🖐 Happy Wednesday!

Issue #45 is 690 words and a 3.0-minute read.

1 big topic: Finding and Keeping Your Solopreneur Inspiration

Why it matters: The solopreneur journey is a marathon, and you need inspiration to stay in the race.

Zoom out: As you build your business, find daily motivation within five core beliefs.

• Belief in yourself

• Belief in your idea

• Belief in your team 

• Belief in your process

• Belief in your product

Zoom in: Individually, each belief inspires you to max out your potential.

Collectively, they help you serve your customers.

👇 Go deeper:

While one or two of the beliefs may come easily, others may require effort before they show long-term value.

Stay patient, and give each of them your daily attention.

Here’s one path to follow:

🙂 Yourself:

Put a positive message on your screen saver that highlights an achievement that made you proud.

Your previous victories will inspire your future.

🧠 Your Idea:

Confirm in public that your business idea can work.

You’ll need time to put it into motion, and patience is easier when you know your idea is sound.

👩🏽 👨🏻Your Team:

Work with people who provide freelance, part-time help on special projects.

You must delegate tasks to people who excel in areas you do not.

⚙️ Your Process:

In the film The Founder, the brothers tested their process on a tennis court to fix problems and make changes.

Map your process to ensure your customers get what you promised in the fastest, easiest way possible.

🎁 Your Product:

The first version might fail along with the tenth.

Strive to improve it, refine it, and make sure it gives customers the solution they want and will pay you to deliver.

What’s next? I built a template to show you how the five beliefs remove confusion and bring clarity.

This week’s business story:

Kevin Costner Should Take Econ 101

Costner ignored basic supply and demand and created a movie, Horizon: An America Saga - Chapter 1, that few people paid to see.

The big picture: Costner’s past success in Hollywood and with Yellowstone paved the way for his expensive vanity project.

Why it matters: When you build a large-scale product that ignores market research, you can lose a ton of money, time, and momentum.

A hobby gives you the freedom to explore different ideas and spend money on passion projects.

A business requires you to make decisions that combine research, testing, and a sound hypothesis.

Costner made his movie as a hobbyist rather than a business leader.

The bottom line: Strategy is not a perfect science, and you’ll have to revisit your assumptions each time you match your data with your product.

🔑 Your takeaways from Costner’s folly:

• Enjoy your work and the products you create without giving in to your ego
  

• Watch current trends, like the supply and demand of products within your core market
  

• Leverage your past success and apply your skills to solve problems that people want to fix today

1 fun idea:

I travelled to Cornwall for ten days.

⚓️ During the tour, I took a one-day break from the group to explore Falmouth, a bustling harbor town on the southeast tip of the UK.

I made a point to ask shop owners about their business, current trends, and the brick-and-mortar model.

Here are the common themes I heard:.

• It’s tough to find smart, reliable people to help on projects
  

• It’s hard to generate sales without a sharp website
  

• Customers purchase items in the store and then expect a quick, cheap shipping process for delivery to the U.S.

🌏 Solopreneurs around the world rely on the same inputs.

• A reliable team
  

• A powerful website
  

• Efficient and helpful customer service

Hmmm. Sounds familiar.

When you’re out on the town, stop by local businesses and strike up a fun conversation.

You gain incredible perspective when you exchange ideas with business owners outside your sandbox.

Plus, you never know what types of contacts and potential new advisors you’ll meet.

Be bold. Be an explorer.

😀 Have a terrific rest of the week.

Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik