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About 6 months ago, I noticed a growing trend of people who were approaching their careers a bit differently.

They were working more flexible hours, traveling for extended periods of time, and making truly jarring amounts of money.

It even appears, that they’ve become immune to wild swings of the economy and job market.

To me, it seemed like they’re building bulletproof careers.

So I started doing some research. I read dozens of articles, listened to their podcasts, and participated in conferences.

They’re not CEOs or executives, but normal people who have one thing in common.

They packaged their skills, instead of selling their time.

This article is a bit different from normal. It’s jam packed with examples and links for you to explore.

I’ll walk you through the exact process I discovered.

This process allows you to:

• Become more resilient in any job market

• Take longer vacations

• Not have to rely on stock options to build wealth

• Be less vulnerable to market swings

• Have more freedom of the hours you work

This article is written for non-entrepreneurs. For people who have never considered themselves as business owners, or have no interest that way of life.

The tools have changed, but we’re still working jobs like we did 60 years ago

This has been the standard career spectrum for nearly all of your life. On one side, you can be an employee. On the other, you have a business owner.

We’re concerned only with the former.

For us, there’s really only been one way to win as an employee—gravitate towards the biggest company in your field. Apple, Google, Boeing, Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, Exon Mobil.

These giants will take care of you.

They have great benefits and pay premium salaries. Your work will almost always be stable and reliable.

But in recent years, it’s become trendy to work for small start-up companies. These companies may provide you a smaller salary up front, but they promise lucrative stock options, with more freedom for your projects and less bureaucracy.

I’d argue that this is only a half-measure on a much better path.

A path that was illuminated for me just a few months ago, and I’ve been kicking myself ever since. Wondering why it took so long for this to come to my attention.

Welcome to the Income Triangle

This is the Income Triangle.

There are three ways to make money from it.

1. Your job

2. A service

3. A product

This is the tool that everyone I studied is using to build a bulletproof career.

It’s a three step process.

While you don’t have to proceed in the order I’m about to lay out, most of the people I have collected information from have.

We begin where you’re probably at right now…

Step 1: Become good enough

You are the red dot.

You’re making all of your money from a job—and that’s good—because this is exactly where all the people I studied started as well.

Your job, and learning the skills it requires, is the first step to this process.

In order to make this work, you don’t need to be the best in the world. You don’t even need to be the best in your company. You just need to be good enough.

This is where 99% of everyone reading this article will be at. You can perform your job well, you have skills, but you’re stuck.

Now here comes the leap: this will be the single hardest thing you have to do, but once you overcome this hurdle, the entire system unlocks.

It’s time to transform from an employee…..to something else.

Step 2: The Service Multiplier (or 1 + 1 = 3)

The second step is, you need to create a service around your skill.

Believe it or not, you’re kinda already doing this. But instead of selling your service to many people—you’re selling it to just one— your current employer.

Here’s the mental shift:

• I’m a cancer biologist → I provide cancer biology services.

• I’m a product manager → I provide product management services.

• I’m a sommelier → I provide sommelier services.

Alex Hormozi is one of my favorite examples of this. He started out as a personal trainer, then moved on to owning a gym, then a series of gyms.

Even after owning 7 gyms, he still had no money. His profit margin was too small. It wasn’t until he started offering services to other gym owners, that he began making serious money.

The key: He took their hardest problem, and solved it. 

As a personal trainer, you have to sell clients to continue to use your services while, simultaneously, finding more clients. Ironically, this is the hardest part of being a personal trainer.

So he built his service around getting personal trainers and gym owners more clients.

He now makes 7-figures…. a month, doing that. 

Becoming a service provider is hard.

All the information I’ve read—and the people I’ve talked to about making the leap to a service—suggests it is chaotic. Like any life change, there’s going to be some uncertainty, and growing pains.

But it’s a necessary evil to build a bulletproof career.

Here’s why:

If you have only one person buying your services, you’re vulnerable. If they decide that they no longer need you, your income goes to 0%. But when two people are buying your services, when one drops off you only go to 50%.

You instantly gain a level of resilience in an uncertain environment.

What does this mean in practicality?

It means you’ll probably have to go down to part-time at your current role. You’ll then use the extra time you have to pick up your first client.

If this means that you’re only making 75% of your previous salary at first—It will have been worth it.

I don’t know what I can provide as a service?

Imagine going to a restaurant.

They hand you a menu. This menu is a list of things they can provide for you. Some they’re really great at, others are just kind of okay. They’re not experts at everything, just good enough to put it on the menu.

That’s what you need to do. You need to create a menu of your skills.

So what should go on your menu?

Any activity you had to master to get to where you are today. Here are a few examples:

• An obscure software you know how to use

• Helping startups get a project off the ground

• Helping students write applications for a top 10 university

• Driving more traffic to a website

• Writing email marketing campaigns

• Setting up internal company tools

By taking the job you’re currently performing and splitting it into different services, you’re making use of the Service Multiplier.

How to multiply your salary using a service

The funny thing about working a job is, if it takes you 10 minutes to complete or 10 hours to complete, your salary stays the same.

So either we stretch out tasks to fill the time allotted, or we sit and stare at the ceiling waiting, for 5 pm to roll around.

