Are you really a business entrepreneur?

Small but mighty Is bigger really better? More and more soloists are challenging the traditional definition of a business entrepreneur and appreciating the benefits of keeping things small and doing it their way.

In one of BRW’s many recent features on entrepreneurship, journalist Amanda Gome defined business entrepreneur as someone who wants to expand their business rather than have it stay the same size.

And I thought the size issue was a bloke thing!

Despite my fierce entrepreneurial streak, by that definition I am not a business entrepreneur.

I know size doesn’t matter and an empire is not for me. But I am self-employed, boss-averse and a think-outside-the-box kind of girl. I want to dream up brainwaves, make things happen, invent and reinvent, do it Frank Sinatra-style.

I’m a soloist.

The first time I heard that term I felt understood. I hadn’t had the feeling of there being a legitimate box for me before, and once I heard it, I felt surprisingly comfortable there. Especially for an outside-the-box girl.

Soloism is probably the only ism I could ever subscribe to. Ironically, perhaps other than individualism, it is the only ism that doesn’t require joining in.

It’s an opt-in, opt-out arrangement. If learning about other people’s experiences running solo ventures helps me run mine, then I can tune in. If I am happy to do my own thing for a while I can opt out – I don’t always have to be something with a label, I can just be.

But I’m never too far away from the safe place of understanding that being a soloist is who I am, even more so than what I am, and that I can tap into a network of soloists when I feel like it.

It’s reassuring to know that there is a legitimacy to the way I make my living and run my life. I don’t need the approval, but it is nonetheless comforting and occasionally empowering to know that there are other people out there ‘flying solo’. And that’s OK.

Karen Morath of M Power consults, trains, speaks and coaches in public relations, personal effectiveness, life balance and all things empowering.

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It's great to read other stories about soloists. Very inspirational. I have just been reminded by my cat that I am a soloist - beholden to him, in his role as supervisor. (smile). Wonder how many other soloists have a "hidden supervisor" in their office? Karen from Springwood

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