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Complexity in a soloist expertise business: you have multiple types of clients that you serve in different ways with (perhaps) multiple support systems and people helping you out.
This kind of complexity can give you the warm and fuzzies as you’re building it. Your revenue is constant or increasing, so you hardly notice if you have to twist yourself like a pretzel to get the work done.
That’s what having a business means, isn’t it?
So you feel in control—because you know what’s coming next and how it will work. You’ve built a marketing and support system that feels safe. The problem is—it’s a trap.
Because adding complexity has a cost: in how you spend your time/focus, your profitability and the business and life you’re building for the future.
Complexity = headaches.
The very best Master Soloist businesses (where you’re earning “enough”, working when and how you want) lean heavily toward simple.
Case in point: despite working with countless soloists earning $500K+, I can’t name a single one who had a complex business.
Their work is sometimes complex—say working inside sophisticated organizations to lead them to outsized transformations—but their business is simple.
One type of client, one key service, one transformational outcome.
Everything else becomes unnecessary.
If you’re not quite there yet, just start paying attention whenever you feel friction: outlier clients, layers of processes that feel unnecessarily complex, systems that annoy you.
The trick to building a Master Soloist business is often as simple as removing the friction.
Related: Balancing Personal Delivery: Determining the Scope of Expertise Sharing