5 Ways To Fail As A Solopreneur

Failure is easier than you think.

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‘Arrogance occurs in people who have achieved something and believe that they independently caused their own success with no assistance, support, or input from others.’ - Cherie Carter-Scott

I would never, ever do these things. Now, in the past, in the future. And I’m sure you wouldn’t either.

Way #1 - Don’t Even Start

You’ve read the blogs, watched the videos, listened to the podcasts, and worked through some get-rich-quick online courses. You know what you going to do and you’re busting to get started!

But you don’t. The timing is wrong. The kids have football training. The wine with dinner is too good to pass up. The money’s not there yet. You’re not quite sure.

You don’t start because, as with any startup, the chance of failure is way greater than the chance of success. You don’t start because you want to avoid the arena where failure and success are out there for your friends, family and colleagues to see.

When you don’t start, you’re guaranteed to fail. But at least you fail in private.

Way #2 - Do It All Yourself

You have the idea, the drive, and the knowledge. So don’t trust anyone else with your grand plan for world domination - just do it all yourself.

You no longer have that pesky go-nowhere 9 to 5 job that killed the best part of every day. No, that’s behind you. Take Jack Ma’s advice and work the 996 - start at 9am, finish at 9pm, 6 days a week.

Don’t worry about friends, relationships, health, and hobbies. When you’re wealthy from your own herculean effort, you have plenty of time to get these things back into your life. Burnout is for wimps, anyway.

Don’t even think about delegating tasks outside your expertise. You’ll pick them up as you go, no problems. If Elon can be a rocket expert just, like overnight, surely you can deal with simple things like accounting and legalities as they arise.

Do it all yourself. It’s the only way.

It’s all up to you.

Way #3 - No Strategy, No Worries

Nike’s ‘just do it’ advice is the best ever, right? The opportunity is enormous and it’s right in front of you. No time for roadmaps, strategic planning, cash flow planning, and targeted marketing.

Nope. Just do it, before someone else does.

Get those subscriptions in place - M365, Google Workspace, ChatGPT, Substack, Medium, Beehiiv, X (the expensive plan), Readwise, Evernote, Kindle, Spotify, WordPress, Klaviyo, ahrefs. You need them all.

Oh. And a new MacBook, because it’s tax deductible.

The costs don’t matter because you’ll be minting money in minutes. The online course guy said so.

Way #4 - Any Customer Is A Good Customer

As soon as a prospect glances your way, say ‘yes’ to anything they ask for.

You read somewhere about product-market fit and it all sounds really good. But when your market is one single prospect, you bend over frontways, backways and sideways to make your offering fit their expectations.

One day you’ll get around to defining your ideal client profile - your target avatar - because you read in the same somewhere that’s a really good thing too.

But right now you have bills to pay and you need this sale. And the one after, and the ones after that.

No time for planning.

No time for ‘no.’

Way #5 - Ignore Your Network

Back in your go-nowhere 9 to 5 job, you interacted daily with people just like you. Your peers in the office, their friends, people in the coffee shop across the street, your industry association members, supplier and client representatives.

You don’t need them now. After all, you’re on a trajectory to millions and they only hold you back with their jealousy of your overwhelming success.

So you let those contacts languish.

If you had a business plan, you would probably have noticed that at least some of those people match your ‘ideal customer’ avatar. Warm contact you know you and would be receptive to your offer.

Nope. Put your history to one side. Start from scratch. Onwards and upwards.