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Life by Design

Most freelancers start a solo business for freedom,
get overwhelmed trying to grow,
then frantically fit life around whatever time remains.

I've been there, done that, had the heart-attack:
I grew a design sidehustle into to a business which earns multi 6 figures.
but despite the success, I felt completely burned-out.

So I started over, by designing my lifestyle first,
then systemized my freelance business
to fit around a 3 day workweek.

Now I share everything I've learned
to help solopreneurs design your life first,
& grow a profitable one person business,
without the burnout.

latest episodes of Life by Design

I'm building a new kind of freelance business in public:
A lean, leveraged solo business that puts life first.
& I share everything I learn along the way.

Mar 20 2025

#57 How I stay sane when routine goes to shit

Lifestyle Design, Time

Jan 30 2025

#56 Why I always operate from a position of surplus leads

Lead Generation

Jan 23 2025

#55 How to get hard stuff done

Productivity

Jan 16 2025

#54 Are you charging your worth?

Money, Sales

Jan 09 2025

#53 Reconciling a lifestyle business with fatherhood

Mindset

What do you need more of in your solo business right now?

Clarity / Purpose

Lifestyle design tools to design the life you want, and make that happen.

Financial freedom

Resources to build leverage = profit & growth without just working harder.

More free time

Plug and play Systems to automate a solo business & get back your free time.

Nicholas Robb, Founder of Design Hero, solopreneur and author of Life by Design

Solopreneur | World's worst employee

Hi, I'm Nicholas Robb.

I've spent over 15 years freelancing, but before I ran my own business I was an employee.

I felt trapped, underpaid and undervalued in 9-5 jobs,
Been there, done that, had the heart-attack.

I just wanted to do good work in my underpants,
and have control over my own time.

So by usings systems, strategy & automation, I've grown my sidehustle into a multi 6 figure solo business that fits around my life, instead of the other way around.

As well as running my design agency, I write about solopreneurship, and helping creatives redesign their lives and build a lifestyle business.
What I'm doing now...

What is Life by Design?

Life by Design is my framework for a lifestyle business for freelancers.

Grew a design sidehustle to multi 6-figures ↙
Burned out bad ↙
Rebuilt everything around a 3 day week...

Now I help frantic freelancers put lifestyle first, by systemizing a solo biz for maximum profit and freedom.

I've built my design agency to priortize personal freedom by systemizing the business fundamentals, and I'm sharing what I've learned. I share the mindset, methods, and systems I use everyday to run an award-winning design agency as a 6 figure lifestyle business.

Freelance coaching

Thinking

Strategy

Mindset

Policy

+ Systems for doing

Offers

Sales

Lead Gen

Fulfilment

Comms

Scale

Profit

Freedom

Stability

frantic freelancer ▶️ systematic solopreneur

Systemize the fundamentals,
automate the admin,
enjoy your life.

Gurus will try to convince you that need another shiny object. They'll say you need more of this or that. They'll say just work harder.

But you won't change your life by doing more of what your doing now. In fact if you want more free time, you need to start doing less.

You need to get the foundations right first, then systemize and automate to 10x your time.

I teach 6 foundational systems I use to grow a lifestyle business with maximum profit freedom and stability.

Systems for freelancers

I share simple systems to help
frantic freelancers grow a
profitable solo business
that puts lifestyle first.

Financial freedom

Free time

Fulfilling lifestyle

What do you need more of in your solo business right now?

Clarity / Purpose

Financial freedom

More free time

Life by Design

systems for solopreneurs

Learn Freelancing

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Connect

I share simple systems to helpfrantic freelancers grow aprofitable solo business that puts lifestyle first.

Financial freedom

Free time

Fulfilling lifestyle

I write about growing a lifestyle design business

Subscribe for a framework you can use right now to rebuild your solo business around a 3 day workweek.

What do you need more of in your solo business right now?

Clarity / Purpose

Financial freedom

More free time

frantic freelancer → systematic solopreneur

Subscribe for x3 systems you can use right now to grow a profitable solo businesson a 3 day week

Life by Design

systems for solopreneurs

Learn Freelancing

Sitemap

Connect

I share simple systems to help
frantic freelancers grow a
profitable solo business
that puts lifestyle first.

Subscribe for x3 systems you can use right now
to grow a profitable solo business
on a 3 day week