I talk about starting a one-person business a lot.
Why?
Because it's the most logical option for beginners.
I mean, do you really expect to start anything more than a one-personbusiness when you're just starting out?
Many people have dreams of starting things like an apparel brand or software startup or some other kind of business that requires a ton of capital and resources to make work.
It makes sense why a one-person business is enticing as a starting point.
You can build an audience and hefty monthly income with pure skill and effort.
You can leverage that audience and income to start whatever other business you want, like that apparel brand. Those are a lot easier to start when you have an audience full of potential customers and an income to cover initial costs and inventory.
Or, you can just scale as one person as far as you want to go.
As Sam Altman said, he has a group chat with his friends where they're betting on who's going to be the first $1 billion one-person business. Because there are already plenty hitting the $1 million and $10 million mark with modern technology like social media and digital products.
Now, the biggest question I get related to starting is this:
"Okay Dan, I like the concept of the one-person business, but how do I actually start?"
So, I'm going to lay out the simplest path for you.
I'm going to act as if you have only a few dollars to your name and a few interests that you could see yourself turning into a business.
Do not worry about building a website, starting an LLC, or even worrying about taxes just yet. If you haven't made at least $10K-$50K, you're fine. Nobody is going to come after you for that minuscule amount (in the context of business, I understand that's a decent chunk of money). Remove those from your mind and focus on actually making money first.
Last thing.
I'm not going to teach you how to start an agency or e-commerce store or anything else you can find online.
I'm going to teach you the absolute bare bones of online business.
Why is this important?
Because you can grow, pivot, and expand into any other kind of business model.
Let's begin.
Step 1) Set Up A Simple Digital Tool Stack
Everything we talk about in this section is your business.
These are the tools that you will be logging into every day or week.
It's wise to sign up for them and bookmark them. Most of them are free to start.
When setting up an online business, you need 4 things:
- Somewhere to generate traffic (to attract potential customers)
- Somewhere to collect emails (so you have direct access to interested potential customers and can remarket to them)
- Somewhere to accept payment and host your products or services (to promote to number 1 and 2 to make money)
- Somewhere to save your ideas and writing (for marketing, client work, product planning, and content.)
I've tried every possible type of software on the market.
Since we are trying to keep things as simple and low-cost as possible, here's what I would do if I were starting from scratch:
1) Somewhere to generate traffic
Many of you aren't going to like this.
But the simplest, most accessible way to start generating traffic is by writing on social media.
Why?
- Social media is free. Anyone can build an audience with enough practice (yes, social media is a skill, not luck).
- You can post content and promote your products to a social media audience every day (paid ads and sponsoring podcasts or newsletters cost money).
- You can endlessly test ideas with content to see what best leads to growth and sales.
- With writing, you don't need to learn video editing, audio editing, or graphic design. Anyone can write and post an impactful idea.
With that, you have a few options:
X, Threads, or LinkedIn.
Pick the one you resonate with most and focus all of your energy on that.
X has a lot of potential and deep ideas.
Threads seems to be great for beginners right now, but has a lower level of market sophistication (like Instagram) so people troll a good amount.
LinkedIn has the most money, but it's pretty boring and professional.
If you don't know what to write for these platforms, download my Idea Museum. It's a swipe file of all of the past content I wrote to grow as a beginner.
2) Somewhere to collect emails.
You are now generating traffic with social media.
Now, you need a place to demonstrate competency.
You need a place where you can promote your product or service directly to a list of interested potential customers (this is where you are going to make most of your money).
That's best done with longer-form content.
(Side note: we will learn how to write these in a bit.)
In other words, you need a newsletter.
Why?
I'm a fan of pairing one short-form platform with one long-form platform.
You could exchange a newsletter for a podcast or YouTube channel, but there are a few downsides to that.
- You need audio and video equipment.
- You need audio, video, and extensive social media skill.
- You'll have to build an email list anyway to have a place where you can speak off of social media to them.
So far, the flow goes like this:
Write social media content > plug your newsletter.
I personally recommend using Beehiiv for your email list.
It's free for your first 2,500 subscribers (that's a lot) and you can also build a website, blog, and have automations.
3) Somewhere for payment and product / service hosting.
Now that you have two customer touchpoints, social media and newsletter, you need somewhere to link to so they can pay you for a product or service.
And since we are keeping this as simple as possible, you also need a place that has landing pages, digital product hosting, courses, community features, and coaching call scheduling.
I've gone through the ringer with different software.
There are so many to choose from.
But Stan recently came across my map and I've transferred all of my own stuff over to them.
