Empowering Independence: A Guide for the Modern Independent Business Owner

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• Understanding Business Independence 
• Pathways to Independence for Business Owners 
• Essential Tools for Supporting Business Independence 

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Q. What defines an independent business owner? 

A: An independent business owner operates their business autonomously, making decisions without external control. They often own and manage the enterprise solely or within a small partnership, focusing on innovation and personal customer service. 

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The U.S. is home to 33.2 million small businesses, which make up 99.9% of all the businesses in the U.S.  

Of these 33.2 million small businesses, 27.1 million—approximately 80%—are managed solely by the founders without employing additional personnel. Only 13% of small businesses are owned by millennials.  

Clearly, there are many independent business owners out there, and the playing field is not the most level one, especially if you are new to owning businesses. Given the gradual shift to the gig economy, the overall business landscape might even get tougher.  

Therefore, if you are an independent business owner or getting ready to be one, you should brace yourself to take the extra steps needed to survive, thrive, and remain independent in this increasingly competitive economy.  

Thankfully, the news is not all grim. 

In 2022, 82% of Americans reported that small businesses have an extremely or somewhat positive impact on people’s lives. There’s been a noticeable increase in the number of Americans that share this positive view of small businesses, as the numbers jumped to 85% in 2023, according to Gallup.  

This report is further supported by a Pew Research 2024 survey, which indicated that 86% of Americans (80% in 2022) now say that small businesses have a positive impact on the general outlook and performance of the country.  

These indicators point to the desirability of independent business owners and some assurances that if you do things right, you will find favor in the eyes of your target audience. 

Doing things right requires using the appropriate digital tools and strategies to pursue your business goals.  

In this article, we will address key strategies and digital tools for business that can help you remain steps ahead of your competitors, even as the economic landscape changes.  

The Essence of Independence for Business Owners 

Just as there are attributes, benefits, and challenges common to large-scale enterprises, there are similar associations unique to independent business owners.  

Attributes of Small Independent Business Owners 

Before we discuss this subject fully, it helps to first answer the question: Who is an independent business owner? 

Independent business owners are persons who run their own businesses without input, affiliation, or partnership with or from larger businesses and organizations.  

In essence, an independent business owner is a self-employed individual. This accounts for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, mom-and-pops, freelancers, independent contractors, and every other individual in other forms of self-employment.  

The umbrella could extend further to include individuals engaged in various shades of sole proprietorship.  

That said, the core attributes of business independence are: 

• Autonomy: In the absence of a parent company dictating how to run your operations, you enjoy complete autonomy in decision-making. You are the judge and jury of every aspect of your business. It is your sole responsibility to decide the business strategies to apply, the tools to use, and how to distribute resources across business operations.  
• Freedom to innovate: Autonomy also translates to the freedom to fully explore your creativity, innovate around it, and put the results to work. This is contrary to being part of an overly bureaucratic business or organization, where your creativity could be stunted by rigid workflows. 
• Risk-taking: This is often described as a core attribute of entrepreneurship, and it holds true here. There are many risks to face as you push through the uncertainties of breaking into sometimes-saturated markets, putting a significant portion of your finances on the line, creating a service or product that’s entirely new, and going out on a limb to have faith in employees who may or may not share in your visions.  

Being an independent business owner comes with many risks, and the consequences are quickly amplified by the fact that you might not have a lot of resources to fall back on if things don’t go through.  

These attributes require a strong sense of leadership, discipline, motivation, confidence, decisiveness, and resilience to follow through.  

Benefits of Being an Independent Business Owner 

To an extent, considering the core attributes of independent business ownership, whether sole proprietorship or entrepreneurship, might cause slight dismay.  

But really, those are nothing to worry about.  

For as much effort and commitment you need to drive your business and remain independent, there are even greater benefits to reap in the end.  

Let’s consider some of the benefits: 

Following your passion in full force requires a lot of energy and determination that cannot be immediately described. This could also be a leading factor in the fact that small business owners and entrepreneurs are at a lower risk of burnout—though not totally absent—than salaried employees.  

