Featured Solopreneur Tricia Lawrence: “I Want To Stay Bootstrapped”

This is “Featured Solopreneur,” an ongoing series that gives all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Click Here to read more Solopreneur Success Stories.

Name of solopreneur:
Tricia Lawrence

Name of business and city:
real/brilliant, inc.; located near Seattle, Washington.

Web site address:
RealBrilliant.com

Type of business:
I offer social media strategy for authors and small business/entrepreneurs.

Why did you start your own business?
I started my business in 1995 because I wanted to learn marketing and to get into the publishing business by the side door, and the best way to do that was to learn how to market myself in the publishing industry.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
The best thing I did was to stay small for as long as I could. I worked for almost seven years out of an 8 x 8-foot closet and somehow that physical barrier kept me small. It was a real mindset change to move to a bigger office and I immediately got into trouble and overbooked myself, bought unnecessary technology and equipment, and lost track of my personal goals.

What is a mistake you made that you learned from?
The mistake was growing too fast and going into debt as a business. Worst decision hands down. While there is a place for limited debt load for small businesses, the best and most stable small businesses who are growing pledge to be rid of the debt as quickly as possible (or to keep a handle on it so that it’s manageable). Small businesses are under more pressure than ever and especially over the past few years, those with hefty business loans or those who take way too big risks are really struggling.

That said, sometimes a risk is necessary. But really think about the return on investment for that risk. It’s one thing to buy what you don’t need; it’s quite another thing to buy what you do need. I’m a big believer in Seth Godin’s Bootstrapper’s Bible and Martha Stewart’s Martha Rules, where she relays how she kept her multi-million-dollar Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) business in the black and debt-free. She built it from her solopreneur days that way and I think it’s a great way to do it.

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are you doing to solve it?
My biggest current challenge in my business is shifting gears from one service offering to another. I am trying to quit doing work that I’ve been doing for 15 years and that turns my soul into a gaping void. I am attempting to take on more work that I truly love. I’m trying to let my creativity run free and to have more allowance. The way I’m doing this is to bootstrap (no debt) even when I actually need something and to cut back on the seemingly limitless amounts of dribbling work that bores me and to pursue (even though it doesn’t seem like I find enough of it) the work I want to do.

What were your goals for this year?
My goals for 2010 are to stay bootstrapping, and to experiment in a big way. My big risks for this year are to try things I’ve never tried before and to do that I am not spending money on the business…well, I’ve limited what I’m spending on the business. My mantra for 2010 is “as little overhead as possible.” It’s a great feeling to be able to branch out and fail as quick as I can on something so I know what to tweak the next time.

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
I want to stay bootstrapped for the next five years and to build new pieces of this business that I can’t even yet fathom. That’s very exciting to me in this season of massive change in publishing and marketing. I want to be wildly creative and not be inhibited by the economy. I want to not worry about where the money will come from next month so that I can focus on how I feel and what I want to do each morning. It sounds like a pipe dream, but I’ve made decisions toward this: we cut cable and got Netflix, we cut going out to eat, the latte factor, and overseas vacations in exchange for local road trips. I don’t sign up for as many information products that I used to purchase. I have a list of what I already have and I just get an idea and then go search through my piles of already purchased infoproducts to find what I can use to make it happen.

What are your main software programs?
I mainly use Mac/iPhone/iPad, so Scrivener and Curio and CyberDuck/Fetch are my standbys to create, organize, and upload. I also use DevonThink and OmniFocus and OmniOutliner for organizing and outlining. I use Adobe Elements for photo editing and Quicksilver for finding something on my computer and iGTD and Think and iCal for time management. I love Firefox for web browsing, of course. For layout, I use InDesign and for drawing, Illustrator.

What are you strategies for staying competitive?
My strategies for staying competitive are to never settle. I never rest on my laurels. I keep pushing. I get bored frequently, so I need something new more often than not. I’m also an overachiever, so I have to outsmart myself sometimes (being born on the same day as Martha Stewart, the queen of Type A overachievement, is the only reason I can think of for this).

Do you need a second household income to support your lifestyle? (is the business primary, or supplemental to the household?)
I got married halfway through my solopreneur career (2003), so I did not have another income during those first eight years. But now, my business is vital to our household income because I keep it running at such a level that I could make it the primary source of income at any time.

If your business should fail, what is your fallback position?
If my business should fail? I would immediately start another business. I often wonder what I would be if I didn’t do this business and nothing ever interests me. I feel that I can be whatever I want as a solopreneur and can’t bear the thought of signing myself up for a full-time career working for someone else.

If you could start your career all over again, what would you do differently? Why?
I never finished college, so if I could do one thing over I would definitely finish the degree and just start my business at the same time. I’m currently finishing my degree right now and it would have been so much easier to do this when I was 20 rather than in my mid-30s.

What’s your advice for solopreneurs?
My advice for entrepreneurs is to believe in your dream and commit to it 100%. Give yourself time; don’t think you have to accomplish it all in one year or two. You’ve got time. Don’t quit your day job if you can possibly hold on to it for a bit. Try moonlighting as an entrepreneur if at all possible (for ideas on how to do that, check my blog posts on Moonlighting Entrepreneur. Bootstrap your entrepreneurial dreams and use your employment to fund your dreams. That said, it may be best for some to quit the job and launch out there, but you have to do what feels right for you. I did that back in 1995 and I learned so much. It was good for me. Now, I would not do the same thing. Of course, I have a mortgage to pay now, so perhaps I like living in a house too much.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
I am so glad I became a solopreneur. It fits my personality perfectly. Even though I appear on paper as a full-blown corporation, it’s just me and I love it. Sure, I have a to-do list that is way too long and sometimes I burn out on my own dreams, but I would burn out so much faster on someone else’s dreams.

Tricia Lawrence is an author, speaker, social media strategy consultant for authors and small businesses, and she blogs at www.brilliant-entrepreneur.net and on Twitter @bizvolutions. She publishes a biweekly eZines for Moonlighting Entrepreneurs and Bizvolutionary small businesses and you can sign up to receive a free report on utilizing social media.