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If you are drawn to a solopreneur business, you might be someone who likes to charge ahead alone.  You like the idea of sinking or soaring all on your own merits.  If it fits your personality, it’s one of the greatest benefits of having a one-person business.  If you thrive by collaboration, you might need to look at another business model or tweak your solopreneur business so you have more collaboration.

Autonomy is great if you like it (and I do!).  I love the idea of getting to work on what I want, when I want and having it all ride on me.  I love not having to “sell” my ideas to anyone before I do them.  The lack of chain-of-command means I can think of something and get right to work on it.

However, there is a down side to autonomy even if you like it.  With nobody to stop you, it’s really easy to wander off in a wrong direction.  An idea can sound great when you think of it at 3:00 in the morning, and can feel great when you work on it at 6:00 in the morning, but without any approval process you can be working on things that aren’t destined to be profitable.  It’s way to easy to spend time on a project that is fun but has no real income potential.  When you work with others, you have a manager to report to, and projects are picked with the company-wide focus in mind.  There is somebody monitoring whether or not a particular project is a good idea or not.

When you work alone you can work on anything you want, and that means you can work on things that are bad ideas.  It’s a big trap for solopreneurs, but there are ways to avoid going too far off the right plan for you.

First, do your homework before taking on a new project.  Do some market research – see what’s selling on your competitors’ websites and ask your potential clients what they want.  Make sure you have at least some evidence that what you are creating will sell.

Second, seek the advice of a mentor.  Even though I love and advocate the solopreneur business model, it’s important to have an objective person to give you opinions and advice.  Often, an outsider will not have your emotional attachment to a project and so they can be more objective.  I do offer this kind of help – if you want more information click here.

Do you enjoy your autonomy?  How do you keep yourself on plan?  Tell me about it in the comments.

(Autonomy is one of the advantages of a solopreneur business.  There are many others, as well as some disadvantages.  If you are thinking of a solopreneur business, grab my Kindle book “Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?“)

It’s true – it takes a unique personality to run a solopreneur business.  For starters, you have to be willing to do or at least be involved in every aspect of your business.  Even if you want to use outsourced help, you still need to learn enough to supervise the person you hire.  There’s no part of the business you won’t have a hand in once you get rolling.  If you aren’t willing to do something yourself, either learn to run your business without doing it or find someone to do it for you but learn enough to make a good decision first!

This is one of the personality traits of successful solopreneurs I cover in my book “Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?”  Learn the other personality traits, the pros and the cons in the book.  I lay it all out for your without sugarcoating so you can decide if this is a business model that is a fit for you.  Get the book for your Kindle device or free Kindle desktop reader here:  Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?

 

Usually I try to write about things you can do right away to improve your solopreneur business.  This post will have things you can do, but it’s a little more revealing of what’s been going on for me lately and my goal is to see if any of this thinking can apply to you.  This post comes on the heels of yesterday’s post, which announced my new book “Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?”

Earlier this year, I changed my tagline from “Business Strategist for Solopreneurs” to “Speaker, Strategist and Champion for Solopreneurs.”  I thought about it for a while and asked for feedback before making the switch.  It just seemed, well, a little grandiose to me.  Would people really accept that I am as dedicated to advancing solopreneurship as I feel like I am?  Up until this year, I’ve been content just to run my little business, work with clients, build my community and just relish the success I was having.  I started to have feelings of wanting more, of wanting to see more people going out on their own and using this highly accessible business model.  I felt like I wanted to grow a movement!  I still meet people almost every week who have no idea that a solopreneur business is even possible.  That has to change!  I want everyone to know what is possible and that being self-employed doesn’t have to mean having a big company or supervising a big staff.

That’s where the idea for the book came from.  In the book, I help people to explore if they are a good fit for a solopreneur business.  It’s also meant as a way to introduce the concept of a one-person business to people who haven’t heard of it.  I wanted to write a book that would be the first thing people need to join the solopreneur movement.  As part of this strategy, I’ve priced the book to get it into as many people’s hands as possible.  That’s what a champion should do in this case!

