Solopreneurship has become one of the most cherished professions in recent times. It’s a very popular choice among skilful and passionate individuals.
People are wanting to go solo. ⚡⚡ They want to follow their passion in their own style without depending on any organization. 😎
Previously, you could not think bravely enough to become a solopreneur while earning well without joining any company.
But now, times have changed. Today, anyone can follow their passion and earn well by becoming a solopreneur. A report shows that the rise of solopreneurs from 2020 to 2021 is an astounding 34%. 🤯
In that study, nearly nine out of ten (87%) solopreneurs said they’re happier working on their own. And, 78% said working as solopreneurs is better for their health too!
Soloprneruship is booming! More and more skilful professionals are leaving their stable jobs to follow their dreams as solopreneurs.
Are you interested in becoming a solopreneur? 😀😃
Well, it’s a great career choice for you if you,
- Prefer to be your own boss
- You want to decide the pace you would like to move in your profession
- You like fewer dependencies
- You’re passionate and skilful
- You want to earn a lot, like a business entity
Solopreneurship in this 21st century is making lots of noise. Individuals from the furthest corners of the world now realizing their dreams by leveraging the power of the internet.
Awesome, right? If they can do it, why not you?
But before jumping to any conclusion, I recommend you read about What is solopreneurship? The fundamental meaning of solopreneur and the reason behind the rise of solopreneurship in the first place. ✨✨
Now, in this article, I have listed 10 solopreneur business ideas that I think are the best to choose to start your journey as a solopreneur. 💪
From my entrepreneurship studies and my 9+ years of business experience, I have created this 10 best solopreneurship business idea list considering the following factors,
- Business potential = considering expansion possibilities
- Sustainability = eyeing at least the next 7 – 10 years
- Asset value = not directly time tradable after a point, plus appreciation value
- Solopreneur potential = one person manageable
You can notice that I have not included earning potential in my checklist. I have intentionally avoided it. Because I’ve learnt money is a relative factor when considering different industries.
In one industry X amount of revenue is a lot of money, whereas the same X amount can be microscopic in another industry.
You’ll always find the top 1% of any industry making a lot of money. You can’t choose to be in an industry considering the money factor only as a solopreneur. It’ll eventually cloud your passion. 😵💫
Once you decide to become a solopreneur, your goal will be to establish yourself in the top 1% of your industry to earn a lot.
Okay. Enough of this gibberish. 🤢😕
Let’s dive ahead to see if your passion falls under any of my suggested solopreneur business ideas.
1. Technology Solopreneur
Our world is rapidly moving towards a digital environment. All our existing behavioural patterns are evolving to become more efficient in the digital world.
The online audience in India is projected to reach 1,134.04 million users by 2025. Just from India. You can imagine what the worldwide number would look like. 🤯
And these people will have a whole lot of problems to be solved.
If you’re a coder with a knack for solving problems through your mobile or web application, then you’re in luck! There has never been a better time to jump in.
Identify a problem. It can be a minuscule one. Create your application accordingly to solve that problem in the best possible way.
If just 0.01% of online users find your app useful enough to pay for it, then congrats! You’ve made it. 🤑
A visionary solopreneur has built a kickass app that efficiently solves your problem. Check it out now!
Do you like the catchline for yourself? Then start working on it.
- Identify a problem
- Do detailed research on your market
- Provide an efficient solution
- Design a business model around your solution
Countless interesting innovations are happing around the globe at this moment. Lots of startups and individuals are trying to solve lots of problems.
The blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector is flourishing. AR/VR is also getting a mega push with Facebook becoming Meta, and other companies like Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia investing in it.
We’re in a fertile scenario right now. 🌱
Diverse technological innovations are happening all around. And all of them are progressing towards a technological revolution in the bigger picture.
Join the drive with your unique solution. Try to establish your own identity as a technology solopreneur. People will start noticing you in no time if you can solve a problem with the utmost efficiency.