These are basic benefits that are notably common in small businesses. However, when independent businesses are examined by industry, there are many more benefits to highlight.  

Common Challenges Faced by Independent Business Owners 

There’s an exhaustive list of common challenges that independent business owners face. But none of them should faze you.  

If anything, you should take comfort in knowing that over 80% of businesses in the U.S. are independently run. 

If they can, you can.  

That said, let’s address the three main challenges business owners faced in 2023 and their solutions.  

Employee Recruitment and Retention  

This is the most common challenge faced by independent business owners in 2023.  

As an independent business owner with a niche business, finding individuals who share your passion and goals to join your team might be difficult. Consequently, you end up with poor hires, and even when you find great employees, they don’t stay for long. 

Solution: Improve your offers and consider HR services  

First off, it is important to acknowledge that finding quality employees takes time. So, recruitment is not something to be done in a hurry.  

When you do find a great fit, it is important to acknowledge that great talents are often on the lookout for better opportunities.  

Appreciate the value they bring to your business by offering industry-standard compensation or commensurate benefits that make working with you worthwhile. 

If you feel stuck in a pool of low-quality leads or don’t really know how to navigate recruitment, don’t hesitate to outsource recruitment to a professional.  

Cash Flow/Capital 

With inflation on a steady climb, the cost of starting and sustaining a business is getting steeper. There are fewer businesses that you can confidently start with less than $50,000.  

Even when established, some small businesses don’t start making reasonable profit until three years later. And there might not be enough cash to keep things going.  

Solutions: Consider various funding sources  

Alongside personal cash, most small business owners look towards loans as the primary source of business capital.  

While personal cash seems like a great option, it is not the most available option.  

Loans are hard to secure; when you do, they saddle your business with long-term debt. 

You should consider Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC) and 401(K) business financing, also known as Rollover as Business Startup (ROBS), as a feasible option to fund your business.  

Where confidence and the USP are high, you may consider crowdfunding.  

Generally, it’s better to talk to an independent financial advisor about other ways to secure capital for your business. 

To secure cash flow and keep the business running, it’s best to offer discounts and other promotional offers within reasonable limits. This will keep customers coming in to purchase your products or services and keep the cash flowing. 

Supply Chain Challenges  

Supply chain issues are global, ravaging both small and big businesses.  

Independent business owners that need raw materials or products that are not easily available in their location are hit the hardest.  

This makes it difficult for lots of small businesses to keep their doors open for long. 

Solutions: Rethink supply strategies  

Here are some pointers that can help you to achieve this. 

• It may be necessary to adopt a franchise-like prototype and systemize your supply and delivery process. Take your time to do lots of research and set up fail-safe processes that make supplies run like clockwork.  
• Use your business network to learn when supplies might fail and take the necessary steps to stock up.  
• Use supply chain management tools to track and manage your inventory and shipping.  

• Stock up whenever possible, even if you still have more stock 

• Be open to trying out alternative vendors at any given time. 

Achieving and Maintaining Independence 

Admittedly, despite all the allures of independent business ownership, it’s not the easiest affair to maintain.  

Here are some ways you can achieve and maintain your business independence with reasonable ease. 

7 Steps to Becoming an Independent Business Owner 

You can become a business owner in any number of ways. This 7-step guide provides a comprehensive overview of the processes necessary for a successful business launch. 

1. Ideate: What are your hobbies, interests, or passions? Are there profitable markets for them? What product or service can you develop around them? 

2. Conduct market research: What does the existing data say about your idea and its target market? Is there enough demand? Is the market saturated? Are there gaps that competitors have left unattended? Can you fill them? 

3. Develop a business plan: Create a business plan with a well-detailed pathway for achieving your business goals. It may be helpful to draft this plan with an expert or a friend. It would help in bouncing and refining your strategies.  

Your plan should detail: 

• Your business name, description, objectives, goals, values, and philosophies. 

