Becoming a solopreneur can give you an extraordinary amount of freedom to choose your own career path, but one of the downsides is that you’re doing it all on your own; you don’t have coworkers to bounce ideas off and it’s difficult to find anyone to ask questions or seek advice from. Solve that lack in your business plan by creating your own network of like-minded solopreneurs. You’ll have the freedom of running your own independent business along with the support you get from a team of coworkers.
Decide what type of network you want to create. Do you need a water-cooler type of forum where you take a break and chat about the ups and downs of your business day? Are you looking for advice and business tips from other solopreneurs? Should it be all business or do you want to allow a bit of levity and frivolousness to creep in? Think about your ideal work relationships and aim for a network of like-minded people.
Join business and webworking forums to find other people working in your same situation. Join in the conversations and contribute meaningful information. Pay attention to the other forum members to find others you particularly enjoy. Don’t limit yourself to others in your same profession, but keep the list to people with your same degree of commitment to work.
Set up an online forum for your network to use. Design the forum and group with clear goals and state them outright. Invite the people you have found online to join in your forum and post daily to create interesting conversations and shared help with work. Encourage all the members to post frequently so that you begin to create a vibrant community that helps the members with the problems of solo work.