The biggest problem with being a solopreneur
If you're reading this, you're likely trying to run your own one-person business (or certainly thinking about starting).
Nothing wrong with that, it's the same model I'm running. I can't stand most folk, and the thought of corporate meetings and annual performance reviews for the next 30-ish years makes me want to unleash my inner Marvin Heemeyer.
If you don't get that reference, we can't be friends.
But solopreneurship isn't all hi-fives and reach-arounds, either. The business doesn't move unless you do.
Feeling lazy? Biz don't grow.
Fallen ill? Biz don't grow.
You get the idea.
Although honestly, this doesn't even begin to compare when facing the biggest problem with building a solopreneur business...
But first, a story:
When I first began building an audience on Twitter, I'd get discouraged when I saw people's audiences growing faster than mine.
I'd watch as people posted platitudes and questions, post about the success of others and break down their strategies...
Yet, for some reason, these mid-wits were farming followers like nobody's business.
I couldn't understand why someone would dilute their own brand so shamelessly... even in the beginning I was constantly paranoid about whether my posts would establish me as someone competent.
But I watched as droves and droves of the lemmings all followed each other off cliffs, gleefully following each other for the kind of useless bile that can only be produced by the dumbest of our species.
Luckily, I discovered JK Molina's "Like's Ain't Cash" philosophy not long after, confirming my suspicions that the path I was attempting to walk was the more sensible of the two.
I continued to lurk and watch the market, posting once per day to my small but intellectually gifted audience, knowing that if someone followed me - they were the cream of the crop. I didn't want none of the bullshyt tricks and hacks that were running rampant all over the timeline.
But even of those switched on enough to be on my radar, I saw a fatal flaw in their solopreneur strategy.
At first, it's subtle... sneaky. You're smart enough to model your approach based on successful and respected creators who have trailblazed before you...
But you haven't figured out that their strategy is ever so slightly different.
Big reveal time:
You're a solopreneur building an audience of other solopreneurs... and solopreneurs want to do everything themselves.
Often, it's worse than that, with people attracting an audience of solopreneurs who are building the same business they are.
If you're a one-man video editing band, and all of your content is about video editing... you're going to attract video editors or aspiring video editors.
So when you try to sell video editing, your audience is keen to see how you sell it...
But they have absolutely zero need to buy.
The most successful solopreneurs know their market - the number one rule of copywriting.
So if your audience ain't buying what you're selling... someone who knows how to sell to who you attract is a big problem solver.
If that sounds useful to you, click the link below:
James Perkins
