10 Things to Know Before Starting Your Solo Business

You've been thinking about striking out on your own for years. 10 things to know before going for it.

After working as an engineer in manufacturing for about a decade, I finally decided to take the leap and work for myself–as a writer–in 2016. While this might seem like a big leap, I had started writing about my projects as a hobby years before, which eventually led to a paid gig with Hackaday, then Wired UK, and then… well at that point I felt qualified to write for anyone.

The side income was nice, and it eventually got to the point where it seemed that I could support my family if I scaled things up to full-time.¹ Also, I wanted to change locations to be closer to family in Florida, so not having to find a new job would be convenient.

It was time to make the leap to self-employment.

1: You did it!(?)

And I did. I turned in my notice, did my exit interview, and that was it. I was on my own. No longer under the corporate umbrella. I felt there should be some sort of fanfare, punishment/pain/struggle(?)… something. But it was literally just walking out of a door. Freeing, but also anticlimactic.

Now I could do whatever I want. I just had to make enough money to sustain my family. So there some relief², but not quite what I expected.

I did WHAT? This PCB business card would not come until much later.

2: You never have to work, but no paid time off

Working for a large(ish) company, I could get off of work on Friday and ~not think about it until Monday. I could also take vacations, secure in the fact that I would be back in a week or so and my paycheck would… still be the same.

As a self-employed business owner, AKA someone who works for yourself, AKA solopreneur³, if you take a week off, you’re not getting paid for that week. You also might miss an opportunity that you could have otherwise jumped on.

Want to play video games? You can. Any time you want actually, but you also become acutely aware of the $50, $75, $150 per hour (or more) in fees that you could be earning.⁴

I’ve also become aware of what other people are giving up to spend time with me. You could take this to a weird extreme, but just consider that friendships and business relationships (better yet, both) are valuable. Also, I think I further appreciate the benefit of activities that let you hang out with friends and still be productive, e.g. running or playing tennis to keep in shape.

3: You can work anywhere… but you probably won’t

After moving to Florida, I lived close to a Starbucks, and would occasionally camp out there for a few hours to get some writing done. Then came COVID/2020 and I stopped going (a pattern that continues today, even though I now live even closer). I also upgraded to a rather large computer monitor, along with a keyboard/mouse/macro pad setup⁵ that doesn’t travel well.

Working not-from-home is a nice change of pace/scenery once in a while, but once you have an efficient setup, it’s kind of hard to duplicate. You might venture out of your home office once in a while, but plan on spending most of your work hours at home.

4: If your hobby is your work, you no longer have a hobby

Making DIY/engineering projects was my hobby when I worked as an engineer in factory automation. Then I started making a little bit of money from the hobby engineering part, mostly by writing about other people’s projects.

I eventually started to earn a non-negligible amount of money at this, and made it my full time job. They say do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, but it’s more like do what you love and you’ll be working on it all the time and sometimes it won’t be fun. All things considered though, I certainly can’t complain.

5: Hire an accountant (actually do it now)

When I decided to work for myself full-time, I already had a side business income. I also already had an accountant that I like and trust. He deals with other businesses, so when I needed to set up my LLC, new tax situation, etc, he was able to guide me through the process–or really do a lot of it himself.

Yes, hiring an accountant is a non-insignificant cost. And yes, it’s likely more money than the H&R Block kiosk at Walmart, but some things are worth paying for. This is one of them. My business structure provides me some significant tax advantages, and because I work with an ethical accounting firm,⁶ I’m confident I’m doing things properly.

That being said, do look over your accountant’s work. At the end of the day, it’s your finances, not his that are on the line, and he may forget to factor in that extra child you just had a year ago, an HSA contribution, or… whatever. Unless you find someone like The Accountant⁷, he’s just human, and will sometimes make mistakes.

6: You need a dedicated space

Where I live now, I have a dedicated office space (like Office Space, but no one steals my red Swingline stapler⁸) where I can see the squirrels being merry… and actually quite a few deer, turkey, a white peacock that we call Pablo, and even the occasional bobcat and otter. Actually it’s pretty nice, and not as distracting as it sounds.

The point is, if I go into my office, I am always (mostly) working on something. A dedicated space is generally helpful to help you get into the right “work zone.” For me–with several children sharing our living space–it’s essential. Plenty of people try to work in common areas, but that is sub-optimal.

I wanted a huge work table. I built a huge work table!

7: Good equipment is a good investment

Nearly any improvement that you can make to your equipment to make you more efficient is a good investment. Consider if you make $50,000 per year, and pay $500 for a rather large and expensive monitor which improves your output by just 1%.

This investment pays for itself in the first year ($500) and will (hopefully) do so for many years after. If you up your (base) value to the $100,000 per year level, that $500 1% improvement represents a $1000 value each and every year. Consider what’s holding your productivity back. If you can solve it with a wad of cash, go for it!

8: Children are good… and bad for productivity

As I work, I often hear my kids running around, fighting, screaming, crying, bonking into things and each other, along with sounds from whatever electronic device they are watching and/or using. This can be distracting. At the same time, I know my wife is dealing with the kids, so I am obliged to make my time worthwhile to the family. I certainly can’t justify watching Netflix all morning while hiding in my office.

Alternatively, if your wife/husband doesn’t stay home with the kids, you’re likely paying someone to watch your kids, or they’re doing you a big favor. In this case, you had better make sure it’s worth the money and/or social capital that it’s costing you.

