Not only does technology allow soloists to leverage their output and communicate with customers; it is often their only capital equipment and all they mean when they talk about capacity. It's how Leanse manufactures the marketing plans she sells and how Severson produces the campaign strategies he delivers. These soloists' products are even distributed via technology.
Says Severson, "I'm this overweight Norwegian guy with a laptop who shows up at a meeting, faxes a memo afterward, follows up on a cordless phone, then manages the details with software." Technology erases physical distance and any geographical disadvantage to having his headquarters and distribution hub in South Dakota. "Until the final push of a campaign, I operate by remote control."
Even King, who considered herself "a computer retard" before she went out on her own, found herself forced into proficiency. "You cannot run a successful business of any size without these systems." After overcoming her fear and loathing of technology (with the help of a trainer), she has made peace with her machines. "It makes me so efficient. I can price a portfolio by pushing a button. Why shouldn't I like it?"
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Why It's Worth It
Soloists may not confront the challenges of capitalizing or managing a company. But they do face all the hardships of a start-up, and then some, because they can find themselves so mercilessly alone.
"It was very lonely for a long time," says King, who suspects she survived her start-up because she was too stubborn to fail. "I just kept showing up every day, even though I had so few clients that hardly anyone would have noticed if I had closed shop. I didn't know what else to do." On slow days she'd read about Sam Walton and think about what to name her business. "I did that on and off for two years," she says.
Even when their businesses do get off the ground, soloists still have those hellish days. Leanse continually deals with her juggling act: the two businesses, the two kids. There is no escaping stress. Like that week last fall, when she was headed for a major conference with a client and her bead business got its biggest order ever. And, by the way, it was a rush. "Days like those are almost a survival test, to see if you'll crack," she says.
For Severson, the knowledge that he has no trove of equity to call his own gnaws at him. "This business is so uniquely Jody, there will be nothing to sell when I'm 65," he confides. "That's a frustration."
But he takes his consolation in current income. As a soloist, "I've just about quadrupled my income," he reports, which goes a long way in South Dakota. Like him, King and Leanse have exceeded their former salaries.
Add to the soloists' financial rewards the comfort of knowing no one else is making or breaking their careers. "I've got job security in spades," says 50-year-old King, who summered in France last year. "I spend all day doing what I want. If I do everything in four hours, or if I want to spend the afternoon with my daughter, I take off. I don't have to hang out to look good. I don't have to spend time making appearances in the right meetings or setting an example for employees."
Severson enjoys a schedule and lifestyle that suits him as well. "If I decide that Wednesday should be a holiday because it's an odd-numbered day and there's a full moon, then by God, it's a holiday." His perks include a four-minute drive to a prime trout stream, an office overlooking Skyline Ridge, time to work out at the Y, and the autonomy to do business with only those campaigns his conscience supports.
For working mothers such as Leanse, the solo track offers the flexibility to balance a professional life and a family life, practically guilt free. Leanse works a three-day week. "I can be in my office with my little guy coloring on the floor next to me. It's hard to put a price on that.
"When I worked for a large company I let it take over my life. It was an all-consuming effort. Now my discipline is life first.
"I know I'm not moving up a ladder anywhere. I know I'm not building equity in a fantastic start-up that I can sell and retire on next year. That's OK. I'm getting to be a whole person. I don't have a job. I don't have a company. I have a life."
DOING BUSINESS WITH THE SOLOISTS
What's it like doing business with these lone rangers? The CEOs of many small companies find that working with soloists grants them temporary custody of blue-chip talent. "We are running an infinitely more sophisticated organization as a result," contends Dale Winston, president of Battalia Winston International, a $7.5-million executive-search firm based in New York City.
Winston relies on soloists to structure her company's benefits program, write its employee handbook, handle its public relations, design its brochures, manage its information-systems needs, mediate employee disputes, and midwife long-range planning. "By using independent contractors with years of experience -- usually in companies much bigger than ours -- we gain access to expertise and sophistication that was once the private property of large corporations.
"I get Fortune 500 -- caliber talent," reports Winston, but without the carrying costs. "We don't have to hire it full-time. We get to purchase it instead on a part-time, as-needed basis." Meanwhile, she keeps her full-time staff at 14.
