#2: Journey to Launch – Testing the Concept for the Collective Academy

If you’re just joining, welcome! This is part of an ongoing blog series where I’m sharing my journey of building the Collective Academy for Business Owners from the ground up. If you want to catch up, go back to Post #1: Journey to Launch – Why I’m Starting the Collective Academy.

I’m documenting every step of this process, so stay tuned and follow along!

Once the corporate escapee movement and our community really started picking up steam, I found myself wondering, Is there an actual business I could build from this? Another revenue stream, maybe? It just seemed like a natural next step, especially with the amount of talent we’ve got in the community.

I’ve always known there’s a gap out there—a need for small businesses that are ready to grow but don’t have the right support. The real question I’m asking myself now is, How can we take the collective knowledge, experience, and expertise of this escapee community and help three specific types of businesses: small and midsize companies, startups, and nonprofits?

Here’s the thing: these businesses need help, but they often can’t afford the kind of expertise corporate escapees bring to the table. The old business models just don’t work for them.

Enter Fractional Work—But It’s Not the Full Answer

The newer models, like fractional leadership, are starting to open doors for small businesses, but not every company is ready to jump in with both feet. A lot of them need education and guidance before they’re in a place where fractional leadership makes sense. They’re not quite there yet. So, my thought is, What if we positioned escapees as mentors who can provide education first?

It’s a way for these businesses to get the knowledge they need without the big upfront cost of traditional consulting. Education first, leadership later.

Testing the Waters

Before I could move forward, I needed to get some feedback. So, I had a bunch of conversations with small business owners and folks working with businesses in private equity and venture capital. I wanted to understand what’s really needed out there. I also tested a few potential offers just to see what sticks.

This gave me enough info to start building what I call a “strawman” version of the Escapee Collective for Business Owners. I set up an initial website and LinkedIn page, but let’s be honest—I haven’t spent any real money on this yet. Right now, I’m still in the phase of figuring out if this concept has legs.

What’s Next?

Now that you’re all caught up, this is the work that’s been done to this point. Going forward, I’ll be recapping what I’m doing next and sharing the results, whether they’re good or bad. Next up, I’m going to run everything—my idea, the offers—through my own framework to see what actually works. I’ll be sharing that output in the next post. Stay tuned!