Writing and releasing this book has really cemented the champion part of my role for me.  I want to be a driving force and spend my time changing the world by helping people start and run their own solo business.  I’ll be specifically focusing on ways to advance the concept of solopreneurship in the next phase of my business.

My question for you is this: How can you expand what your business is about?  Is there an element of being of service to others or being of greater good than just selling whatever you sell?  Tell me your thoughts in the comments, even if you think this can’t be applied to your business.

 

I’m so excited to share the great news – my new book is now live and available in the Kindle store!

The book is called “Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?” and it helps people explore that very question.  As you know, I’m passionate about the solopreneur business model and would love to see many more people become solo business owners, but even I have to admit that this model is not a fit for everyone.

If you haven’t started your business or are currently in some other kind of business, this book will help you figure out if you should be considering a solopreneur venture.

My goal for this book was twofold: First, I wanted to help as many people as possible make a good decision about starting their business.  The second reason was that I want to introduce the concept of a one-person company to as many people as possible.  This is part of why I changed my title to include “Champion” for solopreneurs – I want to spread the word and encourage people to see the possibilities of this business model.

In line with these goals, I’ve given the book a can’t miss price, so head on over and check it out: Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?

If you buy during the launch period, you’ll be invited to a special bonus call for fast action takers (after all, successful solopreneurs take fast action!).  The call will be a live Q&A during which I’ll answer any questions about having a solopreneur business whether you are a seasoned business owner of just thinking of starting out.  We may even get into some coaching if time permits!

Here’s what experts are saying:

“This is a powerful book that will settle the question you may have been tossing around in your head, “Is a solo entrepreneurial business right for me?” There is no blanket wrong or right answer, only what is right for you, and Michele will help you answer that question for yourself in this well written book.”

~Becky Sangha, The Online Video Marketer, www.theonlinevideomarketer.com 
“What a wonderful resource for anyone considering starting a solo-business! Michele Christensen tells it like it is to help those exploring solopreneurship decide if it’s the right business model for them.” 

~ Dawn Mentzer – Dawn Mentzer Freelance Writing at www.dawnmentzer.com and author of “The Insatiable Solopreneur” blog at www.insatiablesolopreneur.com

 

“I myself am a solopreneur and Iwouldn’t have it any other way……….Michele really lays it out for you, what it really is, why do it, the good the bad and the ugly. She gives you the data you need to make a choice. On every page, I was saying to myself, yes, yes, yes, that’s exactly how it is.”

~ Lisa Catarineau, Buzz Accelerator, buzzaccelerator.com

 

One of the traits I continue to develop as I spend more time as a solopreneur is self-discipline.  It’s really important to be able to keep yourself on track when you work primarily alone.  There’s nobody else to impose deadlines, and for many projects nobody will even know if you make your deadline.  There’s no boss to sign your timesheet and nobody but your bill collectors care how much you get done.

That’s why it is absolutely critical that you can be disciplined with your time and hold yourself accountable if you want to make it as a solopreneur.  There’s a bunch of ways that being disciplined helps every entrepreneur, but here are 3 areas where it helps especially greatly for solopreneurs:

1. You need some tolerance of boring tasks.  Yes, everyone loves to talk about how great self-employment is because you can work from home in your pajamas, blah, blah, blah but the dirty secret that nobody talks about is that you have some boring things that you have to do as well!  If you can’t handle some boredom from time to time, you might not be a good candidate for a solopreneur business.  Some tasks that you find boring may be able to be outsourced or eliminated but you will probably have to tolerate at least some boredom.
2. You’ve got to finish your projects.  Entrepreneurs love to start new projects – they’re just so exciting and full of potential.  However, most projects produce no tangible results until they are completely done, but before they get completely done they get tedious.  The novelty has worn off but the payoff is a ways down the road.  This is where it is hardest to keep chugging away.  It’s where the temptation to quit and get on the rush of a new project is greatest, but it’s also almost the worst place to quit (the worst would be right before you finish).  You have to be able to power through the rough spots and finish your projects in order to be successful and get things accomplished.
3. You’ve got to schedule yourself and keep to it.  It’s easy to let things just run over a few minutes here and there, and by the end of the day you’ve spent hours more than you wanted to with nothing to show for it.  As a solopreneur, your day often has no natural boundaries so it’s up to you to create and stick to them.  You’ve got to have the discipline both to actually make a schedule for yourself and then to stick to it.

