How I’ve built “career moats” for over a decade to future-proof myself

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I’m a bit paranoid about losing relevance and going out of business. I don’t stress about it. I make intentional moves big and small to protect myself professionally and ensure this doesn’t happen. I call this my “career moats” strategy, and it’s a practice any solopreneur can emulate.

A friend once told me, “You’re the most diversified person I know.” And that’s not by accident. Over the years, I’ve seen too many freelancers, consultants, creators, and coaches go out of business because their work dried up and they never recovered.

They’re all fine now as they just went on to find salaried, full-time positions, but not by choice. I want to avoid that at all costs as I like all the upsides of being a solopreneur. :)

To remain in demand and booked, I follow a “career moats” strategy, which is basically creating defensible advantages for myself as a professional compared to others offering similar services.

It’s not only fun to visualize myself at the top of a castle protected by a treacherous moat, but it also helps identify what expertise, credentials, and relationships keep me competitive.

I adapted this from the “moat” metaphor widely used in the startup world and initially popularized by Warren Buffett to describe the durable, long-term competitive advantages of a business.

My version is not about the economic moats of a large enterprise firm, but the series of intentional investments that help ensure my solo business is a success year after year.

Here’s a quick breakdown of my career moats and the steps you can follow as a solopreneur to do the same for continued career security.

My career moats at the moment

In my humble opinion, aim to have a couple of different moats to protect against competitors, industry developments, and shifts in client needs.

A moat for a self-employed professional is usually based on Expertise (what skills and knowledge you’ve acquired), Intellectual Property (what ideas you’ve developed), Credentials (what you’ve been certified to do), and Relationships (who you know). The best version of this strategy is the one that works for you.

I’ve been self-employed for 13 years, and I work across a mix of consulting, coaching, teaching, and training companies and individuals on marketing and career development. My moats:

• Expertise: Marketing for 17 years, Tech for 13 years, Coaching for 11 years, Education for 11 years, and Nonprofits for 7 years

• Intellectual Property: Publishing my POV on Marketing and Career Development in 1,000+ Articles, 65+ Courses, and 40K+ Social Media Posts

• Credentials: Top Voice on LinkedIn, Coaching Certifications, 1M+ LinkedIn Learning Students, Contributor to Industry Publications like Fast Company, Instructor for Higher Education Institutions like Kellogg and Columbia, and Press Mentions in Major Outlets

• Relationships: Client Roster from Growing Startups to Fortune 500 Brands, Friendships and Connections with Industry Voices in Marketing and Career Development, and Partnerships with Organizations like LinkedIn Learning and Emeritus

1. Develop expertise at the intersection of industries and/or functions

You need a healthy mix of depth and width when it comes to the expertise you’re providing to clients. Depth meaning years of immersion in a job function and industry, so you’re able to address the variety of challenges that are likely to arise for a company in that capacity.

And width means you can flex these skills across circumstances, like applying your expertise to organizations across industries, firms of different sizes, at various stages of maturity, or being able to work cross-functionally in complementary areas of a business.

You gain the depth by developing skills at different employers in an industry for years, as there’s no shortcut to learning other than immersion in your field. But the width is the moat or how you make yourself irreplaceable as you’re applying your expertise at an important intersection. You’re diversifying with the intention to be valuable in a few related scenarios, not just one.

Consider how your experience could apply across a set of similar verticals, like applying your public relations chops in health insurance to similar regulated industries like medical devices, biotech, or public health. Or cross-functionally, you use your communications skills from PR to assist marketing with product positioning or partner with legal on framing new corporate policy.

The ability to operate at an intersection happens by intentionally expanding into other industries or functions to immerse yourself in the nuances and test to see what works and what doesn’t. You’ve got to experiment with the transparency that you’re new to this area, but are willing to learn from the experts, best practices, established institutions, and some trial-and-error.

One intersection I’ve grown into was leveraging my knowledge of the marketing industry into career and executive coaching, helping marketers at different levels advance in their roles.

I had the marketing skills first, but needed to get training and experience in coaching, which over the last ten or so years I’ve gained with certifications, mentor coaching, and delivering 300+ coaching hours to marketers of different backgrounds.

To get started here, ask yourself: How can I start applying my expertise to the benefit of similar organizations, teams, or individuals distinct from those I’m already supporting?

2. Create your own IP to scale your expertise

IP stands for intellectual property, which is an original idea you’ve developed that’s valuable and different from what’s on the market. It’s packaging up your unique perspective in an accessible way so it can benefit many at once, which in turn can build referenceable credibility and sales for you.

For a solopreneur, this can come in many forms, like an original tagline, concept, framework, book, methodology, curriculum, articles, podcast, newsletter, keynote, or training program. IP done right can simplify complex topics, offer a repeatable process others can apply, or reframe a widely held belief to influence how an audience addresses an important area of their lives.