• The products or services to be offered  

• The market analysis, comparisons, value propositions, and unique selling points 

• Milestones  

• Your business structure. Is the business running as a sole proprietorship or LLC? What are your roles? If there will be employees, what are their roles? 

• Overall business strategies, including marketing, operations, and customer service strategies and tools for facilitating the strategies. 

• The financial plans and funding pathways  

4. Secure funding: Where will the funds come from? Explore the funding pathways mentioned in your business plan to secure finance for your business. Or will you be funding everything yourself? 

5. Select a business location: The burden of overheads for physical locations is quite depressing. Modern independent business owners prefer to save costs and streamline their operations by incorporating the rudiments of remote business management in their process. This often means seeking virtual office solutions; obtaining a virtual office address and space in prestigious business centers close to and valued by their target market. 

6. Obtain business license: Register your business with your physical or virtual office address and obtain your business license.  

7. Launch operations: Use your already-defined marketing strategies to launch your products and kick off operations.  

If it all feels like a lot to you, don’t hesitate to request expert help. Overthinking the steps could make you abandon the business altogether. 

How to Maintain Independence as an Independent Business Owner 

As stated earlier, maintaining independence is not the easiest thing to do, but it’s totally worth it if you are able to keep at it successfully.  

Here are some pointers that can help you hold strong. 

• Financial management: Running a successful independent business requires a lot of financial discipline—the sort of discipline you might not be able to easily achieve on your own. Therefore, you must consider: 

1. Navigating the complexities of taxes with an expert. 
2. Incorporating budgeting tools that help you sort, monitor, and control cash flow, costs, and spending. 
3. Establishing an effective debt management strategy, especially if you funded your business with loans.  
4. Purchasing an accounting software that fits into your operations and helps you manage your invoicing, expenses, and other accounting affairs. 

• Market differentiation: Recall that when conducting market research, you attempted to find gaps to fill in the market. Did you find any? Market differentiation is simply about doing things in a way that uniquely separates your brand from competitors. It’s filling those gaps with products and services that establish unique selling points that your competitors cannot easily match and which attract customers right away.  

Your market differentiation could go the route of improved durability, convenience, customer experience and value, product/service range, quality, pricing, or accessibility. 

• Continuous learning: The economic landscape is very dynamic and continuously evolving. Four years ago, on-site work seemed like the only way forward. Today we are witnessing an outstanding increase in hybrid work. The gig economy is also growing to reshape the business landscape. And more than ever, customer behaviors are changing too quickly and becoming harder to keep up with.  

It is part of your primary responsibility as an independent business owner to immerse yourself in a continuous learning process and be able to adopt useful strategies and adapt to new trends as they occur. This positions you to be a proactive and resilient business owner. 

• Customer lifecycle management: Better customer experience is one of the primary reasons small businesses are thriving. Small businesses are mostly able to give customers thoughtful attention in a way that most large enterprises are unable to. This could be why 82% of Americans report that small businesses positively impact people’s lives.  

When you apply strategic customer lifecycle management practices, you can greatly improve your customers’ experiences and build a loyal customer base that markets your business for you through reviews and word of mouth. 

Check out our breakdown of advanced strategies in customer lifecycle management and apply the points to grow a user base that helps you maintain long-term business independence. 

Importance of Networking and Community Building for Business Independence 

Are you familiar with the quote: “A single tree cannot make a forest”? 

It should serve as a point for reflection when strategizing your independent business approach.  

The truth is that you cannot entirely have business independence alone. Even when you are not associating with other players in the field, you may be passively learning from them through observation and even hearsay.  

However, a more active approach to networking is more valuable and effective.  

When we discussed “growth potentials” as a benefit of independent business ownership, we mentioned more exposure to opportunities.  

Relevant communities and networks are vital for discovering new opportunities, continuous learning, and developing relationships that can lead to support, collaboration, and even new businesses.  

These avenues do not erode your autonomy; rather, they provide you with guidance and new insights that can further fortify and sustain your independence in the long run.  

