Deconstructing the multi-six-figure one-person business model (achievable for many, achieved by few)
Thread:
For the near entirety of running my business, it has been a one-man operation. A one-person business. Only myself.
Recently I've built a small team dedicated to the mission behind Modern Mastery.
(Technically they aren't employees, so could still be considered "one person")
I was a one-person business for ~3 years full time. I hit my first $50K month as a one-person business.
The point of this thread is to show you what's possible and often isn't talked about.
My approach is unique.
It goes against the grain of common business advice because that's what I like to do.
I question everything, take the good advice, and discard what my gut tells me to.
Let's dive in:
// The Foundation: Experience //
A traditional business has branding. They craft their brand message in a way that appeals to what they are trying to sell.
If you haven't been able to tell, the world is going personal. The world craves authenticity and human connection.
Big business does not do that. Work is going remote. More people are hiring independent contractors.
Those that have some form of monetizable skillset will thrive.
The thing is, there is still a cap. If you are selling your time for money there is still the problem of time.
My first success was freelancing after trying and failing at multiple different skill-based business models.
For every one of these failures, I stacked experience. This goes for every other growth-oriented pursuit. Personal development and the lot.
That digital art page that didn't work? It helped me make designs for my personal business and taught me how to grow on social media.
Those ecom brands that failed? They taught me direct response marketing, branding, and advertising.
Yo-yo dieting and weight lifting? They taught me discipline, consistency, and the value in personal experimentation.
Drinking a bit too much? It taught me that I needed people, environments, and goals that are conducive to my vision.
Diving deep into spirituality? It taught me the voice and tone I am most attracted to and resonate with - the one I want to put across.
Experience is the key here. Doing unconventional things (occasionally extreme), failing, and stacking lessons.
Iterating until you have the pieces to create an irresistible offer that nobody else can.
NOBODY is going to go down the same exact path as you.
They do not have your same voice. They do not have the conditioning you've picked up over time.
They do not have your same biases, interests, failures, or any other of the billions of choices, thoughts, and actions that forge your personality.
Experience IS your brand. Experience IS your message. Experience is your USP, what sets you apart from the competition.
It is your content strategy, product / service foundation, and everything else related to your business.
Experience is my notion of a "one-person business model."
Personal growth = business growth.
This is one of the many reasons you need to go all-in on the path of improvement. It is fulfilling and lucrative.
It is also a very spiritual journey. It becomes lucrative once you transcend your non-enlightened self-interest.
// The Money: Unique Systems //
Improving yourself and stacking experience falls under the health, wealth, and relationships verticals. We can take that further into mind, body, spirit, and business.
This is where burning, lucrative problems exist.
You have overcome SOME problem within these verticals. The way you did so is unique.
This can be packaged up into a system that gets results - focused on your transformation.
Transformations and systems that make said transformation SELL.
One, because they are easily marketable to your past self (easy market research).
Two, because they are not commoditized. Nobody else can sell it. Only you.
This works incredibly well for digital products, consulting, and coaching offers.
If you are in the marketing space, you will have to stack experience with freelancing before you have tangible results to systemize and sell.
Design, email marketing, paid ads, funnels, etc.
// The Distribution: Socials //
Social media platforms are free distribution of your systems.
No paid ads necessary unless you want to.
I get around 5-10 million impressions across socials every month. That would cost $35,000-$70,000 per month with paid ads. (Per google).
You grow on them by deconstructing the platform and figuring out how to get eyes on your profile.
You also have to create content that the platform favors.
If you have money, you can also invest in someone to help you grow it.
Your ideas for content should revolve around The Content Pyramid.
Break down the topics you know and understand into content topics.
If you need inspiration, write down ideas from the books, articles, videos, and other content you already consume (and performs well).
Your content should revolve around The Social Matrix.
Too much growth = "platitude account"
Too much authenticity = shit post account
Too much authority = no depth
Strike a balance.
This revolves around your experiences and lessons. The actionable advice you give from improving yourself and your skillset.
The authenticity you display by documenting your process and showing people your life.
The growth you receive by dishing out your lessons in a way that the platform favors, allowing you to grow.
Then, you will need to market and sell your offers through the platform. These strategies and processes vary depending on the price and type of your offer.
Slowly, you build out a value ladder.
Free > low ticket > mid ticket > high ticket
There is nuance to this.
You start to restrict levels of access to you based on your experience, results, and value provided.
Protecting your time becomes crucial.
// The Scaling Problem: Productization //
Eventually, it makes sense to have a consulting offer - no matter what you do.
You will charge for your time and directly teach people one on one for a high price.
Your information is immensely valuable at this point.
Soon after, you can make your consulting more valuable and less time consuming..
Hybrid Consulting.
You create an in-depth curriculum, walk people through it, give them one-on-one support, and make it near impossible for them to not achieve their desired result.
Depending on what that desired result is — and how much it will impact their life — you can charge more.
There are people selling $20K+ per year memberships for a facebook group and weekly zoom calls.
Because the person running it has immense and valuable experience. They have advice and systems that guarantee a higher result.
This guy needs enough impact and authority to get 50 people in there and boom, a million dollar a year business.
The other cool thing, you don't have to even do consulting. There are social accounts pulling in $1M+ selling info products of their own unique systems.
Given enough time, consistency, and experience - there is nothing preventing you from doing the same.
// The Lifestyle //
With all of that said, you can slowly start to create the desired lifestyle you want.
You can create your own schedule.
You can stack experience in the places you want to.
That's the cool thing about this, people trust you because of you. If you are a marketer and want to sell a fitness product, awesome.
More problems solved and more money for you.
You can quite literally do anything you want with this business model.
If there is something you don't want to do, you build a small team and have others do it for you.
Don't focus or worry about this yet. Improve yourself, build in public, and create a product / service when you are ready.
10-year mindset. Not 2-week mindset.
If you want 154+ strategies that you can copy and paste into your one-person business
And 4 courses (no longer on the market) that will give beginners a step-by-step roadmap
Join 600+ others building and selling things on the internet in MMHQ:
- Twitter account management
- Pay for shoutouts / growth
- Create authoritative content
- DM people who interact
- Book calls or close in DMs
- Target established coaches
Start off charging small commission
Then $2-4K/mo plus commission
Yw
How to get started:
- buy a Twitter growth guide (literally any)
- buy a sales / DM course
- start practicing with your own account
- create onboarding + content + DM systems from the courses teachings
- use the sales course to start landing initial clients
- get results (use part of what they pay to pay for promotions)
- refine your process / systems
- get more results and charge more
- sail off into the sunset