Hi, I’m Ryan. I help high performers become founders by using LinkedIn to build real, profitable businesses.

My career didn’t fall apart. I didn’t burn out. I finished every role cleanly - Director, VP - leading hundreds of engineers across the world and helping build multiple billion‑dollar companies.

And still, I knew I wanted to build on my own.

I’ve founded 5 companies and earned multiple exits while scaling teams behind $1B+ in outcomes. I loved the work, but I wanted a life where I could build big things and be present for my family. I wanted ownership. I wanted flexibility. I wanted proof I could do it on my terms.

LinkedIn became the path. I grew from 1,200 to 100,000+ followers in nine months, built a brand that opened doors I didn’t know existed, and stepped fully into my own business.

Since then, I’ve coached 50+ founders to design careers, income streams, and opportunities that match the life they actually want - not the life their company dictates.

Here’s how we work:

- Identify the opportunities you can’t see in your past experience.
- Build a clear, practical brand that attracts the right people.
- Turn your skills into simple offers, real customers, and predictable income.

Today, I own my time. I build, coach, and spend my days with my family - and help others do the same.

If you’re a high performer who wants a business that fits your life, DM me.
Partnerships, speaking, press: ryan@ryanyockey.com

Professional highlights:
• 5× Founder | Multiple exits
• Scaled teams responsible for $1B+ outcomes
• Grew to 100,000+ followers in 9 months
• Coached 50+ founders
• Trusted by leaders at Google, Adobe, Meta

Ryan Yockey

I’ve been watching people for years. The patterns are wild.

The loudest person in the room? Usually compensating.

The flashiest? Probably broke or close to it.

The one who won’t shut up about how smart they are? Not that smart.

Here’s what I’ve noticed about people who actually have it:

The strongest are gentle.
They don’t need to intimidate. Their presence does the work.

The smartest are quiet.
They listen more than they talk. They know they don’t know everything.

The wealthiest are simple.
No logos. No flex. Just compound interest and time freedom.

The happiest are private.
They’re not performing for an audience. They’re living for themselves.

Real power doesn’t need to prove itself.

It just exists.

The person who’s actually built something doesn’t need to tell you about it every five minutes.
Their results speak.

The person who’s actually confident doesn’t need external validation.
They’ve done the internal work.

If you find yourself constantly trying to prove your worth, your intelligence, your success—pause.

Ask yourself who you’re trying to convince.

Because the people who’ve made it?
They stopped performing a long time ago.

They just started building in silence.

That’s what I write about every Saturday. One short note to 135,000+ entrepreneurs who care more about real progress than public applause.

It takes 4 minutes.

And its free: https://lnkd.in/gfyweeTM

No noise.
Just the work.

Actionable strategies to grow your audience, monetize your skills, and build leverage online. | Trusted by leaders at Google, Adobe, Meta

The real luxury isn’t making millions.

And it’s definitely not your internet dream.

It’s easy to confuse money with freedom.

Fast cars.
Big houses.
Screenshots and timelines.

But watch closely.

The people who actually "made it"
optimize for something much quieter.

I control my time.
I can choose when to workout.
I dont have nearly the level of stress I once did.

Slow mornings without guilt.
Rested afternoons whenever I want.
Sleep that isn’t borrowed from tomorrow.

And most importantly:

People you love.
Who love you back.

Money can certainly help create these things and more, theres no denying that.

But chasing money at the expense of them usually destroys the very life you’re trying to build.

I learned this the hard way.

The goal isn’t more.
It’s enough — designed intentionally.

That’s what I write about every Saturday.

One short email to 135,000+ entrepreneurs on building work and lives that don’t collapse under success.

It takes 4 minutes to read.

It’s free. Join here: https://lnkd.in/gfyweeTM

Slow down.
You’re closer than you think.

I waited longer than I should have.

Not because I didn’t have ideas.
Not because I wasn’t capable.

Because I kept telling myself I needed:
More clarity.
More confidence.
More proof it would work.

I thought I needed a better plan.

I didn’t.

I thought I needed permission to try new things.

I didn't

I thought I needed someone to tell me it was okay to start.

I didn’t.

What I actually needed was to stop questioning myself.

Every meaningful thing I’ve built started the same way:
Messy.
Incomplete.
Uncomfortable.


