Let me be real with you for a second.
Social media has made entrepreneurship look like the dream life. You see people posting from beaches, coffee shops in Bali, talking about “passive income” and “financial freedom” like it’s something you can order on Amazon Prime.
The truth? Most of that is bullshit. 💩
Being an entrepreneur is work. It’s not glamorous most of the time. It requires time, energy, focus, skills, resilience, and a whole lot of sacrifices that no one talks about in their highlight reels.
Sure, it’s never been easier to technically start a business. You can set up a website in an hour, create a logo with AI, and call yourself an entrepreneur by lunch. But here’s what they don’t tell you: not everyone should become an entrepreneur. And that’s okay.
It’s hard. Really hard. And if you’re not willing to do the work, face the challenges, and commit for the long haul… you’re going to struggle. Or worse, you’re going to burn out before you even get started.
Over the past few years, through my own journey and working with clients, I’ve noticed some common patterns. There are mistakes I see people make over and over again - mistakes that keep them stuck, frustrated, or worse, quitting before they give themselves a real chance.
So today, I want to share seven of the biggest mistakes I see solopreneurs (or wannabe solopreneurs) making. Not to discourage you, but to help you avoid these traps so you can actually build something sustainable.
Let’s dive in.
The Hobby Trap
More often than not, the journey to starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur starts with a hobby or side hustle.
However, if you want to get serious about it, at some point the mindset around your activity has to change, whether you still have a full-time job or not.
In the brain, a hobby or side hustle is not treated as a priority. You find time here and there for them, but more important and urgent things always happen first. You also won’t dedicate as much energy and focus as you probably need to.
That means you will eventually reach a plateau and could get frustrated not seeing the progress you want.
If you are happy for your activity to remain a hobby or side hustle, fine. But if you expect it to keep growing and generate more income… at some point you need to shift things up.
You cannot rely on finding time for it anymore. You need to make time. It has to become a priority.
You cannot rely on winging it forever. At some point, you will have to learn or get coached if you want to take your business to another level.
For the activity to grow from hobby/side hustle to proper business, you need to shift your mindset and identity to being an entrepreneur, and act like it.
Passion Isn’t a Business Strategy
Passion can only take you and a business so far.
Your blog, YouTube channel, shop, or practice might have started out of passion and developed through your enthusiasm and the community… but passion has limits.
I see passion as fuel to get the driver, you, started and keep going. But the fuel can only do so much… and at some point, the driver will be the limiting factor.
How do you get more views or traffic? How do you generate more leads? How do you convert them to clients? How do you price your products or services? How do you “run the show” and stay on top of everything?
Passion won’t be enough to answer all those questions. What passion will do is give you the motivation to seek the answers and establish a strategy to become a better driver so your business can thrive.
The Freedom Illusion 🎭
“I want to be my own boss so I can be free, do what I want when I want.” That’s often the freedom people chase when they switch from being an employee to an entrepreneur.
Let me be straightforward here. If you think starting your own business is the easiest solution to have more freedom, more time, and flexibility… you are in for a big disappointment!
Entrepreneurship can lead to all that. However, it’s an outcome very few actually ever reach… and if they do, it’s because they usually spend years and years making huge sacrifices to get there.
Starting and running a business is hard. You have to deal with so much more than just your craft. Getting started and the growth phase for the business to get somewhere are extremely demanding of your energy, time, focus, and attention. It will test you like very few things did before. You will experience periods of stress you probably haven’t experienced before.
If you don’t work (well and hard), you don’t get paid. End of story. For a while, forget about your evenings and weekends. It will consume you.
Hopefully, at some point, you will finally reach a tipping point where things get easier and you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of “doing your own thing.” But it won’t happen on day one.
You’ve been warned. ⚠️
Being Busy Doesn’t Mean Progress
A common mistake I see a lot of entrepreneurs making is believing that working hard and long hours will automatically generate progress.
Those people are always busy. They are always reading books, taking courses, answering emails, creating content, optimizing their offers and funnels, tweaking their websites or social media profiles.
At the end of the month, they look at what they did… and they hear crickets. No new clients. Barely any growth. “How’s that possible? I spent hours and hours working hard this month. All that for nothing?”
Codie Sanchez calls this “mental masturbation.” And honestly, it’s the perfect term for it.
