Starting your own company puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders. For solo entrepreneurs, the pressure is worse. They can’t share the workload with the rest of the team. Working alone to build a company is a challenge every day.
If you are in the process of starting your business alone, you might wonder how others make it work. Indeed, around 30% of small companies fail within their first two years. For small companies run by a single-person team, the rate of failure is a lot higher. Does it mean that solo entrepreneurs don’t stand a chance of success?
No, it doesn’t. Solo entrepreneurs face numerous challenges to keep their business afloat as a result of their unique position. In other words, only the most strategically minded professionals can find their way through the challenges of business growth. Here are some ways to bootstrap your business so can stand out from the crowd and grow.
The work smarter, not harder
You can’t afford to waste time when you work alone. You need to develop strategies to maximize your productivity and tackle projects as they arise. However, as a solo entrepreneur, you also are responsible for maintaining customer communication. Organizing tasks by priority can be helpful. Additionally, the introduction of automation solutions to tackle repetitive tasks can save you precious time.
You can build an automated workflow to keep your customers in the loop. Specific activities can trigger an email flow, for instance. From your customers’ perspective, the communication channel remains active. But, you can focus on urgent projects while the automated system manages your communication. Additionally, relying on tools that can handle operational requirements in the background can be a life-saver. From automated invoicing to brand mentions monitoring, it’s crucial to give yourself some breathing room.
They join programs that do all the hard work for them
Automated solutions alleviate the burden of operational work. But they are not designed to support sales. Ecommerce ventures, however, can support their growth with dedicated platforms. Joining Amazon as a seller, for instance, can let you use the FBA service – Fulfillment by Amazon.
The fulfillment service helps you reach out to your customers with prime delivery and storage facilities. For solo entrepreneurs, the FBA profit calculator offers insights into the ROI growth opportunity of the program. Other platforms, such as Etsy and eBay also provide dedicated sellers’ profiles. However, the FBA service is unique to Amazon and can give you a competitive edge.
They outsource their workload
Tools and business programs can only help so much. But they can’t take all the workload off you. Solo entrepreneurs manage their business through smart outsourcing. Time-consuming tasks, for instance, are the ideal job for freelancing platforms. Understanding how to use Fiverr or Upwork to outsource business tasks is crucial. As a rule of thumb, Fiverr is suitable for unimportant and straightforward jobs. On the other hand, Upwork and Elance are a source of contacts for larger and more expensive projects.
In conclusion, you can build and run a business alone. However, you need to make the most of your time. Focus your efforts where they pay off. Use automation, sellers’ programs, and outsourced talents for the rest.