Solopreneurship FAQs: 10 Essential Questions Answered

Solopreneurship is redefining the modern business landscape by empowering individuals to build one-person companies that prioritize autonomy, lifestyle flexibility, and intentional growth over traditional scaling. Unlike entrepreneurs who often pursue team expansion and market dominance, solopreneurs focus on crafting businesses that align with their personal vision—leveraging outsourcing, automation, and niche expertise to maximize efficiency and impact. This article explores the essentials of solopreneurship, from avoiding common pitfalls and finding clients to navigating healthcare, legal matters, and sustainable scaling strategies—all designed to help you thrive as a company of one.

What are some of the biggest mistakes solopreneurs make?

As a solopreneur, you’ll inevitably make mistakes; it’s part of the learning process. We cover five of the most common mistakes we’ve seen solopreneurs make in our Solopreneur Business For Dummies Cheat Sheet, but here are a few more:

• Abstaining from outsourcing and helpful technology: Make outsourcing, automation, and AI your best friends to avoid burnout and help you run a more efficient business.
• Overplanning before starting: If you wait for everything to be perfect, you’ll never launch your business. Release your product or service when it’s good enough, and make changes and improvements based on feedback over time.
• Failing to niche down: Narrow down your target audience and build everything around them. You always have time to expand to other audiences and markets, but make sure you’re really good in one area first.
• Neglecting to pursue new business opportunities: Many solopreneurs focus on working for their business rather than growing their business.
• Not learning from mistakes: You need to learn from your mistakes quickly and make changes when needed. Your business is constantly evolving, so get used to the cycle of implementing, reviewing, and revising.

What are the best ways for solopreneurs to find clients?

Traditional marketing and sales tactics don’t always work for solopreneurs because they may require a lot of time and resources you simply don’t have. Consider these ideas instead:

• Tell people in your life what you do. Friends, family, former coworkers, and professional connections all can be a powerful referral source, especially if they understand how to help (and they probably want to!). This isn’t about pitching; it’s about making them aware your business exists.
• Reach out to niche communities. Become a familiar presence on the online platforms and spaces your audience visits. It establishes credibility with these communities; when they need help with problems you solve, they’ll think of you.
• Be active in your local community. Establishing relationships with people outside work (for example, by playing in a tennis league) allows you to broaden your network. The people in these groups may not be clients, but they can be excellent referral sources.
• Partner or collaborate with complementary businesses. Collaborations and partnerships often mean half the work with twice the exposure because you’re being introduced to the other business’s audience.
• Establish yourself as an authority. Set up speaking engagements, teach workshops, or do podcast interviews. The more knowledgeable you appear to others, the more likely they’ll be to choose you over your competition.

How can solopreneurs find healthcare insurance?

Many people worry that if they leave their corporate job, they won’t have access to affordable health insurance. Health insurance coverage is accessible for solopreneurs in the United States. Be aware that things may change around this topic, so do your own research and find what works best for you. Here are some options to consider:

• Affordable Care Act marketplace plans
• COBRA coverage from your previous job
• Insurance coverage provided by your spouse or partner’s employer (Some businesses don’t require employees to be legally married to qualify for dependent/family coverage.)
• Healthcare sharing plans (noninsurance alternatives in which members share healthcare costs)
• Insurance offered through professional or trade organizations
• Supplemental and gap coverage for out-of-pocket medical expenses
• Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (commonly known as CHIP) plans

How should solopreneurs approach tax and legal matters?

The short answer? Hire a professional. Throughout Solopreneur Business for Dummies, we mention the importance of outsourcing some parts of your business. Unless you have extensive legal and tax knowledge, you should consider outsourcing these matters to the pros. However, you can take control of some basic tasks within these categories.

Can anybody be a solopreneur?

We don’t want to be dream squashers, and technically anybody can pursue solopreneurship. But the honest answer is, not everybody is cut out for this type of business, and that’s okay. Some people thrive when they have structure, external accountability, and coworkers. If you have a hard time working independently, problem-solving, and forging your own path, you’ll likely struggle as a solopreneur.

If uncertainty makes you squirm, you should think long and hard about whether solopreneurship is right for you. When a mistake occurs, you’re the one at fault. When income isn’t coming in, it’s on you to figure out how to shore up your finances. These responsibilities can (understandably) be a lot for some people to handle.

How can solopreneurs dabble in outsourcing and automation?

Solopreneurs can incorporate automation and outsourcing into their business in countless ways, but the sheer number of options you have can be incredibly overwhelming. If you want to start small, consider dipping your toes in the water in the following areas.

Is it easy to make money as a solopreneur?

We’ll go with the answer everybody loves: It depends. With intention, strategy, and hard work, you can make your business profitable. In addition, you don’t have the overhead costs that come with employees, tech makes many tasks much easier for oneperson businesses, and many people prefer the personal touch of solopreneurs over the impersonal approach of larger companies. Frankly, your ability to make money depends on how well you niche down (narrow your focus), how expansive your skill set is, how in demand your services are, how flooded (or not) with competition the market is, and how well you’re able to stand out in your market..

How can solopreneurs avoid loneliness?

When you’re running a one-person business, it’s hard to not feel isolated from time to time. Here are a few tips:

• Work from a coworking space.
• Join professional communities.
• Pursue interests outside work.
• Strengthen your relationships outside work.
• Find an accountability partner.

What’s the difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur?

Solopreneurs are considered a subset of entrepreneurs  — individuals who run a company of one without the desire to scale with traditional employees. While solopreneurs tend to value autonomy and lifestyle flexibility, entrepreneurs may aim to build teams, pursue larger scalability, and position their businesses for larger market impact or eventual acquisition.

The line between solopreneur and entrepreneur isn’t always clear-cut. The core difference often lies in intention: solopreneurs typically aim to create a business that supports the lifestyle they want, while entrepreneurs are more likely to design businesses that exist beyond themselves. For example, a fractional chief marketing officer might choose part-time solo work for schedule freedom, rather than launch a full-service agency with staff and long-term growth goals. That same solopreneur might still chase big profits or even plan to sell one day, only with a business built to match their personal vision.

How can solopreneurs scale their business without hiring employees?

If we had a nickel . . .

It’s hard for people who are unfamiliar with solopreneurship to imagine efficient ways to scale (grow revenue and/or impact) without adding employees. Sure, adding employees is the best way to scale if you want to scale exponentially. If you’re just trying to build a business that supports your lifestyle, this list offers some great ways to achieve that:

• Outsourcing tasks you don’t need to do yourself
• Automating repetitive tasks
• Productizing services (turning your expertise into standardized, packaged offerings) so you’re not trading time for money
• Using AI to streamline tasks
• Increasing your rates or prices to escape the burden of having to say yes to every project
• Partnering and collaborating with others to get exposure to new audiences while sharing the workload