This is a call for you to embrace relevant networking opportunities as they come. 

Tools to Support Your Independence 

Independent business owners can suffer burnout when stuck in the monotony of repetitive or time-consuming tasks that can be easily automated or outsourced.  

Incorporating digital tools for business growth and remote business management gives you enough time to focus on business-building processes. 

Digital Tools for Managing Independent Businesses 

Here’s a list of recommended digital tools that can help you sustain your business independence.  

Accounting, bookkeeping, and financial tracking software: 

Digital marketing and analytics platforms: 

• AWeber 
• Webflow 
• Google Analytics 
• MailChimp 

Project management software: 

• Asana 
• Zoho Projects  
• Basecamp 

Also, consider some customer relationship management software, such as Salesforce, Monday CRM, and HubSpot Sales Hub. 

How Alliance Virtual Offices Helps Small Businesses Maintain Independence  

Most modern business owners are going remote. Virtual office addresses and spaces help these businesses stay many steps ahead in their industry.  

Alliance Virtual Offices offer a range of virtual office solutions that ensure you are closer to your customers and enhance the operational efficiency and professional image of independent business owners.  

Thus: 

• Virtual office addresses: With over 1400 locations in the U.S. and across the globe, you can get a virtual office address in prestigious business centers that your target audience deems credible. You can use this address on your marketing materials to portray accessibility and professionalism and drive traffic to your business. Depending on the relevant state and federal regulations, you can also use it to obtain a business license and credit. 

• Mail handling: You can choose to have all your commercial mail delivered to your virtual office address and then go pick them up or have them delivered to you. This helps you properly receive mail from the secretary of state and other relevant government agencies while maintaining trust with customers who may be wary of interacting with businesses that operate with residential addresses. 

• Meeting room and private office access: Need to meet an important client and need a private office for that? We’ve got you covered. Our virtual office Platinum Plus plan allows you up to 16 hours of meeting room or private office access.  

• Live receptionists: Professionally trained and certified virtual receptionists for everything customer service (including acquisition and retention) for just $125 monthly. This immediately saves a lot of money when hiring a receptionist while ensuring your customers enjoy excellent customer service. You now have more finance to redirect to other operations and more time to focus on business building.  

The live receptionist service also comes with an online phone system, which provides you with a dedicated, 411-listed business number with unlimited extensions. This prevents you from posting your private number publicly and makes you reachable worldwide. 

Role of Technology in Facilitating Remote Work 

In the absence of technology, effective remote work is basically impossible.  

For starters, a quick look at the digital tools for businesses listed earlier immediately provides insight into how technology can help entrepreneurs manage their projects, marketing activities, financial resources, and customer base.  

These tools are accessible across devices, meaning you can manage various aspects of your business anywhere.  

Additionally, if you have a few employees in your business, you can easily collaborate with them in real time across some of these tools. You get to ensure everybody is in sync, onboard, and proactive in business-critical operations when needed, irrespective of their location.  

Wrapping Up: Independent Business Owner 

From ideation to final launch, many activities go onto successfully establishing a remote business. 

The challenges might be tough, but the personal fulfillment and other benefits that come with successful establishment are a hundred times worth the grit, effort, and commitment you dedicate to your business. 

Whether you are an aspiring small business owner or already on the playing field, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the journey to business independence doesn’t stop at launch. 

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Further reading: 

• What is a Virtual Office and How Does It Work? 
• Small Business Insurance Cost Doesn’t Have to Break the Bank 
• What is a Satellite Office? Everything You Need to Know 
• Why Our Premium Mail Forwarding Is Standard 

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You must leverage the right tools, resources, and networks to further build and maintain your independence and establish your authority in your market.  

With prestigious virtual office addresses across the globe, digital mail handling, virtual phone systems, and live receptionist services, Alliance Virtual Offices is here to make your journey a lot easier and more fruitful than you ever anticipated. 

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how Alliance Virtual Offices’ services can help you achieve and maintain independence as an entrepreneur.