#863 How One Side Project Built a Ten-Year Business

This one's a bit of a TMBA throwback — a story about how to leverage the skills you already have to build a business and life that fits your goals.

Hannah Wilnau co-owns Wilnau Design, a web design and digital marketing agency serving independent financial advisors — fully remote, built over ten years alongside her husband and co-founder Greg. It started with a side project she almost didn't do. That one project became her first client, which became a referral, which became a ten-year business.

In this conversation: the specific savings number she and Greg used to decide when to make the leap, how she thinks about niche selection and why the right niche should align with the life you want to build, and how she's now engineering a sale — and what the financial discipline that requires looks like day to day.

Guest: Hannah Wilnau, Co-Founder of Wilnau Design

Sponsor: wayfront.com/tmba

Thanks to this week's sponsor Wayfront — the AI-ready operating system for productized agencies. One client portal. One team dashboard. All your data, AI-accessible. TMBA listeners get an extra free month on top of the trial at wayfront.com/tmba.

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(00:00:00) Cold open
(00:03:03) How it started: the side project that became a business
(00:06:06) Why niche selection matters more now than ever
(00:07:20) The leap: how much savings do you actually need
(00:09:05) First year hurdles: mindset and building a business with your spouse
(00:17:16) Team compensation without traditional salaries
(00:18:12) Agency pricing and managing cash flow
(00:20:50) Financial lessons from ten years as an entrepreneur
(00:25:36) AI in the agency: unlocking capacity without growing headcount
(00:32:45) Travel, lifestyle and building a business that fits your life
(00:32:51) Final advice: start with the skill you already have

CONNECT:

Dan Andrews is the co-founder of Dynamite Circle, author of Before the Exit, host of the Tropical MBA podcast, and an entrepreneur who has successfully launched and scaled multiple 7-figure businesses.

Email Dan@tropicalmba.com

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