Keep innovating to find the best solution! 👍👍
2. NFT and Digital Artist
Ink and paper are last-century. Yes, I know it’s a bold statement. We’re still not there yet. But it’s happening faster than you can imagine. People are accepting digital transformation left and right. 🏃♀️🏃♂️
Businesses are going digital with all their forces. Now the NFT has come into the scene also. Overall, the value of online transactions in the global art market amounted to 13.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and the market cap of non-fungible tokens enjoyed almost a tenfold increase between 2018 and 2020.
Are you a creative soul? Does designing things make you feel purposeful? 😍
Then think no more. All these stats indicate demand and trends are in your favour. It’s your big time now.
Go ahead and become that millionaire solopreneur who sold 100,000 copies of digital art online just in 2 years!
It’ll not be easy initially. You can start your solopreneurship journey by creating digital creatives for businesses. Generate some cashflow. Every business needs designed creatives irrespective of their size.
- Logo
- Social media ad creatives and banners
- Offers and promotional banners
- Digital brochures
- Graphic elements and more
Your designs should be of high-quality to attract and sell to as many buyers as possible. 🤩
You can list your creatives on a marketplace website like Etsy or approach small businesses in your area to get the ball rolling.
Also, don’t forget to try the NFT route as a creative solopreneur. Take your chance in the Web 3.0 universe. Create your NFT and host them on OpenSea or any other preferred NFT marketplace.
3. Online Course Creator
Knowledge is an asset. People from all around the globe are looking for good courses to upskill themselves.
Traditional education from an institution has its place in our lives. It’ll never perish. But a new door has opened for specific skill-driven courses for professionals or wanna-be professionals. 🚪
- Do you know anything valuable to help learners become better professionals?
- Can you teach people effectively in a simple way?
- Can you teach an in-demand skill that you’ve mastered and seen results applying it?
If yes, then you better not wait. Because just in Coursera, 92 million online learners enrolled for 189 million courses in 2021. These are outstanding numbers! 😲🤯
Coursera is a marketplace for online courses. And there are hundreds of other online course marketplaces around.
Now imagine the number of combined learners from all those online course marketplaces.
It’s a huge growing market. People are increasingly accessing online courses to help them navigate today’s ever-changing professional market. 🧭
Being a solopreneur teacher has never been a lucrative career choice before.
Follow your purpose to teach and become the solopreneur teacher having over 500,000 students enrolled online!
The market is ready and mature enough to understand the value of a good course. On top of that, anybody from any country can enrol for your online courses, making it a scalable solopreneur business opportunity. 😋
There are several popular course marketplaces where you can host your courses, like Udemy, Skillshare and Teachable. Check them out and see which one is suitable for you. Happy teaching!
4. Blogger
No. Blogging is neither dead nor close to dying. 😠😡
- People are still learning by reading articles and blogs
- Google is still ranking blogs on search results at the top over a company home page or a YouTube video
And people prefer searching on Google like crazy. A report states that Google handles approximately 5.6 billion searches per day. 5.6 billion searches! This is not just a number. These are people creating demand for bloggers. 🙋♀️🙋♂️
If you think you can write high-quality content with thousands of words and never feel weary, then start your solopreneurship journey as a blogger.
Learn how to write better with a simplistic approach. How to share your emotions and connect with your readers? And most importantly- create valuable content. 📌
Become a solopreneur blogger with 30,000 daily visitors earning 100,000 US dollars per month through affiliations!
Earn through affiliations, ads and sponsorships. Create your own community comprising people with common interests. Do whatever you feel like doing. Blogging gives limitless freedom to channel revenues.
But play to win the game! 💯
There are many platforms to set up your blogging portal for free, like – Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress. Now you can even blog on LinkedIn also.
Or, you can create your own website with a custom domain name and start blogging there. Like my website on entrepreneurship. 👈
5. YouTuber and Social Media Influencer
Video is the richest form of content in our day and age. People get more attracted to a video than any other form of content available.
