- Entrepreneurship Handbook
- Posts
- The Blueprint to Building a One-Person Online Business
The Blueprint to Building a One-Person Online Business
Stephen Moore
September 19, 2023
Welcome to EH Weekly, the new newsletter from the team behind Medium’s biggest entrepreneur-focused publication.
You can look forward to insightful lessons, practical takeaways and the hottest news stories delivered to your inbox every week.
In this week’s edition, we discuss:
Why “yes” means “no” with VCs
The blueprint to starting a one-person online business
Exploring the curious language of VCs
Language betrays purpose. In Orwell’s 1984, Newspeak was created to narrow the range of thought and, ultimately, make dissidence impossible. In the same vein, VCspeak has evolved to serve one key tenet:
“Never say no to a founder, just in case.”
Jacob Bartlett has experienced a multitude of VC rejections and imparts this hard-earned knowledge of VCspeak to give us an inkling of what VCs say when they just mean “no.”
When they say: “Talk to us again when you have traction.”
They really mean: “If you prove there is a market opportunity and that you can execute as a management team, then we might consider you. But because I don’t believe either of those things will happen, I will not be taking a risk on you”.
When they say: “We think you’re too early for us, speak to us when you raise your next round.”
They really mean: “We’re an early-stage fund, but generally speaking, we only invest pre-seed in second-time founders and people with executive-level industry experience in this sector. We like the opportunity but don’t believe your management team is the right one in which to invest.”
When they say: “We like you, we want to invest, you should start hiring now.”
They really mean: “We do really like your vibe as a founding team. We see your potential. We do genuinely want to invest, and want to set you up to move quickly once the deal closes. Please note however that this is neither a term sheet or a wire transfer. Perhaps we want more time to evaluate other options in the space. We lack conviction.”
Read on for the top 10 survival tips for when you’re out fundraising. — “Yes” Actually Means “No”: The Curious Language of VCs
How to build an (online) one-person business
“Thinking about starting a business is as far as most people go. Unfortunately, most of them give up even before trying their passion.”
Smoul is a Product Analyst, writer and Notion templates creator. She has written over 1M words on the internet and had over 6,000 customers. In other words — she’s a solopreneur. She broke down the blueprint for her success and shared the steps you can take to replicate her success:
Make the most of your resources — We have the internet. You don’t need to hire a team, take loans from banks or work tirelessly on branding and marketing to grow your business. All you need are the resources.
Identify your niche — Use this simple formula: Skills + Experience + Monetization = Niche.
Create content and attract your niche — Social media, blogs, newsletters, whatever it is, start. Remember, focus on the quality of the audience, not quantity.
Share what you know — Don’t stress over being 100% original. Take inspiration from those you admire and create your own content.
Make more companions than competition — Don’t be a lone wolf. If someone is behind you, guide them. If they’re ahead of you, learn from them. Share your progress and growth with your audiences, and don’t just showcase the final product — showcase the process.
Create your service/product — It could be selling your service to clients, creating digital products or building a cohort. Don’t wait for the right time to start monetization. Whether you have 1K or 10K in your audience, start your business when you feel confident.
Spread your audience — Don’t entrust one platform to encapsulate all your business. A winning strategy is to build on one platform, gain high numbers there, and then dilute.
Collect social proof and keep growing — Create content to attract strangers to be your audience. Create products to turn these people into potential buyers. Create social proof to turn these potential buyers into customers.
👉️ Steal the full blueprint here: The 8-Part Blueprint For Starting Your (Online) One-Person Business
Recommended reads
Free Products 101: When They Can Work and When They Won’t — Dan Layfield, former Head of Growth at Codecademy, answers the question, how should you think about whether to have a free product?
The Little Things: Small Moves with Big Profit Impact — Founder coach Justin Ferriman explains why more customers, revenue, and profit result from consistently delivering on the tiny details.