If you are a solopreneur looking to scale your business? You are in the right place. In this post, we are going to examine how to start a business by transitioning from a solopreneur to an entrepreneur.
See Also: Resources that will help you start, market and grow a sustainable business.
Usually, a solopreneur starts out as a jack of all trades and a master of none, with most of their energy channeled towards sales and marketing.
With time, their business starts getting a fraction of the market share and they see the need to scale their business. As a result, they start thinking of how to move from being a solopreneur to becoming an entrepreneur.
This means that the business has become too big for the solopreneur to handle alone. If you are at this stage, you will need more hands to help you close more sales and take the business to the next level.
So, how do you begin your entrepreneur journey? We will discuss that in a bit. First, let’s examine the differences between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur.
Difference Between Solopreneur And Traditional Entrepreneurship?
It is simple; when you understand that all solopreneurs are entrepreneurs, but all entrepreneurs are not solopreneurs, you will understand the core difference.
Solopreneurs are entrepreneurs that run their company by themselves. They are solo-entrepreneurs, hence the name solopreneurs. While an entrepreneur simply refers to anyone that creates a business, bearing all the risks as well as enjoying the profits. Solopreneurs are a class of entrepreneurs.
Often, solopreneurs run micro-businesses and they can handle all the facets of the business themselves. They usually handle administration, marketing, customer care, and client relationships by themselves. But as the business grows and they attract more clients, they need to scale their business by employing more hands.
The truth remains that, as a solopreneur, there is a limit to how far you can go, especially if the vision of your company is growing beyond what one person can handle.
It is fine if you adopt the solopreneur business model as you start your entrepreneurial journey. However, as your business grows and you begin to scale, you will need a team.
So, how do you move from the solopreneur business model to a full-fledged entrepreneur? Let’s look at some considerations.
Steps To Take To Transcend From Solopreneurship To Entrepreneurship
Team Work
Any entrepreneur that knows his salt understands that they can only scale by putting a great team together. And it doesn’t end there- you need to make teamwork a non-negotiable culture in your organisation. With a great team spirit, your team will be able to achieve more without feeling stressed.
To make teamwork a part of your company culture, you need to consider hiring people that are like-minded. There’s no problem with hiring one or two people that stand out of the pack as well, but hiring like-minded staff will deliver a great work culture.
Searching For Like-Minded People To Join Your Team
We already discussed this earlier, but there is no harm in further explaining what we mean. It is very important as a solopreneur who is looking to scale to look for people who can buy into the startup mentality. This means that they should be multi-faceted and able to function in more than one role if need be.
It is true that you might not have enough funds to pay people in different roles, so getting dynamic people who can function in multiple roles is the way to go. But this does not mean they should not be adequately compensated neither does it mean that you overuse your staff. Being moderate is key.
Put Square Pegs In Square Holes:
Hire people according to the needs that you have at hand instead of just hiring for hiring’s sake. Hiring the smart way is the best strategy for entrepreneurs in the early days of their journey. The idea is simple, identify a need in your organisation, hire someone that brings a solution to that need, and grow!
On a final note, conforming to traditional job roles might be dangerous for you and your organisation, so do your best to put people where they best fit.
Outsource Some Things
Most entrepreneurs and startups find it difficult to deal with high operating expenditure (OPEX), and recurrent expenditure at the early stage.
To provide a cushion for your business as you begin your entrepreneurial journey, you should delegate some of your activities to freelancers and agencies.
The only caveat here is that you have to look for freelancers and agencies that are both trustworthy and competent. And in the digital age, it might take a while to find people with both attributes. You can ask your network to help refer someone that they know and trust.
As soon as the money you spend on outsourcing for a certain task increases considerably, you should consider hiring an in-house staff to handle that activity.
Adopt A Flexible Approach To Management
It is one thing to have a solid team, it is another thing to be able to manage them. Humans come in different shapes, forms, and temperaments and you can’t use a one cap fit all approach to your management style when dealing with members of your team.
As a result, you need to have people skills or some management experience to fully manage your team. Managing can’t be left to chance or you might be ruining your business.
You should lead by example in many areas, but you should also know when to delegate tasks. Audit your strengths and weaknesses, and work with people who complement you.
Do Marketing The Right Way
Marketing is the bedrock of entrepreneurship, and the journey from a solopreneur to an entrepreneur is anchored on marketing.
Additionally, most of the world’s biggest brands spend millions of dollars per annum on marketing to retain their market share and to make more sales.
As a solopreneur looking to scale his business to become a strong organisation, you must invest in marketing no matter how small.
To quickly scale your business as an entrepreneur you should invest in advertising, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and other marketing tactics, to generate leads and make more sales.
Make Sure That Your Business Is Scalable
As an entrepreneur breaking frontiers and expanding to a larger and bigger market is key. In other words, you are not just in business for the passion, you are in business to make a profit. That should be the average mindset of an entrepreneur, who doesn’t want to end up as a solopreneur.
To successfully make the leap from a solopreneur to an entrepreneur you need to have a growth mindset. Think about ways that you can multiply sales and capture your target market.
Secondly, make sure that you are building a business that is scalable. To make your business scalable, you need to set it up in a way that it can run successfully without you in the picture. You can achieve that easily by making sure that you are hiring competent people who can work on their own with little or no supervision.
Additionally, to be scalable, your business needs to be able to deliver results that can be replicated over and over again. To achieve this, turn your business into a strong process that can be repeated time and time again.
Finally, for your business to be considered scalable, you need to put structures in place that will help your business handle a sudden influx of customers. For instance, if you suddenly have a 100% growth in your customer base, will you be able to handle it? If your answer is no, then you are not truly scalable.
Conclusion:
It is one thing to have passion, it is another thing to understand the business. You need to grow past the stage of running all the operations alone and build a solid team that would move the business forward.
An individual who found and runs their business independently, without the support of a team is a solopreneur. And while being a solopreneur is not a bad thing, there comes a time when you need to grow your business. If you follow the steps outlined above, it will be an easier journey as you look to start your entrepreneur business.
Moving from a solopreneur to an entrepreneur in business comes with a lot more responsibilities. Are you looking to make the leap? How are you finding it? Have you made the leap already? What was your experience? Share with us in the comments section.
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