Solopreneur Success: Defining “Success” For Yourself

The standard interpretation of success seems to be income-related.

My experience as a solopreneur causes me to challenge this definition.

I have built my own business from the ground up, a business which saw profit right away with very little upfront investment, a business which ranks on Google Page 1 in its industry, and a business which—so far— has been doubling in revenue each year.

I would call this successful, but there’s more to it than dollar bills. At least in my mind.

I have felt less successful during periods of the highest income, which has challenged me to re-define success altogether.

What is success?

The technical definition of success is: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose; the attainment of popularity or profit.

But I think most of Western society goes with the latter more than anything. Whether we ever say it out loud or consciously think about what success is, I think most of us think of success as having to do with income or popularity/fame.

This is not at all what success means to me.

how do i define success?

For me, success is a sense of fulfillment and stability, characterized by an ease in meeting ones materials needs, and the space to meet ones immaterial needs (such as creativity, mental clarity, relationships with others, and inspiration).

Success certainly involves finances as one part of the pie, but growth for growth’s sake is not success in my eyes.

I have a certain amount I need to make each month to cover my expenses. Once I cover that amount, then I can decide how much more I would like to make to reach goals and invest in my future.

Beyond that? My time is the most valuable resource I have. And the most scarce. Time is the one resource that will be taken away from us forever one day.

Therefore, optimizing that most scarce resource—time—is most important for me. And this involves experiences, relationships, and creating an internal environment within myself that is a nice place to be.

TIffany D Davidson Squarespace Web Designer Squarespace SEO Expert

Hustle culture as a phase, not a lifestyle

Nowadays, we have what is known as a hustle culture, which is essentially a very masculine penetrative approach to life. We become solely human doings without much human being. There’s no time for being in hustle culture.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m inside of that hustle culture! I didn’t grow my business by just sitting around smiling and breathing deeply ;) I hustled, and I still do (though I would call myself a recovering hustler).

But I don’t think hustle culture should be a permanent lifestyle, rather a phase of life with the purpose of establishing systems to meet our long-term goals.

This is where diversification of online income streams come into play.

I’m only willing to sell so many hours of my life. Currently, I put about 70% of my time into my web design + SEO business, and the rest go toward long-term (even passive) income generation.

This kind of success will free up more of my time so that I can be present for those I love. Whereas right now, in the hustle, we become consumed with our projects and goals and aren’t much good to anyone but our clients. How can we be when we define our own self-worth by how productive we are?

Knowing the annual salary that works best for me, I can set up systems to reach that salary without exchanging my hours for all of it. And this is success. Not merely a left-right incline on a line chart.

What does success look like to you?

I would never push my values off on anyone else, and I don’t want you to think I am demeaning hustle culture. I appreciate the hustlers, again- I’m one of them right now!

But, I also want to encourage other solopreneurs to step back from time to time and make sure your business is really bringing fulfillment and stability, and that you aren’t just growing for the sake of growing, to be able to say you made more this year than the year before. You know?

I’m very interested to hear from other freelancers and self-employed solopreneurs what success looks like to you. Do you align with the societal views of success or do you have your own definition? How influenced do you think we are by wanting to obtain society’s vision of success versus what truly feels right for you? How many of your decisions are made because of how others would view it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by!

x Tiffany