3 steps to launch a 1-person Tiny Empire

What is the purpose of business? Many CEOs may say “growth”. I disagree. The point of business is to make money. Consistently. A business that makes exactly $10k profit every month is not growing at all.

Its growth rate is 0%. In the Venture Capital world this doesn’t go down well, but if you’re a solo-founder, $10k profit each and every month is a pretty good deal.

If you’re like me, a solid income for work that you love doing is all the reward you need from running your own business.

Sadly, most business guides, resources and social media hype is all about the other side of business. Growth for growth’s sake. Subconsciously I followed this path for years, thinking this was the “right” way to build a business. The truth is I don’t want to build a big business with constant growth targets, big teams, 80 hour weeks and constant demands on my time.

Instead, I want a solid income with lots of free time. And I’d wager that I’m not alone in that desire.

Big business can’t give you that and neither can a 9-5.

But a Tiny Empire can. Here’s how:

Don’t grow your business

Well, that’s not quite true. You DO need to grow your business, but only up to a point. Do you expect to be able to grow into infinity? And if so, why would you want to? A bigger business can mean more money, but it can also mean:

• more complexity
• more issues
• more stress
• more tax
• less life

Instead of having a growth mindset, switch to a freedom mindset.

Most businesses grow revenue and also require more time input as they grow. The result is that you work harder and harder infinitely into your future, getting less free time as the years go on. The more the business succeeds, the less time you have. That doesn’t sound like success to me.

With the Tiny Empires approach, you work hard from day one and build your business to your revenue target. Once you reach that point, you begin to optimize. Your systems, your tools, your time, everything. This brings down your personal time spent on the business, but keeps the revenue the same, effectively pushing up your hourly rate. Win win.

Here’s how to build a business using the Tiny Empires method in 3 steps:

Step 1: Find your Tiny Empire

The first stages are the most important. I wrote recently about business models and finding a business that suits your lifestyle. Whilst not the sexiest of subjects, it’s essential to understand both of these things right from the start, because not all business models work well for a Tiny Empire and not every business is going to be easy for you to be consistent with, and consistency is key. So start by deciding on a business model that supports a Tiny Empire and understand what you want from your business.

Step 2: Understand how to go to market

Before you do anything, test the idea. Don’t waste your time or your money until you’ve done that.

How do you test it?

There are many ways, but a few options are:

• Creating a landing page and promote it
• Post on social media
• Just ask people in the industry that you’re targeting

The goal is to see if there’s any interest. With all of these approaches, you can test multiple ideas and see what sticks. What are people engaging with? What do people seem excited about? The ultimate test is always seeing if people will part with their money however, so if you can test that, it’s even better. This could be done by pre-selling your product with pre-orders (and then refunding if you don’t get enough), by creating a fake paywall, or by asking people over Zoom calls if they would be willing to buy your product at x price if you created it. Once you’ve proven there’s a market, get to building.

Next up, use social media and direct selling to get your first customers.

Social media is a good option for generating awareness in a space. Don’t be overly salesy but just post good quality content showing yourself as an authority on the subject area and mix in posts that talk about your project.

For many businesses however, the best (and often overlooked approach) is direct selling. Sales is an unpopular approach these days as it has connotations of sleazy salesmen, plus it’s scary. But understanding the power of sales is one of the easiest ways to grow your business as a solopreneur. Why? Because you have real control over your revenue with sales. If your conversion rate on sales outreach is 1% and your average sales price is $5k, you know with a good level of certainty that if you reach out to 1000 companies, you will make roughly $50k. Other marketing channels just don’t have that level of guarantee. Sales is also far less daunting than it might seem. I’m the biggest introvert you will ever meet and not great at conversation, however I make 90% of my income through direct sales and have even sold 4 companies for multiples of 6-figures.

Step 3: Optimize

Now you should be well on your way to building a business with strong recurring revenue! Now it’s time to optimize what you’re already doing and win back your time.
Here are the big wins:

• No-code - Utilize no-code tools for any aspect of the business that can use it. Particularly no-code tools.
• Automate - Identify processes that you need to do repeatedly and automate them using tools like Zapier.
• AI - Utilize AI tools for things like research, writing emails, writing blog posts, or creating images.
• Productivity - As well as optimizing with tools and systems, you can also optimize yourself by using your time most effectively. I’ll share more on this and other optimization tips next week.
• Outsource - Look for low value but essential tasks that you do on recurring basis that AI isn’t good enough (yet) to help with.

To sum it up

By choosing a business that works for you, creating a simple but effective growth strategy and then optimizing your time, you can build a business that works round you and won’t have you spinning ever faster on the business hamster wheel. Good luck.

I hope this guide was helpful. I know my anti-growth perspective can be a little controversial so let me know in the comments if you disagree or if you have any questions.

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