The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business

Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want.

By: Elaine Pofeldt

Narrated by: Elaine Pofeldt

Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

The indispensable guide to earning a six-figure take-home income on your own terms, from Forbes.com contributing writer Elaine Pofeldt. 

The rise of one-million-dollar, one-person businesses in the past five years is the biggest trend in employment today, offering the widest range of people the most ways to earn a living while having the lifestyles they want. In The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, Elaine Pofeldt outlines the pathways to joining this entrepreneurial movement, synthesizing advice from hundreds of business owners who've done it. She explains how to identify, launch, grow, and reinvent the business, showing how a single individual can generate $1 million in revenue - something only larger small companies have done in the past. Both inspirational and practical, this book will appeal to all who seek a great worklife and a great lifestyle. 

Includes a PDF of appendices from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©2018 Elaine Pofeldt (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Free agents have unprecedented opportunities to earn a great living and create the lifestyle they really want. The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business unlocks strategies that will help solo entrepreneurs achieve more than they ever thought possible." (Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.com)

"Traditional, hierarchical careers are no longer the best path for many. Breaking free is incredibly empowering and can exponentially increase earnings for savvy professionals. This book is an excellent source of guidance for people carving new paths to help them through the many choices they face." (Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork)

"Elaine Pofeldt helped me have the courage to create the life I wanted, with practical, funny, and wise advice. With clear examples and compelling research, she shows what’s possible if you decide to go into business for yourself, and helps you figure out how to get there." (Elizabeth MacBride, international business journalist, freelance contributor to CNBC and Forbes, and single mom)

Narration Is Just Fine

A great, brief read. Full of fantastic case studies.

Concerns over narration are overblown.

Listen, and then do.

don't buy in audio form

The author should have hired someone to read. She drones on, I found her voice leaving me tired and depressed. She puts zero energy into the performance and it has a sarcastic, "see I'm right" undertone to it.

Lacks Concrete Direction

I consume a vast number of business books, how to's and others related to business. I am a small business owner and entrepreneur looking to grow. Employees are not on the agenda, been there, done that. Elaine Pofeldt's book held such promise as to offer insight and direction. No such luck. Nearly every case study has employees or contract workers. Many have had to borrow money to grow and out source their tasks. Over all this is a mildly positive book that might inspire you to move forward on your dream project but don't look to it for the stepping stones towards growth or ideas. Her reading voice was fine.

Boring!

This is truly in my top 5 of most boring books. Her voice is so monotone!

Bunch of anecdotes

This book as a bunch of anecdotes. These sound to me like several articles about successful enterpreneurs that were put together into one book. No material compared to 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris.

Very basic guidance, and very poor narration.

This entire effort would be better as a blog post. The author drives at the same handful of rudimentary points, citing 3 to 4 sources over and over, while stumbling over the narration. Save yourself the time, do a Google search for "entrepreneur tips."

Added the audio a year or so later

I've had the book for a while and neverade time to sit and push through. Not because of an issue with the book, but I'm busy.

Reviews on the book seem to forget that Elaine is a journalist who writes about people doing this very thing. She may be a one-person millionaire (I don't know), but the book is a distillation of her research with some good quotes and Q&A from people actually doing it.

For folks who complain that she reads slowly, speed up the playback.

For a short book on a good topic, if you're pursuing enterprises, why not add this to your toolkit.

Short & Sweet

I liked it. The solopreneur can work less and earn more on their own than a company employee. It is counterintuitive, but true. On my own, I earned over 40% more than I did as an employee and worked one-fourth as much. They don't talk about this stuff in business school, but your quality of life tends to improve when you're not giving over half you income to the man upstairs.

Good info.

A little boring in my opinion.
Basically most are examples of what businesses are doing to succeed. If you are pretty knowledgeable on the businesses she talks about then it’s boring.
Ok for a one time read but not a book I would read again.

Should have hired a narrator

The book was fine, but not really worth the money. It’s basically just the author listing successful businesses - nothing new.
And with 2 hours left I had to quit. Her voice is not made for this and she should have hired someone to narrate it.
I’m disappointed.

Thoroughly disappointing book

I read a few poor reviews of this book but decided to buy it anyway on Ryan Holiday’s recommendation. Unfortunately this were a few hours of my life I will never get back.
The book is full of insanely vague advice (think ‘promote your business on social media’) and it is a case study in an author blinded by survivorship bias; the author is pretty much recommending starting a dropshipping business and sell your product on a "giant online marketplace".
Oh, and a few if the businesses that she talks about in the book started as 'one man bands' but now employ people, and I fail to understand how they are still considered one-person businesses.

Worthy of the Title

Got me going again... Full of practical advice and loads of examples.
Would've benefited from more examples outside of America though.