move, it felt like I needed to have more agency over my future if I wanted more control over when and where I worked.

Fast-forward almost a decade since I made the decision to leave my military career. I have found an online business model that suits my needs. In hindsight, the ‘opportunity cost’ of NOT making that decision would have meant that I would have still been in the same job, and not experienced any of the online business opportunities I’ve had to date.

So my advice to anyone who wants to start an online business is – consider it carefully. Don’t just go ‘cold turkey’ and quit your job overnight. Come up with a comprehensive exit plan that you can implement. Start an online business on the sidelines of your current career. Aim to replace your salary before making the move. It will be a lot less stressful this way and you won’t be making decisions out of fear.

Tim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After making the decision to leave my career behind and pursue my dream of running my own online business, it has taken a few iterations to arrive at my current business model. By taking action, constantly evolving and learning from my inevitable mistakes, I found the niche I am in today.

So today my goal is simple. I help experts package what they know into online programs so that they can lead the life they want. I do this by helping them create a framework for their unique methodology, design and build out their training content, and launch their programs using webinars, email marketing, and live events.

The main challenge facing my students is getting their message in front of the right people. They may have the best product or service in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it’s a tough sell. I also help with tech overwhelm, as this alone can be enough to make people quit. I like to simplify everything as much as possible and just put the next step in front of them.

I am most proud when my students get the success they desire. But this all depends on what success looks like for them, as one student may have a large social following and no way to monetise, whilst another could have a proven offer and struggle to find new audiences. Having experienced all of the above, I find that I can help.

I’m all about S.Y.S.T.E.Ms – basically anything that Saves You Stress Time Energy and Money. It’s probably something to do with my military background, but ‘self-discipline’ is up there too with having a good set of systems.

So, when you’re designing your online business, take your time. One of the most important elements is to focus on what you can create to offer your customers. Advice out there is just to launch and the net will appear. Whilst I agree that clarity comes from taking action, I would recommend having a sound business model in mind before you start out.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson that I had to unlearn when I started my online journey was ‘work hard, and things become easy’. There is naturally an element of self-discipline when you need to get stuff done, but it’s often not as simple as that.

I’m someone who likes to understand the goal and what steps are required to achieve that goal. That’s what I like about online business. The goal is simple – it’s to help people get the results they want. The more people you can help get the results, the more impact you can have in the world.

Entrepreneurial burnout is a real thing. Most people carry over an employee mentality to online business by simply working harder if something is not succeeding. From experience, this can not only be fruitless for the business but detrimental to personal health. Hard work means nothing if it’s without the correct focus.

I like to simplify everything as much as possible. If you boil any business down to one thing, it’s sales. So taking one step back from there, how do you generate sales? What offers do you need to put out into the world, and how many? To whom?

Once you start asking yourself these questions, you will be able to focus your work on the things that either drive sales or increase your audience subscriber base.

So, don’t just become a busy fool. Always question why you are doing a certain task. If this task is not directly related to increasing sales or growing your audience, it may be a needless task. Work smarter, not harder.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The single biggest factor that has helped me build exposure and reputation in my current market has been my YouTube Channel. Once comfortable in front of the camera and skilled at editing, sharing video is the fastest way to engage an audience of like-minded individuals and get your message out there to the world.

Starting a YouTube Channel is not for everyone, but if done right, it can be a game changer. It’s ultimately a search engine that can help you get discovered by new audiences so that you can offer those who want to know more a way to go deeper with you.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, I’ve created a free on-demand workshop that walks you through how to make your first $1,000 of online revenue. Be sure to watch it and ask me any questions that you may have. https://www.timpeakman.com/workshop

I wish you all the very best of success in whatever you choose to do with your time.

Enjoy the process, no matter the outcome.

Tim Peakman

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.timpeakman.com/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@timpeakman