Solopreneurs Who Become Stupidly Wealthy Do These 10 Things (In This Order)
Save time and effort and copy what’s proven to work.
All successful solopreneurs are similar.
But every unsuccessful solopreneur is unique.
Let me be clear:
Success can’t be copied.
Everyone is different. Different mindsets, experiences, and knowledge. Our contexts and environments vary wildly. So copying someone else’s winning lottery tickets won’t work.
But the principles of success can be replicated.
Here are the success principles of stupidly wealthy solopreneurs.
1/ Emotionally stoic and connected.
Entrepreneurs who can’t control their emotions are dangerous.
They will blow up at the slightest form of criticism, lose their temper, and destroy relationships with customers, colleagues, and clients.
At some point, your business will break you.
Revenue will drop. Clients will leave. Delivery will fail.
People will be angry with you.
Mastering emotions allows solopreneurs to spot opportunity in chaos, maintain clarity to take the right next step, and keep their creativity flowing.
No emotional stability = no business stability.
2/ Focus on their physical health.
Emotion follows motion.
If you want to feel better, move your body. I’ve had my best ideas while walking, stretching, or taking a handstand class.
Movement gives me time and space to think.
When my body feels loose, my mind opens up too. I feel calmer and have more clarity in the problems I’m trying to solve. I usually get a second wind of productivity in the afternoon.
I never trust my emotions before I’ve moved my body.
You can never escape your body.
This is the meat sack you will live in 24/7.
So, you might as well make it a home worth living in.
3/ Purpose before profit
I’ve seen too many people chase money with no purpose.
Once they hit that revenue target, they feel empty. All the sacrifices and compromises they made feel silly.
Why? There’s no meaning.
Money ONLY solves your money problems.
Money won’t make your mental health better or heal broken relationships.
I always ask myself:
If I won a $100m lottery tomorrow, would I still work on what I’m working on?
The answer is a resounding: YES.
Even with $100m in my bank account, I’d still write for 2–3 hours per day, help other people build their businesses, learn new digital marketing skills, and create online content to express my creativity.
Focus on your purpose, and you’ll gain a profit.
Focus on your profit, and you’ll lose your purpose.
If you’re an unhappy person without money, you won’t be happier with money.
4/ The ability to focus
Chasing shiny objects will lead you off a cliff.
Great businesses are built doing common things uncommonly well.
Wins happen in the small details no one else notices.
But those small wins make you stand out.
Steve Bartlett, podcast host of the Diary of the CEO, talks about how they:
Measure the level of Carbon Dioxide in the room to support peak brain performance and function.
Curate a music playlist for guests to hear as they sit in the green room and walk into the podcast studio.
Focus on the start and end of the podcast to ensure that it satisfies the ‘peak end’ rule and leaves the guest feeling great and listeners satisfied.
No one focuses on doing the small things well.
And that’s where you can win.
5/ Profit, not just revenue
I had a friend doing $400k in sales per month.
But he was barely breaking even.
His e-commerce business only focused on generating revenue and sales. This resulted in a business that barely made any profit. On paper, the sales numbers looked huge. But they were misleading.
In total, he has made $18 million in revenue, with little to show for it.
I also know of an influencer marketing agency with 20–30% margins and expensive ad spend to acquire customers. These agencies boast of 7–8-figure revenue but struggle to make ends meet.
While I make a fraction of that amount, I operate close to 90% profit margins.
I can focus more of my time making my product better, working less, and creating a business that works for my lifestyle needs.
Revenue is mostly meaningless. Focus on your profit margins
6/ Immune to hate
People will throw hate at you.
For no particular reason but to bring you down. When you start to improve yourself and grow your business, people won’t like that. You remind them of the risks they didn’t take, and the life they could never build.
So instead of trying to improve themselves, they will bring you down.
This is the reason why I left Australia.
We call this the Tall Poppy Syndrome. Anyone who tries to do better for themselves gets criticised. I hate this mindset. I distance myself from people who judge others for trying.
Remember: You’ll never be hated by someone more successful.
The loud voices are from those who have nothing and will become nothing.
If you can’t handle people unfairly criticising you, solopreneurship isn’t for you.
7/ Addiction-free
You don’t rise to your business goals, you fall to your addictions.
I’ve seen brilliant entrepreneurs lose everything over:
Lust.
Drugs.
Alcohol.
They get so lost in the sauce that it destroys their focus on their business.
One ex-friend in Bali spends 10–15 hours per week on dates and sleeping around. That’s a lot of time and mental energy put towards a meaningless activity that produces no value.
Not to mention creating a terrible reputation.
Look, you can spend your time however you want.
But there are only a few ways to spend your time to build a business and get wealthy.
8/ Embeds risk into their business.
Business is about taking risks.
But not all risks are created equal.
A business will die if you don’t take enough risks.
You won’t be able to experiment and test enough to find what works.
Every quarter, I create an experimentation budget.
This is money that I’m comfortable losing. I don’t mind if there’s no financial return on investment. But I’m looking to learn something by going through this process.
One recent experiment is hiring a recording studio and a video editor.
This costs thousands per month.
I didn’t know what to expect. But the investment has improved my customer journey and experience with my business. I’ve set up systems and digital products that will continue to keep paying off for me.
No risk = no reward.
9/ Can work alone
Entrepreneurship is lonely.
Earlier this year, my business punched me in the face. Revenue plummeted. Clients churned. And I found myself lonely and isolated in Japan. I had no one around me, and I didn’t speak the language.
I never felt so low and alone before.
But this wasn’t my first time. I’ve been in a similar situation. While you can build a community, hire a coach, and have people who love you, you’ll need to be able to do a lot of things alone.
It’ll be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do.
But if you can get through it, you’ll feel bulletproof.
Why? Because you know that you can handle anything alone. And if you’ve got support, that’s a bonus. Only you can fix what’s happened in your business.
10/ Learn to love the boring
If you followed me for a week in my life, you’d be so bored.
I eat the same meal from the same place every day.
I start my morning the same way every day.
I work from the same place every day.
I do the same workouts.
The only time I break this routine is when I travel.
I reduce the amount of variability in my day to ensure I can consistently put effort into my business. Nothing about my day is special.
But that’s what makes my business remarkable.
The more boring the day, the more consistent the action. I’ve loved to learn the boring. Building my business is the most fun part of my day.
90% of my days are:
Wake up early, sunlight, read, write, build a product, deliver for clients, eat clean, exercise, sleep early.
That’s it.
What does this mean for you?
Success doesn’t repeat, but it doesn’t rhyme.
All the best entrepreneurs are successful for similar reasons. There are fundamental traits that are common to all of them. You just need to look and pay attention. The answers are literally right in front of you.
But nothing happens without implementation.
Take action or stay the same.
👉 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