The people I know who’ve built real businesses didn’t wait for the right time.
They started before it made sense.
They figured it out while delivering.
They gave themselves permission to start.

Most people do the opposite.

They plan.
They ask.
They wait.

Your competition isn’t other people.

It’s your own hesitation.

Stop asking if you’re ready.
Start doing the thing you keep thinking about.

That’s what I write about every Saturday.

One short note to 135,000+ entrepreneurs who stopped waiting and started building.

It takes 4 minutes.

It’s free: https://lnkd.in/gfyweeTM

Start sooner than you feel comfortable.

The most valuable skill isn’t productivity.

It’s knowing what matters.

Anyone can work harder.
Anyone can move faster.
Anyone can optimize their calendar.

That’s not the edge.

The edge is knowing what not to do.

Because efficiency on the wrong things is still wasted energy.

I see this constantly.

People obsess over:
• Morning routines
• Task managers
• AI workflows
• Productivity hacks

But they’re applying them to work that doesn’t matter.

So they feel busy.
They feel exhausted.
And they wonder why nothing compounds.

Real leverage comes from clarity.

Knowing:
• Which decisions actually move the needle
• Which problems are worth solving
• Which work creates momentum instead of maintenance

Most professionals don’t need better systems.

They need better filters.

Once you know what matters, productivity becomes obvious.
Until then, it’s just motion.

That’s what I write about every Saturday.

One short email to 135,000+ entrepreneurs on building conviction, making clearer decisions, and designing work you’re proud to stand behind.

It takes 4 minutes to read.

It’s free. Join here: https://lnkd.in/gfyweeTM

Keep building.
The right people notice.

Hi, I’m Erin, and I help experts turn what they know into digital learning products that change behavior and drive revenue.

Most “online courses” don’t fail because the expert isn’t brilliant.
They fail because they’re built like content… not like a product.

So the result looks familiar:

Your framework works when you deliver it, but it doesn’t travel without you
The “course” becomes a polished video dump (expensive, impressive… ineffective)
You stall in planning mode because you can’t see the commercial path clearly enough to commit

That’s the gap I close.

I’m the founder of Audacious Labs, and my work sits at the intersection of behavioral science, learning design, and commercial strategy. We help thought leaders, consultants, coaches, and framework-driven experts convert their IP into structured, science-backed learning systems engineered for real humans and real outcomes.

A quick credibility snapshot (so you know this isn’t theory):

Designed and sold digital learning products to 100+ global enterprises
Led teams that sold $200M+ in learning solutions 
Built for organizations like Amazon, IKEA, Google, EY, Deloitte, and Nike
Created the only method for digital learning that actually changes behavior (Hook to Habit)

What I care about most is this: knowing better isn’t enough to do better.
Skills and habits are the bridge, and most learning never builds the bridge.

This isn’t “course creation.” It’s product architecture.
We design the pieces that make a learning product perform in the market and in real life:

✅ The Promise: what changes, for whom, and why it’s worth paying for
✅ The Learning System: the skills + habits that create the transformation
✅ The Commercial Engine: positioning, packaging, pricing, and a path to leverage

One non-negotiable standard: every product must do two things at the same time:
Drive real behavior change
Generate meaningful, sustainable revenue

If both outcomes aren’t possible, we’ll tell you. 

Sometimes that means simplifying the offer. 
Sometimes narrowing the audience. 
Sometimes choosing a different product shape entirely. 

(Integrity is a killer growth strategy.)

If you’re building a learning product this year and want it to be both effective and profitable, this is where I do my best work.

Erin Green

When someone says they have a "growth mindset" it's often a clear sign that they don't.
 
We've all been there. 

Working with a team member who's championing 
"growth mindset." Then totally loses it when their boss critiques their work.
 
The tells can be subtle:
 
They say "failure is feedback"… 
but only when the stakes are low. 

They say they "love feedback"… 
but only ask people who they know like them. 

They say "I'm always learning"… 
but avoid rooms where they're the least experienced.
 
There's a name for this: false growth mindset.
 
It occurs when someone's language sounds like they're 
evolved, but their behavior still dodges risk, critique, 
and the boring repetition that actually builds skills.
 
And companies do this too.
 
