We Are Living in the Solopreneur Era
Let’s start with some data from the SBA here in the United States. Roughly 81 to 83% of all US businesses have no employees. There are about 33 million small businesses in the US right now, and 27 million of those are solopreneurs — businesses with no employees, according to the SBA.
That leads to one clear conclusion: there’s never been a better time than right now to be a solopreneur. Not only are we seeing these large numbers, but the data is backing it up. Upwards of 80% of small business owners are solopreneurs and with the advancement of AI, automations, and tools there’s so much available to help you run an efficient business without having to hire employees. Right now is the time, and it’s only going to get better.
Why Community Matters More Than Ever
With that said, community matters now more than ever. Solopreneurs don’t have internal teams, so it’s valuable to be able to reach out to a group of people who might be going through the same things you are — crowdsource ideas, overcome challenges, and learn from what others are doing in terms of the tools and systems they’re using. That kind of shared knowledge can make a real difference in how efficiently your business runs.
So allow me to officially welcome you to the solopreneur era.
How to Bring a Concept to Launch: Start Small, Listen, and Iterate
If you’re looking to become a solopreneur — or you already are one and have some new ideas — let’s talk about how you bring a concept to launch and what that entails.
The advice: start small, listen, and iterate.
A great example of this is Thrive. This is actually the third iteration of an idea from a number of years ago. If you’ve been following along, you know the first step was launching the Small Business Talk Podcast, where small business owners were invited to talk about their businesses and the challenges they face. But those conversations felt too broad — there was a desire to dive deeper and provide real support, especially around tech.
From there, the next iteration was the Actionable Marketer Podcast, with more focus on marketing in addition to tech. But that format also felt limiting — there were so many other aspects of being a solopreneur worth exploring, like sales, building automations, and taking advantage of AI. That podcast also hit a dead end, and now we’ve arrived at Thrive Solopreneur Collective.
The Path to Thrive Solopreneur Collective
This feels like the right place to be. Along the way, listening to feedback and paying attention to your questions has shaped this direction. Thrive is a space that allows the conversation to go wherever the community needs it to go.
That’s what “listen” really means. A lot of marketing is experimentation — put out different ideas, and when one resonates with your audience, that’s the path worth following. Start small before spending too much time, money, or resources. Test in small increments, talk to your potential audience, put out feelers. You’ll know pretty quickly if something has legs.
Start small, listen, and iterate. That’s the path Thrive has taken, and it’s proven to be a great way to bring an idea to launch. Thrive is still pretty small, and next week’s episode will cover the tech stack — what’s being used right now to run Thrive and how to keep things lean.
But the core lesson is this: whatever you’re doing now, whatever job or business you have, keep it. Start small, experiment, and grow. Once you have proof of concept, then it’s time to put the pedal to the metal.
How to Get the Most Out of Thrive
On this podcast, ideas will be shared and guests will be brought in to join the show. When questions or challenges come up, experts in those fields will be invited so we can all learn and grow together.
From there, we’ll continue the conversation in our community. Head over to community.thrivesolco.com to join. There are two membership tiers:
Free membership — you’ll receive updates and can log in to see what’s happening in the community.
Paid membership — you’ll be able to ask questions, leave comments, and interact more deeply. The comments section will be actively monitored throughout the week. There will also be a monthly live Q&A called Thrive Live, where questions can be submitted in advance and as many as possible will be covered during the session. If you can’t make the live session, all recordings will be available to you.
The Thrive Cycle: Podcast, Videos, and Community
The idea behind Thrive is to be cyclical. Whatever challenges or topics come up in the community will drive what gets covered on the podcast and who gets invited as guests. How-to videos are also planned — with step-by-step instructions for the tools and systems discussed here, so that even if you’re not super comfortable with tech, you’ll be able to follow along and implement things yourself. Once those episodes and videos are live, we circle back to the community — picking up the conversation, answering questions, and keeping things moving.
The Background Behind Thrive
To give you a better sense of the background behind Thrive — the first business launched about 10 years ago, as a solopreneur. The goal was never to have employees, and 10 years later, that’s still the case. Before that, the work was in corporate tech — building software and web-based applications, eventually overseeing marketing teams. As marketing evolved, video became increasingly important, which is where the video production background comes from.
All of this is to say: there’s deep comfort in living in the world of technology, combined with a genuine passion for bringing people together in community. That intersection is where Thrive lives — and the hope is that with the experience and knowledge shared here, along with everyone else who becomes part of this community, we will all thrive together.
The Mistake
When Thrive came together, a search confirmed the name Thrive Solopreneur Collective didn’t conflict with any existing copyrights or trademarks. Then came selecting social media handles. To keep things short and easy to find, the name was shortened to Thrive Solo Co. As the brand launched, it became clear that “Thrive Solo Co” can also be read as “Thrive Soloco” — and honestly, business ownership can feel pretty crazy sometimes. So we’re rolling with it.
Thank you for tuning in to Episode 1 of Thrive Smarter. If this sounds like your kind of thing, be sure to subscribe and follow along. To continue the conversation, head over to community.thrivesoloco.com. Thanks for tuning in — see you next week.
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