How to build your Skill Stack as a solopreneur (when you don't feel skillful)

People would pay good money to have what you have.

The Solopreneur Stack helps solo-business people become (and remain) successful and sustainable through quick tips, in-depth guidance and personal experience stories. Become a paid subscriber for just £8 a month and unlock every article and resource in our archive.

---

“Hi, I’m David McIlroy. I’m here to meet Naomi.”

“Oh. Naomi?”

“Yeah, for the video… thing.”

“Oh. I’m not sure if she’s here.”

Great.

That’s how my meeting started today.

I was asked to come to our local library to record a promo video for an upcoming book event. I’d never done one before and had no idea what to expect.

And when the librarian at reception seemed confused as to a) where Naomi was, and b) why she’d need to see me, I feared the worst.

Had I got the date wrong (wouldn’t be the first time)? Had I misunderstood why they wanted me there?

Thankfully, Naomi the videographer was in the building, and had been expecting me. Before I knew it, I was sitting on a sofa opposite her camera and microphone, smiling into the lens, doing my best impression of someone who knew what they were talking about.

---

Ad | Personal Brand Studio

An actionable guide to help you build and monetize your personal brand through a digital ecosystem.

Based on the author's story building her personal brand across LinkedIn, Medium and Substack and becoming a public speaker and an award-winning author.

Interested in sponsoring The Solopreneur Stack? Just email hello@davidmcilroy.com.

---

You see, despite the fact I record videos every week as part of my writing business, I’m not a naturally-extroverted person. In fact, I lean pretty far the other way.

I’ll always opt to keep my face and voice away from the camera, if given the choice.

But here’s the thing - I can easily feign extroversion when I need to.

How? Because it’s part of the solopreneurial skill stack I’ve been building over the last decade.

Your Skill Stack

As a solo business person, you’ll need to wear a bunch of different hats every single week: marketer, administrator, copywriter, accountant, content creator. And, as in my case today, you’ll sometimes have to be the face and voice of your brand.

For me, that meant recording a promo video plugging my book event, where I’ll talk to a group of teenagers about my recently-released fantasy novel. For you, it might mean doing a presentation in front of a fundraising panel, or recording content for your business social media pages.

Either way, face-of-the-brand will likely be part of your overall solo skill stack at some stage.

And that stack will only grow taller as your business develops.

You might be reading this and thinking, but David, how can I grow my skill stack? I don’t have the time, or the money, or even the desire to add new strings to my bow. That sounds like more work than I can afford to take on right now, alongside everything else.

---

Consider supporting The Solopreneur Stack!

Upgrade to our paid tier to unlock every article in the archive and gain free access to our online course. Become a Sustaining Member for a little bit extra and book a 1-to-1 coffee chat with David McIlroy.

---

Well, look at it this way.

I didn’t pick up the skills to flip from awkward introvert to camera-ready pretend extrovert at the flick of a mental switch overnight, or because I spent a ton of money on a course, or coaching programme.

I developed that ability during my time as a youth worker, where I often had to be extroverted, even when I didn’t want to be. There was no choice. I had to either step up, smile and be who the kids needed me to be, or fail at my job.

So I did the former.

I was able to add Can-Act-Extroverted-At-The-Drop-Of-A-Hat to my solopreneurial skill stack because I already had it in me, nurtured through prior life experience. And once I recognised it and figured out how to tap into it when required, it became a core component in my overall toolbox.

Photo by Ben Tripp on Unsplash

So the big question is, what skills do you already have locked away inside you that could be drawn out and added to your stack?

Maybe you’re not comfortable in a group setting but you’re great one-to-one. Could you slip that into your deck and apply it to, say, coaching?

Maybe you haven’t got a fancy-pants college degree but you’ve developed incredible patience over the years as a parent or employee. Could that patience, when added to your stack, give you the edge over the countless other would-be solo business people who need instant gratification to keep going?

Honestly, some people would pay good money to learn the skills you’ve already acquired over the years - if you can just find a way to acknowledge them and put them to task in your solo business journey, you’ll give yourself an automatic leg-up on the competition.

---

Why do it all yourself when you can delegate instead?

---

Making it real

Here’s a simple exercise you can try:

1. Make a list of every job role or responsibility you’ve ever been entrusted with throughout your lifetime, no matter how big or small.

2. For each item on the list, write down any skills you picked up that you still use to this day (eg. the patience example I mentioned before). Again, it doesn’t matter how big or small they are.

3. Circle every skill you could reasonably apply to your current solopreneurial efforts.

4. Finally, move those skills to a new list and write My Skill Stack at the top in big, block letters, and pin that sucker to the wall. Read it every day, work on those skills, and don’t be afraid to tell other people you have them. Acknowledging what we’re good at is a major step towards unlocking our potential as solo business people.

Try that today.

You won’t believe what you believe you’re capable of until it’s down on paper.

And once you believe it, start building your skill stack.

---

Table of Contents [Start Here]

---

What others say about The Solopreneur Stack: