As Solopreneurs Generate Higher Revenue, A Fast-Growing Payroll Processor Rolls Out A New Platform For Them
📝 usncan Note: As Solopreneurs Generate Higher Revenue, A Fast-Growing Payroll Processor Rolls Out A New Platform For Them
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Jan Taborsky built a million-dollar business with no employees by creating a product that’s in hot demand: gluten-free bread.
He and his wife, Lacy, launched Happy Campers in City in 2010 after going gluten-free themselves for health reasons, selling their gluten-free recipe to grocers and restaurants at wholesale and to consumers at farmer’s markets and through e-commerce. “The gluten-free options were very limited,” recalls Taborsky, who studied business at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
It’s been challenging, given increased competition, corporate consolidation of grocery chains, and supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine and Covid. But they have persisted and diversified into a new sports nutrition brand, building the business to $1 million in annual revenue today. “We’ve learned so much,” says Taborsky. “It’s really pushed us to grow as businesspeople and individuals.”
Lacy and Jan Taborsky co-founded a $1 million business called Happy Campers that sells gluten-free bread.
Happy Campers
Payroll processor Gusto announced today it has launched Gusto Solo to go after nonemployer business founders like Taborsky, a Gusto customer, who make up the vast majority of small businesses in the U.S. The company’s research shows that solopreneurs are getting increasingly serious about building their businesses in niches such as professional services as they leave the corporate world in pursuit of customized careers and more flexible work.
“It’s a chance to give these folks superpowers,” said Josh Reeves, co-founder and CEO. “Especially with AI, there’s a dimension to what we’re doing that’s leveling the playing field. I think there are going to be a lot more of these companies going forward as more folks take the plunge.”
Gusto currently serves about 50,000 owner-only companies, Reeves says.
Gusto’s CEO and founder Josh Reeves is betting on the growth of high-revenue solopreneurs with Gusto Solo.
gusto
Gusto’s research team expects to see even more in coming years. In June 2024, 457,000 new business applications were filed, up 58% in June 2019, when the number was 290,000, noted Nich Tremper, senior economist at Gusto.
“A lot of the shift over the last five years has been folks wanting to take ownership of their career,” said Tremper.
Gusto’s research shows that since 1980, there has been a significant uptick of 839% in the formation of S Corps, often chosen by higher-earning solopreneurs.
After five years in business, the solopreneurs its research team studied are earning 25% more than in comparable full-time employee roles at firms with three employees or more, with the average solopreneur earning $294,000 in the first year in business and more than $500,000 in their fifth year.
Gusto studied 25,000 businesses in its database that were active for at least five years and whose owners paid themselves in at least 75% of the months they have been on Gusto, which they view as a sign of consistent business engagement.
Millennial solopreneurs, who grew up with digital technology, have done even better, on average, with 25% annual revenue growth and $525,000 by year five.
With that growth comes complexity, and the Gusto Solo product was designed to help simplify that. Its features include an S-corp tax savings calculator, a
“reasonable salary” calculator to make sure they pay themselves in a way that is compliant with IRS policies, an automated payroll tool, a compliance hub and a solution to allow them to pay any contractors they hired in a way that is compliant with the law. Those who use Gusto Solo will have access to the Gusto 401k, general liability insurance, a bill pay feature, invoicing and other Gusto offerings.
Even companies that create value for their customers can run into problems keeping up with regulations. “Compliance work can shut them down,” says Reeves. Gusto aims to offer them a way to keep pace. “That increases survival and thriving,” he said.
