Pat Flynn is a resilient entrepreneur who turned a layoff from his dream job as an architect during the 2008 Great Recession into a journey of success and inspiration. Less than a year after the layoff, Pat built a 6-figure online business, helping architects pass an exam and chronicling his process on his blog, Smart Passive Income (SPI).

SPI has evolved into a premier resource for entrepreneurship and online business, with the award-winning SPI Podcast amassing over 80 million downloads and being featured in the New York Times. Pat is also a prolific author, with publications like "Will It Fly" (2015) and "Superfans" (2019) translated into multiple languages worldwide.

Here, we talk about why it's good to start small and the value of feedback.

"Even though it was the worst time of my life, at that moment when I got laid off, it was actually the best thing because it actually kind of unplugged me, if you will, from the matrix I was in and made me look at everything from a different perspective and go, oh, here's an opportunity here."

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Identifying overlooked opportunities

• Starting small in business

• Importance of community learning

• Balancing focus and exploration

• Pursuing present happiness

• Embracing failure as lessons

• Validating business ideas

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Follow Pat at https://patflynn.com/

On Twitter at https://twitter.com/patflynn

On LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/patflynn3/

On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/patflynn

On YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGk1LitxAZVnqQn0_nt5qxw

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/patflynn

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Thanks for tuning into this episode of Exit Plan!