Slow Growth

Slow growth is a problem almost every solopreneur faces at some time, and not just in the beginning. A way to promote growth is to partner with other solopreneurs or businesses in your niche. Collaborate on available projects as often as possible. This is often a great way to capture more business, as you are meeting new clients who may need your skills.
 
Also, invest time in networking with other solopreneurs or business owners in your industry. Many times, new leads or offers come through other business owners who need help, or have a client that needs something they cannot provide. Interacting with groups online is a profitable enterprise in this regard.
 
Another wise investment during slow times is to pursue new income streams. Every solopreneur needs multiple streams of income to support themselves. What can you produce or engage in that will provide another steady stream of income while you pursue your main business goals?
 

Going Solo

Solopreneurs choose to be solopreneurs because we think we can do it all. And sometimes we can. But often, we can’t. Being a solopreneur does not mean you must to everything yourself. It only means that you do not have other employees on a regular payroll, like yourself. Delegating some tasks to other part-time professionals is one of the wisest choices you will ever make. And yes, it can easily be worth the investment of money to procure and use them. No one is great at everything. Delegate tasks in your weak areas and focus on your strong areas.
 
Sometimes the help you need doesn’t have to be a paid professional. Often, someone close you to can handle important details that free you up to pursue bigger and more important tasks. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. More importantly, don’t be afraid to admit that you need help.
 

Losing Your “Why”

Solopreneurs can lose the “why” for their business. If we lose our “why,” we lose our way. Aimlessly plunging ahead without a direction or future goals is a sure way to crash your business. Remember why you started your solopreneur business in the first place. Go back often and visit your values and purpose, and let them guide the decisions you make for today and the future.
 
If you “why” is to make loads of money, fine. I’m not against making money as a driving “why” for your business. Just keep that before you at all times and measure everything you do with the question, “Will this make money?” For others it may be independence, or the freedom to be creative without restraints, or the ability to work from home and care for your kids.
 
Your “why” doesn’t matter to anyone else, but it should be at the top of the pile for you. Zero in on why you became a solopreneur and why you chose your particular business path. Remember the dream again and dare to dream even bigger. Your own personal “why” can provide the motivation you need to keep going when everything else says you shouldn’t.
 

First Things First

Along with learning to delegate tasks and get help when you need it comes the idea of prioritization. Your team of one must work by a list of priorities, or you will easily get bogged down in unnecessary things while the necessary get forgotten. Prioritize your to-do list, categorize things into those that are relevant or not relevant and urgent and not urgent. Those that are urgent and relevant come first.
 
Develop the discipline to stay focused on the important task at hand and not get distracted. Let the calls go to voicemail, answer emails at a set time or two each day, and bore in on each task one by one. Multitasking simply means doing many things at a mediocre level, and not your best. Prioritize your vital tasks and complete them one by one with a singular focus.
 

Technology and Tools

As a solopreneur, every task belongs to you. But realize that means seeing that it gets done; not necessarily doing it all yourself. Leverage technology like you would team members and invest in tools that will automate the mundane aspect of your business. Invest in an appointment booking tool, email automation tool, social media management tool, and a customer relationship management tool.
 
Learn to use these tools to their utmost potential, or even delegate these tasks to a willing helper or freelance paraprofessional. One digital assistant could possibly handle all these tools and tasks, and free up huge chunks of your time for better pursuits, or even more free time.
 

Feeling Alone

It’s easy for solopreneurs to feel isolated, disconnected, and out of touch. Get out and interact with other people in your industry. Go to industry events or conferences. Network with local business owners in your niche. Stay connected with them online, but nothing beats sitting across from a real person. A key strategy is to attend several live events in your industry every year. Choose events where you can learn something while networking and connecting with colleagues, clients, and industry influencers.
 

Working in the Same Zone

As a solopreneur, it can be too easy to become isolated when you work in the same environment every day. Find a new creative zone in a local coffee shop or restaurant. You’re your work to the park or local hangout. If you partner with another local solopreneur or business owner, go work at their place every once in a while. Working in a new zone can spark fresh ideas and relationships.
 
