*Formerly known as Solopreneur: The One-Person Business Podcast*
Welcome to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the weekly podcast that dives deep into the world of solopreneurship. Join us as we bring you insightful interviews with industry experts and successful solopreneurs who have mastered the art of running their own businesses.
Are you a solopreneur looking for guidance on how to attract clients? Or maybe you're searching for ways to stay motivated and overcome the challenges of working alone. Perhaps you're even struggling with the intricacies of taxes and financial management. No matter what obstacles you face, The Aspiring Solopreneur Podcast is here to provide you with the knowledge, inspiration, and practical advice you need.
In each episode, our hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries, sit down with a diverse range of guests, including seasoned solopreneurs, marketing gurus, financial experts, and productivity specialists. Together, they unpack the secrets to solo success, sharing their personal stories, strategies, and actionable tips.
Learn from those who have paved the way before you, as they reveal their tried-and-true methods for growing their company of one.
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Somebody asked me the other day if I run into analysis paralysis often since I'm a solopreneur. Yes. Yes, I do. And I see this all the time with the solopreneurs we work with. There are constant challenges we all face in our businesses, but the issue is that we rarely have the time to properly address them.
Carly Ries:Or do we? Today, we're joined by Teresa Cain, author of the incredible book, Solving Problems in 2 Hours, How to Brainstorm and Create Solutions with 2 hour design sprints. If I'm being honest, before the interview, I didn't know what a design sprint was, and now I plan on implementing them regularly. Solve my business challenges in 2 hours? Sign me up.
Carly Ries:We invited her on to discuss things like what a design sprint is, her inspiration behind transitioning from traditional design sprints to the innovative concept of the 2 hour design sprint, what the 2 hour design sprint entails, key advantages that solopreneurs can expect if they implement it, common challenges solopreneurs might face when implementing it, and then advice for integrating design sprints into your business strategy effectively. We talk about all of this and so much more, so be sure to tune in. You're listening to the aspiring solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my co host Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy, but Lifestarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work.
Carly Ries:And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you. So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. Okay. So before we jump into this episode, I just have to share this new free offer we have called the SoloSuite Starter.
Carly Ries:Being a solopreneur is awesome, but it's not easy. It's hard to get noticed and most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone until now. LifeStarr's SoloSuite gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one person business. So if you're lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even if you're just lonely running a company of 1. Be sure to check out solo suite starter at lifestarr.com and click on products and pricing at the top menu.
Carly Ries:It's the first one in the drop down. Again, it's totally free, so check it out at lifestarr.com. Click on products and pricing, and it's the first one in the menu. Hope to see you there. Whoo.
Carly Ries:Teresa, welcome to the show.
Teresa Cain:Thanks for having me, Carly and Joe.
Joe Rando:Hey.
Carly Ries:this is gonna be such such an awesome episode because solopreneurs has have such limited time in their days, and you are gonna be, like, a new tool they have in their toolbox to be even more efficient with their time. So I kinda just wanna start with a clarification question. What exactly is a design sprint? Just so that we start with the basics.
Teresa Cain:That's a great question, as not everyone knows what a design sprint is. So a design sprint is actually a tool, that you can use to solve a problem, in an essence. And it's actually derived from the concept of design thinking many years ago where you would spend, you know, months to years really focusing on a problem. And this is something that got popularized by IDEO and Stanford 20, 30 years ago. And in 2010, Google and the team at Google, Jake Knapp and the whole team there, created a concept called the 5 day design sprint.
Teresa Cain:And so that's where it really got popularized. But a lot's changed since 2010 and since the book in 2016, which became the need for the 2 hour design sprint, just because the amount of time we have in our day and the amount of look at the market today, with the amount of competition in the market.
Carly Ries:So basically, it's a tool to brainstorm and come up with solutions in like, from a traditional design sprint, it just it's kind of what people use to get all their ideas out there and focus. Is that am I saying that right?
Teresa Cain:Yeah. And to dive into it a little more, with a 5 day design sprint, that's where you would spend, you know, one day per per item. So you'd be exploring, understanding who your customers are, ideating. And ultimately, I've come up with a process to condense this down to 2 hours, which is something, that is of interest to a lot of entrepreneurs to be able to take something in 2 hours, have a problem, a feature, or idea, spend 2 hours really understanding what it is, who you're solving the problem for, and then coming up with solutions so you come out of that 2 hours with something you can move forward with.
