Guest Blog: What makes a successful solopreneur? with Emma Holmes

Let’s get the boring 😴 bit out of the way first. 

The dictionary definition of a solopreneur is; 

➡️  a person who sets up and runs a business on their own.

The digital era has seen the rise of the solopreneur as the accessibility to entrepreneurship and the investment that it takes to be a start-up has reduced quite substantially. The solopreneur is making up a huge percentage of the self-employed marketplace and making a significant contribution to the economy. 

OK, boring bit done!

So, what makes a successful solopreneur?  I’m going to go in with the answer quickly, it’s the removal of the word solo. Yup, you are the captain of the ship but the ship isn’t going to be working at an optimum capacity without a crew!

I learned very early on in my entrepreneurial journey that time was the most important asset and commodity that I had in my business and where I invested my time had a major impact on my earning capacity. 

The Harvey MacKay quote is the most powerful on this one;

You can't own it, but you can use it. 

You can't keep it, but you can spend it. 

Once you've lost it you can never get it back.”

It’s precious! What you do with your time is the difference between success & stalling. 

As an entrepreneur optimising your time is critical to your bottom line.  

It’s time to build time, it’s time to add more time to your business building without you burning out, sacrificing sleep and creating an oxbow lake in your river of progress. 

At the very beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, even before I was in a position to pay myself, I saw the benefit of outsourcing.  I saw the benefit of getting tasks done, that would progress my business, in a more time efficient way.  I’m sure you recognise tasks in your business that take you longer than they should or that aren’t within your zone of genius or that simply leave you in a bad mood. I started with one such job. I started with something that I knew I was tying myself in knots over. 

How did I reconcile this investment when cash was tight?

I committed to use that single hour that I outsourced to work on pure money making activities. If I could invest in one hour of someone else’s time could I make back more than that investment by channeling all of my attention into money making activities, that were a good use of my time? I could! So, not only was that outsourced time focused on activities that would grow my business BUT I was also committed to spending that one hour on work that would make me money. Win|Win! 

Now, let’s go a little further with this one.  I am now in a position where I can do every task in my business. I have learned and wrangled my way around tech and systems. I am capable. Every task is simply a series of steps in any event, is it not?! So, why is it important that I continue to have a team around me. 

Let’s just meander in a different direction for just a moment, bear with me, it’s wholly relevant. I am an endurance athlete. I run for ridiculously long periods of time. When I am training there are times when I’m pushing the pace and seeking progress and there are times when it’s a little slower paced and it’s about consistency (sssshhh, but that’s like running a business too). On those longer & pacier days, I can run for around 3 hours +.  I am capable of completing this without adding any fuel to the system. BUT………….

Just because I could doesn’t mean I should!!

I need to consider the desired outcome. I need to consider the one-liner I use a lot with clients what will it take for me to….. and on this occasion, I am going to add in perform optimally. The answer is to add more fuel into the system (can you see where we are going here). An external source of fuel can optimise my performance, enhance my recovery, allow me to stay consistent and ensure I side step burn out. 

Now let’s bring it back. Just because you could do all the jobs in your business by yourself it doesn’t mean you should. The ship can sail with just the captain, it doesn’t mean it’ll be a successful voyage, I can run without fuel but it doesn’t allow me to hit my potential. 

Don’t be the one stifling your growth. 

So, let’s round it off by finally looking at where we started ~ time. Time is the biggest asset in your business. Use it wisely. If there is a task that steals time from you or there’s tasks that remove energy from you or there are tasks that simply sit at the bottom of your list despite them being critical to your growth then it’s time to stop running your business like a toddler. Yeah, you can do it all by myself but if you’ve been the parent or in the presence of the toddler we know that that will take you much longer and the outcomes will wildly vary 😂

Your success is dependent on the decision you make and the action you take. The right team in your corner will ensure that these are supercharged!

Happy outsourcing 😃 

Emma Holmes is the founder of Rebels & Rockstars.

Rebels & Rockstars is a community of entrepreneurs who are committed to making a difference - a difference to their own world, the world of others & the world as a whole.

It's a place where you will find heaps of help & support.

Building a business doesn't have to be about herding people up and viewing your clients as walking purses, Rebels & Rockstars is about building a business that feels right for you and that fits with your ethics and integrity, that's built with heart & soul and not unease & scaremongering. It's about building communities, shining your light and taking action to gain traction.

It’s time to create some EPIC transformations and start to create a business & life without compromise.

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