I've watched organizations use "growth mindset" as a Band-Aid instead of fixing broken systems. 

When the response to missed targets is "be more growth-minded" instead of "let's redesign workload or incentives."

That's false growth mindset at scale.
 
But real growth mindset is incredibly unglamorous:
 
→ You choose the harder problem 
→ You ask for unfiltered critique  
→ You keep doing reps after the newness wears off.
 
The next time you catch yourself saying 
"I'm growth-minded," pause.

What are you avoiding right now?
That's your data.
 
📌 Bookmark this for the next time you need it.

Erin Green

Helping Experts Build Behavior-Changing, Profitable Learning Products | $200M+ Sold to Amazon, Google, IKEA & More | Founder, Audacious Labs

I just watched someone duct-tape wings to a Honda. 
Reminded me of most corporate training.

The car-with-wings situation isn’t a tax story.
It’s a KPI story.

Technically within the rules? Sure.
Functionally ridiculous? Also sure.

This is the same failure mode I see in talent development:
• “Learning” measured by completions, not behavior change.
• Training measured by hours, not capability.
• Performance measured by activity, not outcomes.

When the system rewards "finishing" over "applying," people rush to finish.

Not because they're lazy.
Because the system taught them what "good" looks like.

Completion becomes the goal.
Capability building becomes a rare side effect.

When you can win without changing, most people will.
Not because they’re bad.
But because they’re human.

Wings on a car works… until the moment you need lift.

What behavior are your programs actually rewarding?

Erin Green

Mental health posts love the word "choose."             

Choose better people. 
Choose calm. 
Choose boundaries.

That's true...sometimes.

But proximity isn't always a choice.

Family dinners. 
Team meetings. 
Shared projects.
Dental cleanings.

In reality, we can't avoid every toxic interaction.

So the real skill that we need isn't knowing how to prune toxic people from our life.
That's pretty easy.

It's regulation in the presence of the people we can't avoid.
Clients. Team members. Family.

This quote assumes you control the guest list.
When in reality, life writes half the invitations.

Staying grounded.
Not absorbing what isn’t yours.
Protecting your nervous system without burning every bridge.

That’s the real skill.

Erin Green

The difference between having eight buyers and eighty is not your skills.

Or your content quality.
Or your delivery method.
Not even your credibility - which surprises most people.

The two doors shown here - competence and trust - are non negotiable.

But walking through both just gets you into a crowded room with every other credible expert.

There's a third door: Differentiation.

Scaling your business by licensing your frameworks, training other consultants, or codifying what you know into a course, cohort, or community, completely changes your impact and your income.

The downside is that relationships alone can't differentiate you they way they do in 1:1 work.

Credibility gets you invited into the same rooms as everyone else.
But it doesn’t make you memorable once you’re there.

A lot of experts operate as if competence + trust = sales at scale.

So they spend tons of time and money perfecting doors 1 and 2 - polishing content, tweaking delivery methods, chasing the latest  learning platform.

Instead, they should be working on door 3: owning a distinct point of view that no one else can replicate.

The people who get beyond six figures with knowledge products?
They don't just know their stuff.

They've claimed a unique way of thinking about the problem that feels irreplaceable to their audience.

Erin Green

Snoopy just made “someday” feel irresponsible

"We only die once. We live every day."

I've noticed a pattern.

We treat today like practice for a future version of our business.

We deliver for clients while waiting for the perfect moment to launch 𝘰𝘶𝘳 thing.
We write proposals instead of the book.
We deliver workshops while planning the "real" offer.

We stay busy. Useful. In demand.

And the system rewards this:

Clients pay for delivery.
The market rewards responsiveness.
Our survival instincts prefer revenue we already see.

This is how “successful” people waste a decade.

I caught myself doing this.

I've spent years helping my clients build programs that scale their impact and income. 

I know what makes a learning product desirable.
How to design it so it delivers real results for your buyers. 
How to make offers irresistible when they launch. 

And I absolutely love doing this work.

And yet... I'm launching my first cohort in February. 
Not for a client. For me.

So, I’ve been paying closer attention to the “somedays” I see in myself, and in the experts I work with.

Here's what "someday" looks like in real life:

1️⃣ 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 “𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗮𝘆” 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀  
“I’ll start once this project ends.”  
(While booking the next three engagements before the current one finishes.)
 
