I built big teams. I spoke on stages. I did the leadership trainings, flew to the conventions, read the books, and hired the people. The result wasn’t freedom. It was friction. Today I run a lean, 78%-profit, multi–six-figure business as a solopreneur. This is exactly why I chose it—and how the numbers work.
Solopreneur vs. Team: What Actually Makes You Money
Teams promise leverage. What they don’t tell you is the hidden cost: managing, meetings, recruiting, training, HR, culture maintenance, churn, and the constant drain on your time and energy. When your natural unfair advantage is marketing, systems, and execution, every hour away from those is lost revenue.
Running solo lets me focus on the money drivers:
- Publishing long-form videos that convert
- Turning one video into dozens of monetizable shorts
- Affiliate marketing and digital product sales
- A coaching offer that compounds trust built on YouTube
- Evergreen content that pays while I travel
The more I removed people management, the more profit I kept—and the more I enjoyed the work.
The Pain & Joy Journal That Changed My Business
I tracked two columns for a month: pain and joy. Every task that created stress, delays, or frustration went under pain. Every task that gave me energy and produced results went under joy. Patterns were blunt: people-management drained me; building content systems, SEO, and offers energized me. I cut the first, doubled down on the second. Revenue rose. Profit jumped. Peace returned.
Try it:
- Log one week of tasks.
- Mark each item pain or joy.
- Ruthlessly eliminate, automate, or productize the pain.
- Build a weekly cadence around the joy that makes money.
How a One-Person Business Scales Without Burnout
My model is simple and repeatable:
- Two long-form videos a week
20–30 minutes, teaching exactly what I’m doing to make money. Long-form builds trust and drives sales. - Clip each into 10–15 Shorts
Shorts create reach. I funnel viewers back to long-form where they buy. - Monetize the description on day one
Affiliate links to the tools I use. A $27 ebook that solves one problem quickly. A clear path into my coaching program. - Evergreen over everything
Tutorials, walkthroughs, and strategy videos that stack views and sales for months and years. That’s how I can disappear for 8 days on a cruise and the income still hits.
The Money Breakdown (Why Profit Beats Headcount)
- Ad revenue: Baseline monthly check across channels.
- Software affiliates: Six figures per year because I teach the tools I actually use.
- Product affiliates (Amazon Influencer, TikTok Shop, YouTube Shopping, LTK): Seasonal bumps plus daily trickle sales from evergreen videos.
- Digital products: Ebooks at accessible price points convert new viewers fast.
- Coaching: Highest LTV. The trust built on YouTube shortens the sales cycle.
No staff salaries. No overhead bloat. Software, platform fees, cost of goods when I buy items to review, and that’s it. My P&L stays clean, my calendar stays free, and my creativity stays high.
Risks of Working Solo (And How I Mitigate Them)
- Platform changes: I diversify offers and traffic. YouTube long-form, Shorts, Pinterest, blog SEO, and an email list tied to products.
- No one to “cover” for me: I batch content, schedule ahead, and rely on evergreen assets.
- Fewer high-five moments: I get my feedback from data—views, sales, retention. It’s quieter, but it’s honest.
If You’re Team-Curious, Read This First
Ask one question: does hiring move you toward your actual advantage? If your profit and joy come from creating content and building systems, protect the work that prints money. If a hire adds friction, revenue will stall. If a tool removes friction, revenue will rise.
My Minimal, Friction-Free Stack
Affiliate disclosure immediately below. Then the exact tools I use to run this—lean, fast, and solo.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some tools mentioned below are affiliate-based. If you choose to purchase them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
- Opus Clips – AI repurposing
- Repurpose.io – Auto-distribute videos
- VidIQ – YouTube SEO + analytics
- Ideogram – Thumbnails and graphics
- Harpa.ai – Research and workflows
- WP Engine – WordPress hosting
- JNews Theme – Website theme
- Airtable – Content hub
- My wireless mic – Easy, portable audio
The Solopreneur Play: What To Do Next
- Audit your week with the pain/joy method.
- Kill or automate everything in the pain column.
- Ship two long-form videos weekly, every week.
- Clip them, link them, and sell a simple product.
- Track profit monthly. Keep what compounds. Cut what drags.
This is how you keep control, make more, and work less.
Coaching: Build Your Freedom Business With Me
If you want the system, come inside Ballen Blueprint Coaching. I teach the exact workflows, prompts, and monetization paths I use every day.
Want my ready-to-use prompts for faster content and product creation? Visit my Stan Store.
About
I’m a digital marketing strategist and creator who runs a multi–six-figure, 78%-profit business without employees. I make money through affiliate marketing, ebooks, coaching, and ad revenue—powered by a simple content cadence and clean systems. I teach creators how to do the same.
