The shift towards a multipreneur/microeconomy model is happening. Here are some suggestions on how to capitalize on that trend based on a (long) Tweet from a seasoned multipreneur, along with some links to each point.
Stacked together, these microbusinesses are helping people test new revenue streams across many different categories, as more and more people try to escape the 9 – 5 and monotonous corporate world.
*thumbnail from KaboomPics
Digital Cashflow+ Businesses
The concepts are anchored around the importance of starting simply (low cost) by focusing on a niche and scaling-up as cashflow comes in; not getting started with big ideas, pitch decks, and seeking major financing rounds.
There is, naturally, a place for hyper-growth, VC-backed companies, but it is a high-risk strategy that comes with a lot of unknowns and potential frustrations. Few make it through that path successfully on their first try (or even their second) with any material wealth.
One key tenet below is the power of community, a theme we have discussed many times. While it can sound like a buzzword at times, the actual analysis of many ripple effects on the business model are huge if it is done properly.
Many strategies or playbooks in the last decade have centered around Paid Ads on Google or Facebook. The market if shifting, trust is paramount, and many organic strategies make a lot more sense in the context of the microeconomy.
That’s because some of these businesses are bootstrapped ‘microbusinesses’ that barely have a Saas budget for hosting, let alone a marketing budget. The founders have to ‘hustle’ in online communities and make revenue in obscure, often-overloooked niches on the internet.
What are Microservices?
In a non-buzzwordy, simple way, it is a subsection of the macroeconomy where individuals sell goods and services that would be considered ‘micro,‘ at least at this moment in history.
Some of the content and business models of the up-and-coming multipreneur are so niche that to define it in a category is nearly impossible. In many cases, the revenue streams from these businesses are tiny and would not appeal to many who are employed.
However, as a collection of microservices among a closely connected group of people online (ie. a community), individuals can stack them together to first cover their costs, and then in many cases turn them into completely new categories with other multipreneurs and solopreneurs.
‘$10 Million Playbook for Solopreneurs/Multipreneurs’
- No fancy website, just Webflow/Wordpress
- Multiple streams of income, often recurring revenue
- Target Fat Margins or back to the drawing board
- The goal is to work less, not more – optimize your time
- Low cost to start, high trust products
- Run experiments, test ideas
- Don’t care about making a Forbes List
- Multiple Products, Multiple Operators
- Find people who build the Best Communities
- Newsletter/SMS drives retention
- Webinars aren’t cool, but they are conversion machines
- Tech enabled, creatively charged
- Email open rate is a BS metric, CTR (Click-through Rate) isn’t
- Productized Services or Products Sold
- Obsess over underserved niches
- People aren’t buying products, support the community by buying
- No need to reinvest 100% in growth, take dividends, life is for living
- Find boring ways to acquire customers. SEO = underrated
- Build products that pay you in the short-term
- No Venture Capital*, just bootstrapped
- A brand people can fall in love with
- Underpromise, overdeliver
- High cashflow, low stress
- More community + organic, less Paid Ads
- Don’t flood inboxes, create must-read content
- Care about communities and funnels, most of the rest is just noise
*No knock on Venture Capital, but is for the companies that are ready to go for a $Billion and 100X growth in a short period of time, it is not for ‘everyday,’ cashflow-generating businesses
The Digital Goods Sales Channel
Many would-be and current solopreneurs/multipreneurs are selling how-to-guides, training protocols, educational resources, and other ‘digital goods’ on a variety of different platforms.
Most Digital Goods are considered ‘discretionary’ items, meaning they are in no way ‘essential’ to our daily lives in a traditional sense. Think about an online course for ‘how to play the piano’ for $49 as an example.
If you look on Gumroad, you will see an array of different Categories around various possible ‘digital goods’ that people all over the world are selling – some for $1, some for $1,000.
If you drill down into ‘Drawing and Painting,’ for example, you will see a Painting course for $150 and a set of Jingsketch brushes for $14.99.
Gumroad is just one example of these types of Digital Goods marketplaces. And if most other Creator Categories – like Photography or Music – give us any example, the vast majority of those who create Digital Goods will fail to generate any real revenue over the mid-term.
But people test and experiment across multiple sales channels. They are starting agencies on Tiktok, selling consulting packages or ‘productized services’ on Twitter, or selling their course on Gumroad.
There are multiple other platforms to sell Digital Products beyond Gumroad in order to optimize sales, margins, and operational efficiencies.
Stacked together,these microbusinesses are helping people test new revenue streams across many different categories, as more and more people try to escape the 9 – 5 and monotonous corporate world.
More Microbusiness Posts
Selling Digital Goods / Business Model