Today Is Your Income Independence Day

A new approach for 2027 and beyond

Stop driving a one-lane road. Build the four-lane highway.

When one lane closes on a one-lane road, you stop, back up, and go looking for another way around. That is the six-month job search. On a four-lane highway, you change lanes and keep going. You earn income a different way, and you never ask permission.

Lane 1

Move up

Get the promotion, the raise, and the scope you asked for, because you have other options if they say no.

Lane 2

Move on

Ready for a better role or organization. Your choice of offers, from interviews where you are the one asking the questions.

Lane 3

Bridge the gap

Between roles, start earning consulting income inside 30 days, using severance as runway, with no gap on the resume.

Lane 4

Build your own

Ready to bet on yourself. Build your practice and hit your Freedom Number before you resign. Your W2 is your runway.

You don't have to pick a lane today. You build the highway. The road decides which lane you operate in, and you decide how to drive.

Why this is different

We looked at 45 programs in this price range. Not one helps you move up AND build your own.

Every other program makes you choose a lane first. Career coaches stop at the offer letter. Fractional courses won't take you until you have already quit. The Independent Executive is the only one that keeps every lane open.

Swipe to compare all programs →

	The Independent Executive	TalentGuy	Find My Profession	RiseSmart Premier	Wharton AI program
Move up / move on	✓	–excludes job seekers	✓	✓	–
Bridge income	✓	–	–	–	–
Build a practice	✓	✓	–	mentioned	–
Executive presence	✓weekly workshop	Partial	–	Partial	–
Agentic AI	✓AI Lab + Sherpa	✓	–	–	✓
Support	12 mo + community for life	120 days	~4 months	12 months	8 weeks
Guarantee	$10K added income, any lane	Until first client	5 interviews or an offer in 4 mo	None	None
Price	$10,000^*	$10,500	$3,000/mo	$6,499, employer-paid	$8,000

* That $10,000 is the list price, not the price you pay today.

Based on each program's public pages as of September 21, 2026. Click here to see the full list of other outside programs.

The mechanism

One practice, built once. The Income Dial does the rest.

You build one practice from expertise you already have, then turn it to whichever mode your life needs. Same offer, same clients. Only the dial moves. And once it is built, the dial never goes back to off.

The Income Dial set to Standby, needle low

Mode One

Standby Income

Employed. The practice idles warm, an offer and a client or two, a few hours a month. You walk into the review, and into the interview, with a number in your pocket.

The Income Dial turned up to Bridge, needle at center

Mode Two

Bridge Income

Between roles. You turn it up to fill the gap. Severance becomes runway, and "I'm consulting" changes who is asking the questions.

The Income Dial all the way up to Full, needle high

Mode Three

Full Income

All the way up. You resign when you hit your Freedom Number, not before. And you can always turn the dial back and go W2 again.

Your Freedom Number is the gauge on the dial: the monthly income your practice needs for the mode you want. One client at $5K changes how you show up at work.

What you build in the first 90 days

The four assets that power all four lanes.

Each one is an asset you own, a skill you keep, and an artifact that proves it. Every one is buildable while you are still employed.

A Vertical Motion member presenting to the room at a live event

Brand

What you're worth, to whom, and what people say about you when you're not in the room. Your 20+ years is the product, but what you don't have yet is the one sentence that explains it.

The artifact: your Value Proposition one-pager.

Executive Presence

How you speak, decide, and carry a room, plus the quiet confidence that comes from knowing you will be fine no matter what happens at work. Portable, so it survives leaving the org.

The artifact: your 90-Day Presence Plan.

Network

Relationships across your industry, not just with your boss: the people who know exactly what problem you solve and would take your call tomorrow. Your network is where the next role and the next client both come from.

The artifact: your Market Map, with names and first conversations booked.

Career + Business Skills

Getting found, getting chosen, getting paid well, and delivering your value. The skills that land the job are the same skills that land the client, so build one and you've already started the other.

The artifacts: your resume and LinkedIn, your offer sheet, and your Income Independence Plan.

Put all four together and you have leverage: the ability to earn income more than one way, so you're never stuck in one lane.

