Now more than ever, between the rise of work from home and artificial intelligence, how we work is changing drastically. You may have heard about solopreneurs more frequently recently, as this new way of working is gaining traction. But what is a solopreneur? Are they any different from entrepreneurs? In this solopreneur vs entrepreneur article, we will cover what a solopreneur is and why they are increasing in popularity.
What is a solopreneur?
As the name implies, it is a “solo” or “solitary” entrepreneur. A person who creates and manages a business by themselves. They own the business entirely. They reap the rewards and also face all the challenges alone. Many solopreneurs start by running a side business and slowly grow into a full-scale business.
While being a solopreneur is challenging, there are also many advantages, which we will cover next.
A solopreneur is a CEO, but they are also all the other members of the team. It requires versatility as you suddenly become the logistics manager, the developer, the marketer, and every other position your business needs to succeed.
What are the advantages of being a solopreneur vs entrepreneur?
There are many advantages to being a solopreneur. Here are the main ones.
1. Autonomy and flexibility
As a solopreneur, you’re in charge of your schedule and choose your work hours. This flexibility enables you to adapt your work to your schedule instead of adapting your schedule to your work. Of course, you still need to commit to a formula that enables you to succeed if you want to see results.
2. Choose what you want to work on and with who
A solopreneur can choose the work they want to do and with who they want to do it. You’re no longer obligated to take on everything you’re ordered to. Instead, you can decide what you work on.
3. You’re in charge
You’re in charge. You decide what your business is and how it works. Having the final decision on all these decisions is a lot of responsibility, but it is also empowering and enables you to thrive doing what you want.
4. Run a business smoothly
This more straightforward way of running a business doesn’t require employees and has less managerial load. Making it much easier for solopreneurs to run a business smoothly.
Solopreneur vs. entrepreneur
While the two might sound a bit similar, they are very different. Solopreneurs have their own separate business model. Entrepreneurs usually focus on growing their business with the help of a team or freelancers. They offer defined goods or services to their clients. Solopreneurs create businesses that can be sustained on their own and that they can lead on their own. Solopreneur vs. entrepreneur, the one thing both have in common is that they try to monetize a business to its full potential
Here are a few ways in which solopreneurs and entrepreneurs are different:
1. Business organization
Solopreneurs have all the power over their business as they manage it on their own. So, they need to grow with a mindset that favors optimizing a business autonomously. There are multiple organization types a business can choose to operate under. The most common is the private limited company (LLC) because it guarantees their private assets are protected. A few solopreneurs are Doing Business As (DBA) to manage their branding.
Entrepreneurs grow businesses on a larger scale as they need to hire staff and create teams. When the business grows enough, they can decide to step away and give management to others. They usually run as corporations (S-Corp or C-Corp) to raise money and be more alluring to potential investors. They often start as private limited companies (LLCs) before changing into corporations when they’ve grown enough.
2. Scaling strategy
Solopreneurs have to rely on themselves and their hard work to grow their business. Their growth is mainly financed by their revenue. This can limit them, but they have fewer costs to account since they don’t hire employees.
Entrepreneurs have a very different approach to growth. They finance it through investments, and their growth means hiring more staff and getting more tools. They usually try to find investors who can significantly accelerate their growth.
3. Earning money
The money earned by solopreneurs is generated by revenue and sales of a product or service. It can either be active or passive income, depending on the business model. Both have advantages and inconveniences. For instance, while a passive income seems easier and preferable, it requires a large investment at the beginning.
The income generated by entrepreneurs is generated by teams that are managed by them and work attribution. They create multiple ways of earning money. As the business expands, entrepreneurs step down and earn money passively.
4. The way they operate
The way the two operate is entirely different, although they both need to work hard and give a lot of effort. Especially at the beginning. Solopreneurs have to take responsibility for everything that needs to be completed for the business to succeed. From business management to marketing and web development, they do everything to ensure things run smoothly. Entrepreneurs have their eyes on strategy and management. They allocate work and manage projects to ensure employees complete key projects to help the company succeed.
5. Investment and risk
While solopreneurs are solely responsible for their company, they can limit risks by creating an LLC. The risks depend on the initial investment they plan to put into the company. It depends on the industry they want to operate in, but the main investments are put into operating the business, marketing, managing the product, and time.
Entrepreneurs have much more risk as they need to secure enough money to pay for their teams, offices, materials, and operations. They also have more risk of being liable from employees and clients. Ensuring they have the correct business structure can help them prevent risk.
