You only need 30 minutes a day to become a solopreneur

If you're worried about not having enough time to start a solopreneurship, this one's for you.

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I was sitting in my car when it happened.

Boom. There it was. The idea.

The car park was only half full, but my brain was suddenly overflowing with inspiration.

I was due to meet my friend for coffee in a few minutes. I had time.

Whipping out my phone, I began typing furiously.

I had to write it all down before it disappeared into the void. The idea. My business idea.

Ok, so I didn’t know it would eventually become an actual business when I punched those words into my notes app in that car park outside Next. It was just a thought, a spark.

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That’s where it started

Later, that spark became a flickering flame. My idea manifested itself into a free blog site and Twitter account.

• I slapped a working-title brand name on them.

• I started planning content.

• I wrote my first piece and posted it online.

That’s how my small business Trek NI started, back in late 2018. It was new, it was exciting. It filled me with optimism and energy.

But for the first 16 months of its existence, it remained firmly in side-project territory.

I was working as a freelance writer, scrounging my way through life doing low-paying jobs for strangers who didn’t give a flying fart about my value as a person.

My wife was also still several years away from hitting her stride as a wedding photographer, and her sporadic substitute teaching role wasn’t exactly tapping into her boundless creative potential.

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It's a virture worth having

That period in life taught me a great deal about patience.

I had to learn to be content with things that simmered rather than boiled over. I had to lean on faith and practice letting go of control. I still do.

But one of the key lessons I learned in those 16 months of side-projecting my way into solopreneurship was about time.

Specifically, how to squeeze enough of it from each day to keep my self-driven dreams alive.

Like I said, I was a freelance writer. I also managed social media accounts for another business. None of it paid well and the hours were far too long.

At the time I was verging on desperation, so I didn’t have much choice in the matter.

So I carved out a couple of little slots in the day to work on Trek NI. I got about 30 minutes in before breakfast (while doing other things) and maybe an hour later in the day.

That was enough time to do some social media work and create or gather more content for the website. That’s all I had time for.

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But guess what?

Those little chunks of time began to compound.

The time spent on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter began to produce results.

The content gradually making its way onto my website started to draw traffic. Lots of traffic.

That 30-60 minutes of work each day slowly transformed my side project into a fully-fledged business.

In just under a year and a half, I was able to finally dump the freelance work and start doing what I wanted, how I wanted, when I wanted.

I’d become a solopreneur.

The process was entirely replicable, too. I used the same little-chunk-in-the-day approach to write three novels in two and a half years on the side while continuing to grow and develop my business.

(You can read the most recent of those novels here).

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Intentionality wins the day

If you’re committed to something and pursue its growth in an intentional way, you can build it into a real-life, money-making resource in a reasonably short space of time.

Not overnight, mind you.

The whole “90 days to 10k!” sort of thing doesn’t happen outside of the imagination of scammy online growth gurus.

It took me over 16 months to slip out of my freelancing shackles (should’ve used more butter).

I imagine you could do it faster than me, though.

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Try this:

• Experiment with time slots. Try working on your side project early in the morning, over lunch, before bed. Switch it up until you find your sweet spot. Then protect it at all costs.

• There’s always something you can reduce. I know, we all love our streaming services. But savouring a great show’s better than bingeing it, right? Cut out one episode a day, or play that video game for half the time you normally would. You’ll be amazed how much more time you can carve out for your side gig.

• Make it work with rather than against your responsibilities. Don’t schedule side project work during busy periods of your day. Don’t dump other things in favour of it (unless they’re really unnecessary). Definitely don’t neglect your actual job. If your side gig/project/hustle interferes with normal life, it’ll be the first thing to go.

• Have people keep you accountable. This one’s important. Be open and transparent about what you’re trying to do. Own it. Have your family and friends keep you accountable, especially in the early days.

• Start small and grow. 30 minutes a day is enough to get going. Up it to 60 minutes when you can. Before you know it, you’ll happily ditch TV for the dopamine hit of solopreneur-based creativity.

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Seize the day

Look ahead to next week. If you’re just starting, set aside one slot each day that’s just for your solo gig, even if it’s just to think about it. Thinking is where it starts, after all.

You only need 30 minutes a day to become a solopreneur.

You can do it.

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Read this next:

• Do you need a big social media following to become a solopreneur?

• How to handle hearing "no" as a solopreneur (without feeling beaten)

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

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