For those without kids, I’d recommend it. Don’t expect it to be easy though!

My mess seems to expand to meet my desk space

9: If you hate your job it’s your fault

A lot of people dislike their jobs. And while moving your desk or taking your stapler might seem like a strange thing to get angry over, I think we can all relate to petty things that might seem silly from the outside, but still drive us crazy.⁹

If you want a red stapler, buy a red stapler. Buy 10. Put yourself next to the window to see the squirrels. Your environment is exactly as you make it, in a way that just isn’t the case when working for someone else.

This also applies to what you do. Most of my business income comes from writing articles about technology and making for a number of customers. If I don’t like my customers,¹⁰ it’s up to me whether what they are paying is worth it for my time.

I also sell custom electronic devices, which wouldn’t support me by itself, but it a nice side income.¹¹ It also provides me with ongoing experience that’s valuable when writing about technical subjects. I would love for this to be a bigger part of my business, but that it up to me to make this a reality.

I would also love for Tech Adjacent to become a bigger part of my business.¹² If you would like to subscribe and/or share this publication that would be very helpful toward this goal👇

10: Part-time income + a “real” job is was pretty cushy

Let’s say you were making $80,000 per year, and doing a bit of consulting on the side that brought in $20,000 on an intermittent basis. That’s $100,000 + (possible) benefits like 401k matching, bonuses, health insurance, vacation days, etc., which might bring your total compensation up to $120,000. Nice!

However, Cut the base salary, out, and you’re left with just 1/6th of the value ($20,000/$120,000) that you were previously bringing in. Sock away all the cash you can when the money is good. There is a very good chance that things are about to get more difficult, at least in the short-term.

However, with the extra time to scale things up, you may be able to make 6x your former freelance income. You might even increase your value 10x, 100x, 1000x, or more. You ceiling it limitless, even if the runway may be bumpy at times.

10A: But wait, there’s more!

There is more, but this post is getting long. I’ve got another post lined up to be published soon with 11 other things to know before starting your own solo business. Subscribe below to get that piece and future posts via email (and no, you don’t have to get the Substack app):

For now, just realize it’s not crazy to start your own business. Ultimately, you just have to walk through that door. However, you should have a plan, even if it’s a little vague!

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Thanks for reading! I hope you will follow along as I post weekly about engineering, technology, making, and projects. Fair warning: I am a native Florida man, and may get a little off-topic in the footnotes. Maybe I even had an alligator or two as pets growing up. Perhaps they are alive today and could be used to test earth-wormhole pet friendliness.

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Addendum/Footnotes:

1. Notably, my family was 40% smaller at that point, neglecting any canine members. We are doing OK, but expenses have definitely increased!

2. IIRC, after quitting my last job, I had nightmares, or at least intermittent periods of dread, about doing preventive maintenance (PM) on one of two machines that I was in charge of that could be really difficult at times. These were difficult enough (in RL) that I remember my forearms being scraped up while and I was covered in grease from trying to secure certain guards that were a… selection of words not fit to print.

I did make some improvements on the process while I was there, so it was easier to do by the time I left than when I arrived. Some part of me did really enojoy doing those PMs though. Each was a huge challenge on a tight timeline that I prepared for for months beforehand, sort of like a boxing match, except with much less glory, and somewhat less blood, sweat, and physical exertion.

3. Not a fan of the term “solopreneur.” I can’t quite put my finger on why. It is accurate enough.

4. OR LESS. While I often get paid hourly rates that are quite good, I also have times where I probably make less than minimum wage, and try to justify it as skill/network building or marketing. And yes, writing here would qualify as such an activity, at least for the time being. I also haven’t played Quake Live in well over 3 years, even though I enjoyed it (and was terrible).

Getting a Macintosh that can’t run that game without some sort of dual-boot setup that I’ve been too lazy(?) to set up has been a nice productivity bump.

5.

6. Also, the joke/threat that accountants certainly hear over and over is “If I go to prison, you’ll be beside me.” It’s a joke, but there’s certainly some truth to it.

7. Such a great movie on both a character development and action level. Think Rain Man meets John Wick, plus a hint of romance. Sure, it sounds like an orange juice/ice cream/sub sandwich combo–that I may have ordered and then gotten a very hard time from my friends for making up during a trip to the campus food-court-sort-of style restaurant in college as the ice cream dripped on my fingers–but they somehow pulled the film off very well. A movie the whole family can enjoy… The adults in the family at least; it’s pretty violent.

8. I was told that Swingline didn’t have a red stapler before this movie, and apparently that is true. Also, weirdly enough, one of my current neighbors was an extra in that movie, I think in the cake scene.

9. Seriously, stop putting the sunshade down if you’re in the passenger seat and the sun isn’t in your eyes it makes it harder for the driver to see and if he hits a biker because the upper-right part of his vision is obscured it’s still his fault isn’t it??!!! MMUUUAAAAAHHHhhhhhaahahaha! Am I crazy? Maybe. You’ve got your own “sunshade” though. The only people who aren’t crazy are the people you don’t really know… Or those that don’t use the footnotes as their own personal scribble pad.

10. Which I very much do, especially those that happen to read this article!

11. As much as you can have a “side income” when working for yourself.

12. This newsletter isn’t monetized per se beyond some affiliate links, but I’d like to take on sponsorships at some point. So LMK if you’re interested!