It’s been a year since I started up in business. It’s been deeply delightful and disastrously dissatisfactory. Not at the same time, but the rollercoaster of emotions has been replete with so many undulations, and twists and turns that frankly I’m oftentimes left without air to breathe. I don’t think you’d see this ride on a fairground any time soon.

Only now am I clear on my path to progress. Irrespective of whether I’ve spent 12 months largely in a state of flux, I completely acknowledge with any learning comes a positive outcome.

So here it is! My seven tips on becoming an amazing solopreneurship. Some hail from my pathological and enduring state of stupidity, others have been garnered from books and given me some of my greatest moments.

1. Value yourself. Also think about your target salary and work backwards.So you want $50k or £30k a year? How many hours do you want to work for that? What about pension contributions, tax, national insurance. Count it all out – and get some advice from some business support organisation like Business Link here in the UK.
2. Chunk things out. It might be irresistible to just go hell for leather and churn stuff out but it’ll be even more incredible if you spend some time every morning planning out your day with breaks. Plan to do less than you think you can. And build in time for learning. You need to learn something EVERY day. An hour with your nose in a book will make your work rock – and you’ll feel totally illuminated – like a big light bulb!
3. Set micro tasks. Don’t go for the big enchilada straight away. Plan out a route to get there with numerous stops and milestones to show your progress. Get a copy of OpenProj and map it out that way, showing the people and resources you need to make it to the finish line. Start small, and reward yourself fabulously for each micro task along the way that you complete.
4. Don’t do everything. You’re not a robot. You’re the incredible you. Focus on your strengths, and make them even stronger. That’s why people work best in a team.
5. Don’t take everything on. So you want to be rich? Riches aren’t about amassing more work than you can handle – they’re about happiness. My biggest flaw was taking every job I could get my hands on. It doesn’t work that way. Believe me, you’ll cause yourself and your clients misery, because you’ll be way too stretched and the work won’t reflect your true ability.
6. Know your passion. The most important thing as a solo-eurgh-preneur is to work on making your dreams a reality. Why did you leave your job if what you’re doing isn’t what you want? Every moment spent doing something you hate is a moment of your life wasted. And there are millions of better ways to spend your time than being miserable. Plus find your compelling destiny and you’ll be rewarded in every way. People will pay you for your passion – not just if you’re a hooker!
7. Find a team. Network til you find people you admire and want to work with. Show them an absorbing reason why they should spend time with you – and then work out a mutual advantage you can work on for collective success. Build an incredible network around you you can count on and rely on – and they, too, can count on and rely on you.

BONUS! Find ONE process that works for you. Refine it to hell and make it save you oodles of time. Great post on problogger recently about how to streamline your blogs. Get over to davethackeray.com and I’ll share with you the link.

I hope not to bore you but to illuminate you with ways to avoid the traps that have kept me under the proverbial ground in a bear trap for days on end. I want you to be amazing.

And I don’t want you to hate me because DaveThackeray.com is back. I always said I’d be here when I have something important to share with you.

I believe these tips are sufficiently important to exhume a previously dead site.

I also think if you’re a solopreneur you need to look for a team. Rid the solo, because the only thing you get being a one-person-show is frustration and dented confidence.