Dream It Before You Build It: The Envision Stage For Solopreneurs Explained

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Ever wonder how to take that fuzzy “someday” business idea and turn it into something real, without locking yourself into a plan too soon?

In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, we’re diving into the Envision stage of the Solopreneur Success Cycle (episode 3 of The Solopreneur Success Cycle Series beginning with episode 216). 

We’ll talk about dreaming big without overcomplicating, why your goals (not just a trendy framework) should guide your choices, and how to vet your ideas without fear of someone “stealing” them. 

Plus, we’ll share why niching down is actually your best friend and how your so-called competition can become your biggest allies. Whether you have no idea what business to start or just want to make sure you’re on the right track, this conversation will help you turn possibility into clarity. 

Like the show? We'd love it if you'd leave a 5-star review!

Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business. 

So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, click here to check out LifeStarr Intro!  

Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: You've got goals. Great. But now it's time to envision the business that brings them to life. In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, we continue our conversation of the solopreneur success cycle that we talked about in the past few episodes, and we dig into that often overlooked but crucial step of imagining your business before you start planning it. What will it look like?

Who will it serve? And how do you turn your skills and passions into something real without getting boxed into overhyped tools like ikigai? We're breaking it all down from dreaming big to niching small, and why your crazy idea is exactly what the world needs. If you're ready to let loose creatively while staying grounded in your goals, this episode is your permission slip.

Carly: You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my cohost Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy but awesome journey as a company of one. We take pride in being part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you.

So if you're eager to gain valuable insights insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone.

Carly Ries: Alright, listeners. You just heard us talk about our crazy offer. And as part of this, and as part of our book launch on in early October twenty twenty five, we are doing a series covering the solopreneur success cycle. This is the third episode in the series. We did an overview.

We talked about goals. And today we really wanted to dive into the envision phase of the solopreneur success cycle. Now it's funny because in our last episode we were talking about goals. And we were like, really think about these goals and use them as your north star. And today, some of you may be well, weren't you envisioning your business?

Like, how is this different? It is. And that's kind of what we wanna cover. Joe, you are so great at, I feel like, this point. Can you kinda dive into envisioning your business?

How it's different from goal setting, is our step zero?

Joe Rando: Absolutely. So when I say envisioning, I mean that you're really starting to think about what this business is gonna look like, but you're not getting into the nitty gritty yet. the next step is planning, but you really just wanna kind of think through what kinds of things could I do.

And you might have a very clear idea. I'm an IT professional, and I wanna help, small businesses, manage their computer systems in such a way that they don't get hacked and keep everything up and running smoothly for them. That might be what you wanna do, and great. You know, you probably can skip this step if you know exactly what you wanna do. But if you're just somebody that says, you know, I have these skills.

I have a bunch of interests. I know that there are some things I could do to make money, but I wanna explore a little bit. That's a really fun thing to do. And it can be fun even if you have a very clear idea what you wanna do. You just kinda dream a little bit.

And, we have exercises, you know, writing down the things that you are passionate about, writing down the the skills that you have, and then looking at combinations of those things that might make a business can come up with some interesting ideas. And maybe something unique or different for you, but, something that meets your goals better than your current idea does. So it's fun, and it doesn't commit you to anything, but the process of letting loose a little bit and thinking thinking outside the box can be a nice exercise. So another thing, that people talk about a lot in this phase is something called ikigai. And ikigai is attributed to this ancient Japanese wisdom.

It's not. It was invented in, 2015 by, the concept was invented by some computer scientists in Spain. Some British blogger, I think, named it Ikigai. Ikigai, has a meaning in Japanese, but about something about a balanced life or something. you know, it's not ancient, but it's still interesting.

It's just people treat it as sacrosanct, and I think that's a huge mistake. So the idea of ikigai is that you have the things that you're passionate about, the things that you're good at, the things that the world needs, and the things that the world will pay for. And if you can find something that they have a Venn diagram. Right?

The ancient Japanese weren't that into Venn diagrams as far as I know. But if you have a Venn diagram of those four things all intersecting, that's the ikigai. It's perfect. And I think if you can find that, that sounds awesome.

