218. Dream It Before You Build It: The Envision Stage For Solopreneurs Explained

Ever wonder how to take that fuzzy “someday” business idea and turn it into something real, without locking yourself into a plan too soon?

In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, we’re diving into the Envision stage of the Solopreneur Success Cycle (episode 3 of The Solopreneur Success Cycle Series beginning with episode 216). 

We’ll talk about dreaming big without overcomplicating, why your goals (not just a trendy framework) should guide your choices, and how to vet your ideas without fear of someone “stealing” them. 

Plus, we’ll share why niching down is actually your best friend and how your so-called competition can become your biggest allies. Whether you have no idea what business to start or just want to make sure you’re on the right track, this conversation will help you turn possibility into clarity.

🌟 Featured Resource: LifeStarr Intro for Solopreneurs

Are you building a business on your own and feeling like you’re going it alone? That stops today. LifeStarr Intro is a free, forever membership built especially for solopreneurs who want real support, real resources, and real community.

When you join LifeStarr Intro, you unlock:

• A vibrant community of like-minded solopreneurs for feedback, encouragement, and connection
• The LifeStarr productivity app (coming soon), built to support your workflow using GTD principles (that’s Tasks, Projects, Inbox that works)
• Live problem-solving meetups, expert sessions and strategies...and you don’t pay a thing

Total value: $65/month. Your cost? Zero.

👉 Ready to stop struggling solo and build a business that works for you?

Join LifeStarr Intro for Free

Episode Transcript

Carly Ries (00:00):
You've got goals. Great. But now it's time to

(00:02):
envision the business thatbrings them to life. In this
episode of The AspiringSolopreneur, we continue our
conversation of the solopreneursuccess cycle that we talked
about in the past few episodes,and we dig into that often
overlooked but crucial step ofimagining your business before
you start planning it. What willit look like?
Who will it serve? And how doyou turn your skills and
passions into something realwithout getting boxed into

(00:24):
overhyped tools like ikigai?We're breaking it all down from
dreaming big to niching small,and why your crazy idea is
exactly what the world needs. Ifyou're ready to let loose
creatively while stayinggrounded in your goals, this
episode is your permission slip.

Carly (00:39):
You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the
podcast for those just takingthe bold step or even just
thinking about taking that stepinto the world of solo
entrepreneurship. My name isCarly Ries, and my cohost Joe
Rando and I are your guides tonavigating this crazy but
awesome journey as a company ofone. We take pride in being part

(01:00):
of LifeStarr, a digital hubdedicated to all aspects of
solopreneurship that hasempowered and educated countless
solopreneurs looking to build abusiness that resonates with
their life's ambitions. We helppeople work to live, not live to
work. And if you're looking fora get rich quick scheme, this is
not the show for you.
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights insights from

(01:21):
industry experts on running abusiness the right way the first
time around or want to learnfrom the missteps of
solopreneurs who paved the waybefore you, then stick around.
We've got your back becauseflying solo in business doesn't
mean you're alone.

Carly Ries (01:36):
Alright, listeners. You just heard us talk about our

(02:19):
crazy offer. And as part ofthis, and as part of our book
launch on in early Octobertwenty twenty five, we are doing
a series covering thesolopreneur success cycle. This
is the third episode in theseries. We did an overview.
We talked about goals. And todaywe really wanted to dive into
the envision phase of thesolopreneur success cycle. Now

(02:40):
it's funny because in our lastepisode we were talking about
goals. And we were like, reallythink about these goals and use
them as your north star. Andtoday, some of you may be well,
weren't you envisioning yourbusiness?
Like, how is this different? Itis. And that's kind of what we
wanna cover. Joe, you are sogreat at, I feel like, this
point. Can you kinda dive intoenvisioning your business?

(03:02):
How it's different from goalsetting, is our step zero?

Joe Rando (03:05):
Absolutely. So when I say envisioning, I mean that
you're really starting to thinkabout what this business is
gonna look like, but you're notgetting into the nitty gritty
yet. the next step is planning,but you really just wanna kind
of think through what kinds ofthings could I do.
And you might have a very clearidea. I'm an IT professional,

(03:29):
and I wanna help, smallbusinesses, manage their
computer systems in such a waythat they don't get hacked and
keep everything up and runningsmoothly for them. That might be
what you wanna do, and great.You know, you probably can skip
this step if you know exactlywhat you wanna do. But if you're
just somebody that says, youknow, I have these skills.

(03:49):
I have a bunch of interests. Iknow that there are some things
I could do to make money, but Iwanna explore a little bit.
That's a really fun thing to do.And it can be fun even if you
have a very clear idea what youwanna do. You just kinda dream a
little bit.
And, we have exercises, youknow, writing down the things
that you are passionate about,writing down the the skills that

(04:11):
you have, and then looking atcombinations of those things
that might make a business cancome up with some interesting
ideas. And maybe somethingunique or different for you,
but, something that meets yourgoals better than your current
idea does. So it's fun, and itdoesn't commit you to anything,
but the process of letting loosea little bit and thinking

(04:31):
thinking outside the box can bea nice exercise. So another
thing, that people talk about alot in this phase is something
called ikigai. And ikigai isattributed to this ancient
Japanese wisdom.
It's not. It was invented in,2015 by, the concept was

(04:52):
invented by some computerscientists in Spain. Some
British blogger, I think, namedit Ikigai. Ikigai, has a meaning
in Japanese, but about somethingabout a balanced life or
something. you know, it's notancient, but it's still
interesting.
It's just people treat it assacrosanct, and I think that's a
huge mistake. So the idea ofikigai is that you have the

