How Solo Business can (actually) be 'always on'.
👓 ⏱️ ~13 minutes (+ 📼 7:37)
A common belief in Solo Business is that everyone and everything’s always on. One source behind this belief, born long before now, has been borrowed from one of the most popular ways of building a business, which is from the view of the marketing lens.
Businesses who are built from the marketing lens are built to be clear on what they do, who they do it for, and what makes them stand out from their competitors.
It’s true that this type of business build does work, just as it’s true that the ongoing cost is an expense that’s leading many in Solo Business to question, ‘How long can we keep it up?’.
In this article we’re building on the clarity of the Solo Business (business) year being contained in a single calendar year and taking the thinking one step further.
Specifically, we’re working to grow a way Solo Business can (actually) be ‘always on’ year-on-year.
🧠 Here, we’re building on the thinking from Maybe moving Solo Business to (calendar) quarters makes more sense.
Our Respective Roles
To be clear on who’s responsible for what here in this idea, we’re going to assume aloud and sound like that broken business record as we bring front of mind our respective roles (yours and ours) in (actually) seeing Solo Business (actually) working with the way that works with your Solo Business.
The purpose of pulling out and popping our respective roles here is because, like any idea, it only works in your Solo Business when you put it to work.
With that, our role (Little Language Matters*) is to think the thinking over to be (enough) over thought to be (enough) thought over to be (enough) to spark a new view for it to be clearly clear (enough) in what you can do (now).
(…‘enough’ is the mark and measure of achievement achieved we’re aiming for.)
We’re also responsible for sharing the new and now knowing in a way that’s kind to your 🧠 workload.
And your role.
It’s on you to first read (or listen if you’re a fellow screen reader) the article to the end.
It’s also up to you to note and notice any ideas, blockers, or better ways of working as you grow go by having a pen in hand and a page nearby so that you can keep on task and track to the end of your first read.
Then, at the end, you’ll have the idea in its entirety and your thinking thoughts as you’ve caught them thinking and you can marry them together to inform what you do next by lazily looking at your page and asking aloud, ‘Knowing all this now, what’s important for me to know?’
Rightio, assuming you're nodding your head and saying, ‘Yes, I can do that’’ let’s keep knowinggrowing going 🤭
Where we’re growing going.
Rather than just saying and suggesting an idea and assuming you’ve got the 🧠 space to interpret and integrate the idea into your Solo Business, we’re taking on some of the 🧠 work to meet you partway.
This idea is growing little by little to (actually) find how Solo Business can (actually) work with the way that works with you and your Solo Business.
We move closer to growing the Solo Business knowing here by introducing the idea that:
Solo Business can sustainably be ‘always on’ by placing and pacing priorities across the calendar year (aka the Solo Business [business] year).
This type of thinking is so obvious that it’s often assumed it’s been thought through.
We know this to not be true because it’s not easy and not yet a normal norm.
We see most, if not all, Solo Businesses fighting the good fight to fit into ways that work (for others) that aren’t working (for them and their Solo Business) yet.
We believe that we’re close to changing this change to a (new) now normal with a fresh view on what already feels familiar.
But, before we get to the Solo Business happy ending, we first have to call out, clear up, and cut out some of the complexity many of us have collected in the conversation along the way 😬
…just a heads up, for many (🙋♀️) this might tickle 😝
What’s working. What’s not working. What’s coming with us.
Building a business through the marketing lens is one of the most successful ways a business can get started, can grow, and can scale quickly.
The gains to get are paid for with the cost of continually showing up to appear to be always ready, always relevant, and always available 🥵
The focus of ‘always’ is interwoven so much so that it has spilled over and largely become the focus of every part in Solo Business.
Yes, it works.
And yes, maybe with a little more thinking we can find a way we can (actually) be ‘always on’ in Solo Business.
(While thinking is our business jam, we still find ourselves being surprised in how much the words we so often say, and hear, directly direct us to do what we do without so much as buying us a drink first 🤭)
Here we look at some of the often worded words in the eye to see where they’re really leading us so that with a little knowing now we can (actually) change the change we’re working to achieve in Solo Business days and ways.
So, now we borrow some of the marketing lenses’ ‘always on’ words that have become common in Solo Business and branch out to consider how ‘always on’ is working, not working, and what we can bring with us as we move forward in Solo Business:
Marketing’s Every thing’s ’always on’.
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The idea and knowing that there’s an 'everything' means that we can assume that there’s more than one ‘thing’.
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We assume that Solo Business can (and needs to) be ‘always on’ every ‘thing’ in the business.
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Solo Business needs to find a way to (sustainably) always be across all parts of the (whole) business.
2. Marketing’s Everything’s important.
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The knowing that everything has an importance. Further, we can assume every ‘thing’ means every part of the Solo Business.
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The idea that every ‘thing’ (part) is equally important and needs equal efforts.
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Solo Business needs to know each part of the business and to learn what effort needs to be efforted and when.
3. You’ve got to keep ‘showing up’.
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A Solo Business who’s predictable in their presence and appearance builds trust, connection, and a sense of continuing contribution.