Why you can build all four in 90 days

Your first employee is free. We teach you how to manage it.

Generative AI answers a question. Agentic AI does a job. You give it a goal and it runs the research, the first drafts, the target list, and the proposal. That is why an employed executive can build all four assets in about five hours a week, not twenty.

The number one reason companies gave for cutting jobs this year was AI. In this program you become the person who runs AI, not the person AI replaces.

How rare is this combination?

Brand1 in 4

Executive presence1 in 4

Network1 in 100

Career + business skills1 in 10

Agentic AI1 in 5

Build all four assets, add agentic AI, and you start 2027 ahead of 99.9% of your peers.

Inside your dashboard

Meet Sherpa, the virtual coach that knows you.

Sherpa is our own AI, not a general chatbot with our logo on it. It knows you, and it knows our playbook, so the help you get is the help we would give.

Your coaches are live 4 hours a week. Sherpa covers the other 164.

It knows youYour personality, your goals, your experience.
It knows our playbookEvery course, over 100 coaching calls, Tom's book, and years of Tom's teaching on video.
Always onLate at night, the morning of the interview, the hour before the review. The other 164 hours a week.

What is included

Results in 90 days. Support for the full year.

Twelve months of access, run as a 90-day sprint to build the four assets, then nine months of support to switch the dial and go again toward a new goal.

A Vertical Motion coach leading a live session

✓

A 3-hour kickoff workshop

A deep dive into your self-work and the full map of what you will build.

✓

Four coaching calls a week

Executive Presence and Brand, Revenue Lab and AI Lab, Coaching Q&A with Tom or Ryan, and Leadership Edge every Tuesday night.

✓

A monthly legal workshop

With startup attorney Ben Maida: moonlighting policy, non-compete, entity, and first contract.

✓

Two 1:1s at the moments that matter

Onboarding with Ryan, and a strategy session with Tom once your Value Proposition is ready.

✓

The Income Dial Dashboard, with Sherpa

Your four artifacts and your Freedom Number in one place, plus Sherpa, our dedicated AI agent, built into the dashboard to do the heavy lifting.

✓

A world-class network

Authentic, empathetic, and audacious leaders who work side by side with you.

✓

Three months of Sumly, free

A free 3-month trial of Sumly, an accounting and tax planning platform built for fractional professionals, so you can manage your business financials from day one.

✓

Community for life

After the 12 months you keep Leadership Edge, the directory, and the community chat, for good.

Who you learn from

Real Operators.

You build this alongside founders who have done it, and who run their own business on the exact systems you will learn.

Tom Cox

Founder · 3x CEO · Author

Founder of Vertical Motion, a 3x CEO who has closed more than $1.5B in new business, author of The Executive Career Handbook, and a US Army veteran. He has taken 300+ leaders through Vertical Motion's executive programs.

Read full bio →

Ryan Roberts

COO · Fighter Pilot · Founder with a Successful Exit

A 20-year USAF officer and fighter pilot turned business risk analyst, Ryan built and sold a defense software company. He runs delivery and the LDNA toolkit, and has automated 90% of Vertical Motion's manual work with agentic AI.

Read full bio →

A cadre of coaches

Vertical Motion Certified Coaches

All 10 of our Vertical Motion Certified Coaches are former clients who succeeded in our programs, a mix of corporate executives and business owners.

See all our coaches →

Ben Maida

Legal

Ben Maida is an attorney, startup executive, and entrepreneur who advises founders and emerging companies at the intersection of law, business, and growth. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Boston College Law School, Ben began his career as a U.S. Navy officer before practicing corporate law at leading firms including Jones Day and Cooley. He has since served as General Counsel, Chief Business Officer, and strategic advisor to venture-backed technology and life sciences companies, helping founders navigate company formation, fundraising, commercial agreements, partnerships, governance, labor and employment, intellectual property, and the other legal issues that arise as businesses launch and scale.

Ben also works extensively with founders building consulting, fractional, and other independent businesses. As a trusted advisor to Tom and the Vertical Motion community, he holds monthly office hours focused on helping members identify and navigate the practical legal issues that come with building a 0 to 1 business around their expertise.

