How Solopreneurs operate: LEarn from INDEPENDENT PRos around the GLOBE 🌏

We’re documenting solopreneurship on a global scale

How Solopreneurs Operate (HSO) is a weekly Q&A and content series where independent business owners across industries share personal stories and insights on how they sustain and scale.

Our platform is a growing community of solo founders, freelancers, apprentices, and peers from different parts of the world. Damian works alongside his colleagues Sakirat Idris, Samuel Offor, Sandeep Rajan, and Bendu Corneh to co-host guest Q&As and publish geographic trend reports.

Our guest Q&s run on LinkedIn and other social platforms on Wednesdays at 12 pm ET with the exception of widely celebrated holidays and a few other breaks.

It’s a vibrant time for independent business owners around the globe and the latest stats speak volumes:

In the United States 🇺🇸—the world’s largest economy by measure—5.2 million small business applications were filed last year, on the heels of 2023’s record 5.5 million. These new founders include a rising number of nonemployers who operate profitable companies.

Solopreneurs ran 84% of American businesses in 2020, up from 76% in 1997, per Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report. While that total dipped slightly coming out of the pandemic, recent surveys indicate an even higher percentage today.

The number of U.S. nonemployer firms generating between $1 million and just under $2.5 million in annual revenue more than doubled in 2022, surpassing 100,000, according to Forbes.

Inside Looks From Solo Pros of All Stripes

We feature active solopreneurs from around the world who have useful insights and tips for others. Our growing team at HSO corresponds with self-employed professionals of all types across a range of fields that include: 

Media and marketing 🎥 📣, investing and finance 💰 📈, technology (new and old) 💻 📟, business consulting 💼 📊, education and coaching 🎓 📘, legal and lobbying services ⚖️ 📜, food and beverage 🍽️ ☕, health and science 🧘‍♀️ 🔬, manual labor and artisanship 🔨 🛠️, farming and sustainability 🌱 🚜, transportation 🚙 🚁, real estate brokerage 🏠 📋, art and design 🎨 🖌️, music and acting 🎵 🎭, photography and film 📸 🎬, sports and video games 🏀 🎮, crypto and Web3 🪙 🌐, cannabis products 🌿 💨, salon booths and suites ✂️ 💇‍♀️, delis and laundromats 🥪 🧺 .

Let your imagination take it from there with your support. This means reading our weekly Q&As, recommending guests, and reaching out if you fully operate a company with no other full-time employees.

Notable Quotes from Our Guests in the U.S.

Wes Wheless of Develop My IP: “I’m grateful for my time in corporate—it was the first 20 years of my career, and in that time I gathered what I call a ‘big bag of experiences’ that laid the foundation for me to design a more custom path for my next 20 years.”

Melissa Zehner of Scroll-Stopping Content: “The most engaging people I know aren’t trying to create a perception of perfection—in fact, they’re intentionally doing the opposite.”

Sean MacMannis of Positive Sum: “The biggest win isn’t just financial—it’s that I’m building a business that supports the life I want, instead of the other way around.”

Jehan Daugherty of Jehan LLC: “I can never say enough about the power of networking and supporting small businesses.”

Hannah Miet of Hannah Miet Consulting: “I’d seen almost every side of the table in CRE, and that made me feel ready, or at least ready enough, to take the leap.”

Orlando Molina of Boom Bap Across The Map: “Find something different and unique that sticks out. Big corporations will want to compare you to industry standards. Ignore that and build your own thing so the industry copies YOU.”

Sharpen Your Soloist Skills with HSO

Join our growing community at How Solopreneurs Operate on LinkedIn.

Our collaborative series and broader platform are intended to be educational and empowering for all. We encourage employers to view HSO as a growing talent pool they can access for free. We also encourage those who are unemployed or changing careers to draw from these individual conversations.

On a journalistic level, we hope this project will provide a wider lens into how independent business owners around the world think and juggle. As a bonus: It’ll be fun to get into some war stories when applicable and fair game (meaning all named parties consent).

How Solopreneurs Operate is brought to you by Ghigliotty & Co. LLC.

For HSO guest and content inquires, please contact: solopreneurpaths@gmail.com

For HSO business and advertising inquires, please contact: ghigliottyco@gmail.com