Hi, my name is Steven, and I’m a solopreneur.
I’m a solopreneur and I’m very okay with it.
If you’re not sure of the difference between an entrepreneur and a solopreneur, scroll to the very bottom and there’s a super useful infographic that explains the difference. Then come back here!
Being a solopreneur is not a bad thing, I didn’t even know it was thing. I thought I had been doing it (running a business) wrong. I thought I wasn’t good enough to be a real entrepreneur.
Until very recently (yesterday), I saw myself as an (unqualified and struggling) entrepreneur rather than a solopreneur. I gave myself a very hard time that I couldn’t get my shit together as a business owner. I couldn’t/hadn’t assembled a team and I wasn’t able to 10X my income or scale my business (current industry buzzwords).
My business has enjoyed steady growth over the years. I’m not working 80 hours a week and get enough free time to travel the world, workout, socialize or even just watch TV. But I was comparing myself to my peers in my small group who had assembled thriving teams, purchased office buildings and opened new locations. They were running successful businesses; they were routinely hiring and occasionally firing employees. I loved how they made decisions – quickly! Even if a decision was fraught with peril, they had confidence to just do it and sometimes just throw caution to the wind (faith and f*%k it). If it didn’t work out, they’d course correct. It took me years to make the decision to get an office and it was only after my small group staged an intervention and directed me to effin do it. I loved my small group and I’m little lost without them (we dissolved naturally in 2019 after SIX years of weekly meetings!). I’m currently “between small groups”.
They were thriving and I was in awe of their ability to make unbelievably courageous decisions to advance their businesses.
I wasn’t in awe of me. I didn’t have a team. I’ve had the occasional part-time employee over the years and they were super helpful when I needed them. But I didn’t really need them. In fact, I would fret about coming to work trying to figure out what I would have them do. I enjoyed the social contact of being able to talk to someone, but it never felt like a great fit.
I thought I had to have employees because I believed “successful entrepreneurs have successful businesses with employees”. I thought I wanted to be at the helm of a fabulous team of hard-working and loyal employees. When I did visualization exercises about my business, I always had myself coming into my office and seeing a handful of super amazing employees all working diligently toward my goal. I pictured everyone loving the experience (of working with me lol), making loads of money and throwing extravagant Christmas parties. This was a throwback belief to my first job out of school. I worked at a large advertising agency and it felt like one big family. I loved it. It was at the end of the 80’s (before the market crash) and the economy was roaring. The company was making serious bank and the ensuing agency parties and functions were ridonkulus. I wanted to host those kinds of parties for my employees. I wanted to lead a team.
So let’s fast forward thirty years.
It’s just me.
My 2019 Christmas party was a 3-piece meal at KFC (I did dine in though).
Don’t get me wrong, I love my office and I truly love turning the key every morning. But it’s still just me. I have no one to high-five when I land a new client and no one to vent to when the shit hits the fan. BUT I do have a team… but I just don’t see them (except on zoom). I have a freelancer in Missouri who coordinates my Google Ads pay-per-click account. I have an extremely talented copywriter in Texas who I chat with on zoom every couple of weeks. And there’s my Facebook social media management company out of Florida. I also have a creative designer. Her name is Jakii and she lives in the Philippines. I’m in contact with her every single day of the week. She designs my postcards for all my clients. Jakii is part of Design Pickle. Partnering with Design Pickle is probably one of the best decisions I have made over recent years in terms of outsourcing key tasks.
Admittedly it does sound cool having a talented team of professionals helping me from all over the world. But we don’t have any cool parties. Party of one!
I do enjoy the fact that I offer great value to my clients. I provide a great service. I help churches and small businesses harness the power of direct mail without spending a fortune. I save churches and small businesses money. My business is good to me and I am blessed to be at the helm of something that provides great personal joy and satisfaction.
I’m a solopreneur and I’m very okay with that.
Epilogue
The reason I wrote this blog post was a result of coming across the infographic below. It spoke to me and the haze cleared. I had been beating myself up for the longest time (literally years) wondering why on earth I couldn’t create a “successful business”. A successful business in my mind meant having employees; a thriving team. I’d routinely tell people that “I have been thinking about getting an assistant or someone in my office” to make it seem like I was on the right path. I never saw myself in the same league as other business owners. I just thought I didn’t have the ability or skill set to get to that next level. I sold myself short. Seems silly to think that that seeing an infographic showcasing the differences between an entrepreneur and a solopreneur would have such an impact. But it did.
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