224. [Re-Release] The Solopreneur Blueprint You Didn’t Know You Needed

Now that we're halfway through the Solopreneur Success Cycles series we're doing leading up to the launch of our book, Solopreneur Business For Dummies, we wanted to re-release the first episode in the series that gives an overview of what it is, so that new listeners can be brought up to speed. It also serves as a good refresher for those who are following along!

Ever feel like you're building your solo business one guess at a time?

In this episode, Carly and Joe pull back the curtain on the Solopreneur Success Cycle, the foundational framework behind their new book Solopreneur Business for Dummies. From defining your goals (hello, Step Zero!) to tweaking, refining, and reimagining your business as it grows, they break down the entire cycle designed specifically for one-person businesses.

It's not a lecture, it’s a roadmap with a healthy side of real talk, laughs, and lessons you can apply right away. Whether you buy the book or not (but, like, you should), this series is your shortcut to building a business that actually works for you.

Okay, this might be the craziest offer we’ve ever made. We’re giving away a solopreneur platform that normally costs five hundred dollars a year…For twenty-five bucks. And not for a month, not for a year… forever.

All you have to do is pre-order our new book: Solopreneur Business for Dummies.

When we first went solo, we thought we could just Google our way through it. But the advice out there?

It was built for startups with teams and money, not someone trying to do it all themselves. We kept thinking: “There’s gotta be a better way.”

So we made one. LifeStarr Premier is the system we wish we had back then: the tools, the strategy, the community, all in one place.

Go to book.lifestarr.com to lock it in.

This deal goes away when the book drops, October 6, 2025, and it’s not coming back.

Pre-order the book. Upload your receipt. You’re in. For good.

Episode Transcript

Carly Ries (00:00):
Ever wish someone handed you a roadmap for

(00:01):
solopreneurship? In thisepisode, Joe and I break down
the solopreneur success cycle.This is the framework behind our
new book, Solopreneur Businessfor Dummies. Learn the three
essential phases and eight stepsthat can help you start, run,
and improve your one personbusiness without the trial and
error headache. Plus, find outwhy step zero might just be your
secret weapon to success.

(00:23):
You're listening to the AspiringSolopreneur, the podcast for
those just taking the bold stepor even just thinking about
taking that step into the worldof solo entrepreneurship. My
name is Carly Ries, and mycohost Joe Rando and I are your
guides to navigating this crazybut awesome journey as a company
of one. We take pride in beingpart of LifeStarr, a digital hub

(00:45):
dedicated to all aspects ofsolopreneurship that has
empowered and educated countlesssolopreneurs looking to build a
business that resonates withtheir life's ambitions. We help
people work to live, not live towork. And if you're looking for
a get rich quick scheme, this isnot the show for you.
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time

(01:08):
around or want to learn from themis missteps of solopreneurs
who've paved the way before you,then stick around. We've got
your back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
alone. Okay. So before we getinto this episode, I just have

(02:24):
to make you aware of thecraziest offer we have ever
made. We are giving away asolopreneur platform that
normally costs nearly $500 ayear for just $25.
And not for a month, not for ayear, but forever. All you have
to do is preorder our new book,Solopreneur Business for
Dummies. Honestly, when I firstwent solo, I thought I could

(02:46):
just Google my way through it.But the advice out there was for
startups with teams and moneyand not someone trying to do it
all by themselves. And I justkept thinking, there's gotta be
a better way.
So we made one. LifeStarrPremier is the system I wish I
had back then. The tools, thestrategy, the community, all in
one place. So go tobook.lifestarr.com to lock all

(03:10):
this in. This deal goes awaywhen the book drops on
10/06/2025 and it is not comingback.
So preorder the book, uploadyour receipt, and then you're in
for good. Okay, listeners. So asyou just heard, we just talked
about this incredible offer thatwe are are doing right now. And
then, as we lead up to therelease of our book, Solopreneur

(03:32):
Business for Dummies, whichsaying that out loud, Joe, is
still so crazy to say. But youmay be wondering, well, like,
okay, you talked about itbriefly in that teaser.
What is this book about? And youcan kinda deduce what is
solopreneur business for dummieswe really laid out for you. But
the entire book is based on aframework, the Solopreneur

(03:52):
Success Cycle, that Joe, youactually came up with. I mean, I
helped but this is yourbrainchild. And I feel like we
should start with an overview.
Listeners, we are gonna kinda doa series when it's just Joe and
I over the next couple ofmonths, kinda diving into
highlights that we discuss inthe book. We're not gonna give

(04:14):
away everything. Obviously, wewant you to buy it. But just
really the framework behind themethodology of everything that
we're discussing. Again, theSolopreneur Success Cycle.
Joe, why don't you dive into it?You start. It's your baby. It's
here.

Joe Rando (04:28):
Well, let me first say that, this is not gonna be
like we'll give you half of theinfo and leave you hanging.
There's so much in the bookabout getting into the details
of nitty gritty that we can giveyou the whole picture here, and
still, it's gonna be worthbuying the book. So I'm not
worried in the least bit. thewhole aspect of the solopreneur

(04:48):
action plan, which is coveredthrough the book, and there's a
link to download your own copyso you can create your own
basically, it's a business planconcept for solopreneurs that
kind of cuts through thenonsense that you don't need for
a one person business.
But anyway so yeah. I'm gonnanot leave anything high level
out of here. Obviously, notgoing too far in the weeds

(05:09):
because these are shortpodcasts. But the Solopreneur
Success Cycle is defined bythree phases.
The first one is gettingstarted, starting your business.
A lot of you listening haveprobably already gone through
that phase. If you looked atwhat we put together here, maybe
you'd say, gee, I wish I haddone it that way. I hope you'd
say that. But then the thesecond phase is doing, but while

(05:31):
you're doing, you're learning.
So you're running your business,and you're learning what's
working, what's especiallywhat's not working, or what
could be better. And or whatmaybe you want to be different
for your life. And then lastlyis the, improving phase where
after you figure out all thethings that are that are going
wrong or not going the way youwant them to or could be better,

(05:52):
you implement some of thoseimprovements. And then you go
back to doing, so it's a cycle.You're going around in a circle.
And you're gonna put a link toan article that shows these
graphics. Right, Carly?