2️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀  
Deep competitive analysis. Pricing spreadsheets. Positioning docs.  
Lots of thinking. Very little building.
 
3️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲  
Choosing platforms, tools, workflows…  
Without clearly defining what you’re building or why it needs to exist.
 
Notice how all of these feel productive. 
 
4️⃣ 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀
Most courses and programs that don’t actually equip you with the skills you need…  
But feel productive enough to delay action.
 
5️⃣ 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 "𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝘁”  
Remaining the bottleneck by telling yourself you shouldn’t add the expense of more resources…  
Instead of defining clear scopes of work that will keep you on budget.

This is the part most smart people miss:

You’re already doing the work of capturing your content.
In client conversations. In voice notes. In workshops. In the problems you solve daily.

The only way to expand your impact and income is to put your expertise into a format that 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴.

If you want to learn alongside me as I build over the next 4 weeks, you’re welcome to. 

I’ll be sending one email a week that shares: what I’m working on, why I’m making the choices I am, the tools I’m using, and the mistakes I'm making (so you can avoid them!)  

If that sounds helpful, drop me a DM with your email or sign up here. https://lnkd.in/dBvMsfuu

Erin Green

Your calendar reveals your real business model.
 
I’ve been paying closer attention to mine lately.  
Not in a productivity-hack way.  
In a "what-is-really-going-on-here" way.
 
And it revealed to me this: 

I am choking my company's sales.
 
Not because demand is weak.  
Not because marketing isn't working.  
But because "how we sell" lives completely in my head.
 
Context. 
Judgment calls. 
Pricing nuance. 
Exceptions.  

I absolutely love meeting new clients and strategizing about how a digital product can transform their impact and income...

...apparently a little too much.

Here's an example: 
In the fall I sat on a stellar lead magnet for eight weeks.  

Not because it wasn’t good.

But because I couldn’t find an hour to give it the final polish.

Bad Erin. Really bad.
 
So I sat down and mapped out a new sales playbook for the next three months. 

Not as a “process doc,” but a real, clearly designed experiment.
 
The question I’m designing around is simple:
 
What would need to be true for qualified sales conversations and deals to move forward without me?
 
Here’s what I’m working with:
 
– If I’m unavailable, sales still move forward  
– No lead waits on my calendar  
– Decisions live in shared structure, not one person’s judgment  
– Saying no is part of the system, not a failure of it
 
By the end of this quarter, success looks like this:
 
– Deals close without my direct involvement  
– Pricing decisions happen inside defined ranges  
– My team can make any sales-related decision with a <$5k impact and inform me after
 
The primary metric I’m watching isn’t top-line growth.  
It’s the percentage of deals that close without me.

Because I know that once I optimize that, the revenue will be able to scale far beyond what I can currently see.
 
Because I’m learning that the biggest limiter on growth right now is me.
 
Your calendar always tells the truth (whether we're ready to hear it or not.)
 
I’m listening now.  
And I’m redesigning accordingly.

Erin Green

Trying to brainstorm while in the wrong thinking mode is like using a hammer to paint a wall.

Right tool. Wrong job.

Most of us default to the same thinking mode for every task we take on. 

Which means we're sabotaging our own momentum.

Choosing the right mode for each task accelerates your progress and generates better ideas.

Seems like a no-brainer to get savvy at choosing the right mode for the task.

This carousel breaks down 7 thinking styles you can teach yourself - and exactly when to use each one. 

The first 3 help you problem solve. 
The last 4 will get you unstuck.

Most people overuse one of two modes. 
Discover which one you're overusing.

Click through the carousel and save it for next time you're stuck and need to switch modes.

Erin Green

Most people overuse 2 of these 7 thinking modes

You’ve got the knowledge.
A unique method (that you know actually works).
A badass reputation.

But you don't have the course. Yet.

Let’s fix that, shall we?

Here’s a 90-day roadmap to turn your expertise into a revenue-generating course. The goal is to produce a "minimum lovable product" without burning out or putting your client work (because, you know, bills) on hold.

👇 Save this for when you’re ready to get serious.

