There are over 20 million single person businesses in the U.S. with an average income of about $47K per year.  I would call that modest success in business.  I suspect, however, that most people do not forgo the “security” of a steady paying job, take on the financial risk, and put in the countless hours worked by committed business owners to generate mere modest levels of business success.

What people really want is phenomenal success – financial security, time to pursue goals, and work that fuels their passion.  Why don’t most people achieve this?  Because they establish the habits that lead to modest success.

This is the first in a series of seven articles – The 4 Habits of Modestly Successful Entrepreneurs – that will cover the most common habits that limit success and highlight strategies that can be used to overcome them. (Each habit will have an associated video that explains it in a bit more detail.)

Selling Time for Dollars

The first habit, and perhaps the most common, is to sell time for dollars.

What does that look like?

• Solo-preneur businesses based upon their expertise
  • Years of education – e.g. doctors, therapists, lawyers, accounts
  • Specialized training – e.g. coaches, stylists, PR specialists
  • Experience – e.g. consultants, coaches, and people leaving corporate America and now starting their own businesses
• Set up an hourly rate that clients pay – charge clients $35 – $1,000 per hour.  Some people charge by the day
• May have a retainer based upon commitment of time – rent an executive, people who help companies outsource their services

Why is it a problem?

• You only have a limited amount of time that you can sell.  This caps you revenue potential
• You must spend time on activities required to run and grow your business – administration, finances, marketing, etc.  These activities reduce the amount of time you have available to sell and further reduces your revenue potential
• You don’t get paid when you don’t work – vacation, illness, etc.  Furthermore, your clients receive less reliable service when you are need to handle emergencies or are unexpectedly sick
• When you stop working, the business stops being valuable.  Entrepreneurs make money when they create salable assets that are of value to a buyer.  If it’s just you and your time, the value of your business goes to zero when you stop working.

What could it look like?

• A limited portion of your time being is sold by the hour – after all, for most people, this is where your passion and interest lies, so you don’t necessarily want to cut it out entirely.  Also, it gives you great experience to use in other parts of your business
• Your business has established systems that can be taught to other people – this is a way to increase the hours that can be sold.  If everything is in your head, only you can provide the service.  With a system, you can continue to increase capacity by adding people.
• Your service is delivered in several ways – because you obviously are very knowledgeable, it is more likely than not that you could add value to others by monetizing your knowledge.  Delivering content in a group setting, via information products, or over technology are all ways to create additional value and serve more people.  The use of the internet makes this possible and affordable today more than ever.  (In fact, I believe that all business should have an internet strategy in place for both service delivery and attraction marketing.)

Applying some of the same business strategy tools used by large corporations, you, as a solo-preneur can have phenomenal success in business.  Keep a look out for Habit #2.