How best to solve the solo side of solopreneurship?

We get our love at home, but work provides a different type of companionship.

The feedback and interaction with people working in the same field, facing similar problems in the same socio-politico-economic environment.

You're now working alone, but have no one to share these daily problems with. No one in the same problem space: though you're surrounded with family and friends.

As with relationships in general, you can buy friends but friends which are bought aren't like the one's that love you disinterestedly. What I'm trying to say is this isn't a problem money can fix.

This is one of the many things solo entreupeneurs must manage in addition to their energy and time, you have to work hard to create these informal bonds that usually arise casually in the workspace.

What can you do:

1.) Join local business association/toastmaster or whatever local society brings together business people together.

2.) Reach out to people working locally in your field (i.e insurance).

3.) Aim to have 1 or two lunches a week with a business person in your area.

4.) Obviously this will be casual at first, but can develop into masterclasses and joint ventures.

5.) Never go a week without inviting two business people to coffee.

6.) Hop on the train to the newyork city monthy IH meetup, and network with people there. YOu can even ask to talk about your experiences going solo.

7.) You might not be used to talking business things with your significant other, though pherhaps they're wiser in this area than you think.

8.) Relationships are meaningful to the effort invested in them.

Message boards > slack

Long email exchanges > message boards

Phone calls > emails

IRL meetups > phonecalls.

You might want to study entreupeners like Nathan Barry or Jackson, who while running solo businesses formed close links with other people in the same situation IRL.

There are also a few annual conferences for solo biz people.

In summary, an active commitment to meetup weekly informally with business people, attending monthly meets and annual conferences, alongside growing your business will help ward of this dilemma.

Councilling/advisors can work, but somebody you pay, isn't like a network of friends who hit each other up casually every now and then.

Hope that helps, and remember you're on a new frontier of living and working. Social relations you could take for granted before, you now have to manually grow and nurture. This is in fact what people pay shared workspace fees for, not the desk and coffee press (this is another option - work in a shared workspace).

Philip. this post is all about me. But I really just want to show that you are not alone in this issue. Its real. But its also solvable.

I am at about 10K MRR, with wife and 3 kids, and its the same. After quitting the 9-5 I battled away consulting from home, and had panic attacks during the transition away from regular income. All solo. And then came better projects and my own product and recently my own office. Still solo. I leave the house at 7:30 and get home at 6PM and speak to pretty much nobody during that time. At home nobody has any real idea what I do, though its all above board, and so there is no communication about it. I live in small town Japan, so there are no local entrepeneur meet-ups or co-working spaces. All up its quite lonely ... in that sense.

But its better these days, and here what I do/did.

• I talk to people online A LOT.

I chat with other entrepeneurs in my space and in forums

I organize masterminds (its hit and miss)

I talk to customers and resellers

I did hire a coach for a while

• I built a team

I have a small group of good people, who are contractors that over time became the "team." Its very much mutual. They have their own projects and I help them. And they help me. They are all remote. They have good opinions and I try to step out of myself and hear them ( I tend to "know everything better than other people")

• I accept my role as captain of the ship

There is a kind of meaningless cycle of "what should I do? what should I do " that goes on your head that doesn't take you anywhere no matter how long it runs. Even if there is nobody else on the ship, you need to make decisions, plot the course and steer the thing. Its lonely and its uncertain and you take wrong turns, but you are the captain and you just have to do it.

This is a common problem for those that work in isolation.

Some people like myself don't mind it too much, I find background music or podcasts can help a bit provided they don't become distractions.

A great idea Margo from https://www.thatseemsimportant.com launched is a virtual coworking space as a service for solopreneurs.

See: https://www.arenavirtualcoworking.com/

I haven't used it myself but I thought it was a brilliant idea.

I believe this is what made co working spaces an interesting proposition. Could help address the daytime loneliness issue, so long as you can stay focused on your work. There’s probably at least one in your city. They each have their own personality though, and some can be pretty toxic, so YMMV.

Have you considered joining a mastermind where people who are also starting out their venture might be able to relate and provide advice? Alternatively, there are plenty of platforms now out there to help you find a cofounder but it will still be quite the process to find the right fit.

I agree meetups are great.

1. You will make some good friends (Maybe not guaranteed)

2. You will remember why working alone does have its perks!

3. You will at least hear say other things going on the industry of interest to you

4. Might be able to find a co-founder?

5. If you don't have a positive experience you don't have to go back / can find a different one.

I am in the exact same situation... (700MRR). I completly understand your feelings :) . If you are interested maybe we can have some chat.. (I live in London,UK)

Hey Philip, I had the same struggle while working on my last project. So I decided to create a platform for online mastermind groups to "scratch my own itch" called Linhub.

Also, + most of @webapppro's suggestions.

I almost feel that I am an expert in guiding people through thought process. I enjoy doing it, so feel free to contact me.

regarding being alone, go out and relax, take breaks doing things totally unrelated helps

Having similar issues.

Strongly considering looking for a cofounder, but since it has to be a person of similar devotion and work ethic such as myself, I'm still not sold on the idea.

I don't think you can solve this problem with money only. Sure, there will be someone to charge you for this, but it will not cure the root cause.

Have you considered hiring an employee? If you've already built something profitable, you probably don't need to give away a piece of the pie just because you feel a little lonely at work, and you'll still have someone to talk to, bounce ideas off of, and maybe even hang around outside of work if you're lucky. Again, I'd try to make the decision from a business standpoint, like whether your business even needs an employee, but if you think you might use one you can give that a shot.

I'm finding it best when working in busy cafes or coworking spaces. With a little initial effort, I even meet new people, and some of them are cool.

Good luck.

Hey, I'd second the idea of affiliating with an industry or small business association. You'd immediately have access to people who have been through the same phase. In the UK we have organisations like the FSB, BCS and the IET. All provide mentor services. There may be something similar where you are.

Another option (if you only need a brief conversation) would be reaching out to people on LinkedIn where there are lots of approachable entrepreneurs. They are generally happy to provide an opinion or an idea.

Lastly, if you need something longer term, then maybe consider partnering with someone to share the burden. Here or any of the other sources above would be good places to start to find someone.

All the best!

Increase MRR enough to pay for an employee, or somehow manage to bring someone else in that shares your vision. Community is important.

@philipimperato Hey, are you open to exploring a collaboration for marketing and traction building for your project for a short-term or a long-term?

Philip,

What's your personality type? (MBTI)

What did you do before going solo?

Is it technical or business problems you have difficulty solving by yourself?