FOUNDATION (Days 1–30)
- Identify 1-2 topics your clients already ask for (guessing is not a business strategy)
- Validate demand with prospect conversations (family and friends do not count)
- Confirm at least 3 people have $2K–$15K to spend
- Draft a quick course outline (you can refine later)
- Choose a platform that fits your workflow
- Build an MVP of just one short module
- Draft pricing and packaging

CREATION + TESTING (Days 31–60)
- Share a sample module and get feedback (yes, even before it’s done; that's the point)
- Build the rest of the MVP based on what you learn
- Run a paid beta with 2–3 friendly clients ($500–$1K discount)
- Finalize full course content
- Gather feedback, iterate fast
- Build out case studies and sales materials (use your beta testers as testimonials)

LAUNCH + SCALE (Month 3)
- Launch publicly with early bird pricing
- Offer special bonuses to current or past clients
- Post 5x/week on LinkedIn (75% educational content related to the course, 25% sales posts)
- DM 50 qualified prospects with context, not cold pitch (better if you can warm them up by commenting on their recent posts or sending some valuable resources via a DM, before you ask them to buy anything
- Book at least 5 discovery calls a week

You do not need a $30K studio setup or perfect funnels.

You need momentum, clarity, and a path that makes sense.

Which phase are you in right now: foundation, creation, or launch?

Drop it in the comments. 

Follow Erin Green for insights on course creation and building a business off of what you know.

Mandela mastered this counterintuitive habit.
And it unlocked his lifelong growth.

There's a paradox that transforms ordinary learners into extraordinary ones:
- The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know
- The greatest experts are often the most humble students
- True growth starts when your ego steps aside

This matters because:

When you're not defending what you know, 
🔭 you're free to discover what you don't.

The quality of your learning depends on 
🙋 the quality of your questions. 

When you're humble enough to be wrong, 
📈every setback becomes a setup for growth.
 

The next time you feel like you need to know it all -
embrace the power of saying "I'm still learning."

What's one thing you're humbly curious about right now?

Follow Erin Green for insights on digital learning and behavior change.

Overplanning is like air-conditioning a tent — expensive, pointless, and weirdly comforting.

I create learning products for a living. 
I tell my clients to test ideas with "minimum lovable products."

"Don't spend months building the full course." 
"Build just one module. See what lands."
"The cake isn't set yet in the middle - you can still adjust the recipe."

Then my coach asked what experiments I was running in my business this quarter.
That thought honestly hadn't occurred to me.
The cobbler's kids have no shoes.

So this quarter, I'm running small experiments instead of avoiding risk.
One workshop format I've never tried.
A different way to onboard new clients.
Meta ads for the first time.

Taking the mindset of "these are experiments" has given me a lot of freedom. 
I've defined the container for how many weeks we'll run each experiment and what the budget is.
The creative energy is palpable across the whole company.

This mindset applies everywhere:
If you're in strategy - test one new framework before overhauling your entire approach.
If you're creating content - try one format shift before changing your social strategy.
If you're leading a team - pilot one small process change before reorganizing everything.

The mindset shift is the same:
A fixed mindset asks "What if this fails?"
A growth mindset asks "What will we learn?"

Follow Erin Green for more on behavior change, monetizing your expertise, and questionable business decisions I'm testing in real time.

Sometimes “better than yesterday” doesn’t mean doing more.
It means stopping sooner.

As a founder, I’m realizing something important:
I need to get better at rest.

I'm really, really bad at it.
Something tells me, you can relate.

If we read “better than yesterday” as hustle harder,
push further, or prove we want it more than our competition,
we're just hurting ourselves.  

I don’t need to become more disciplined. 
I need to not end up burnt out, resentful, and eventually cuddled on the couch with a case of wine.

That's not exactly the entrepreneurial glow-up I'm aiming for.

Reframing rest as a good behavior is helping me: 
✅ get better at stopping sooner
✅ get better at noticing when my nervous system is on the fritz
✅ get better at walking away from my desk at a reasonable hour

This is quote is usually used as code for 𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 

But for me, right now, it’s about doing less—on purpose.

I’m curious what this looks like for you:

What counterintuitive thing are you getting 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺 at?
• Saying no?
• Sleeping?
• Asking for help?
• Leaving some capacity unused?

For me, it's:  
Less force. 
More awareness. 
Better stopping points.

Not because I'm lazy.
But because I'm ensuring the survival of the things that matter most in my life.

