#4) One-person, million-dollar businesses — Hype or reality?

It has never been easier, cheaper, or quicker to start a new business than it is today. (Ancient Babylonians probably had a rougher time doing so.) 

But that doesn’t mean that all businesses will, or should, grow to be unicorn IPOs. Nor should all businesses be expected to hire lots of employees and lease lots of office space. 

In fact, the data shows the opposite. Out of 28 million small businesses in the U.S., 23 million are “non-employers,” meaning that they have no employees.

So, please lower your expectations.

But this doesn’t mean that these micro businesses should be unprofitable or purely side hustles. 

As Entrepreneurs for Impact, we're looking for both  impact AND profit.

In this book -- The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want. by Elaine Pofeldt -- you’ll see that the most common million-dollar, one-person businesses follow these models:

• E-commerce
• Manufacturing
• Informational content creation
• Professional service firms
• Personal service firms
• Real estate

The case studies she provides are especially helpful.

So how did they do it?

• Outsourcing talent and time
• Extreme focus
• Good luck

OK, there’s more to it than that, but hopefully your interest has been piqued.

Concerned about whether you can exceed one million dollars in revenue? Again, no worries. 

You’re in good company at lower, but still very healthy, revenue levels as well. See below (data from 2015 U.S. Census).

Number of companies in the U.S. at various levels of annual revenue

• 1,861,656 businesses => $100,000 to $250,000   revenue
• 584,586 businesses => $250,000 to $500,000
• 258,148 businesses => $500,000 to $1,000,000
• 35,584 businesses => $1,000,000 to $2,500,000
• 2,090 businesses => $2,500,000 to $5,000,000