How To Create An Insanely Profitable (But Boring) One-Person Business.
Even if you don’t think you’re a ‘business person’
Last year, I flew 1,323kms+ from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Why?
To host an in-person event to meet 103 entrepreneurs from all 14 different countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
We had entrepreneurs from:
Laos
Brunei
Japan
Indonesia
Vietnam
Myanmar
Australia
I didn’t know what to expect.
But the scale of their businesses blew me away.
This group of entrepreneurs, founders, and business leaders represents over $1b of annual business revenue from 100+ industries.
Here’s what I learned.
The purpose of business is people
In business and life, people are everything.
Anything you want from a business is on the other side of a person.
Customers = people.
Referrers = people.
Investors = people.
You would think this is common sense.
But some people didn’t understand this.
There was a person at the conference whom everyone disliked. She was well known for bullying, belittling, and exaggerating her impact.
Her reputation was terrible.
Even before I met her, I was told by several people to watch out for her. While she’s managed to win in the short-term, she’s now losing in the long-term.
I became hyperaware of her.
When you hear from multiple people that her reputation is bad, no one will want to do business with you. Even if the opportunity is good.
Before finding a profitable niche, become a profitable person.
I’m much more interested in who a person is before I know what they do. I want to know their background, story, or upbringing.
Humans aren’t spreadsheets.
We connect through emotions.
People buy into you.
And then they buy what you do.
I’ll never understand why she chose this approach to business.
Maybe she had a tough upbringing. Maybe this is the only way she knows how to interact with the world. I have empathy for her circumstances. I can’t imagine how tough the impact on her mental health must be.
But in this day and age, everyone is connected. People talk. Reputation matters a lot.
You can’t hide sh*t behaviour like in the past.
I can’t imagine the number of opportunities she’s lost because people don’t like her or don’t want to work with her because of her reputation.
No matter the niche she chooses, she’ll lose in the long term.
No opportunity will be profitable. No idea will take hold.
Charlie Munger, when asked:
“How do I find a worthy partner?”
He answered: “Become a person worthy of a worthy partner.”
Before you try to create a profitable niche, start by developing yourself.
Find yourself. And then find a niche. And then…
1/ Find a boring, ignored, and profitable category
Boring = profitable.
In a world of AI flash, everyone gets obsessed with building the latest AI tools. They chase the shiny trends off a cliff.
We are living in an AI bubble.
The hype train for AI is already starting to be derailed. There’s a graph circulating around showing how all the money is going to a few companies.
A recent MIT study found that 95% of AI deployments in business failed to meet their capacity.
But that’s not the only thing.
Many companies are now regretting replacing their staff with AI and backtracking on this decision after their customer satisfaction deteriorated.
This week, I got to speak to loads of entrepreneurs.
90% of the entrepreneurs got insanely wealthy in boring businesses. They weren’t at the cutting edge of technology.
I’m talking about:
Exporting ice (yes, frozen water) from Japan to Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Manufacturing industrial equipment and exporting to countries in the European Union.
Building a global skincare brand that started from mixing ingredients on her kitchen table.
These are businesses that are doing 8–9 figures in revenue.
Obviously, these aren’t one-person businesses.
But the principle remains.
Find a problem that is boring & painful but profitable that you can solve as a solopreneur:
Operations.
Data analytics.
Sales & marketing.
Technology shifts don’t destroy value, it shifts it.
2/ Understand their hidden struggles.
In every segment, there’s an ignored group of people.
No one is serving their clients to 100% satisfaction.
This is where you can win.
I found that Family Offices have lots of needs, but few people being able to service them properly.
You can add value to their problems by:
Offering to do it faster.
Offering to do it cheaper.
I’m not a huge fan of doing it cheaper.
You quickly get into a price war that no one ever wins. I’d much rather add value through speed and convenience.
The aim of entering a niche is:
Sell what is already selling.
But sell it better.
Marry your customers. Get to know all their problems. Look at where your competitors are not meeting their needs.
That’s all you need to do.
Don’t overcomplicate the process.
Keep it simple, stupid.
3/ Become a category king.
Being #1 wins big.
All the benefits accrue to those at the top. The best part of the Internet is that you can keep reinventing yourself until you are the best at something.
You can combine all your:
Skills.
Ability.
Mindset.
Interests.
Knowledge.
Into a single profitable niche of you.
As a category king, you only need 1,000 true fans to build a multi-six-figure business. In a global marketplace of billions, that’s a conversion of 0.000000001%. I’m sure you can convince enough people to buy from you.
Become the only. And people will have to pay a premium price to work with you.
You don’t need to become world-class in any particular skill.
Aim to get into the top 25% proficiency and then stack that skill with other skills. I’m not the best writer in the world. But I can safely say I’m in the top 10–25% of online writers in the world.
But I’m one of the few writers who also top 25% in:
Sales.
Funnels.
Marketing.
Positioning.
Public speaking.
Digital product creation.
But it doesn’t stop there.
I can also add competitive moats such as community, networks, and personal branding.
When I stack everything together, I become a category king.
My time in Malaysia taught me a lot.
There’s a growing delta in secret business knowledge.
Generic information can be found online.
Google or ChatGPT can answer any question.
In-person events will be the only place where entrepreneurs will openly share business secrets that can’t be found online. Business doesn’t care about your feelings. And there are business realities that are not politically correct.
Entrepreneurs will share them privately, not publicly.
I’m not going to repeat them at the risk of getting cancelled.
In-person events are becoming rarer even as they become more valuable.
👉 Build your PROFITABLE six-figure one-person business while you work a 9–5 corporate job (Even if you have kids or a mortgage). If you want my one-person business growth system, I’ve created a FREE email course for you to get started
