Rules for Running a One-Person Business
Practical lessons from running a solo, client-based business with no team and no safety net
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Plumber. Painter. Videographer. Lawn care. Designer. Consultant.
If you run a one-person business, you are a business owner first, and whatever you do second. I own a video production company first. I am a videographer second.
The skill is how you make money.
The business is how you keep it.
When you work for yourself, no one tells you when to clock in. There’s no accounting department running payroll or handling taxes. No one is setting your budget or managing client relationships. It’s all you.
Business is a skill, just like anything else, and it takes time to learn. I’ve made plenty of mistakes over the years, learned from them, and slowly developed standard practices that help me operate with clarity instead of stress.
Because at the end of the day, the reason most people want to run a solo business is freedom. But freedom isn’t just choosing your own hours or making your own decisions. Real freedom is the absence of constant stress. It’s hard to feel free when you’re always worried about paying your bills or chasing the next job just to stay afloat.
Over time, I’ve developed a set of rules. The kind that remove decision-making when things get complicated. When situations come up, I don’t debate, I follow the rule.
Those rules are what helped me move from a solo creator constantly cold-calling and scrambling for work to someone who can operate in a steady flow.
These are the rules I live by.
Rule 1: Set Your Own Schedule
When you run a one-person business, your schedule is either something you set intentionally or something that slowly gets taken from you.
In the beginning, there usually isn’t much paid client work. That’s normal. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do. There’s an overwhelming amount of work that has nothing to do with billing hours. You’re building systems so your business is ready when opportunities show up. Website design and optimization. Marketing systems. Standard operating procedures. Billing and bookkeeping that need refining. And personal projects which, especially as a solo business owner, are often what attract future clients in the first place.
Even when there is no paid client work, there is always work to be done. And it’s up to you to identify that work and fill your schedule with it, even when the money isn’t flowing.
This level of discipline isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay.
My best friend Brett came to work for me when he was just starting out. After a few years, he tried doing his own thing. It didn’t go well. He found himself sitting in coffee shops staring at his laptop and walking his dog by the river instead of actually moving the business forward.
That doesn’t make Brett lazy. Far from it.
Today, he’s the marketing manager at Brundage Ski Resort and absolutely crushes it. He’s hardworking, reliable, always on time, and consistently goes above and beyond. He thrives in an environment with structure, collaboration, and a clear place to show up every day. The solo business life just wasn’t for him, and that’s just fine. Know yourself.
I’ve seen people sit around waiting for business to come in, treating slow periods like downtime. That’s a mistake. A one-person business doesn’t grow by accident. You have to actively cultivate it, especially early on.
I’ve also seen the opposite happen. As a solo business owner, work and personal life bleed together fast. I love being outside, and I love videography, which means even my “downtime” often looks like work. Burnout can creep in quietly. Relationships can suffer. That’s why downtime has to be scheduled just as intentionally as work.
I’ll be honest, there are days where I play video games all day. No guilt. I step completely away from the business. If I don’t do that, I become Brett, blankly staring at my computer screen, getting nothing done. After real rest, the fire comes back. I work faster. I have better ideas. The passion returns.
When the work finally starts coming in, every opportunity feels like one you can’t miss. You start checking email constantly. You bend over backwards to make unrealistic timelines happen. You double-book yourself. The days get longer, boundaries disappear, and burnout sneaks in before you realize it.
A schedule protects you from both extremes.
For me, it’s as simple as committing to five full days a week. In reality, that’s often more than forty hours, owning your own business isn’t for the complacent. But it’s five dedicated workdays and two true days off. Not less when things are slow and not more when things are busy. Some weeks those hours are client work. Other weeks they’re marketing, admin, systems, or learning. It all counts.
The goal isn’t to stay busy. The goal is consistency. When you treat your time like it matters, your business starts behaving like it matters too.
Rule 2: Your Website Is Never Done
Until you have a website, you’re not really a business. You might be talented. You might even be getting some work. But you don’t have a home base.
I was talking to an older gentleman recently who told me he had his own business. He was a woodworker making really nice cutting boards. I asked for his website so I could see his work, and he told me he didn’t have one. He sold at local trade shows and a few shops around town. When I asked what he did for money, he told me he worked at a chiropractor’s office.
Today, your website is your business. It’s where people find you, decide if they trust you, see your work, and figure out how to contact you. If someone can’t understand what you do, see your work, and decide whether they want to hire you, you don’t really have a business.
Your website is proof that you take yourself seriously.
My first boss and mentor always said your website is never done. You should always be refining it, updating it, showing your newest work, and improving how people find you. It doesn’t need to be perfect before it goes live. Waiting for perfection is how people never launch. Get it up, get it live, and improve it as you go.
A website isn’t a one-time project. It’s a living part of your business. Early on, it only needs to do a few things well: explain what you do, who it’s for, and how someone can hire you. As your business grows, the site grows with it.
My website today looks nothing like it did a year ago. Each iteration reflects a better understanding of my business and the kind of work I want more of.
Your website is never finished.
Rule 3: Master Your Finances
Running a one-person business isn’t just about doing good work. The entire point is to make money in a way that actually supports your life. If you don’t understand how the money works, you don’t really control the business.
