From Vision to Plan: The Next Step in the Solopreneur Success Cycle

Watch the Episode on YouTube

In this episode, we kick off the Planning phase of the Solopreneur Success Cycle and break down the must-knows before you dive in. From choosing the right title for yourself to simplifying your business model into three core parts, you’ll learn how to set yourself up for efficiency, clarity, and higher earning potential. Whether you’re just starting or refining your business, these insights will help you plan smarter and avoid costly detours. 

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: Planning your business isn't just about logistics. It's about identity, intention, and income. In this episode, we crack open the planning phase of the Solopreneur Success Cycle that we've been talking about for the past few episodes. We walk through why planning after envisioning is crucial, how what you call yourself can impact your bottom line, and the three key ingredients of a simple yet powerful business model. Whether you're a coach, consultant, freelancer, or inventing your own title, this one will get your wheels turning.

So tune in, take notes, and prepare to plan with purpose.

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 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: As you may have heard in the past few episodes, we are doing a series, just Joe and I, covering the solopreneur success cycle. And we're doing this because it coincides with the launch of our book, Solopreneur Business for Dummies, is coming out early October twenty twenty five. If you're listening to this after that, the book is still on sale. So go buy it. We highly encourage you to start buying it right now.

But the whole premise of Solopreneur Business for Dummies kind of follows Joe's idea around the solopreneur success cycle that he created. And we've covered a couple of the first phases in previous episodes, so we highly encourage you to go back and check those out. But today, we're breaking the planning your business part of the book. Did I say that right?

Joe Rando: Yeah. It's just a step, but it's a lot. It's a big step, you know.

Carly Ries: So we're gonna be separating that into a few different episodes. But today, we wanted to talk to you kind of like what to expect in the planning phase, how to approach it, as well as what to call yourselves, business models, all that jazz. And then in upcoming episodes, we'll get to different areas of the planning phase, but it's huge. So big. So, Joe, just kick it off.

Joe Rando: Alright. So first, don't start planning before you envision. That was the last podcast in this little series. So you wanna kinda think through what you wanna do before you start planning.

Our at least my inclination has always been to, okay. What do I do? Oh, we're gonna do that. Let's go sit down and do it. You know, that whole, like, just bias toward action they used to call it when I was getting my MBA. just do something. But, you know, thinking is good, and the idea of doing the envisioning process before you start getting down into the nitty gritty planning of, what, you know, web host you're gonna use or how much you're gonna charge. It's just good. Take that time to think. It's really powerful.

So just do that. And now when you've done that, now it's time to start thinking about what you're gonna do. Because it's better to think through what you wanna do and come up with a good plan than to just start doing stuff. And, again, you know, my nature is, oh, let's just go do something.

But it's not great. You think it through, figure out the best way to do it, and you can work much more efficiently. You won't waste as much time or money. So that's just important. And then the next thing is, we mentioned in the last, podcast, ikigai.

People talk about this all the time. Great exercise to do in that previous phase. Don't be a slave to it. There are things businesses that make sense that don't necessarily check off the ikigai box. More important, make sure the business is serving your goals, the goals that you defined in step zero of this process a couple episodes back.

So that covers the kind of caveats, but let's dig into a couple of things, Carly. One is what you call yourself. Right? We talk about solopreneurs, but you don't have to call yourself a solopreneur.

Carly Ries: I've never introduced myself as I'm a solopreneur. I would describe myself as a solopreneur, but I'm not like, hi. I'm Carly Ries. I'm a solopreneur. Like, that's my job.

Joe Rando: What do you call yourself? I should know this.

Carly Ries: Barcoding consultant.

Joe Rando: I mean, what are some possible titles people could use? I mean, I can think of a couple. Freelancer.

Carly Ries: Coach.

Joe Rando: Coaches. Contractor.

Carly Ries: Yep. I mean, there's so many.

Joe Rando: Solo entrepreneur. You come up with something clever that's just about you that nobody else uses. but it is kinda like not just meaningless because if you're kinda presenting yourself that way, it could be part of your hook. It could be part of how people perceive you.

So that's one of the reasons, you know, I don't wanna get any nasty emails here, but freelancer isn't always a good choice because a lot of people view a freelancer I don't think it's fair, but they view a freelancer as somebody that trades time for money. And that may in some ways be true, but, you can be a very special kind of, person in your business. I just think of, somebody I knew that started out as a freelance graphic designer and then became a design doctor, and then something else, a brand that she was developing kind of, you know, titles around how she was special. And she wasn't lying. It was all true.

And, so that kind of thing can really be almost part of your marketing, part of your hook, part of your positioning, stuff we'll talk about later. But that title is something that should really make you happy and something that, will tell people a little more about you than maybe they would have known if you just use some generic title.

Carly Ries: and again, I agree with you, Joe, that unfairly, people have the connotation with freelancers that they just kinda take projects here and there. And that they're technically unemployed, but they say freelancer because they will take random projects in their skill set, which a lot of freelancers work fifty hours a week because they're so in the NAND, but they just chose the wrong name, which is frustrating.

Joe Rando: Yeah. I think really what I'm saying is that the freelancer is perfectly fine, but sometimes if you use that title a little differently, you can actually charge more money for the same thing. And I know that's weird, but, look. If you don't think that branding has an impact on price, look at, like, the Van Gogh painting that's sold for 50,000,000, and then they find out it's a forgery, and it's not selling for 50,000,000 anymore. So that's branding. That is branding, pure and simple. So the way that you present yourself can have an impact on how much you can charge. So just something to think about. I think last for this one, just because we wanna keep these short because they're sound bites.

But the idea here is that in terms of business models, they don't have to be complicated. to me, there are three aspects to a business model. And people are all over the place on this, but, it's basically how do you create the product that you sell, then how do you market that product, and how do you get paid? And if you think through those three aspects of your business, you've got basically, a framework for a business model. And then people can go into all other kinds of things, and not saying that they're wrong, but, you know, the KISS principle, keep it simple, stupid, is so useful when it comes to solopreneurship.

So just think through those three things. Just, how are you gonna produce it? Are you an artist making jewelry that you're selling on Etsy? Well, then you're a production. or you're just being an affiliate selling other people's products, but you have an audience that you can sell to.

That's a whole different thing. There's a whole list of these ways of doing production. Then how do you get in front of people? How do they know about you? And then lastly, how are you getting paid?

Are you getting paid, cash, are they putting it in their shopping cart and paying on a credit card as they check out, or are you getting paid in phases? Are you getting paid all at the end? Is it a subscription? There's just all these different kinds of business models, but just those three things will really help you define your business in a way and plan out how you're gonna have to go forward to actually run the business.

Carly Ries: So all set. It's funny because like it's just the tip of the iceberg for everything that is the planning phase, and I can't wait to get to other episodes to dive in more. So listeners, we're gonna stop here for today because like I said, we are gonna break the planning phase up into multiple episodes. Be sure to tune in moving forward to hear what else we have for this phase of the solopreneur success cycle.

And be sure to listen to the previous episodes so we have in this entire series. But for now, please leave that five star review. Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform. Share the episode with a friend that you think would find this valuable. And we'll 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.