As per a report, over 85 per cent of people globally watched up to six hours of online video per day in 2019. A year later study shows 65 per cent of people globally spent most of their time only on YouTube in 2020.
And there are thousands of other video platforms out there. Plus, social media platforms are there too. Combine them all to see a jaw-dropping demand graph for videos. 😲👍
Content is king. The richer, the better.
- Does the process of creating new videos consistently makes you drool?
- Do you like learning and implementing new editing techniques, camera angles and scripting techniques for video content?
- Does the video format bring the best out of you as a communicator?
If your answer is yes, then break free! 😀
Join hands with your passion and become the most loved solopreneur influencer with over 10 million loyal followers worldwide!
Creating videos is not a gruesome task anymore. There are lots of video editing applications available nowadays. Those are more or less, designed to help you create professional videos from scratch without prior knowledge.
Observe and learn from other content creators around. If possible, approach them and talk to them. Learn their tricks. Identify their winning factors. 🧐
- How do they communicate in a video?
- How do they design thumbnails and titles?
- How do they build relationships with their audience?
- How long are their videos in general?
- How often do they post videos?
- From where do they find new content ideas?
With enough consistent videos in the right direction, the ad revenues will start showering. Trust in yourself! 😇
To begin with, you can choose any niche of your liking. Here is a list of 19 top-performing video niches on YouTube with the most viewing tendency.
- Beauty and makeup
- Entertainment vlogs
- How-to tutorials
- Weight loss, healthy living and fitness
- Children content
- Lifehack and DIY videos
- Finance and investing
- Educational videos
- Photography and filmmaking
- Cars
- Lifestyle
- Fashion and clothing
- Cooking
- Tech and gadgets
- Reviews and reactions
- Music
- Video games
- ASMR
- Dance cover
And don’t be too linear with YouTube only. Share bits and pieces of your love on social media channels like – Instagram and TikTok, where your videos will be organically encouraged.
Choose your niche, choose your primary platform, create a content distribution strategy, post consistently for a time, and eventually, you’ll start to see the results. 🤞🤞
6. Podcaster
Time is becoming more and more precious. In this 21st century, people are hustling, and trading money for time. We’ve become more aware and conscious of our time than ever.
We’re implementing automation and maximizing productivity to extract time from our day-to-day activities.
And this is where podcasts win the race against the other forms of content. 😎🏁
Listening to a podcast is a passive activity. It’s just like listening to a song or hearing the news on the radio like in the old days. One can listen to podcasts while driving, cooking, exercising and doing other activities.
You don’t need to commute to a podcast actively. The passive nature of podcasts makes them the prime choice for passive learning. 👑
The podcasting market size is projected to be worth 153,071 million dollars by 2030 at a CAGR of 31.2% from 2022 to 2030. It’s booming growth, and it’ll not be waiting for anyone who is still considering (giving it a thought).
- Are you shy to show your face to the camera?
- Do you have deep knowledge of any particular topic?
- You can talk, but writing is a daunting task for you.
Then podcasting is your home! 🥰🏠
Use your voice as an exciting solopreneur podcaster to influence 100,000 downloads per month for your unique podcasts!
Podcasting is a potentially profitable solopreneur business. If you can find a particular niche, and regularly broadcast your episodes, you can make income from multiple sources like – ads, sponsorships and subscriptions. 💰💸
It’ll take some time, for sure. Success takes time. But with consistency and self-belief, you’ll eventually be able to cement your position as a leading podcaster.
Join on any of these platforms as a podcaster Spotify, Buzzsprout, or Transistor, and jump-start your solopreneur podcasting journey! 👍
7. Stock Trader and Crypto Trader
Stock trading isn’t something new. People have been trading in stocks since the 1300s. From carrying slates with information on the various issues for sale and meeting clients; to today’s automated platforms. Stock trading carries a rich history with it.
