Moving From Plans to Action in the Solopreneur Success Cycle

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After spending so much time laying the groundwork in the planning phase, it’s finally time to take action. In this episode, Carly and Joe step into the doing phase of the Solopreneur Success Cycle, where strategies move from paper to practice. They share how to run your business with intention, capture issues before they slip through the cracks, and decide what deserves your immediate attention versus what can wait. From simple fixes to documenting big-picture improvements, this is the phase where solopreneurs turn ideas into execution and momentum into results.

Important Questions From The Episode:

Why is it important to document issues instead of just fixing them right away?

Because not every problem is urgent. Writing issues down helps you pause, evaluate the impact, and decide whether it needs immediate attention or can wait until you’re in the improvement phase. It also preserves the insights you have in the moment or ideas you might forget months later when you finally revisit the problem.

What framework can solopreneurs use to prioritize what to work on?

The Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful tool. It helps you separate tasks into four categories: urgent and important, urgent but not important, important but not urgent, and neither urgent nor important. Doing this allows solopreneurs to focus on what truly drives the business forward rather than just reacting to whatever feels pressing in the moment.

How can writing things down reduce stress for solopreneurs?

Carrying everything in your head creates mental clutter and even sleepless nights. By getting issues, tasks, and ideas out of your brain and into a trusted system, whether that’s a notebook, worksheet, or an app, you free up mental space. You’ll rest easier knowing nothing important will slip through the cracks.

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: Well, we've officially graduated from the planning phase of the slopreneur success cycle, and it's time to move into the doing phase. In this episode, we break down what it really looks like to run your business day to day, how to capture issues before they slip your mind, and why documenting problems and possible solutions will save you countless hours and stress later. From applying the Eisenhower matrix to avoiding knee jerk reactions to the simple system that helps you sleep better at night, this conversation is packed with practical ways to keep your business moving forward while building smarter for the future. You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for anyone on the solo business journey, whether you're just toying with the idea, taking your first bold step, or have been running your own show for years and want to keep growing, refining, and thriving. I'm Carly Ries, and along with my cohost, Joe Rando, we're your guides through the crazy but awesome world of being company of one.

As part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all things solopreneurship, we help people design businesses that align with their life's ambitions so they can work to live, not live to work. If you're looking for rich quick scheme, this is not the place for you. But if you want real world insights from industry experts, lessons from the successes and stumbles of fellow solopreneurs, and practical strategies for building and sustaining a business you love, you're in the right spot. Because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. No matter where you are in your journey, we've got your back.

Joe, it's so funny. We've been doing a series on the solopreneur success cycle, and I don't even know what number we're on at this point because there was so much in the planning phase. But guess what? We have graduated from the planning phase. Today is officially the day that we're moving on to the doing phase of the Solopreneur Success Cycle.

Which it feels like a long time coming, but everything you do in the planning phase is necessary for the actual doing phase. And Joe, I mean, there's so much we can discuss even in the doing phase, but it's kinda just putting all the pieces together from your planning and actually implementing them.

Joe Rando: Well, this is really, at this point, about, running your business. You've put it all together. You're running it. Maybe you started it.

Hey. Your business has been running for three years, but there's still something you can get out of this phase because this is really all about as you run your business. You know, one of the things we've all seen is that you notice something that's not the way it should be. And I don't know about you. I don't know about the listeners, but for me, I go, I remember that.

And, yeah, no. I don't remember that. I don't. there are so many things that happen. So one of the things that I have come to believe is that when something isn't quite the way you'd like it to be, sometimes you go, yeah, let's just fix it now. you know, it's gonna take me half an hour or ten minutes or I got a day to devote to it.

Great. But sometimes it's like, this is a big deal. I don't know even how I'm gonna do it exactly. You wanna write that down. You wanna note it.

You want to have a place where you put these things, these problems, and, brainstorm solutions at the time because sometimes you get insights that you won't be able to recall months later when you're actually gonna tackle this.

Carly Ries: Even if you think you will.

Joe Rando: You will think you will. Absolutely. Yeah. You will think it. You will be wrong.