Joe Rando:So can I just clarify? This could be used for pretty much anything. Right? So we could be talking about, you know, software development. We could be talking about coming up with a website design, maybe branding, messaging, anything you can want to do in your business you could use this for. Is that fair?
Teresa Cain:Absolutely. And, when I started this process back in 2019, 2020, it was really more technology focused and it's really morphed over the years. I mean, I've even run this method with school teachers. I've run it with marketing teams, operations teams, support teams. So, it really can be used to solve anything you have going on that you need an immediate solution now that you need to move forward with.
Teresa Cain:If you think of the difference between a 2 hour design sprint allows you to get a group of stakeholders together if you have them. We'll talk about how you do that if you don't have them a bit later. But, ultimately, if you have a group of stakeholders, you're able to get everyone together and be able to solution on something in 2 hours, and you can schedule it pretty quickly. Traditional design sprints or design thinking methodologies, you're basically scheduling something out many months later in the year. It takes 3 to 6 months of planning to do something later.
Teresa Cain:For a solopreneur, if you schedule something 6 months from now, you've lost your opportunity. You need to be able to move forward with something pretty quickly and be able to have that solution ready to go.
Carly Ries:Yeah. That is so true. So you have a book that discusses all of this in detail and we highly recommend our listeners go check that out, which we'll get to at the end. But can you give an overview of what happens in this 2 hours? What does that look like?
Teresa Cain:Yeah. So in the 2 hour session, ultimately, it's a framework. Right?
Teresa Cain:A framework where whether you're working on your own, you have a small team, you have contractors, or you have a larger stakeholder group for your business, you're able to ultimately split your time up into exploring the problem. So really, that first stage does just that. You're really exploring, creating a problem statement, what you think is going on. And this problem statement, it doesn't have to be a problem. It could be an opportunity.
Teresa Cain:You spoke about a website. So this could be, hey. I wanna create a brand new website that's going to attract these types of customers. And maybe it's a marketplace or something of that sort. So that would be kind of your problem that you're really exploring during that time.
Teresa Cain:So from there, you're really defining, who you're solving the problem for or who your customers are. And this is where it becomes tricky. So in the technology space, this is really what is called like your personas, your user personas or your jobs to be done. For solopreneurs that don't have, you know, large bulk teams, This is really simply who is your customer? Who is your audience?
Teresa Cain:Who are you building the website for? And what do you know about them? What's gonna drive them to that website? And so there's a little bit of crossover of understanding the problem, but also kind of understanding what your marketing plan is of who you're gonna be targeting for what you're trying to solve for. And then from there, you're really exploring all the research that you know about this website.
Teresa Cain:What other competitors exist out there for the website? What again, you've already explored what you know about the customers. And you're really diving in deep to what you do know and what you don't know about this problem or this idea. And the last and final stage, that's where you're solutioning. So this is something that you are either solutioning on your own with contractors or with the larger team.
Teresa Cain:And this is where you kind of come up with that solution. And this is really the most fun part of it. And if you think of I'm gonna kinda talk about I don't know if you are familiar with there's a couple years ago, Tom Wujec, he created this concept called how to draw toast. So you spend 3 minutes understanding how do you go draw and execute on toast. So if I asked you, Joe, and Carly, how do you go draw a toast, it would be different than what I drew.
Teresa Cain:So this is the same thing with solutioning. So you're really having everyone in the room come up with a concept of how they would solution or put to fruition this web site. This could be a drawing and a sketch or workflow, and then you're talking about it and agreeing on the solution to move forward with it.
Teresa Cain:Gotcha. Okay. when you say like everybody in the room, I just wanna reiterate for solopreneurs, like, we consider one person businesses that work with under other contractors still solopreneurs. We work with tons of contractors, so this doesn't mean you have to do this alone just because you run your business like get together with other solopreneurs and do this together, which is so beneficial because you can have so many minds on it.
Teresa Cain:Yeah. And actually, I love that you just said that because that's actually, one of the things that I recommend. So, one of the things that I've done is I will bring a group of solopreneurs or startups together in a room, about 20 to 30, And we'll take different problems in the room, and we'll run a 2 hour design sprint with it and get that feedback. And usually, I try to focus on, you know, if there's a particular niche, you know, let's say it's health care versus social media, you know, depending on what the niche is, that's how I'll bring them together. There are also a number of third parties like usertesting.com, and other sites that you could actually bring in contractors for fairly cheaply actually to come in and participate in this process that already are expert in that space.
