Rise of the Knowledge Solopreneur: The Magnificient ONE

Key takeaways

§? Knowledge professionals often have feelings of not being able to reach their full potential

§? Your organization may not be managing its talent optimally

§? Welcome to the knowledge era, where expertise can rise

§? Discover where your expertise lies and use entrepreneurial marketing

§? Often, knowledge professionals struggle to become knowledge entrepreneurs

§? Monetizing your talents to the extreme is a long-game

You have talent and dreams; however, something is missing. It is that feeling that you are not achieving your full potential. Your compensation and benefits are acceptable, but the organization cannot fully tap into your expertise. You feel half full and more than half empty—logic and cognitive dimensions do not seem to agree.

There is a recognition that individuals can create a happy and autonomous life using the expertise they possess. After all, knowledge professionals are not the same calibre as the knowledge workers of the 1950s. The high educational and experiential investment and the resulting low return on social and financial capital are not worth it.

Many talented people can use their competencies to create an organization of one. The hassle of working in teams, subordinates who constantly need motivation, and an organization with a different agenda can make you feel disenchanted. It used to be only creatives working alone in their micro businesses or making and selling artwork. Pablo Picasso can work independently, and you can do so as a provider of specialized services. With the coming of digital technologies, the rules of the entrepreneurship game have changed. You do not have to die to benefit from your work.

Discover your talents

Finding what you are good at can be challenging. In different fields, many have found a way to exploit their expertise. Steve Harvey is a game show host with a splash of humour. J. K. Rowling can turn out more creative work beyond her clunky typewriter. Dorie Clarke can write books and train individuals to reach a higher level of performance and pluck down six digits from selling self-improvement.

Who would have thought people would purchase a book developing habits a few years ago to be effective as Steven Covey did? People have struggles, and that could be a giant market for soloists. However, many aspiring knowledge creatives find that they get stuck at a low level of performance as they do not have the perspective of thinking as entrepreneurs.

Solopreneur developmental hierarchy

You may have tried to do something on the side as a moonlighter, or someone may have hired you for a one-off job, and you may have felt the adrenaline rush. You may have said I like the financial gain and the feeling of using my expertise, which is not at the almighty organization. You kept trying and became a hustler, and any project will do. Eventually, you realize that freelancing is better—drop low-margin jobs, maximize your time, and use your expertise while holding down your salary position.

As a freelancer, you like the periodic jobs, but the taste of individuality makes you want more as it brings out the best in you. You get more daring, register your business, evaluate each project for profitability, and become an accidental businessperson. As time goes by, you find the need to make your fledging business stand out.

While still holding your professional position, you experiment with more innovative offerings. Like Picasso’s unique cubism painting style, you may want to venture into a blue market—test a new concept where you can build a new business model—one for an individual and be part of the orange economy. However, the part-time entrepreneur strategy seems to reach your total capacity, and you question your loyalty to the firm.

You have a tested and proven model and see the need to become a full-time solopreneur. The baby you created calls for more of your time and resources. You have reflected on how many projects you lost due to time constraints. You decide to leave and begin your journey as a knowledge solopreneur.

Entrepreneurial marketing

The knowledge solopreneur has many tools from the previous information era plus more. You can conduct e-commerce and digital marketing all from one software system. Some e-commerce sites can turn teachers into entrepreneurs. Others are designed for knowledge entrepreneurs and have benefits such as landing pages, newsletter capability, community creation, and website hosting with analytics.

If you are starting, you may want to try some tools for free. Zoom and AI are free; you can upgrade them when you have critical mass. Imagine doing all this in the comfort of your home or bedroom. Do not feel that you will be perceived as being unprofessional, as the current paradigm is that digital natives can work anywhere; however, you are beyond being an influencer; you are a knowledge entrepreneur—you strive for a higher level—thought leader or maybe become an icon.

A final word about expertise: becoming an expert is the long game—think about the training, education, and experience one must accumulate to become a professional. Traditionally, engineers, lawyers, doctors and accountants are considered professions. In the knowledge epoch, anyone with high skills can rise to a high level of competence.

This story is about Picasso meeting one of his admirers in a Spanish market. The lady spotted him and asked him to draw something on the only thing she had in her possession: a paper and pen. After a few seconds, the great artist delivered a drawing. She was impressed with his work and thanked him. Picasso was not done and asked for a million dollars. The fan thought that this was outrageous for just a short time. Picasso responded that it was not a minute; it took forty years!

While your target may undervalue your expertise because you completed the task quickly, it took many years to develop your talent. Expertise plus thinking like an entrepreneur can lead to a higher level of performance and an outstanding life.

Sajjad is an SME and Family Business Advisor who supports entrepreneurs in scaling their ventures. In his spare time in Trinidad and Tobago, he tries to produce organic tropical fruits and vegetables and practise sustainable farming in his home garden.

His book,?Build Your Legacy Business: Solopreneur To Family Business Hero, is unique in its combination of entrepreneurship and family enterprise.

You can contact him at [email protected] or www.entrepreneurtnt.com