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Are you looking for a simple step-by-step guide on how to be a solopreneur?
Perhaps you’re wondering how to get started.
Or maybe you want to know what it takes to be a successful solopreneur.
Either way, you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll be walking through what a solopreneur is all about, how to get started, and what it takes to succeed so that you, too, can escape the rat race.
Ready to go? Let’s get started.
What Is a Solopreneur
The solopreneur definition by Merriam-Webster:
“one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise without the help of a partner”
A solopreneur is an individual who is both the employee and the owner of a business. A solopreneur can be a blogger, an e-commerce business, a writer, and many more.
In short, a business run by a single individual is a solopreneur.
Solopreneur Vs Entrepreneur
All solopreneurs are entrepreneurs. But all entrepreneurs are not solopreneurs.
Business Management
Being a solopreneur means handling every nook and cranny of your business while entrepreneurs build, manage, and delegate different aspects of the business to different teams.
Business Focus
Solopreneurs focus on a single business, such as writing or graphic designing, while entrepreneurs seek to expand and scale their businesses into other product and service lines.
Business Scale & Growth
Solopreneurs run small and profitable businesses that bankroll their desired lifestyle. Their growth is often limited unless a solopreneur decides to expand and build a team.
On the flip side, entrepreneurs seek to expand and scale their businesses, whether it’s the desire to build an empire or sell it off one day. Hence, their growth is unlimited.
Business Decision-Making
Solopreneurs have less business decision-making than entrepreneurs do.
For example, as entrepreneurs expand and scale their businesses, they face an ever-increasing amount of critical decisions.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs have to worry about benefits, payrolls, and payroll taxes which solopreneurs don’t have to.
How Do You Become a Solopreneur That Makes Money
Here, we will dive into the essential steps to increase your chances of becoming a successful solopreneur.
Choose Your Niche(S)
Firstly, your skill sets and experiences will determine the type of products or services you can offer.
Next, determine the market size and whether significant and sustainable demand for your products or services exists.
Passion keeps you going. But no amount of passion is sufficient when there is no demand for your products or services.
Do a Rock-solid Research
Knowing the ins and outs of the market and gaining a deep insight into your targeted customers’ needs is essential to your success.
You must also know who your competitors are, what products or services they provide, at what price points, and what marketing strategies are employed.
Lastly, identify the opportunities you can exploit and fulfill.
Write to Visualize Your Objectives & Goals Vividly
Writing down your objectives and goals will help you organize your thoughts and visualize your business’s short-term and long-term goals.
Doing so creates a roadmap littered with checkpoints, ensuring you don’t stray off course and guiding you onward to your ultimate goal.
Build & Pack Your Brand with an Engaging Story & Personality
Nicholas Woodman, CEO of GoPro, stated that GoPro aims to help us capture, share, and celebrate our most meaningful experiences with others. Hence, they make the most versatile cameras to enable us to do so.
Think about the social media influencers and YouTubers who became successful by letting their personalities shine through their content, captivating and engaging their followers.
Establish Efficient Systems & Processes
A system helps to run your business, and a process is the steps taken to run the system efficiently.
For example, one of the systems you will have is marketing. And within the marketing system are various other systems, such as social media, advertising, and sponsorships. You must build a process for each to run the whole marketing system efficiently.
Some or all of these can be outsourced to freelancers and automated via tools and apps.
Dip Your Toes & Keep Your Ears Open
Instagram started with only two features: photo sharing and filters. Its users love it, and the rest is history.
Instead of gunning for perfection, launch your minimum viable product or service to test the market, gather your customers’ feedback, and improve on it.
Are your customers receptive to your products or services? What are the positives and negatives? What about the quality and the pricing of your products or services?
Listen to what the market and your customers are saying.
You’ll gain more valuable insights and ample opportunities to perfect your products or services as you progress.
Network & Collaborate Ferociously
In today’s world, networking and collaboration are critical to your success.
You can build your network with like-minded individuals and content creators through various online communities, forums, conferences, conventions, and social media platforms.
And through your extensive networking, opportunities for learning and collaboration will abound.
Review & Enhance
Now, with comprehensive data and feedback on hand, you can do a thorough review of your performances at this junction.
And you will also know how you are performing relative to your competitors, the areas performing well, and the areas requiring improvements.
Would you consider your performance a success? Are you on par or outperforming your competitors? If not, where and what do you need to improve? Do you need any third-party assistance for the underperforming areas?
Notable Solopreneur Ideas with Examples
Are you getting excited?
Can’t wait to jump in and get those dough rolling in?
But can’t figure out what and how to start?
Here are some solopreneur ideas to light up that bulb:
Freelancer
What are your skill sets and experiences?
What are you passionate about?
Is it scalable?
Being a freelancer is an excellent way to dip your toes into solopreneurship while maintaining your full-time job.