For some, it’s a ruthless profession. And why not? 🤔
More people have perished in seconds than those who’ve made it big in stock trading. One moment you can be the king. A moment later, you can become a beggar.
But that’s the charm of it and the reason why stock trading is so lucrative. It’s not for everyone. 😥😓
Do you have an undying interest in the stock market? Do you have deep knowledge of stocks? About different industries, companies, and how things work in trading?
Consider becoming a solopreneur stock trader. 🤩
Become the solopreneur trader who started with a little pocket to own a million-dollar bucket later on!
Now cryptos have also come into the market. But cryptocurrencies are a little different.
Though cryptos are tradable like stocks in the crypto exchange, it has far lesser projecting parameters than stocks.
For stocks, you have at least the company, its products, and its industry to reflect on and decide which action to take. Buy, sell or hold. But for cryptos, you have close to nothing for performance projection. It’s just my opinion. 🤓
If you’re into Web 3.0, you can choose to start trading in cryptocurrencies. But be acquainted with all the crypto updates. Only dive into cryptos when you’re 100% sure.
If you’re confident about pursuing as a solopreneur trader, then learn the art of trading very consciously. 🔑
Because winning and losing are part of the game, getting eliminated is not. And your education in trading will help you somewhat to stay in the game.
- Learn from other traders in your network. If you don’t know anyone then start looking for one
- Talk to them. Identify and learn their strategies for trading
- Learn every little technical detail of trading from wherever you can
- Stay updated about different company news in your industry
- Start your trading journey in a simulated market. Not in the real world. After some practising, jump into the real market with confidence
In today’s time, to trade in stocks, you just need to open an app and start trading. That’s it. Be it for stocks or be it for cryptos. It has become that easy.
Create your account on apps like Robinhood or Zerodha, depending on your country. And start your journey as a sublime solopreneur trader. 😎
8. Self-Publishing Author
Books remain in Amazon’s top 10 selling categories. Every year! Every single year since Amazon started their business.
Videos, podcasts, and everything have their place. All are good. But nobody can take away books from our lives. 💖
While reading a book, you become engrossed. You cry, love, smile, despise. You feel!
A book becomes your friend, with whom you share your emotions. Often, it becomes your door to the other side. Where you always wanted to go, stay and live. 🥺😭
A good book stays with you years after. Those chapters where you felt the most intense, those lines which made you tremble, stay with you forever. And that’s why we love books.
The global books market size was valued at USD 138.35 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.9% from 2022 to 2030. It’s huge! A giant market.
Take your chance and dive into this huge market to become a self-publishing author. More than 1000 authors have already earned over $100,000 in royalties by self-publishing books just on Amazon. Now it’s your turn to join them! 🤝
- Is there a hidden writer inside you?
- Did you always dream of having your own novel series?
- Have you written your book but you’re unable to hook publishers?
Yes? Good. Stop knocking the deaf doors and start self-publishing. It’s time to walk alone. Become a solopreneur self-publisher. 👌
A dynamic solopreneur writer sold over half a million self-published books worldwide in just 3 years!
Like it of yourself? Then sign up on Amazon self-publishing and start exploring your inner writer.
Amazon controls approximately 22% of total book sales (19% print, 90% digital). And they are projected to control 33% of all book sales. It means your online readers are on Amazon looking for the next book to purchase. Now, your job is to bring your book to your readers. Easy! 🧑🚀
The book reader market is diverse. Different people like reading different things. Find your niche, identify your market and become a specialist in your niche.
If your writing is good and your style gets accepted in the real world, among real people, then the path ahead will become a lot easier. You would have a lot better chance of convincing any A-lister publisher to publish your book.
Or, maybe you might get a liking to the solopreneurship and keep self-publishing your books. 🤠😁
9. eCommerce Seller
Remember the last time you bought yourself a new Bluetooth speaker from a local store? Or a new LED light? Maybe a smartwatch? Beauty products, books, cushion covers?