A popular new fad is co-working spaces. Locate one in your area and investigate the costs of sharing a working space with other professionals on a limited basis. The value in working in a new place with all it can bring, including new connections, can easily be worth the cost. Not to mention having a professional space on hand when you need to meet with clients.
 

Taking Care of YOU

You are doing it all, and that’s tough; maybe at this point in your solopreneur career it’s even necessary. But managing and doing everything is a sure path to burnout. Just as you prioritize tasks, set aside time for you just like you would any other vital task. Because it is vital. Get the rest you need. Eat well. Get out and have fun. Interact with people and enjoy new experiences and relationships. Step away from your business and enjoy life. You only get one chance to live it, so live it well!
 
What other challenges do you face as a solopreneur? Or do you have more suggestions for handling the challenges above? We’d love for you to share your thoughts with our readers in the comments below!

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Attend Conferences and Workshops

Attending a conference or workshop affords you the opportunity to learn new things for your business as well as meet and make important connections with new people in your industry.
 

Feed Your Interests

Get out and participate in a group or club that fits your interests, either work-related or just as a hobby. There are quilting groups, model airplane groups, martial arts classes, dance classes, church groups, writers’ groups and more out there that welcome new participants.
 

Prioritize Your Social Life

Get out and be with other people. Acknowledge that this is necessary for your mental health and needs to be a priority. You will not be happy spending a week alone in your house writing content! Accept your desire to be social and add social time into your schedule.
 

Establish a Routine

Working a routine for your business that includes set hours for work means that you will have free time. Stick to your routine and shut off business after hours. And, within your routine, you should include breaks for meals, exercise, and resting your eyes away from screens.
 

Find an Accountability Partner

An accountability partner is someone who has similar business goals and is willing to discuss your business. Meet with them regularly, and call even more often, to share progress, problems, and encouragement. Being answerable to someone is valuable on many levels.
 

Meet with a Coach

Participating in a coaching program gives you access to a group or forum with all of the other participants. Most coaching programs have regular events and mastermind calls that will provide human interaction and the opportunity to make friends. Hiring a coach for private sessions will also make you feel supported and less isolated.
 

Make Dates with Friends

Find a friend to meet you for breakfast, lunch, or coffee on a regular basis. This provides a great break and time to converse over a meal. Even if you’re alone, taking a break at a local coffee shop will give you a change of scenery and make you feel part of the community.
 

Join a Gym

Being a member of a gym is another great way to make you feel less isolated. If you go at the same time every day, you will begin to recognize your fellow exercisers. Participating in a class, or hiring a personal trainer, will give you added attention for mental and physical health.
 

Meet Clients in Person

Rather than communicating by text or email, meet with clients and colleagues over coffee, lunch, dinner, or drinks. Even a teleconference can feel like meeting in person and stave off loneliness and isolation.
 

Get Outside and Walk

If you can, walk outside your house and enjoy the neighborhood. You may also be able to find a walking partner, so that you can get exercise while you socialize.
 

Listen to Voices

No, I don’t mean those weird voices in your head. Listen to the radio or audiobooks. Follow podcasts, YouTube channels, and Facebook Live broadcasts. Invest in online education. Hearing someone else talking will make you feel less isolated.
 

Go Co-Working

Coworking spaces are flexible offices that provide meeting, desk, and kitchen space for freelancers and independents. It is an office environment where you can chat in the kitchen, network around a table, or spend private time at a desk. More official than a coffee shop or library, they encourage connections between occupants.
 

Collaborate with Another Solopreneur

Find someone with a complimentary skill set and work together. It can be wonderful to have a creative partner with which to share, work, and learn. You can always learn something from someone else, and every solopreneur is looking for new was to create passive income streams. Build one together that benefits you both.
 

Attend Local Networking Events

Your local Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Development Center, professional associations, and many other groups have regular networking events. There are also Meetup Groups on virtually any topic. You can join an existing meetup group, or if one doesn’t exist in your area or on your topic, start your own.
 

