I have been blogging in the field of blogging for the last few years, and many bloggers that I came across my blogging journey are solopreneurs. Being a Solopreneur myself, I am aware that there are many advantages as well as disadvantages while we run a blog or a business as a solopreneur. If anyone of you reading this article might not be familiar with the term “Solopreneur,” Continue reading to find out the difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur, its advantages, and disadvantages.

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  Solopreneur

A solopreneur is a whole different version of a potential entrepreneur only that he likes to get the job done all by himself. He believes that he has a higher chance of increasing the level of productivity of his business by putting in sole efforts. He certainly tries not to rely on others to make his ends meet; he takes care of all the marketing and sales strategies as he is well aware of the fact that he is the only one who will be enjoying the economies of scale.

• Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is one who initiates his own business with the hope that at one time, it would grow so that he can empower others. While a solopreneur could be a one-person army, an entrepreneur could amass enough resources to bring an additional team on board. In the real world, entrepreneurs take the opportunity in any situation and are not willing to wait for a lot of time for a single venture to give its fruits. They are flexible and can invest in different types of schemes all at once with the mentality that spreading risks can go a long way in helping you avoid a single massive loss.

There are many benefits to the benefits of being an entrepreneur including the ability to move from one place to the other while networking and marketing the productivity of your business in one way or the other. The difference between a solopreneur and a solopreneur is that the former likes to get the whole of his head into the concept of growth and development while the latter likes to taste the waters first before embracing the whole idea.

Now you know who a solopreneur is and how does a solopreneur is different an entrepreneur. To make the concept clear, it is better to have an idea who a freelancer is.

• Freelancer

A freelancer is a self-employed kind of contractor who is never willing to work long-term deals with any employer or organisation for that matter. Also, understand that while the former two take their risks to initiate a venture or concept, a freelancer takes merit of any available opportunity. It is all in the goal to be at a better place today than he was a couple of hours ago. Freelancing does not require a lot of commitments to a specific course unlike the case of entrepreneurs and solopreneurs.

With that in mind, it is now clear that the differences among these three professionals are as distinct as day and night. It is also true that even though they seem worlds apart, it is clear that all of them like to be their boss. They can only compromise when the situation needs. In the corporate circle, anyone that relies upon their sole efforts to stand up and have a word at the most influential table deserves the respect of all the shareholders in the industry. It is for this reason that even the most significant international organisations understand and acknowledge the role that the above three individuals play in the 21st century. Now, away from that and into the cardinal attention of this blog post, a solopreneur is whom you might like to become if you feel like being part of a team is not a better fit for you. However, consider that if you want to get there fast, do it alone but if you’re going to get there safely, do it with your friends and relatives. Here are highlights and further elaborations about the advantages and disadvantages of being a solopreneur.

Advantages of being a solopreneur

• Flexibility in schedule

The most amazing thing about being your boss has the rare opportunity to do what you want, how you want it and when to do it at all times. Research proves that a flexible schedule has a higher chance of increasing the overall productivity of the business as opposed to sticking to a single schedule all through all the financial years. Choosing your schedule means that you demand the course of your success or failure for that matter. A flexible schedule could be what your current business needs rather than sticking to the same old routine.

• Dominant culture

Unlike a couple of decades back, the perception of being a solopreneur was more or less like a dream in that no one was willing to invest or listen to a potential life-changing ideology that had no base at that point. Today, the culture is spreading fast, and it is all thanks to social media. The role that social media plays in the growth and development of society is far too impressive to pass for ignorance and followers of this culture will be fast to agree. In the current society, more solopreneurs keep coming up with the passage of every second and sooner rather than later, it might be the next big thing.

• Adaptability

The other advantage of being one’s boss is that you have the chance to change your decision, strategy or even concept about your own venture if you notice that trends in the market are beginning to take a whole new direction. With that in mind, consider the potential of switching your mode of operation now and then to meet the current trend of tastes and preferences of different clients across the board and compare it to sticking to the ancient stick to the pan slogan for most organisations.

• Limitless economies of scale

Being a solopreneur, one has to know that the rule is simple: You work, you eat. In other words, the solopreneur can only be as productive as they are willing to get. The more you work, the higher your chances of enjoying maximized economies of scale. On the other hand, calling it sick in one of those lazy days is more or less like failing to report to work, and even with that in mind, no one will bother you as long as you deliver according to your plans and objectives.

• Technology is a great friend

In being a solopreneur, it all goes down to using all available resources to make the best of all opportunities no matter how critical the situation might be at that time. It follows, thus, the ever-growing technological advancements in different schools of life can go a long way in boosting your ability to widen your economies of scale if you channel these forces in all the right directions. The positive impacts of technology in the 21st century is significant and to say that it will not be of help to you when you become a solopreneur is an understatement.

• Freedom

Critics may say that professional freedom is overrated but, reliable sources of research would like to differ. Consider the fact that according to one Forbes Report, freedom is key to maximizing the overall productivity of the business, unlike any other resource. Furthermore, the article states that when you compare the efficiency of slave workers and free employees, what comes out is that free employees have the highest level of efficiency in all types of work as opposed to slaves. Here, slavery and freedoms are puns that only the wise can understand.

There are a lot of merits that come with being part of this growing culture and the truth is that they are far too many to pass for containment in a single study. The above reasons are but, a tip of the iceberg regarding the importance of being a solopreneur.