Most people are insulated from this. They get a paycheck with taxes already taken out, file a simple W-2 return once a year, and move on. When you run your own business, that insulation disappears.
For me, that meant learning things I never expected to care about. Bookkeeping, tax code, changing my business structure from an LLC to an S-corp, figuring out how to pay myself, and working with a professional accountant to handle much more complicated taxes. None of that was optional.
If you’re bad with money or just starting out, professional help matters. A bookkeeper and a good accountant will save you far more than they cost. But you can’t fully outsource understanding your finances. You should still know where your money is going and why.
You also have to plan for your own future. No employer is setting up retirement accounts for you. In my case, that meant a self-employed 401(k), a Roth IRA, and systems that feed them automatically.
Then there’s income volatility. Some months you’re bringing in enough to feel on top of the world. Other months you’re standing in the grocery store staring at the price of asparagus and quietly deciding zucchini will do just fine.
The ups and downs are normal. The stress shouldn’t be.
Learning how to save and automate removes that stress. When slower months come, and they will, you don’t panic.
I was not good with money growing up. In my early 20’s I had maxed out credit cards. My credit was nothing. Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings to speak of. Today I operate my business with no debt and my little nest egg slowly grows. I say this to encourage you. Some of us look at finances as this scary thing so we choose not to confront them. But money and financial literacy are just like any thing else, they are skills that can be learned by anyone. If you’re just starting out and you’re afraid of this side, just jump in and learn.
Mastering your finances is what turns a fragile business into a stable one. And stability is what creates real freedom.
Rule 4: Live Within Your Worst Financial Month
Running a one-person business means income goes up and down. Over time, you learn what a “bad month” actually looks like for you.
Once I understood that number, I built my life around it.
My core needs, rent, food, insurance, basic expenses, sit within what I know I can cover during a bad month. That way, most months I’m not just surviving. I’m building a buffer.
The biggest stress of being a solo business owner isn’t the work. It’s the fear that one slow month will derail everything. That fear usually comes from being overleveraged.
Living within your worst month turns volatility into something manageable instead of terrifying.
Rule 5: Invest in Yourself
Living lean doesn’t mean thinking small. It means being intentional so you can invest aggressively when it actually matters.
I save so I can spend with purpose.
A few years ago, I bought an RV. Sure it was a lifestyle purchase, but it was also a business decision. I could see how it would directly enhance my work and open up opportunities that didn’t exist before. The same goes for gear. When new camera equipment comes out and I know it will make my work better or more efficient, I don’t hesitate. I buy it.
If you’re a videographer thinking about making a short film that will cost ten thousand dollars, I would encourage you to do it, assuming you’re smart about it. Don’t take out a payday loan to fund a passion project. Save up. Plan it. Then execute. People hire you less because they saw your paid client work, it’s your passion projects that stand out. That’s where the best work happens. That’s where you learn the most.
This idea translates no matter what business you’re in. Take that woodworker as an example. If he has an idea that requires spending money on materials and time to build something special, I’d encourage him. But first he needs the systems in place to leverage that passion into income. That website where he could show off the piece or sell it directly.
Back in my world of video production, a new drone costs a few thousand dollars. I know my drones make me far more than that over the course of a year. That’s not a gamble. That’s an investment.
The key is alignment.
Don’t pay for a studio if you don’t do studio work. Don’t buy an RV if you’re not a travel videographer. Spending blindly is just as dangerous as never spending at all.
The returns on investing in yourself are hard to beat. Skills compound. Gear pays itself off. Passion projects create leverage you can’t buy any other way.
Rule 6: Stick to Your Pricing
Your pricing only works if you actually stick to it.
Early on, it’s tempting to bend. Someone asks for a discount. The project sounds cool. You like the client. But every time you do, you teach people how to treat you, and you teach yourself what your work is worth.
Some people won’t be able to afford you. They’ll walk away. And that has to be okay. That time you didn’t spend underpricing yourself is time you get back to do the work that actually grows your business.
It took me so long to learn this. I had a good year this one year, and I was showing my very smart business friend my numbers. And she looked at them and immediately tells me I’m charging too little. Ya but I had a great year. She says ya but it’s simple supply and demand. You’re in high demand, the market has spoken, time to increase your numbers and limit your supply. The next year I implemented this rule. I stuck to my pricing, and I got less work. But at the end of the year, the balance sheet was higher.
Your pricing protects your time, energy, and standards. If you don’t protect it, no one else will.
Rule 7: Always Have a Contract
If you’re a contractor, you need contracts. Period.
I have contracts for everything. I have contracts with my most loyal, long-term clients. I have contracts for three-hundred-dollar jobs and three-thousand-dollar jobs. The dollar amount doesn’t matter. The relationship doesn’t matter. The contract is always there.
A contract isn’t about distrust. It’s about clarity.
It defines scope. It defines expectations. It defines timelines, payment, and usage. It answers questions before they turn into problems. And most importantly, it protects the relationship. Nothing damages a working relationship faster than vague assumptions about what was promised and what was delivered.
When expectations are written down, everyone relaxes. You’re not negotiating memory or emotion. You’re pointing to an agreement you both signed.
