Too much thinking, not enough doing? How to grow your solopreneur business

By Kelly Berry

How many AIIP members have plans to launch a new business or service but struggle to make progress? I’m guessing (hoping?) I’m not the only one! 

I have been working to create a new business while keeping my existing business going. It has been a challenge to juggle both. And for me, it’s easier to stick with what is familiar and comfortable than to launch something new and unknown.

I’m sure it’s not just me. Fear of failure has stood in the way of many of us working to grow a new business. You can’t fail if you don’t start, right?

It’s also a reason why, as Seth Godin has said, we get “so hung up on tactics rather than strategy.”  Paraphrasing Mr. Godin, strategy is scary. We might fail and be disappointed, or we might succeed and that would be frightening.

For those with perfectionist tendencies, making forward progress toward a new goal is risky. It can be hard to live up to your unrealistic expectations. It’s easier to focus on the details of the activities than to take a big leap that could be messy. Perfectionism and fear both lead to procrastination with the goal of avoiding failure.

How many of you infopreneurs are great at checking off long lists of to-do items full of tactics and small actions that don’t take you any further? I’m sure it’s not just me.

And it’s not just our own issues that can slow down forward progress. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly drove home the point that we can’t count on things staying the same. All the 2021 AIIP Conference volunteers, for example, had to transition from a model and history of live events to a brand-new model of a virtual event. What a challenge!

If things can change so quickly, what is the point of planning? We can’t plan for the changes, and we can’t control for them. We have no idea what the future will bring. This can certainly cause solopreneurs to hesitate or deliberate a bit too long. And then the opportunity is gone.

We can all come up with many reasons why we shouldn’t or don’t want to act. So how do we actually make forward progress? Here are a few suggestions:

• Research:  If we see an opportunity, then we should explore it further. After all, that’s what we infopreneurs specialize in. Learn more about your ideal customers, the problem you’re solving for them or any other key pieces of information that might help support your plan. But don’t get stuck at this step!  Which leads to the next suggestion.

• Accountability:  Lean on your peers to hold you accountable for making progress. Partner up with another AIIP member to be accountability buddies and hold each other accountable to making progress. Set small goals that move you forward and work to make incremental progress toward your end goal. And make sure your accountability buddy calls you out if you get stuck in that rut of being busy but not making progress.

• Community:  Learn from others – and share your experience with others – in the AIIP community through Virtual Events, conference attendance or speaking, conversations in AIIP-L, and volunteering to learn new skills and connect with new people.

We are all in this together! Make sure you are taking full advantage of your AIIP membership to guide your business forward. Not a member? Check out our benefits.

Kelly Berry specializes in market research and peer groups for first and second stage businesses, and in training and development for start-ups, through her consulting business, ResourceAbility She is an active volunteer with AIIP and several local organizations.