The hardest “better than yesterday” move I’m practicing is knowing when enough is enough.

Erin Green

What got most thought leaders to $500K traps them there.

The experts who last aren't the ones with the deepest current expertise.  

They're the ones who can adapt fastest when the market shifts.

I keep coming back to this carrot illustration.

The little carrot looks amazing above ground – super impressive, lots of visible skill.  

And then you notice the roots are… basically nonexistent.

The bigger carrot isn't as flashy up top.  
But the roots go way deeper.

That's the difference between having skills and being able to learn.

I see this over and over with new clients:

A thought leader positions themselves as “the expert in X.”  

Builds a course around what they know today, and attracts clients who want that exact methodology.

It works. Like, really works.  
Until the market moves. (which takes about 5 minutes...)

Now their signature framework feels dated.  

Their content doesn't convert like it used to.  

And they're stuck trying to repackage the same expertise while other people are pivoting in real time.

The thought leaders building sustainable IP businesses aren't selling what they know.  

They're selling how they think.

Which usually means they've built around things like:

They can spot patterns across disciplines — not just stay inside one narrow lane.  

They’re comfortable running experiments without having all the answers first.  

And their thinking transfers. It doesn’t expire every time the algorithm changes or the market gets weird.
 
My clients who are excelling the most follow this pattern:

If you can adapt faster than your market changes, you can build a business without an expiration date.  

An asset that gets more valuable over time.

So here's the question I'd actually ask you over coffee:

Is your business built around what you currently know…  
or around your ability to learn what you'll need next?

Because one of those scales.  
And the other one hits a ceiling — usually about the time things start to get interesting.

Erin Green

Competence has a shorter shelf life than confidence.

Because confidence updates slowly - even when the market doesn’t.

And you might not notice… until you’re in a meeting wondering why your “proven strategy” is suddenly giving 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

(The strategy, not your soul. Though sometimes it’s both.)
 
For example:
 
The marketing tactics you mastered two years ago?  
A chunk of them don’t work the same way anymore.
 
The AI workflow you finally got dialed in three weeks ago?  
There’s already a newer model shifting the playing field.
 
Multiple workforce studies suggest most skills now have a half-life of ~2.5–5 years. 
And for technical skills, closer to 18 months.
 
Which mean, your competitive edge isn't the depth at which you have mastered your current skills.
 
It’s learning speed.
 
Because in business, the people who win aren’t the ones who know the most.  
They’re the ones who can learn and apply the fastest.
 
Here are 7, science-backed rules for learning at startup speed:
 
1️⃣ No learning without actually doing the thing.  
Apply in real time. 
Knowledge without skills is just trivia.

2️⃣ 80/20 the fundamentals.  
Get obsessed with the few inputs that actually compound.

3️⃣Borrow someone’s decade.  
Find a mentor who learns fast. Ask for a teardown, not a pep talk.

4️⃣ Pick one skill per month.  
Not ten. One. 
Block time on your calendar to practice....and show up for yourself.

5️⃣ Do a daily 2-minute debrief.  
What did I learn? What will I try tomorrow?

6️⃣ Steal the process, not the personality.  
Study what top performers do when they feel unmotivated on a Tuesday...not what they post on LinkedIn.

7️⃣Join a community with momentum.  
When you learn alongside serious people, you get their lessons 𝘢𝘯𝘥 your own.
 
We live in a world where skills drain fast. 
Learning speed is a skill that will never expire. 

If you had to choose one focus for Q1 2026, what are you learning:  AI, sales, hiring, or distribution?
 
(And if you’re feeling spicy: what skill are you intentionally 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 this year?)

Follow Erin Green 
♻️ Repost for others to see.

Research can sabotage momentum faster than ignorance.

I learned this the annoying way.

I was building a mid-ticket offer and did what “smart founders” do:  
market research, competitor analysis, deep ICP conversations.

I synthesized it all into 15 possible offers.

And then I couldn’t choose a single one.

I’d spent all my cognitive energy 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, so when it came time to actually decide, my brain was done.

The next day it was obvious:  
I was draining my decision battery before the real decision even showed up.

So I changed the order.
Instead of asking, “Which offer should I pick?”  

I asked: What must be true for this offer to work?