Be a Lifelong Learner

There’s always something to learn that can help your solopreneur business. Expand your knowledge by taking a class on email marketing, how to build a website, or how to use your accounting software. Many colleges offer solo courses on a variety of business-related subjects, as well as seminars and conferences.
 
How do you prevent loneliness from creeping up on you as a solopreneur? Or maybe it has and you are just now realizing it. What can you do today to get out and interact with the world around you? Do it! Then, share how it went in the comments below. You can also share your favorite way to combat loneliness and depression. Our readers can benefit from your experience, so share and help someone!

The post How Solopreneurs Can Beat Loneliness and Thrive appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

Dan Pink – The Puzzle of Motivation

Career analyst Dan Pink delves into the traditional reward system, especially when put into play at a professional workspace, and why it often fails us. In his talk, Pink presents a number of scientific studies in order to affirm what we already know: We need to do things that matter to us. When we’re performing actions we don’t care about, or toward which we have no emotional attachment, it’s incredibly difficult to stay motivated.
Traditional schemes, like if-then fallacies and narrow reward strategies, can occasionally work. But in return, they stifle creativity and cause us to miss innovative solutions. Thus, we must motivate ourselves by finding passion in the things we do. This is especially important for the solopreneur.

Tony Robbins – Why We Do What We Do

Life coach and business leader Tony Robbins demystifies the “invisible forces” that cause us to do the things we do, from impactful life-changing decisions to the many small, mundane habits we do every day. Robbins touches on how our models of the world and our basic human needs shape the decisions we make.
In his interactive discussion, Robbins gently prods the audience to realize how much they value six basic human needs: certainty, variety, significance, connection and love, growth, and giving back. Despite where each of us may stand in relation to each of these values, it is clear that exploring our own basic emotional needs is crucial to understanding the reasons behind our actions, especially as a solopreneur.

Scott Geller – The Psychology of Self-Motivation

Virginia Tech professor of psychology Scott Geller discusses the logic behind boundaries and how to break them. By breaking down the reasons and thought processes behind our ability to self-motivate, Geller allows us to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
He implores the audience to keep in mind aspects of choice, consequences, and community when making decisions. Knowing that we’re all in this together is sometimes enough to get us going, and Geller, through his comprehensive talk, reassures us of that fact.

Gary Vaynerchuk – Do What You Love (No Excuses!)

If you ever need a kick in the pants to leave the job you don’t love, follow the dream career you’ve always wanted but have been too afraid to pursue, or take a risk to make your life more fulfilling, Gary Vaynerchuk provides just what you need. He explains that in order to care about your users, clients, or community, you need to care about everything—and that starts with yourself.
This is a pivotal motivation for solopreneurs. Consider this teaser as you get ready for more. Gary says: “Look yourself in the mirror, and ask yourself: What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life? Do that.” As a solopreneur, is that what you are truly doing?

Simon Sinek – How Great Leaders Inspire Action

As Simon Sinek explains in his talk, “All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations of the world think, act, and communicate the exact same way, and it’s the complete opposite to everyone else.”
So, what do those inspiring leaders and organizations do differently? They start with why. Sinek’s talk is geared toward the way we approach leadership, and his stance has hugely influenced how many think about messaging and marketing, as well. This is a great talk for solopreneurs.

Elizabeth Gilbert – Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating

Elizabeth Gilbert, famous for her book Eat, Pray, Love, says that she spent six years facing nothing but rejection letters for her writing. And every time she considered giving up, she realized “I loved writing more than I hated failing at writing, which is to say that I loved writing more than I loved my own ego.”
Our egos have a whole lot to say when we face rejection. Gilbert’s talk is a great reminder to keep a hold on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it—especially in the midst of all the negative chatter. If you struggle with self-esteem as a solopreneur, this talk is for you.
What other TED talks do you listen to that provide valuable motivation to you as a solopreneur? Share your suggestions with our readers in the comments below.
 