I shouldn't say it. Some people have amazing memories, and, yeah, they can just do this. But for most of us yeah. Write it down. I have actually a document worksheet I've put together for tracking this kind of stuff that it's gonna be linked in the book, in Solopreneur Business for Dummies.

So, anyway, the idea there is just keeping track will make a big difference. And the idea is, to think through this idea of what is the issue. Write down the issue because you noticed it.

Right? Something went wrong. What is the impact of that issue? what's it doing that's causing things to be bad?

That helps you kinda gauge the severity. How should I carve time now? Can I wait until the next time I decide to make some changes to the business? You know, a best guess of what's causing it because you might have insights now that you're not gonna have in three months. And like I said, the possible solutions, you really wanna write those down because you have some insights in the moment that might be hard to get back later.

How confident are you of these solution ideas? You know, is this just a wing and a prayer, or I know this is what I need to do? How much work do you think it's gonna be? And what's the plan? What's the next step?

Am I gonna do it now? Am I gonna put it off until I do my change phase? You know, my improve phase of the solopreneur success cycle could be months away. And just make a decision around that. So, that's really the way that you wanna address this in my opinion.

And this is the way we address it in the book.

Carly Ries: Well, and I think some people might think, oh, that sounds tedious to write down all those things. But what I would say is, one, you'll thank yourself in the long run even though in that moment, it'll seem like a to do you just need to check off. But also, it'll allow you to take a step back and think through it because I think when you see something going wrong, your knee jerk reaction is to fix it immediately. But that might take you away from other more pressing things like we talked about the Eisenhower matrix Throughout the book.

We also talk about it in our show a lot of just like, Joe, remind me of the four things.

Joe Rando: It's important, not important, and then urgent and not urgent. And you spend most of your time in the important urgent things. Right?

and this is really where a lot of these changes, some of these changes are important and urgent, and you just need to do them now or something bad will happen. But some of them are important, but not urgent. you know, the world's not gonna end, but these are where you really improve your business. Right? So this is where you're saying, here's something I can do that's gonna make my business better that isn't because it's broken. It's because it's an improvement or some something that's not ideal right now. And, maybe it's just a manual thing you're doing overnight.

Like, every day I spend, forty five minutes doing this manual thing, and, boy, I would love to buy that time back. Well, you don't have to buy that time back right now. Everything's working. But this is where you sit down and you create this document and outline the issues and why you want to fix this or make a change. And then you can take that time later to carve out to make that particular change or at least explore making that change and maybe buy back that forty five minutes.

Carly Ries: Yeah. I mean, what I just love about documenting all of this is that we can go a mile a minute, like I talk. We can go a mile a minute, and it allows you to slow down if you document it. If nothing else, just to pause and not just have any knee jerk reactions, I think this process is really important.

And like Joe said, we dive into it more in the book.

Joe Rando: Yeah. I mean, one of the things I'll tell you, I spent a good chunk of my adult life waking up in the middle of the night, remembering something that I forgot because I tried to carry it all in my head. And this was, especially with to dos and tasks and things like that that I would have forgotten to do something or wanted to make sure I didn't forget to do something, and I would write those things down. And one of the things that I ended up doing was, implementing the getting things done process that we've talked about before, David Allen's process. But, also, I built out, as part of LifeStarr, an app, that's also being released with the book that lets you get all that stuff out of your brain and into a system.

And yeah, I sleep so much better now. I don't wake up anymore. And the same thing with this. If you get this stuff written down, documented, and you don't then wake up going, oh, I gotta remember to do that or whatever. if you've got this document, you've got this book, I don't know, three ring notebook or, u a Moleskin, notebook or whatever where you're writing this stuff down, then you're not worried about it. You know it's there. It's safe, and it's just out of your brain, and makes for a better life.

Carly Ries: Absolutely. Well, again, this is learning from your business. So, Joe, we have so much more to dive into for this current phase for the next phase of the solopreneur success cycle. So be sure to tune in to that listeners next time. And thank you so much for tuning in today.

As always, leave that five star review. Share this episode with a friend. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, including YouTube. 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.