Being busy doesn’t mean you’re making any progress. You can do all the learning you want, but you need to apply it at some point to move the needle. You do a lot, but do you actually do what matters? Do you actually do revenue-generating tasks?
Stop being just busy… start being smart. 🧠
The Money Problem 💰
Money, money, money! So many of us struggle when it comes to money in business.
How much should I charge? Isn’t that too much? Who am I to charge this? I want to help everyone and make it accessible to everyone, I can’t charge too much. And I love it, I would do it for free anyway.
Sound familiar?
Very often, entrepreneurs struggle to charge the right price. It’s hard to see your own value and evaluate what you’re worth. Also, some markets just have a weird relationship with money and how to price their offerings.
As a result, some entrepreneurs who appear to be successful (in terms of having enough clients) are barely making it financially because they undercharge, or don’t charge at all! Soon enough, burnout creeps in and you get frustrated because even if you love what you do… rent, bills, and other expenses still need to be paid at the end of the month!
It’s very important from the beginning to have a pricing strategy. It should be designed when you create your offer, based on how much you want to make, how many clients you can handle, etc.
Don’t undervalue yourself, you will regret it at some point. And when you try to be cheap to help everyone, you end up not helping anyone, especially yourself!
Also, and this might upset people: cheap clients are usually a pain in the ass to deal with. They always want more for less. The more people pay, the less annoying they usually are.
The “Not Ready Yet” Trap
You know how we often say in life that you’re never fully ready to get married or be a parent? I think you’re also never going to feel ready to start a business.
There is always this nagging feeling that you need to read another book, get another certification, tweak your website a little bit more, refine your offer… it can be endless.
It’s very easy to get stuck at this stage and be paralyzed by many things.
My best advice is to get started as soon as you have something that works.
No need for fancy funnels or websites. What does “something that works” actually mean? A social media account to reach out and DM people, a document summarizing what your offer is, a Stripe or PayPal account to process payments... that’s it. That’s all you need to get going at first.
Then as you go, you can improve based on people’s feedback, intuition, etc. Learning can only take you so far. At some point, all you need to do is start, jump, let go of perfectionism and overthinking everything and GET STARTED.
Boundaries = Survival 🛡️
Being able to work when you want is great. However, a lot of people fall into the trap of “if I can work when I want, I will work all the time.”
When you’re chasing your first wins, you can pour everything you’ve got into your activity and it can quickly become too much. If you’re not getting the results you expect, you might even double down to “get there faster”… which creates more damage.
These bad habits can then become normal even after you get traction. Clients get used to instant replies, so you don’t want to disappoint them. You jump on every opportunity presenting itself, you never say no… which becomes draining.
Boundaries are key for any entrepreneur. You need to plan time for the emotional and mental load. You need to learn how to say NO. You need to plan downtime, away from your devices. Don’t neglect your family and friends either.
For example, for two or three years, I was always available for calls... which meant it was sometimes hard to plan personal stuff like a free evening because calls were often added last minute to my calendar. Now? I only take calls from Sunday to Wednesday. I also never work mornings because that’s my time to relax, read, work out, etc.
These boundaries didn’t happen overnight, and they weren’t easy to implement at first. But they’ve been critical to my sustainability.
Burnout and loneliness are real plagues in the entrepreneurial world. When you don’t have someone else setting up the rules, you need to be disciplined enough to set them up for yourself if you want to create a sustainable work environment.
You’re Not Alone in This
Look, these are just seven of the traps I see people fall into. There are more. So many more.
The entrepreneurial journey is full of challenges that no one prepares you for. You’re going to make mistakes. I’ve made plenty myself. The key is recognizing them early and course-correcting before they derail you completely.
If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like you’re spinning your wheels… you don’t have to figure it all out alone.
I work with solopreneurs and entrepreneurs who want to build sustainable businesses without burning out. Whether you need help with strategy, clarity, or just someone to call you out on your shit (in the most loving way possible 😉), I’m here for it.
👉 Check out my consulting services here and let’s talk about how we can get you unstuck and moving forward.
The entrepreneurial path isn’t easy. But with the right mindset, strategy, and support? It’s absolutely possible to build something that works for you.
Great tips in this article, Jeremie! Only taking calls on certain days of the week has been one of the best decisions I've made! Learning how to say, "Sorry, I'm not available that day" without feeling the need to justify myself was tough at first, but now I don't even think twice about it.