Soulo
Who can help transform my vision into a functional business?
Growing a professional network of entrepreneurs by leveraging the strengths of the organization and revising user acquisition strategy
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Context
This was a three-week design sprint to help an organization named Soulo. Their name is a combination of the words soul and solo (referencing solopreneur). A simple definition of a solopreneur is an individual who sets up and runs their own business. They do not hire employees and the success of their business (for better or worse) is wholly dependent on their efforts.
Over the course of three weeks, our focus shifted from creating a mock-up for a software interface to considering a social media campaign related to the stigma associated with solopreneurship to finally suggesting Soulo not focusing exclusively on solopreneurs.
Design Team
Diana Arnold
Kyle Brown
Ritam Joshi
My Role
• Client’s main point of contact: in charge of managing the client-team conversation and scheduling meetings
• Consolidate and organize main points prior to client interactions
• Facilitate discussions and ensure there is an underlying agenda to respect the client’s time
• Conducted user interviews, usability studies, and secondary research related to being a solopreneur
Tools & Methods
• Competitive/Comparative Analysis
• User Surveys/Interviews
• Affinity Mapping
• Wireframing & Prototyping
Our Hypotheses & Their Origin
If we clarify who Soulo seeks to attract, it will be easier to demonstrate our value, direct business efforts, and increase membership.
There is a lack of clarity around what soulo is about and who they serve. The current website makes it seem that solopreneurs are the point of focus, even the name of the organization is a nod to this. This initially prompted us to wonder: who are we specifically after and who are we excluding by making this our point of focus? This became a much bigger question once we started looking into the research. As we spoke with the founder over several weeks, we realized that Soulo was (and should be) after a much larger audience. Even the way people define what a solopreneur is will vary depending on who you ask. It can be seen as a business mindset, a temporary stage in business progression, or even something related to a philosophy of life. We really needed to get clear on our terms.
If we highlight Soulo’s emphasis on balancing productivity and wellness, it will stand out amongst its competitors.
There is a lack of a clear distinction between what makes Soulo different from other business-related communities. Based on our competitive research, what makes Soulo unique is that their community is based around wellness — specifically finding ways to balance wellness with business productivity. Similarly, the community connections are based around things outside of business interests. The community is about having interactions that don’t feel transactional or aren’t simply about exchanging skills. Without having a regular 9-5 job, it can be difficult to know when to stop working and take care of yourself. You also miss the emotional support coworkers might provide. Many of these individuals didn’t realize that leaving a 9-5 job would mean a loss of external constraints; they would now find it even more difficult to manage their time and energy since they no longer “clock out”. The end of the workday is something that they would need to create for themselves. The Soulo community is a resource that supports and encourages its members to remain accountable for their own well-being.
If we make the basis of conversation between Soulo members more clear, we expect an increase in user activity.
We identified a lack of activity in the community section of the website. The majority were using other platforms to communicate with people they already knew and weren’t seeking connections with those they hadn’t. The founder of Soulo (who is extremely personable and good at forging connections between people) would often personally introduce members to each other. Thus, her involvement in each soulo-to-soulo connection would potentially limit the growth of the community. The community page played a very minor role in the current paradigm of interactions. Our hypothesis was that the lack of a starting point for communication (suggested topics and reasons to interact) was one of the main contributors to the lack of activity. It would be easier to break the ice between members if those early conversations feel a little more facilitated.
Solutions
Clarify on the website (through content and structure):
What Soulo is about and who they serve
What: Sharing strategies related to balancing wellness and productivity
Who: Solopreneurs, Freelancers, and Small Business Owners
The basis of connectivity between members
The content on the website (blogs, videos, etc.) will have dialogue/comment sections
This allows a starting point for discussion between members on something that isn’t particularly personal
The definition of “Soulo”
Instead of solo referring to solopreneur, it can now refer to the individual journey that every person goes on when they strive to make a business around their strengths/interests, i.e. the soul piece. Thus, a Soulo is an individual who has the courage to look within and build a business that is a direct reflection of what they want to see more of in the world.
