Avoiding these mistakes will make your journey 10x easier.

Solopreneurship is the antidote to the 9–5 brainwashing.

Through internet-based leverage, most people have access to digital tools to make a good living working for themselves with little to no start-up costs.

You won’t be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, but you can easily make multiple six-figures working in your PJs while you tap away on a keyboard in your bedroom.

The best part? You don’t need permission. Just a strong enough mission.

No bad bosses, no gatekeepers. Complete freedom.

I am not offering a great rich-quick scheme because you’ll probably be working more than you would at a 9–5 but it will be on your own terms.

But work is better when you decide what you do with your time.

The founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian describes the opportunity the internet offers as:

“An open system: it works because you don’t need to ask anyone’s permission to be creative and because every address is equally accessible.”

If you have a strong enough desire to work for yourself and make it happen, you can endure the ups and downs of solopreneurship.

Why choose solopreneurship?

TLDR; freedom and independence.

I hope to never work a full-time 9–5 job ever again. I think they are a relic of the past.

I’ve been able to create a six-figure consulting business with only a laptop and WIFI. I didn’t ask anyone if I could do it. I just did it and haven’t looked back since.

I can run this business from anywhere in the world. And I have.

I’ve grown my business while hiking in New Zealand and exploring Timor Leste. I plan to work in Asia for a couple of months in 2023 or so while I figure out what to do next.

I get to choose my clients and who align with my values. I don’t accept contracts longer than 6 months and I increase my charge-out rate every quarter.

There is no more begging for a promotion that barely outpaces inflation or working with people who produce poor quality work.

But it’s not all sunset and roses. Solopreneurship means taking an uncomfortable amount of responsibility and ownership over your life.

Everything depends on you. Most people aren’t comfortable with that level of accountability. This is why the competition is low.

“I am not a businessman, I am a business, man.” — Jay-Z

#1: The biggest mistake I see is...

Waiting for perfect conditions to execute.

Perfectionism has killed more business dreams than a lack of talent ever will.

There will never be a right time to start a business. I repeat, never.

You can find every excuse under the sun to postpone and delay.

At the time of writing, I am building a new house in an environment of increasing interest rates and rapid inflation. I had every excuse to say “I’ll wait for better economic conditions” before I started my business.

But I didn’t. I knew that was fear trying to talk me out of it.

I have a friend who has been talking about an idea for more than two years and has been waiting to launch their product for almost a year and a half. A lot of supporters are getting frustrated by the lack of progress.

They are trapped by waiting for perfect conditions and creating the perfect product.

As co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman once said, “if you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

My company website is sh*t. So is the LinkedIn page. But does that matter in the long run? Nope. I can always change that and people have short memories.

As bestselling author Robin Sharma says “action delayed is greatness betrayed.”

Nothing matters more than execution. So start executing imperfectly. You can always iterate later.

“You want 10,000 iterations, not 10,000 hours.” — Naval Ravikant

#2: Not being intentional with this.

Solopreneurship can sometimes mean feast or famine.

One week you might feel like Warren Buffett, the next week you’re eating beans out of a can.

To combat this, I see solopreneurs taking on every client and project without asking themselves if they align with their mission, vision and brand.

Don’t fall into this trap. You can quickly become a jack of all trades and a master of none by spreading your capacity too thinly across too many projects.

If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll quickly be nothing to anyone.

Intentional growth means denying good opportunities for great opportunities.

Learn to say “thank you, but no”, to most opportunities.

#3: Not having a clear vision.

People think having a vision of your company means you are fixed.

I would argue the opposite.

Having a clear vision gives you the foundation for flexibility. Knowing what you don’t want to do, is more than 50% of the battle.

As author Eric Ries says in his book, The Startup Way, “without a vision, you can’t pivot.”

If you don’t know what you want to achieve, how do you what strategies will be effective?

Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.

#4: Not creating content on social media.

In the 21st century, content is king.

If you’re actively building a brand through the content you post, you’re passively letting a brand be created for you.

Document everything you do. Take pictures of events, achievements and milestones. No matter how small they are.

“The best in the world who make money online do it with a foundation of content.

I don’t know anybody who’s succeeded online without video, audio, writing, or images.”

— Tim Denning

In the short term, they make great content for blogs and social media posts. In the long term, they can help you see the progress you’ve made and how far you’ve come.

I’ve created a six-figure consulting business off the back of LinkedIn.

During most of the pandemic, I went hard on content creation.

I threw everything I could at the wall and noticed what resonated and what I enjoyed. I doubled down on the positive signals and stopped what wasn’t working.

I didn’t have a big following or fancy equipment. I taught myself copywriting through YouTube and online courses.

After a while, I started to attract inbound opportunities with my content, most of which I politely turned down. But soon enough, I started attracting my ideal consulting clients.

From this process, I was able to test and find an underserved niche that had a high ROI. I found other niche areas that had the same characteristics but didn’t enjoy doing them. I might explore them at another time.

The best content creation strategy is the one that you can stick to consistently.

This won’t happen overnight, but you only need a few viral posts to land your next client or dream project.

#5: Not surrounding themselves with a community.

Solopreneurship can be lonely.

The hint is in the name.

A supportive ecosystem of other solopreneurs can help build your business up and keep you sane during tough times. And trust me, those tough times will come.

Stress, overwhelm and the constant threat of burnout come with the territory.

Those dinner catch-ups or impromptu phone calls can keep you grounded and motivated when the solopreneurship journey gets choppy. You’ll realize that other people share the same problem that you do.

Most of the people I spend my time with are other entrepreneurs or solopreneurs who are busy building their businesses.

The fastest way to go from a six-figure entrepreneur to a seven-figure entrepreneur is to hang around seven-figure entrepreneurs. When you hang around winners, success becomes a default.

Remember that: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

#6: Not being authentic.

“You can escape competition through authenticity” — Naval Ravikant

There are very few barriers to entry for my consulting niche. Anyone with a laptop and internet connection can create a consulting business.

Congrats.

But while they can copy my business model, they can’t copy my distribution channels and brand.

Building distribution channels and creating a unique brand take far longer than building a business model.

Before I ever launched my business, I invested time and energy building a monopoly of my distribution channel and brand via LinkedIn.

If you’re competing on price, you’re not being authentic enough. You’re replaceable. And trading your knowledge as a commodity.

There is no one else who can compete with me.

That’s why I can charge my clients a handsome amount, often without a proposal.

Through my distribution channels, I’ve built a deep sense of trust and a strong reputation before they even talked to me.

So if you’re thinking about becoming a solopreneur…

Think big, start small. Iterate rapidly.

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