The Depressing Reason Most Solopreneurs Quit Too Early (And Never Try Again).
99% don’t quit because of talent, money or lack of ideas.
You finally start your one-person business.
But after 42 days, you don’t see any visible progress.
The initial burst of energy is starting to wear off. The excitement you felt is being replaced with dread. You have dabs of anxiety that hit you like a train before you sleep and first thing when you open your eyes.
“Why isn’t this working?”
You keep asking yourself as you stare blankly at the ceiling.
Revenue isn’t coming in as quickly.
You thought this would be easy money. You realize that the “passive” income that could be made after you read a get-rich-quick article was all B.S.
You feel a bit foolish. And this is exactly when 99% of solopreneurs quit.
But here’s what you can do to avoid being a statistic.
The perverse incentive of change.
99% of solopreneurs die from distraction rather than lack of talent.
At the start of their journey, solopreneurs are rewarded for change. When you started to side hustle on weekends, write online, or quit your job, you were rewarded for this act of change.
But now you believe that change = progress.
But you learned the wrong lesson.
The mindset required to start your business is not the same as the one needed to grow it.
To start your business, you needed intensity.
When you’re growing your business, you need consistency.
But it’s at the point of breakthrough that you look to change something.
You look to completely change:
Your idea.
Your customer base.
Your business model.
Pivoting is okay when you’ve got clear customer data and feedback.
But you want to pivot just because you feel the dopamine rush.
The energy of ‘this will change everything’. You’re being trapped in a cycle you can’t get out of. You lurch from trend to trend, with no real plan.
I’ve watched the same solopreneur keep pivoting for the last 1.5 years.
Every few months, she’s got a new idea, business model, or niche that she’s going to exploit. She’s excited and goes all-in for a month. Starts to burn out in the second month. And then completely pivot again by month three.
At the start of 2026, she’s onto a new trend and business model.
The secret to my mild success? Stick to what I know.
I’ve focused on the same customer, business model, and product for the last two years. My revenue has steadily risen, I’ve built a successful personal brand, and a clear direction.
Intensity to start. Consistency to scale.
Judgement from others.
I want to crawl into a dark hole and die.
When I first started writing online, one of my colleagues brought up one of my articles in a team meeting. I was still working a 9–5 job, but wanted to build something on the side.
I was mortified when she brought up my Medium account.
They laughed and mocked me as they read my corny self-improvement article. One of my colleagues gave me a sympathetic look. It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever gone through.
But despite the embarrassment, I kept writing.
While I felt like quitting, I made a promise to myself:
I’ll never let someone’s opinion of me be worth more than my opinion of myself.
I would never quit something because of someone’s judgment of me.
Because no matter what you do, you’ll be judged for it.
People will always have an opinion. After writing for over 6 years, there’s no way I could write to my audience of over 100,000 and have everyone be happy with what I wrote.
Because I didn’t stop writing, I now have:
A book deal with a traditional publisher.
A global audience of over 100,000+ readers.
A personal brand that gets me invited to speak internationally.
A writing-powered business that allows me live anywhere in the world.
That colleague who mocked me?
I found out she got made redundant and is still struggling to find a job.
Ironically, she’s now starting to write online and put herself out there. I could only chuckle when I saw this. I don’t wish unemployment on anyone, but I feel vindicated.
If you feel judged, good.
That means you’re doing something new.
Starting a business is not normal. You are an exception.
This means you will be exceptional to those around you. When you change, people will see you’re behaving differently. Your actions prove they aren’t doing what they said they would.
Embrace judgment. It means you’re on the right track.
Lack of sales
I was hoping they wouldn’t show up.
My heart was pumping. I felt my hands starting to tremble.
I kept looking over the script again and again.
But whenever I’d get to the close component, I’d freeze up. Even when I knew this was what I needed to do as a business owner.
The Zoom notification ding went off. They are in the room. F*ck.
This is real. My first proper sales call.
The person in the room with me is looking at me. I needed to say something. I stumbled through my script and basically whispered the price to them. After an hour of torture, it was all over.
How did it go?
They said, “I’ll need some time to think about it.”
That’s basically the sales equivalent of hearing, “sorry champ, I’m out.”
I felt shattered.
All that stress, work, and preparation for nothing.
But I didn’t let that stop me.
I recorded the session, jumped on a call with a friend, and painstakingly went through the recording to see where I went wrong. It was tough feedback, but I improved 10x after that session.
On my next sales call, I closed a $2k deal.
And the rest is history.
Don’t get me wrong, I still wasn’t perfect.
But now I had the sales skills to make more sales.
But most solopreneurs face one sales objection and immediately fold. They think their offer and service are terrible, so they stop trying to sell.
There is a viral video of a guy giving out real gold bars.
People are walking past him and refusing to take a $3k gold bar. Some even give him a dirty look. It’s such a powerful video. Some people just don’t want the offer. No matter how good it is.
Objection is redirection. Not a signal to give up.
Stop doing it alone.
There’s a myth that kills solopreneurs:
Solo means you need to do it 100% on your own.
But nothing meaningful is built alone.
In life and business, people are everything.
My multi-millionaire mentor always tells me:
Back the jockey, not the horse.
Ideas, content, and business models are constantly changing. What worked in 2020 no longer applies in 2026.
But the people will remain strong.
This doesn’t mean you let everyone into your world.
Nope.
You need to kill your tendency to people-please.
I surround myself with people who I find inspiring, challenging, and who are better than me in some way. I want to be pushed by my environment. I want to feel like I can grow and expand.
Your reference group predicts your outcomes.
In a world of AI, community is becoming more valuable as it is becoming rarer. People are craving connection. Connection is a human need that can’t be automated.
People. Are. Everything.
Believe you have all the answers.
In 2025, I spent over $45,352 on coaching, community, and courses.
And it’s the best use of my money.
Drop your ego. Drop your arrogance.
If you’re not learning from someone above you every day, what are you even doing?
Every month, my growth is so aggressive that it feels like I’m a new person every 30 days. I add another skill to my stack, develop a mindset I didn’t have, or overcome a limiting belief that was keeping me stuck.
In the first 3 months of 2026, I focused on:
Learning how to edit a 90,000-word book from Veronica Llorca-Smith.
Learning how to install a Monthly Workshop Funnel into my business.
Learning to speak in front of a camera to record course content.
Creating a content management system to post every day.
These are high-value skills that complement my existing skill set.
Next month, my focus is:
Learning how to install a low-ticket GPT funnel into my business.
Learning to create an Operating Manual on Notion for my Solopreneur OS.
Learning the fundamentals of short-form content to create engaging videos.
Don’t die a sad solopreneur death. Do this instead…
Solopreneurship is the greatest generational opportunity.
At no other time in history could we leverage technology to build a freedom-based business from anywhere in the world.
But most solopreneurs quit or die before they even get started.
That’s a tragedy.
Do this instead:
1/ Ignore most people and hire a coach
2/ Use rejections as feedback, implement it to improve.
3/ Surround yourself with people who inspire you to keep going.
4/ Invest in community, coaches, and courses to combat loneliness.
Business is already hard. Don’t make it even harder for yourself.
👉 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