Once I set criteria, clarity came back.  
The decision got easier because I had fewer choices.

I see this pattern repeatedly with my clients. 
They come to me having done a bunch of research, taken courses, and subscribed to platforms.

Yet still, no product.

The number of decisions required to build a scalable product is already extreme. 
Adding more options sabotages your goal.

If you’re stuck choosing what to build next:  
you probably don’t need another idea.  

You need fewer.

Erin Green

Options feel productive until nothing gets done

If your content educates but doesn’t convert, this is why.

Most consultants don’t have a knowledge problem.  
They have a transfer problem.
 
You can explain your thinking clearly.  
Your posts can be smart, practical, even impressive.
 
And still…  
people aren't buying from you.
 
This is because most content focuses on telling.

And while telling builds awareness, 
and teaching builds credibility,

Trust only shows up once someone gets to feel your thinking in action.

Here's how Ben's quote applies:
Awareness → Credibility → Involvement
 
Awareness sounds like: “Here’s the problem.”  
Credibility sounds like: “Here’s how to solve it.”
 
But involvement sounds like:  
“Here’s how I would think through this with you.”
 
Clients don’t hire you because they understand what you do.  
They hire you because they trust that you can fix their hot mess.
 
Involvement happens when your content lets someone:
  
➡️ borrow your brain for a minute
➡️ watch you make a real decision
➡️ see what you say no to (and why)
 
You’re no longer just educating your audience.  
You’re pre-selling the working relationship.

If you want to do this intentionally, try one of these:
 
1. Decision breakdown  
“Here’s the recommendation. Here’s the alternative I ruled out. Here’s why.”

2. Trade-off post  
“If you optimize for X, you lose Y. This is how I choose.”

3. Before / after thinking  
“Here’s the advice most people give. Here’s how I’d reframe it - and what changes.”
 
That’s the difference between content that gets saved  
and content that generates revenue.
 
The fastest-growing experts aren't publishing more "special insights."

They're designing moments where the reader is doing the thinking with them; not just nodding along.

Most experts don’t fail because their course is bad.
They fail because they built the wrong product.
 
I’ve watched smart, credible experts spend months creating something they’re genuinely proud of, only to launch to utter silence.
 
Not because their expertise isn't incredibly valuable.  

Not because the topic isn’t useful.
 
But because they built a product to teach 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 instead of a product designed to solve  𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹.

I have seen this, over and over again.

What you want to teach ≠ what your audience is ready to buy from you right now.
 
Your course is not special just because your work is special.
It's a product. And product validation is non-negotiable. 

When you skip this step, you end up with:

❌ months of work
❌ thousands of dollars invested
❌ and a launch that tells you nothing except that you failed (ouch)
 
It's rarely a a content issue.  
It’s a product–market mismatch.
 
And it’s one of the most expensive mistakes you can make.
 
Before you build anything, you should be able to prove three things:
 
✅ Your audience already knows they have this problem
✅ They are actively trying to solve it (not “someday”)
✅ Existing solutions feel incomplete, ineffective, or misaligned
 
If you can’t prove those, don’t build yet.
 
That’s what this carousel is about.
 
Not how to build the course.  
How to validate demand 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 you invest your time, money, and energy.
 
Save this if you’re even considering building a course.
 
And if you want the exact validation exercises I use with experts, comment 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 and I’ll send them.
 
Erin Green

Most online courses fail before they’re even built

Overpreparing was my insecurity disguised as leadership.

I still remember the knot in my stomach before every 1:1.
 
I was 28, newly promoted into a Director role at a boutique consulting firm, inheriting a team of absolute heavyweights.

Former VPs. 
Former C-suite leaders. 
Deep experts.

And I had one persistent fear:
They’re going to realize I’m inexperienced and I’ll lose credibility immediately.

So I did what most anxious, high-achieving new leaders tend to do.

I prepared.

Agendas. 
Talking points. 
Well thought out solutions to anticipated problems.

It was exhausting.

And here’s the part I didn’t expect:
I was walking out of my 1:1s with more action items than my team was.

The harder I worked at being a great coach, the less my team actually thought or solved problems for themselves.

Around that time, a friend recommended 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵 by Michael Bungay Stanier.

It completely transformed how I led, quite literally, overnight.

