A solopreneur business is a profitable personal project. Anyone can generate $3,000~30,000 per month, per project, by monetizing their skills, interests, and experiences. True freedom is not f**k you money or the ability to get a job. It’s f**k you cash flow and the ability to get a customer.
1,000 True Fans is the idea that you have 1,000 fans waiting for you, no matter who you are or what you do. Even if one in 1,000,000 people sign up, that’s 8,000 fans on Earth. If you make $100/year from 1,000 fans, that’s a $100K lifestyle. Today, we’ll explore the “why” behind solopreneurship.
Ready to roll? Let’s go.
1. One-Trick Ponies Don’t Survive → Diversify Your Income
Relying on one skill, one offer, or one industry makes you vulnerable to systemic change. That’s why it’s important to diversify your income.
Whether you’re a freelancer or a CEO, if your main thing gets automated or disrupted, the market will punish you like a taxi driver in an Uber world. No matter how successful you are, if you make a living as a one-trick pony, you will be unsafe and unfree. Solopreneurship is an accessible path to building economic resilience. Smart people diversify their assets and investments. Smarter people diversifty their revenue lines (personal cash flow).
2. Expertise + Experience = Profit → Build Your Solo Business
When’s the last time you felt curiosity, pride, and belonging? These feelings are clues to design your ideal life. This is also the impossible triangle of employment; most jobs will never trigger these feelings in your heart.
Connecting proficiency to profit is too basic. For example, any designer or developer can be a freelancer or turn their friends into an agency. These days, most taskers can be automated with no-code A.I. tools.
Connecting passion to profit is an art. It’s about making a living on your own terms, owning the life you lead, and becoming the master of your destiny. Imagine if you could monetize your labor of love.
Doing what you love is not the same as avoiding work. We all do things we don’t enjoy and that’s OK. The key is to serve your “hell yes” customers: people you actually care about. That way, the ups and downs of business will all be worthy. Based on your life experiences and professional background, you have founder-market-fit and founder-problem-fit. Build your solo business around a market and a problem that you empathetically understand from a firsthand perspective.
3. Solopreneurship & Employment → No Need to Compromise
Solopreneurship is easier than employment and you can do both. It’s not about employment vs. solopreneurship. It’s “yes, and.”
The rule of thumb is that an employee should be worth 3x their own salary or they’re dead weight.
Consider this.
Are you more confident about finding the right employer, being a culture fit, and delivering 3x value to a company?
Or are you more confident about landing the right customer and impressing them, helping with something that fits your passion and proficiency?
Don’t get me wrong. There are great jobs out there. This is not a case against jobs, it’s a case for solopreneurship. Due to modern trends like workforce decentralization, sharing economy, and gig economy, working for yourself is easier than ever before and normalized in society – even if you hold a job.
4. Solopreneurship vs. Entrepreneurship → Trust Yourself
When going from zero to one, you’re probably better off as a solopreneur than a venture-backed entrepreneur.
Would you rather spend months pitching to investors, surrendering significant control, and tying yourself to untested co-founders?
Or would you prefer building a sustainable and profitable business on your own terms, with real customers validating your ideas?
There’s a famous saying among business builders: “If you want to go far, go together. If you want to go fast, go alone.” If you go fast and succeed as a soloprenuer, there will always be space to bring in new investors and trusted teammates. If your solopreneur business goes well, you can always expand into a venture-backed startup or spin out a fresh entity.
5. Design Your Ideal Life → From Employee to Solopreneur
No matter where you are on the employee-to-entrepreneur spectrum, you can become a solopreneur and live in your zone of genius. Through your skills, interests, and lived experiences, you’ve acquired knowledge and knowhow for the Menu of You.
Being a solopreneur means pricing, packaging, and productizing this menu into the Business of You. Over time, you might have multiple businesses that bring you joy. By diversifying the Portfolio of You, it’s possible to become invincible in the market, from layoffs to industry shifts.
Take Action → Self-Paced Exercises
- When’s the last time you felt deeply curious? Think of curiosity as a sense of wonder or something that compels you regardless of outcome. This is a clue to help you choose the ideal industry or market.
- When’s the last time you felt a sense of pride? This feeling reveals the type of work you see as worthy and the type of business that you gravitate to. It’ll help you choose your path as a solopreneur.
- When’s the last time you felt a sense of natural belonging? Among which markets and customers? This is a clue to discover your ideal customer personas and solve problems they experience.
How You Can Help Yourself
Take this online course with a cohort of peers. In one month, you will learn the secrets of a full-stack business builder who can reliably advance from idea to revenue. This course is 99% practice, 1% theory.
Feeling curious, but not ready to commit? Check out this free e-book which includes a workbook, reading list, and previous of the UC Berkeley solopreneurship course.