A singular challenge
Most businesses are run by a single person. Smaller businesses, including solopreneurships, are on the whole less productive and less optimistic about the future than bigger firms.
By the numbers, the small business category is a juggernaut. Small businesses are everywhere, in every town and neighbourhood, and employ a huge chunk of workers. In the US, businesses with less than 100 workers employed 46% of all the private sector employees in the entire country (2023). In Canada, the figure is even higher, at 64% of the total labour force. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Statistics Canada).
However, most businesses are made up of exactly one person: the owner. 2023 stats show 84% of US businesses are ‘non employer firms’ and of these, it is fair to say >90% are owner operated. In Canada, similar figures: in 2024, over 70% of all businesses were non-employer businesses (counting those with annual revenues greater than $30,000). Any way you slice it, an overwhelming share of “businesses” are essentially one-person operations.
What’s wrong with that? Nothing if you’re happy being a solopreneur. But plenty if you want a more productive and vibrant economy, and businesses that scale.
Most solopreneurs are really contractors selling their time to bigger companies. The category certainly includes gig economy workers. Tip of the hat to those one-person firms who are killing it, having figured out a product or service that leverages their brainpower into intellectual property that makes money while they sleep. But they are a minority.
Small businesses grow more slowly than bigger ones. When the owner is the bottleneck you will see stalls in hiring, low investment in systems, as well as higher stress and worse morale. Studies show smaller firms expect fewer hires, have less optimism, and face higher costs. (Statistics Canada)
Contrast that with a business that has a strong senior team (even one additional person). Then the owner can begin to step out of day-to-day delivery, think strategically, build systems and delegate. They start to work on the business, not just in the business.
What this means for business owners
If you’re a solopreneur or one-person operation, ask: do you want to remain at this size? There’s nothing inherently wrong with staying solo, but if real growth and efficiency are goals, you’ll need to make some changes:
- Invest in a senior team (even if small): find somebody you trust who can own a function (operations, sales, finance) so that you can spend more time on vision, planning and growth
- Set a plan: if you want to scale, mark key leadership milestones: your first hire, establishing a second-in-command, building a management team, then building execution systems and culture
- Check your market positioning: Can you do a better job with a more select group of customers than you currently have?
- Monitor metrics: Choose a handful of numbers that really matter and review them regularly
- Think in systems. If you’re doing everything, you’re not building an asset, you’re creating a job for yourself. To build a scalable business you need autonomy: the business shouldn’t fall apart immediately without your hour-by-hour involvement
Since many small firms are held back by the “owner doing too much,” the upside is huge for those that can break out. If a firm can transition from “owner alone” to “owner + one capable hire” (and eventually to “owner + 2 or 3”), it can unlock the capacity to grow, to hire, to innovate, to survive. And given small firms dominate North America’s business landscape, lifting this barrier isn’t just a win for a single firm—it’s a win for the whole economy.
If you want to get serious about growing your small professional or business services firm, RevvWorks can help!