Nearly two decades ago, Stacy Berman, a personal trainer, launched a fitness bootcamp in New York City. She called it Stacy’s Bootcamp.
She invited her clients to join her for 5:30 am outdoor workout classes in Central Park. At first, only three or four people showed up. Then the group grew to 10 people. Then 20 people. Then demand grew beyond a capacity she could reasonably accommodate.
She hired personal trainers as independent contractors who led additional classes. She limited class size to 20 people who paid $30 to $37 per class, depending on the package they purchased.
Her business expanded to Manhattan’s Battery Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. After six years, Stacy’s Bootcamp grossed more than $1 million. The company had zero employees; the other teachers were contractors.
Stacy had created a one-person, million-dollar business.
Laszlo Nadler wanted a planner that helped him take a big-picture look at his week, month and year. But he couldn’t find any on the market.
So he designed and sold his own line of paper calendars and planners, which he called Tools4Wisdom. He built his as a print-on-demand business, so that he didn’t have to stockpile tons of inventory. He kept his day job as an IT project manager in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
During his first year in business, he made around $15,000. But after a few years, his enterprise grew into a million-dollar business.
Laszlo, like Stacy, also created a one-person, million-dollar business.
Elaine Pofeldt, a writer for CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, Money Magazine and other business publications, decided to deep-dive into the world of solopreneur million-dollar companies.
What are the stories of entrepreneurs who gross $1 million or more in their businesses, despite having no employees? How did they begin? What do they do differently?
She interviewed hundreds of founders of non-employer seven-figure companies and wrote a book about her findings called The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business. Today, she joins us on the podcast to talk about what we can learn from this special class of entrepreneurs.
Resources Mentioned:
- Maker’s Row
- Alibaba.com
- Globafy
- @ElainePofeldt – Twitter
- The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, by Elaine Pofeldt
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