By the same token, I'm a big fan of of niching down, but I think that's can be over niching. You might have something that you're not passionate about, but that can meet your goals that you're good at, that people will pay for and the world needs. And, hey, you know, that's okay. Some people run businesses that they don't have a deep passion for, but they're capable of running. They don't mind running it, and it gives them the life they want.

So there's that. I always think of the example of pet rocks. You think of pet rocks. I mean, if you look at the people that did it, they made a ton of money selling these pet rocks back in the seventies, and it was a rock in a box.

And the box had air holes in it for the rock to breathe, whatever. But people bought these things left and right. Now maybe they were passionate about this. Certainly, they were good at it because they were able to make these products, and the world was definitely paying for them, but I don't know that they would need it. Right?

But somebody did it and it worked out for them, and now they are back, which is interesting. But anyway, my point is ikigai is a nice tool. A lot of people talk about it, but I don't go too crazy with it. If I don't check all four boxes, so to speak, I don't think it's a reason to throw an idea out if it's meeting your goals. So that's the one that's missing from ikigai.

Is it meeting your goals, the business as a whole? So, anyway, just my take on ikigai. Any any thoughts on that, Carly?

Carly Ries: No. what I was gonna add was just going back to your goals, because we talked about that at step zero. Because so many times, people will just follow ikigai like you were saying, because everything seems aligned, but again, depending on what your goals are, they may not be. And that your goals need to be your north star.

Joe Rando: So yeah. then, you know, as you envision your business and, going through this process of thinking through things that you're good at, things that you're excited about, things that people will pay for, blah blah blah. You know, don't be afraid to niche down. You know, don't be afraid. You could say, I wanna be a life coach for, you know, men over 60. I could say that because I'm a man 60, but, you know, that's a lot of people. Don't be afraid to say a man 60 who's you been an entrepreneur and sold their businesses and is looking for something to do instead of retire. You know, that's niching down to the point where you might actually get people to notice you, the bright people to notice you. So just, you know, that niching down is important.

Carly Ries: Absolutely. Yeah. I just think this is funny because I feel like this stuff of the business, it can get mixed into other phases. And so I'm so glad that through the success cycle, we call attention to it. Because like I said, some people might roll it into goals, some people might roll it into planning, but it just deserves its own spotlight.

Joe Rando: Yeah. And lastly, once you do have an idea, definitely run it by people. You know, go out and talk to people. Even if it's something really unique, that old, oh, somebody's gonna steal my idea thing, nobody's gonna steal your idea. It's too hard. These businesses are too hard to build.

Nobody's gonna sit there and go, oh, you know, I'm doing my own thing, but I'm gonna steal that. Granted, if you have some magic invention that you come up with, you know, don't go sharing it with some large company. But if you're gonna life coach people or be a contractor or do something that, typically solopreneurs do or have an app idea, talk to people. See if it sounds good, you know. See if they would be interested. Because it's good to vet these things before you start. It's a process of getting the thing planned out, and then building it. So you really wanna make sure that you're on the right track. So don't be afraid to talk to people. I mean, we have a community of solopreneurs in LifeStarr that, you know, be great for that. but there are other people out there and people that you know and people in your network, so just don't be shy.

Carly Ries: And spoiler, people are probably already doing what you're doing, so you just need to figure out how to make yourself unique, which we'll get to you in another episode.

Joe Rando: Yeah. you know, that's a great point because one of the neat things about being a solopreneur is that you don't need a huge chunk of the market. So unlike, more entrepreneurial, employee based businesses, a lot of times you can just look and say, you know, there's enough here for some of us . And so you got a direct competitor doing the same thing as you. You can be friends and share because you don't need, 98% of the market to survive.

You need 2% of the market to survive. So that's one of the fun things about being a solopreneur is that you can have a lot of, I call it, coopetition. So your competitors are actually people you can cooperate with, and, oh, this person, I think they would help you more than I would, you know, send them over and vice versa. anyway, just an interesting point you brought up.

Carly Ries: Well, thank you. Well, listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As we mentioned, please buy that book. Otherwise, please share this episode with a friend. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Leave that five star review. It it means so much to us. And we will see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go.

So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.