Discover more from Smarter Solopreneurs
Solopreneurs will rule the world 100%
And other (but real) 2023 solopreneurship stats you should know.
If you work in a company, you’re usually bombarded with results:
Sales results
Marketing results
Internal success stories
Evaluations
Huge milestones achieved by the company and more
These stats serve a purpose: they’re there to motivate you, make you feel like a part of the team and keep you moving forward together.
But solopreneurs don’t have that. The lack of context in solopreneurship makes us feel lonely and unappreciated. Today, I want to change that. In fact, I think it’s so important that today’s newsletter is free for everyone.
Solopreneurs will rule the world. It’s already happening.
Solopreneurship is the ultimate way to contribute to the workforce by doing the best you can do. It’s better paid, and it makes people happier.
Here’s how I know.
This is an all-free instalment of the One-Person Business Success Newsletter. If you want to support my work & receive all my e-mails in full, upgrade to paid.
Secret to Success: Key Solopreneurship Stats 2023
What we’ll cover in this newsletter:
Meet your peers (you’re in good company!)
What do solopreneurs do: the most popular industries & top 10 companies that hire the most freelancers.
How much do solopreneurs earn?
Are solopreneurs happier than employees and business owners?
Top solopreneur stats: the most in-demand services & products; the most effective solopreneur marketing tactics; the most successful solopreneurs in the world (and their income).
Practical advice based on the top solopreneurs' stats.
Meet your peers.
Approximately 1.57 billion people in the global workforce are solopreneurs. About 40% of them do it full-time. Awesome job!
The primary motivators for solopreneurs are the desire to have more control over their lives (34.35%), to have a greater financial reward (22.58%) and to do something they are passionate about (22.01%).
Most solopreneurs have a post-grad level of education (51%) but there are many who create successful solo businesses with not much more than a high-school diploma. As long as you have a valuable skill to offer, you can be a successful solopreneur.
According to research done by the international payments platform Payoneer, you’ll find the most freelancers/solopreneurs in the USA, UK and Brazil.
It’s worth noting that the platform collects data from its users, so the statistic is indicative, not exact. For example, there are approximately 27.66 million self-employed people working in the European Union, as of 2022, but most of them have chosen another payment service.
Japan is also considered one of the top countries for solopreneurship due to its favourable laws.
What do solopreneurs do: the most popular industries & top 10 companies hiring freelancers.
According to a 2021 survey, around 77% of employees in the arts and design industry are freelancers. This compares to only 20% of employees in the production and manufacturing industry.
More and more businesses are realizing the value of solopreneurs, and either work with freelancers or hire content creators as a part of their marketing strategies.
Recently, news came out that even Google has more freelancers on its staff than full-time employees — 120K vs 102K. Here are the top 10 companies hiring freelancers today.
How much do solopreneurs earn?
MBO Partners’ recent State of Independence Report shows that 4.6 million solopreneurs made $100,000 or more in 2023, up 53% from 2021.
While most content creators aren’t getting rich, they’re earning enough to keep doing what they love to do. The average annual revenue for full-time content creators is over $100,000. The median revenue is $50,000.
In the US, programmers, data analysts & mobile developers are the highest-paid freelancers, earning an average annual salary of up to $120,000
To add personal information to general data, my personal median income for the past two years is about $95K per year. This is more than double the average annual salary for writers shown in the table above.
Plenty of writers, content creators and solopreneurs offering digital products are known for crossing the 7-figure mark with only part-time help from virtual assistants and freelancers.
With the evolving technology and the monetization options online, the sky is the limit.
Are solopreneurs happier than employees?
Even though solopreneurship is thought of as a lonely endeavour, only 13.3% of solopreneurs report feeling lonely and isolated in their work.
In comparison, over half of traditional employees report feeling lonely, even though they’re supposed to have more opportunities to connect with others. Maybe it’s because solopreneurs have more time to spend with the important people in their lives and more control over their environment, not to mention how savvy we are in finding our people online.
In addition, full-time solopreneurs have a 4.1 out of 5 lifestyle satisfaction rating. Those who have side hustles have a 3.8 out of 5 rating.
While a fulfilling 9–5 job can be an excellent way to contribute to society, the data (and my personal experience) shows that solopreneurship makes people freer, more fulfilled and happier.
Top solopreneur stats.
The most in-demand services & products.
With regards to freelancing, here are the freelance services with the most demand in 2023:
Web design
Sales & business development
Data entry
Accounting
3D animation
If you’re not working in either of these categories, don't worry. Research shows that the most successful solopreneurs aren’t similar in their professional expertise so much as in their soft skills.
The most high-earning solopreneurs say the #1 soft skill crucial for success is excellent communication. When you can articulate your thoughts and ideas clearly, listen carefully and respond adequately, you unlock opportunities that your competitors can’t.
In terms of digital products, here’s a list of the nine most popular types of digital products, listed in order of popularity.
Ebooks & audiobooks. In 2020, creators in the industry sold more than 191 million books. The industry generated around 13.2 billion dollars in revenue in 2022 alone.
