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Good morning Launch Key 🚀 community!

As pundits argue about a soft landing, the corporate purge has continued at a pretty good clip. And a lot of layoffs have been in tech. Big names, well-funded startups and small apps who can’t keep the doors open.

The best thing we can do to future-proof against any economic backdrop is diversify our career portfolio.

Tom Hewitt is this months subscriber case study and has done exactly that, broadening his track record by applying business sense to functional areas he hadn’t led before.

Get in there ⬇️ 

Comment below and let me know if we’re on the right track.

Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

• Subscriber Stories: Tom Hewitt

• Modern Tools

• Old School Wisdom

• Free Knowledge

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

I pay a lot less attention to the monthly jobs report ever since I realized that the majority are coming from government sector jobs. And the revisions show even those numbers are inflated.

How long can the government keep hiring as the private sector cools? How much more can taxpayers prop up?

It’s definitely a weaker labor market, and we haven't gotten any signs that it's done weakening.

The real data doesn’t lie. The mass layoff numbers have all come from the private sector, and show us how companies actually feel about the state of the economy.

2023 had a huge cut in the types of tech jobs we’ve all been led to believe are the future. And 2024 hasn’t slowed a bit.

Big names like Microsoft, Tesla, Google and Amazon cutting high-paying tech jobs almost every month this year.

What’s the hedge against it happening to you?

Something you start on the side. While you’re still working.

The easiest 3 to start are freelancing, coaching and consulting.

And you don’t need to hide it from your boss unless you still have a strict non-compete. Read your own fine print. I can’t help you there.

A key point to consider is, can you build your own audience?

• Do you have specialized expertise in your industry?

• Do your colleagues turn to you for guidance and decision-making advice?

• Can you find a few outside clients?

• Is there a demand for your uncommon knowledge?

Get your first client and you’ll be amazed how fast you can organize your offering.

There are plenty of nights and weekend hours that can be used for a startup.

And when you do have questions, the internet has answers. And they’re free. Leverage MooC’s and YouTube before you pay for any courses.

Here is just one example: Coursera has a free 5 part Freelance Career series that literally started yesterday.

Last summer when approached by friends for tech consulting advice I had my own realization – they’ll stop asking at some point in the future. I will be technically irrelevant.

But that’s not yet.

So, at 60, I started a completely new venture. And you can too.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Subscriber Stories: Tom Hewitt

This months career portfolio case is not about creating products - its’ about broadening your reach. Applying your skills into new areas not known for your expertise.

Tom Hewitt : Marketing | HR | Training & Development | Leadership

Tom is a corporate marketing pro who leveraged his business acumen first into a completely different industry and later into a whole host of other corporate disciplines. In the past he led strategy and digital integration at some of Charlotte’s largest names: First Union, Duke Energy, Red Ventures, Wells Fargo and TIAA.

Then he took a turn no one but he saw coming – as Director of Marketing for Octapharma Plasma.

An industry not known for strategic marketing.

Tom’s insight as a business guy with marketing skills, has opened up all types of leadership roles for him because he’s competent - and it stands out to everyone in the company.

With success comes opportunity.

Tom has worked his way into leadership of Marketing, Human Resources, Learning & Development, and internal and external Communications. All for a $1.4b company with more than 6500 employees.

Pretty incredible career portfolio additions.

But it all started with the ability to see possibilities in an industry not known for them.

Modern Tools

Do you need help planning and selling a digital product?

Udemy has a class for that.

Take a demo, get a Blackstone Griddle

• Automate expense reports so you can focus on strategy

• Uncapped virtual corporate cards

• Access scalable credit lines from $500 to $15M

Request a demo

Old School Wisdom

In today’s world, building a web site is old school.

But WIX has excellent templates and code-free tools for anyone who does. More importantly, they give away a ton of free advice.

How to start a successful consulting business in 8 steps is a perfect example.

Free Knowledge

Luisa Zhou is a self-proclaimed nerd and has been an International Space Station engineer, a mobile payments start-up co-founder, and a digital advertising manager.

But something was missing. So she started her own business and now helps others do the same.

She has helped thousands of Entrepreneurials go from employee to entrepreneur. She has a large social following and has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc, Entrepreneur, and more. 

Recommendations

🤓 The Product Led Geek : Join over 9,000 founders and leaders learning how to scale their B2B software companies with product-led growth and product-led sales.

📰 Marketing Memos : Proven Marketing Tips for Founders

🧠 Seven Deadly Stupidities : This newsletter will help improve your decision making by removing bias, unnecessary information, and emotion from your process.

🌟 Creator Spotlight : Interviews and Creator Economy success stories every Friday.

📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

💪 Dealroom : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business.

🏆 IDiyas : Weekly patent newsletter highlighting the most prolific inventors, engineers, executives and entrepreneurs.

Visual Crapshoot