Solopreneurship Explained: How Does it Work?
The world is a weird place these
days. From major military conflicts shaping up globally, politically fueled
speeches at the golden
globes to bushfires ravaging the great nation of Australia; we are in a
uncertain time, that is putting business (big and small alike) and life
practices in general to question.
While we cannot offer any
commentary on life in general, small business practices are something where re-engineering
is crucial to help achieve some much-needed work-life balance.
The Solopreneur lifestyle
Starting a small business is no
easy task and going out on your own is harder than you can imagine. Solopreneurs
typically define themselves as individuals working with a set of clients,
across different business assignments. Additionally, according to the Solopreneur Institute, solopreneurs do not necessary hire employees under
them, they work with individuals and organizations through a series of synergies,
alliances and partnerships.
This type of a work arrangement gives
them the comfort of not having a dedicated headcount (read cost) built into
their operations and also lets them experiment and work with different
individuals/skillsets across assignments.
A borderless future of work
Source: unsplash.com
This article broadly talks about
how more and more individuals are choosing a solopreneur lifestyle and building
their own revenue streams. Stats help establish validity to this claim. For
example, according
to a research, there are about 30 million people in the US alone who are
running their own small business setups and around 60% of them run it from their
homes.
This shows that there is a vast
number of people who are working on their own terms, for themselves. This is
the perfect opportunity to expand not just your own professional horizons, but
personal ones as well.
An example of this is to concept
of borderless work. Where physical locations no longer matter for work to get
done. Due to the advent of the internet, a vast network of coworking spaces
across the globe and access to work appliances like laptop, smartphones,
tablets etc. we can carry our work with us anywhere.
You could be sitting on a beach
in Cancun and still be photoshopping pictures for an e-commerce assignment or
crunching numbers towards your next stock investments options.
The point in all of this is we
now have the capacity to achieve productivity across destinations, across
geographies.
Tech and its efficacy
The problem with any new
innovation is first and foremost its adoption. Technology is viewed less and
less as an enabler and more and more as a disrupter.
There is a lot of efficacy that
new tech innovations can offer modern-day solopreneurs. For example, solopreneurs
work with agile teams across borders and sometimes across multiple time-zones
as well. Navigating this sort of a work arrangement can be a pretty big hassle,
but through the power of technology and through innovative tools like online scheduling software,
you can manage your schedules on-the-go, automate partners/teams/employee
rosters etc. The objective with this sort of a system is to help automate base
tasks so people can raise the bar on their own productivity (and get more
done!)
Another example is a good
marketing automation platform, which helps you manage clients across multiple
geographies and time-zones; you can use it to send out e-mails to
existing/prospective clients, review analytics in terms of (open rate etc.) and
build an omnichannel reach across your digital channels.
So, to be a solopreneur you don’t
necessarily have to be on at odd hours, all the time. You have to employ
systems that help you build a more practical/milestone-based work practice in
general.
Conclusion
Becoming a solopreneur is not a
one-day job. You have work at it, like a career and exactly like a business.
You have to nurture business prospects till they become comfortable with you
enough to deal with your odd hours and online/offline workflows.
But the reward of being your own
boss is something that can really help you prioritize the most important thing,
and that thing is you.
All things said, taking a leap of
faith has to be part emotional and part functional. Till you figure things out,
and develop a system that works for you, we suggest that you hold on to that
day/desk job. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.