Teresa Cain:You also have, you know, just the reach out depending on your audience. If you are coming up with a brand new delivery app, which there's already so many out there, you know, we don't we probably don't need that today, like DoorDash, for instance. You could pretty quickly and easily get a customer base from that, from people you know, from people in your network. So but let's say you don't have any of that. I wanna make sure I address that.
Teresa Cain:So you can still run this concept as a solopreneur on your own, have that solution, and put it in front of the customer, who your end customer is. So this is a method. While I do recommend you try to get feedback from others because that's kind of the value of it, you don't have to do that. And I have had a lot of entrepreneurs just run this on their own or with their small contractor group and not bring in any outsiders, to run this process and execute it.
Joe Rando:Can I toss in a quick shameless plug here? Yeah. We have a community, a free community online for solopreneurs, And, you know, solopreneurs love helping each other. So you might be able to put together a bunch of people, not paid, just other solopreneurs to come in and help you with this process. So I just wanna float that out there.
Teresa Cain:Yeah. No. That's great. I'm glad you recommended that. So yeah.
Teresa Cain:Absolutely. I mean, the community that you guys have alone, that is enough to be able to reach out to that network, so that's amazing. It's already there.
Carly Ries:Yep. So let's say a person is, is really excited about this and they hit the 2 hour and 20 minute mark and they're, like, Teresa said I could do this in 2 hours and I'm already at the 2 hour and 20 minute. What where do you see people getting hung up and what obstacles occur that they cannot fit this under 2 hours?
Teresa Cain:Sure. So ultimately, how I really equate this to with 2 hour design sprints, it's kind of similar to a business model. Right? So, you know, 1 in 5 businesses fail within the 1st year. So it's kind of the same for 2 hour design sprints.
Teresa Cain:You're not gonna have 100% success rate with every 2 hour design sprint, nor will you with a 5 day design sprint. So failure's okay, and that's how we learn and get better. So if you're running over on a 2 hour design sprint, it's the whole point of the time construct is to be able to create focus and execution. And that's something that a lot of entrepreneurs in particular lack. So what are the three things that solopreneurs lack?
Teresa Cain:Time, resources, and money. So a 2 hour design sprint really allows you to take something and effectively move it from, you know, one side to the other, you know, from problem to solution or idea to solution, without really having to spend months focusing on it or a traditional design sprint was 40 hours. I mean, 40 hours is a lot of time, especially if you consider the amount of solopreneurs that are either doing it on their own or they're doing it in addition to a full time role. So time is especially important. So you can't really beat yourself up for going over because, really, you've still created that focus.
Teresa Cain:And if you've come up with a solution out of it, then that's still a win.
Joe Rando:You know what I love about this is like because I've done a lot of this over the years of kind of getting people in a room and brainstorming, and it's so easy to get into a rabbit hole. You know, it's so easy to go, oh, you know, and then the next thing you know, you're kind of off topic a little bit, or and this this kind of reminds me of almost like time blocking for keeping you focused on a task, but instead you're time blocking for a solution to a problem. And I I like that. I like that a lot. I think it will keep keep people on on track, on task, and less likely to kind of get lost in the in the details of this kind of, you know, side paths that you can go down with some of this stuff.
Teresa Cain:In some of the workshops that I've run, being a solopreneur myself, so I can say this. I can beat up on CEOs and one person shops. So really the biggest thing holding solopreneurs back is themselves and their own ideas. And the reason this is is because every single CEO or CPO that I've met with thinks they know it all. They think that they have the path.
Teresa Cain:They don't really want the feedback. And that's really the what you need to kinda move forward. You need that feedback early on to be able to have a successful delivery. So I know that we've talked a lot about solarpreneur statistics, and I've definitely heard you guys talk about statistics of what's going on there and the growth in, you know, the solopreneurship over the years. So, you don't really wanna be part of that failure statistic.
Teresa Cain:And the best way to really get over that hurdle is to make sure you're getting that early feedback from others if you're able to. And even if you're not, making sure that you're actually thinking through your ideas and the problems and challenges that you are going to encounter before you execute it. That's how you avoid failure.
Joe Rando:I wanna defend myself here. I strive to be the dumbest guy in the room or the Zoom, so I take issue.
Carly Ries:Well, so, Teresa, you were saying that, if you can get others input that's very beneficial. In the post 2020 world, a lot of us are remote. We're spread out everywhere whether you're a team or a solopreneur working with other contractors. It just I mean, so many people are in this situation. So how can you, facilitate a an effective sprint session without people getting distracted because their doorbell rings or their dog barks or how do you really make sure that all opinions are focused in on one time when one person's in Colorado and one person's is in Massachusetts for Joe and my example.