Maggi Heneghan

Finance · Founder of Sumly

Fintech and consulting background, Columbia MBA, and founder of Sumly, which makes accounting easier for fractional business owners.

Members already driving the highway

Real members, real moves.

MattAll four lanes

Two doors closed in one week. He had already built a practice, so he took the role he wanted and kept building, said no when he needed to, and landed higher. The no was his leverage.

DanielLane one, move up

Came to build a consulting practice. With the confidence of knowing he could build his own thing, he showed up differently at work. His company promoted him three times.

JustinLane four, built his own

He came from the ECA knowing he didn't want to stay in corporate, so he resigned to build his own practice. He has successfully built a consulting business of his own, working with some of the organizations he used to be employed by, but as a consultant on the outside. He knows he could go back anytime he wants to.

ElizabethLane two and three

She grew in her career from the support from VM, then when a huge setback that wasn't her fault took place, we were there for her through it all, and knowing she could continue to build her career or build a new business gave her peace of mind that things were going to work out alright.

Real outcomes

What members are saying.

"I went from being laid off to landing a VP role in just 60 days."

Louis K.Member since 2023

"This was a leadership evolution. I got promoted 3 levels above my previous title and doubled my income."

Vijay C.Member since 2024

"After deploying lessons from the program and ongoing support, I received a promotion to Sr. Director this week. Very grateful."

Jeremy O.Member since 2026

"I finally gained the confidence to get noticed and got promoted, twice."

Kelly E.Member since 2024

"I went from Director to Chief Operating Officer in just 2 years."

Brendon D.Member since 2025

"I finally got promoted within my company from Director of Engineering to VP of Engineering. Couldn't have done it without VM."

Brian Y.Member since 2023

"I went from a 5-year plateau to VP in 6 months."

Bill O.Member since 2024

"I didn't know I needed an Executive Coach until I had an Executive Coach."

Renard H.Member since 2024

"I've been promoted to Director. I could not have done this without the mentors and community that gave me the confidence to keep pushing."

Adam K.Member since 2026

"I was offered a position after a few interviews. The interviewing modules were a tremendous help. Great things are on the horizon."

Keldric E.Member since 2025

"I landed a new role that increased my overall annual income by 30% after six months working with the team."

Nel J.Member since 2025

"I accepted and signed an offer for a VP position. The guidance and coaching from VM were some of the best I have ever received."

Eric W.Member since 2026

"My biggest takeaway was to reverse-engineer your thinking from how you would normally operate in a corporate setting."

Justin S.Vertical Motion Member

"My biggest takeaway is it doesn't have to be perfect. Approach it like a project: research, make a decision, and iterate in real time. Be agile, not waterfall."

Tiffany W.Vertical Motion Member

"My biggest takeaway was that I don't have to be 100% ready before I start, because the truth is I'm never 100%, and I end up becoming my own worst enemy."

Peter I.Vertical Motion Member

"I am very inspired by this group and energized for what is to come. Viewing this as many small experiments helps minimize my fears. I am not as scared about stumbling."

Elizabeth D.Vertical Motion Member

"I am blown away by the thoughtful, quality content here. Hitting it out of the park. Thank you."

Bri J.Vertical Motion Member

"I've dreamed about moving into consulting for years. There's not even a question, I'd already done the exact things this program describes. Now I have a real plan."

Chris M.Vertical Motion Member

"My biggest takeaway is how ambitious it is. It'll be great though. We will all grow from it."

Brett K.Vertical Motion Member

"The type of program that will take the VM brand to the next level. The mindset shift and practical insights from Ryan and Tom make this a very unique opportunity."

Mykel S.Vertical Motion Member

Before you enroll

Quick answers.

How much time does it take?

About five hours a week in the first 90 days, because the AI does the parts that used to take twenty. A couple of hours a month after that.

What about my employer, my non-compete, or a moonlighting policy?

Ben Maida's monthly legal workshop covers exactly this. Even where you can't moonlight, you can build the offer and have the conversations.

I'm between roles right now. Is this for me?

Yes, and you have the most to gain from the first 90 days. That is the Bridge lane: turn your expertise into income while the search runs, so you never decide under financial pressure.