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Welcome back to the Launch Key 🚀

There are 8 billion different ways to build your own career portfolio. This week we look at 3 examples of Launch Key subscribers who each done things their way.

Let's get into it.

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Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

  • Naras Eechambadi

  • Andrew Holladay

  • Patrick McLean

• Modern Tools

• Old School Wisdom

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

The career path we were shown 40 years ago is bunk.

The career portfolio is the new hotness. And some of us in the gray-haired cabal have been playing ahead of that trend for a while.

This week I revisit 3 examples of a data engineer, an SEO expert and a creative director. Launch Key subscribers who happen to have built unique and personal businesses from their expertise.

Consistent. Focused. Talent. Aimed at setting themselves apart throughout the noise of changing technology as they created their own career portfolio.

I bet you can do the same.

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Naras Eechambadi

Meet Naras Eechambadi: Ph.D., McKinsey alum, author, mentor, “Most Influential Person in Data” and entrepreneur who sold his company … twice. He is definitely one of the most interesting men in the world!

He’s also one of the most likeable.

With his background in marketing, data and technology he put himself in unique roles to first help blue chip companies build, and later allow him to create his entrepreneurial success.

Quaero provided Fortune 500 and large enterprises with sophisticated customer data management platforms and services. When he sold the company the second time he thought he was retired.

But his unique expertise was too valuable to sit on the shelf.

A completely new industry needed his knowledge.

When approached by Universal Music Group, he told them he knew what he didn’t want to do anymore.

And they enticed him out of retirement to create a role that he did want.

He founded and is scaling UMG’s global data and analytics team, driving a growing direct-to-customer (DTC) and e-commerce business.

Naras has attracted and mentored talent, setting up UMG’s future success long after he completes another fascinating chapter of his career portfolio.

Andrew Holladay

Meet Andrew Holladay : Founder | SEO sage | Domain name visionary

Full disclosure, Andrew worked as a project manager in our web design firm so I am biased about the cool stuff he’s done since.

But when we were designing Web 1.0 sites, he immediately understood that SEO would be worth focusing on. He snatched up some domain names on his hunch.

He was an early solopreneur and started an SEO consulting practice.

Be bought usedturf.com and started an interesting side hustle buying and selling used artificial turf. He was first in that market and probably the only competitor making his own keywords-based websites. He had so much success he expanded into warehousing all the used turf.

He also saw the trend that good internet access allowed freedom of location and he did WFH decades before it was a thing, running his operations from a cabin in the woods. All managed with a google phone number from a nearby trout stream.

Over the past 2 decades, he has improved SEO and Google Ads accounts for a Who’s Who of clients including: Verizon, CVS, Bass Pro Shops, Home Shopping Network, 1-800 Flowers, Best Buy and many more.

He recognized a unique new technology opportunity. He took the risk. Learned new skills. Delivered results. And has consistently focused on the changing field to remain a trusted resource.

He’s forgotten more than I ever knew on the topic and has created an interesting career portfolio in an extremely useful niche.

Don’t take my word for it ⬇️ 

Patrick McLean

Meet Patrick McLean: Creative Director. Writer. Video explainer.

He’s made his living crafting messaging for corporate clients. But that doesn’t mean he’s boring.

He’s written 11 books, including the award winning How to Succeed in Evil series.

His blogs, Youtube content and Substack writing experiments sometimes turn into side hustles.

He cranked his sense of humor by using AI to resurrect the greatest journalists, essayists, commentators to produce newspaper articles based on today’s stories.

Who wouldn’t prefer Hunter S. Thompson’s take on 2024 election year ‘news’?

Today Patrick is extending his storytelling expertise to create characters and write video game story lines for Microsoft.

Helluva growing career portfolio.

There you have it. 3 completely different career portfolios done their way.

Plan your own escape.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Modern Tools

One of the biggest sticking points for would-be entrepreneurs is health care. Small businesses have traditionally not had great benefits.

Enter CrowdHealth. Only pay for the health care you need.

After years of paying premiums for health care that I never used - plus a very high deductible - I left for CrowdHealth. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth your research.

Old School Wisdom

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It’s the first sports media company backed by over 50 legendary athletes including:

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PlayersTV is a platform where athletes can tell their own stories, show fans more of who they really are, and connect in a whole new way.

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PlayersTV has the potential to reach 300M+ homes and devices through platforms like Amazon, Samsung, and Sling.

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Recommendations

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💼 Thriving Freelance - Gigs and Growth : Hundreds of job opportunities sent directly to your inbox each week, plus timely resources to support you as you grow and evolve.

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

🗃️ Dealroom Business Success Uncovered : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business. Join a community of 2,000+ innovators.

Visual Crapshoot