Every Solopreneur Needs A Backup Plan

This article is based on an email I sent a friend from university who is also in the fitness industry. They have been hit hard by COVID lockdowns in 2021, and we’d recently spoken on the phone to discuss their options.

I’ve rewritten some elements of the email, so the article stands on its own.

If you’re in business by yourself, for yourself, then I think you must have a backup plan in case things don’t go as you anticipated.

Everyone starts with dreams to build an empire, but that changes pretty quickly.

According to research from the University of Technology Sydney, one in three small businesses fail in the first year, half are gone by the end of year two, and three out of four don’t make it past year three.

Everyone thinks they are the exception — they wouldn’t start if they didn’t think it would work — but the numbers don’t lie. They give a 50/50 chance of making it past year two.

Having a backup plan allows you to stay in control of the future. I’ve seen people sell or remortgage their homes to prop up a business that was a sinking ship.

One of them ended up getting pennies on the dollar for all their equipment, which was another few hundred thousand dollars written off.