Should everyone run a company with people, functions and structure? Is it okay to have a sustainable one-man business instead? Perhaps an assistant or two, or the flexibility to bring in freelance consultants when needed?
In this article, I’ll talk about two business types, and how you can design them from the start – solopreneurship or entrepreneurship.
What a Solopreneur Looks Like
There are a few things that may indicate whether you’re a solopreneur at heart. While you can evolve, it’s good to know where you are now, and the skills to improve on, if you choose to.
Here are a few traits of solopreneurs:
Your energy level drops when you have to manage other people or functions outside of your core technical work.
Your quality reduces, and you miss deliverables when you feel overwhelmed.
Sales, dealmaking and partnerships are not your forte.
Your net earnings are negative when you hire staff. Your current sales capacity can only sustain you and your family alone.
You take a long time to make decisions and to launch products. You are more concerned about technical quality than shipping the product.
You become disorganized when confronted by disparate & complex functions outside of your core competence.
You struggle with delegation and often finish tasks for your team.
Business Options
If this sounds like you, there are two business structures you could explore:
- Remain small and do stellar work during your prime while creating investments to sustain you in future.
- Become a co-founder by partnering with others whose strengths balance out your weaknesses.
Suggested Solopreneurship Tools
As a solopreneur, there are a few tools you can deploy to ensure sustainability:
- Set up a Trust and pass on ownership of your business to that Trust. This ensures your heirs can access your assets seamlessly if you ever become incapacitated. Remember, you are running an entity with significant key-man risk, so intentionally hedge against this risk.
You may also write your will, clearly designating who will administer your Trust.
- Use a password manager like LastPass to store all relevant business and investment passwords and documentation. Ensure the master password is in a secure envelope or encrypted file that resides with your lawyer or designated executor.
- Set up your company as a Sole Proprietorship to reduce tax and regulatory burdens.
- Outsource non-core professional services when you need them.
Designing Your Product Delivery
As a solopreneur, you’ll want to prioritize products that can be sold with little intervention from you.
Digital products will work well. If your product is physical, you’ll probably want to use a fulfilment partner to handle the logistics.
If it’s a service, you may want to automate your CRM systems to digitally manage the end-to-end sales process. An AI agent might be a good investment, too.
Your main hire will be an Executive or Operations Assistant to help with sales, fulfilment and customer service.
Consider investing in personal branding and online credibility, as in-person sales may not be your forte. You want to be known as an expert in your industry; creating a pull effect that brings customers to you. Referrals will also be important, so how you treat customers matters.
I hope this has been useful to you and you picked up one or two insights.
In Part 2, I will talk about entrepreneurship and those who want to build organisations and scale businesses.
Thank you.
Everyone can’t run a company or take on the burden of people, functions and structure. It’s okay to have a sustainable one-man business instead.
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For more, read You Can Teach Management