It’s a moat as you’re the originator of these ideas. This doesn’t mean others aren’t providing their opinions or sharing their own solutions to the challenges you’re addressing. Your version is simply reflective of your singular history, personality, and process, and that can’t be duplicated.

The IP that’s had the biggest impact on others and done the most for my business is writing articles on marketing and career development for a variety of publications, some well-known and others niche. Over the last 15 years, I’ve put my ideas out there in over 1,000+ pieces on everything from social media advice for businesses to how to start freelancing.

I didn’t intend for this to be a moat, as initially I was just excited to share my opinions and advice on these topics with others and to get some acknowledgement in the process. But over time, these articles led to visibility in search and social media, as well as outreach from potential clients, and that’s when I began to recognize this was IP that could scale beyond me.

I’ve been writing publicly ever since. I vary where I’m publishing, what I’m writing about, and how often every year. I just aim to consistently get my voice out there with useful, applicable advice. Each article has a life of its own across destinations online, sometimes reaching people years later.

To get started here, ask yourself: What’s one way I can begin to share my perspective publicly on a topic of interest to the people I’m hoping to impact without overthinking it?

3. Gain credentials from gatekeepers and trusted institutions

Accreditation from well-known voices and establishments in a given field is the third-party proof that your skills are verified as you’ve been properly trained and/or vetted for your expertise.

Depending on your focus, this could be certifications of your skillset, industry awards, academic degrees, landing high-profile speaking engagements, bestseller rankings, and the list goes on.

These credentials matter as sometimes they’re required for compliance in certain sectors, but in most scenarios, it’s to signal to others you’re a trusted and credible expert.

What connects these vastly different types of credentials is that they’re exclusively earned and/or awarded to a select group of practitioners. The scarcity of these credentials is what makes them reliable signals of trust that not just anyone can earn them on a whim. That’s why these contribute to their own moat, as it can be quite difficult to gain these credentials.

You don’t need a laundry list of these, just ones of relevance in your industry and to your clients. I refer to these credentials as reputational currency, and despite hurdles like time, money, and luck, most are possible to earn in the long run with an intentional strategy.

For instance, teaching in higher education at universities like NYU, Kellogg, and Columbia is a credential that took me years to earn and, as a result, has led to many other professional opportunities. I became an adjunct instructor by networking with numerous professors and repeatedly guest lecturing in their classrooms at different universities.

I was able to showcase my approach to teaching in front of these educators and university administration who were involved in the hiring process for this type of engagement. At times, it was a slog of unpaid work to break through, but I did and learned through repeatedly teaching that I loved the classroom dynamic. So it was all worth it.

Being an instructor at well-known universities is a signal that I’m a trusted voice and helps when clients are considering hiring me as a consultant or coach. At the same time, this part of my practice has allowed me to extend my expertise into education. I’m able to operate at the intersection of education and marketing, expanding my relevance and impact.

To get started here, ask yourself: What’s a credential I can realistically earn in the short-term and another more ambitious one that I can build towards over time?

4. Build relationships with clients, partners, and other solopreneurs

Another defensible area of your practice can be fostering relationships with others. Specifically, building lasting connections with the people and institutions who are trusted in your space. This can’t be a transactional move, but a sincere investment in supporting and working with them.

The kinds of relationships you focus on will vary depending on your context. A big one is maintaining connections with clients in your industry by doing good work with them. Owning these collaborations can sustain your business, build trust, and deliver referrals down the road. It’s not an overnight thing, but a continued history of delivering results and showing up as an equal collaborator.

Partners are another group to seek out. Distinct from clients who contract you directly for your support, these are established organizations and individuals in the industry where you both benefit from collaborating, but neither is the vendor for the other.

You’re working together in ways that extend the impact for each collaborator, like co-marketing opportunities or jointly executing on a client project. A partner could be an industry association or another solopreneur who has an overlapping audience with you.

What’s special about collaborating with other solopreneurs is that there’s a shared context as you can commiserate over the singular challenges of self-employment, learn from each other’s wins and losses, and refer business back and forth given the similar circumstances.

This can be a moat that protects you, given that it takes time to build trust and goodwill with others in any space. Plus, some of these relationships can help you directly land new business and even alert you to industry developments worth embracing to remain relevant.

My relationships are the backbone of my solo business. Staying in touch with past clients has led to repeat work. Supporting my fellow marketers and freelancers, whether it’s providing advice, interviewing them, or recommending them, has been fulfilling and has led to opportunities like speaking at NATO and getting introduced to the LinkedIn Learning team.

To get started here, ask yourself: Who do I look up to in my industry whose work complements my own, and what could I genuinely offer them so I can show up ready to be of support?

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