7 Counterintuitive Pieces of Advice for Solopreneurs

Sick of hearing the same advice "talk to your customers" over and over again?

Same here.

That's why I picked 7 tips for Solorepenurs that initially seem stupid. But I can guarantee you will grow on them.

Don't listen to the feedback

No matter what you do — somebody will think it's terrible.

This rule applies to landing pages, SEO articles, product videos, and marketing emails. People will find weak points that are "stopping you from growing x2 faster".

But in reality, most of these weaknesses can be ignored. Yes, it's not perfect that they exist in the first place. But they don't impact your business that much.

Solopreneurs should ignore 80% of the feedback. This is the way to build a calm business. Anxiety-free.

Don't acquire more users

This myth deserves to be busted.

• You don't grow by acquiring more users
• You grow by getting more activated users that understand your product's value

Getting thousands of website visitors with a poor marketing funnel will result in... nothing. People will just stare at your landing page for 10 seconds and leave.

Instead, focus on your Activation. Learn to communicate your product's value with free trials, product videos, social proof, freebies, and other formats.

Forget about tactics

Every week somebody on Twitter runs a giveaway of the secret tactic to scale any SaaS to $10K MRR.

Don't get distracted by shiny object syndrome. Tactics, frameworks, and templates come and go. Foundation rules and channels stay.

SEO didn't go anywhere. Email lists are not dead. Social proof still sells like crazy.

Pay attention to marketing principles that worked 10 years ago and will work in the next 10 years. They are boring, but they do the job.

Lose customers

Don't try to please everyone. It's not just impossible. This mindset will actually harm your growth.

Do you have the ideal customer profile? Perfect. Write copy and optimize your sales offer for them.

But go further. Find your worst customer profile. Ensure your copy, features, and offer will push these users away from your product.

This focus will convert ideal customers better. Because they will see that you are ready to sacrifice other segments for them. What a romantic and convincing gesture.

Don't plan

Creating a 12-month marketing plan with every possible campaign is so appealing. But does it really make sense for Solopreneurs?

In short, no. There are 2 reasons why:

• Market is changing too fast. Your plan will be off in a few months. There is no point in planning things that won't happen.
• Your powers are flexibility and speed. You can adapt way faster than corporations. The more rigid your plans, the less you will leverage this strength.

Have a flexible marketing backlog for each month. But be okay with changing it.

Sell before building

Imagine you have a new product idea. And let's say no matter what you do; it will fail. Even with the finest execution, you won't be able to make it profitable.

What would you prefer?

• Waste one weekend creating an early bird landing page to test the demand
• Waste one month creating an MVP to test the demand

If people are unwilling to buy (or at least sign up on the waitlist) your product without seeing it — it's not worth building.

Read less

I am shooting myself in the foot on this one. But it needs to be said.

Stop bookmarking Twitter threads with startup tools. Stop listening to podcasts with famous Solopreneurs. Stop subscribing to marketing newsletters.

Sure, it's definitely helpful to get new ideas and challenge your status quo.

But you know what's better? Doing the work.

Less FOMO. More results. Highly recommend it.

Conclusion

These 7 tips are my unexpected learnings from building an Indie Business.

I see their limitations and exceptions. But they worked perfectly for me.

Use them as starting points to challenge your current mindset. If you find some idea irritating, try to think, "Why?". Maybe it's high time to try something new.