Contracts don’t create friction, they expose it early, when it’s still easy to fix.
Rule 8: Be Pleasant to Work With
Talent only gets you so far.
Once you’ve put in the hours, the difference between good and great gets surprisingly small. I don’t think I have a better eye than most of my peers. I have my style. They have theirs. One resonates with one client, another resonates with someone else. That’s normal.
What actually sets people apart is how they show up.
I show up with energy and a good attitude every time. I’m never late. Never. I return calls and emails as quickly as I reasonably can. I make things feel calm, organized, and under control.
People want to work with someone they enjoy working with. That matters more to people than raw talent.
I’ve worked with the same client in McCall for well over a decade. Recently, we ran a four-day shoot involving multiple locations, families, and kids. My client organized the itinerary, and then left town for her sons hockey tournament that weekend.
I made myself the point of contact on the ground, coordinated everyone involved, and showed up early to each location so things ran smoothly. When the family arrived, there was no chaos just a plan already in motion. My client could leave town during a complex shoot because she trusted that everything was being handled.
That’s why clients stick around for years.
Not because you’re the most talented person in the room, but because working with you makes their job easier. Because they trust you. Because you’re calm under pressure. Because you’re reliable.
Being pleasant to work with isn’t a soft skill. It’s a business skill. And in a one-person business, it’s one of the most valuable ones you can have.
Rule 9: Never Let the Client Know You Made a Mistake
Ok at first glance I can see how this sounds deceitful. But let me explain.
This isn’t about tricking your clients, it’s about instilling calm professionalism into the work environment.
Clients don’t know what’s happening inside your tools. They don’t know how your camera works, how your lights behave, or what’s normal behind the scenes. What they do notice is your demeanor. They notice whether you feel calm, confident, and in control, or stressed and unsure.
Early in my career, a mentor told me the difference between a professional and an amateur is that the client never knows when the professional makes a mistake. That stuck with me, because mistakes are inevitable. They happen to everyone.
For me, it might be missing focus, missing a shot, or realizing a light didn’t do what I wanted. A piece of equipment might malfunction. When that happens, I don’t say, “I missed that shot, let’s do it again.” I say, “I loved that, let’s try one more and we can make it even better.” Same outcome. Completely different energy.
You’re guiding the room. You’re keeping people calm. You’re leading.
I learned this lesson in a much bigger way early on. I once accidentally deleted an entire memory card of headshots my boss had just taken for a law office. I was mortified. I thought I was fired. My boss who had been a professional for over twenty years at that point, calmly picked up the phone and called the client. He told them the memory card had corrupted and that he’d like to come back and reshoot the photos. For the inconvenience, he offered them a discount.
The client was thrilled.
It turned out many of the lawyers hadn’t given much thought to their headshots the first time. Some wished they’d worn a different suit or styled their hair differently. The reshoot felt like an opportunity, not a problem.
What matters here is what my boss didn’t do. He didn’t panic. He didn’t over-explain. And he didn’t blame anyone else. Passing blame, especially onto another person, is the fastest way to lose trust. He framed the issue professionally, and offered a solution.
That’s professionalism.
Mistakes will happen. Your job isn’t to pretend they won’t. Your job is to handle them in a way that keeps clients confident they’re in good hands.
Rule 10: Never Work for Friends (Optional)
This one is personal, and I understand if people disagree with it. But it’s a rule that’s saved me more than once.
Working for friends makes money weird.
You don’t charge what you should. They don’t expect to pay what they should. Payments get delayed, expectations get fuzzy, and suddenly something that was supposed to be helpful starts adding quiet tension to a relationship that didn’t need it.
More than anything, I want to preserve the friendships I already have.
That doesn’t mean the people I work with aren’t friends. Many of them are. But there’s a big difference between a friendship that grows out of a professional relationship and one that existed long before any business was involved.
I once shot my cousin’s wedding for three hundred dollars. Not some distant cousin, my closest cousin. While everyone else was celebrating, dancing, and enjoying the night, I was stressed out, worried about nailing the photos and doing a good job. I wasn’t fully present. I was working while everyone else was living the moment.
After that, I made it a rule.
Now, when a friend asks me to work for them, I say, “I love you, but no. I have a rule I stick to so I can preserve my friendships.” They always understand, and I nicely point them to a peer I know will take good care of them.
Of course if my mom needs a few photos for Pinterest I’ll do it. That’s different. The danger zone is charging a small amount of money and pretending it’s a professional arrangement when it really isn’t.
That’s where resentment sneaks in. That’s where expectations don’t match. That’s where relationships take on unnecessary friction over a surprisingly small amount of money.
For me, it’s almost never worth the risk.
Closing
Running a one-person business means there’s no one else to hide behind. Every decision, every mistake, and every win is yours. It is a crazy life. It’s not for the timid. There are big risks, but massive rewards. Mitigate your risk and be wise. Set your schedule, master your finances, live lean without thinking small, invest wisely, protect yourself with contracts, show up professionally, and preserve the relationships that matter. If you do these things you’ll give yourself a good shot at doing this for the long haul. And living this crazy life.