They pride themselves in being the simplest way to start an online business, and after using it, I'd agree with them.
Here's a link to Stan.
4) Somewhere to save marketing and content ideas/writing.
80% of your work as an online business owner comes down to ideas and writing.
- Outlining and writing them all
A 1-2 hour timeblock dedicated to writing content, newsletters, and promotions is necessary.
Even further, you need a place to flesh out and write your digital product or service.
Sometimes you need a place to host templates, client worksheets, or client work in general.
Shameless plug, but this is why we built Kortex.
And we have some crazy features coming by the end of the year (like AI Synthesis – you can select multiple documents, sources, or captures to turn into summaries, outlines, or notes with AI, which removes time-consuming organization and note-taking).
Sign up here. With the free tier you can write unlimited documents and capture unlimited ideas (and integrate with Readwise to store all of your tweet bookmarks and highlights).
The question now is:
What do I sell?
Step 2) What Are You Good At?
So far, our business looks like this:
Social media content > collect emails > send newsletters > promote your digital product or service on social media and in newsletters > create everything in Kortex so it's all in one place.
Now we need to hammer down what you write content, write emails, and create a product or service around.
I can't help you too much with this, but I can ask questions that may reveal an answer.
From these questions, think of 1 main skill or interest you'd like to build this business around.
- What are your favorite practical non-fiction books?
- What do you already do for work / what have you studied?
- Are other people doing those things online already? If so, good.
- What transformation have you made in one domain of your life?
- If you had to write a paper on one interest right now, what would it be?
Be decisive.
We just need a starting point.
From there, I want you to do a few things:
- Write down 5 authors, creators, or experts in that skill or interest.
- Save 5 quotes or ideas from each of them inside Kortex.
- Study what digital products they are selling (books? courses? coaching?)
This is where you're going to get your ideas for what to write about and what to sell.
From there, follow the screenshot above.
Break down your main interest into 3 main topics.
Then, break those topics down into atleast 5 real-world pain points and 5 content ideas.
If you want the full template and walkthrough, the One-Person Business Launchpad has the above and more.
Pro-tip: Nobody has original ideas. They take what works and combine it with other ideas to seem unique. The most unique people are simply those who combine ideas from sources where people aren't looking, or haven't heard before.
Step 3) Micro Products & Services
Okay, we have a way to generate traffic.
We have a skill or interest to write about.
Now, we need to turn that skill or interest into something that people can pay for.
There are 2 ways to do that:
1) The Micro Product
Last week I had a conversation with John Hu.
He's the CEO of Stan, a simple online store builder for creators.
Before he started Stan, he was a creator on TikTok.
Before he was a creator, he worked at Goldman Sachs.
As a creator, he posted content giving out career advice.
After a few people asked, he decided to allow people to download a copy of his old resume (that got him the Sachs job) for $10.
He didn't think it would lead to much, but he ended up making $1K from it pretty quick.
As I worked more with the Stan team, they mentioned how quite a few creators start with a $10-$19 digital download. Some have made millions (seriously), others have made thousands.
The lesson:
You probably already have something you can upload to the internet, put a small price tag on, create content around, and build a side income.
It's sitting somewhere on your hard drive, in your Kortex, or still stuck in your head waiting to be written as a short 10-page ebook or guide.
2) The Micro Service
Previously I've talked about the "micro offer."
In reality, it's a micro service.
The problem is that freelancers, coaches, consultants, or other service providers think they need everything in place before they start selling. The landing page. The logo. The program's system and teachings.
Wrong.
You literally just need to be able to teach your skill or interest.
Yesterday, in the Kortex Premium community, someone made a post they were saying they were lost when it came to monetization.
They have been a coder and systems analyst for more than a decade.
They started writing on social media to build an audience but felt like they had to sell what everyone else was selling in the niche self-improvement echo chamber many of you find yourselves in.
They didn't know if they should try ghostwriting or productivity coaching to start making money.
I asked:
"Why don't you simply teach people your skill? Teach them coding or systems analysis as a way to increase their skill set and break into new career opportunities. The coding space is massive and people are buying courses and bootcamps non-stop as an alternative to college."
He replied:
"I never thought of it like that."
The point is that you're probably 1-2 steps ahead of other people in some skill or interest.
You can write content about that thing.
You can charge $750-$1000 for a pack of 4 zoom calls where you teach the other person what you know.
(Online personal trainers do this all the time. They charge more actually. Most people are just afraid to ask for money for something they learned out of curiosity for free. Not everyone is like you. Not everyone wants to spend 4 years slowly stacking knowledge. They want everything given to them in order to achieve their goals because they are busy people who spend time on other areas of their life.)
