There’s a lot of things I’ve just done without realizing it. I’ve operated naturally on my own, but now I have a word for it since it’s something that is spoken more in today’s world: Being a Solopreneur.
For the last 20+ years, I’ve operated all my businesses out of my home desk. That desk used to be in my living room, now I have a dedicated bedroom office, but it’s still me at that desk by myself.
I can work with business partners, and remote employees who also work from home. I can sub-contract out jobs and tasks, but it’s important to me to work by myself.
For some entrepreneurs, being a solopreneur can be a pretty small business, but I’ve taken it to large scale levels. So it doesn’t necessarily mean you are limited in size.
I do tend to be a jack-of-all-trades myself, and find it easier/quicker to just get something done on my own. I’ve never been a great delegater. I used to think this was a problem but no longer do. It’s just a different way of operating.
For me, this is how I want to work. It gives an incredible amount of freedom. I get up with my kids in the morning, see them off to school, and I’m here for them when they get home.
I work as I feel inspired to. Usually mornings are best. The best work happens then. I have a clear mind and can catch inspiration. And if I’m not feeling it, well, nothing happens.
I don’t measure work in hours. I measure it in results. As long as the results are coming, then the hours are irrelevant. I don’t make work just to stay busy.
I also engineer processes and systems to allow me to work as I want, when I want.
You can bootstrap the hell out of something working alone. Your overhead can be extremely low. Every business I’ve started was started with an extremely low amount of capital. Just me at my desk trying to make something happen.
There’s risk to becoming a workaholic, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I never did it that way. Sure, there have been times where I worked extremely long hours because a deadline loomed, but that was just temporary.
I’ve done it this way for so long, I don’t even know how to do it another way. I have no desire to learn to do it another way.
It also seems to me that solopreneur and “Lifestyle Business” go hand-in-hand.
When I ponder “what’s next?” I do know whatever it is, it’ll be me at my desk, same as always.
