How to Grow Your Solo Business Without Hiring Employees
Discover proven strategies to scale your one-person business to seven figures using outsourcing, contractors, and automation—without traditional employees.
The conventional wisdom is that to “scale” a business, you have to do it the traditional way—by hiring employees. Otherwise, the thinking goes, you’ll be limited to whatever revenue you can generate personally. Fortunately, there’s another option.
In the digital age, it’s increasingly possible to grow revenue in a one-person business or partnership without hiring traditional W-2 employees. In researching my upcoming book, The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, I came across many people who were approaching or breaking $1 million in revenue without adding employees. They are among the 35,584 owners of “nonemployer” businesses that the U.S. Census Bureau found were hitting or breaking $1 million in revenue in 2014. (Nonemployer businesses are those staffed only by the owners.)
So what are they doing? It runs the gamut. Entrepreneurs are breaking $1 million while running internet retail sites, professional services firms, real estate investment firms, healthy cooking online courses, and many other businesses. It’s not necessarily the type of business they run, but the way they run them that has enabled them to scale.
Here are three growth strategies they are using that anyone in a one-person business can start using today to greatly increase revenue.
Outsource
In many small businesses, your time is your currency. If you waste it on nonproductive activities that don’t add to the bottom line, you’ll never maximize your revenue. The conventional wisdom is you need to hire staff so you can offload tasks that can be delegated, but many of the million-dollar entrepreneurs I interviewed used another approach. They outsourced whatever they could to make their business more efficient.
One standout example is Camille and Ben Arneberg, who started Willow & Everett, a store with its own website and a presence on Amazon, in 2015. Neither was a retail veteran. Camille had worked in the corporate sustainability field, while Ben had been in the military. But they loved home entertaining and had a knack for selecting products other people like, such as decorative tea kettles.
The couple started small, investing $5,000 in inventory, and reinvested in new products as they went along. By April 2016, they had grown the business to $1 million in revenue, one year and four days after their launch.
One secret to their rapid growth was hiring the right kind of service to help them. After trying to pack a bunch of early orders themselves and finding their home buried in boxes of mugs, they switched to using a fulfillment service offered by Amazon. Although there is a small cost for this, the service handles tasks like labeling and fulfillment, freeing the Arnebergs to focus on growing their business.
This outsourcing approach isn’t limited to e-commerce. Solopreneurs in service-based businesses outsource administrative tasks, graphic design, content creation, and more through platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, or specialized agencies. For instance, virtual assistants can handle email management, customer support, and social media scheduling for as little as $5–$20 per hour, allowing business owners to concentrate on high-value activities like client acquisition and product development.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, outsourcing can reduce operational costs by up to 30% while improving efficiency, as it leverages specialized expertise without the overhead of full-time hires.
- Identify outsourcing candidates: List tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, or outside your expertise, such as bookkeeping, SEO, or video editing.
- Start small: Test freelancers with short-term projects to build trust before scaling commitments.
- Track ROI: Measure time saved and revenue gained to justify ongoing outsourcing spend.
By outsourcing low-value tasks, solo business owners reclaim dozens of hours weekly, directly translating to revenue growth without employee management hassles.
Build a Team of Contractors
Solopreneurs rely on a team of trusted contractors to expand their capabilities. One entrepreneur I interviewed, Dan Mezheritsky, founder and president of Fitness on the Go in Vancouver, follows this model. As a former junior national champion decathlete in Canada, Mezheritsky founded his one-person, in-home personal training franchise in 2005 and grew his own annual revenue to $1.5 million in 2016. He did it by building a network of 180 personal trainers, who are all contractors.
Mezheritsky got burned out on the idea of bringing on traditional employees after finding out that many of his original hires were not motivated to help him grow the business. Because they were paid on salary, they didn’t share in the financial gains the business made in a tangible way. When he switched to hiring them as contractors, that changed. Now that they had their own businesses, they saw a direct financial benefit if he brought on new customers—whom they would get to serve.
