How To Be a Solopreneur in 2024 (and Win) – Ultimate Guide

Do you want to know how to be a solopreneur? 

Of course, you do.

But, before you go any further, understand that being a solopreneur is hard work. Anyone suggesting otherwise isn’t worth your time or hard-earned money. 

However, the rewards can be immense with the right skills, passion, persistence, patience, and fortitude.  

This post focuses on digital solopreneurship, but many principles apply to other solo ventures. 

Digital business models offer affordable entry points and hundreds of ways to monetize your skills.

We’ll cover common pitfalls and strategies you can employ to navigate adversity.

So, are you up for this?

O.K., let’s dive in.

What Is a Solopreneur?

Miriam Webster defines a solopreneur as  “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise without the help of a partner.

Solopreneur vs. Entrepreneur: Key Differences

All solopreneurs are entrepreneurs, but not vice versa.

Entrepreneurs typically focus on creating businesses requiring employees to sell, deliver, and administer the business.

They typically have access to capital to invest in a start-up or acquire an existing business.

In contrast, a solopreneur assumes responsibility for all aspects of the business, which means you are the owner and the workforce.

While you might hire specialists for specific tasks, the core responsibilities lie with you.

The Gains and Pains of Solpreneurship

Every advantage comes with challenges. Remember, there’s no shortcut to success.

Pros	Cons
You are in complete control; you decide what and who you sell to.	The buck stops with you.  You are responsible for all aspects of the business. Nothing happens unless you make it happen.
You dictate your schedule.	You must meet customer expectations for timeliness.
Digital business models offer location freedom – work from anywhere.	This only applies if you deliver value digitally. This doesn’t apply to in-person services – personal chef, hairdresser, dog walker.
Your earnings potential is significantly higher than full-time employment,	Income is not guaranteed. You will incur new expenses you didn’t have as an employee. These include health and liability insurance.

What Does a Solopreneur Need?

Most of what’s written about starting a business relates to ventures requiring employees, supply chains, and external financing.

This post will focus on bootstrapping your solopreneur venture and keeping it running.

Your First Planning Step – The Elevator Pitch

The elevator pitch is a marketing message highlighting the core of your business. Doing it now will help you identify any missing elements:

1. It defines your Niche: Your target customer segment and the pain point or unfulfilled wish you are solving.
2. It identifies your product or service.
3. It explains how your product/service delivers value (point 1).
4. It explains how and why your product or service is better than your competition.

Here’s an example:

The narrower you define your niche, the easier it is to identify relevant prospects and present compelling reasons for them to buy.

Forecasting Income and Expenses

First, you’ll need to determine the market rate for your offering through research. 

Search online for what other people are offering in your chosen niche and how they price their offerings – fixed fee, hourly rate, rate per word, etc.

The first rule of pricing is never to offer anything for free – free is synonymous with low value.

You can offer your first customer a discounted fee, but contingent billing is a better alternative. 

A contingent billing agreement commits the customer to pay if you have delivered value.

This can be highly effective because it demonstrates confidence and commitment on your part and carries an implicit guarantee for the customer.

The keys to a successful contingent agreement are:

1. You and the customer are 100% clear on your deliverable and how value will be measured.
2. It is limited in scope. Offer a limited “package” of your services to demonstrate value. Don’t commit to a lengthy investment of your time or resources.

The second rule of pricing is don’t undervalue yourself. Remember, customers pay a premium for quality. Think Rolex, Channel, and Charmin Ultra.

Be Realistic About Income Assumptions

Remember, you must generate enough income to cover costs incurred by your business and living expenses.

Unless you’re a cash-on-delivery business, there will be a delay between invoicing for your services and getting paid. The sad fact is many customers can be very slow payers. 

Be Realistic About Recurring Costs

List your one-time costs for getting your business up and running. This will include office equipment, hardware, and anything you need to deliver your service.

Recurring costs are those that you’ll need to keep your business running. This will include your current living expenses.

This will also include the cost for any work you outsource to a third party and possibly professional fees for a CPA or attorney.

Additional recurring costs include software licenses ( monthly or annual), subscriptions to news and research services, and professional membership fees.

Add thirty percent to cover contingencies once you have determined your one-time and recurring costs.

Remember, you’ll be responsible for paying your own taxes. Depending on the local rules where you live, stay on top of what you owe to avoid penalties.

Once you’ve determined your income and expenses, it’s time to create a cash flow forecast. 

If you have a business background, coming up with a cash flow forecast will be simple enough using a spreadsheet tool.

If in doubt, consult with a CPA. 

Winning the Marketing Game

Here is where we dig deep into how to be a successful solopreneur.

Develop a Killer Value Proposition

Since Michael J. Lanning first coined the term value proposition in the 1980s, it has, sadly, become synonymous with general marketing jargon.

Your value proposition is much more than a marketing slogan; getting it right will give you a competitive advantage.

Brian Carrol synthesizes the essence of the term in his Marketing Experiments Blog. 

The value proposition challenges you to get extremely specific about who your customer is, their demographics, and their experiences with the current solutions offered by your competitors.

It considers how long your value proposition remains valid. If the answer is forever, it’s too vague. Markets are constantly evolving, and so are your competitors.

It challenges you to get inside your customer’s heads and experience their lives with your solution, along with any inferior experiences. 

Consider the trade-offs you’re asking customers to make in return for your superior value.

Develop and Build Your Personal Brand

Your personal brand is people’s impression of you. It comprises the interactions, experiences, prior knowledge, personality, and reputation associated with your name.

A professional-looking website will form the repository for your personal brand. It should include your professional profile, a clear articulation of your value proposition, and contact information.