Discipline is an important component to success in any endeavor, but it’s especially important for solopreneurs because we have to have it come from ourselves.  How has your self discipline helped you succeed in your solopreneur business?

 

 

 

Opening a separate bank account is a step that a lot of solopreneurs miss in setting up their business.  Especially in the early days when there aren’t too many transactions, it seems to make perfect sense to use your personal account for business use.  I admit, I did this early on.  I just didn’t see the point of a separate bank account when I had so few payments per month and some of them were through Paypal.

I used a spreadsheet to keep track of income and expenses before I had a dedicated bank account.  While it did the job, it made my taxes much harder than they had to be.  I had to go back and categorize everything according to the categories on the tax forms by hand.  I also had  to record everything twice – once in the account and again on my spreadsheet.  I had to be extra careful to remember to add income and expenses to my spreadsheet.

Perhaps the biggest drawback to any pieced together system for banking is lack of information to run your business.  There’s no way to see which services are making money.  There’s no way to see what you are spending money on.  You can’t tell who your biggest customers are or get any meaningful information to help you make better business decisions.

It’s almost impossible to get things right on the first try in your business.  Success is a process of trying new things, measuring if they work and making changes.  If you can’t even measure the most basic thing in your business – what is changing your bank balance – you’ve got almost no way to course correct.

If you don’t already have a dedicated bank account, open one now.  You’ve got over two months until the new calendar year, and if you do it now you’ll be able to have your entire next year with your dedicated bank account.  It may not help you this year, but next year will be much easier in terms of gathering data and filling out your taxes.

There are a few other benefits of a dedicated bank account.  You can customize the name that appears on your checks, which may help you look more credible to people you pay.  Having a dedicated bank account may also help you feel more like a “real” business.  When you work at home, by yourself and do everything yourself it can be hard to feel legitimate.  A separate bank account also helps you maintain some separation of your personal life and your business live which is a constant challenge for solopreneurs.  A final advantage is that you can link a bookkeeping software to your dedicated business account making it easy to run reports and see where you are making and spending money.

I cover this in a lot more detail in my system for setting up a solopreneur business “The ABC’s of a Successful Solopreneur Business.”  The system lays out everything you need to do to get your business set up properly in a step by step manner.  Get more information on the system including some great bonuses here: The ABC’s of a Successful Solopreneur Business.

Do you have a dedicated bank account for your solopreneur business?  If not, how do you manage your finances?  Tell me about it in the comments.

 

When you run a one-person, solopreneur business, there’s a lot to do.  Even if you have outsourced help, there’s still a lot to manage so prioritizing is key.  

One thing that makes it hard is that there are just so many choices in how to gain clients and grow your business.  In both the online and offline worlds, there is more that you could do than you could ever actually do.  So, how to you decide?  Where is the first place to go or what is the first strategy you should implement to start getting clients?

One simple answer is the most likely place.  Don’t go with the most fun, the most popular, or even necessarily what the experts are saying – instead, go with the one client-winning strategy that is most likely to work.  I’ll give you an example of a mistake I made.  Once I had my business up and running for about a year, I did what “everyone” said to do – I joined a local chamber of commerce.  I thought it would give me authority and credibility, and that the contacts I would make would turn into mutually beneficial relationships.  Boy was that a bomb for me!  It turns out, “my” type of people usually don’t hang out at chambers of commerce.  They are great for certain types of business, and I saw lots of people thriving there, but I met almost no referral partners, potential collaborators or potential clients. Solopreneurs just usually don’t join the chamber in my area.  I later became friends with a few other solopreneur business owners who had the same impression of our local chambers.  To be completely fair, I did really enjoy going to this local chamber and others as well and I did meet a few really great people who I’m still in touch with today.

