You, like me, might be tired of the everyday grind. Getting up early, commuting to work, and repeating. You prefer to create your own schedule and be your own boss. You want a taste of the solopreneur life. But where do you start? What should a solopreneur do first to succeed? I know it’s not an easy process since I’ve been there. There are, however, steps you may take to make the journey less daunting and more exciting.

Define Your Niche

A niche is a small segment of a larger market. Rather than producing goods or services for the entire market, you select a small sector and deliver goods or services to fulfil the demands of that segment. For example, my personal finance blog focuses primarily on personal finance for Africans in the diaspora. Carving out a successful niche requires you to answer three simple questions.

The 3-N-Q

• What are your main interests and things I am passionate about?
• What are your skills, knowledge and experiences?
• How can you use your skills, knowledge and passions to solve real-life problems for others?

“Don’t find customers for your product, find products for your customers”

Seth Gordon

A suitable niche can be a daunting task when beginning. For instance, the top 3 blog niches are How to make money, Health & Fitness and Fashion. These niches are saturated, and we doubt we have anything unique to say on these topics. Within these topics, look closely. Are there still gaps that you can fill?

Also, don’t ignore the hobbies and interests you are enthusiastic about, including those other people around you believe to be a waste of time.

Real Life Example

Abiola is a house plant expert. I was intrigued to find a young African lady making money from creating content on houseplants. It turns out Abiola is a banker, but she hates her job. She went into banking to appease her parents but feels stifled. Hers is the most beautiful garden in the community. And soon neighbours were coming to her for gardening tips. Plants energise and spark joy for Abiola. Abiola was able to quit her 9-to-5 job to focus on plants. And she is making a killing—more than she made as a banker. More importantly, she is happy; she is her own boss and has created a life of freedom.

“Commit to a niche: try to stop being everything to everyone”

Andrew Davis

Know Your Competitors

After you’ve decided on a niche and determined your target audience, it’s essential to look into the competitors.
I used to think that competition was a bad thing. I was wrong. Competition is a solid sign that you’ve chosen a profitable niche. The question is now how to deal with competition.
Consider what other companies are offering and how it compares to yours.
Is there a superior product on the market for which consumers are ready to pay more?
Are the products worse? Ones that people will pay less for simply because they require something immediately.

Your sweet spot when starting out could be somewhere between those two extremes.
A personal touch (where applicable) is always a winning strategy. Remember that there is no one else on this planet like you. Therefore, you will have a unique way of doing things that potential customers will like.
People base purchasing decisions on underlying subconscious feelings and emotional triggers. Customers will buy from you because they love you or enjoy how you deliver information. This is why being yourself is so vital to the success of a solopreneur.

Market Trend

Once you have nailed the competition, It is time to think about market trends. Is your chosen niche expanding and becoming more popular? What are users’ current thoughts on this industry? Are there any recent significant developments that could affect how much money we make from our services/products in the future (for example, new tax laws)?

Finances For Your Business

We live in exciting times. Thirty years ago, starting a business cost a lot of money. We would need a lot of money for rent, inventory, and hiring people, and we would also have to spend money on TV, radio, and billboard ads.
The internet has enabled us to reach customers worldwide at almost no cost to launch a business.
However, you will still need some cash.

Funding Solutions

As you might expect from a finance blog, I do not like borrowing money. So, I chose a niche with low start-up funds requirements. Information and digital products require less money, while physical products are money suckers. I steer clear of these. And, of course, I learned this from experience with my Amazon FBA business. I fund my business with my part-time employment income. It helps that I don’t have debts and keep my expenses as low as possible. Living on as little as possible is why I live in Kyrgyzstan. This beautiful country combines a lower cost of living expenses and a low crime rate, which is a rare combination.

Having Too Many Things To Handle

So basically, as a solopreneur, you run the whole show. This covers stuff like logistics, operations, sales, and marketing.
It is important to keep your promises to care for current customers and find new ones.
Trying to do everything can be a lot to handle. It’s super easy to get sidetracked and overwhelmed by all sorts of stuff and forget why you even started the business.

Solution

Not all tasks are created equal, so I prioritise what gets my attention. Some stuff just matters more than other stuff.
Have you heard of Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Matrix? It’s an excellent tool that can help you figure out what stuff you should focus on and what you can skip. Check it out here!

This tool helps you figure out what’s important and what can wait so you can focus on your big goals.
So, to use the tool, just make a list of all your stuff to do and sort them into categories like this:

• Important and urgent
• Important but not urgent
• Not important but urgent
• Not important and not urgent

Find out more about prioritising important stuff here

Isolation and Boredom

Being a solo entrepreneur can be pretty lonely. When you work in an office, you get to chat with your coworkers and bosses all the time about your ideas. But when you go solo, that all stops. Sometimes I go weeks without talking to anyone.

Being a solopreneur can be tough even when surrounded by people because those around you just don’t get what you’re trying to do, making you feel lonely.

Solutions

This solopreneur doesn’t work on Sundays on purpose. Emails aren’t checked, and all self-improvement books sit idly on the shelf. I usually go to church and chat with family and friends.

I make sure to mark all the important birthdays and anniversaries on my calendar with reminders so I don’t forget to give them a call on their special day.

And lastly, I got to say being alone is empowering and pretty cool because you get to know yourself, which can bring out your creativity.

There is nothing like solitude to help you get clear on who and what are the important things in life.

Invest In Yourself

“Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do,” Buffett stated in another interview. “Anything that improves your own talents.”

Warren Buffet

Invest in our mind, body, and soul. Work out often, eat good food, and get plenty of sleep.
Keep an open mind and learn about things outside of your usual interests. Just ask yourself, “What else is out there” and you might find some cool new stuff to work on.
If you’re trying to get into a particular field, it’s wise to find mentors who can teach you the tricks of the trade. What if you can’t find a mentor, no problem, go ahead and buy and read the top 3 books on the subject.

We’ve all heard of Bill Gates—the tech billionaire. I recently saw “Inside Bill’s Brain,” a documentary. It was super enlightening, and I encourage you to watch it. The most fascinating thing he said in that documentary was he reads whenever he is interested in learning a new topic. I thought Bill Gates was a genius with a super brain, but this smart cookie still reads to expand his knowledge. So, you and I have no excuse; we must read and learn more. I wrote 7 Ways To Improve Your Skills with you in mind. Check it out.

Final Thoughts

Being a solopreneur is a great option if you want flexible hours and location and to earn extra cash. You pick who you want to work with and whenever you want to work. You decide which projects you work on. So basically, you don’t have anyone bossing you around. It is not easy to do it alone, especially at the start, but you can pull it off with the right tools and know-how!

Thanks for taking the time to read.  If you enjoyed reading this post, sign up for my email list, and I’ll send you new posts as they come out.