For many business owners, reaching a point where you have a team of six, a massive physical office, and high-paying anchor clients is the ultimate dream of success.
But our guest today found himself trapped in a nightmare of management overload and low-margin service bloat, working constantly just to manage people and feed the overhead machine. He did something that would terrify most founders: he fired his three highest-paying clients, shrank his team down, and walked away from his physical workspace entirely.
Yet, instead of watching his business collapse, his profit margins soared, and he finally built a recurring revenue model that allows him to put his family first every single day.
Welcome to today’s episode of Your Business Growth Podcast. I’m your host, Jeremy Shapiro, author of Your Business Growth Playbook, and my guest today is Jerad Hill.
About Jerad Hill
Jerad Hill has been self-employed for almost 30 years and runs everything as a one-person business. His ventures include Hill Media Group, a digital marketing and web development agency; Site Nitro, a WordPress software company; and Jerad Hill Photography. He has also built two YouTube channels that have each passed 100,000 subscribers, and more than 450,000 students have taken his online courses.
His entrepreneurial journey began with a lemonade stand at age ten, followed by opening a skateboard shop at twenty. To sell online, he taught himself how to build websites, which naturally evolved into building sites for clients, digital photography, software development, video production, and online teaching. Over the years, he has successfully navigated multiple business pivots and transitioned his company from a peak of six employees and a physical studio down to a highly streamlined solopreneur operation.
Jerad is deeply committed to the principles of stewardship and intentional living. He writes “Field Notes,” a Substack newsletter focused on purpose, stewardship, and deliberate work for the self-employed. For Jerad, stewardship is not about accumulation, but about being faithful with the time, talents, resources, and relationships in front of you, which requires saying no to things that do not align with your mission.
Currently based in Kalispell, Montana, Jerad lives with his wife and four children, designing all of his business operations to work around his family life rather than the other way around. He enjoys assisting in his children’s homeschooling, coaching their sports teams, and sharing his passion for aviation as a licensed pilot. His primary focus remains on maintaining a lean, present, and sustainable life over corporate scale.
Connect with Jerad Hill
Speed Round Answers:
- All In Lead Source: Content creation
- Books: Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Winning with People by John C. Maxwell, Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish, Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz
- Unlikeliest Mentor: “micro-mentors” through YouTube and podcasts
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Jerad Hill Episode Transcript
Coming Soon!
Like This Episode? There’s More!
Subscribe!
Your Business Growth Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe today!
Get the Book!
Pickup the #1 Best Seller, Your Business Growth Playbook today online or at your local bookseller!
Meet Jeremy!
Book your Blueprint Discovery Call with Jeremy today and get back to the growth you deserve!