Community is the smartest investment a solopreneur can make

"We've been sold a myth about entrepreneurial success: sharpen your skills, tighten your systems, hustle harder. But after years of working with independent professionals across industries, I've noticed that the highest performers share something that rarely makes the productivity lists: they've intentionally built communities of colleagues, clients, and partners who expand how they think, create, and deliver impact. Community isn't a "nice to have" for the self-employed. And this is especially important for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs who work primarily solo."

"The stakes are higher than most solopreneurs realize. According to research from Leapers, a UK-based organization studying self-employment and mental health, 70% of freelancers have experienced loneliness, disconnection, or isolation while working independently. That's not just an emotional burden, it's a creativity killer. When we work in isolation, our assumptions calcify, our thinking narrows, and our best ideas never get the friction they need to become great."

Community functions as strategic infrastructure for solopreneurs, expanding how ideas are thought about, created, and delivered. Isolation harms creative performance: many freelancers experience loneliness, disconnection, and isolation, which calcifies assumptions and narrows thinking. A trusted community provides reality checks, critique, and emotional support that prevent strategic drift and burnout. Communities act as foils that oxygenate thinking, producing synthesized, pressure-tested ideas stronger than those developed alone. Building networks of colleagues, clients, and partners enables idea friction, broader context, and improved results. Community formation is a deliberate, high-value practice for independent professionals seeking sustainable creativity and impact.

Read at Fast Company