2025 Is The Year You Finally Start Your One-Person Business. Here’s How (With $0 & Limited Time)

2025 Is The Year You Finally Start Your One-Person Business. Here’s How (With $0 & Limited Time)

I started my first one-person at 26.

With $0 and no clue what I was doing. At the time, I was working for a manager that made my life hell. I wanted to quit my 9–5 job so badly.

Here’s how to finally start your one-person business in 2025.


Finding some time to build

Dead time = magic time.

I reuse time spent:

  • Transiting.
  • Waiting for an appointment.
  • Random moments of downtime when traveling.

To:

  • Write
  • Build
  • Learn

These small 10–20 minutes are repurposed to being unproductive to taking a small step toward my goals.

Accumulate these small wins throughout your day.

By the end, you might have 60–120 minutes to repurpose or reuse to read that book, listen to that podcast, or write that article to progress your business.

Time compounds whatever you feed it.

I only started writing online for 15–20 minutes per day.

No more. No less.

I’d made the commitment to just show up. Now, I can write for hours with no loss of enthusiasm.

I didn’t try to find time to write.

I made time to write.

And then slowly built on that momentum.

You need to establish a habit before you can start to optimize it.


Finding someone to sell to

My ideal client is me.

But 4 years ago.

Old Michael:

  • Aspired to be an entrepreneur
  • Worked a 9–5 job
  • Wannabe writer

New Michael:

  • Solopreneur
  • Traveling the world
  • Sold and started multiple businesses.

New Michael is the best person to teach old Michael.

The good news?

There are millions of people where Old Michael is right now.

I know exactly how to speak to them, what their mindset is, and what gaps they have because I was them.

Most solopreneurs fail because they try to solve a problem they have never experienced.

My first one-person business aimed to help construction and infrastructure companies win more government work.

The only problem?

I’ve never worked in construction or infrastructure.

I didn’t know what problems they had, how the construction industry worked, and no contacts in the sector.

It wasn’t surprising when my biz almost went under 12 months in.

Now, I sell the same service (sales & marketing) to solopreneurs and creators. People who are like me. But 3–4 steps behind where I am today.

Sell to the person you were 4–5 years ago.

Finding something to sell

I don’t try to find killer ideas.

Most businesses are built on simple problems.

The more boring, the better.

Here’s what you can sell:

  • A pain.
  • A passion.
  • A professional skill.

Selling solutions to a pain:

Have you solved a problem to do with:

  • Health: Losing weight.
  • Wealth: Scaling a business.
  • Relationships: Managing a divorce.

These are painful problems.

If you’ve got a solution with positive results, other people will pay you to save time and effort.

Selling a passion:

  • What do you read about?
  • What podcasts do you listen to?
  • What do you binge-watch on YouTube?

These are all clues to knowledge and information you can resell to others to save them the time and effort of learning.

Selling a professional skill.

This is my favorite.

If you’ve got a 9–5 job, you’ve got a one-person business.

You’ve have:

  • One customer.
  • Validated skillset (and offer).

Now, you just need to find more customers.

Fractionalize your skills and sell them to other employers.

If all 3 align, that’s where you excel.

But it’s not required.

My business took off once I aligned my previous pain, passions, and professional skills into something unique.

Chase a painful problem to solve. Not a unique solution.


Finding a way to sell.

Start a service-based business.

I’ll die on this hill.

Don’t try to build an app, SaaS, or physical product.

They take a long time to build.

They take even longer to monetize.

They are difficult to grow & sustain.

You need to deal with a supply chain and developers and maybe go through months of testing.

I’ve seen too many solopreneurs sink months (or years) of time while making no money, attempting to build software.

Only to realize that no one wanted it.

Why?

  • They didn’t talk to customers.
  • They went solution-first, not problem-first.
  • They tried to solve a problem they hadn’t experienced.

A service-based business:

  • Low cost.
  • Easy to start.
  • Monetize immediately.

Do the unscalable. And then scale it.

Drop your need for ‘passive income’ or instant gratification.

Alongside your service business:

  • Build an audience.
  • Grow your email list.

I’m at a point where I’ve validated my service offer and have almost 100k+ size audience that I’m now diversifying into:

  • Digital products
  • SaaS

Start through service, scale through software.


2025 is the year of the solopreneur.

In 12 months, you can be exactly where you are now.

Or have a profitable one-person business that’s changed your life.

Start by:

  • Repurposing dead time.
  • Serving the person you were 3–4 years ago.
  • Selling a solution to a pain, profession, or passion.
  • Packaging your offer into a service-based business.

The life you want is within your reach.


I’ve previously sold a one-person business, and I’m in the process of scaling another one to $20k per month. If you want my one-person business growth system, I’ve created a FREE email course for you to get started.

Charles Bowren

Global Mid-Market Account Executive at Superside - The leading AI enhanced Creative-as-a-Service Company

2w

This is the dream man!! Keep crushing it

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James Peters

Grief Coach | AI Talent Sourcer | Author | Featured in @Forbes.

2w

Adversity faced = Growth sparked   Growth sparked = New opportunities gained   The best journeys often start in tough times.  

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Stuart Smyth

Executive Leader | 20+ Years Experience | Industry, Government, Higher Ed, NFP | Stakeholder Relationships | VALUE through Innovation & Partnership

2w

Gonna go back and find that email course Michael Lim 🙏

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