The Disadvantages of Being a Solopreneur

Working alone is incredible. You have the freedom to select what you want at any time. However, being a solopreneur is not all glitters. Working alone comes with several drawbacks. Below are some of the limitations that would make you think twice about building a one-person empire.

• Projects Consume a Lot of Time

A solopreneur has no helpers that would work on other important projects at the same time. That means that the individual has to perform all the tasks without any help. Most tasks handled by self-employed people take too much time to come to completion because they have to handle tasks step by step until the end. Therefore, a person who works solo handles fewer projects than their maximum capacity because they waste time on each project.

• Work All Week

The people that build businesses by their own live lavish lives after struggling for some time. However, the luxury lives do not come easy. Solopreneurs work all week if that is what it takes to come to the top of the business world. Moreover, a loner has nobody else to send to complete an urgent suppose her or she is not available. Business is a wide field. Hence most people in business find themselves working all the days of the week to keep things in check. Now think about a business who works alone. The individual has no specific working days. Every day is a business day as long are there is something that needs to commence. By that, it does not mean that all solopreneurs work all week, only that they find themselves amidst tasks most of their time.

• Hesitation When it Comes to Risk Taking

An incredible fact about working with other people is that they can support you when you take business risks. As long as the expected outcome is worth taking a risk, business partners support each other in every decision that they make. A solopreneur hesitates taking risks because a single wrong move can be the downfall of the whole business. Suppose you work alone and someone approaches you with a proposal that could either boost your business or bring it down, you are likely to turn away the proposer. You will have it in mind that you have nobody to ask for support when things are not working properly. Hence, most solopreneurs miss opportunities that could take their business to a better level than its original state, all in the name of avoiding mistakes.

• Your Business Relies Solely on You.

A solopreneur is the business itself. When the individual is not available, there is no business. Working alone means you are the only person that can get things done. Moreover, you want to gain profit and not share it with anyone. Therefore, you can not ask anybody for help unless there are getting a share of your earned profit. In conjunction with that, some clients may approach you with proposals in areas of expertise that are unfamiliar to you. Since you see an amazing opportunity, you struggle to understand a new area of expertise because you do not want the customer to think you are not versatile. If your business highly depends on your hands, it is either you handle all the tasks by yourself or prepare for the downfall of your valuable work.

• No Time for Family

Managing a business and making it successful is a great way of taking care of your family if you have one. At the start of your business, you are likely to be free most of the time because there is no much work to handle. Nevertheless, ads your business grows, the tasks that you have to handle the increase. Most top solopreneurs confess that one difficulty they have to deal with when working alone is non-availability of quality time with your friends and family. Some individuals have to stay away from their families for a while because of completing projects that require a few months to handle everything. Business may be important, but family and friends are the reason you find something meaningful to do. When it hits you that time spent with family begins to fade away, working alone becomes a nightmare.

• Stagnant Business

Many solopreneurs become successful if they employ proper strategies to handle their tasks. However, projects become stagnant because a solopreneur has a lot of things to do within a limited time. Clients are a blessing, but when you have so many people expecting you to perform several duties at the same, you may curse the day you thought of working alone. Think about all the frequent meetings you have to attend. You may have more than five meeting in one day that you delay the projects that are important to your business. Slow growth is a factor associated with solopreneurs because the time that could be useful in completing the most significant projects is not available. A lot of traveling also contributes to the slow growth. You may think that your many schedules mean you are busy developing your business, but the truth is that you are wasting time handling the side projects instead of focusing on your main goal.

• Limited Benefits

People that work in organizations and companies have limitless benefits. They receive health insurances, life insurances, incentives, gifts such a vacation vouchers and many others. When you work solo, forget about the many benefits that other working people have. You pay for your health complications, transport, and if you need to go for vacation, the money has to be from your own pocket unless you get it as a gift from a valuable client. In short, you have nothing you perceive as motivation to keep doing great. The tasks you complete are your motivation. Solopreneurs do get benefits, but it takes a lot of work to reach a status that makes clients want to reward you because of your incredible work.

• Poor Management of finances

It is important to create a boundary between work finances and personal finances so that you can budget properly. Business partners can separate their work money from their funds with ease. On the other hand, a solopreneur merges all the finances because they do a lot of things alone. Suppose you have a business partner for your successful business, you categorize the profit you earn together as work finances and that you earn from side hustles as personal finances. Everything is personal for a solopreneur because they perform everything without anyone’s help. Mixing business and personal life is risky because you could end up using business finances to handle personal issues or vice versa. It is unreasonable to have two separate banks for your personal and work projects because all your clients are the same. No customer is important than the other that you could categorize one as a business and the other as a personal client.

Conclusion

Any business is important for providing you are earning reasonable cash to sustain yourself. Working alone is incredible because you are the only to make major decisions hence drive your empire in the direction that you want. Think about all the benefits that come with being a solopreneur such as being your boss, specializing in different areas of expertise, making your schedules and many others. It can be a dream come true for anyone. However, every factor that has benefits also has drawbacks. As a solopreneur, you have to work hard because you have no assistance. Limitations such as tight schedule, slow growth and limited family time could make you prefer other choices. Nevertheless, everyone has their strengths and weakness. Now before I conclude, let me ask you a question. Would you like to be a Solopreneur despite being aware of many of its advantages and disadvantages? Please spare some time to let us know your opinion about this in the comments column below this blog post.

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