7 Mistakes I Made as a Solopreneur & How to Avoid Them

Quick and punchy lessons to level up your online business or side hustle. Save time and money by avoiding the solopreneurship mistakes I made. This article was originally published in The Side Hustle Club.

“Learning by doing is the only way I know how to learn.”

— Tony Fadell

This quote and all others about “learning by doing” are a load of horsesh#t in a wine glass.

Imagine you had to learn everything in life by doing…

You’d quickly learn you can’t fly. But you’d probably die learning that lesson. It wouldn’t serve much of a purpose afterward, would it?

My point is: yes, learning by doing is great. But learning from other people’s successes and failures is just as valid and will save you so much time.

That’s why I decided to share the biggest seven mistakes I made as a solopreneur and how you can avoid them. Let’s get started!

1. No, You Can’t Do It All

Before launching my blog, I was advised to grow one social media channel at a time and move to the next once I mastered the first.

Nope, not stubborn Ines.

Stubborn Ines is going full-on guns blazing into five social media channels alongside her new blog and freelance writing business.

Predictably, it didn’t work out.

The first two weeks were absolute chaos, working 12h/day + weekends.

I had to prioritize what got me the most results in less time — Pinterest and Quora.

💡 All this to say: above all, prioritize your well-being and mental health. Slow growth is better than burnout.

2. No System = Overwhelmed & Unproductive

Starting a business is challenging. “Where do I start?” is the hardest question you need to answer.

I had an endless list of blog post ideas and a dozen lead magnets. I had to come up with five social media strategies. And I had to figure out email marketing.

I was so all over the place, I got paralyzed with overwhelm.

I had so much to do that I felt like doing nothing.

Until I learned about setting SMART goals.

This goal-setting system helped me massively.

I went from overwhelmed and unproductive to highly motivated and efficient.

You can learn everything you need to know about setting SMART goals in this article.

I also started using CoSchedule’s Marketing Calendar — it’s a life saver!

My favorite feature is that you can associate tasks with projects, and as you complete each task, it shows how far off you’re from completing the whole project (e.g., you’ve completed 85% of your project).

Each little tick gives you that dopamine boost that tricks your brain into wanting to be more productive; I love it!

💡 Don’t wing it. Take time to create a strong system that helps you navigate the initial hardship of launching a business.

3. Execution Without a Plan Is (Almost) as Bad as a Plan Without Execution

This one goes hand in hand with mistake #2.

After setting SMART goals for the first quarter, I broke them down into what I had to do each week to achieve them.

But turns out that wasn’t enough.

• I assumed I’d look at my weekly tasks and naturally complete them day by day.
• I also allowed myself to switch the order of the tasks because “I don’t feel like doing that right now, so I’ll do something else.”

Nope!

That was a recipe for disaster.

💡 To stay on track, clearly define which tasks you need to do each day and prioritize them. This way, if you don’t have enough time to do everything you planned, at least the most important stuff gets done first.

4. No, You Won’t Remember It Later

The best ideas often come at the most inconvenient times.

I’ve lost count of how many times I thought “cool, I’ll do that later/tomorrow” and puff! that idea is gone forever.

This was another advantage I got from using CoSchedule’s Marketing Calendar. I can write down all sorts of ideas and to-do’s in the same place to keep it organized. I use the mobile app as well to make sure no idea goes to waste.

💡 No, you won’t remember it later. Write everything down! Be it ideas or to-dos.

5. Investments =/= Expenses

When I first started freelance writing, I decided I’d learn everything on my own — no expensive courses, no sir.

This is one of my biggest regrets.

I spent so much time learning through trial and error, I could’ve paid for a course ten times over.

I defo took a different approach when starting my business. I took a blogging course and got four HubSpot certifications.

I pay for Canva, Medium, Bluehost (website hosting), Divi (my website theme), Complianz (my legal compliance plug-in), and a bunch of other software.

💡 If it makes your life easier, saves time, teaches you something, or helps you make money, it’s not an expense; it’s an investment.

6. “Brio” vs. Perfectionism

“Brio” (pronounced bree-oo) is a Portuguese word that translates to “pride,” “dignity,” “honor,” or “mettlesomeness.”

The true meaning goes beyond that.

Having “brio” means you’re a person who works hard on anything you do, so you can be proud of what you’re putting out for the world to see.

It applies to anything or anyone.

You can have “brio” cooking delicious meals for guests, working as a cleaning lady, being a famous artist, or anything else.

I’ve identified with this trait my whole life. I always want to be the best I can be, no matter how much work goes into it.

In itself, this is a good trait. The problem is when it crosses the fine line between “brio” and perfectionism.

Before launching my website, I edited the blog posts I had written over and over again. I spent a whole week tinkering with little details of my website design.

These are just two examples.

It was holding me back to the point that it became problematic.

I had to say ENOUGH, you’ll never get anywhere if you keep this up.

💡 Always strive to do your best, but accept that “perfect” is an unattainable standard.

7. Don’t Skip the Obvious

Some things are so basic and obvious, you end up forgetting about them.

Whether you’re starting a blog, a business, or a Medium account, Google your name and/or your chosen business name.

I already knew it was tough to rank for my name because I’ve been freelance writing for over two years and I was still nowhere near a respectable rank — for my own name!

I gave up on that, scrapped my previous website, and built a new one.

After brainstorming a bunch of website names, I checked their domain availability and if they were trademarked or copyrighted.

Finally, I landed on “Free Worker Bee.”

What I failed to do was check the first SERP results.

Now, I’m sitting behind hundreds of free stock images of worker bees.

On a positive note, this led me to try harder to rank for my name.

I decided to change it from “Ines Tavares” to “Ines S. Tavares” on every social media platform and my blog — et voilà, now I’m dominating the first SERP for US searches!

After the first two results, it’s all me, myself, and I 👇

💡 The best way to check the Google ranking for a given query is BrightLocal’s free local SERP checker.

Solopreneurship Mistakes — Key Takeaways

Let’s recap what you need to do to avoid the seven mistakes I made as a solopreneur:

1. Be realistic with your to-do list and put your well-being first.
2. Use SMART goals to efficiently plan your strategy.
3. Plan daily tasks and make sure you do the most important stuff first.
4. Write everything down!
5. Invest in courses and software that make your life easier and help you make money.
6. Do your best but don’t fall for the perfectionism trap — perfect is boring, anyway.
7. Google yourself and your business name beforehand and pick something you can easily rank for.

I hope sharing my experience as a solopreneur was helpful to you. If you need help getting your freelance writing career off the ground, download my free course 👇