Carly Ries (06:04):
Yeah. We actually have an entire page on our
website, that we'll link to inour show notes.

Joe Rando (06:08):
So these three phases are broken up actually into
eight different steps. And thefirst step is called goals and
success. We call it step zerobecause nobody ever does this.
Everybody says, oh, I'm gonnastart a business.
I start a business. And the nextthing you know, there's a good
chance they're running abusiness they don't like running
or isn't doing what they neededto do or isn't making enough

(06:28):
money for them or whatever. Sowe start off with this, we call
step zero, defining what goalsyou have for starting a one
person business. It's not aboutbecoming a billionaire, I hope,
because if you do, you wannahave employees to do that.
So there's something else aboutyour life or something about
what you want that a one personbusiness serves. Once you've got

(06:50):
those goals to find, you have toenvision your business, and we
try to encourage people to thinkoutside the box a little bit.
You know, just because you're aCPA doesn't mean you have to go
and do accounting. Maybe youwanna do something related, but
not, you know, just a freelanceaccounting person or bookkeeper.
So this that step.
And then when you decide whatyou wanna do, you gotta plan it.

(07:11):
You gotta figure out the detailsof how you're gonna get it up
and running. Next step, which isstep three, is getting set up.
You gotta set up the businessthat you've now planned.
Once you've got it set up, nowyou're in business. So now
you're running, executing,learning. That is step four. And
as you execute and learn for awhile, at some point you decide,

(07:33):
hey, I'm gonna step back andrethink this business a little
bit.
Or maybe, you know, we have astep, five called refine, or
maybe reimagine. So it's refine,reimagine, depending on how the
business is going. It's, acouple of tweaks you need, you
refine it. My God, this isn'tmaking enough money, or I am
hating my life, or gee, I see away better opportunity, then you

(07:53):
might reimagine it. Go throughthat process of refining or
reimagining the business, decidewhat you're actually gonna do,
which is step six.
And finally, step seven isadjust. Make the adjustments
you've decided to make. At thatpoint, you're going back to
executing and learning. So theidea here is that you have this

(08:14):
process of starting, running,and improving your business
continuously. That makes sense?

Carly Ries (08:20):
It makes sense to me, but I'm very biased.

Joe Rando (08:22):
Yeah. Look at the pictures on the on the link from
the show notes, because thatwill tell a much better story
than my describing this thing.But it basically looks like kind
of a spiral that circles back onitself. So let's just dig in
really briefly why. So it's aflywheel, because you should

(08:43):
never be done, right?
You should never be done withyour business. Something's
changing. You're changing, theworld is changing, Your
customers are changing.Something's going on out there,
and so it's always good to havea process of, know, thinking
about what you're doing andmaking adjustments of some kind.
Second thing I would wannastress is that step zero is the

(09:03):
secret weapon. If you don'tdecide why you're doing this and
what you want out of it, you'regoing to find yourself building
a business that isn't quiteserving what you hoped for. And,
Carly, you're gonna talk aboutthat a lot, I think, in the next
podcast episode.

Carly Ries (09:20):
Mhmm. Yep. Absolutely.

Joe Rando (09:22):
And the reason we did this is that trial and error is
expensive. It costs money. Itcosts time. It costs, you know,
just brain damage as we used tocall it. You know, your brain
hurts when you make a mistakeand you have to turn around.
So, there's some things we cando to avoid making the rookie
mistakes and get this thingright or closer to right the
first time. So that's whatthat's about. I wanna assure

(09:46):
people that this is not likesome MBA framework that I, took
and tweaked. This is a groundup. I didn't even look at any
other processes when I came upwith this.
It was over a summer. It was thesummer that you were actually,
having your youngest, I think,if I remember. And, I just kinda

(10:07):
started a solopreneur business.I started a second one, had been
an entrepreneur. Said, what'sdifferent?
And just came up with this forsolopreneurs. And so kinda that
covers the solopreneur successcycle at a high level and why.
Do you have anything to add oranything you wanna ask me,
Carly?

Carly Ries (10:27):
No. I think this makes a lot of sense. I mean,
like you said, I would encourageeverybody to click on the link
in the show notes to the page onour website that has the
diagrams and everything. I thinkyou'll find that really helpful.
And just refer to that. Like Isaid, we're doing this series,
and that'll be helpfulthroughout each of these
episodes. But whether you buythe book or not, which we
certainly hope you do, theseshort segments that we're gonna

(10:51):
be sharing with you willhopefully be helpful in your
business, regardless of if youhave that supplemental piece of
literature. Hopefullyregardless. But speaking of
which, next time we are gonna betalking about those goals and
that step zero, so be sure totune in.
And of course, as alwayslisteners, leave that five star
review, share this episode witha friend, subscribe on your

(11:12):
favorite podcast platform, andwe will see you next time on the
Aspiring Solopreneur. You may begoing solo in business, but that
doesn't mean you're alone. Infact, millions of people are in
your shoes, running a one personbusiness and figuring it out as
they go. So why not connect withthem and learn from each other's
successes and failures? AtLifeStarr, we're creating a one

(11:34):
person business community whereyou can go to meet and get
advice from other solopreneurs.
Be sure to join in on theconversations at
community.lifestarr.com.