Solopreneur vs entrepreneur: what's the difference, and which one are you?

A solopreneur is someone who starts and runs a business entirely on their own. An entrepreneur starts a business and builds a team and a company around it. Every solopreneur is an entrepreneur, but not every entrepreneur is a solopreneur. The difference isn't ambition or income; it's how you plan to grow: by hiring people, or by staying one person and using tools, systems and the occasional contractor.

What is a solopreneur?

Solopreneur is a blend of "solo" and "entrepreneur". A solopreneur owns the business, does the work, makes every decision and keeps the profit. There are no employees. They may pay a virtual assistant, a designer or an accountant now and then, but the business is built to be run by one person.

Common solopreneur businesses: consultants and coaches, freelance designers, writers and developers, course creators, newsletter writers, Etsy and Shopify sellers, bookkeepers, and indie founders running a small software app (a "one-person SaaS").

What is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur starts a business and takes on the risk of growing it. The classic picture is a founder who raises money or reinvests profit to hire a team, open locations or launch more products. The goal is usually a company that can run, and grow, without the founder doing every job.

Solopreneur vs entrepreneur at a glance

The 5 real differences

1. Who does the work. A solopreneur does it. An entrepreneur hires people to do it and spends more time leading than doing.
2. How the business grows. A solopreneur grows by charging more, selling products instead of hours, and automating the repeat work. An entrepreneur grows by adding people.
3. What success looks like. For many solopreneurs it's freedom: good income, your own hours, no one to manage. For many entrepreneurs it's scale: more customers, more staff, maybe a sale of the company one day.
4. Risk and money. Solopreneurs often start with a laptop and a few subscriptions. Entrepreneurs building a team usually need more cash up front and carry payroll every month.
5. Where the bottleneck is. A solopreneur runs out of hours. An entrepreneur runs out of money or good hires.

Solopreneur vs freelancer vs small business owner

These overlap, which is why people mix them up.

• Freelancer: sells their time and skills to clients, project by project. Most freelancers are solopreneurs, but a freelancer usually thinks in clients and hours, while a solopreneur thinks in a business: offers, products, a brand.
• Small business owner: owns a business of any kind, often with a few staff, like a bakery, a salon or an agency. A solopreneur is a small business owner with no employees.
• Entrepreneur: the umbrella word. Anyone who starts a business and takes on the risk counts.

Pros and cons of being a solopreneur

• Pro: total control. You pick the clients, the prices and the hours.
• Pro: low costs. No payroll, no office, often no outside money.
• Pro: you keep the profit.
• Con: everything depends on you. If you're sick or on holiday, the business slows down.
• Con: you wear every hat, from sales to support to bookkeeping.
• Con: it can be lonely, with no team to think things through with.

Pros and cons of building a team as an entrepreneur

• Pro: the business can grow past what one person can do.
• Pro: you can step back from day-to-day work and the company keeps running.
• Pro: a company with a team is usually easier to sell.
• Con: hiring and managing people becomes your main job.
• Con: higher fixed costs and more financial risk.
• Con: slower decisions, especially once investors are involved.

Which one should you be?

You'll probably enjoy being a solopreneur if you love doing the work itself, want flexibility more than headcount, and would rather earn a great living than run a big company. You may be happier as a team-building entrepreneur if you love leading people, have an idea that needs many hands (a restaurant, a factory, a fast-growing startup) and are comfortable with more risk.

It's not a one-way door, either. Plenty of entrepreneurs start solo, prove the idea, and hire later. And plenty of people who once ran teams go solo on purpose.

How solopreneurs grow without hiring

If you stay solo, your hours are the limit, so the game is getting time back. The biggest leak is explaining the same thing again and again: onboarding new clients, showing a VA how a task is done, answering the same support question, giving leads a tour of your product.

• Write down or record every task you do more than twice, so a contractor can take it over. Here's how to make SOPs your VA will actually follow.
• Replace the screen-share part of kickoff calls with a recording, and stop booking onboarding calls you don't need.
• Start with the five recordings every solopreneur should make this week.

That's what we built Puradoc for. You click through your screen once, and Puradoc writes a clean script, reads it in a natural voice and turns it into a step-by-step guide, so the explanation does the work for you from then on. It's how one person can look like a whole team. Try it free.

Is a solopreneur an entrepreneur?

Yes. A solopreneur is a kind of entrepreneur: one who chooses to run the business alone. The word just tells you how the business is set up.

Can a solopreneur have employees?

Not really. Once you hire employees, you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur with a team. Working with contractors and virtual assistants is normal for solopreneurs, though, and doesn't change the label.

Can a solopreneur make a lot of money?

Yes. With no payroll, solopreneurs often keep a large share of what they earn. Many reach six figures by selling products, courses or software alongside, or instead of, their time.