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How Do I Start?

Begin by identifying an interest that is common with a majority of your audience. Then, think about how that common interest overlaps with your services, products, or business opportunity. For example, if you offer writing and editing services, everyone knows writers derive their best copy from a great cup of coffee. This fact could offer several possibilities:

• Conduct a social media survey asking users to respond by sharing their favorite brand of coffee or specialty coffee drink.
• Build a campaign around a giveaway offering bags of specialty coffee as a prize, and include a free consultation for your services.
• Reach out to a local coffee brand or coffee house and collaborate on a campaign to combine your services and their offerings. Consider offering a free consultation hosted in their location with coffee provided.
• Post some clever photos featuring the brand or coffee house with your writing (or perhaps you working inside in a comfy place with a cup of coffee nearby).

These are just a few random ideas to spark your creativity. More social media campaign ideas follow below.

Create a Social Media Channel Strategy

As you generate cool campaign ideas, it will be evident that not all campaigns will fit well with all your social media channels. Some may be best oriented toward a single platform, while others may provide an easier cross-platform integration. Focus your channel selection for each campaign by asking some important questions:

• On which channel is my brand the strongest? Play to your strengths and begin on your strongest channel. You could possibly leverage the engagement you foster onto other channels where your brand is currently weak.
• On which channel is my brand the weakest? The channels where your brand representation or engagement is weak could benefit from a campaign to grow both.
• Is this campaign idea best suited for a particular social media channel? Which one? Why?
  • How is my product/service/opportunity best shared? Video? Audio? Photos? Text?
  • What artistic elements could be connected to my product/service/opportunity?
• How will I set up a sharing schedule for my content? What tools can I use that work well with the media I have chosen for this campaign?
• Could my campaign benefit from a custom hashtag?

Here are More Social Media Campaign Ideas

1. Promote a Social Cause – Produce engagement with your brand by identifying with and promoting a current social cause. Run a contest coupled with funding a charity or non-profit organization that closely relates to your business. REI’s popular #OptOutside campaign urged customers to skip shopping on Black Friday and spend time outside with family and friends.

2. Offer Incredible Discounts and Sales – This is especially effective if coupled with a seasonal emphasis such as popular holidays. Everyone loves a good discounted deal, especially at prime shopping seasons (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Back-to-School, etc.).

3. Video-based Campaigns – Video is currently the most-shared media format. Consider a video coupling your brand or products/services/opportunity with an interesting story to engage users and even attract responses. Begin an inspiring story and ask users to submit an appropriate ending. Or offer a challenge and ask users to video their response and share it using a special hashtag. This campaign could also be combined with a social engagement focus, like the ALS #IceBucketChallenge.

4. Conduct a Comment Giveaway Contest – Offer a giveaway to selected winners chosen from those who answer a simple question in the comments of your campaign post. To find the correct answers, users must visit your website. This will increase traffic and awareness of your website and brand offerings as well.

5. Holiday-themed Campaigns – Thank your audience for making your brand a success and share a heart-warming story connected with your products/services/opportunity. Emphasize thankfulness, love, goodwill, generosity, and success. A simple photo and caption is a good start, but a video detailing a brief story would rock.

6. Match a Campaign to a Specific Channel – What theme can you think of that would be a perfect match for a particular social media channel? The World Wildlife Fund leveraged Snapchat using ads that were only visible for a few seconds to highlight endangered animals that may disappear for good, mimicking the disappearing feature of snapchat photos. They reached their monthly donation goal in only 3 days.

7. Host Quizzes or Polls – Interactive media is always a great way to boost engagement with your brand. Connect a current trend with your products/services/opportunity by creating a quiz about what they have in common, or conduct a poll on a current event or trend connected to your brand offerings.

8. The Sneak Peek Campaign – Capture the attention of your audience with suspense and anticipation. Tease users with excerpts from an upcoming blog post, pictures showing only parts of a new product, or hints about something totally new in development. This type of campaign can keep users coming back to see the reveal or to receive more clues.

