If you’re a solopreneur, you’re in charge of your own success. That’s liberating!
It can also be challenging. Scary. And overwhelming.
Because when you’re the person in charge of your own success, you need to be able to depend on yourself for getting where you want to be.
Sure, other people can advise, guide, encourage, and inspire you. But in the end, you’re the one driving the bus!
Question is, how do you empower yourself for success?
In this post, I’m sharing five steps that will help you build the self-awareness, determination, and confidence you need to succeed as a solopreneur. As you read through each of these steps, there will likely be some areas where you think you’re good to go. Other areas that need work. And you might even see some of these steps as completely out of your reach.
Nope. Nope. And NOPE!
Everything here is totally within your grasp. At the same time, none of these steps are ever ‘done and dusted.’ These are not things you can just check off your list and forget about. Empowering yourself to succeed is a continuous process that will evolve and change as you (and your business) grow.
Enough preamble, let’s get to it!
Table of Contents
5 Ways to Empower Yourself for Success
1. Identify and develop your strengths
What are you good at? Empowerment comes from having the ability to identify and leverage your strengths.
Once you have a clear understanding of your strengths (and this is a BIGGIE), keep going. Keep growing!
Focus on becoming a go-to expert in your solopreneurial niche. Or even better, THE go-to expert in your niche.
Identifying your strengths is an important step for self-empowerment. But remember, you don’t have to be an expert right from the start. And once you do become an expert, there’s ALWAYS room to grow, expand — or niche down.
How do I identify my strengths?
Start with some deep self-reflection. I know, it sounds weird and scary and a bit foo-foo. But it’s not.
Self-reflection is serious, pragmatic business!
As you look inward to identify your strengths, focus on all aspects of what you’re good at — from business skills and natural talents to your emotional IQ and unique experiences.
Ask yourself lots of questions:
- What are you good at?
- What do you enjoy doing?
- What energizes you?
- What do you love learning about?
- What have you accomplished in the past that you’re proud of?
- How would your friends and family describe you?
- What would those who know you best say is unique about you?
Brainstorm broadly, without judgment, and make a big list.
Give yourself time to think on this. Once you have a clear understanding of your strengths, identify the core strengths that are relevant to your business success—and focus on those.
When you take time to identify and deepen your areas of expertise, you empower yourself for success as a solopreneur.
2. Move past fear
Fear can be a powerful obstacle to achieving success on your own. And it can manifest in many ways—from procrastination to self-doubt. When you give in to your fear, you hold yourself back from taking risks, trying new things, and putting yourself out there for the world to see. Ultimately, your fear can disempower you and prevent you from achieving your dreams.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
To stop fear from sabotaging your success, you must learn to embrace change and uncertainty.
That means being open to new ideas and experiences. And being willing to take calculated risks. Focus on the positive outcomes that can come from taking risks, rather than the potential for failure!
One way to get there is by being honest with yourself about your fears and self-doubts—without judgment.
Put everything out there on the table (or a pad of paper or a journal). Look at each of your fears, and ask yourself: “What’s the worst that can happen?” Usually, the thing you’re afraid of isn’t nearly as bad you’re making it out to be in your mind.
In fact, when you confront your fears head-on, you might find (like I have) that it’s actually quite easy—exhilarating even!—to move past them.
And here’s the thing, if you do fail, it’s okay. It’s expected! As a solopreneur, if you’re not failing once in a while, you’re being wayyyy too cautious.
I like to think of failure as powerful accelerator for success. When you fail, you’re given the opportunity to learn and grow from your mistakes. Instead of viewing failure as a setback, try looking at it as a valuable learning experience that will help propel you to even greater success in the future.
A big part of empowering yourself to succeed is empowering yourself to fail.
3. Claim your value
Believing in yourself and your abilities is what self-empowerment is all about.
This step is all about recognizing that you have something unique and valuable to offer the world. And not being afraid to claim your value.
Yup! I’m talking money here, folks.
All too often, solopreneurs undervalue themselves or allow others to tell them what they’re worth.
Unfortunately, women struggle with this more than men. There are plenty of studies (like this one, this one, and this one) that show how men overestimate their talents, while women don’t give themselves enough credit. Let’s put an end to that, shall we?
Regardless of your gender, though, empowering yourself to succeed means having confidence in your skills, talents, and potential. It also means not letting anyone else tell you what you’re worth.
When you understand the value you provide, and you claim that value unabashedly, you’ll attract like-minded customers—and build relationships based on mutual respect.
What’s more, when you claim your value you empower yourself to reach income goals you might never have imagined possible.
4. Acknowledge your progress
Solopreneurial success is rarely a straight line. It’s more like a jiggety jaggety graph. The goal, of course, it to see an overall upward trend.
To stay motivated and inspired, it’s important to appreciate your progress along the way—whether it’s a small win or a major accomplishment.
When you take the time to acknowledge and track your progress, you’ll start to see patterns that can help you improve your strategies moving forward.
One way to track your achievements is simply to keep a progress journal. Write down what you accomplished (again, no matter how big or small), along with any challenges you faced and how you overcame them.
Reviewing your progress regularly will give you a sense of perspective on how far you’ve come and what you’re capable of.
5. Be your true self
To succeed on your own, you must be true to who you are. Authenticity is imperative. Simple as that.
Being your true self is one of the most powerful things you can do when it comes to achieving success in your personal and professional life.
It can be hard not to compare yourself to others, or to base your success on what’s important to others. Or what you think is important to others.
Avoid getting swept up in the toxic hustle culture, or setting your goals based on other people’s standards of success. That approach is sure to bite you in the butt.
Want to feel a rush of self-empowerment?
Embrace your individuality, stay true to your values, and break free from the molds that confine you.
When you are true to yourself as a solopreneur, you will set more meaningful goals; make more confident decisions; and attract the right opportunities, people, and customers into your life. All of which are essential elements of solopreneurial success.
Final tip: As you follow these five steps, be patient with yourself. Keep focusing on your strengths, using fear to propel you, claiming your value, acknowledging your progress, and being your true self. Remember, YOU are in control of your solopreneurial success. Take the wheel!
