From Forbes, Elaine Pofeldt has another terrific article on the solopreneur/freelance economy. She shares how well some individual entrepreneurs are doing. She writes:
Many people think that running a solo business means a life of financial struggle. But for a small but rapidly-increasing number, it can be a ticket to seven-figure revenue, according to new statistics on “non-employer” businesses from the U.S. Census Bureau. Non-employer businesses are those that have no employees other than the owners and could range from a family-run, Main Street business to freelance web design firm.
Consider these statistics:
- 33,624 non-employer firms brought in $1 million to $2.49 million in revenue in 2014, the Census Bureau found. That is an 11% increase from 2013, when there were 30,174 firms in this category, and a 45% increase from 2009, when there were 23,176.
- Another 1,991 non-employer firms brought in $2.5 million to $4.99 million in 2014. That number rose 17% from 1,709 in 2013.
- An elite 365 firms brought in $5 million in revenue or more, up from 332 in 2013. That is a 10% increase.
To be sure, the vast majority of one-person businesses are not breaking $1 million. The government tallied 23.8 million non-employer businesses in 2014, a number that is up 3.6% since 2013, and a relative few reach seven-figure status.
One of the fastest growing categories for 2014 was “transportation and warehousing.” The category, which includes Uber drivers, saw a 13.5% increase and also had the largest number of new firms added: 148,626. Taxi driving isn’t a particularly high-revenue occupation, as other research shows.
That said, there were many non-employer businesses breaking six figures in 2014–an encouraging sign for anyone running an independent business or hoping to start one.
- In 2014, there were 1,812,554 businesses that brought in $100,000 to $249,999, up 6% from 1,716,210 in 2013.
- Another 570,491 firms brought in $250,000 to $499,999, an 8% percent increase over 2013, when there were 530,274.
- 248,636 firms brought in $500,000 to $999,999, up 8% from 231,026 in 2013.
Some of the most popular categories for six-figure businesses included professional, scientific and technical services; real estate and rental and leasing; construction; and retail.
Read the full story at How Visionary Entrepreneurs Are Creating Million-Dollar, One-Person Businesses – Forbes
