How far did you go without any employee?

[Bodywake]

How far did you go (and do you think one can go) without any employee?
I mean only with freelancers and Business Partners (of other legal entities).

Thank you in advance

 

[MJ DeMarco]

There are limits, but I think you'd be surprised at the limits.

I can only speak from my experience, but I'm just one employee right now (by choice) and I earn more monthly than most business owners, CEOs, etc, not withstanding the public company CEOs who tend to make millions per year, options, bonuses, etc. I'm at the point where I need to hire someone, but I really loathe the idea of stepping over into that line.

When I owned by internet company, I believe I started adding employees at around $40-60K/mo in net profit -- still a decent chunk of change.

 

[Bodywake]

There are limits, but I think you'd be surprised at the limits.

I can only speak from my experience, but I'm just one employee right now (by choice) and I earn more monthly than most business owners, CEOs, etc, not withstanding the public company CEOs who tend to make millions per year, options, bonuses, etc. I'm at the point where I need to hire someone, but I really loathe the idea of stepping over into that line.

When I owned by internet company, I believe I started adding employees at around $40-60K/mo in net profit -- still a decent chunk of change.

Thank you very much MJ for this super fast and super clear answer

 

[HappyStoic]

How far did you go (and do you think one can go) without any employee?
I mean only with freelancers and Business Partners (of other legal entities).

Thank you in advance

At the height of my most successful online business I was making 2200-3400 Euro in profits a day, all in a 1 man show. But here is the catch? I quite after 6 months because was working 18-20 hours non stop, literally. I was so happy that I finally stopped working, it was horrible and hard.

So assuming you would be tougher than me and work for a year you would be making 1 million Euro in profits a year. I don't think it's possible to make more than that unless you are able to work that hard for many years and become more efficient. Just my 2 cents.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Bodywake]

At the height of my most successful online business I was making 2200-3400 Euro in profits a day, all in a 1 man show. But here is the catch? I quite after 6 months because was working 18-20 hours non stop, literally. I was so happy that I finally stopped working, it was horrible and hard.

So assuming you would be tougher than me and work for a year you would be making 1 million Euro in profits a year. I don't think it's possible to make more than that unless you are able to work that hard for many years and become more efficient. Just my 2 cents.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Hi HappyStoic,

Thank you for your answer. Your story gives some important figures about how far you can go as a solopreneur. Your output on the time you spent a day is also a valuable.
I'm impressed by the quality of this forum!

 

[LittleWolfie]

I was suprised a lot by how high the numbers, are which explains a lot.

Do you use freelancers, or do you do everything yourself?

 

[happiness2go]

I thought that this book might interest you:

The Million-Dollar, One Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want.

It is primarily a compilation of case studies of businesses that make over $1 million per year in revenue and are run by the founder alone (+ freelancers / suppliers)

 

[MTF]

I can only speak from my experience, but I'm just one employee right now (by choice) and I earn more monthly than most business owners, CEOs, etc, not withstanding the public company CEOs who tend to make millions per year, options, bonuses, etc. I'm at the point where I need to hire someone, but I really loathe the idea of stepping over into that line.

I'm thinking of launching a second business now, and I'm starting to realize that if this business can't be a one-man operation (like my first business), then I'm not sure if I want to step over into that line, either. The mere thought of having a team (even if it's contractors) makes me uneasy. If you put a lot of value on having a stress-free life, then even a single contractor can be too much, let alone an entire team of full-time employees.

I guess if you don't care about becoming a billionaire, you can still do pretty well as a solopreneur as long as you use the right tools and business models.

A blogger can easily run his blog by himself whether he makes $1,000 a month or $100,000 a month. A guy producing video courses can do that, too. A person providing comprehensive web services to businesses? Not really, unless he becomes a high-paid consultant or willingly chooses to stay small.