Now had I had this idea of working from most likely to least likely ways to get clients before I joined the chamber, I would have taken a look at the roster and seen who was a member and that very few of them were a match for the type of people I wanted to meet.  It’s easy to see things in hindsight, but I did have to learn it at the time.

Now that I know a little better what do I do?  I go to groups that draw the people I want to meet.  I look for groups of creative, solo business owners and people looking to start home-based businesses.  I use Meetup.com a lot, and I’m on a lot of local mailing lists.

So, what client getting activities are you working on that aren’t the most likely to bring you success?  What can you stop doing so you can make room for something more likely to bring you new clients?

 

I admit, I thought I was a pretty good collaborator but now I know I can do a lot better.  I’ve been reading the book The Secret Collaborative Economy by Marsha Wright, and although I’m only a little ways into the book it’s already changed me.

Some people may think that solopreneurs don’t collaborate.  After all, the very nature of a solopreneur business is that we work primarily by ourselves.  However, this is a false belief and one that greatly limits the potential of a solopreneur business.  I’ve used joint ventures a lot over the years, and it’s a great way to bring someone else’s strengths to your audience.

I’ve also done a lot of networking, and the results have been less than stellar.  I thought I was doing a good job of building relationships because I was doing more than pretty much everyone I ever met.  I now know what I can do better and how I can better use my time and the time of the people I meet.

Here are 3 things I’ve learned about collaborating so far:

1. Not everyone is a collaborator.  That’s neither bad nor good, nor is it meant to be an insult to anyone.  Some people just don’t work that way or they haven’t found it valuable.  I realized that over the years, I’ve put way too much time and effort into trying to build collaborative relationships with people who didn’t have any interest.  Now, I’m much quicker to recognize collaborators and let go of people who aren’t interested in working that way right now.
2. Always ask what you can do for the other person first.  I’ve had conversations with both Marsha and her business partner/husband Simon, and they both started their conversations this way.  It floored me and I have to say, as a smaller player it made me feel awesome!
3. When someone asks how they can help you, make sure you have an answer!  Don’t assume people know what kinds of help or introductions you need right now.  Here are some examples: referrals for outsourced help you need, introductions to people that can promote you, connections to a group you want to present to and referral of prospects.  Make sure you are specific enough so that the other person recognizes the the opportunity you are seeking.

You may already know these things, but take a look at your networking and connection activities and make sure you are acting on them.  They are all simple tips to act on, but will make a big difference in your outcomes and how you feel.  Grab The Secret Collaborative Economy, and leave me a comment with something you learned.

 

 

 

 

 

As a solopreneur, a schedule is a must-have in order to stay on track and get all the essentials done.  You may be thinking “What?  The whole reason I went into business for myself was to be free of having a schedule.”  Yes, freedom is a wonderful thing but it is important to have structure in you days, weeks, months and even years if you are going to be successful.

Here’s a few kinds of schedule-free time management tactics that don’t work:

• Squeaky wheel, as in “The squeaky wheel gets the oil,” or what is screaming at you the most.  This doesn’t work because some things done make any sound at all.  A lucrative book can sit unwritten in your head for your entire life and never make a peep.  Other things don’t make any noise until they are problematic – for example, renewing your business license is just one of a blur of many tasks until it’s late and you get a hefty fine.  Then it squeaks, but that’s not a good way to decide when to work on it.
• Whatever’s in front of you.  This doesn’t work because it is too haphazard.  You often have no control over what ends up in front of you.   Pesky alerts on your phone or desktop can beckon you to address low priority tasks like a siren song.
• Whatever you feel like doing.  This doesn’t work because there are tasks you may have to do that you never feel like doing more than the alternatives.  If filing is your least favorite task, you’ll never “feel like” filing and yet it has to be done at some point.  There will always be something you can do and would rather do than file.  Under this method, you would never do those tasks you don’t particularly enjoy.  Most of us would probably spend the day on social media!

So what does work?

You need some kind of schedule.  The right way to schedule probably varies as much as people do, but there has to be some basic plan for your days and weeks.  If you can plan into months and years, that’s good to but at the very minimum you day and week needs some structure.

