The traditional path to business success typically involves growing a team, securing investors, and following the standard entrepreneur’s playbook. That’s what we’re taught to believe, anyway.
But there’s another way that’s gaining momentum: solopreneurship.
When I first considered striking out on my own, I was repeatedly told that remote work wouldn’t work and hiring was the only way to scale. It’s 2025, and we know that’s not true.
In this article, I’ll share nine real-world examples of solopreneurs who’ve built impressive businesses across different industries and service models. If you need inspiration or confirm if solopreneurship is a viable business model, you’re in the right place.
1. Ken Yarmosh (your truly 👋)
I bootstrapped my B2B remote agency to $5M in annual revenue before transitioning to become a business mentor for founders, consultants, and agency owners.
My journey began in 2005 when I found Technosight as a remote solopreneur, providing strategic product oversight to various startups. This early experience taught me valuable lessons about building systems and operating efficiently without a traditional team.
Later, I founded Savvy Apps, growing it into a multi-7-figure business that created industry-leading iOS, Android, and web applications. My work was featured regularly by Apple and Google, with four #1 applications and recognition from Forbes, Fortune, and the Webby Awards.
Because of these experiences, I know that hiring more employees and just doing more won’t get you where you need to be. The highest-earning founders scale their time, energy, and effort—not just their revenue or team size.
That’s why I mentor solopreneurs and founders today to help them create scalable service offers and build systems that allow them to grow without big payrolls. I built a 7-figure business in two years by using my own principles and frameworks.
2. Lara Acosta
In 2022, Lara Acosta, now a personal branding consultant, was unemployed and trying to get into a master’s degree program when she joined LinkedIn. Just one year later, she had become the #1 female creator on the platform and built a thriving personal brand and agency.
Lara’s journey shows us how quickly a solopreneur can build momentum with the right approach. She’s generated over 20 million impressions and amassed 300,000 followers across social platforms. Using this, she built multiple six-figure revenue streams—all without a traditional business structure or team.
Her business model evolved to include two main ventures:
- LA Digital: A personal branding and ghostwriting agency for founders and entrepreneurs that she launched in April 2022. This business provides ghostwriting, strategy, and engagement services for clients.
- Literally Academy: Launched in September 2023, she uses the platform to teach others how to build their personal brands on LinkedIn “without losing their soul.”
The best part about Lara’s journey is how intentional she was with her business. She turned her own personal experience into multiple revenue streams in three years. By now, she has helped, coached, and worked with over 700 people to build a personal brand they’re proud of.
3. Nausheen Chen
Nausheen Chen has built a successful solopreneur business by focusing on a high-value skill that directly impacts clients’ business results: public speaking coaching for executives and entrepreneurs.
Nausheen has a background that includes working in:
- Training Fortune 50 company executives
- Directing award-winning films
- Delivering three TEDx talks
Instead of offering generic communication training, she targets a specific pain point that resonates with ambitious professionals: “You know who gets the most clients and promotions? The person who can speak the best.”
This focused approach has allowed Nausheen to work with over 500 entrepreneurs and executives, including leaders at major companies like Google, Amazon, SAP, AT&T, IBM, and Twitch.
Now, she has diversified her revenue streams into the following:
- One-on-one public speaking coaching for entrepreneurs and executives
- Keynote speaking and corporate training
- Teaching as a Professor of Public Speaking at Central European University
- Creating courses as a LinkedIn Learning Instructor
- Hosting the “Speak as a Leader” podcast
Her experience shows us how any solopreneur can achieve significant impact and income without the overhead and complexity of traditional business growth.
4. Nick Broekema
Nick Broekema’s solopreneur journey is about the power of pivoting from a traditional business model to a more focused, systems-based approach.
For six years, Nick ran a design agency that relied entirely on word-of-mouth marketing. As he describes it, this created a feast and famine cycle that was painfully frustrating. The business constantly saw periods of feast and famine—and Nick worked with every client that came his way.
This is how he learned about the limitations of traditional business growth. As an agency owner, he was constantly hustling and putting out fires—and had no time to focus on building his business.
In 2022, Nick pivoted his business and started creating content to build his reputation, showcase his expertise, and generate consistent leads. It took multiple iterations to hone in on his current focus: content design for LinkedIn.
As a solopreneur, Nick now helps founders, CEOs, and creators attract leads through LinkedIn in three distinct ways:
- One-on-one content design coaching
- Single coaching sessions to address specific content conversion problems
- A free newsletter on content design, ideation, and conversion
Nick shows us how important it is to look at the signs your business needs help with and pivot when necessary.
5. Matt Barker
Matt Barker has built a thriving solopreneur business by focusing on a specific, high-demand niche: helping professionals grow on LinkedIn with content that’s “fast, easy, and fun to write.”
