When you become free it pisses a lot of people of.
That’s why you’ll rarely hear people talking about one-person businesses or working on an online business part-time. Those who have done it are busy doing it. Those who dream of doing it or failed just hate on it.
Your job in life isn’t to become a hater. It’s to do something you love.
The concept of a one-person business you start part-time is a powerful way to achieve this goal. Here’s how I did it and you can too.
This one’s cliche as hell
I’ll sound like Oprah when I say this, but mindset is everything.
A one-person business requires a certain belief system. If you’re skeptical AF and think everything is a multi-level marketing scam or a get-rich-quick scheme, then it’s hard to be open to the idea of a one-person business.
The thing is you already are a one-person business. You just have one customer which is your employer.
When I realized that it changed the game for me. I thought to myself, “what if I have a few more customers?”
My mind began to expand. I had no idea how to get customers and I definitely didn’t want to be a business because my previous startup failed. But I did begin to have new thoughts and that’s where it started.
Accept your current work life is hell
Most jobs suck.
We know it deep down but we lie to ourselves. Our job becomes an alibi for the career we could have. You tell yourself you love it or it’s good enough because that’s the only way to settle for the current paradigm.
As soon as you have polar opposite thoughts, fear creeps in and shuts down the whole show. “You can’t do that, you gotta mortgage to pay, pal.”
The more I began to read about different lifestyles and ways of making money, the more my mind changed — to the point where it was never the same again.
I saw a job as a way to make money, and as a place where I got paid less than I was worth, so shareholders could make a profit from my time.
My concept of time changed too. I began to crave time to do whatever I wanted. Some weekends I liked to waste the afternoon watching local sport or staring at the Yarra River in Melbourne.
“What if I could indulge in these present-moment experiences all the time?”
I committed to finding a way. But, again, I had no idea how.
Start so small people think you’re an idiot
The only small action I could come up with was to find people already doing it and spend as much time as possible with them. The problem was none of those people would hang around me.
I was a loser. I wasn’t their type. I had nothing to offer them.
Much of that negative self-talk didn’t serve me. I realized I did have a few assets I could trade: 1) Time 2) Tech company contacts.
So I reached out to strangers online to see if I could find a way to join their one-person business. Most ignored me. One ended up saying yes.
I got to write content for them in return for some coaching and free tickets to their live events. It wasn’t much but it gave me a start.
Have a way to reach people where they’re at
I quickly realized if I was ever to have a one-person business, I needed a way to reach people.
The answer was ads.
But I couldn’t afford to buy ads with my mediocre salary. So I started using free social media apps. I traded my time for likes, and later, email subscribers. Still, I had no idea what to do with all these people.
“What the hell do I have to offer? I don’t want to be another guru selling stuff on the internet?”
I kept building on social media.
Make the first $20
The one-person businesses I followed all made 6 and 7 figures.
This was daunting. I hadn’t even made one dollar online. The mental roadblock got in the way of me taking action.
That’s when it hit me: just make $20. If you can make $20 online then you can perhaps earn a full-time living. I should point out it wasn’t about money or trying to buy Lambos.
I wanted to make money online so I could stop trading my time for money and make enough to live a better lifestyle than beans and rice for lunch every day.
Eventually, I made my first few dollars from books and writing royalties.
The mental shift was incredible. I went from being skeptical to thinking, “I reckon I know how successful people do this now.”
Build your online empire part-time
Once the money came in the idea of a one-person business was validated.
All I had to do now was build the damn thing. That required the precious resource of time, which I had less and less of because of my job.
This is an important step in the process. The best one-person businesses are built part-time. They’re slowly validated and iterated on. They’re built before and after work hours and on weekends.
At the start there’s a sacrifice. You probably won’t watch as much Netflix or have the desire to get drunk on weekends and destroy your energy.
That’s normal. You’re building the rest of your life.
Giving up some of your free time to create something special online is a reality you’ll never regret. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.
Grow the number of people you reach
The more people you reach the easier it is to transition to a one-person business and replace your job.
Doesn’t mean you need 2M followers but it sure as hell helps. To maximize your chances of success you want to reach more people. The best way to do this is by collaborating with other creators of a similar size to you.
Doing this alone is stupid.
You’ll only end up frustrated and give up. Growing a business with others is way easier and more fun.
That’s what I did. On the outside it looked like it was all me. Behind the scenes it was the helpfulness and kindness of others that helped me grow a massive email list.
Outpace your salary
Likes ain’t cash.
If you just reach lots of people online it’s useless if you can’t feed yourself doing it. At this stage you still have a job. One of the most delicate parts is the transition from a job to a one-person business.
Many people stuff it up. They get ahead of themselves and quit their job in a blaze of glory to go all in. Only to fail because they don’t have enough solid income streams to support them.
One income online is a nightmare.
I’ve seen people go all in on a single arbitrage, like crypto, and have it blow up in their faces. Then they cry about it.
It’s hard to feel sympathy, because if you bet everything on one way of making money, you’re asking for trouble. I never did that.
My background is banking so I treat the online business world as a portfolio of small bets. I make investments and ensure money comes from more than one place in case I’m wrong.
Risk management stops you being stupid.
As the income streams grow the idea is to beat your salary number. Once you do and maintain it for 6 months, only then is it a good time to think about quitting your job to double down on what you’ve built.
Become an actual business
I stuffed up this step.
I had all the money I made part-time online go into my personal bank account. I smiled until tax time. Then I got smacked in the mouth with a 6-figure tax bill that nearly bankrupted me.
To be a business you need to start a business and have the earnings go to a business bank account. That way, you minimize any tax issues.
Funnel profits into smart investments
Many one-person businesses do okay.
They would do much better if they invested the money they made into investments such as stocks, crypto, gold/silver, and real estate.
A business is an asset. Content is a digital asset. The income from these assets can help you buy more assets. The assets you own generate income and dividends.
This money is what helps you live a life most can only dream of.
With enough money comes less stress and more time to do things you want to do. And to slow down time to enjoy life and stop it passing you by.
Know when enough is enough
A one-person business can go from a dream to a nightmare if you don’t know when to stop.
The internet compounds your goal at such a rapid rate after a few years that it’s possible to experience explosive growth. This can become addictive. The whole reason for starting in the first place can get lost.
Remember: money isn’t the aim. Free time is.
See yourself as a one-person business. Dare to become one. And watch it change your life.
