5 Tech Beliefs that Heavily Waste Solopreneurs' Time and Money
00:28 The belief in one-size-fits-all tech solutions
1:10 We prioritize customizability over simplicity
2:31 We fall for bad and aggressive big company marketing and spend money on things that are not a good fit for us
4:22 We try to use tools that were designed with big company logic, not solopreneurs
5:40 We spend years and thousands of $ trying to find the perfect tool - but perfect tools don't exist
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Let's discuss five factors that end up costing solopreneurs thousands of dollars within the initial one to three years. These issues could have been avoided if it weren't for the standard practices in the tech side of our businesses.
The first issue is that we often believe in one-size-fits-all solutions that simply don't work for us. Each of our needs and personalities in business is unique. For instance, if your friend had success with MailChimp as a mailing list platform and recommends it to you, you might still find it cumbersome. Then you might start blaming yourself for you not being “good enough“ to learn or use the same tools “everyone else” has success with. Let’s flip out of this mindset, you need to find the tools solutions and workflows that work for You and your Business!
The second problem is our tendency to try and customize every tool and platform we use. A typical example is our website. We desire specific experiences for our clients, and we want certain functions to work a particular way. However, this way we end up searching for complex solutions instead of accepting some limitations and embracing simplicity. Customizability is a luxury that requires significant time and financial resources, typically only available to larger teams. and organizations. When starting out, we often end up hiring someone to customize everything for us instead of enjoying the income generated when we launch our businesses. We start earning money just so we can feed someone else, and starve ourselves? Makes no sense yet we love doing it :P
Sure, when you can afford it, have things customized to you! It’s an awesome perk, but certainly not a necessary one.
Also if someone is turned off by a design not completely matching your “brand“, you just saved some time by avoiding a high-maintenance client you would not have enjoyed working with anyway.
The third challenge is that we are targeted by mainstream marketing when seeking software tools to run our businesses. These marketing campaigns proclaim that that certain product is the perfect solution for everyone, including us. However, they don't truly understand our unique circumstances. They just say whatever sounds good.
Often, the features listed on sales pages can be misleading, and we discover limitations only after we sign up for a paid plan. This is why I warn everyone to sign up for a yearly plan right away. Sure you can save 20% with that, (also marketing) but if you add the cost of platforms together that you ended up not using after paying for it….
The solution is to opt for a monthly plan for the first four months and only switch to a yearly plan if the tool proves essential after that period.
The fourth issue is that most software tools were designed with a big company logic in mind, which doesn't align with the needs of solopreneurs.
Which makes sense because mos of these are created by big companies for big companies. For instance, Facebook and Instagram advertising tools can be nightmarish to navigate since they were created for companies with multiple departments using the same tool. This illogical design makes it difficult for solopreneurs to effectively utilize such tools. It's crucial to look for tools specifically designed for solopreneurs. Put the words “solopreneur“ “self-employed“ “freelancer“ in your searches. The wrong tools will still come up, but the right ones will start to appear too!
Lastly, due to the aforementioned challenges, solopreneurs often search for a one-size-fits-all solution, that can be also customized, in one word, we believe we can find the perfect tool. However, no such tool exists. We must recognize the trade-offs involved.
A typical pros and cons pair might look like this:
Subscribing to a more expensice tool may provide a system with more capabilities and support, while choosing a less expensive option we might end up paying with our time and effort that goes into maintaining it.
The trade-off is not always between money and time. Sometimes it can be a useful feature but missing another useful feature. Or having an awesome feature but having a horrible workflow that goes with the platform.
It's a matter of prioritizing which type of frustrations we can live with in exchange for something that really helps us.
Thank you for reading this. I'm Peter, and my main business is providing tech consulting for solopreneurs, helping them problem-solve and simplify their daily business operations. Have a lovely day. :)
