The freedom and power of being your own boss is unparalleled. But any seasoned solopreneur will tell you that it does come at a cost. Going at it on your own requires hard work (an understatement!), grit, and resilience like you’ve never needed before.
Would you trade it for a 9-5 or consider getting a business partner? Probably not. There’s something so satisfying about building and nurturing a business all on your own.
The reality, though, is that you’re going to have to get some kind of help if you want to keep yourself sane and your business sustainable. Unfortunately, burnout is a common occurrence among the best of us because it’s so easy to reach that point unawares.
Here are some tools that will help you along your solopreneur journey.
Calendly
Have you ever thought about all the things you could do in the time spent trying to schedule meetings? Sometimes it feels like you put more time into trying to set up the meeting than the actual meeting time itself. Not only is it a time thief, but it can get frustrating too.
Enter Calendly. It’s a nifty scheduling tool that basically does all your scheduling for you without you doing a thing. Well, all you need to do is set your parameters and availability preferences, plug into your calendars and consider yourself booked and busy. It works so simply and intuitively that it’s hard to believe there was once a time without it.
Expensify
Before you started a business of your own you had no idea how valuable a random receipt could be, did you? Now you shove them anywhere you can and hope that they’re still there when you need them. It’s all too relatable for any solopreneur.
Luckily the guys over at Expensify caught onto this little life quandary and created a mobile app that leaves no more excuses for missing receipts. It allows you to simply scan and digitally store receipts, but the best part is that they’re then loaded directly to a spreadsheet. You’ll love the ease and convenience of it, and your accountant will be very impressed too!
Grammarly
With everything you have going on simultaneously, it’s dangerously easy to let bad spelling and grammar get the better of you. You’d be forgiven for tiny mistakes here and there, sure, but what you don’t want is bad grammar getting in the way of your professional and business image.
Grammarly is just the solution you need. It’s an AI-powered writing assistant that’s making the world a better place, one apostrophe at a time. You may be great at what you do as an entrepreneur, but writing is a skill not everyone can master, which is exactly what Grammarly assists with. Besides correcting grammar, it also prompts you with advice on how to write with more clarity to best express yourself.
Virtual assistance
We get it – you wouldn’t be a solopreneur if you brought another human on board, and sometimes that is a source of pride for most of us. But we’re here to tell you there are ways around getting efficient assistance without actually employing another human being. And you’d be amazed at the ways this will optimise your business and way of working.
Allow us to explain. Virtual assistant services give you all the benefits of a professional helping hand without the responsibility of employing a permanent employee. Completely remote but always available to tend to your business admin, personal tasks, and even family needs, an online virtual assistant will take the weight of everyday organisation off your shoulders so you can focus on the bigger, more important tasks at hand.
As a motivated, independent solopreneur, it’s not easy to admit that you might just need a little help. Here’s a reminder that it is okay. The tools shared here are small, simple steps to making your life as a solopreneur even just a tad easier.
