Featured Solopreneur Linda Lopeke:Being a Solopreneur Was “Completely Unplanned”

This is “Featured Solopreneur,” an ongoing series that gives all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Click Here to read more Solopreneur Success Stories.

Name of business and city
Lexicorp Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Web site addresses
www.smartstartcoach.com and www.lindalopeke.com

Type of business
Professional problem solving and trail blazing.

I’m a professional management consultant with a global practice. Essentially, I rent my brain out to other companies who’ve decided to purchase consulting services. Consulting can mean a lot of different things to different people. When you hire me to solve your problems and help you blaze new trails, you receive business ideas you don’t already have and likely wouldn’t come up with on your own. I share perspectives you cannot see, and help you create opportunities to produce results you otherwise would not produce.

I also do a lot of private coaching and mentoring (as the SmartStart Coach) and enjoy working with clients in this regard, too.

(My specialty is intellectual property development and risk management. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, I had a 10-year career as a Fortune 500 executive. My background is in IT systems engineering and financial services.)

When did you officially go into business?
I’ve been an indie business owner (solopreneur) since 1983 and incorporated my business in 1984.

Why did you start your own business?
It was a completely unplanned event brought about by a major economic recession.

The first of two major recessions hit Canada around 1982 while I was in the middle of building my dream executive career in the financial services industry. Massive cutbacks were occurring at all levels, in all companies. I had a responsibility to protect my people. So I made a deal with management to keep all the folks in my department on the payroll by promising our employer I would take all the money earned from my professional speaking gigs and give it to them to offset my department’s operating budget. In exchange, every person on my team was to keep his or her job.

This arrangement worked out well through two years of layoffs. But the day came when our executive leadership team lost faith I’d be able to bring in as much money for the next fiscal year from speaking as I’d said I could/would. (My annual operating plan said I’d bring back $88,000 which was quite a lot of money for 1982/83 and an enormous sum considering the failing business climate at that time.)

At first my plan was approved, but a couple of weeks later, the approval was rescinded by the senior management team. I still did not want any of my people to be let go so I made a new deal with management. Keep my people; let me go instead AND give me full ownership of my business plan PLUS waive all claims to any revenue I generate with it. (Although it was disappointing, it didn’t really bother me that I was the only one who believed that business plan was viable and I was willing to stake my future on it—as crazy as it was at that time in Canada’s history.)

That was the end of my executive management career. I opened my solopreneur business mid-year; nine months later, at year end, that same business plan had brought in much, much more than I’d ever imagined possible with very little effort. I’ve never looked back.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
Every contract was set up in a way that gave me absolute creative control and ownership of the intellectual property created. And, after one of the early clients defaulted on a critical deal leaving me financially stranded, I amended our standard contract so that I was always paid in advance. That ended all worrying about cash flow. Our corporate lawyer thought I was insane. But it’s really all in how you position these things with clients. That’s the really great thing about being a solopreneur—you get to conduct business exactly how you want to because you are in charge!

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
The biggest mistake I made in the early years was believing the buying decision is made on price. (It isn’t. It’s made on emotion and justified with logic later.)

Another huge mistake I made (and I’ve made it three times now—once for each decade I’ve been in business) was ignoring my gut instinct in favour of trusting people who proved themselves unworthy of my trust. (Lesson Learned: When people show you who they really are, you need to believe them, the first time!)

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are you doing to try to solve it?
Distraction is the #1 enemy of success. With so much happening in the digital world, I have to constantly remind myself to ignore the lure of bright, shiny objects (just call me “gadget girl”) and concentrate on the priorities at hand. (Technology is great but some days nothing beats a sharp pencil and a blank sheet of paper.)

What are your goals for 2010?
Work less; play more.

Automating another chunk of the business—mostly back office processes. (The front end was automated first for practical reasons.)

In 2005 I made a public commitment to donate $50M in services for the benefit of fellow entrepreneurs (as part of a give-back strategy). To date, about $10M of this work has been completed in both North America and the developing countries of the world. Currently creating a new model to advance this global philanthropy project and expect to launch it late this year or early next (haven’t decided yet). The new model is still in the conceptual stages but it’s a boatload of fun to work on and I can’t wait to see how fellow solopreneurs respond to it!

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
Finished delivering that $50M commitment to global philanthropy. Negotiating the sale of the SmartStart brand to a worthy new owner. (SmartStart is our award-winning series of business literacy training, information products and related goods and professional services.)

What are your main software programs?
Nothing fancy in my technology toolkit really. There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple. All the standard Microsoft Office tools; SlideRocket for multi-media presentations; Dreamweaver and Photoshop for Web work; Xiosoft and Nfinite technology for live and recorded teleconferencing; 1Shopping Cart for eCommerce; ZenDesk for support; Evernote and Google for due diligence and research; the printable CEO for metrics management and business planning; QuickBooks for accounting and financial reporting and analysis.

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
Before you do anything else, give yourself permission to succeed.

Stay your authentic course. Do not hang out with negaholics. Be impeccable with your word and, above all, no matter what happens, just keep moving forward. That’s all you have to do. Practice persistence; build resilience. Every day remind yourself… perfection is NOT the goal; excellence will be tolerated. (My other favourite mantra is “this too will pass”.)

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
Absolutely, yes! Where else would you find the opportunity to: be all of who you are on your own timetable; meet and work with so many interesting people; invent your own life. Hands down it’s simply the best job in the world—for me anyway!