24 Seven March 2022

March 2022 Issue
BOOK
CLUB
TINY BUSINESS,
BIG MONEY
A CONVERSATION WITH ELAINE POFELDT
The increase in the number of people
starting their own businesses in the
United States has surged. And so far,
the entrepreneurial boom has proved
to be more durable than early skeptics
expected. Starting and growing a
business can be challenging, but it also
provides many rewards.
In her book, The Million Dollar
One-Person Business, Elaine Pofeldt
outlined the pathways to joining the
entrepreneurial movement. Now in
her new book, Tiny Business, Big
Money: Strategies for Creating a High-
Revenue Microbusiness, she offers the
steps toward the next entrepreneurial
venture – a microbusiness. Elaine is an
independent journalist who specializes
in small business and entrepreneurship.
Her work has appeared on CNBC, and in
Fortune, Money, Forbes, and many other
publications.
Pofeldt believes that many people are
becoming entrepreneurs because they
were in work situations that weren’t
ideal for them, that weren’t healthy for
them. During the pandemic, people
who couldn’t cope with the discomfort
any more, started to experiment with
the idea of launching a small business.
Working from home provided the
privacy and opportunity to try.
Many realized they like working for
themselves and that they were good at
it.
Making the transition from a nonemployee
business, one with no
payroll, to a microbusiness, one with
employees, comes with new challenges.
There is a big change in mindset that
is required when you’re managing a
team because you have to convey the
purpose of the business, said Pofeldt.
How you want things done, how you
want customers to be served. That can
be difficult for people who have been
solopreneurs.
Knowing when to grow a business
can be frightening for many, but as
Pofeldt notes, that point usually comes
when you start noticing slippage in
the business; you’re not able to make
deadlines or you get sick for one day
and the whole things starts falling
apart. That’s usually a sign that you’re
maxed out and don’t have enough
backup in place.
Before taking the leap, Pofeldt
cautions business owners to make
a financial analysis to be sure the
company can support employees. “You
have to make payroll, that’s a legal
requirement,” she said. “You can’t just
not pay people because you’re short on
cash. You have to make sure you have
the cash flow to support paying each
employee consistently.”
Pofeldt’s best advice for success?
Don’t be afraid to trust automation.
Analyze how you are spending your
time during the week. Create a sheet
and put down what you do every hour
of the day and take a look at where
you are spending tasks that could be
done with technology, an outsourced
service, or somebody else.
Listen to the conversation with Elaine:
www.cyacyl.com/shows/elaine-pofeldt