Pros and Cons of becoming a solopreneur
There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to becoming a solopreneur. It’s the opportunity to manage and grow your own business without losing control over anything. Of course, that puts a lot of responsibilities on one person’s shoulders.
There’s also a lot of flexibility for people who prefer to work a flexible schedule. But this flexibility cannot be abused if you want to succeed.
You’ll find a list of the pros and cons of becoming a solopreneur below:
Pros
- Create a business with no or little investment.
- Unlimited flexibility to work whenever you want, wherever you want.
- Monetize your passion or something that excites you.
- Get a chance to grow your income significantly.
- Take charge of your life and become your boss.
Cons
- Manage many things in different areas of expertise (sales, marketing, tech, customer service, bookkeeping).
- Can be complicated to have a good work-life balance.
- Finance your own business.
- Patiently waiting for the business to grow and be profitable consistently.
- Managing bookkeeping and tax responsibilities.
- Plan your retirement and health care by yourself.
Areas of business for solopreneurs
Now that the difference between solopreneurs and entrepreneurs is clear. Let’s cover some of the most popular types of solopreneur businesses that can make a profit with very little investment.
Knowledge sharing services
Businesses based on knowledge enable solopreneurs to earn money with their skills and knowledge. They can do coaching, training, teaching, or consulting. The margin for profit is greater because you’re not selling a physical or costly product. You still need to ensure you can continuously find new customers.
Examples of knowledge-sharing services include:
- Career Coaching
- Consulting and business advice
- Personal growth
- Health and wellness
- Financial advice
- Creative training and teaching
E-commerce
Solopreneurs have online stores to sell all kinds of products that are in high demand. They use an online store to reach people who are interested in their products at a greater distance. This type of business requires more investment at the beginning, but there’s also a big margin for success because of the large audiences that can be reached.
E-commerce types:
- Food & beverage
- Health and beauty items
- Fashion and accessories
- Home and outside products
- Electronics
- Automobile accessories
- Pet goods
- Games and toys
- Artwork and decoration
Creative services
The demand for skilled online professionals is always increasing as the digital economy continues growing. As a solopreneur, you can turn your skills into services.
Examples of creative services include:
- Copywriting and content writing.
- Branding and graphic design.
- Video editing and creation.
- Music and audio production or editing.
- Photography and image editing.
- Animation and motion graphics.
Since you’re selling your skills and time, you can make a solid profit selling them. Just make sure you find a steady flow of clients you can work with regularly.
Content and media creation
Content has taken such an important part of our lives online that more and more people are making a living creating content. You can earn money in different ways by making content. You can earn by getting enough views, creating sales, advertising revenue, or affiliate marketing.
Some of the most popular content-creation businesses are:
- Social media
- Blogs and websites on niche topics.
- Podcast creation.
- Photography and digital media
With the rising importance of social media, there’s a high reward potential if you can create appealing content. Just make sure to diversify your assets so you don’t rely just on one revenue stream.
Digital product creation
This is one of the best business models for solopreneurs because of how scalable it is. The profit margin is huge as there’s no physical product to be sold.
Examples of popular digital products:
- Ebooks.
- Digital guides.
- Online courses for specialized skills.
- Educational content and tutorial videos.
- Audio or music products.
- Mobile apps and software tools.
- Video templates.
- Site memberships.
- Podcast content.
- Video games.
Digital products can lead to a high return on investment because they can be reused many times. The content needs to be high-quality and provide a lot of added value to appeal to customers.
How to become a solopreneur in 2025.
Now that you know what a solopreneur is and all the pros and cons of being one, you might be wondering how to become one. We’ll cover how to become one and create a successful business below.
1. Build a business plan
So many businesses fail early on because they are built without a plan or using a poorly thought-out plan. A solid business plan helps you create long-term success by covering essential areas like finances, goals, mission, and marketing strategy.
Here are some of the essential parts your business plan should include:
- Mission statement
- Goals
- A short brief highlighting the essential parts of your plan
- A business description with your value proposition and how it stands out from competition
- A market analysis
- A swot analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
- Operation management brief
- A presentation of your product or services
- An actionable marketing strategy
- A financial plan with projections, cashflow statements, and a balance sheet
Crafting a business plan can be time-consuming, but you need to give it time and invest a lot of effort into crafting a great plan. If you’re not experienced in crafting business plans, you can hire a freelancer to help you craft the perfect plan.
2. Craft your unique selling proposition
A unique selling proposition’s goal is to create effective marketing by highlighting your brand, product, service, or other advantages. It accounts for three things.
