Ever rolled your eyes at “You are the company you keep”? Same. But research (and real life) says proximity changes performance. In this solo episode, Austin digs into the research behind peer influence — from Greek philosophers to modern management studies — and shows how freelancers can use positive spillover to their advantage.

Learn how intentional community gives solo freelancers leverage: more focus, better systems, smarter strategy, and less burnout. Hear stories from the Freelance Cake Community and learn why joining the right group might be the best business move you make this year.

Key Points

• Positive Spillover is Real: Sitting near a high performer can increase your own performance by 15%.
• Community as Advantage: When you’re surrounded by people taking action, you’ll find it much harder to stay stuck or spiral into overthinking.
• Advanced freelancers need peers, not pupils: Once you’ve mastered the basics, you need people who challenge you—not just those asking for your advice.
• Freelancers can’t rely on osmosis: Without coworkers or office proximity, you have to choose your environment deliberately.
• Beginner vs. Advanced Needs: Free groups often serve beginners. Paid, private communities curate advanced freelancers who value time, accountability, and quality conversations.
• Beyond Advice — Real Momentum: The right group saves you from “meta work” (research paralysis) by giving you proven tools and templates so you can act faster.
• Bias Toward Action: When peers share wins, you’re inspired to take imperfect action too — and that’s how real growth happens.

Notable Quotes

• “You’re in the splash zone, so make sure what you’re getting hit with is motivation, not mediocrity.”
• “Deliberately create an environment where invisible hands push you onward and upward.”
• “Who you surround yourself with matters. Your environment matters as much or more than your habits.”
• “Communities aren’t just about leads — they’re about leverage.”

Resources Mentioned

• Kellogg School of Management Study on Positive Spillover
• Phoebe Dodds’ 100 Connections Challenge on Substack
• Freelance Cake Community
• Creator Science Lab
• Web Designer Pro

If you’re an advanced freelancer ready to trade burnout for momentum, join a private, paid community that helps you level up faster. Visit freelancecake.com/community to learn more and apply.

Hitting ~$330K should've felt like a win. Instead, it revealed the real bottleneck: complexity.

In this episode, Austin talks about how pruning services, projects, and obligations—less, but better—created the space for saner, more sustainable growth. You’ll get the tomato-plant metaphor (shoutout to Grandmother Martha), insights from Katelyn Bourgoin (“What should you stop doing?”), and even an Apple-style reset moment.

Plus, Austin walks through a practical 7-step Subtraction List to help you focus on the work that actually moves the needle.

(Feel free to grab the free worksheet under Resources)

What You’ll Learn

• Why “more” often makes things worse
• A simple metaphor to decide what to cut
• How world-class companies used subtraction to win
• The exact 7-step process to simplify your business now

The 7 Practical Steps

1. Take inventory
2. Find keepers (money, freedom, satisfaction, impact)
3. Compare results (what to double down on / stop)
4. Cut fluff (Do / Defer / Delegate / Delete + first actions)
5. Make a Don’t List (keep distractions from creeping back)
6. Create rules (avoid default yes—protect your best work)
7. Record decisions (build confidence and course-correct faster)

Resources & Links

• Grab the Subtraction List Worksheet: https://bit.ly/SubtractionListWorksheet
• Apply to the Freelance Cake Community: https://freelancecake.com/community
• Katelyn Bourgoin’s Twitter thread on subtraction: https://x.com/KateBour/status/1620795412641718318

If this helped you, follow for more systems, strategy, and sanity for advanced freelancers and creators.

Chapters

00:00 Hook — when “more” stops working

01:28 The $330K year (and why it didn’t feel like success)

04:22 Complexity: the sneaky saboteur

06:19 Grandma’s garden: prune for higher yield

09:11 What “growth by subtraction” really means

10:33 Focus beats variety (how to choose)

10:59 Example: Katelyn Bourgoin and “do less, better”

13:27 Example: Apple’s 2×2 and 97% cut

15:54 The 7 Steps: Take inventory → Record decisions

24:39 Summary & next steps

26:04 Invitation to the Freelance Cake Community

What if you feel stuck not because you lack skill but because you’ve snapped on a pair of golden handcuffs? What if you want to go a new direction but can’t afford to lose the retainers you finally stacked up?

This new Freelance Cake episode with Josh Monen is the first one to drop in over 18 months, and I can’t wait for you to check it out.

In it, Josh Monen opens up about his transition from senior copywriter who was booked out but working way too much to fractional CMO with productized offers, more time off, and a business closely aligned to the life he wants.

Josh didn’t need more clients. He needed different ones. He didn’t need more ideas. He needed a clear roadmap with action steps he could put in his calendar. During our one-on-one coaching engagement, Josh put in the work.

Listen to the full conversation.

Key Points

• Booked out, but stuck: Josh was making good money and fully booked, but felt directionless and burnt out. He didn’t need more clients — he needed clarity.
• Desire for leverage: He wanted to evolve from copywriting into productized services, consulting, and fractional CMO work to create more time freedom.
• Indecision as the real bottleneck: His core problem wasn’t lack of opportunity — it was overthinking and analysis paralysis. Coaching helped him move from ideas to decisions.
• Created two scalable offers: Through coaching, Josh developed Funnel Insights and Funnel Blueprint — strategy-first services that led to $30K+ client engagements.
• From executor to advisor: By leading with strategy and positioning himself as a fractional CMO, Josh changed how clients viewed and engaged him.
• Lifestyle improvements: He now protects weekends, takes unplugged vacations, and feels more aligned with the freedom-focused business he originally wanted.
• Real ROI from discomfort: Investing in coaching created “point-of-no-return” momentum and helped him stretch into higher-leverage work.

Notable Quotes

“I was booked solid with copywriting and making good, consistent income — but more of my thing was like, ‘Where am I going with this?’ I felt like I kind of plateaued and was in maintenance mode.”

“If you’re making good money but don’t have time to enjoy it — what’s the point?”

“From that very first call, I was blown away. I even told my wife — ‘This guy really listens.’ And that’s rare. That’s one reason I hired you.”

Resources Mentioned

• Book a strategy call with Austin: https://bit.ly/1-on-1-coaching-pod
• Austin Church on How and Why to Sell Strategy Engagements to Your Clients [Ed Gandia podcast]: https://b2blauncher.com/episode267/

Josh Links

• Josh’s podcast, The Way Of Kings: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-way-of-kings/id1743034411
• Website: www.JoshuaMonen.com
• X: @JoshMonen

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

For specific beliefs, principles, and practices you can use right away to make the freelance game more profitable and satisfying, subscribe to Freelance Cake podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!