Teresa Cain:Yeah. No. This might be my favorite question. So, I actually created this process because of the COVID pandemic. So back in 2019, 2020, I actually was on maternity leave, so I had been remote and coming back.
Teresa Cain:And, you know, when things shut down, I actually had a really critical business problem that I was needed to solve pretty immediately. And, I was like, okay. This will last a couple days, and we'll go back to the office. And then we all know how that went. Right?
Teresa Cain:It lasted we were actually remote, I believe, for 18 months at my organization. So that was, quite a lot of time. So, in terms of execution, the very first 36 months of this process, I conducted it 100% remote with teams around the globe. So that's really the beauty of it. And the reason why is we have such robust collaborative tools now that it actually makes you more efficient, and that allows for that remote tool.
Teresa Cain:So one of the tools I started out has started out, and I actually exclusively use Figma and FigJam now. In addition to that, I've I used, InVision in the past, which there you know, there's some acquisitions and changes in that space. But between, collaborative tools, like FigJam, which is basically an online whiteboard, and you don't even have to use that. You can use, like, a Zoom whiteboard or any other tool that, you know, you're collaborating with people. But those efficiencies of being on video and being able to see a collaborative live whiteboard have actually eliminated a lot of the risks that existed before COVID of people not paying attention or being distracted.
Teresa Cain:And one of the ways that I keep teams on track, so I've run this method. You know, it's we're going I'm going in my 5th year, I think, at this point with 2024. So I've run this with, you know, 300 organizations around the globe. And with that, it's very task focused. So there's a timer.
Teresa Cain:So we're going through each element, and you're making sure every single person is actively participating. Now, I have gone back to a hybrid environment. Many organizations have. So I've got some folks a 100% remote, some hybrid, some in person. So I will say what today looks like is a little different than 2 years ago.
Teresa Cain:So really what I'm doing now is I've got some folks in a room. I've got an online whiteboard. I've got a physical whiteboard, and I've got you know, cameras that I'm kind of shifting it. But the number one thing is making sure every participant knows they're actively participating and an active participant of the 2 hour design sprint.
Carly Ries:that's so awesome. And I guess I forget about the whiteboard. It's been so long since I've been in an office.
Joe Rando:I love whiteboards. I miss them so much. I got to get that online.
Teresa Cain:Well now You could just write on them and they just upload. I mean, they're virtual. You could just it's great. Digital.
Joe Rando:Sounds expensive?
Teresa Cain:A little expensive, some of them. But they're helpful, you know? But the old fashioned, I've got both. I've got the old fashioned too.
Carly Ries:That works. Well, so, Teresa, we have a lot of people that are just starting out. The aspiring solopreneur. We have people that are wanting to leave their corporate job and are are, getting ready to make this transition and some people that have done that and are just starting out. So what advice would you give them for integrating these design sprints into their business strategy from the beginning?
Teresa Cain:Sure. Absolutely. So one of the things that I find with solopreneurs in particular so I happen to be in the product user experience and design space than I have been the last 20 years. So, So products are everything I'm about. I have worked and coached startups over the years.
Teresa Cain:So that's something that I'm very passionate about. Not every solopreneur has that background where they have the expertise in creating requirements and you know, working with dev teams or contractors to get, you know, their business concept out the door, whether that's a software business or a non software business. So there's a lot of different types of solopreneurship. I don't wanna limit it just to software space. So with that, the key thing about this process, you know, throw the name out.
Teresa Cain:Just focus on the book title, which is, like, solving problems in 2 hours. Right? So really what this allows you to do is put a construct around what you're trying to work on. Especially for a solopreneur when most solopreneurs are getting started out while working their full time job. They don't really have the capacity of their daytime.
Teresa Cain:And if they have kids or other needs at home, they're really breaking their day out into different things. And at some point, they've got to sleep as well. Right? So, kind of keeping that in mind, how they can really utilize this is to move ahead with their business. I think just in the Fintech space alone, when I started out at Trevy Pay through my full time role almost 6 years ago, we had 4 or 5 key competitors in the space.
Teresa Cain:And I'm tracking like over 50 competitors today that have popped up in the market. So think about that from a solopreneur standpoint. It's just as saturated where everyone has an idea like yours that it's who can get to market first. And you don't want to risk not going through the process. You don't want to risk just going to market and not doing it correctly.
