Why I'm perfectly happy being a one-person business

When I started my business, I didn't have a well-thought-out plan or even a clear vision of what I wanted it to look like.

If I'm honest, I think I just wanted to find out whether I had what it took to do it.

But not long after I left full-time employment, I attended a business event. The host was talking about levels of business and the difference between being self-employed and being a business owner.

It went something along the lines of: "Being self-employed means you've created a job for yourself. Being a business owner means having a business that works without you."

In other words, if you're simply exchanging time for money, you haven't got a real business.

For some reason. this stuck with me.

I didn't want to be "just a freelancer" - I wanted a "proper" business.

A few months later, I ditched Lisa Slater Copywriting and incorporated Make Your Copy Count Ltd. I registered for VAT (even though I was nowhere near the VAT threshold).

I wanted to build a business. I wanted it to be more than just me. I felt embarrassed telling people I was a one-person business. I wanted to be taken seriously.

But this way of thinking held me back.

I was distracted by the idea of growing my business and it took energy away from the stuff I enjoyed doing.

I did employ someone. And I did use subcontractors and outsource work.

It didn't make me happy.

I realised I didn't want to build a business that ran without me. I liked working in my business. I wanted to work with my clients.

I wanted to make good money doing what I enjoyed for people I liked.

And I didn't need a team to do that.

I could be a "proper" business even if it was just me.

It's gone back to being "just me", I've created a "job" that I love doing, and I'm happier than I've ever been.

I don't need a six-figure salary to be happy

It's too easy to focus on somebody else's version of success. That's what I was doing.

And part of it was probably because I didn't have a vision when I set out. I didn't know what I was working towards so I started working towards other people's idea of success.

Once I stopped doing that, things became clearer and easier.

I'm not particularly driven by money. I can get by on very little.

That's not to say I don't have financial goals. My business has to cover my half of the mortgage and bills and all the things I want from life.

I want to live comfortably. I want to have nice things. I want to be able to say "yes" to stuff without worrying about whether I can afford it. I want to have nice holidays and days out. I also want to save for the future and make sure I have enough to live on when I retire (if I do ever want to retire).

So I do have financial targets.

But I'll let you into a not-so-secret secret: I'm not earning six figures.

And I don't need to. I can survive on much less than ￡100,000 a year. Given that the average UK salary is around ￡35,000, I'd say plenty of other people can too.

Would I like to earn six figures?

Well, that depends.

At the minute, my business gives me a lot of flexibility. If I sat and worked out how much time I spend working over the entire year, it probably equates to four days a week on average. I rarely work weekends. I don't work on holiday (except replying to the odd email or message). I don't take on more work than I can handle.

If earning six figures meant I had to go back to working late into the evening, working weekends, taking calls on holiday and so on. Then no, I wouldn't like to earn six figures.

I'd rather earn less money working with great clients than fill my time with crappy work and crappy clients.

Are you set up for success?

I might not be earning six figures but I've structured my business so that I could.

My 12-week programme is ￡3000. So if I filled all three places every month, that would be ￡108,000 a year.

Even if clients were in the programme for an average of 16 weeks (taking into account holidays etc.), the most I'd be working with at once is probably 15. That's 15 hours a week on calls and let's say another 15 hours spent supporting my mentees between calls.

That's still only 30 hours a week.

Plus, my 12-week programme is only one income source. There's income from book sales, course sales, training and consulting work too.

So I have the capacity to earn six figures if I want to.

And, being completely honest, if I was consistently filling all three spaces every month and had a waiting list, I'd increase the price and take on fewer clients.

The point is I can earn six figures without having to work ridiculous hours. Six figures is not out of reach for me. If I upped my marketing game a bit, I'm pretty confident, I'd be easily filling those spaces every month.

But I don't need to. I'm not chasing six figures. I actually quite like the balance I have right now. Some months I fill all three spaces, some months, I don't.

Either way, my business is structured to allow me to earn enough to live comfortably, but I still have the capacity to earn more if I want to.

The mistake a lot of freelancers and small business owners make is getting their pricing wrong.

Is your pricing too low?

Let's say you want to earn ￡100,000 a year. We'll ignore expenses and tax for now and just say the target turnover is ￡100k.

But your average hourly rate only works out around ￡50.

That means you have to work an average of 38 hours per week, every week, all year.

And that's 38 hours a week doing billable work. You'll also have to make time for marketing and admin and all the other non-billable work that comes with running a business.

It's just not sustainable. You haven't created a business that allows you to achieve your goal.

Filling your time with low-paying work will limit your ability to grow your business (if that's what you want) or create a well-balanced lifestyle. Being busy is not the same as being profitable.

Of course, if your goal is to work loads of hours for very little return, then crack on.

But I've never met anyone who has that as their goal.

So take a look at your business. Is it structured for success? Have you got the capacity to earn what you'd like or grow the way you want to?

And if you are struggling with pricing, check out my article on how to price your services as a freelancer .

What does your version of success look like?

To me, success is about being happy.

That's why the subtitle of my book is: How to Create Your Happy Ever After.

All the money in the world won't make you happy if you don't know what you want to use it for.

Building a huge business with a big team won't make you happy if that's not what you want.

In fact, something I realised pretty quickly was that not everyone with a "proper" business had a business that ran without them.

I know plenty of business owners who are working ridiculous hours and paying themselves very little even though they have a team of employees.

They might look like they are successful from the outside, but in reality, they are super stressed and trapped by the business they've created. Instead of only having to worry about their earnings, they now have to worry about paying the salaries of all their employees. And they can't switch off from the business because they haven't structured it in a way that lets them.

Building a team isn't the right move for everyone.

If you want to go down that route, that's great. But if, like me, you're happy being a one-person business, that's great too.

What matters is building a business that fits your idea of success.

And for me, that's building a business that makes me happy.

Thanks for reading - that's all for now

If you can't wait a whole month to hear from me again, sign up for my daily emails here .

And if you'd like practical, actionable advice on how to attract more of the clients you want and build a freelance business that works around you, grab a copy of my book here .

Lisa