All I had to do was "master" 7 questions.
(Which I wrote at the top of of my notepad so I didn't have to memorize them).

These simple, repeatable questions shifted ownership, created clarity, and improved decision-making immediately. 

Over time, I became known as one of the best leaders in the company.

Other leaders regularly told me how impressed they were with the performance of my team and asked me what my secrets were.

No secrets, just 7 questions. 

Because when you consistently ask these questions, the people you support become empowered to solve any challenge they face.

And they feel psychologically safe enough to do so.

In the carousel, I’ve broken down the behavioral science behind why those seven questions work so well.

And how I use them to increase ownership, reduce defensiveness, and improve follow-through with my team.

I still use them in every 1:1.

If you want better 1:1s, don’t bring more advice.
Bring better questions.

Save this so you can reference it in your next 1:1.

Erin Green

The problem with most 11s is the leader

If learning worked, behavior would change. 
It usually doesn’t.

That's because we design learning for how we wish people learned.

Not for how learning actually sticks, transfers, and shows up as behavior.

I'm on a mission to transform the effectiveness of "courses" so that we can truly teach skills at scale.

And for those skills to stick because we also engineered new habits.

If you'd like to join me, here’s a short list of free, evidence-based resources worth checking out. 

If you design training, courses, onboarding, or education of any kind, this list is for you. 👇

Carnegie Mellon University — Principles of Learning 
Foundational principles explaining how people acquire and apply knowledge
https://lnkd.in/dy6KXv9B

Yale University - Evidence-Based Teaching Practices
Methods shown to improve retention and transfer
https://lnkd.in/dnfmWQBf

Duke University, Center for Advanced Hindsight —Behavioral Science in Practice  
How behavioral science actually drives behavior change
https://lnkd.in/dqfcTkwg

Stanford University —  Behavioral Design Resources  
Behavioral design applied to real-world decisions
https://lnkd.in/daZUKC6j

MIT OpenCourseWare — Learning, Memory & Cognition
Cognitive science foundations of how memory works
https://lnkd.in/dxcz4Z7h

Australian Council for Educational Research — Evidence-Based Learning Design   
How design decisions shape learning outcomes
https://lnkd.in/dS7bqtXD

University College London — Learning Transfer & Application
Why learning fails outside the classroom—and what fixes it
https://lnkd.in/dsA6H97u

National Academies of Sciences — How People Learn II  
A modern synthesis of learning science research
https://lnkd.in/d_M5hj9v

If you believe learning should change behavior—not just deliver content, this is a solid place to start.

Save it. 
Share it. 
Send it to someone who designs learning for a living.

Open article: Learning Principles - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University by cmu.edu

Learning Principles - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

Your platform choice reveals your real business strategy.

Most experts shop for course platforms like they're comparing software features.

They should be designing how their expertise compounds.

I see this mistake constantly once someone has an audience but no operational leverage.

The difference between platforms that scale your thinking and platforms that package your knowledge isn't in the pricing tiers.

It's in what they make possible once your business can move without you in every decision.

When your framework needs to work without your voice. 
When your methodology has to transfer through other people. 
When your IP generates revenue while you're building the next thing.

The nine evaluation areas in this breakdown aren't feature comparisons.

They're business model decisions.

Most creators optimize for getting their first course live. 
Smart creators optimize for the business their expertise could become.

Erin Green

60% of people will leave your webinar in the first 10 mins
If you don't use psychology to keep them there.

That makes it hard to teach or sell them on something.

Smart marketers and learning designers are:
- Using dopamine-boosting activities
- Keeping people in the room longer
- Establishing credibility and trust faster 

Use these 9 psychology hacks to keep people awake in your next webinar:

1. Structure to show visible progress
2. Deliver core content → short “bites" + practice
3. Use curiosity cliffhangers and micro-reveals

4. Play status games
5. Create cognitive pattern interrupts
6. Create debate

7. Use scarcity drops and bonus reveals
8. Deploy surprise endings
9. Create social accountability

No one wants to fall asleep in your webinar.
But please do your part in keeping them awake.

Comment RAMEN and I'll send you a high-res version of this cheat sheet. 🍜

Follow Erin Green for tools on creating digital learning that changes behavior.

♻️ Repost if you'd like to stay awake in your next webinar.

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