This Valentine's, My Heart Belongs to the Brave Entrepreneurs in the Arena

This Valentine's Day, my heart belongs to the solopreneurs in the arena.

You’re in the arena every single day, fighting battles most people never see. The late nights. The self-doubt. The launches that flop. The clients that ghost you. The posts that land with a thud. The days where motivation is nowhere to be found, and yet, you show up anyway.

This is a love letter to you. The ones in the arena. The ones who keep swinging. The ones who refuse to quit.

The Unseen Battles of the Solopreneur

Being a solopreneur isn’t just about building a business—it’s about building yourself.

Every day, you face an opponent that isn’t another business, another coach, or another freelancer. Your real opponent? Your own mind.

The voice that whispers, Who do you think you are? The hesitation before hitting ‘post’ on LinkedIn. The moments where your brain offers, Maybe you should just get a job.

It’s a lonely game. You don’t clock out at 5 PM. There’s no paycheck just for showing up. There’s no boss setting deadlines. Just you, your ideas, and an audience that may or may not be listening.

And if you’re an introvert? The game feels even harder.

Because LinkedIn, social media, and marketing weren’t built for people who prefer depth over volume and thoughtfulness over noise. It can feel like the world rewards the loudest voices while you quietly craft something brilliant in the background, wondering if anyone will ever notice.

But here’s the thing: the quiet ones? The thoughtful ones? The ones who lead with substance over spectacle?

You’re building something real. And that will always outlast the noise.

The Price You Pay to Play This Game

There’s a reason most people don’t do this. There’s a reason they settle for comfort, for certainty, for someone else signing their paycheck.

Because this path? It costs you.

It costs you in uncertainty. That gnawing anxiety of Will this work? Am I wasting my time? Will I ever make enough?

It costs you in emotional labor. Reframing rejection. Calming your nervous system. Showing up when no one’s engaging. Selling when it makes you cringe.

It costs you in loneliness. Because while your friends and family may love you, they don’t always get it. They don’t understand why you stress over a launch or why getting one good client feels like winning the lottery.

And yet, you keep going.

Because the alternative—going back, giving up, settling—is worse.

Oprah Winfrey once said:

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."

But no one tells you how brutal that adventure can be.

The Gladiators of LinkedIn

And then there’s LinkedIn.

The place where it seems like everyone else is crushing it. Where “I just signed 10 clients in a day!” posts flood your feed. Where it’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind.

You craft a post, pour your heart into it, hit publish—crickets.

You wonder, Should I be more strategic? Should I post more often? Should I comment on more things?

It can make you question everything.

But here’s the truth:

The solopreneurs who win aren’t the ones who go viral. They’re the ones who stay in the game.

Steve Jobs once said:

"I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."

Not talent. Not luck. Perseverance.

Which means the only way to lose this game is to stop playing.

The Courage to Keep Swinging

It takes courage to be in this fight.

To market yourself when you’d rather hide. To sell when you’d rather just do the work. To keep going when your brain is screaming QUIT.

It takes courage to grow at your own pace, even when others seem to be sprinting ahead.

Brené Brown said it best:

"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen."

And every time you post, pitch, or promote your work? You’re showing up.

Every time you fight through self-doubt and take action anyway? You’re in the arena.

Every time you get knocked down and stand back up? You prove to yourself that you belong here.

Theodore Roosevelt said it best in his famous Man in the Arena speech:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

A Love Letter to the Fighters

This is for you—the solopreneurs, the introverts, the ones who refuse to quit.

For the ones who sit in front of their laptops, willing themselves to take the next step.

For the ones who feel like they’re behind, but still keep going.

For the ones who bet on themselves, even when no one else is watching.

For the ones in the arena, covered in dust, sweat, and self-doubt, but still standing.

I see you. I appreciate you. And I’m right there with you.

Keep swinging.

Jo Knight Dutkewich is a former corporate senior leader and consultant to some of the world's best brands. She helps solopreneurs break up with procrastination and perfectionism to finally achieve consistent $10k months without doing anything that makes them want to shower off the ick...

She lives on Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, 3 sons, animal menagerie, and judgmental cat..