If you’ve ever signed up for an online summit before, you probably know the typical experience. Three days of presentations. Twenty or more speakers. Live sessions you have to attend at specific times or risk missing everything.

It can feel overwhelming before it even begins.

When Carin and Marcia started talking about hosting a summit for the Solopreneur CEO community, they realized they wanted to do it differently.

Not bigger. More thoughtful. More aligned with how real solopreneurs actually consume information.

In this episode of The Solopreneur CEO Podcast, Carin and Marcia take listeners behind the scenes of how the Solopreneur CEO Summit came together and the philosophy behind the way it was designed.

They talk about why they chose a one-day format, how they selected the speakers, and why the summit is focused specifically on experienced solopreneurs building real businesses.

This episode offers a candid look at the decisions, experiments, and conversations that shaped the event. It’s a reminder that building something meaningful rarely starts with a perfect plan. Sometimes it starts with an idea and the willingness to figure it out along the way.

Listen to the Episode

In this episode, Carin and Marcia share the thinking behind the Solopreneur CEO Summit and what attendees can expect from the experience.

They talk about why most online summits feel overwhelming and how they intentionally designed this one to be more manageable for busy solopreneurs. Instead of a multi-day event packed with dozens of sessions, the summit is a focused one-day experience with presentations you can watch on your own schedule.

They also discuss how they selected speakers who are all active solopreneurs running their own businesses, so the conversations come from people who understand the realities of building a one-person company.

You’ll hear how the summit blends recorded sessions with live touchpoints like the coffee chat and closing session, and why community interaction is such an important part of the experience.

This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when solopreneurs decide to create something for their peers instead of following the typical event blueprint.

What We Talk About In This Episode

• Why Carin and Marcia decided to create the Solopreneur CEO Summit.

• How the summit format differs from traditional multi-day online events.

• Why the speakers were chosen and how their topics connect.

• The role of community in supporting solopreneurs.

• How the live coffee chat and closing session will work.

• What attendees can expect from the overall summit experience.

Key Takeaways

• Not every summit needs to be overwhelming to be valuable.

• Learning from other solopreneurs can provide powerful perspective.

• Community support plays a critical role in sustainable entrepreneurship.

• Simple formats often make it easier for people to engage and participate.

• Building something meaningful often starts with experimentation.

Continue the Conversation

If this episode made you curious about the summit, you’re invited to join us.

The Solopreneur CEO Summit is a one-day event designed for solopreneurs who have built something real and want thoughtful conversations about leadership, momentum, and building sustainable businesses.

🌿 Join us at thesolopreneurceo.com

And if you’d like to stay connected with other solopreneurs who are having these conversations year-round, you can join the free community here:

🎟 solopreneurceo.com/summit

Episode Transcript

Solopreneur CEO Show Episode 13: Below is the full transcript of this episode for those who prefer to read or want to revisit specific parts of the conversation.

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Marcia:
Welcome back. We are just two days away from the Solopreneur CEO Summit LINK.

Carin and I wanted to go over some housekeeping things.

If you've been on the fence about registering, like what's your damage?

It's free and you have access to the recordings for 48 hours. Just join.

Carin and I don't have time to pressure you or to mess around. If you're here now, you should be there so just register.

Today we're going to be talking about the behind the scenes of what it is that we're building with the summit and how we got to the selections that we made for the speakers and the format too.

Because Carin and I decided to go off script like we always do and created this in a way that we thought we had the capacity to do it well. That's our ethos. It's like build as you go and have trust that you're gonna do it right, and if you don't, that you'll pivot and make it better.

Carin, do you want to talk about why we created the Solopreneur CEO Summit?

Carin:
I do want to double down a little bit on what Marcia just said, because normally summits are like two or three days. They're live presentations and then you have like maybe 24 hours access to the recording. And it's a lot of pressure to show up at that exact moment or you're gonna miss all the things and we just don't like that experience personally as viewers or as doing a summit.

