The freedom of solopreneurship looks different from the inside.
Most people romanticize working for themselves. They picture laptops on beaches, midday workouts, and never having to ask permission for vacation days.
When done right, there definitely are those moments. But it also includes staring at your screen at 10 PM, wondering if that client email can wait until tomorrow, and sometimes questioning every business decision because there's no one else in the room to validate it.
I've built multiple seven-figure businesses without employees since 2005. The path of the solopreneur isn't for everyone—but for the right person, it offers a level of autonomy and alignment that's impossible to find elsewhere.
Before you trade your steady paycheck for complete autonomy, you deserve to understand exactly what you're signing up for.
Let me walk you through what I've learned from nearly two decades as a solopreneur, including what I love about this path and what still challenges me daily.
What are the pros of being a solopreneur?
1. Total creative freedom
I love that no one can tell me what to do. I can follow my curiosity without permission. This is the excellent gift of solopreneurship.
When you work alone, every project, client, and decision is entirely yours. No more waiting for approval or diluting your vision to satisfy committee feedback. This freedom extends beyond creative work and touches every aspect of your one-person business, from branding to pricing to the software you use.
2. Ownership of decisions and direction
As a solopreneur, you set the course and adjust the sails without needing to build consensus or navigate office politics. This singular decision-making authority allows you to remain nimble and aligned with your vision.
When opportunity strikes, you can pivot immediately without explaining your reasoning to stakeholders or waiting for leadership approval.
3. Flexible schedule
Traditional employment forces you to be productive during set hours, regardless of when your energy naturally peaks. In some cases, even beyond those conventional hours.
Solopreneurship lets you design your day around your body's natural rhythm. You can structure your schedule accordingly if you're sharper at 5 AM or hit your stride after dinner. This is about optimizing your output by working when your mind is at its best.
4. Direct connection to your audience
Without layers of management or communication departments between you and your customers, you gather unfiltered feedback that helps you improve faster. This direct relationship creates stronger bonds with your audience and more relevant solutions.
Many clients prefer working with solopreneurs precisely because they want access to the principal, not an account manager.
5. Ability to move fast
When you're inside a company, you spend as much energy navigating internal dynamics as you do making things. I left because I wanted that energy back.
Large organizations move slowly by design—consensus takes time.
As a solopreneur, you can implement changes immediately, test new approaches without lengthy approval processes, and capitalize on trends while they're still emerging. This speed creates competitive advantages that larger companies cannot match.
6. Deep alignment with your values
Your business becomes a direct extension of what matters to you. Every aspect can authentically reflect your principles, from the clients you choose to work with to how you structure your offerings.
This alignment creates deeper satisfaction with your work and attracts clients who share your values.
7. More time spent making, less managing
The average employee spends 11.3 hours each week in meetings.
As a solopreneur, you reclaim those hours for actual productive work. Without the overhead of managing teams, you can dedicate more time to delivering value directly to clients or developing your offerings.
8. Every win feels personal and meaningful
When you work alone, every bet feels personal. There's no shield. But that's also what makes every win feel earned.
The achievements in your business are direct reflections of your skill, judgment, and effort. This creates a more visceral connection to your work and a deeper sense of accomplishment when things go well.
9. Design your own systems
Solopreneurs succeed when they design systems for themselves—not borrowed productivity hacks, but personal scaffolding that fits their rhythm.
Instead of conforming to corporate workflows, you can create processes that complement your natural working style. This customization increases efficiency and significantly less friction in your daily operations.
10. Lower overhead, leaner operation
Without office space, employee benefits, or management infrastructure, your business can operate with remarkably low overhead costs. This leanness translates to higher profit margins and greater financial resilience during market fluctuations.
Many solopreneurs maintain 70-80% profit margins compared to the 15-20% typical of larger service businesses.
What are the cons of being a solopreneur?
1. Loneliness
There are days I miss having a team. Not for the meetings but for the casual moments when someone else 'gets it.' As a solo operator, you have to manufacture your own momentum. The isolation of working alone is real and often underestimated.
