Shiny Objects Kill Your Progress

Four things solopreneurs can skip if you want to build your online business faster and avoid getting stuck

The Overwhelmed Solopreneur

In 2022 I made a series of big decisions that changed my life and career.

• I quit my finance 9-5

• I started a writing business

• I made a bunch of f*ck ups

• I learned exactly what not to do

Along the way, I also received tons of questions from people on Linkedin.

How can I start an online writing business and quit my 9-5?

My best advice is to avoid the things that don’t matter and focus on the three things that do.

1. Finding clients

2. Delivering for clients

3. Building repeatable systems

But most new online creators and business owners get stuck focusing on the wrong sh*t that only delays your success.

Here are four things you do NOT need to start a successful writing business.

(these are only distractions)

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1. The Perfect Website

I can’t lie.

I dreamed of having a perfectly designed website on day one as a solopreneur.

I had zero clients, little credibility, and a half-baked business plan. But somehow, I was worried about color palettes, fonts, and beautifully placed pop-ups on a site none of my clients would care about.

I assumed I needed a website before anyone would work with me. I was wrong and still don’t have a finished website to this day.

What I was really doing, now that I look back, was avoiding the hardest part of becoming an entrepreneur: telling all my friends, family, and colleagues (aka my first potential clients) what I was up to.

I was scared to sell.

DIY-ing a website for months before launching is the most embarrassing failure of my early days as a solopreneur. But it taught me a valuable lesson.

Nobody gives a sh*t about your website.

Instead, people care about:

• Your experience

• Your knowledge

• Problems you can help them solve

A website alternative

Use Linkedin as your website in the first year.

It shows off your work experience, bio, projects you’ve worked on, content, and other forms of social proof that will convince your first customers to work with you.

Plus, your target customers likely already use Linkedin. You don’t have to convince them to go to another site and get lost in the black hole of the internet.

Who knows? Linkedin might be enough for you to run a six-figure business without a website, depending on what you’re selling.

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2. A Fancy Logo

I dropped $600 on a custom logo design package on 99 designs…before ever making a sale.

That’s crazy, right! Not the best financial or business decision of my life.

And once again, that expensive logo is gathering virtual dust in a folder somewhere, never to be used.

Until you know what your company will become — because it likely isn’t going to magically morph into the perfect vision you’ve laid out in your “business plan” — skip the fancy logo.

Your first customer won’t care that you paid $600 for something their third-grader could’ve made for free.

Create a minimum viable logo

Use Canva to whip up a logo for things like invoices, Linkedin, and maybe a few pieces of marketing materials.

Keep it super simple.

I challenge you to do what I (a perfectionist) couldn’t, and create a logo in 30 minutes.

Then move on.

If you don’t know what to design, go with a minimalist black-and-white logo with your initials. That’s all you really need at this point.

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3. A Clever Company Name

“Anthony Carlton LLC”

That’s what I wished I named my company. Instead, I thought I had to come up with a cool and original name to attract clients.

What I didn’t know, was that my company would change in a hundred different ways over the first year.

Naming it something other than “Anthony Carlton LLC” (which I did) forced me to:

• Ditch my domain name

• Change my LLC name

• Burn the 300 useless business cards I bought

Don’t come up with a clever name unless you know 1,000% it will still represent what you do for customers a year from now.

Insert [First Name + Last Name + Service]

Anthony Carlton Inc.
Anthony Carlton Writing
Anthony Carlton Consulting
Anthony Carlton Design Services

Make your company name simple and clear.

If you really want to change it to something clever later on, when you have a better idea of what you’re actually doing, file for a “DBA” (doing business as) name.

It will save you loads of time, money, and embarrassment.

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4. Thousands of Followers

Here’s a lesson I wish I would’ve learned earlier. One that would have saved me mountains of time, energy, and money.

Your first sale will not come from a stranger on the internet.

Your first sale will come from friends, family, and co-workers. People who already know and (hopefully) like you.

You don’t need 10,000 followers to be a successful entrepreneur and start making money. You just need the guts to tell people in your inner circle that you’re open for business.

My first client was my Mom

Then my best friend.
Then his brother.
Then someone *they* knew and referred to me.

Then, only after a year of doing business with people closest to me, I started to gain traction from places like Linkedin. But I still don’t rely on my “followers” to put food on my table and money in my bank account.

That’s the long game.

For now, go to the people who are already in your corner. Bust your ass to give them the best experience possible. And ask for feedback!

If you do this for long enough, you might be fortunate to have thousands of followers or email subscribers you can sell to.

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Recap: Things You Can Skip in Your First Year as a Solopreneur

1. Building the perfect website

2. Designing a fancy logo

3. Coming up with a clever name

4. Waiting to sell until you have thousands of followers

Congrats on making the decision to build something!

It’s a long journey filled with wins and losses. Give yourself a head start by skipping these time-sucking, money-wasting tasks.

Instead, focus on the actions that drive real success: creating and selling.

P.S. If you are a finance or real estate founder who wants to grow your brand on Linkedin, reach out here.