- Your sales proposition: What customers will get out of your brand.
- The benefit from your proposition: Why customers should want and buy your products or services.
- The unique element of your selling proposition: Why clients should buy products or services from you instead of a competitor.
Keep your unique selling proposition as short as possible. It should be short but convincing. Pack a punch to convince people that you are the solution quickly. You can hire a copywriter or marketing expert to help you write your unique selling proposition.
3. Market yourself
You need to market yourself a lot to grow your customer list and business. There are lots of approaches you can take to reach more people. Digital marketing enables you to reach people in many different places and also to have more targeted marketing that generates better results.
Here are some examples of marketing actions you can take:
- Write a blog on your business’s area of expertise.
- Leverage social media to reach people interested in your business.
- Use advertising to get more clients.
- Use SEO to ensure people searching for topics related to your business find you.
- Use video marketing to reach video viewers and create viral videos.
- Use influencer marketing to reach the right people with the right message.
- Leverage email marketing to reach leads multiple times.
There are even more ways to leverage digital marketing to grow your business. Get to know your customers and audience to understand where they spend time and how to convince them that your business is the right solution for them.
4. Choose the best prices for your services or products
Determine your absolute minimum rate by following these steps: First, sum up your monthly expenses and desired profit. Then, add around 30% to account for taxes and business expenses. Divide the resulting amount by the hours you can work each month. This calculation gives you your break-even rate, which you should never go under.
Here’s an example of digital products, online courses, coaching, and consulting:
- Basic level = An entry-priced product to show the quality of your offering. Between $25 and $100 (for an ebook, a short coaching, or quick advice)
- Medium level = Your principal offer. The one you want your client to order. Price it between $150 and $1000, depending on your offer.
- High level = Your most premium offer for people who want to get the most out of what you can offer. Between $1000 and $10,000 depending on what you offer.
Create a solid pitch to sell your products or services. If you have a strong pitch that can convince people they need your services, it will be easier to earn money and attract clients. Understand your client’s needs, sympathize with them, offer the solution, and you will get a customer who trusts you.
You should also price yourself based on what you offer. If you offer high-level professional services, you should charge higher rates. If you’re selling cheap products, on the other hand, you need to offer low prices that make them worth the investment.
5. Delegate work to freelancers to get more done
Becoming a successful solopreneur is a lonely road filled with challenges. It requires lots of effort and commitment. But you don’t need to do everything alone. A great option to delegate work and get better results is to hire freelancers. They can complete projects for you in areas where you are less skilled so you can focus on what you do best and grow your business efficiently.
Try to understand where you spend the most time during a work week. What you do well and what you can improve. Then, you can focus on doing what is essential and what generates the best results for you while you delegate the rest of your work to freelancers.
Here are examples of work you can delegate:
- Accounting and administrative work
- Marketing work
- Research, data entry, and data analysis
- Content creation and social media management
- IT work
- Design work
Use ComeUp to grow your business
If you’re interested in leveraging freelancers to grow your business, ComeUp is the perfect platform to find freelance talents to complete your projects. There’s a large variety of services available on the platform, and transactions are super safe and secure because of the way ComeUp verifies sellers and acts as a trusted third party. When you place an order to a freelancer, the money is placed in an escrow account until the order is completed and you’ve approved it. Then, the freelancer is paid directly.
In addition, ComeUp is rated highly on Trustpilot because of its great customer service team that is always ready to help. You can reach a human representative from the first message you send, and they will answer promptly to assist you the best they can.
Sell your services on ComeUp
If you’re considering selling services as a solopreneur, you can also sell them on ComeUp. The platform enables you to optimize your profile and services to convince clients to buy your services. With millions of visitors monthly, it’s the perfect platform to find clients.
ComeUp also secures your transactions. When a buyer places an order, the money goes into an escrow account before being delivered to you once you complete the order. This ensures your client does not run away with your money once you deliver the order. Plus, you don’t have to chase them endlessly, hoping they will pay.
As you grow your sales, you will gain more exposure on the platform and appear higher in searches and categories, so you have more chances of getting orders.
Conclusion: Solopreneur vs entrepreneur
Now you know everything about solopreneurship, the difference between solopreneur vs entrepreneur, and you’re ready to create a successful business. You can leverage ComeUp to grow more efficiently and quickly. ComeUp connects you to thousands of freelancers and clients alike. Start using ComeUp to complete all your solopreneur goals.