It is also the springboard to launch your solopreneur business when you’re ready to dive in deep.
Some of the in-demand freelancing services are:
- Writer
- Virtual Assistants
- Graphic Design
- Social Media Marketing
- Content Creator
- Video Editor
- Web Design
Levi Newman, a copywriter, joined Fiverr in 2014 and began offering his copywriting services.
As of mid-2022, he wrote over 13,000 unique product descriptions and generated over $1.2 million in revenue.
Consulting & Coaching
Rich in experience and proficient in marketing? Be a marketing coach.
Are you obsessed with fitness? Be a fitness coach.
Passionate about healthy living? Be a health coach.
Marie Forleo, a business coach, teaches individuals how to balance their life and achieve their goals through her courses, guides, e-books, and videos.
She also has an online B-school course, an award-winning online show MarieTV, a podcast, and a blog.
Blogger
If you enjoy writing or love sharing your knowledge, being a blogger is a perfect choice.
Bloggers earn their income through various monetization methods, such as ads, sponsored posts, digital products, and affiliate marketing.
In 2019, Adam Enfroy started his blog while working full-time. In seven months, he quit, became a full-time blogger in 2020, and was on track to generate over seven figures.
Why Do Solopreneurs Fail
Numerous individuals aspire to become successful solopreneurs, but only some succeed. Here are some common reasons you should be aware of and avoid making these mistakes.
Failure to Understand the Customer & Market
Is there a market for your products or services? Who are your targeted customers? How do your products or services benefit the customers? Why should the customers engage you instead of your competitors?
You cannot establish your unique selling point without a deep understanding of the market and customers.
Failure to Hire & Delegate
One of the biggest mistakes a solopreneur can make is not recognizing their shortcomings and spending too much time on non-revenue generating matters instead of outsourcing them.
Being a solopreneur doesn’t mean you should be handling all matters alone. Everyone, including you, has their strengths and weaknesses.
Substandard Organizational Skills
Often, failed solopreneurs do not have a system to organize their time and priorities effectively.
They also do not utilize the numerous tools and apps available to streamline their processes, leaving less time for the critical aspect of the business.
A solopreneur has to juggle many different hats, and being disorganized will inevitably lead to a disastrous outcome.
Inadequate Marketing Strategy
How do you get your products or services, even if it’s perfect, to your targeted customers in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way without a marketing strategy?
Without a marketing strategy, there are no defined goals and expectations. And hence, you will fail to allocate your time and resources efficiently.
Think & Act like an Employee
Most of us were employees before, and some of you may still be at this junction. We had clearly defined responsibilities and tasks to complete, and that was it.
Hence, we weren’t cultivating a proactive mindset, as we only had to complete our required tasks, and nothing else mattered.
And this is why most solopreneurs fail.
They failed to transition their mindset from an employee to a boss and an employee.
The Essentials a Solopreneur Need to Succeed
As a solopreneur, managing every aspect of the business alone can be challenging. Hence, utilizing every tool and app that can improve your time and cost efficiencies is critical.
Customer Relationship Management Tools (CRM)
CRM tools help you organize and manage your leads and customers’ details. Thereby improving the flow from lead generation to the closure of sales efficiently. Check out Monday.com and HubSpot.
Workflow Automation Tools
Zapier and HubSpot have fantastic tools that allow you to automate your workflows and save time for more critical tasks.
Schedule & Project Management System
Calendly and Notion are tools you can leverage to automate your scheduling, take notes, manage tasks and projects, collaborate, and many more.
Social Media Accounts Management Tools
Hootsuite and Buffer are handy tools for managing every social media account in one place, such as scheduling and publishing your posts across all your accounts.
Analytics are also available for you to keep track of your social media performance.
Email Marketing Services
ConvertKit and MailerLite are some of the email marketing services available to help you grow and automate your business by creating email campaigns, newsletters, email automation, and many more.
Accounting Software
Accounting software like Quickbooks and Xero helps you track your income and expenses, create and issue invoices, generate accounting reports, and more.
Payment & Invoice System
PayPal and Stripe are well-established payment systems that you can utilize for receiving, making payments, and issuing invoices.
Editing & Proofreading Tools
Grammarly and Hemingway App are tools to help ensure any of your marketing materials or written documents are error-free, unambiguous, and concise.
You’re on Your Way out of the Rat Race
Of course, success isn’t guaranteed.
The fear that all of our hard work and resources poured into the business and have nothing to show for at the end of the day is genuine and disheartening.
But the biggest and most regrettable mistake of all is the mistake of not even trying.
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great,” Zig Ziglar
You now know how to get started, the mistakes to avoid, and the tools needed to be a successful solopreneur.
You already know enough.
It’s time to take action and get started today.
Every step you take is a step closer to the exit.
You will escape the rat race.
