As more Americans pursue one-person ventures, data suggests those that perform best combine strong business fundamentals with the latest technology solutions.
According to the Intuit QuickBooks 2026 Small Business Index, interest in entrepreneurship is booming in the United States: One in three adults plans to start a business or side hustle this year, up 94% from last year. Meanwhile, current and aspiring business owners aren’t keen on hiring, suggesting more are going it alone: According to the Census Bureau, of the nearly half million business applications filed in August of 2025, less than 30,000 plan to hire staff this year.
With nearly 30 million nonemployer businesses now contributing $1.7 trillion to the American economy, new research finds those who outearn and outlast the competition tend to have a few things in common.
They lean on AI
Those who are excelling in their one-person ventures tend to use artificial intelligence as more than just a high-powered search engine. Instead, they’re embedding AI deeper into their processes, building custom agents to automate some of the routine and administrative tasks that would otherwise require a significant share of their time and attention.
“We see across a number of different surveys that the top uses for AI broadly are still marketing-based, text-based, creative-based. But then there is that small number that uses AI more meaningfully, more operationally in their business,” says Simon Worsfold, head of data communications at Intuit QuickBooks. “They can do more with AI as a single operator or solopreneur than they could even one or two years ago.”
According to the Intuit QuickBooks study, more than 60% of those breaking into entrepreneurship say they plan to use AI to help them launch or run their business. And a recent survey of 600 American solopreneurs by Lettuce Financial found that those who earn over $150,000 per year and have been in business for more than five years are likely to use AI in five or more business functions.
“Since you’re not trying to build a very large team around you—you’re not going to get a CFO, you’re not going to get a CMO, you’re not going to hire an HR person, you’re not going to have an admin—the technology is much more present and much more important,” says Lettuce Financial’s founder and CEO, Ran Harpaz.
They rely on each other
While successful solopreneurs are more likely to use AI extensively, they also make time to connect with others. According to the Lettuce Financial survey, 77% of successful solopreneurs (again, those earning $150,000 or more who have been in business for five years or more) prioritize in-person networking.
“In-person networking seems to be highly correlated with successful solos,” Harpaz says. “Solo doesn’t mean alone. In-person networking goes a long way in getting that virtuous cycle with others around you who can help you be successful.”
Harpaz adds that solopreneurs aren’t just looking to connect with prospective clients, either. Developing a network of trusted independent service providers in related areas helps them fill gaps or add manpower on complex projects.
They put the infrastructure in place
Those who are finding success as solopreneurs tend to be proactive in putting some of the less exciting aspects of business ownership in place.
According to the Lettuce Financial study, those outearning and outlasting their peers are more than twice as likely to operate an S corporation—a special designation with the Internal Revenue Service that can help solopreneurs save on taxes—which nearly half already do.
Successful solopreneurs are also nearly three times as likely to have a SEP-IRA (simplified employee pension), and twice as likely to have a Solo 401k—retirement and pension programs available to one-person businesses. Meanwhile, 36% of the most successful rely on a spouse or partner’s healthcare plan, compared with 29% among all solopreneurs.
“Long-term planning is really part of the successful solo playbook,” Harpaz says. “Healthcare, tax strategies, retirement; they unlock things that will let them stay solo, because they can sustain themselves if they have a slow season.”
They’re always looking for the next project
Top-performing solopreneurs tend to strike a better balance between fulfilling the obligations of an existing contract and seeking out their next opportunity.
According to the Lettuce survey, just 10% of those enduring high earners rely on a single client, compared with 38% among all solopreneurs. Instead, they’re more likely to manage two or three clients at once, which reduces the risks of having all their eggs in one basket while not stretching themselves too thin.
“It happens to everybody. You get so busy working in your business that you forget to work on your business, and then you find yourself in these gaps,” says Wendy Shore, a solopreneur who is a LinkedIn marketer and AI visibility strategist. “You always need to be figuring out and preparing for the next.”
They find their niche
When many—including Shore—begin their solopreneur journey, they feel the urge to pursue every opportunity that comes their way.
While saying “yes” to anything that sounds interesting can be part of what makes solopreneurship so appealing, Shore warns that it’s hard to build a brand and grow a business as a jack-of-all-trades.
“What [successful solopreneurs] do differently is they pick one thing and they get really good at that one thing before they grow into adjacent products and services,” she says. “What is the thing that’s bringing in the most revenue for you? Get that one thing right before you move on to the next thing.”
They don’t try to do it all
Part of maintaining focus is a willingness to outsource some of the skills that aren’t in our wheelhouse.
“The number one challenge that they face—and will continue to face—is they are one person,” says Lisa Scheiring, Zoom’s chief solo officer, a new position designed to help the platform support independent business owners. “They don’t wear many hats, they wear all of the hats—and they have to figure out which ones are most important.”
Scheiring adds that top-performing solopreneurs often have a strong sense of their skills, but also their limitations, and seek to fill those gaps.
“They are very good at what a corporate strategist might think of as a ‘build, buy, partner’ strategy,” she says. “They ask, ‘What am I uniquely good at?’ ‘What should I be building and spending my time on?’ And ’Where should I be partnering or buying technology or agentic capabilities, or outsourcing the rest?’”
Scheiring adds that the most successful solopreneurs follow the core principles that have made business owners prosperous throughout history.
“This is the next frontier of the American dream, but there isn’t any magic to it,” she says of solopreneurship. “This is basic business. ‘I’ve identified an opportunity, I can uniquely serve that, and I have the discipline and rigor to make that happen’—only now technology is making it easier.”
