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  A solopreneur is a person who runs a business on his or her own, and takes on its risks, without the help of a partner. If you’re an entrepreneur in Nigeria, it’s very likely that you are a solopreneur—at least that’s what anecdotal evidence suggests. You’ve founded your venture, and you’re ultimately overseeing all of its activities by yourself (even if you’ve hired employees to take care of various aspects of the enterprise).
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Going it alone in business can be quite a challenge, even for the smartest of us. There’s so much to manage and not a few moving targets to track at every given moment. What can you do to stay on top of things, and even excel as one who runs his or her business on their own? Here’s your answer: 7 tips for winning as a solopreneur:

Learn Multiple Skills

If you’re walking the entrepreneurial route without partners, you’ll need to learn multiple skills just to keep up with various aspects of your business. Even if you’re hiring employees to cover all the bases below your position as the chief executive, you’ll still have to supervise their work. So you’ll want to understand what they’re doing. Skills you may want to learn may include leadership, financial management, product development, marketing, and project management.

Outsource or Delegate Non-Core Duties

As a solopreneur, you’ll often have more on your table than you should be handling, given your human limitations. You will have to delegate functions to your employees. If you’ve got a decent team together, they will be able to take on the various duties you entrust to them. Just be sure that they are qualified to do the job. You may also outsource non-core functions to entities outside of your business (e.g. vendors, freelancers, or contractors) to reduce the burden of work you (and your team) have to tackle.

Hire and Work with Great Talent

Your work as a solopreneur will be easier if you have a team of competent and motivated individuals. We mentioned earlier that such a team will relieve you of a lot of the burdens you’d otherwise have to face on your own. However, finding the right fit for vacant roles can be difficult. Your hiring process has to be primed to identify and select talented individuals who want to make an impact at an organization like yours.
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Create an Impressive Personal Brand

A great way to reach a larger market with your business is to build a powerful personal brand. Just to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with fashioning a brand for your business. However, creating a personal brand allows people to identify you as a noteworthy entrepreneur in your industry. As humans, we’re more drawn to individuals with personal stories that we can resonate with, than we are to objects and intangible phenomena such as a ‘company’. An exceptional personal brand will get the public interested in your business, and attract many more potential customers to it.

Make Your Marketing Exceptionally Appealing

Ideally, crafting a personal brand will be just one part of your marketing strategy. In order to lift your business off the ground, you’ll have to establish an online presence and constantly communicate your offerings and merits to the world. A nicely built website, a strong social media presence, and decently fine-tuned email campaigns could put your company’s brand in front of thousands of people in your potential buyer demographic. And this should significantly increase the number of prospects coming into your sales funnel.

Work with a Well-Defined Routine

Anyone who has a lot on their plate at any given point in time will be overwhelmed by it all at least a few times. If you’re going to keep the stress of being a solopreneur from getting to you, you’ll have to work with a well-defined daily routine. When you know what you’ll be doing at each moment of the day, you’ll be better able to handle tasks efficiently and meet your targets well within deadlines.

Find a Mentor

The easiest way to avoid making mistakes as a solopreneur is to seek the advice of founders and executives who have considerably more experience running a business than you do. They could share insights and tips about navigating difficulties that you may not find anywhere else. In many cases, taking advice that mentors give will enable you to leapfrog several steps on the path to growth.
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Final Words

Doing well as a solopreneur requires a healthy dose of strong will, laser focus, endurance, and flexibility. If you have all of these and take the steps we’ve shared here, you’ll be on your way to succeeding with your business, despite the challenges you face. Featured Image Source: Jones Around The World
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This article was first published on 9th September 2023

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.


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