When you start a solo business, you face challenges.
I started my first business after working several years on Wall Street and having an MBA in finance.
I thought education and expertise were all I needed.
Big mistake.
If you aren’t securing new clients or growing your sales, the problem might not be your marketing.
It could be your strategy.
Creating a strategy sounds complicated. It doesn’t have to be.
You can get a big head start and pass your competition if you focus on three key principles.
Yes, you’ll still need to test your strategy and improve it; yet, with the answers to these three following topics, you’ll operate from a position of strength.
How to Fix Your Solopreneur Business Strategy
- Find 1 BIG problem your audience wants to fix
- Build your solution in the right sandbox
- Ensure that people will pay for your solution
Find 1 BIG Client Problem
Your first step is to find one big problem that your audience wants to remove.
If you bypass this step, it’s likely you’ll have a tough time generating sales.
I launched my finance business with a graduate degree, experience, and a smile.
I had no solopreneur business strategy the first year. It was awful.
I was in quicksand until I went back to base camp and built a strategy.
The easiest way to find the 1 big client problem is to reverse engineer the small problems.
Examples:
- Your website does not rank highly on Google or other search engines
- Your website does not get many visitors
- Your website does not convert visitors to sales
Once you discover the small problems, you start to play strategy detective.
Follow the clues to go upstream and find the 1 big client problem that causes the small problems.
It’s research. It’s good for you, and it kickstarts your solopreneur business strategy.
Let’s use another example:
Assume you want to help a new realtor in Manhattan generate more sales.
Your first step might be to check out their website.
Do you see a tie between the product the realtor offers and the folks who might visit the site?
Now read a few of the blogs on the site.
Can you see the helpful transition that the realtor wants to give clients?
If not, you likely found the big problem the realtor needs to solve, namely, not enough sales.
Your solopreneur business strategy has to help this realtor (and other realtors in the same bucket) solve the big problem.
And you have to solve it in a fun, simple, and powerful way.
Here are a few ideas:
- Introduce a unique 1:1 coaching service for realtors
- Launch a 3-day boot camp for realtors.
- Build a new app for realtors. The app is easier to use and more intuitive.
Once you find the big problem and form a few ideas on how to solve it, the next step is to pick your ideal sandbox.
Pick Your Ideal Sandbox
Your sandbox is the market where you compete.
Your goal is to pick a market where you can win.
Can you win in a market with tons of competition? Yes. New coffee shops and pizza places open every day and gain market share.
They may not defeat Starbucks or Papa John’s. They can make great money with a smart business strategy in the right sandbox.
Let’s go back to your strategy to help the realtors in greater New York. Let’s say your sandbox is realtors who help new home buyers. Assume 100,000 realtors focus on this market.
If your fee is $10,000 and you capture 0.1% of the market, you have a good business.
Your solopreneur business strategy has to consider the right sandbox. This matters as much as your decision to avoid the wrong one.
Validate that People Will Pay for the Solution
When you build your solopreneur business strategy, ask the right questions to measure your market potential and competition.
If you build the solution in the wrong market, you reduce the likelihood that people will pay for your product.
Assume you sell dog food for golden retriever puppies in the U.S.
You ask:
- “How many golden retriever puppies are born each year in the U.S.?”
- “How many dog foods cater to golden retriever puppies?”
- “What are the supply and demand trends for golden retriever puppies?”
- “Who are the big brands, and what is the competition in this sector?”
Assume you sell SaaS systems to the pharmaceutical sales team in London.
You ask:
- “How many big pharma companies have a sales team in London?”
- “Which SaaS companies have the biggest market share for pharma sales in London?”
- “What are the leading medical challenges in London?”
- “Which pharma companies sell medication to cure those problems?”
Your solopreneur business strategy needs a deep understanding of your company’s competitive landscape before you decide which markets to enter.
When you understand your competition and pick your market, move on to your customers.
Which Customers Do You Help?
Your solopreneur business strategy has to serve a specific customer base.
Southwest Airlines built a strategy to help customers fly from point A to point B with a cheap fare and on-time flights.
They target customers who are price sensitive and accept a ‘no frills’ flight experience.
Apple built a strategy to give you a phone, music, and the internet on one device. Apple targets customers who will pay for a top-of-the-line mobile device.
Uber built a strategy to connect customers and drivers in one city.
They target passengers who want to order their own transportation. They target drivers who will use their own vehicles to earn extra income.
When your business strategy targets the middle of the distribution curve, you vanish. Instead, target the outer edge.
What Are the Unique Traits of Your Product or Service?
It’s important that your product and service are unique.
Eat dinner at Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan, and you know what to expect: extraordinary food and amazing service.
An evening where you can savor each course.
Order lunch from Jimmy John’s, and you know what to expect. Fast delivery.
Yes, Jimmy John’s wants you to enjoy your food. They focus on quick service.
Eleven Madison Park and Jimmy John’s know where they excel. One delivers culinary excellence, and one focuses on quick delivery.
They each have an advantage in their own market.
Your competition, customers, and product benefits are the pillars of your business strategy.
Each falls under the heading “Fix 1 BIG problem.”
Nail this, and you have a big head start on your competition.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if you have trouble building a strategy?
I empathize. It’s not simple.
Tie your strategy to logic and create the ‘IF this’–> ‘THEN that’ bridge.
If you create this solution, then you believe it will fix the problem.
Your first few strategies might not work. It’s okay.
Take inventory of what’s working and where your logic falls down. Fix the weak spots and try again.
Should you start with a business plan?
This is a popular first step, and I don’t recommend you start here.
Your first step is to create a strategy diagram that shows how you will move from your idea to a solution that fixes the problem your audience wants to solve.
You are going to make assumptions about the big problem you want to solve and the product that will solve it.
You need time to test your assumptions, and it’s important that you let feedback and data guide your process.
After you create your strategy, you can then create a business plan.
You need a strategy and a plan to build a smart business.
Free Resources
Solopreneur Doorway is a 3-minute read that gives you insight on the solopreneur journey.
Another free resource that can help you tackle everyday challenges is the Small Business Association, or SBA.
You can find the SBA here.
When you’re ready, we can create a custom strategy that looks at your unique issues and finds solutions.
This custom, 90-minute session is your chance to share the specific problems you want to fix.
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