In today's Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, we're featuring Lin Meyer, the visionary behind Crucial Exams. Lin turned a side project into a thriving business that offers top-notch exam prep resources for IT certifications and beyond. His journey from a secure corporate job to a full-time entrepreneur is inspiring, showcasing his commitment to helping professionals achieve their career goals. Dive into Lin's story of perseverance, innovation, and the bold steps he took to make CrucialExams.com a success.
Hi, Lin! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
CrucialExams.com is dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible, and affordable exam preparation resources for students and professionals across various areas of the IT Industry. Our main focus has been CompTIA certification exams but we are moving into other areas like AWS, Azure, and soon GCP. We've also recently launched new brands focusing on Nursing (VitalNursingExams.com) and Project Management (PmpReady.com). Our impact extends beyond just helping individuals pass exams. By helping our users to achieve their certification and career goals, we contribute to the development of skilled professionals who are essential to the growth and success of various industries. Our resources are used by professionals to advance in their careers, increase their earning potential, and improve their quality of life.
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
I think the moment I truly transitioned from a wantrepreneur to an entrepreneur was when I gave notice at my full-time job and took the plunge. Although I had anticipated this moment for several months, the reality of it was huge. For ten years, I had been running CrucialExams.com as a side-gig, viewing myself more as a software developer with a hobby that generated some extra income rather than a true entrepreneur. I kept telling myself it wasn't a "real" business, even though, in truth, it was.
Once my income from full-time employment ended, everything changed. The stakes became real, and I had to fully commit to making my business a success. There was a very positive pivotal shift in my mindset when that happened, shaking off some imposter syndrome but also some negatives like more anxiety around sales, and it's harder to convince myself to take on experiments now that I rely on that steady income.
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
There were a few moments that motivated me to make the entrepreneurial leap, but one in particular stands out. I had the opportunity to work overseas in Germany for a large international grocer. While it was an amazing opportunity, I would spend months creating PowerPoints and presenting them to the CTO of the International IT Department for the most minuscule and insignificant things. More often than not, the response wasn't approval or disapproval, but simply, "Let's talk about this again soon".
Meanwhile, numerous consultants and engineers were waiting for these decisions to move forward. My job was essentially taking the engineer's technology stack and trying to make a pretty enough PowerPoint to get approval on it when in reality there was no alternative in most of these situations anyway. The work culture was the opposite of Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" mentality. It was incredibly frustrating but as an expat, I couldn't exactly quit and start my own business. It took another five years before I left the corporate world to pursue my own venture, but experiences like that were big motivators for me in my career and eventual entrepreneurship.
Any company that reaches a certain size will inevitably have more red tape and bureaucracy. It's a natural consequence of a large group of people working together. I realized that I don't enjoy that type of environment. I prefer to move quickly, make mistakes, and embrace a bit of the "YOLO" mentality that isn't possible in most traditional jobs and businesses.
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
In the software engineering world, we have a phrase called "Rubber Ducking." When facing an issue or troubleshooting a problem, you seek advice by explaining the problem out loud to someone else. The term comes from the practice of using a little rubber ducky to bounce ideas off of because more often than not, you realize the solution or get an idea just by explaining it out loud, even if the other person (or duck) hasn't said a word.
I use AI a lot every day. While I’m not necessarily building AI products, I use AI as a tool for "rubber ducking," which is incredibly beneficial as a solo entrepreneur. It’s like having a constant and reliable assistant that helps me work through problems and come up with solutions. I also can't spell to save my life, so AI serves as a great editor for communications and marketing posts.
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
I ran Crucial for 10 years using a "free with ads" model. The biggest month I ever had was breaking $1,000 in revenue some time in 2015 or 2016. For a decade I was against charging customers because I didn't think it was good enough. In 2023 I started shifting to a paid model (and hugely under priced my product at first). A year later in 2024, there is now a small free trial, and all users must pay after that. I have more users than ever, better reviews, and am now making enough to run my business full-time. Ten years I could have been doing that! Looking back I often have a "What was I thinking?!?" moment internally but at the same time, I spent that 10 years working as an engineer at various companies, honing in my skills and gaining confidence. All-in-all, I'm happy with the path I took to get here even if it wasn't perfect.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
I think most of what I do is pretty normal as a solo entrepreneur. Playing sales guy, marketing, QA, software engineering, and customer service - I definitely wear many hats. I've dabbled with paid marketing but had much better luck getting the product out there myself and facing users on social media who have both positive and negative things to say. Accepting feedback and standing by your product publicly helps a lot.
One more unconventional thing I have done is writing a Reddit bot to detect posts from users who are celebrating a recently passed exam and flag it. I then use my company Reddit account to congratulate them. I don't have a reliable way to measure how that has led to sales or conversions, but I can say I regularly hear from users on Reddit who love seeing Crucial's positivity and involvement in the community so it has certainly helped market the product and it doesn't cost a dime.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
Just do it. Go out there and fail, learn, adapt, iterate. It is okay to give up on an idea, but don't give up altogether. Some people will knock what you do, say you won't make a dime, say your idea or product is awful, etc. They may be right, but there is only one way to find out for sure. Go out there and give it a shot.
Want to go deeper into Lin's work? Learn more about him using the links below:
- Visit Crucial Exams' Website crucialexams.com
- Visit PMP Ready's Website pmpready.com
- Visit Vital Nursing Exams' Website vitalnursingexams.com