Since launching his business in January 2022, Matt has achieved impressive results without building a traditional team:
- Generated £70,000 from a 4-day course launch (The Digital Copywriter)
- Created two digital products that each generated over £100,000
- Driven more than $3 million in new client revenue
- Generated over 75 million organic social views
- Built an email newsletter with 13,000+ subscribers
Like most solopreneurs, Matt worked in a traditional corporate environment until he decided that was not where he wanted to be. So, he took his marketing skills to the next level by scaling his 1:1 digital writing offer first—and then layering in digital products and coaching to the mix.
Matt didn’t expand through hiring. Instead, he dialed in on a single offer first, took the most scalable parts, and created separate offers from them. But all of these offers are a part of his “Portfolio of Offer Portfolios.”
Despite having different offers, they’re all for a single type of Lighthouse Client, allowing him to build frameworks and scalable systems as needed.
6. Pascalle Bergmans
Pascalle Bergmans is a coach who helps founders, solopreneurs, and C-level executives land paid speaking opportunities and improve their impact as speakers.
What makes Pascalle’s journey particularly interesting is her career pivot.
Before founding PresenTales in September 2022, she worked in various corporate roles at companies like BC Media Consultancy, Databricks, and Russell Investments. She also has a background in musical theater, having studied at the Guildford School of Acting and Frank Sanders Akademie.
This combination of corporate experience and performance training has given her a unique perspective on public speaking and presentation skills. She used that to build revenue streams like 1:1 coaching, a 12-week accelerator program (The Talk Tribe), and corporate workshops.
She’s an excellent example of turning your corporate skills into a niche service that’s hyperfocused on one Lighthouse Client.
7. Alex Sheridan
Alex Sheridan has taken a unique approach to solopreneurship by positioning himself against the traditional agency model while still serving high-value B2B clients.
As the founder and CEO of Impaxs Marketing, Alex helps 7-8 figure B2B companies build their internal content teams rather than outsourcing to external agencies. When he saw that many companies were spending $5,000-$10,000+ monthly on agency services that deliver subpar results, he knew he could make a difference.
He already had experience working in an agency environment and had the marketing and client acquisition skills to build this business.
Alex honed in on delivering high-value expertise to a smaller number of premium clients instead of going the agency route. This allowed him to maintain quality control and direct client relationships while keeping overhead low.
Over time, he helped clients build their own capabilities rather than ongoing dependencies. As a result, he positioned his business as a high-value strategic partner rather than a replaceable service provider.
His business model also shows how solopreneurs can target established businesses with substantial budgets—not just individual consumers or small companies. And how you can be more efficient compared to other agencies.
8. Alana Sparrow
Alana Sparrow has built a successful solopreneur business focused on personal brand strategy for CEOs, founders, and executives. She uses her own personal brand success to help other leaders enhance their visibility and impact.
She has been recognized as one of the top 50 LinkedIn creators (9th worldwide, 3rd in the US) and has over 94,000 Instagram followers.
Alana co-founded The Foundry for Art Design + Culture in 2007 with a background in art, design, and creative direction. While The Foundry began as a brand strategy and creative services social enterprise, Alana has evolved her focus to specialize in elevating executive and employee brands.
Her business approach clearly articulates the problem she solves: “There are two ways to be an executive or founder in 2025: 1. Be invisible. Be ignored. 2. Be seen. Be heard.”
This positioning resonates with leaders who recognize the opportunity cost of ignoring their personal brands. Since she has her own frameworks and positions the service around specific outcomes, she can work with serious executives willing to invest substantially in their professional presence.
9. Danny DelVecchio
Danny DelVecchio is a video consultant who built his entire business on a niche pain point. He knows his audience knows video content is essential for building trust and converting prospects, but they don’t want to become content creators themselves.
That’s why his company, “Video On Easy Mode,” positions itself as the “#1 Done-For-You video content agency on LinkedIn,” and removes the time and expertise barriers that typically come with video production.
He spent nearly 14 years in corporate sales roles at companies like Paychex, SBS Tech, Spring Mobile, Tools4ever, AT&T, and RadioShack. It taught him several transferable skills like:
- Business development
- Client relationships
- Understanding body language cues
- Knowing what resonates with business audiences
This makes him very good at doing the same with video—because he understands how to position the client in a way that establishes trust and confidence in their expertise. His ability to do that is how he recently built his business to $50K months.
If you have to take one thing from his story, it’s to take a good, hard look at your skill set and hone in on the ones that solve a specific problem. It doesn’t always have to be a “title” you’ve had before.
Build leverage through specialization and systems to create a successful solopreneur business
Solopreneurship offers a viable alternative to traditional business models. All the solopreneurs I’ve discussed above redefined scaling by focusing on systems and processes rather than headcount.
They built deep expertise in specific niches, allowing them to command premium rates without competing on price. Now it’s time for you to do the same.
If you’re considering this path, here’s a guide on building a solopreneur business to get you started.
Remember: Success as a solopreneur isn’t about the biggest launch. It’s about showing up with something useful, again and again, until people trust you.
