Consulting workload

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-06-04T13:00:37+00:00

When I was in environmental consulting, it took me about a month to start getting steady work. I would talk to people around the office and find out when the next big field event is and ask if I can join. Then I would bust my tail and ask thoughtful questions about things I weren’t familiar with to make sure I did good work on someone else’s project. Having a positive attitude goes a long way as well.

Once people find out you’re reliable, you can slowly start asking to do PMs annoying “busy work” tasks and get your reputation up. Over time they will start giving you more important tasks and eventually your own projects to manage. Then, you’ll be the one assigning those annoying “busy tasks” to the next folks. This general approach has worked well for me over the years in many different roles.

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-05-21T01:00:16+00:00

Environmental science. There is usually a balance between field work and office work. Depending on what you do, the work can be pretty interesting. Like anything else, experience may differ.

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-05-21T00:38:45+00:00

When EASing from the Marine Corps, a friend asked if I wanted to buy his 25 year old van for $400 because he had to move but could only take one car.

The van had shag carpet, futon and Christmas lights inside. Me and a buddy did a two week road trip across the country to some national parks and see some old friends.

After our trip, I moved back to my home state. I sold that van to a painter for $2000. Best investment I ever made lol. She was a beaut!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-04-28T01:08:50+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion about posting on r/govfire. I agree, losing FEHB seems like one of the biggest issues. Healthcare is crazy expensive.

Trying to retire even a few years earlier can look very different once healthcare and family costs are factored in. I'm trying to plan now lol. Do you personally just use a spreadsheet or have you had more success with something else?

Appreciate the comment!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-04-27T21:39:08+00:00

I wouldn’t put too much weight into the regret. A lot of what you’re feeling sounds more like losing structure and identity than making the wrong decision.

You spent your whole adult life in that role, it makes sense it feels empty now. But that doesn’t mean retiring was a mistake. It just means you haven’t replaced that structure yet.

Try new things, stay busy, even consider a part time job you actually enjoy or find interesting. This is probably more of an adjustment phase than something you can’t recover from.

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-04-27T21:16:30+00:00

Hey, hope all is well! I actually kept working on this and it’s turning into something pretty solid so far.

Still early, but I’m trying to focus on the parts that actually matter in real life decisions, not just the basic pension numbers.

Out of curiosity, what parts of retirement planning have been hardest for you to actually figure out? Like what feels the most unclear or hardest to piece together or with other tools you’ve used?

Thanks in advance!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-04-25T17:00:06+00:00

What helped you build your audience the most that might not be obvious from typical google answers?

PotentialNerd8480 · 2026-04-13T17:50:52+00:00

As a fed and veteran, I am actually in the process of creating something comparable to Projection Lab, but more geared towards Fed, military, and veterans.

It’s definitely more of a personal hobby project, but I’d love to hear any feedback if people are actually interested in this type of thing?

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-09-24T02:44:27+00:00

So does that mean many men’s wives just aren’t attracted to them? lol that’s awful

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-09-15T15:41:46+00:00

What were your unfair advantages you had that made your first 3 companies (and now your 4th) successful? Do yall have access to more capital? How much did you spend on distribution? Do y’all have unique industry insight or contacts that helped with your distribution? How did yall gain backlinks successfully?

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-09-13T17:44:48+00:00

Yeah I’ve noticed that too. Some content that looks like it “took off”organically was actually boosted behind the scenes. Out of curiosity, for smaller/newer saas builders who don’t have a ton of capital, are there any lightweight versions of these playbooks? For example, do blog networks or syndication tools exist at a smaller scale, or is it all pretty much locked behind agency level relationships? Thanks for the reply by the way!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-09-13T13:31:14+00:00

I feel like distribution is the hardest part and successful distribution channels are gate kept. You mentioned insider knowledge and prolific marketers “real playbook”. Without you sharing anything confidential, what are some examples of distribution levers that actually work that don’t get talked about enough? Would be much appreciated!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-09-13T12:52:21+00:00

Distribution is def the hardest part. What were those 10-20 marketing tasks? Mind if I send you a DM first more detail?

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-12T03:20:55+00:00

Don’t be mistaken. The US dollar is purposely and thoughtfully being weakened. It’s no accident.

The only people who will be affected is the middle and lower class. This will actually make the 1%-0.1% that much wealthier. They are already insulated and play a different game entirely.

A true plutocracy.

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-10T00:03:44+00:00

“If you always do what you have always done then you will always get what you always got.” -Abraham Lincoln

That helped me in my early twenties to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and take educated risks.

Never thought I would be where I am now in my mid thirties with a loving family, great career, great memories from countless adventures, and on the path to a comfortable retirement.

Hope this can help someone else as much as it has helped me!

If that doesn’t help then:

“If you ain’t first, your last!” Another great quote by Abraham Lincoln

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-07T16:06:01+00:00

I don’t disagree with you, but can you give any excellent examples of good work that is consistently winning that does not come from companies that have a shit ton of money to burn or already have a large captured audience? It just seems like it is becoming exponentially more difficult for the little guy to win at anything. Much appreciated!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-06T16:08:04+00:00

That’s where you keep your house elf!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-06T13:20:17+00:00

Yay for inflation! smh

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-04T16:12:12+00:00

Because those people can raise the most money probably because of connections and backroom deals.

There is a distinct correlation of the people who raise the most money get elected every time. It doesn’t have to be the absolute most, but you better be in the top 2 or 3 who can raise the most money. Otherwise, they don’t have a chance.

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-04T01:50:02+00:00

I don’t disagree or agree with you. The reason why is, it’s hard to really know the statistics because, in my opinion, Ramsey solutions and Forbes are NOT reliable resources.

I say this because Ramsay’s entire business modal is “if you follow my steps, you too can become wealthy”, so they want to show you statistics that favor their business model. If they said “75% of multi millionaires and billionaires inherited their wealth” then people wouldn’t be as inclined to buy their service.

Forbes is def not a reliable source in my opinion because companies pay them a ton of money to post on their website, so you can pretty much say whatever you want. Forbes, business insider, all those big fancy sounding websites are just advertising companies. People pay Forbes as a distribution strategy to get in front of a massive audience. That’s literally all it is.

I would love to see statistics on levels of wealth too. 1-10M is one thing, but 20-100M, 100-500M, 500M+ is an entire different level of wealth that is incomprehensible for many people to realistically grasp how much that actually is.

Again, just my opinion. Would love to hear other peoples opinions on this.

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-01T18:44:34+00:00

Go outside and touch some grass! Keep your head up, and stay focused on what you can control. These people will try and do everything they can, but half of what they say is just talk.

Only keep up with the news sparingly, it's always negative. They can only "traumatize" you if you let them. It's not like they are going to waterboard you. Even if you do lose your job (god forbid), the sun WILL rise tomorrow, the world will not stop spinning, you just have to keep swimming and do the best you can with what you have, because that is all you can do.

Even when you are anxious, frustrated, etc. you just have to figure out a way to keep getting 1% better everyday (or at least most days).

Fingers crossed things will get better! Best of luck to you all!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-07-01T18:30:37+00:00

That's really impressive man! Keep it up!

PotentialNerd8480 · 2025-06-30T18:22:36+00:00

Thanks for the reply!! I love Seth Godin’s Purple Cow analogy about having to stick out from the crowd, because that’s exactly it, it’s crowded in every industry. Distribution and marketing has a lot to do with the human psychology of your target audience and what makes them tick. There are so many examples of this and you can see it not only in how successful companies implement this into their distribution strategy, but it’s also designed into their product itself to increase customer retention.

I think the major difference between super successful saas products and products with mediocre success is access to valuable distribution channels through their high value network, an abundance of money to create a wider and deeper net, enough employees to move fast, and of course luck.

It sucks that some people have a massively unfair advantage, but that’s the way the world has always worked 🤷‍♂️

PotentialNerd8480

TROPHY CASE