A MODERN BUSINESS DOESN'T MEAN ANOTHER JOB
You've spent years becoming good at what you do.
But when you start looking at ways to build something of your own, the obvious options don't quite fit.
Freelancing can feel like doing your day job after work. Traditional consulting can mean filling what spare time you have with clients. And most "side hustle" advice seems to involve starting again with something completely new that you know nothing about or whether it would even work.
Most busy career professionals aren't looking to create another full-time job after their full-time job.
They want income security and to have something of their own that's building towards an exciting tomorrow without every pound, dollar or euro solely relying on their time.
10th
Experience
10th
Experience
Don't Start Again.
Start With What You Already Know.
Over the course of your career you've accumulated skills, experience, judgement and knowledge that other people simply don't have and need.
Inside your organisation, that can just feel like doing your job. Outside it, that expertise can be incredibly valuable to people or businesses in ways you've never thought of.
A Modern Expert takes what they already know, uses it to help a specific group of people, builds trust around that expertise and creates multiple ways to earn from it.
You don't need to quit your job.
You don't need thousands of followers.
And you don't need to have a business idea yet.
You can start much smaller than you think...
Your first step isn't to build a business — it's to explore where the skills, experience and interests you've already developed might be useful to ONE PERSON facing ONE PROBLEM.
Start quietly alongside your career, test what resonates and follow the evidence.
You can figure out exactly who you want to help, what you want to offer and how you want to earn from it as you go — without betting everything on an idea you haven't proved yet.
EXPERTISE → AUDIENCE → TRUST → INCOME
WHAT COULD YOUR EXPERTISE BECOME?
CYBER-SECURITY
Spent years keeping corporate technology secure?
You could help small businesses make smarter cybersecurity decisions, explain complex risks in plain English, recommend security products you trust, create practical guides — and offer occasional advisory if you enjoy it.
HR
Know what actually works when it comes to people?
You could help small employers navigate HR decisions, teach managers, recommend HR technology and create resources around problems you've solved hundreds of times.
FINANCE
Understand numbers that leave most people scratching their heads?
You could help a particular audience make better financial decisions, explain complex topics simply, recommend useful technology and create tools or education around your expertise.
THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO TURN EXPERTISE INTO INCOME.
RECOMMEND
Help people choose products and solutions you genuinely trust — and earn through affiliate, referral or partner programmes.
TEACH
Turn what you know into guides, workshops, digital products or education.
ADVISE
Offer coaching, consulting or paid access to your expertise.
DO
Provide a service or implementation when you actually want to.
PROVIDE
Build recurring income through reseller, managed or ongoing solutions where appropriate.
Don't worry, You don't need all five!
Your Modern Expert business should fit your preferred expertise, your available time and the life you actually want.
I didn't set out to build a "Modern Expert" business.
In fact only recently did I realise what I've built.
A solo-business of my own, combining expertise, recommendations and services — all built alongside my corporate career without overwhelm or setting off alarm bells in the HR dept.
It started 6 years ago during the covid pandemic by creating additional income with affiliate marketing.
I used my background in IT & Leadership to earn affiliate commissions by helping people who ran traditional businesses find solutions that removed the technical headaches of getting their business working online.
I've seen it work another way too.
During Covid, my wife couldn't work in her career as a long-haul airline pilot. But she had a qualification and passion for nutrition, so together we built a successful nutrition coaching and affiliate business around that expertise. She's since returned to flying.
That's why I don't believe your business has to be based on your job title.
Your career is a great place to look for expertise — but it's not the only place.
After years in the background I'm now looking to grow by helping other experienced professionals build what I was looking for in the first place: something of their own, built around what they know and love doing, without having to walk away from their career.
SO WHERE DO YOU START?
Not with a domain name or a website.
Not with a random business model.
Not by creating a course.
Not by deciding whether you're going to become a consultant.
Not by copying what I did or do.
And you don't need a new gadget!
Start with one person facing one small problem you'd genuinely enjoy helping them solve.
Once you know who you want to help and the small problem you want to start with, you have something to build from.
Then you can discover what they really need, test whether the problem matters, and begin shaping a Modern Expert business around helping them solve it — rather than spending months building something and hoping somebody wants it.
So how do you find your One-person with one-problem?
THE OPS CHALLENGE
DON'T SPEND THE NEXT SIX MONTHS WONDERING WHAT YOUR MODERN BUSINESS COULD BE
If you've got this far, ideas may already be forming.
Or you might be thinking, "This sounds good... but I still have no idea what I could do."
Either way, your next job isn't to build your Modern Expert business.
It's to prove there's something worth building.
That's why the first step I recommend is taking the OPS Challenge — One Problem Solved.
It's a free 4-week challenge that helps you turn your skills, experience and interests into something real — starting with one person and one problem, then testing your thinking in the real world before you invest months building around it.
4 WEEKS. ONE SIMPLE MISSION.
WEEK 1 — Find the opportunity
Explore your skills, interests and experience and identify a specific problem worth solving.
WEEK 2 — Find your person
Get clear on exactly who you're helping, what they're struggling with and what they actually want.
WEEK 3 — Build a simple offer
Turn the problem into a simple solution — defined, priced and ready to put in front of people.
WEEK 4 — Put it in front of real people
Take your offer to real buyers and start collecting the evidence that matters — feedback, signals and potentially your first sales (without risking your reputation).
The point isn't to create your perfect business in 28 days.
It's to stop guessing.
Instead of spending months building a website, audience, course or service around an idea you hope people want, you'll start getting real-world evidence first.
And it's designed to fit around a life and career you already have — with the challenge built around small daily steps rather than disappearing for hours every evening.
WHY I RECOMMEND IT
The OPS Challenge is hosted within LaunchYou's ecosystem. I'm a LaunchYou Ambassador, but more importantly, this is where I created my first online income stream and where I now I use my skills to coach, mentor, consult and implement.
You don't need to know whether you're going to create a course, become an online consultant, recommend other people's products or combine several income streams.
Not yet.
First, find someone you care about helping.
Find a problem worth solving.
Prove that it matters.
Then build from evidence.
YOU DON'T NEED YOUR WHOLE BUSINESS FIGURED OUT.
You just need something real to build from.
The OPS Challenge is free.
It also includes a 7-day trial of LaunchYou's LaunchPad platform, which you can cancel if it's not for you. I'm a LaunchYou implementation partner and may earn commissions if you subsequently purchase LaunchYou products through my recommendation.
Not ready to start yet?
That's completely fine.
You don't need to have your business idea figured out — and you don't need to join a programme to start thinking differently about the value of what you know.
Join The Modern Expert and I'll share ideas, real examples and practical ways experienced professionals are turning what they know and love doing into something of their own.
I'll also invite you to my free live sessions where we explore people's skills, experience and interests and start uncovering the people and problems they could help.
Stay curious. Your expertise probably has more possibilities than you think.
By signing up, you'll receive emails from The Modern Expert with ideas, resources, invitations and occasional relevant offers. You can unsubscribe at any time. See our Privacy Notice.
The Modern Expert exists to help employed professionals use the skills, knowledge and experience they love to build something of their own alongside their career — creating greater ownership, autonomy and income without burning the boats.
© 2026 - All Rights Reserved.