6 Ways to Thrive as a One-person Business (tips & strategies for solopreneurs)
Running a business on your own can be tough, but also rewarding! I’m sharing some of my best solopreneur tips in this blog post.
I’ve been running a one-person business for 8+ years, and while nowadays I do have an assistant to help for a few hours a week, my dream business still doesn’t look any ‘bigger’ than this.
There are obviously pros and cons to any size of business; as solopreneurs we might have more freedom and flexibility, and less costs and responsibility. BUT we may find it harder to ‘scale’, get lonely without people to bounce ideas off, and feel more pressure on just our shoulders.
Whether you run a business with lean team of contractors, or have 0 plans to employ or hire anyone for any help, I thought I’d share some tips for running a business solo (without losing your sanity)!
Table of Contents
1. Understand your own priorities
YOU are the leader of this business, so YOU get to decide what the priorities are and what’s most important. Getting to the bottom of what you actually want can help you get clearer on the direction of where you want the business to go, and set goals that truly align with what’s important to you.
eg. Your priority might be that you want a business that will allow you to travel and have location independence while you work.
Or your priority might be that you want to earn enough money to comfortably afford that dream home for your family.
Everyone is different, and you get to decide these!
Understanding this will create an important filter through which you make decisions about running your business.
Want to design a business that fits around your lifestyle? Read more about creating a ‘lifestyle business’ here!
2. Get laser focused on your goals & plan
When running a business that’s just YOU, obviously this gives you limited time to get things done, so we don’t want to waste ANY of it on things that don’t actually help us achieve our goals.
That’s why it’s important to be super clear about what you want and spend some time creating really focused action plans to help stick to your focus.
3. Streamline your systems & processes
I talk about this all the time, but it really is imperative for solo business owners to not overcomplicate things. Keep your admin, marketing and client/product delivery processes SIMPLE by streamlining everything to just the easy necessities.
In my Streamlined Content System course, I teach you how to do this with your marketing, and for streamlining your whole business, I have the Organised Designer’s Hub course.
4. Act like a ‘company’
As we’ve discussed, there are lots of POSITIVES about being a one-person business, and I never recommend pretending that you’re bigger than you are on the outside (people using ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ on their websites when they’re clearly one person is a bug-bear of mine!), BUT there are things you can do internally that actually help…
For example, embodying being the best boss ever, to yourself. It’s easy to be harsh on ourselves and grind ourselves into the ground work-wise when it’s just us, but would you treat an employee that way?
Or setting up ‘meetings’… again, with yourself! Putting in scheduled time slots into your calendar for specific agendas means you’ll actually do it and won’t keep putting it off.
5. Build a support network
Running a one-person business can get lonely; especially if you don’t have any friends or family that also run a business. It’s nice to have people around you who understand what that’s like that you can relate to, and talk to when you need support!
Finding business friends
How you do you find those people when you probably work from home on your own all day?
Joining local business or creative groups can be a great way to network with other likeminded people, or reaching out to other business owners to chat on social media.
This is how my best friend & business buddy, Olivia Bossert, and I met - and we’ve been friends for 7/8 years now!
Support for business activities
You may not ever want a big team, or have any plans to employ people, but building a list of trusted contractors and people you can outsource to when things get busy can be so valuable!
Likewise, as much as we might like to, it’s impossible for us to offer every service our clients want! It’s very tempting to say yes to every request, but it often works out better for everyone if you can find trusted people to refer clients to instead. Plus it’s nice to build a network of these people in similar industries too.
Learn how to build a referral network in this blog post!
Support for business growth & Accountability
I’ve also definitely found my confidence and business focus hugely increase since investing in my business with a mentor. It’s a great way to get feedback, thoughts and accountability from someone a few steps beyond where you are right now, to help push you!
6. Take care of you
As a ‘solopreneur’, you are the most important asset in your business. If you’re not on top form, your business won’t be on top form, and yet so many of us push looking after ourselves (our health and mental health) to the bottom of the priority list when things get busy.
When your schedule is full, getting out of the house for a walk or other acts of self-care might not feel ‘productive’, but they’re actually one of the MOST productive things you can be doing. Because you’re taking care of your biggest asset - you.