Video content. In 2021, it was estimated that YouTube Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) ranked first as the top-earning YouTuber worldwide with earnings of approximately 54 million U.S. dollars. Jake Paul ranked second, with an estimate of 45 million U.S. dollars earned during the last measured year.
Software. If you can code, you can convert your skills to cash online. In fact, you don’t even need to know how to code. Check out Bubble; it allows you to build software using their no-code tools.
Photography. If you are a professional photographer, tourist, or photography hobbyist, your photos are already digital products that you can sell online.
Online courses. According to Dan Koe, Marie Forleo and many others, this is the most profitable type of digital product as it offers options for personal coaching, becoming a part of a community and learning specific information from people with experience.
Templates. Creators have made 6-figures out of Notion and Canva templates alone. Mostly, they sell these templates on Etsy.
Music. If that’s your thing.
Graphics & Arts.
Fonts
The most effective solopreneur marketing tactics.
Freelance platforms.
Currently, Upwork is the largest freelance platform online. It was incorporated in 1999, and it makes over $2 billion in revenue each year across over 8,000 skills with over 3 million jobs posted annually.
The second platform to use is Fiverr. It processes more than 3 million jobs in over 100 categories across 196 countries worldwide each year. Fiverr had revenue of $353M in the twelve months ending September 30, 2023, with 5.69% growth year-over-year.
Third place is for Freelancer. Freelancer has over 31 million users globally and has an annual revenue of $43.1 million.
Social Media.
Based on our 2020 Freelancer Income Report, 34% of freelancers use Facebook to promote their work, followed by LinkedIn with 28%.
Yet, the most significant change is the growing popularity of Instagram, now used by 21% of freelancers, compared to two years ago, when it stood at just 12%.
For content creators, TikTok and Instagram are the highest-paying social media platforms that pay directly for views. YouTubers are also known to make a lot, but the bar is higher for newcomers.
Social media is also a great place for developing an influencer status and using it to work with brands. Astonishing 91% of marketing managers say they’ve used influencers in their marketing strategy at least once, while many do it regularly.
For writers, platforms that pay directly for views are Twitter and Medium. Many writers successfully monetize Substack, too. If you want to build an influencer brand, I’d recommend looking into LinkedIn.
You think it’s too hard to stand out? 70% of content creators spend 10 hours or less per week creating content. If you spend 11 and use them wisely, you’ll soon be ahead of the curve.
Publicity.
Another successful marketing strategy for solopreneurs is PR. You can be your own publicist and try to get into websites like Business Insider, Fast Company and Forbes. These platforms can help you get thousands of views.
E-mail.
Yet, the most lucrative marketing channel, according to top solopreneurs, is e-mail marketing. While you may not be ready to sell anything to your list just yet, starting to build an e-mail list of people who are interested in what you can offer is the smartest thing you can do.
The most successful solopreneurs in the world (and their income)
When we talk about a one-person business, we often think about freelancers and content creators. In reality, the sky is the limit.
Eric Barone made a shitload of money by developing a game. Nathan Barry started an e-mail platform. Gary Brewer created a lead generation tool.
While these companies are huge companies now, they started as side hustles. Their creators made a lot of money solo for months before they started to expand.
This is a popular path. Dan Koe, a solopreneur content creator who’s closing in on a $4 million year, is working on creating Kortex, a knowledge-management service for students, writers and creators.
But you don’t have to start a big business if you don’t want to. Tim Denning, Michael Simmons, Michael Thompson, and Justin Welsh are a few of the solopreneurs I can think of who keep betting mostly on solopreneurship (through writing) and make high 6 to 7 figures.
Tim openly talks about how it’s not about millions — it’s about freedom of time and mind.
Practical advice based on top solopreneur stats.
Start and keep going.
If these stats are proving anything, it is that the opportunity is there. Working for yourself is now available to anyone. This means you can do what you love, do it on your terms, on your schedule, and for the type of money you want.
I’m not saying that it’s easy or that it doesn’t require skills. It does, but the skills are also freely available online.
You have no excuse. Start and keep going. When you feel down, remember you’re in a company of winners. This is the best job in the world. The top salary is literally limitless. You can do this.
Figure out what you want.
Since anything is possible, it’s essential to spend some time figuring out what you want.
What size of business do you want? Are you a solopreneur just for starters or is that what you want to do? Do you imagine ever getting employees or maybe just a little freelance help?
What type of business do you want? Product-based, service-based, content-based, or some mixture of all?
What industry are you interested in?
What yearly revenue do you aim at? Describe your desired revenue for each of the next 5 years.
Figure out how to get there.
Which marketing channels are your thing? Which absolutely aren’t?
Choose 2–3 channels and start posting content and your offers there consistently.
Final words.
Solopreneurship is the future of work. AI can’t replace the high level of expertise, creativity and versatility required to make it as a solopreneur.
So if you’re reading this, rock on!
This is an all-free instalment of the One-Person Business Success Newsletter. If you want to receive all my e-mails in full, upgrade to paid.