How to Turn Your Writing Into a Profitable One-Person Business in Less Than 1.5 Hours Per Day.

I am the biggest risk to my one-person business.

Jul 28, 2024

I had ZERO evidence that I would ever make it as an online writer.

I come from a non-English speaking immigrant background, I got below average in English in high school and my first 100 or so Medium articles sucked so badly I couldn’t even get my mum to read them.

I’d accepted that writing would always just be a hobby for me.

But I never gave up (*cue rocky workout scene):

I got 1% better every day.
I invested in writing courses.
I read every book about writing I could find.
I joined an Australian-based creator community and hired a coach.

Since then, writing has allowed me to:

Build a personal brand
Start and sell my one-person business.
Build a four-figure-per-month productized ghostwriting one-person business.

Here’s how you can do it too.

#1: Find your uniqueness

Ask yourself:

What problems do I want to solve?
Who do I want to solve them for?
How will I solve it for them?
Why am I the person to solve it?

I started my first one-person business without asking these questions. And I felt directionless after a couple of months. I couldn’t properly tell people what I did. I took on projects that didn’t align with me.

Now I use these questions to reflect every couple of months.

My uniqueness is that I:

Solve the challenge of starting and scaling a one-person business alongside a 9–5 job (what)
For people working a 9–5 and are part-time creators. (who)
Through tried and tested frameworks, templates, and SOPs. (how)
Because I’ve started and sold a one-person business, and I’m growing another one-person business while I work a 9–5 job. (why)

I am my own target audience and ideal customer.

This makes all my content relevant because I just speak to the person I was 2–3 years ago. I noticed I had a problem. I solved it. Documented how I solved it, and now I sell it to others going through the same problem.

Simple, but not easy.

#2: Package your uniqueness into a brand

I’ve made well over six figures from my personal brand.

A personal brand has allowed me to:

Attract international speaking opportunities (Europe and Asia)
Build multiple businesses and sell one.
Close high-value clients.

My mantra is:

Build a personal brand, then build a business.

Why?

A business can be taken away from you or sold.

Your personal brand is yours to keep. Once you have an audience following your personal brand, you can build whatever business you want.

You want to be famous for a few people.

“Who knows you is more important than who you know. Build a brand.” — James Clear

#3: Now focus on a sustainable strategy

I’m building a one-person business alongside a full-time job.

That means I don’t have a lot of time per day.

Here’s my entire strategy (steal it):

Top of funnel (Goal: Gain awareness):

Channels: Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram
Activity: Post 3–4x per week on each platform
Call To Action: Follow me

Middle of funnel (Goal: Build trust):

Channels: Website, Landing Page
Activity: Publish weekly email newsletter
Call To Action: Download my free lead magnet

Bottom of funnel (Goal: Convert into sales):

Channels: Gumroad
Activity: Subtle pitch of products in all content.
Call To Action: Buy my digital products

These are the basic elements of my entire online business.

The best part? I can manage this with a full-time job. I’ll work on my one-person business before and after hours as well as weekends.

Does it get hard? Of course.

But who said starting a business was easy?

#4: Just don’t stop.

I am the biggest risk to my one-person business.

So I do everything in my power to avoid burning out or losing everything. I see so many people more talented than me start and stop. The lack of consistency kills any business gains they’ve made.

Quitting or stopping = failure.

If you never stop, you can never fail.

So whenever I feel tired, lost, overwhelmed, or feel like I am going backward I tell myself: ‘This is when it counts. This is when most people quit.’

You’re going to have to do things most people won’t so you can achieve things most people can’t.

Let’s end with this:

Get comfortable doing all this work for a long time for little results.

I set a timeframe of 3–5 years to achieve my results.

This doesn’t mean I slack off. But I don’t expect to see any tangible results in the short term. If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, a personal brand is not for you.

Marry the long-term, and the results will be amazing.

👉 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.