We decided, no, we're doing it one day because we don't want to overwhelm you. You likely don't want to spend three days watching a whole bunch of presentations. One day summit. You get to watch it on your time. You have 48 hours which is a good amount of time to get through it.

It's not 20 presentations. It's not going to be overwhelming.

If you were wondering, can I just do what I want to do? Yes. Yes you can. And let us be your example.

I just wanted to double down on that. We had our other version of our podcast called Honest Convos with Carin and Marcia.

And we were honing our focus. Because we have always been build as it goes.

We don't try to have it all perfect when we start, but as we were honing our focus with Honest Convos last year in 2025, we were noticing that we were really pulling in people who were like us.

Solopreneurs, building a one person business, really looking for that support and permission. To build a business that fits their life and works for them. So we decided to rebrand and then we relaunched in January.

As we were going through that process, Marcia's like, I wanna do a summit.

I was like, a summit?

Because I'm thinking of a summit, like the normal summits, right? Three days live, all the craziness.

STOPPED HERE

I'm like, eh. But as we, you know, I was like, sure, you know, we're, we'll, we'll do it. Let's do it. And so as we were building as we go, 'cause that's what we love to do, that's how we honed in, in on our format. But. I think what is exciting about the way we are doing it and the summit, that we are building is that we're bringing actual solopreneurs.

Carin: Like these are not gonna be people who are talking to our audience from some other vantage point or they're bringing all other stuff that you have to then figure out, how does this apply to me? Is this really something that I

need? The speakers that we have lined up are powerhouse solopreneurs that are gonna bring their expertise and they all fit together.

Carin: I mean, I, I'm giving. You can't see it, but I'm patting myself on the back, because we just did such a good job pulling in like good, solid topics that are going to help you specifically in areas of your business that you need to be focused on. It's not places that you can ignore. So you, I'm just again, Marcia.

Carin: You too. Pat. Okay. Yeah. We did a good job and it's gonna be amazing.

Marcia: Yes, it is going to be amazing and I wanted to thank you so much for going along with this hair brain scheme that I came up with. It's not really though, but like it's funny because how often do we miscommunicate or we don't understand what someone else is saying because we have our own vision of it.

Marcia: So I'm saying Summit, Carin's thinking, oh my God, like this is so much work. And I'm thinking like, no, it's gonna be like the third Connector Conference. Like everybody will meet online. This is gonna be different 'cause it's hosted in our free community. But. I just was like, I don't know, like it was an S word summit.

Marcia: I have it on my vision board Summit 2026. So it was like either I could be speaking at one or I could lead one. And that's when you said that too. I love that you brought that up because you know our our niche, our avatar, our ideal client, they are seasoned solopreneurs who've been in business for a few years. Something that I had said with Charmed Cardinals that actually recruited a member I said to her, I'm just a leader trying to lead other leaders. And that's what this community is. That's the free community, the paid community, our society, we're all a bunch of peers who are leading from our zone of genius.

Marcia: Carin and I, we had our, uh, our second quarter workshop for the society members a couple weeks ago.

Marcia: And after we got off, I texted her oh my God, it's so unnerving leading a workshop for people who lead workshops because you are thinking like, oh my God, am I doing this right? You know what I mean? This is, this is either the third or fourth one we've done 'cause they're every quarter and.

Marcia: But it's like you still get in your head about these type of things, but I'm

like, even the workshop leaders need workshops where they're workshopping. So meta, but, but it's just funny because there's so many times where we can think like, you know. I, I don't need to be in the room because either I'm too busy or because I already know this or because I've done this before or whatever.

Marcia: But that's not the case. We need community and we need support. We need to see what other people are struggling with so that we can feel more human as we run our businesses. Yeah. So I love that you, focused on that, that like you're gonna be learning from people who are in a completely different area.

Marcia: We have someone who she's an A DHD coach. And then we have someone who focuses on virtual assistants. And so it's like, it's a, a wide range of online businesses. And then we have our photographer Elle, shout out to Elle. Oh my god, I love her. But so, so she's got like an actual brick and mortar.

