There’s a curious thing about being a solopreneur – in order to be successful and happy as a solopreneur, you have to like being alone and like people too.
You have to like being alone because much of your work will happen while you are alone. The business is really built on you and what you offer. You are the business. From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem like the perfect fit if you don’t like people. However, a one-person business is the possibly the worst place to try and hide if you don’t like people.
As a solopreneur, you provide the product or service your business sells which may or may not involve people. You also provide the marketing and customer support, and those definitely involve people! Any time you collaborate for publicity, co-creation or for any reason it’s you who is doing the collaboration. As a solopreneur, there isn’t anyone who can take those meetings for you. Even if you use outsourced help, those people are not the face of your business the way you are.
If you are thinking of a solopreneur business, be honest with yourself about how much you like people. If your ideal is to sit behind your computer and never talk to anyone you might not be able to build a successful solo business. If you like people and you relish quiet time alone, you might just find a business model you love!
This is one of the ideas I help you explore in my book “Is a Solopreneur Business Right for You?” It’s available now in the Kindle store for reading on any Kindle device, on the free Kindle desktop reader, or on a free app for your tablet or smart phone.
This is so true!
Being a crafter and working with the Creative Markets, I’m alone a lot… however, being in a townhouse/unit complex, people tend to think because I’m home all the time, that I sit in front of the television and watch Days of Our Lives or Judge Judy… uh… far from the truth.
Late last year, I was kept awake all night by a party next door. When I asked them to shut up shop and go inside (it was after midnight when asked them to do this – after all, they’d been going for 8 hours, you can only do so much in that time except get drunk or stoned – or both), I was cursed at. I explained that some people work on the weekends – like I do – and they asked me who I worked for. I said myself… they thought I was joking and cursed at me again. I ended up calling the police who came by and scared them just by being there.
However, when people see my work, and they look closely at it, they just can’t put a number on the hours I must put into my paintings of pegs and pencils… you know, neither can I. 🙂
And I will never get that time back; but I don’t care, I love what I’m doing and it’s something I can see myself doing for a few years.
So, being alone doesn’t bother me – it’s what people think of me that does get on my nerves; especially when they don’t know what I do, and I’ve tried to explain it (I’m not going to do that more than once).
How do you deal with that kind of negativity? Any advice?
Negative people do suck, don’t they? One thing that helps me is to make sure I have some uplifting, supportive people in my life who are in similar business situations. You can swap ideas, vent, cheer each other on and sometimes even help each other get business. I have a mastermind group I work with. Maybe you could form or join an artist or crafter group?
Thank you so much for your advice. I’m already part of the Queen Beez Craft Group, have a writers group I’m a member of, so I’m working well with those two right now.
Mum is a great positive person in my life – so is my older brother who is a little jealous that I’m doing something I love doing as work; as he’s not happy with his work. Dad is another negative person, who is seeing the glass half empty, not half full.
And isn’t it so much easier to believe those negative nasties when you least expect them to be around you?