Mezheritsky provides help to the trainers that makes it more advantageous for them to work for him than on their own entirely. He licenses the right to use the company’s brand name to the trainers and provides support with business management, leads, continuing education, and other areas of the business for $400 a month. The company sets prices for the training sessions and the trainers keep about 91 percent. “It was a no brainer for the trainers, when they took a look at what they were receiving,” Mezheritsky told me. “It was simpler than trying to do everything on their own.”
This contractor model scales beautifully for solo businesses. Consultants, marketers, developers, and salespeople can be engaged as independent contractors, paid per project or commission, aligning incentives without payroll taxes, benefits, or HR overhead. The IRS classifies independent contractors as those with control over how they perform work, making it a flexible option for growth.
| Employees vs. Contractors | Employees | Contractors |
|---|---|---|
| Cost Structure | Salary + benefits + taxes | Project-based or hourly |
| Scalability | Fixed capacity | On-demand expansion |
| Motivation | Salary-driven | Performance-aligned |
| Management Overhead | High (HR, training) | Low (self-managing) |
Building such a network requires vetting for reliability and cultural fit, often starting with referrals or platforms like LinkedIn. Clear contracts outlining scope, payment, and non-compete terms protect the business while empowering contractors.
Automate
Like many of the million-dollar entrepreneurs I interviewed, Mezheritsky is passionate about finding ways to automate repetitive tasks in his business. For instance, he hired a pro to help him build customized software that handles billing for all of his trainers, acts as a customer relationship management platform, handles his client rewards program, and more.
But you don’t have to build your own software in most one-person businesses. For instance, you can save several hours a week on scheduling tasks by using inexpensive tools like ScheduleOnce or Calendly—scheduling programs that let you send business contacts a link to your public calendar so they can book a time to meet with you without emailing back and forth.
Automation tools abound for solo businesses:
- Email marketing: Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign for automated newsletters and drip campaigns.
- CRM: HubSpot or Pipedrive to track leads and nurture relationships automatically.
- Accounting: QuickBooks Online or Xero for invoicing, expense tracking, and tax prep.
- Social media: Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule posts across platforms.
- E-commerce: Shopify apps for inventory, abandoned cart recovery, and upsells.
A 2023 McKinsey report estimates automation can boost solo business productivity by 40–50%, freeing owners for strategic work. Zapier connects apps for no-code workflows, like auto-syncing form submissions to CRMs.
Start by mapping your workflows: Identify bottlenecks, select tools with free tiers, and integrate gradually. The key is consistency—automated systems run 24/7, compounding growth without proportional effort.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Can any solo business scale to $1M without employees?
A: Yes, if structured around outsourcing, contractors, and automation. Examples span e-commerce, services, and courses, per U.S. Census data on 35k+ nonemployer million-dollar firms.
Q: What’s the biggest risk of outsourcing?
A: Quality control. Mitigate with clear briefs, trial projects, and performance reviews.
Q: How do I find reliable contractors?
A: Use platforms like Upwork, LinkedIn, or industry networks; prioritize those with reviews and start with small gigs.
Q: Are there tax implications for contractors vs. employees?
A: Contractors handle their own taxes; you issue 1099s. Consult IRS guidelines or a tax pro to avoid misclassification.
Q: What automation tool should I start with?
A: Scheduling (Calendly) or email (Mailchimp)—quick wins saving 5+ hours/week.
Conclusion: Scale Smart, Stay Solo
These strategies—outsource, contractors, automate—empower solo entrepreneurs to shatter revenue ceilings without employee burdens. As seen in real $1M+ cases, focus on efficiency unlocks exponential growth. Implement one today for immediate impact.
References
- Nonemployer Statistics — U.S. Census Bureau. 2014 (latest comprehensive data; uniquely authoritative for nonemployer revenue benchmarks). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics.html
- The Future of Work After COVID-19 — McKinsey & Company. 2021-01-04 (updated analysis on automation productivity). https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19
- Independent Contractor or Employee? — Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 2023-10-15. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee
- Outsourcing: A Guide for Small Business — U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). 2024-02-20. https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/outsourcing
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