We're All Solopreneurs Now
It's everyone for themselves, whether we realize it or not
The other day, some idiot used the term “solopreneur” as an insult in the comment section of one of my columns, and I almost took his head off.
Figuratively. With words. Not literally. But, if we were in a room together, I might have literally thrown a punch, and I admit that, even if saying so gets me flagged on the algos.
In all seriousness, I’m not that triggerable. I write a lot and I tend to take a contrarian viewpoint more often than not. So I know the drill, and I expect blowback. And even when the criticism gets condescending and laughably misguided, which is rare, I can chuckle it off. I don’t engage.
But the way this commenter-bro spat “solopreneur” at me pissed me off. I didn’t engage then but I will now, in public, and I’ll speak for all of us.
We’re all solopreneurs now. We need to come to grips with that. And we need to figure out how to stand out in a sea of solos.
I Know Why Solopreneur Is An Insult
Look, I get why commenter-bro came after me with “solopreneur.” I’m not a solopreneur in the same way I’m not a product person and I’m not a writer. I do it when that’s where the joy is, and when it also happens to be where the money is.
I was gonna make a joke here like, “except the writer part” but lately that’s been paying an obscene amount of money. I don’t know why. I think maybe AI finally took out all the shitty writers.
Anyway, the history of the solopreneur, even very recently, has always been that of someone who was more about building their personal brand than doing real, innovative work. And then eventually this person gets more into coaching and advising because their skillset gets old and crusty.
So. Yeah. “Solopreneur” = “Go to bed, old man.”
But it’s not that way anymore. The tech industry has been going backwards since about 2015. Those skills you’ve sharpened, witty commenter, are skills a lot of us forgot ages ago when they became obsolete the first time.
Thus, my snarky friend, you’re just a solopreneur who hasn’t made his first prospect contact, closed his first contract, launched his first MVP, or bought his first drink for a local investor-slash-rich-person. Yet.
Tech Jobs Are Dead?
The math here is real simple. In 2025, if you have a job, you’re going to be replaced by someone’s misguided notion of AI, because some corporate executive somewhere asked ChatGPT to help fix his sink and the results were spectacular.
So why can’t that replace you?
If you’re an entrepreneur, and you can’t be replaced by AI, don’t act so smug. There is no money, unless you’re turning those sink-fixing algorithms into a ChatGPT clone. So now you’re forced to be an AI-preneur, and even if you can’t vibe code your way to MVP, there’s always the “Phillipines Option,” where you can just hire people to act like ChatGPT for real cheap, then get funded, then figure it out from there.
I mean, some litigation is always expected. Investors know this.
So that’s where we are. It’s every person for themselves. Welcome to the party, pal.
Embrace the Chaos
We’re all fighting the same fight now, and it’s for survival, whether we’re fighting from inside the corporate behemoth or we’ve stood up our website and offered our services on LinkedIn like some green-sashed circus monkey.
We’re all solopreneurs now, whether we like it or not.
And if you want to succeed, you’ve got to stand out.
Oh yeah, I said I’d tell you how to do that.
There’s Slop Everywhere
“I don’t even want a job in this worst-timeline version of the tech multiverse.”
That is a direct quote from someone in tech whom I can assure you is more talented, more creative, and more better looking than me.
Low bar.
Oh, he doesn’t have an ounce of entrepreneurship in him. Not a quark. He is the John Wick of corporate tech. You just point him in the direction you want him to go and let him do his thing, and then duck behind something for God’s sake.
This kind of talent is not getting hired right now, because short term profitability doesn’t allow it. Instead, jobs are going to those who “go along to get along, and the ones who have ‘former-FAANG’ as the first words in their LinkedIn summary.”
His words. Not mine. Take them for what you will. Techies can get histrionic.
Dust Off Your Monkey Wrench
Even after ChatGPT fixes the sink, the plumbing is still all jammed up and you’re going to have to get your hands dirty. Because they’re not hiring John Wicks, they’re hiring actual Johnny Fives. And as emotionally satisfying as our friendly robot overlords can be, they’re leaving messes all over the place.
Whether it’s in the code, in the execution, or especially in the strategy, there are gaping holes in the tech industry, sinkholes ready to collapse, and the folks who are most impacted by this are looking around for green-sashed solopreneur monkeys willing to come in and turn wrenches.
You’ve got to find this champion, and you can’t do it through normal channels. Because your champion doesn’t want to risk their intra-solo-preneur job, so they don’t advertise that kind of need using those kinds of words.
In 2025, “Shitstorm Chaser” is not a corporate title, but it might as well be.
You’re not going to stand out as a solopreneur with slick websites and fancy webinars. ChatGPT is going to be no help to you, it’ll just sit there and do the digital equivalent of physical humor.
Get out there and start knocking on doors, telling the truth, and righting ships. That’s what a solopreneur is today.
Hey, you know I’m writing as a persona, right? A sort of cartoonish version of who I really am. If you want to get behind the cartoon — like in that “Take On Me” video — please join my email list and follow along.
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