9. The Feedback Campaign – Many users like being asked to share their feedback or opinions. Present a proposed product/service/opportunity and ask for user feedback. Or perhaps you could list your current offerings and ask for opinions regarding the most beneficial package combinations.

10. The How-To Campaign – Offer free information of value in the form of a how-to for a popular service or need. Provide simple and clear instructions on how to best use products, little-known ‘cheats’ for utilizing services or tools, etc. While these are best done on video, you may also consider a colorful list or infographic.

11. A Quotes Campaign – Everyone loves a powerful quote and these posts are some of the most shared across social media. Consider an on-going campaign like #MondayQuotes with an appropriate hashtag. Feature photos of notable figures from history or business with their statements superimposed. These can also be translated into video with a voiceover.

12. A Fill-in-the-Blank Campaign – Boost engagement with a fill-in-the-blank question related to your opportunity or services. (“If I owned my own business I would choose to work from__________.” “If I could plan a dream vacation, I would go to ______________.” “If I could improve one skill, it would be _____________.”)

13. A-Day-in-the-Life Campaign – This campaign can promote awareness for your brand as well as inform your audience about what it takes to produce your products/services/opportunity for others. Combine goodwill with business promotion in these interesting snippets of real life.

14. Random Tips Campaign – Share random tips (numbered ones increase chances of viewers searching for the others, i.e.: Tip #234 – ) connected with your business niche or even random things of interest. Refer to the list of audience interests we discussed at the beginning of this post for ideas.

15. Customer Testimonials Campaign – Testimonials from satisfied customers always garner attention. Ask followers to submit their own written or video testimonials. Then contact them to secure permission for using them in your promotion.

With the different forms of social media, we are only limited by our own creativity. What ideas have you used successfully in the past? Share them with the community in the comments!
Enter by September 30th

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1. Set a Schedule

2. Dress For It

3. Avoid Social Media

4. Go Outside

5. Eat Well

6. Posture

7. Create a Backup

8. Turn It Off

9. See Other People

10. Exercise

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1) Branding Strategy

There’s a very good chance you started up your blog without an idea as to what your branding strategy was going to be. This is normal for people who are just starting out to do, as you’re like a little kitten or puppy, just now taking their first wobbly steps. You’re unsure of where to start, you’re overwhelmed with all the choices, so you just run wild.
One of the best ways to create cohesiveness is to collect your brand into a unifying look that carries across the board on your site. You can start by working on a header for the site. This is literally the first thing that a visitor will see when they click on your site, so you’ll want to make it really pop. You can then tie this header together with an icon that matches the header, at least in style and color.
You need to do a full audit of your site’s visual assets. What you should do is open up Microsoft Word or Photoshop and copy and paste all of the visual assets of your brand, all of the logos, fonts, colors, all the blog graphics and social media graphics.
Now you can take a look and see if all of the colors seem to mesh well together, if the design style follows an overall pattern that you have for your site, and then you’ll have to see about the fonts. For a fun and silly site, you can have a fun and silly font. For something more serious, you can use a more traditional looking font. It’s all about whatever works best with the job at hand.
If you answered no to any of those questions we asked, then you’re going to need to do a little bit of work. Don’t worry, though. It’s pretty easy to fix these problems once you’ve identified them.

2) Mood and Focus

Before you can build your brand, you need to figure out who your brand is for and what you’re trying to accomplish with your site. You need to look at why you do what you do. You need to be able to answer who am I serving and why do they need what I have.
You also need to answer how you want your blog to be perceived. A blog for a horror filmmaker is going to be just a little bit different than a cutesy boutique, and they’ll have different goals in mind too. The horror filmmaker will want to shock his visitor while the cutesy boutique will want to have a sugary sweet appearance to back up the rest of the content.
Get back to the basics with this one. Don’t be afraid to dig deep and answer the tough questions that you’ve pushed to the side. If you can’t answer why someone would go to your site, you’ll need to go back to the drawing board a bit. These are all very fixable things, which is the heartening fact. It’s not as if you have no choices here.
You’ll have to have focus in the material that you come up with. There has to be a cohesive element, something that brings it all together into a unified whole. This might be tricky at first, but once you understand and isolate the elements of your brand strategy you’ll be able to develop a cohesive whole.

