Low Cost Ideas to Get Support in Your Business
The Myth of Individualism & How to Start Calling in Resources
The world of the online solo entrepreneur is fraught with the mythology of individualism.
“My husband left me, I had to sell the house, the dog died, but I decided to take a chance, leave my job, and live my dream business. Now I’m making double 6 figures per year, I own a better home in the best neighbourhood where the kids have a great school. It was hard, but I did it all, it was worth it, and you can too! (oh and I looked fabulous and skinny and didn’t miss a yoga class while doing it.)”
The impression we are left with is that we—particularly as women or femme-identified—are capable and empowered to do it all, and do it better.
And do it all by ourselves.
The image that comes to mind for me is a swan, gliding over the water looking sleek and graceful, while all the while its little feet are paddling like hell under the surface to keep it moving forward.
And while IRL I do admire many women, who juggle lots of stuff, with little support, and somehow make it all miraculously work: I call b.s. on the notion that this is the definition of empowerment; or that it is useful to measure success by how much we did ‘all on our own.’
Human beings are more likely to be successful and healthy if they are well-resourced. Entrepreneurs are more likely to create and run successful businesses if they have support.
Support, however, can be a vicious circle. As an solo entrepreneur, you don’t have the time and skill set to do everything, so in order give your fullest attention to the services that you love to share and that actually bring in income, you need to staff your weaknesses and hire some help. But if you don’t have the money or can’t find the money to get support, then it’s hard to find the time to make that money, and so on, and so on.
The insult to injury in the whole Individualist Swan story is that I’ve seen certain business coaches advocating that you must hire people to help you (people like business coaches, ahem) even if you DON’T have the money. You have to find a way, get a 3rd job, ask your old ma for a loan, rack up your credit card balance . . . or you’re not taking enough ‘risk,’ you’re not willing to ‘invest in yourself.’ You’re not a ‘real’ entrepreneur.
Nope. The entrepreneurs like you and I know we are problem solvers. We know that we all exist in a complex web of interdependence, and that we have waaay more resources available to us—in the realms of relationship, community, skills, time, energy, spirit, and exchange—than mere money.
I have some ideas about low-cost ways to get support. You may be familiar with some, you may be practicing some, or some may be completely new. Listing them all would make the article too long, so I’ve included a reference PDF below, free to download. It has ideas, an exercise you can do, and another practice you can do with a peer.
Now, over to you. As an entrepreneur on a budget, what low cost support options have you experimented with? What worked, what would you do again? What definitely did NOT work for you, and why? It would be really interesting for us to discuss this with curiousity and kindness, below.
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