The kick-off meeting with the client occurred at the General Assembly campus in San Francisco. The contact we met, one of Soulo’s key members and head of copywriting, brought her laptop to host a virtual call with the founder. We had some previous knowledge that the two had met at General Assembly some years prior, so we were able to start the conversation by asking about their experience having attended the same institution. We didn’t know this yet, but we were only a week away from the beginning of lockdowns due to COVID-19 and virtual calls would soon be the norm for everybody.
We covered a lot of ground in that first meeting. We talked about short-term and long-term goals. Though, we weren’t able to piece together the plan for getting to that future destination from where we were now. The main point that the founder asked us to focus on was the stigma associated with being a solopreneur. She reminded us of the amount of courage needed to undertake this kind of journey — attempting to turn a dream into a real business. Some people’s dreams weren’t fully formed, they simply wanted to escape their 9-5 position and were dedicated to finding a way to do that.
Internally, these individuals often lacked the ability or desire to ask questions or get help. They were so afraid of letting other people tamper with their vision that they were unwilling to ask the hard questions, leaving them unsure of where to start. Externally, they lacked emotional support from the people around them. Other people couldn’t relate to the burden of attempting to stay true to your vision while remaining realistic with your business practices. On top of that, it can be difficult to find financial backing when you’re a solopreneur. This is no fault of those who are offering the money -- they want to invest in an idea that has a real potential for succeeding. Therefore, having confidence in yourself and your idea is critical. This community was striving to be the place where that confidence could be cultivated.
The founder also mentioned that they had a long-term vision of creating an interface that would allow the integration of many types of business tools, along with a feature to help clients remain balanced by giving them reminders for wellness activities. We kept this long-term vision in the back of our minds. The owner acknowledged that if people felt good about their business, then the wellness piece is a lot easier to make time for. However, it’s often the case that the more stressed we are, the harder it is to realize we need to take a second to gather our thoughts. Would another piece of software really help somebody better manage their time and energy? These are the kinds of questions we raised with the founder.
After that initial meeting, we spent most of our time perusing the existing website and trying to get more of an understanding of the kind of image Soulo was trying to portray. I did some research into the solopreneur community online and came across a highly-recommended book titled E-myth. This book chronicled the difficulties of starting and running a small business. And it had one main important point: committing to being a solopreneur is a surefire way to cause your business to fail. Up until this point, I had been thinking that we should be trying to find a way to combat the negative association with being a solopreneur, but I started to understand why it existed. I began to see where the misconception came from: the life of a solopreneur was often portrayed as mythological. People who were used to running real businesses were completely turned off by this. The real experience of being a solopreneur is an unrelenting daily grind counter-balanced only by your level of commitment to manifesting your dream. It was then that I realized that trying to promote this mythological idea of solopreneurship would not really benefit the people we were seeking to help.
The book went on about how being a solopreneur is simply a stage on the way to maturing into a full-fledged, healthy business. Any attempt to keep the business in the state of a solopreneurship would be detrimental to its long-term growth (the same goes for the person running it!) The owner would eventually burn out if they didn’t hire additional help or get the business into a state where it could be sold. Some people at this stage would choose to downsize rather than sell or hire employees. The author argued that as soon as the individual started to intentionally limit their own growth, the business was heading towards implosion.
It was clear to us that we needed to differentiate between two kinds of potential/existing members of Soulo:
Those who wish to remain a solopreneur and those who don’t. The fact remains that either could eventually turn into a small business — what then? Would Soulo still be relevant to them at this point if our focus is solopreneurs? If solopreneurship is the next stage in business growth, are we not putting ourselves into a position where they will simply outgrow us? This might be okay if our community was not based on sharing knowledge related to balancing business and wellness. In order for the community to thrive, these individuals must stick around and remain our voices of wisdom. This need was crystallized further once we started to develop our archetypes and considered how they would interrelate.