3) Consistent Colors

To go back to our horror filmmaker/cutesy boutique example, you probably wouldn’t want to use dark blacks and reds for the boutique. By the same token, you’d probably be in some trouble if you decorated your horror filmmaker’s site with bright pink.
You should think about how the language of your brand translates into the colors of your brand. Identify the mood here too. Do you want the audience to be soothed with calming colors, or would you rather have a more striking, combative look about your site? The great thing is there’s no one answer that’s true across the board, so if you can articulate a good reason for a particular color choice, that’s all you need to worry about.
Study different colors and the meaning behind them. Different colors have different effects, and those effects will differ depending on age, sex, and various other factors too. You’ll also want to look at the color schemes used by your competitors. You don’t want to copy them outright, but you at least want to know why they’re there and what the purpose behind them is.

4) Consistent fonts

As important if not moreso than making sure you have consistent colors on your site is to make sure that you have consistent fonts, too. Fonts convey a mood, and you need to establish your mood and then pick a font or fonts accordingly.
Whatever you do, you want to make sure to reference your brand words. Use your top font for this one. You should probably start with only two fonts right off the bat, one for your headings and one for the actual copy that you’re writing. You can also use a third font if you’re feeling particularly brave, which can serve as something like an accent font for you.
The key word here is consistency. If you can find a reason to use a font that makes a bold statement, that’s fine. But you should make sure that that font matches the rest of what you’ve already developed. The last thing you want is to have one flagship font that’s then “matched” with a couple of totally different fonts that don’t make sense together.

5) Consistent Profile Images

Just as important as consistency with colors and fonts (or perhaps moreso) is to have consistency in your profile images as well. This is going to be what people see when they either look in the sidebar or click onto your about me page, so you want to be looking at your peak.
At the same time, you want something that matches the rest of your brand. It won’t do you any good to pose for an indoor photo if your blog is about the outdoors. There is a variety of ways that you can get your profile imaging right, but going about it blind is not the way to go.
Consult with your competition again on this one. We’re not advising you to copy them, but you can at least look at what they did right and what they could’ve improved upon so that you can bring that out in your own shot.
It’s really all about confidence. That applies to just about everything in life, but it especially applies here. If you feel like you know what you’re talking about, you’ll be able to speak with authority on anything. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’ll likely face plant.
Have confidence that what you do matters. If you put that kind of effort and love into your work, it will obviously show. That way you’ll have people looking at you, trying to see what you did to make so much of a difference as you have.
Is your brand just not picking up? You’re doing everything you have to do–you’re making blog posts, you’re promoting them on social media, you’re doing what solopreneurs are supposed to do. But still, it’s just not taking off. Well, the problem might not be as difficult as you think it is to solve. It could be something like a brand makeover that can push you over the edge and drive in more viewers and ultimately more customers. All it takes is some drive, a little determination, and a little bit of know-how.

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DESIGN TOOLS FOR YOUR SOLOPRENEUR BUSINESS

Pexels – Best place for free stock photos. all photos on Pexels are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures are completely free to be used for any legal purpose.
Landscape – Here is a problem that makes me crazy. Creating images for social media when it seems that the sizes change all the time. Landscape allows you to drop in your image and it will size it for you. Sweet, right?
GetStencil (formerly Share as Image) This is the simplest way to create images for your social media posts that you can size for any platform. The free account allows you to create 10 images a month after that the monthly fee is only $9
Canva – I have shared this resource multiple times so no wonder it made the list. Canva is a very easy to use graphics program. If you like me hate PhotoShop as much as I do, then you will love Canva. Some images are free and those that are not are only a dollar.
LiveSlides – This is an awesome tool if you do presentations. With it you can embed any website or video into a Power Point or KeyNote presentation making it much more interactive for your audience. Also a free resource.
Giphy – This is just fun and why shouldn’t you have fun while creating your content? Enough said.

