Flying Solo Press releases

January 16, 2007: New year to see one million Australians Fly Solo

February 13, 2007: Poll finds soloism offers personal freedom and increased earning capacity

March 12, 2007: It's all about lifestyle for this soloist

February 13, 2007

MEDIA INFORMATION

POLL FINDS SOLOISM OFFERS PERSONAL FREEDOM AND INCREASED EARNING CAPACITY

Personal freedom, increased earning capacity and no office politics are the main reasons more than a million Australians have chosen to leave their regular jobs behind and start out on their own, according to a recent survey.

The poll of solo business owners was conducted by Flying Solo, an online magazine for the soloist community. It found 60 per cent enjoyed both more personal freedom and more earning power than when they were an employee, 27 per cent felt they had more personal freedom, six per cent an increased earning capacity and seven per cent flew solo for other reasons.

Robert Gerrish, director of Flying Solo, said the results also cleared up a common misconception about the earning potential of solo business owners.

“The soloists in our network tell us that friends and family assume they can’t be making much money from their ‘little business’, when in reality running their own business with no staff and very low overheads gives them the potential to make a lot more money than they did as an employee,” he said.

Mr Gerrish said the number of soloists in Australia has been growing steadily over the last 10 years.

“In 1997 there were 300,000 soloists, in 2001 there were 800,000. I estimate that there are now more than a million soloists in Australia.

“As well as the financial rewards that soloism can offer we found that many of the benefits of working alone are related to the absence of colleagues. We asked our web audience why soloism beats traditional work and 57 per cent said it’s because there are no office politics; 32 per cent said no boss and the remaining 11 per cent said no staff,” he said.

The Flying Solo website (www.flyingsolo.com.au) provides information and motivation to current and aspiring soloists and receives over 160,000 hits each month. Subscribers also receive the free Flying Solo electronic newsletter each week.

Robert Gerrish is also the co-author, with Sam Leader, of the book Flying Solo - How to go it alone in business.