What’s the difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur? What about a solopreneur versus a freelancer? And really… Why does it even matter?

Many view solopreneurs as a hybrid of freelancers and entrepreneurs, but this is not exactly correct.

More accurately, solopreneurship is a subset of entrepreneurship, with slight overlap with freelancing.

So why does all of this matter?

It matters if If your aim is to be an effective solopreneur.

It matters if you’re a freelancer who wants more freedom and income. Generally speaking, effective solopreneurs make significantly more money and have a better quality of than freelancers.

It matters if you’re an entrepreneur who’s burned out on the “typical path.” It may worth considering switching your strategy to a solopreneur mindset.  

So how do solopreneurs differ? Let’s break it down category by category.

Solopreneurs vs Freelancers:

Solopreneurs are not always service providers.

Solopreneurs businesses can be in any category, whereas freelancers are nearly always providing professional services (think: graphic design, website copywriting, etc). Solopreneurs may have a business that provides services, but it’s far from a requirement. They might sell physical products, be an author with an online course, or anything in between.

Solopreneurs build and leverage powerful brands.

Unfortunately, many freelancers are at the mercy of marketplace sites and have to simply bid on projects that are posted. Some, but not all, freelancers have a brands. This is a big difference because all effective solopreneurs build and leverage powerful brands in a specific niche.

Solopreneurs don’t do everything themselves.

While effective solopreneurs do not typically have full time employees, they absolutely do not do all the work themselves. In fact, for the effective solopreneur, the goal is to remove themselves from the daily operations of the business as much as possible by building systems. To do this, they leverage contractors, virtual assistants, as well as partner with other vendors and service providers. Their business keeps running and makes money while they are spending time with their family or on vacation. This is the greatest similarity between solopreneurs and entrepreneurs.

Solopreneurs vs Entrepreneurs:

While solopreneurship is a sub-set of entrepreneurship, there are unique elements consistent with all effective solopreneurs that are distinct from entrepreneurs.

Solopreneurs place a premium on their quality of life.

Growth is not the ultimate goal for solopreneurs. The ideal solopreneur business delivers financial freedom for the owner, but solopreneurs aren’t interested in pushing infinitely past that point. They value their freedom, flexibility, and things like being able to take the afternoon off on a whim, or spend time with their family in the evenings and weekends. Generally speaking, their business is the means that allows them to accomplish their ideal lifestyle. Deca-million dollar revenues are not worth it to them if those revenues come with multi-million dollar headaches.

Solopreneurs don’t rely on investor capital.

Solopreneurs aren’t interested in the types of businesses that need venture capital or other major outside investment to succeed, as that would violate their lifestyle values. Solopreneurs are able to finance their business with revenue from customers, credit cards, or money they’ve saved. Additionally, venture capitalists simply aren’t interested in the type of businesses solopreneurs are building, as VC’s need billion dollar exits and IPOS in order to be successful.

Solopreneurs don’t default to full-time-employees.

Solopreneurs in some cases will hire full-time employees, but typically they utilize contractors and virtual assistants. Typically, effective solopreneurs are able to succeed using contractors, vendor partners, and service provider partners alone. It’s worth noting that solopreneurs will use the same contractors on an ongoing basis, so in many cases they do build a team… just not a team structured with the requirements and stipulations of full-time employees.

So what can we take away from this, among other things?

• Solopreneurs are not the same as freelancers. Not all freelancers are solopreneurs.

• Solopreneurship is a subset of entrepreneurship focused finding a balance in terms of income, lifestyle freedom, fulfillment, and quality of life. Money alone is not the goal.

• For many people, solopreneurship is the ideal “middle way” between the freedom of freelancing and the financial rewards of more traditional entrepreneurship.

• If you want to be an effective solopreneur, you need to build a powerful brand, build systems from the start in your business, and have a vision that ultimately moves beyond services and more into products, or productized services. The reason for this is that you can scale and grow much faster with products  or productized services than with a pure services business. Solopreneurs are all about leverage and running small but mighty enterprises. Long term, having products and the potential for exponential growth is a key part of both a great income and a great lifestyle.