The traditional definition of a solopreneur that we encountered was an individual that wishes to remain a team of one by not hiring employees. There was a whole host of other potential scenarios that occurred to us. A solopreneur could be somebody that had decided upon a fixed-income goal — is that how they were differentiating themselves? Similarly, did they have a fixed amount of hours they were looking to put into the business? Did they consider their solopreneurial work a side-gig? Was this their main source of income? These questions gave us a lot of traction to rethink how we could help Soulo clarify itself.
One thing that had come up in a conversation with the founder was related to understanding the kinds of people Soulo attracts. The founder preferred to use the analogy of class grades (freshman-senior) to describe the different levels of business and wellness-related wisdom within the community. The freshman was new to owning a business and didn’t have any idea of how to approach balancing wellness and productivity. On the other end of the spectrum, the senior had a well-established business and a wealth of wisdom related to this topic. When we did affinity mapping, we realized that the main determinant for being able to balance business and wellness was simply experience in doing so. Although we didn’t base our personas on the grading system that the client was used to, we were able to relate our findings into terms that would make the information more accessible and immediately useful.
We created a survey and split it into two categories: one for current members of Soulo and everybody else (our personal network, General Assembly alumni, etc.) We asked the same questions of both parties. We broke the survey into two main parts: a section for those with an existing business and another for those with an idea or at least the desire to start a business. We received 5 responses from Soulo members and 25 from individuals outside of the organization. We conducted 5 interviews (one of which was a current Soulo member).
Elements that vary in intensity due to time in business and/or familiarity with their industry:
Difficulty setting strong boundaries and communicating the need for breathing room
Loneliness (the source of this will change over time, but when first starting, the general lack of coworkers and external support is a lot to deal with).
True for all individuals throughout their journey:
In charge of their own success or failure (empowering and alarming)
Where do I find knowledge? (this constantly changes depending on where you are with your business).
“You are the 5 people you surround yourself with” (general agreement that having the right support is key).
Diligent Dreamer (Freshman)
Potential value offered by Soulo: clarify vision and direct research (seeking counsel and constructive feedback)
• No clear business plan and have not taken any concrete steps
• General desire to escape their 9-5 job
• Might be doing a complete career switch
• Seeking validation before making the leap
• Unsure if their idea is worth pursuing
• Unsure if there is a real demand for their work
• Most vulnerable to criticism of their ideas
Uncertain Juggler (Sophomore - Junior)
Potential value offered by Soulo: specific tools to build their business; specific strategies for time/energy balance
• Own an existing business but likely have a supplementary job
• Persisting doubt due to financial unpredictability
• Seeking tools/resources with obvious utility
• Clear business vision and plan
• Unsure of when is the right time to hire additional talent (if at all)
• Struggle to make time for themselves
• Tend to put the needs of the business before their own
Restorative Mentor (Senior)
Potential value offered by Soulo: connect with other people who value wellness or “soul-driven” professions
• Own a well-established business
• Willing to share knowledge and serve as a mentor
• Good candidate for hosting events or creating content
• Already have a well-balanced time/management system
• Not looking for business-related advice from Soulo members
• More critical of the perceived reputability of the community
• Careful with whom they associate their business with
We also conducted usability testing of the current website with an individual unfamiliar with Soulo. One thing that was very clear was their confusion related to what Soulo was really after -- there were just too many offerings: a marketplace, a tools section, a community forum, etc. In speaking to the founder, the goal was to offer as many services as possible and see which one ended up having the most demand. Our proposal to them was if you intend on keeping all of these as subsections of the website, make it more clear to site goers where the strengths of the organization lie. For example, rethink the information architecture to make it more clear that the “tools” are just a subset of the “business” aspects of the website. On the current website, the tools page was simply a list of links that went to external websites. Many individuals assumed the business had some sort of partnership with these services, but that wasn’t the case.
