Happy Tuesday from the home office in Phoenix, where we already had our first 100-degree day of the year!

In 2015, I became self-employed for the second time in my professional career. The first time, I chose to leave my job and go out on my own, while this second time—not so much.

Regardless, self-employment has turned out to be the best thing for me because I’m much better at being my own boss than having one. Along the way, I have learned a few things:

• When you work for yourself, you inevitably wear many hats.
• No one strikes out on their own just to give themselves another job.
• Working for yourself doesn’t mean you have to work alone. When you’re self-employed, you work solo(ish).

You may find yourself self-employed because you either chose to be (i.e., you jumped ship to do your own thing) or someone decided for you (i.e., you were laid off), and you don’t have another choice at the moment.

Either way, if you’re like me, you didn’t start your own business just to give yourself another job. But whether you call yourself a freelancer, consultant, coach, or even a solopreneur, being a one-person business certainly feels that way.

Why Solo(ish)…and why now?

I love the freedom and flexibility of being self-employed. And if you’re reading this, so do you. Or, maybe you’re thinking about going out on your own full-time or have an idea for a side hustle. Just like I did twice before.

Having met and worked with so many other self-employed people over the years, I have learned that in addition to marketing and promoting their business or themselves, two common challenges for solopreneurs are the growing to-do list of things that always seem to need to be done and the solitude of working alone.

Both can be overwhelming when you work for yourself, but I’ve learned a few tricks over the years.

This new (un)newsletter aims to provide you (my fellow solopreneurs) with tips, tools, and insights into things I have tried to help you avoid feeling like you’re in another workweek grind.

So here goes…

Get help with your over-flowing plate

When your work week starts to creep into the weekend, and you find yourself edging closer to 60 hours per week, it’s time to get some help. It might seem as though the only solution is to hire an employee.

But what if, like me, you’re happy being a non-employer business and don’t relish the idea of being a boss? The answer is outsourcing some of your work to other people or AI-powered tools.

• Use tools: Apps and AI to the rescue. By now, I’m sure you have heard of ChatGPT and its main competitors/lookalikes, Perplexity, Pi, Gemini (formerly Bard), and Grok. These natural language generative tools are helpful for research, writing, and even analyzing data. But many apps and other tools can help you be a better writer, manage your client relationships, and manage your time. These tools can help you be more efficient, productive, and professional-sounding. I wrote about three of my favorites recently here: 3 AI tools I use that aren’t ChatGPT.
• Let it go: Hire a virtual assistant. VAs can help you schedule meetings, update contact lists, or prepare your email newsletter. Administrative functions that otherwise keep you from doing more critical client work, working on your marketing, or business development.
• Get it off your plate: Outsource it to a specialist. Hiring a freelancer to handle specialized tasks regularly or for one-off projects is a great way to get work off your plate so that you don’t feel overwhelmed by your growing list of to-dos. Especially if you hire someone as good (or better) than you are at that kind of work, who will also offer you the same talent, objectivity, and expertise you provide to your clients.

Trust me when I say I know how hard it will be to let go of certain types of work. Whether you relinquish control to an app or a person, you must do it for your sanity, if not for your overfull plate.

What about you? How do you handle that feeling of having too much on your plate? Share your thoughts below!

Stay tuned for more insights, tips, tools, and other resources related to being self-employed. If there’s anything about being self-employed that you would like to see me cover in the future, please let me know.

Andy Brenits, Working Solo(ish) since 2015 (and twice before).