Marcia: So it's just a really, really good mix of people. We do provide you with a proposed schedule. 'Cause we think there's a, a very good beginning and a end. And so we do have that hashed out for you. But you can watch it as you as you want. Like, just click on whoever you feel called to.

Marcia: So, um, you do wanna get in the community soon though, 'cause we are gonna start sharing stuff, the bios and everything. So you, you can join in on Thursday the 26th at 8:00 AM. But I would recommend getting in a day early and just, you know, dorking around in the little bit. And yeah. And then we do, oh, and like, so what Carin was saying, you know, these summits, like with the live and all of that, yeah, that makes sense and I get it, but we know that you're probably super busy.

Marcia: You probably listen to us while you are in the car or on the treadmill . That's a plug for the VIP. We will have a private podcast, so if you would rather listen to the summit presentations, you can do that instead of watching in the community. But we are gonna have live actions that aren't gonna be shared after.

Marcia: So at 9:00 AM we'll be doing the coffee chat, and then at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard time, we'll be doing the wrap up. So there are, if you like to feel senses of urgency there are times that you have to be there. So that'll give you like the real summit vibe, but it's only the two times, you know.

Marcia: And then everything will be available for the 48 hours for the free attendees.

Carin: No, I'm glad you mentioned that. 'cause there are those couple of times where we do wanna show up live and we thought, 'cause part of it is, I mean, we know you guys wanna hang out with us, right? So we thought we have to hang out a little bit.

Carin: So, um, we definitely wanted to have a, a little bit of that live, just show up and, but low pressure, it's not salesy. There's no webinar presentation or whatever stuff that normally happens in, in summits. Like, especially in the wrap up, it's usually just a webinar for them to sell you on the next thing. We are not gonna shy away from telling you about our society, of course, because we think you should join, but that's not the point.

Carin: Like showing up, it is a free ticket. You'll have 48 hours, you can catch some nuggets.

Carin: We are gonna have the private podcast, like Marcia mentioned, you'll have all the session recordings that you can keep. We'll have a workbook that you can take notes and what are you gonna implement.

Carin: What was your top takeaway? A guided way to capture your, your insights from the summit presentations. So we'll have that. So there are some good perks for the VIP, which is 47 when you first register, but if you see it later, it's gonna be higher. So definitely when you see that, grab it.

Carin: When you do your free ticket, you'll see, the upsell for the VIP. So definitely grab that if you're like, I would love to be able to hold onto this. Yeah, you should hold onto this. So. So, yeah, so I think we just have a lot of passion about what we think people will walk away with. The leadership thinking, the momentum and the visibility.

Carin: If you heard our episode last week where Marcia and I dived a little more deep in our topics, like, I mean, those two alone definitely for sure are worth it. And then, the people that we've brought together that are gonna talk about all these other areas in your business, the visibility, the building a sustainable business. It's going to be a really great day. Take the day off and just focus on this if you can. 'cause it's really worth it. Uh, I'm really passionate about how much you're gonna get out of this

Marcia: same! In the community too, like our, our, um, speakers and presenters, they're gonna have a thread for each of their presentations.

Marcia: So when you watch it, it'll be organized so that it makes sense, but like, just so you know, like we have instructed our speakers to be checking in throughout the day. To respond to the thread, but we're hoping that they'll be on the coffee chat and the closing ceremony as well. But yeah, we're super excited and if you have any questions, you can always DM us on Instagram.

Marcia: We're at solopreneur ceo. If you registered a couple weeks ago when we first launched it, and you have not joined the community yet, get your butt in there and look at what we've already added.

Marcia: Okay. I, I always love to end on, you know, a threat, but No, there's no threat. I won't do anything to you, but I'll just be disappointed.

Marcia: I'm just kidding.

Marcia: All right, well, we will see you on Thursday. We can't wait.