Here are some scheduling tips for solopreneurs:

• Start with the fixed items in your day such as family obligations, classes, appointments, etc.
• It may be helpful to look at your week as a whole.  You may not get a lot of time on your current project on Monday and Tuesday, but then you know you need to put some time into it on Wednesday.
• Schedule time for your health and make it your number one priority.  Without your health, you may not have a business and won’t be able to enjoy your life to the greatest extent possible.
• Learn to make use of smaller blocks of time.  It’s likely they will account for much more of your time than big blocks.
• Make use of your own personal rhythm.  Are you a morning person, a night owl or fan of afternoon siestas?  Whatever your personal daily rhythm is, plan you schedule around it.
• Specify what you are going to be doing during each block of time.  Whether it’s digging into your to-do list, working on a big current project, clearing your email inbox or something else, make sure you know what to be doing during each segment of your day.  It will save you a lot of time not having to weed through everything on your plate and decide what to do.
• If you have a project that’s in “crunch” mode, meaning you just have to crank through it until it’s done, try to set a limit on how long it can take you.  Many projects tend to follow Parkinson’s Law, e.g “work expands to fill the time available.”

There’s many right ways to schedule your time, just make sure you do it!  What are your scheduling tips for solopreneurs?  Share them in the comments.

 

 

A huge part of being a successful solopreneur is knowing what your niche is.  People use the words niche, ideal client, and target market interchangeably and so for this post when I use the word niche it means the clients you are best suited to serve, who love and for whom you can do your best work.  It’s also the people who have a problem you can solve, know they have it and are willing to pay you to solve it.

It’s important to know your niche so you can speak to them in everything you do.  An older adult trying to improve their mobility after hip surgery is looking for something very different in a personal trainer than a young marathon runner is.  A Manhatten condo owner with contemporary taste wants something different in an interior designer than someone with a 200-year old country mansion.  If people don’t feel like you are talking to them, they won’t take the time to find out if you can help them.  They’ll only read further if they think you get what they want and need.

Here are some examples of things that are not adequate descriptions of a business niche:

• “In transition.”  This isn’t a niche because almost everyone is in transition most the time.  You transition from birth to toddlerhood to preschool to kindergarten…… to college to your first job…..from job to job, career to career, in and out of various relationships, etc.  I can’t think of any period in my adulthood where I wasn’t in transition that lasted more than a few months.
• “Anyone who wants more energy.”  This also includes “more money, longer life, more love,” etc.  Who doesn’t want all of these all the time?  Sure, maybe there are a few people who feel they have all the energy they could possibly make use of but they are rare.  This description is too broad because it refers to most people most of the time.
• “Everyone,” and this includes variations such as “everyone with skin, everyone with a brain, etc”  People will immediately tune this out because it’s so broad.  Nobody is holding their breath for the magic solution for people with skin.
• “Small business.”  This is too broad for anyone to feel that you are speaking to them.  Small business includes everyone from a teenager who mows lawns for spending money all the way up to a company with a few million in revenue and a few dozen employees.  This isn’t a bad start for targeting, but it needs to be narrower in order for people to feel heard.
• “Women” or “Women over 50.”  Women is just too broad a category.  There are so many variables that not all women can be grouped into one homogeneous group.  Even with the age bracket, it’s still too broad.  Consider a 51 year-old woman with young children still at home who works full-time and helps her parents with their medical needs, and compare her to a 90 year-old great grandmother who has been retired for decades.  What do they have in common?  How can one message reach them both?

Your niche and how you speak to them has to be much narrower than any of the above examples.  Ideally, your copy is so on target that people you are good fit for will get a chill up their spine and think “How does he/she know that about me?”  Yes, you may turn some people off but those are not the people you are a good fit for.  There is a risk narrowing your focus in that some people may not be interested.  However, the risk of not narrowing is much bigger because you run the risk of reaching nobody.

How do you define your niche?  Share it in the comments along with a link to your site so we can see your targeting in action.