One of the fascinating discoveries working with small business owners is how small businesses evolve. To this day, I see very little written about it, particularly for aspiring solopreneurs. That is a disservice to aspiring solopreneurs because it leaves them without a critical road map to know where they are on their business development journey.
A good roadmap should tell someone where they are on their journey, how to avoid the many pitfalls, and what they need to do next. I have developed several road maps over the years, but this one hasn't changed much.
This roadmap identifies milestones that you must reach before moving on to the next step. Once you wrap your head around each of these steps, you start to see developing a business is something that never stops.
The 8 Stages of Solopreneurship
Here are the eight milestones that every solopreneur passes through on their way to a sustainable business.
A Business Starts with Aspiration
Aspiration: An aspiring solopreneur is motivated to start their own business, but they don't have an idea. In my experience working with entrepreneurs of all levels, I've found this stage can last for years! The challenge with this idea is the uncertainty and fear of making a change to something where the outcome is unknown.
Idea: Once someone has decided to explore a business seriously, they will search for an idea. "What kind of business should I start?" is a common question at this stage. The solopreneur begins searching for a business idea in either an informal or formal way. This stage could last days or months.
Validation: Will the idea work? This question triggers the next stage. Validating the concept can take several forms. Some people will jump to starting the business just because they believe in the idea. They skip validating the idea altogether. Others might be informal (asking a few people what they think), and others might be as formal as writing a feasibility study. The amount of perceived risk will often dictate how far a person goes in proving their idea.
Resource Acquisition: How do I get there, and what do I need? The vast majority of aspiring entrepreneurs make finding the money the priority of this stage. While startup capital is essential, having a business strategy and implementing that strategy will make the difference between success and failure.
Launch: An aspiring solopreneur prepares to launch the business. Whether it's a simple announcement to friends and family on Facebook or an elaborate event that includes opening hours, when you first start up your business in this world, there will be many different ways of launching. Either way, once operations begin and the first sale is made, the business is essentially launched.
And Ends with the Hire of the First Employee
Early Sales: How do I get new customers? This is the burning question in this stage. An aspiring solopreneur now searches for ways to make early sales. This stage is a make-it-or-break-it moment because startup cash is limited. If the aspiring solopreneur doesn't hit the breakeven point (revenues = expenses) before available startup cash runs out, the business may have to close. I often see aspiring entrepreneurs relying on savings and credit cards at this point as they struggle to save their businesses. Startup cash is not the problem here. Making sales is what saves the business.
Sales Growth: How do I do more of this? What separates a doomed business and a successful one is when a reliable method of generating an adequate amount of sales is discovered. If an aspiring solopreneur does this right, they will do more of what they see gets sales in the door. As a result, there will be a rapid increase in sales volume over a short period (weeks or months).
Optimization: I'm busy! How do I get help? The solopreneur reaches the point when they have more work than time, resulting in their first business development plateau. A solopreneur will try to do many things, such as outsourcing tasks, stopping offering services, or hiring "helper" employees.
Surviving each stage means laying the groundwork for the next step. For example, for an aspiring solopreneur to get to the next stage, they must find a viable business idea. For a solopreneur to gain traction, they must learn which sales methods are working ( and which ones to discard). In this sense, the business owner "builds" their business. Trying to move to the next step without solving the problems in the current stage often ends in disaster as the critical knowledge and skills needed aren't in place.
Knowing What's Coming Could Save Your Business
When working with aspiring solopreneurs, I'm constantly laying the groundwork for the next stage and avoiding the problems that come with it. Where are you on this journey? Where are you stuck? How do you move forward? Once you know where you are in your development journey, you can create objectives to keep you focused and move your forward.
