Shaping Solo Business to be simple (enough) to keep going growing.
(…okay, for most, it’s often more like ‘less grow, more go’ 😉)
Who. What. Why. How.
Let’s be honest, you don’t need, nor want, any fluff and fun with well-woven words that lead you one way to draw you back into the direction you wanted to go all along.
To know enough, we share enough.
For now, you can go ahead and enjoy the ease of just getting the dot points for you to later fill in the blanks as you grow to know how and why Kathy’s mad about resourcing Solo Business in Little Language Matters*.
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Individuals who are often trained professionals and who are new, already in, or are coming back to operating as a Solo Business.
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We work together to get clear on the thinking behind the Solo Business to support clear and connected direction, decisions, and design.
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We’re tired of having to tune out all the talk about the troubles of having a team, so we’ve trimmed ourselves away from the small business conversations, and we’re carving out what we can (actually) achieve when all is (and can be) done by one.
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Session-by-session we draw out, clear up, connect, and capture the thinking of the big picture of the business so that the direction, decisions, doings, and design are aligned to work with the way the Solo Business works.
Our Approach
While we’re known for our way with words, when we work together, language is less about the right words or the right way of thinking.
Language is a lens that lets the obvious and not yet obvious come into the open conversation.
Paired with Kathy’s (actual) Solo Business experience and blatant bias, everything’s filtered to answer, ‘Knowing that now, how can it work in your Solo Business?’.
Three Options. One Choice.
One thing to know about us is that we typically always find three ways it can work.
Three’s a number that’s enough of enough to work on so many levels.
Here, we offer three ways you can work with your Solo Business that can be closer to working with the way you are need have to want believe is possible (but while you’ve given it a crack, it’s not totally practical…yet).
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Typically Used When: Need a resource (template or thinking guide) to refer to in your business to typically bring the many moving parts together.
Output Examples: Software Tracking Spreadsheet, System SetUp Structures, Weekly Reporting,…
Summary
We’ve found that the 🧠 workloads are typically not where we think (at first) in the Solo Business. Often it’s the little things like finding, fixing, or filing.
We think that it’s a great time to stop reinventing an already working wheel and making the same mistakes already made before now.
That’s right, we want to see you making new ones! Weird, we know, but stick with us, there's method in this kinda mad.
New mistakes means new lessons, which means new knowing, and new knowing means (actually) growing in Solo Business! Woohoo!
Each project is templated from what’s already working in Solo Business (and we actually straight up use these with our clients)…because…they’re…actual…flippin’…working…alllllready!).
The projects are designed to be used as is or to be tweaked to meet your tailored needs.
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Typically Used By: Those who are new to Solo Business or part of a Solo Business.
Used: When you want to work with someone who’s made most of the mistakes and who’s (actually) turned the mis-takes into wisdom and ways that (actually) work!
Output Examples: Business Name, Basic Business Positioning, Business Model(s), Offerings, SetUp, Troubleshooting,…
Summary
Solo Business is a specialised way of working where everything needs to be done (and be doable) by one.
Over the years we moved on from the thinking of ‘with a’ or ‘without a’ team and now look for ways that (actually) work for one human moving in, out, and across the whole business in the days and ways.
A downside to Solo Business is that we need to learn a lot about how to do what we need to do. Some are necessary, and some only need to be known for one thing.
Kathy’s done much of the learning legwork and let’s up on your learning load in many ways (especially knowing the ins and outs of the oners).
Together, we can get you there sooner and further while needing less and less resources in the long run 🏆
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Typically Used By: Those already who are already in business.
Used: To accelerate and elevate thinking to reach results faster and further.
Output Examples: Business (new) Name (or thinking behind (now) Name, Business Positioning, Business Model(s), Key Messaging, Setup, Troubleshooting, Thinking About Closing,…
Summary
We’ll be honest, everything could be achieved by each Solo Business we work with (eventually).
And yes, the road would have likely not only been long, windier, and with regular repeating learning curves.
All we work with have done travelled this route before (more than once).
And everyone with work with has drawn a line and asks Kathy to come and and share the thinking load.
Together we get the relevant data in real time, sort out what stays and what moves out of the way, and then we get to work to make it work.
…and yes, everyone Kathy’s worked has said there something in her weird that actually works and that words cannot contain or convey 🤭
“A group of us that started in business around the same time, and at the time we were (and still are) often met with confusion and screwed-up faces when we uttered aloud that we’re growing to be a Solo Business…
…you should see the looks we get now 🤭”
— Kathy Rast, Little Language Matters*
Q + As
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No. We can work with the Business Owner of other business types (e.g., Small Business) to create or iterate the key thinking behind the business by way of the Business Name (or thinking behind the name), Business Position, Business Model(s), and/or Key Messaging.
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The ‘we’ is me (Kathy Rast) and Little Language Matters*
The thinking behind this is a kind to the mind way of keeping front of mind that I (Kathy) am a part of my Solo Business.
It seems small, and it is on the surface, but out back is where we (both in our business and the businesses we work with) have grown in ways that didn’t feel practical before this frame of focus.
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Language is just the way we work with you.
When you go to an accountant, they look through the finance lens; a marketer, a marketing lens; and a doctor, a medical lens.
When you’re clear on the lens, you’re clear on the bias and the basis of what will be noted, noticed, and (likely) known in working with that specialist.
We work with the language in use, specifically in how the language being (or to be) used informs, influences, and inspires the thinking and related behaviour(s).
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For now we keep it simple, yes. There are exceptions that are made with agreed additional expenses, but for now, yes, we work with you online.
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If you’re unsure and know something has got to give, then go with the 1.5-hour session. Most start with 90 minutes, as it’s not as short as 60 minutes and not as long as 2-hours (which comes across as being kind and comfortable for your mind in our first meeting).
In the first convo, you’ll quickly learn what happens when you just say (aloud) what you’re (actually) thinking 😉
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Sometimes being in the back of your business needs the space a weekend can only offer.
We’re always toying with the idea of a Sunday session too. If you’re keen, please let Kathy know by emailing kathy@littlelanguagematters.com.au
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Good question. We’re always looking at both now and ahead.
Experience shows us that what we believe will be true for the future is only ever written in chalk (I know, ol’ school, but I do miss the original dark mode of a blackboard 🤭)
The way we go about working with Solo Business is the same approach as that of a business with teams; it’s just nuanced to be kind to the mind of the same person performing all the roles and their related tasks.
This means that when the business does iterate to a new structure, it’s a matter of taking that which is working and nuancing it to meet the now needs of the business (e.g., adapting the task to be performed by a more junior member).
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If I were ticking along (or just starting) and doing okay and just wanted to bring things together in my own space with something that’s already working, then I’d pick up the relevant Solo Business Project.
If I was feeling the feels of being a little (or a lot) lost in where to start or where to go (including considering the big close) from here, I’d be jumping into a 90 minute chat.
Note: See all session types on mobile you may need to scroll up in the white box.