Ultimately, we realized that engagement amongst the community was vital. As it stood, there was no clear motivation or precedence to engage with other members on the current platform. Our idea was to make the content on the website be the ice breaker. For example, if one individual posts a blog, the other members can comment on it and share their own thoughts. This would facilitate the opportunity for people to develop real connections based on real experiences. Due to the fact that the founder was already seen as the facilitator for most networking between members, it would only makes sense for her to be the one to lead the charge by leaving her thoughts on what is posted. This would make it more approachable for people because then they would be commenting on her thoughts and not necessarily anybody else’s.
What we would be aiming to do is to use the website to clarify what Soulo is about and who they actually serve: solopreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners. Most importantly, we would need to rethink how we define a Soulo since we were no longer limiting ourselves to solopreneurs. Our idea was to redefine it as an individual on a personal journey to build a business around their strengths and interests. The “solo” part of the name could now refer to the fact that everybody has a unique set of strengths and interests (and a unique/personal journey they must endeavor upon to discover them). Stated differently, a Soulo is an individual that understands personal wellness impacts business decisions.
We knew the founder had big plans for Soulo in the long-term. We wanted to make sure it was clear that focusing on the community in the short-term could directly inform the long-term interface solution. The community would serve as a repository of wisdom and knowledge that could be used to prescribe business or wellness-related tools. These recommendations could be based on shared personality traits, professions, etc.
The information architecture of the new navigation bar as informed by our research into what value Soulo brings to potential and existing users. Tools is now a subsection of the business page.
This is the top of the new homepage. Each of the pictures under “What’s a Soulo” corresponds to one of the three archetypes of potential/existing members. In terms of comparative research, we looked at headspace for inspiration regarding visual presentation and language.
A sample of the content we would provide on the website to be the basis for conversation between members.
A section of the homepage highlighting the community aspect of Soulo centered around balancing business and wellness (which is their main differentiating quality from its competitors).
During the initial kick-off meeting, the founder had told us that the long-term plan was for Soulo to be 70% focused on business and 30% on wellness. Through our research, we recognized that the main thing that would keep Soulo unique in this space was its community and its emphasis on wellness. One of the points we tried to drive home was that even though the wellness piece might be 30% of the business focus, it is 100% the glue of the community (and what makes Soulo unique)! Having a platform where professionals get together and discuss how they balance productivity and wellness would set themselves apart. The concept make senses given the market and it’s an idea that the founder can successfully champion given her personable nature and deep desire in the subject.
Diving into the stigma around solopreneurs led to a complete redesign of what Soulo could and should be about. We felt that it shouldn’t necessarily seek to glorify solopreneurs, but rather to acknowledge that it may simply be one of the stages that somebody goes through when building a business. We want people to feel that Soulo can continue to support them if they decide to hire employees and evolve into a traditional small business. In fact, we want to ensure they remain a part of our community and eventually become one of our third archetypal members, the restorative mentor.
In the end, we presented to the client and two other key stakeholders over Zoom. My peers and instructors from General Assembly also attended, making the audience approximately 30 people in total.
If we were to continue with this project, we would be focused on the following things (per our discussion with the founder):
Events Page
Access to videos and recordings of past events
Assign pre-course homework (start the discussion early)
Facilitate long-term discussion based on mutual event attendance
Marketplace (For Consumers)
Consider how to build credibility for Soulo
Create a form for people to request to be featured
The founder will vet and approve these individuals
Integrate reviews/testimonials
Marketplace (For Recruiters)
What would it mean to be Soulo-certified?
How do we interest recruiters in pulling talent from the Soulo community?
I had a wonderful time working with this client and learning about their community. They have asked us to continue to work with them (beyond the timeframe and scope of this project) to expand their vision and grow the organization. I sincerely look forward to doing so.