Teresa Cain:Having launched a book, I know firsthand you need to do the work of how you're going to market your book to be able to have it be successful. So 2 hour design trends give that opportunity. It gives a construct of how you really go explore what you're trying to do. You could take your business idea as the topic, explore it, understand who your audience is, and come out with you're going to execute it during that 2 hours. So that's really the biggest benefit is it allows them to really take their concept and move it into an actionable way to implement it.
Carly Ries:Joe, I feel like we're gonna hop off this call. We have a meeting with just the 2 of us in about 2 hours or so. We're gonna be talking about, okay, what can we use to do? Like, I just feel like this is so applicable
Joe Rando:Yes, It ties in nicely.
Carly Ries:Yeah. I know what's limiting time. This is so great. Well, so I want you to talk about your book where people can find it, and if there are any other resources you think people can use if they want to learn more about design sprints in general, but, especially yours.
Teresa Cain:Yeah. So solving problems in 2 hours, it is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. It's it's available in most stores, like a lot of physical stores as well. So you can pretty much find it anywhere at this point. But Amazon and Barnes and Noble are the best place to do that.
Teresa Cain:And I also have a Udemy course on 2 hour design sprints for those that don't prefer reading. And, you can also find me on 2 hour design sprints.com, or I like to do a lot of posts on LinkedIn as well.
Carly Ries:And correct me if I'm wrong, but if you've read her book before, she has an updated or a new edition that just came out a few months ago.
Teresa Cain:Yes. I did do a new edition. So it is brand new updated, and I'll tell you why for instance. It's funny when I wrote the 1st edition, chat g p t was just a theory, you know, of what was going to happen.
Teresa Cain:And a lot changed, you know, during that during that time. Right? And and even in in fact, I have some solopreneurs use Chat GPT when they're using the 2 hour designs for it, not putting anything proprietary in there. But in terms of understanding who your audience is and market research, it's a fantastic tool for solopreneurs.
Carly Ries:It really is. We use it all the time. We didn't wanna admit that at first, but now I'm okay saying I am a chat GPT user.
Teresa Cain:It's a standard. It's a standard now.
Carly Ries:It is. You just have to embrace it. I fought it for a little bit, and I was like, you know what? Now it's a tool and and now I love it.
Carly Ries:Well, Teresa, you spend your time helping people of all company sizes find success in these solo sprints or in these design sprints. So I wanna know what is your favorite quote about success?
Teresa Cain:Yeah. So I'm actually currently reading, be useful, 7 Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, technically I'm listening to it on Audible because he has an amazing voice. But it's great. It's great to hear him talk in the book.
Teresa Cain:So I'm always a life fan of Terminator. So 2 of my favorite quotes from his book so far, I'm almost done with it, are, I realize the importance of selling, not just selling a product or service, but selling yourself and your ideas. And the second one he said is, if you want to be successful, you have to be willing to put in the work. There's no shortcut to success. So I mean, I think this is really important, especially the first quote on selling for a solopreneur. To be successful, it's not just about the work that we're putting in. It's you have to sell it, and you have to create it into that win and success, especially for those that are trying to migrate from a full time role to full solopreneurship.
Teresa Cain:You got to put the work in and you got to sell the wins of what you're trying to, implement.
Joe Rando:I love that.
Carly Ries:I feel like It's more relevant than ever because you've isn't it the number one thing that people wanna like, kids wanna be these days are an influencer? And it looks like everything is overnight success. And you just kinda get lucky, but you have to put in the work. You have to remember that.
Joe Rando:But also those people that are selling this, you know, work work 10 hours a week and make 10,000 a month and, you know, get get up and running in 3 weeks. And, you know, I don't know what that program looks like, but, you know, I just I like the idea. You got to put in the work because it's that's reality. So, yeah, good stuff. Thank you.
Carly Ries:Well, Teresa, thank you so so much for coming on today. I feel like you've inspired me to to start using this because we don't use Design Sprints yet, Joe, and I feel like hours. April 17, 2024 when we're recording this is the day that changed our processes. I love it. So thank you so much.
Carly Ries:We really appreciate you coming on today. Thank you for having me. And, Paris, we appreciate your time and as always, we love we would love it if you would give us that 5 star review. The likes, the subscribes, all of the above. We love giving you all of this material and all this great information from our guests and to continue doing so, those things would be super helpful.
Carly Ries:Anyway, have a great week and we will see you next week on the aspiring solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs.
Carly Ries:Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com. That's community.lifestar.com