via GIPHY

SOLOPRENEURS SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Hootsuite – This is the platform I recommend to all new solopreneurs for managing their social media posts and more. I love the way you can organize streams to manage everything on one screen. But the best thing is I can upload updates from a spread sheet all at one time. The one thing about Hootsuite that I do not like is when scheduling Facebook posts from a spread sheet the images do not post. So after the are scheduled I have to go in and edit each post to allow the image to load. Frustrating! But Hootsuite does have a free version.
Sendible – Sendible is the platform I just switched to. I find that managing multiple accounts is easier with Sendible. You can also load updates with a spreadsheet and you do not have to edit Facebook posts to allow them to load the image. When uploading images to posts they are stored in your image library for use again. You can engage your audience and the reports are great.
Narrow – Helps to build a real Twitter following. It works by interacting with Twitter users that are talking about subjects relevant to the audience you want to attract.
Want to know which resource is my favorite? Keep reading and you will find out.

SOLOPRENEUR CONTENT CREATION

Just Good Copy – Ever wish you could see what some of the most successful companies have in their email campaigns? Now you can. See what the best write in their welcome email, privacy policy, cancellation acknowledgement and much more. Copywriting is an important skill to polish or to outsource if you are not interested in learning it yourself.
Portent’s Content Idea Generator – Next time you are staring at a blank page try out this tool for creating ideas for your content creation.
Blog About – Need help with that all so important headline for your blog post? Blogabout gives you several suggestions. If nothing else it can get your creative juices flowing.
Grammarly – Grammarly helps you polish your writing by finding and correcting mistakes and making you a better writier.
Hemingway – Hemingway is another great editor for your writing. It will identify difficult passages and the use of passive voice and other writing dilemmas you should try to avoid. Simply makes your reading easier to use.
Content Marketer – Connector lets you schedule and send personalized outreach emails via your Google account. They also have proven email templates. Benefits include huge time saver and increased traffic and connections. Really a no brainer. Thank you @sujanpatel
Buzzsumo – Looking for inspiration for content that will perform well in social media? Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor. Discover trending stories across all the major social networks. And find the key influencers to promote your content.
Created with Get Stencil
Evernote – If you would prefer not to type your content and you have an iPhone then download the app turn on Siri. Now click the microphone icon and begin recording. There is a limit of about 30 seconds, you can say quite a bit in 30 seconds, you can record one paragraph at a time. And since the Evernote app will sync with the desktop editing will be a breeze. Of course Evernote is a great resource for gathering your research and actually typing your content as well. I love it.

MANAGING YOUR SOLOPRENEUR BUSINESS

Process Street – Process Street is a simple, free and powerful way to manage your recurring checklists and procedures. They have several templates that you can modify for your own business or you can create your own. I have a website development checklist and when I start a new client website I duplicate that checklist making my job easier to manage.And here it is my favorite tool, I love systems.
Trello – Trello is a project management tool that is setup as lists with cards.  Trello makes it easy to assign tasks to others, move cards around, add images and more. Kinda reminds me of a Pinterest board. Very visual I use it for setting up client marketing plans and invite the client so they can see what is being done at any time.
Instapage – I have used several landing page products and have decided this is my favorite. Quickly build beautiful pages with easy to use templates. Wonderful WordPress plugin and great price. This is the easiest platform for building landing pages I have used and I have used at least four others.
Hey Press – If you are a startup who needs some press or you are launching a news worthy product or service then this is the site for you. Using keywords you can find journalists that cover the specific topic you are searching for. You can then create a list and/or retrieve their email address to make that personal outreach.
PushCrew – PushCrew allows you to offer website visitors a desktop notification to keep them informed when you post something new. The best part is it’s free for your first 500 subscribers. Just another way to build a list of your audience.
Do you have a tool or resource you use for your solopreneur business that I missed? Please share it in the comments.

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