Work can become an oddly solitary journey without colleagues to share wins, commiserate over challenges, or chat with during lunch. This isolation can impact both your mental health and your creativity over time.
That said, you can join a solopreneur community or find peers or business mentors to work through your problems.
2. Wearing every hat
One day, you're the visionary CEO; the next, you're troubleshooting website issues, negotiating with vendors, or managing your bookkeeping. This constant context-switching is mentally taxing and can pull you away from your zone of genius.
While you might excel at certain aspects of business, you're still responsible for everything—including the functions you find draining or difficult.
3. Lack of external feedback
Without an employee team or managers, you lose the built-in feedback loops that help refine current ideas and catch potential problems. It's dangerously easy to develop blind spots or get too deep into your own perspective without regular external input.
Many solopreneurs create feedback systems through solopreneurs communities or business coaches, but these require intentional effort.
4. No built-in momentum
Traditional workplaces provide structural motivation—client meetings are scheduled, teammates depend on your contributions, and managers expect results.
As a solopreneur, you must generate all your own momentum and accountability. This self-motivation becomes significantly harder to sustain on low-energy days or during challenging periods.
5. High emotional stakes
When your name is on everything, criticism and failure hit differently. There's no corporate entity to absorb the blow or diffuse responsibility.
This personal exposure can make the inevitable setbacks of business feel more threatening to your identity and self-worth. Learning to separate your business outcomes from your personal values is a necessary skill.
6. Harder to scale
Despite what many online gurus suggest, no matter how efficient their systems are, there are real limitations to what one person can produce. Without a team, your capacity ultimately caps somewhere—whether in terms of clients served, revenue generated, or market reach.
Creating true scale typically requires either bringing on help (which changes the solo nature of your business) or investing heavily in scalable service offers.
7. Blurry boundaries between work and life
When your business lives in your home and follows you on your phone, the line between personal and professional time easily dissolves.
Without external structure enforcing boundaries, many solopreneurs find themselves constantly "on," checking messages during family time, or thinking about work during leisure hours. This lack of boundaries often leads to burnout if not actively managed.
8. Lack of skill breadth
No one excels at everything. In fact, the breadth of skills I’ve developed over the years has been because I was forced to do it.
As a solopreneur, your business will naturally reflect your strengths and weaknesses. Areas outside your core competencies—whether that's design, writing, technical implementation, or financial strategy—will require either significant self-education or outsourcing to contractors, both of which consume additional time and resources.
9. Financial instability
The predictability of a regular paycheck disappears entirely.
Your income can fluctuate from month to month and requires much stronger financial management and contingency planning. This uncertainty extends beyond just cash flow to include concerns about healthcare, retirement planning, and other benefits traditionally provided by employers.
But with the right approach, you can build a sustainable business.
10. Hard to take real time off
When you stop, the business stops. There's no one to pick up the slack.
True vacations—where you completely disconnect—become extraordinarily difficult to achieve.
Even with careful planning and communication with clients, many solopreneurs check in during supposed breaks or return to overwhelming backlogs of work after time away.
Is solopreneurship right for you?
The decision to become a solopreneur isn't just about your professional skills but your temperament, support system, and business risk tolerance. Consider these questions to gauge your compatibility with this path:
- Your personal working style: Do you naturally self-direct or benefit from external structure? Do you enjoy variety or prefer depth in a single domain? If you're comfortable working alone and like the variety of projects, this could work for you.
- Your financial situation: How much runway do you have? Most solopreneur businesses take 12-18 months to reach stable income. Consider solopreneurship if you have at least 6 months of runway before taking the leap.
- Your support network: Do you have people who understand what you're building? The emotional support of partners, friends, or family who respect your work becomes invaluable during challenging periods.
- Your market readiness: Have you validated demand for your offering? Do you have initial clients or customers lined up? If not, work on these first before taking the leap.
If you’ve answered yes to all of these questions, it’s time to become a solopreneur. Fortunately, I have just the blueprint you need to make this happen:
