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Justin Welsh Left a Senior Job and Built a Business of One

After a health scare, a startup sales executive started writing on LinkedIn. Within a few years, courses and a newsletter had replaced his consulting work.

By The Digital Owner staff · 6 min

Justin Welsh did not start his business from a dorm room. He started it from the top of a fast-growing company, after his body told him to stop.

His story is one of the most documented in the solo business world. He has told it in his own words to Starter Story, to Indie Hackers, and on podcasts. The details are consistent, and they are useful for anyone thinking about leaving a well-paid role.

The job, and the breaking point

In 2019, Welsh was SVP of Sales at PatientPop, a startup in Los Angeles. He told Starter Story that he had spent four years helping grow the business from zero revenue to over $50 million in annual recurring revenue, with a team of more than 150 people.

The cost was high. He said that from early 2018 the stress was affecting his life. He was eating and drinking too much, not sleeping well, and about 40 pounds overweight. In December 2018 he had a severe panic attack at home, and his wife called 911.

The next day he told his CEO he wanted to step down. He agreed to stay until August.

"I thought I was dying, and my wife called 911. The next day, I decided it was time for a change."

Writing before launching

Welsh did not quit and then look for customers. He used the months before his exit to build an audience.

He began writing about his work on LinkedIn, because that was where his likely clients spent time. Over seven months, he said, he built a following of about 20,000 people. He also paid a web design company $20,000 for a website. On August 1 he launched a consulting business.

That order is the main lesson. Distribution came first. By the time he had something to sell, people already knew who he was.

The shift to products

Consulting paid, but it was tied to his hours. In 2020 he released his first digital course, The LinkedIn Playbook, priced at $50. He told Starter Story he sold about 1,500 copies in a year.

That is not a huge number. But it proved people would pay him for what he knew, without a call on the calendar.

He then leaned into publishing. In late 2020 he grew his presence on LinkedIn and Twitter, passing 300,000 followers across platforms by his account. In late 2021 he launched his flagship courses. When daily course revenue went past $1,500, he said, he shut down the consulting business.

What the numbers looked like

In a 2022 interview with Indie Hackers, Welsh's business was reported at about $135,000 a month. That broke down as roughly $20,000 in recurring revenue and around $115,000 in one-time payments. The recurring part came from a monthly email product called The Monthly Templates.

Starter Story reported in 2023 that his course The LinkedIn Operating System had over 11,000 students, was priced at $150, and brought in around $80,000 a month on average.

On The Pathless Path podcast in 2024, he described setting a goal to make $5 million total from the business, a figure he called a goal that "was completely impossible" when he set it. He said he kept stretching his goals as the business grew.

Why this works, and where it does not

Welsh's model is simple to describe. Write in public. Build trust. Sell low-priced digital products to the audience. Add more products as the audience grows.

But simple is not the same as easy. A few things are easy to miss.

He brought expertise. He had years of real experience in sales and growth before he wrote a single post. His content was credible because his record was.

He started before he left. The audience existed before the business needed it. Many people quit first and then try to build attention under financial pressure.

He spent money. A $20,000 website is not a hobby budget. He treated the business as a business from day one.

It took years. From his first post in 2019 to the reported figures in 2022 and 2023 was several years of consistent publishing.

Price as a test

Notice the price points. His first course cost $50. His later flagship course cost $150. He did not open with a premium offer to an audience that had never bought from him.

A low first price lowers the risk for the buyer. It also gives the seller fast feedback. If people will not pay $50, they will not pay $500. If they do pay, you learn what they valued and can build the next product around it.

The recurring product came later too. A monthly email of templates is cheap to deliver and easy to renew. Starting there would have been hard without an audience. Adding it once trust existed made it far easier to sell.

The lesson for an owner

If you have real skills from a career, they are an asset. The question is how to package them so that people can buy without booking your time.

Welsh's path was consulting first, then a cheap product, then better products, then recurring revenue. Each step tested demand before the next one. That is a sensible sequence for most knowledge businesses.

The other lesson is quieter. He changed his work because of his health, not because of a business plan. The business he built is designed around fewer people and less stress. For many owners, that is the point.

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