Well, you might have to try really hard to remember. In the 21st century, we really got spoilt by eCommerce. 😔😓
Whatever we need, wherever we need, from groceries to smart TV, we buy online. eCommerce is the “now” and the “future”. It’s irreversible.
In 2021, the number of digital buyers is at 2.14 billion. That makes up 27.6% of the 7.74 billion people in the world.
27.6% of the world population buys products online! Can you realize this tremendous opportunity? The potential of selling your product is just overwhelming. ⚡🤯
- Choose a product that the market is demanding
- Find a product partner who can supply you with the product at the cheapest price
- Find a reliable logistic partner
- Create your seller account on a marketplace, or create your website
- Start advertising your products to your prospects
Start acting now. You better not be waiting for anything. This kind of opportunity might not come ever again. The earlier you join the ride, the better prospect you’ll have in future. 🥳
Ride the tide to become a solopreneur eCommerce seller who sold over 1 million dollars worth of products in just 18 months!
Create your seller account on Amazon. It gets nearly 2.7 billion site visits each month, and 66% of consumers start their product searches on Amazon. So, you better be there where your buyers feel comfortable buying. 💡
Or, if you prefer, you can create your identity and start selling products through your own website with your branding. It might require more capital to operate and bring traffic to your website. But you’ll have a better chance of creating your brand.
Choose your way wisely. Consider your constraints and have a vision for at least 2 years ahead. Happy journey! 👍👍
10. Solo Game Developer
Complete game development by oneself is a daunting job. But when passion comes in charge, why not?
The global gaming industry is now worth more than $300 billion, and there are 2.9 billion active players worldwide. It is a vast market eagerly waiting for new games to come out. 🤗🕹️
Are you passionate about gaming? Are you thinking of contributing to the gaming industry with your own game? Then you can start your solopreneurship journey as a solo game developer.
It’s relatively easy nowadays for an individual to develop a complete game. Gaming engines like Unity and Unreal Engine make this possible by providing all the necessary pre-made environment, assets and physics library for a game developer to use.
On top of that, these engines can deliver cross-platform games too! Just try them out. Download and explore around. Experience the awesomeness! ✨
Become the solopreneur game developer who built 3 games with 1 million downloads each!
At first, it might seem an overwhelming task for you. But remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you’re disciplined, then nothing can stop you.
- Start by learning the prerequisites for game development
- Pick a small idea
- Choose a gaming engine or framework
- Create the prototype version
- Find assets to use
- Polish to the final version to complete the game
The gaming industry has a lot of potential for unique games. There are several pockets in the gaming industry. Choose your pocket wisely. Will you create a mobile game, PC or PS game? 💡💭
Plan your distribution and marketing channels with the utmost importance. Lots of good games have failed to make their mark due to a lack of promotional, advertising and distribution initiatives.
If you’re creating games by pouring your blood and sweat, then it’s your responsibility to make sure your game reaches your target audience. Anyhow! 💪💪
Conclusion
In this article, I’ve tried to give you my list of the 10 best solopreneur business ideas. These ideas are already proven and sustainable for the next 7-10 years. Minimum! 👌
The given ideas in this article are not ranked in any way. Every single one of them has its own place.
You can start your solopreneurship journey by choosing any of the ideas from the list. But I recommend blending 2-3 ideas for better sustainability as a solopreneur. 🤔
For example, if you’re a solo game developer, you better have a blog or YouTube channel to engage with your target audience regularly.
Or, if you’re a digital artist, consider becoming a social media influencer too. Market and distribute your digital art on your social media channels. Try to connect with your target audience regularly. Increase your credibility among them. 🏆🎖️
In this way, you’ll have a better chance of making sales when the time comes. It’s a pro tip. Happy journey! 👍
I hope you liked this article. If it was helpful to you, then don’t forget to share it with your friends.
Did I miss any ideas? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments. 🙏