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Solo Business showing up (or feeling the need to show up) in ways that don’t feel right or don’t make sense and/or are giving donuts on the returning returns for each effort.
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Solo Business needs a sense of self and knowing where the business fits in to keep connecting (in a way that works for both sides of the shared fence).
The difference between ‘building on’ and ‘bringing together’ thinking.
The difference between ‘building on’ and ‘bringing together’.
Before we grow the knowing by adding the next layer, we first pull front of mind the difference between ‘building on’ and ‘bringing together’ thinking.
Bringing Together
You can imagine the process of ‘bringing together’ thinking as being like having a large workbench where each part that has been decided to come forward with us is added without consideration (or knowing) of the other parts also lay flat and alongside each other on the same workbench. Then, we move the parts about each other to try on different combinations and constructions to be trialled and tried to find the (right) fit (for purpose).Used for:
Creating something newly new (aka from scratch).Cons:
Requires significant one-off resources like time, energy, skill, space, money, and discipline.Pros:
New new (as opposed to new to you) is something special and the potential to be realised in equal parts of exhilarating, uplifting, and foreboding 😅
Building Ideas (Our preferred preference)
Now imagining the same workbench with the parts previously decided to play a part being already known and connected in some way, usually each part has been inspired or informed by the previous. Then, each part becomes a block that literally stacks and builds up on the one below, just as the one below supports part of the one above.Used for:
Iterating or simplifying how an idea goes from ideation to practical application.Cons:
Advances forward can be easily missed when measures aren’t put in place before implementing the iteration or interpreting the data with a skewed view.Pros:
Short additional resource investment with long-lasting outcomes that grow in confidence, consistency, and return.
So here, we build.
Specifically, we’re working towards Solo Business knowing what’s what and where across the Solo Business (business) year.
We’re circling back to click, collect, and carry forward the four business quarters, and instead of relying on external agencies defining and directing required action and output, we take back a sense of agency to determine and decide what’s done and what goes where across the whole Solo Business.
Here we build up from the Solo Business year being contained in the container of one calendar year and divided into quarters to now add the knowing of the Solo Business to have full visibility, knowing, and sense of self.
Where we’re going growing from here.
We know that by sharing the thinking step-by-step can be a bit much, and we want you to know, we’ve got you.
The following may feel a little duplicatey (dupe-lick-kate-tea), but it’s this circle back to move forward that shifts thinking (and what we do) fully forward.
With each repeat (which is slightly simpler than the previous mention) we retire parts for good and keep that which is coming with us.
So, all you need to keep front of mind now is that we’re working to (actually) find a workable way to be ‘always on’ in Solo Business and we’re using what we have now.
Specifically, from the knowing known above in what needs to be a workable way for Solo Business to be ‘always on’ Solo Business needs to:
know each part of the business and to learn what effort needs to be efforted and when
find a way to (sustainably) always be across all parts of the (whole) business, and
have a sense of self and to know where the business fits in to keep connecting.
AND
We marry the above with our previous decision that the Solo Business (business) year is the same as one calendar year.
AND
The Solo Business (business) year efforts are divided and deployed across the calendar quarters of:
Q1: January - March
Q2: April - June
Q3: July - September
Q4: October - December
Simples, right?! 😅
Sure, it seems obvious and easy enough, right?
Well, if this is true for you now, then we’ve played out part here 🙌
Where to from here: The Solo Business (business) year
Our aim is for you to walk away with the idea of doing what you do now with a fresh sense of tweaking it soon enough to be doabler (doo-ab-Lur) across the whole year.
We hope and believe that by planning, pacing, and placing a clear primary focus for each business quarter so that you and your Solo Business can be clear, connected, and continuous (aka ‘always on’) year-on-year.
Because this idea is so big it seems small, we have to build it little-by-little.
In this video we bring what we have now together to be ready to move where we’re growing going next.
Solo Business Primary Focuses for each Solo Business Quarter.
We’re all for a spoiler.
You’re right, we could have offered you a template to take and do in your own time.
And, you’re right, you’d have probs downloaded it and (soon enough) digitally dumped it to collect digital dust along with the other ideas that felt like a right fit before now.
And you’re right again; something’s different here.
Because you know (enough of) the thinking behind how the idea now means you’re already growing your internal knowing (structure), which means that when we share the themes for each quarter below with the suggestion of…
‘Based on your experience and knowing now, imagine how you will be want to be feeling and what you’ll be doing on the last working day in Q4.
Then, when that’s clear, plan to set up that moment to be predictable inevitable in Q1.’
And with that, you have enough to begin.
All you need now is to know the themes for each quarter:
Q1 (January - March): Setup
Q2 (April - June): Seed
Q3 (July - September): Sow
Q4 (October - December): Close
While the thinking’s already underway in what the setup, seed, sow, and close include (from our lens), we encourage and egg you on to make it up and make this idea your own now. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: It’s both sad to have to say (now) and yet we’re pretty proud to let you know aloud that no AI has been used in these thinking or words. Any word wrinkles, while unintentional, remain as is so that you know we as human as you are. Enjoy 😁
