MAYBE SOME OF US DON’T REALLY WANT TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR (BUT WE THINK WE DO)
Why do you want to be an entrepreneur? A common answer is “I want to be my own boss”. But the fact of the matter is that when you end up becoming a successful entrepreneur along with becoming your own boss, you will also become others’ boss! Is that what you really signed up for? If yes, then that’s great.
Contrarily, what if you want to become your own boss but are not really interested in taking responsibilities of other people (and their families)? Maybe you are thinking, well then, I should become a freelancer. Then, what if you want to scale up? Then, maybe the answer is “Solopreneurship” — Solo + Entrepreneurship! It’s somewhere on the spectrum where sole-endeavor freelancing on one end and a startup with a team on the other end. If you are a solopreneur, you are the sole owner of your business and you alone have full control over your business. When your business grows and you need more hands, instead of hiring full time employees, you reach out to the freelancers or independent contractors. In that way, you don’t become a full-time boss (of others)! I know the difference between early stage entrepreneurship and solopreneurship is subtle, in some circumstances, maybe even non-existent, but for some people that slight difference might make a life altering difference!
You may even argue that “Solopreneur” is just a fancy word for what has been around us all along — that tiny grocery store in the street corner run by a middle-aged guy with some occasional help from an irregular part-timer. And you are right, that’s a good example of Solopreneurship. But it’s not common to see this mindset in tech startups. In most cases, when a solo guy starts creating a tech startup, almost from day zero, his or her eyes are on scaling up, growing big and having a giant successful corporation. There is nothing wrong with that ambition, but for many, Solopreneurship in tech startup might be viable too!
