So….you want to be a Solopreneur. Own your own business. Make money online by monetizing your expertise. Fantastic. I’m with you on that concept. But when I started out, I was under the impression that I had to do it all myself. You know, that ‘solo’ is in Solopreneur for a reason, right? And with that burden of doing it all myself, comes a bunch of stress and questions that don’t get resolved. The stress with the misconceptions of having to do everything myself (there are a lot of things I either don’t know how to do or don’t want to do), and the long list of questions I have on how to do these things that never get answered. Yikes! It’s a lot for one person…a newbie in the business world, to go through. But after awhile, I started to understand that I didn’t have to be alone on this venture. I joined a local networking group through BNI (Business Network International) and met with them once a week for a couple of years. I met some great people and established some friendships along the way and it was ok (not great) while it lasted. I guess, overall, with the expense of the BNI membership, and then to pitch in for the extra expenses of the meeting room at a local café, plus to contribute toward the food/drinks for the group each week, I think I broke even overall. But beyond BNI, I was able to break out of that ‘solo’ mindset. I was able to think beyond myself in how to operate and build my business. So, if you’re not good with accounting? (I’m not) Hire an accountant. Feel overwhelmed with some of the daily tasks that need to get done, or if you just want to finish a small project faster? Hire a virtual assistant. Don’t have the funds to hire anyone yet? You can always get an intern to help you so they can gain experience. The Ultimate Goal But the overall concept of ‘Solopreneur’ is still the same. This business you want to start isn’t about having employees or a lot of overhead. It’s about having a small business that you can manage yourself, from anywhere. As I’m typing this now, I’m on my back porch looking out at the woodsy back yard watching a neighbors cat stare down an intruding bird. My goal is to be able to work from anywhere; to have a 100% portable business. I can: · create content for social media, · do Zoom calls with clients or others that want to connect · work on the latest book project · develop an online course or webinar that I want to promote …from anywhere. But, sometimes I see people struggle with the thought of not being the only person in the business. They want to do it all. And I get it, there’s a feeling of ownership and control that strokes the ego. This is MY business. I’ll do it my way, as the song goes (if you’re in my generation, you’ll get that reference). But doing it alone can be a hindrance to progress and building your business. You need to have time to work on the things that can make the most impact for sales. Yep, there’s that naughty word that people don’t like to hear. But everything boils down to sales. Otherwise, you’re just working on building a hobby. If you’re bogged down with doing too many other things, then the things that matter the most won’t get the attention it deserves. I’ll give an example. Recently, I needed to have some notes put into about 150 episodes to someone’s Podcast. Could I have done it myself? Yes. Did I want to do it myself? No. So, I hired a temp to do it for me. This freed up hours of time that I could spend on other things that I needed to focus on. Leading Yourself by Knowing Yourself So growth, when it happens is more manageable that way. And hey, we all want growth, right? We all want more business. But we don’t want more stress and feeling overwhelmed either. I heard of the military training concept of ‘knowing yourself so you can lead yourself’ and that really stuck in my head. Because that’s what I’m gettin