Establishing Your Social Media Identity

In digital commerce, social media is where your customers and competitors are.  It applies to business (B2B) and consumer (B2C) markets.

Shelly Walsh at SearchEngineJournal.com reviewed the ‘top 10’ Social Media platforms in this article from May 2022.

She notes that there are more than 4.5 billion social media users on the planet, and 84% of Americans use at least one social media platform.

Creating Trust With Social Proof

Social proof is a powerful psychological effect that influences buyer choice by seeing what others in their peer group choose.

Customer testimonials and case studies are powerful types of social proof. These and other examples of your work should feature prominently on your website.

Creating Demand With Social Selling

Social selling uses social media to generate credibility and interest in your product or service. Your goal is to get people to visit your website and request further information.

Sharing compelling content relevant to your niche will build your network of followers. 

The quality of your content is paramount.

It must deliver value in return for your audience giving up their time to read it. 

Pitching offers to people who know and trust you will yield more leads and conversions than “spray-and-pray” strategies.

Get as granular as possible with your target Niche.

Which Social Media Platform?

Shelly’s article offers some valuable pointers on selecting the right platform. For example, 47% of tiktok users are under 30, so it is probably not the best place to advertise your “Yoga for Seniors” course.

If your product applies more generally, how should your message change for Gen-Z or Gen-X customers versus people approaching retirement?

For business prospects, LinkedIn and Twitter are the platforms of choice.

Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are popular B2C channels.

Maximize marketing effectiveness by selecting the right platform and fine-tuning your message for each sub-niche. 

Get familiar with Google Analytics. It shows how you compare with your competitors. Adjust your marketing messages accordingly.

Generating quality traffic to your website is the key to success in digital marketing.

How To Prepare for the Mental Game and Win

Being a solopreneur requires a particular level of mental fortitude. The majority of business failures result from mental errors.

Why Do Solopreneurs Fail?

Frequent causes of failure include some combination of the following:

• Insufficient revenue
• Inadequate planning
• Overcommitting early on
• Failing to recognize mistakes; persisting on the wrong track.

Analysis of failure usually reveals a series of compounding errors, the final death blow being an unexpected external event like a sudden economic downturn or a client going out of business.

Mental Factors of Failure

Fear of failure or rejection can result in procrastination and allow a problem to get out of control. 

Anger always leads to poor decision-making. 

Chasing perfection is another counter-productive trait resulting from the fear of being judged or ridiculed by peers.

“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” – Harriet Braiker.

Greed can be subtle. When the market is hot for your product, it’s easy to over-sell your capacity to deliver and damage hard-earned customer trust.

Confirmation bias, like greed, can be subtle. Success breeds complacency. Accepting that the market is drifting away from your value proposition is hard.

Life Skills for Mental Fortitude

Mindfulness meditation is excellent for restoring mental clarity, reducing stress, and teaching yourself to ‘take a breath’ before making knee-jerk reactions.

Abraham Lincoln had a dark side and quickly became angry and frustrated. He overcame this weakness by using a novel anger management technique.  He’d write a scathing hot letter to whoever had upset him.

Then he’d write “Never Sent, Never Signed” and either put it in a drawer or tear it up.

Find Your Why by Simon Sinek is an excellent resource for focusing your mind on the core things that matter – the Why, the What, and the How of your business.

Changing habits is challenging, but you can develop life skills and resilience for long-term success by setting short, medium, and long-term goals.

Maximizing the Benefits of a Mentor or Coach

A mentor can help you learn from their experience. They can guide you through challenges and provide motivation and emotional support.

A coach can help you develop skills and behaviors relevant to your specialization. 

Both can help you understand your values, set goals, and hold you accountable when ‘drifting’ from your plan.

Most importantly, they can help you develop your professional network, a critical success factor in your solopreneur journey.

Continuous Learning and Self-Improvement

The market never stands still – neither should you. Make sure that your goals include upgrading your knowledge and skills. You can be sure your competitors are.

Solopreneur Success Stories

A Google search will return hundreds of excellent examples of solopreneur success in your selected niche, and many offer courses based on their journey.

Here are three from affiliate marketing, eCommerce, and personal services.

Excelling in Affiliate Marketing

Pat Flynn started his website, Smart Passive Income, and made a fortune with affiliate marketing, sharing his strategies transparently. 

An eCommerce Success Story

Steve Chou and his wife created Bumblebee Linens, an eCommerce store selling handkerchiefs. They turned it into a six-figure business within a year. Read about it here.

Thriving In Personal services

Jennifer Segal turned her passion for cooking into a successful business, Once Upon a Chef, attracting millions with her tried-and-true recipes and tips.

Automate Routine Functions

The more time you spend dealing with administrivia, the less time you have for revenue-generating activity.

You can use an online tool like LegalZoom to set up your legal entity.

QuickBooks and Turbo Tax from Intuit are great tools for ensuring your accounting is accurate.

Consult an attorney and a CPA to ensure everything is in place and correctly structured before making contractual commitments.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) dramatically simplifies managing your sales pipelines. 

This review from  sellingsignals.com covers the top six for 2023, including HubSpot and Monday.

What’s Next in Your Solopreneur Journey?

You’ve made it this far in exploring how to be a solopreneur. 

Where you go next depends on where you are currently. The most important advice at this stage is, if you’re still working, don’t quit your day job.

Use the elevator pitch section to develop ideas for your offering.

Set aside time to discover everything you can about your chosen niche and what other solopreneurs – your competitors – currently offer. How does your elevator pitch stack up against theirs?

Research your market, narrow your focus, develop your value proposition, build your digital identity, and delight your customers.

Your destiny is in your hands.