Ready for your jaw to drop?
Did you know that 73% of all US-based businesses are solo businesses?
There are here.
So why the heck are so many people dumping corporate life and deciding to go it alone?
Is it all about the benjamins?
Is it all about freedom?
Or do people just hate going to the office every day?
There’s no one true reason why people choose to start solo businesses. Some choose this path because it’s a better fit for their families. Others love the creative control they have of being their own boss. Some choose this path for income opportunities. The “why” of going solo is always personal.
Solopreneur business ideas you can try
Let’s talk about the real nitty-gritty: the “what”.
As in, what can you do for your solo business? What are your options for making a living working for yourself and doing something you love? Here are 5 solopreneur ideas that will make you big bucks.
Consultant/Coach
Consultants or coaches specialize in a service or career type and then teach others how to succeed in their specific niches.
There is no shortage of industries where you can become a coach or consultant. A quick Google search will show you that there are coaches and consultants from everything to executive coaching to financial consulting to life coaching and everything in between.
For example, Solo Biz Summit speaker, Yvonne Heimann is a Business Efficiency Coach. She coaches entrepreneurs and small business owners on how to maximize their efficiency in their businesses.
Blogger
One of the most common solopreneur examples is blogging. Some people on the internet will say blogging is dead but there are many professional bloggers who will say that blogging is alive and kicking! Professional bloggers create an income off of their blogs through sponsored content, affiliate links, brand partnerships or course or product sales.
The amount of income you can earn from blogging various to how much time you dedicate to it and the size of your audience. Blogger income can range from a few hundred dollars a month to 6 figures a month. (And yes, you did read that sentence correctly!! There are bloggers who earn 6 figures per month on their blogs!).
Course Creator
Online courses, also known as the E-Learning industry (Maybe short for Edgar learning? Probably not ???? ) Online courses have found their way into every niche and industry and the industry is only growing. The e-learning industry is projected to be worth $325 billion by 2025.Yes, that is a billion with a B!
To become a course creator, you need to be an expert in a specific niche, whether it’s knitting or finance or anything in between! And you need to build an audience of prospective students. This article by the Podia team can help get you started if you’re interested in creating a course.
An example of a course creator is Solo Business Summit speaker, Amanda Bond. Amanda is a social media advertising expert who scaled her business by selling online courses about Facebook and Instagram advertising.
Another course creator that Team Edgar loves? Our founder Laura Roeder was a course creator before creating MeetEdgar! Her course students inspired her to create MeetEdgar. We even offer updated versions of her courses inside Edgar University, the learning resource for Edgar users.
Ecommerce seller
The world has been bitten with the Amazon bug and the love for e-commerce has led to a booming industry of sellers!
If you’re crafty or have an eye for product design, you can easily create an online store. There are plenty of tools and platforms you can use now to create your store including Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce or even Amazon FBA.
And you don’t need to worry about warehouse or shipping! Many e-commerce entrepreneurs build a dropshipping e-commerce business. Dropshipping is an e-commerce method where the seller does not keep any products in stock and instead transfers the orders to the manufacturer or wholesaler who then ships the product to the customer directly.
Podcaster
Podcasting is a relatively new type of solopreneur but it is becoming a more popular choice by the minute! Podcasters don’t make money right out of the gate. Like bloggers and course creators, you need to first grow an audience by consistently producing great content.
Podcasting is a numbers game and the number that new podcasters should watch is their downloads per episode. It can take a while to build up those listeners. According to Libsyn, one of the largest podcast hosts, only 7.1% of podcasts get 5,000 downloads per episode.
But it’s worth the effort to build the audience. Once you have your audience, you can start earning revenue with ads, live shows, merchandise and even by offering live shows. There are podcasters who earn over six figures a month off of their podcasts.
Which solopreneur life will you choose?
These are just a few solo business ideas. And like we mentioned earlier, self-employment is a choose-your-own-adventure. You don’t have to just stay in one lane. You can earn money in one or all of these ways!
For example, Solo Biz Summit Speaker, Mark Asquith earns money as a podcaster and as a podcast coach. Another Solo Biz Summit speaker, Shaunta Grimes, is a blogger and course creator.
The power of being a solopreneur is that you can keep adding revenue streams into your business and scale it so you are increasing your income and doing work you love without burning out.
Living the dream, right?! Let us know what solopreneur business idea you love in the comments!
