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How to Succeed as a Creative Entrepreneur with Daren Smith, Film Producer & Author, Founder of Craftsman Creative

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Each week, I reflect on lessons learned growing my newsletter & podcast — the good, the ugly, and everything in-between in raw, unfiltered, free-form writing.

Solopreneurship is a Myth

On Sunday, I wrote this post on X:

Today, I want to dig into this further.

Let's start by defining what solopreneurship is.

A solopreneur is an entrepreneur who runs a business on their own, without any partners or employees. They perform all tasks related to their business including marketing, product, finances, and customer service.

They may have a small team of contractors or freelancers they work with. Although I’d argue that’s not truly solopreneurship.

But I digress…

There's been a rise of solopreneurs in recent years thanks to an explosion of no-code tools enabling anyone to go from idea to product faster and cheaper.

Now, it's easier than ever to spin up a beautiful website, design like a professional, publish your ideas, build an audience, and start monetizing.

No wonder solopreneurship has grown in popularity.

But, today, I’m going debunk the myth of solopreneurship and tell you what you should do instead.

Let’s dive in…

Popularity of Solopreneurship

I get it… solopreneurship is sexy.

You get to whatever you want, whenever you want, without a boss breathing down your neck.

So, what’s the big deal?

Well, here are the downsides of solopreneurship that nobody talks about:

• You have very little leverage.

• Nobody wants to buy your business.

• Nothing gets done unless you do it yourself.

• You become the bottleneck in your own business.

I know because I was a solopreneur, too.

As much as I see the benefits of solopreneurship, I want to provide an alternate path today.

When you start your business, you start out doing what you love.

You start getting customer - great!

Now, you need customer support.

You want to grow so you start running ads.

Now, you’re managing your own ads.

You start getting partnership opportunities.

Now, you’re managing your inbox and calendar.

These are all great milestones… but, at some point you’ll feel like you’re running around in circles playing whack-a-mole with your tasks.

You’ll start getting exhausted doing everything yourself. Trust me.

Activate Your Zone of Genius

The key to moving beyond this level of entrepreneurship is self-awareness.

Prune your calendar of everything that you’re not good at and doesn’t bring you joy.

Gay Hendricks coined the term “Zone of Genius” and I’m going to borrow this concept to demonstrate a critical point.

You want to work only on things that both energize you and you’re naturally talented at. You know, the stuff you do and then wonder… where did 2 hours go? Your “flow state.”

What does this look like?

Delegate tasks that you’re not good at… this is an obvious one.

But you should also delegate tasks that drain your energy also.

It’s hard, I know. But it must be done.

Don’t be afraid to hire operators to come in and run core components of your business.

I / We / They Framework

I introduced this framework back in episode 14 of my podcast.

The big idea is that you start out as a solopreneur when your business is just getting started. It’s your baby, and you’re literally fighting for its survival.

Once your business is beyond the stage of infancy, you can start building out your team to handle other parts of your business for you. But, don’t delegate everything immediately. Work with your team to come up with the right SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

Once your SOPs are in place, you can be more hands-off and allow more freedom for your team.

Autonomy and sense of mastery are two critical elements for effective team-building. Allow your team the opportunity to run the ship on your behalf and see how far it’ll take you.

Now, you have a business that’s not only growing, but running entirely on its own!

• You’re deploying leverage.

• You can sell your business easier.

• Your team does most of the work for you.

• You’re no longer the bottleneck of your own business.

We’ve resolved every single issue that a typical solopreneur faces.

Magical, isn’t it?

Thanks for reading.

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