Why do I recommend a pack of 4 calls?
- Because you can start right now without anything else.
- If people pay $750-$1000 for it, you have the validation you need to start turning it into a more fleshed-out program or course.
- It gives you enough time to teach something significant. You can sell 1 coaching call, but you usually need more time to teach what you know.
The question now is:
How do I attract people that want to pay me?
Step 4) Offer Driven Content
Since we are trying to do this in the most accessible and low-cost way, that narrows us down to a few options to attract people who want to pay for your product or service:
Social media is free to use. You don't need to pay for ads, learn SEO, or pay for podcast or newsletter sponsorships.
As a bonus, you build an audience. The magical thing about building an audience is that you can remarket to more and more people if you are consistent.
Many people start an online business with cold emails and cold calls. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but why not just write content on social media so you can do warm outreach and have people reach out to you.
Social media, of all distribution methods, is arguably the highest leverage, most accessible, and most affordable ways to build your business.
Choosing Topics To Write About
In the past, I teach people to go rather broad and multidisciplinary with what they write about online.
But if you are a beginner who simply wants to start making money, I'd still recommend it, but there's a faster way to monetization.
First, take the topic of your product or service and break it down into:
- Your personal story. Where you were before, middle, and after relating to the topic.
- Pain points people face. This is going to be how you start 80% of the content you write.
- Content topics that have already done well. Search your topic on YouTube and write down the best performing videos. Watch them for content ideas.
That's it.
Create a new document or note and write down 5-10 points for each of those.
Once you start, then you can worry about how to write and structure your content.
For now, act like your texting a friend and they're asking you questions about your topic of interest. Write your answers in public on social media.
Start With Newsletter And Post Frameworks
I learned to write content by emulating the writing that I liked and plugging my own ideas into it.
You don't just copy an idea and change a few words.
You study the structure of the content you want to emulate.
You write down this structure and try plugging your own ideas into it.
For newsletter writing, one structure that I love is the P&P framework (here's a resource).
Pain and process.
It's simple… you choose a topic. You illustrate a pain related to that topic as the intro. Then, you break down a step by step process to overcome that pain (pretty close to how this newsletter you are reading is structured).
Outline it first, then write.
For posts, do the same thing.
Scroll social media and embed the links of 10 great posts in a Kortex document.
Under each of them, break down line by line what the structure of it is.
Then, plug your own topics and ideas into those structures and write them in your own voice.
Step 5) Please, For The Love Of God, Promote Yourself
I've been doing this a while.
The only reason people don't make money is because they don't promote themselves.
You read that correctly.
Yes, even if you are promoting to zero followers and readers.
Why?
If you don't promote your products or services:
1) You don't have an incentive to improve your writing.
It's a lot easier to give up when you don't see the point of writing to build an audience.
If you don't see a way to make money (your product or service linked in your writing) then you won't try to make any, and you'll see it as pointless.
I wrote my first eBook at 140 followers and made $3000 by the time I hit 500 followers. This happened because I wanted it to happen and tried to get as much traffic as possible to my product.
2) People won't know that they can pay you.
I still have people tell me, after years of following me, that they had no idea I had products they could pay for.
And I thought I did a pretty good job at promoting them.
The fact is, if you just expect people to find what you sell, you will go broke.
You need to put it in front of them and tell them how it can help them.
3) You'll never get over your fear of selling.
There's a vocal minority on the internet.
The 1% of people who despise advertisements and self-promotions (even though they claim to support independent artists).
They'd rather you beg for donations or sponsorships rather than create your own product and pitch it to them.
Ignore these people.
You'll see them in the comments of posts and think that nobody buys that persons product. I can tell you for every 1 negative comment I get, 50-100 people buy my product. They just don't say anything because they aren't idiots.
4) You can't improve what doesn't exist.
If you never promote your product or service, how do you expect to get better at marketing and sales?
You don't have any data to improve from.
The same goes with business, writing, or any other project or skill.
You will suck at first.
Then you get better.
But you don't get better unless you suck at first.
So, to end this letter, you have my full permission to suck.
You don't need anything aside from the advice I gave you in this letter.
The first successful business – who didn't have anyone to teach them how to do it – simply figured it out.
Trial and error.
- Reply to one post of yours a day. Alternate promoting your newsletter opt-in and product or service.
- In your weekly email, promote a link to your product or service.
- Now all you need to do is focus on improving your writing and fueling your newsletter.
Go.
– Dan