Brett Williams felt exactly this same way. He was a designer working a full time job with time to spare. So he decided to start selling his services. He created DesignJoy, for people to find his work. It took three years, but now he charges clients $4,900 per month to work with him.

Right now, he’s making between $95-120K per month. That’s not a typo.

This is how 1 + 1 = 3.

One job + one service = more freedom and more money.

For 99% of people reading, this is enough.

While service providers command a higher per hour salary, they still have to exchange time for money. If Brett decided to stop being a designer today, his income would go to zero.

This isn’t the ultimate expression of the Income Triangle.

So what is?

Step 3: Bundle Your Brain

After providing a service for some time, you’ll be ready for the final step in this process.

Through experience, you’ll be dialed in to the biggest problems your clients have. Which will lead you to a natural conclusion.

Creating a product that solves that problem.

You really have three options here, but two of them are much more labor intensive that the others.

1. Create a piece of software that automates an annoying part of your job.

2. Create a product that solves one of your clients biggest problems.

3. Create an product that teaches your clients how to help themselves.

The first two require a ton of specific knowledge and labor. For many of us, this isn’t worth the hassle. The last option however is accessible to virtually everyone.

Example 1: Steph Smith “Doing Content Right”

Steph Smith went to school for chemistry and, after, began working as a Data Analyst. But, she quickly moved to Step Two of the Income Triangle and consulted for tech startups.

She then bundled the most important information she learned while performing this role into a 150 page e-book.

She posted it online for $150. Within a year, she made over $200,000. The product, Doing Content Right, is still for sale, and pulling in money.

She did the work of bundling her knowledge, and gets paid for it every day.

While she still has a job—and continues consulting—she doesn’t have to work to make money.

Steph is 29 years old.

Example 2: Jacques Hopkins “Piano in 21 days”

How many piano teachers are there in the world?

How many of them make 5-figures a month?

Jacques Hopkins isn’t the world’s best piano teacher, he just learned how to bundle his knowledge and put it online. Now he’s easily in the top 1% of income earners in his field.

Example 3: Zack Hall “Sketchup for Woodworkers”

Zack Hall is a software developer and what’s his product?

He teaches woodworkers how to use 3D design software. He isn’t making life changing money doing this, only about $1K per month. But if he were to ever get laid off from his job, or decide to travel the world for a year, his income wouldn’t go to zero.

He bundled his knowledge once, but makes money from it every single day.

Example 4: David Buchanan “Chef Resources”

David Buchanan exemplifies this entire article.

He’s a personal chef who productized the hardest part of his job: knowing the seasonality of different foods and tips on managing a kitchen.

His website is Chef Resources. Premium members can access the most critical information for chefs to run a successful kitchen.

Is he the best chef in the world?

Not even close.

Is he saving other chefs’ time, money, and headache?

100% yes.

He makes $5K per month from this site.

I want more examples!

Okay, if you insist: here are 102 other people who have done exactly the same thing. 

Okay Zac I get it, I should bundle my brain, but who would even listen to me?

Imagine yourself two years ago.

What did that naive version of you not know about your current job?

The goal is to save people time, money, or pain. Think of the last time you ran your head into a wall trying to solve a really hard problem at work. Or a skill that took you a way too long to master.

It doesn’t have to be a start to finish, Nobel Prize-winning piece of literature. It just has to help someone who is two years behind you, on your same journey.

You’re selling the cheat codes to your job.

Your New Income Triangle

So now, you have three ways of making money all at the same time.

You could be working 20 hours a week for a big company, spend another 10 hours a week consulting for smaller start-ups and individuals, and be raking in money from your product sales.

The goal now is to shift the weight of each, in accordance with your values.

• Do you want more time with your family?

• More money to save for a big purchase?

• More freedom to travel for 6 months?

• More of an intellectual challenge?

These are all levers that you can pull to not only increase your salary, but your career satisfaction. This is something that 9-to-5 employees have absolutely no control over.

Here are 3 different ways you could make $250,000 per year using this model:

1. $60K job + (6 consultant jobs @ $10K) + (130 sales x $1000 digital product)

2. $75K job + (12 consultant jobs @ $3K) + (500 sales x $278 digital product)

3. $100K job + (2 consultant jobs @ $15K) + (900 sales x $133 digital product)

As you can see, it’s a sliding scale spectrum.

The less time you spend working at your steady 9-to-5 salaried job, the more time you can dedicate to your Service Multiplier and Bundling Your Brain.

The biggest take away I learned in all of my research is that: There is no one size fits all solution.

The Income Triangle is a tool that you can use to build a career that fits your ambition, and lifestyle goals.

If you have any questions, want more examples (I have a lot), or need some thoughts on the types of services you could provide, reach out to me at [email protected]

Have a great week!

—Zac

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Additional resources:

• Thread by Justin Welsh on how to create your first digital product (Justin went from $0 - $3M annual revenue over the past 2 years)

• Pat Walls grew Starter Story (I actually just became a paying member) to over $1M in revenue, here’s how he did it in just a few years. 

• Steph Smith dropped this AMA yesterday. I’ve been following her journey since 2018 when I saw her speak in Bali. She’s an absolute bad ass.