(05:17):
things that you're passionateabout, the things that you're
good at, the things that theworld needs, and the things that
the world will pay for. And ifyou can find something that they
have a Venn diagram. Right?
The ancient Japanese weren'tthat into Venn diagrams as far
as I know. But if you have aVenn diagram of those four
things all intersecting, that'sthe ikigai. It's perfect. And I

(05:37):
think if you can find that, thatsounds awesome.
By the same token, I'm a big fanof of niching down, but I think
that's can be over niching. Youmight have something that you're
not passionate about, but thatcan meet your goals that you're
good at, that people will payfor and the world needs. And,

(06:01):
hey, you know, that's okay. Somepeople run businesses that they
don't have a deep passion for,but they're capable of running.
They don't mind running it, andit gives them the life they
want.
So there's that. I always thinkof the example of pet rocks. You
think of pet rocks. I mean, ifyou look at the people that did
it, they made a ton of moneyselling these pet rocks back in

(06:22):
the seventies, and it was a rockin a box.
And the box had air holes in itfor the rock to breathe,
whatever. But people boughtthese things left and right. Now
maybe they were passionate aboutthis. Certainly, they were good
at it because they were able tomake these products, and the
world was definitely paying forthem, but I don't know that they
would need it. Right?

(06:42):
But somebody did it and itworked out for them, and now
they are back, which isinteresting. But anyway, my
point is ikigai is a nice tool.A lot of people talk about it,
but I don't go too crazy withit. If I don't check all four
boxes, so to speak, I don'tthink it's a reason to throw an
idea out if it's meeting yourgoals. So that's the one that's
missing from ikigai.
Is it meeting your goals, thebusiness as a whole? So, anyway,

(07:06):
just my take on ikigai. Any anythoughts on that, Carly?

Carly Ries (07:10):
No. what I was gonna add was just going back to your
goals, because we talked aboutthat at step zero. Because so
many times, people will justfollow ikigai like you were
saying, because everything seemsaligned, but again, depending on
what your goals are, they maynot be. And that your goals need
to be your north star.

Joe Rando (07:27):
So yeah. then, you know, as you envision your
business and, going through thisprocess of thinking through
things that you're good at,things that you're excited
about, things that people willpay for, blah blah blah. You
know, don't be afraid to nichedown. You know, don't be afraid.
You could say, I wanna be a lifecoach for, you know, men over

(07:50):
60. I could say that because I'ma man 60, but, you know, that's
a lot of people. Don't be afraidto say a man 60 who's you been
an entrepreneur and sold theirbusinesses and is looking for
something to do instead ofretire. You know, that's niching
down to the point where youmight actually get people to

(08:11):
notice you, the bright people tonotice you. So just, you know,
that niching down is important.

Carly Ries (08:17):
Absolutely. Yeah. I just think this is funny because
I feel like this stuff of thebusiness, it can get mixed into
other phases. And so I'm so gladthat through the success cycle,
we call attention to it. Becauselike I said, some people might
roll it into goals, some peoplemight roll it into planning, but
it just deserves its ownspotlight.

Joe Rando (08:40):
Yeah. And lastly, once you do have an idea,
definitely run it by people. Youknow, go out and talk to people.
Even if it's something reallyunique, that old, oh, somebody's
gonna steal my idea thing,nobody's gonna steal your idea.
It's too hard. These businessesare too hard to build.
Nobody's gonna sit there and go,oh, you know, I'm doing my own

(09:01):
thing, but I'm gonna steal that.Granted, if you have some magic
invention that you come up with,you know, don't go sharing it
with some large company. But ifyou're gonna life coach people
or be a contractor or dosomething that, typically
solopreneurs do or have an appidea, talk to people. See if it
sounds good, you know. See ifthey would be interested.
Because it's good to vet thesethings before you start. It's a

(09:25):
process of getting the thingplanned out, and then building
it. So you really wanna makesure that you're on the right
track. So don't be afraid totalk to people. I mean, we have
a community of solopreneurs inLifeStarr that, you know, be
great for that. but there areother people out there and
people that you know and peoplein your network, so just don't
be shy.

Carly Ries (09:45):
And spoiler, people are probably already doing what
you're doing, so you just needto figure out how to make
yourself unique, which we'll getto you in another episode.

Joe Rando (09:53):
Yeah. you know, that's a great point because one
of the neat things about being asolopreneur is that you don't
need a huge chunk of the market.So unlike, more entrepreneurial,
employee based businesses, a lotof times you can just look and
say, you know, there's enoughhere for some of us . And so you

(10:14):
got a direct competitor doingthe same thing as you. You can
be friends and share because youdon't need, 98% of the market to
survive.
You need 2% of the market tosurvive. So that's one of the
fun things about being asolopreneur is that you can have
a lot of, I call it,coopetition. So your competitors
are actually people you cancooperate with, and, oh, this

(10:35):
person, I think they would helpyou more than I would, you know,
send them over and vice versa.anyway, just an interesting
point you brought up.

Carly Ries (10:43):
Well, thank you. Well, listeners, thank you so
much for tuning in. As wementioned, please buy that book.
Otherwise, please share thisepisode with a friend. Subscribe
on your favorite podcastplatform.
Leave that five star review. Itit means so much to us. And we
will see you next time on TheAspiring Solopreneur. You may be
going solo in business, but thatdoesn't mean you're alone. In

(11:05):
fact, millions of people are inyour shoes, running a one person
business and figuring it out asthey go.
So why not connect with them andlearn from each other's
successes and failures? AtLifeStarr, we're creating a one
person business community whereyou can go to meet and get
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.