In 2024, there are approximately 33.2 million small businesses in the United States, which is 99.9% of all businesses in the country.
Small businesses employ 45.9% of the U.S. workforce or about 61.6 million people.
BUT...8 out of 10 small businesses operate without employees.
I check the US Bureau of Labor Statistics frequently but had not seen that one.
How is that sustainable?
Stop there a moment...That means about 80% of all business owners in the US operate alone. No wonder they feel overwhelmed. What if there were a better way?
Planning for Better
As you look at your plans for 2025, ask yourself these questions:
Over my twenty-plus years as a small business consultant and coach, I discovered the better way. I didn’t invent it—it was right there among my business coaching clients.
And it’s dazzling! I named it The Starburst Business Model.
This hidden gem, this revolutionary business approach, is powerful. It leverages key assets that often aren’t recognized—your relationships.
This model can shift your mindset from doing it all yourself to building a collaborative network of experts as your go-to team. The set of unique strengths in each network creates a thriving ecosystem.
The Starburst Model Is Perfect for Solopreneurs
The small business owner values independence and control. But independence doesn’t mean doing it all alone. The Starburst model allows you to:
How Does it Work?
The unique aspect of the Starburst Business model is reciprocity. I’m going to use this word a lot, so here’s a couple of definitions
From the Cambridge Dictionary:
Reciprocity is behavior in which two people or groups of people give each other help and advantages.
In social psychology, reciprocity is a social norm of responding to an action executed by another person with a similar or equivalent action.
Reciprocity works within a set of mutually beneficial relationships.
It is NOT a one-way street where subcontractors come and go.
In the Starburst model, work flows naturally around a network of experts with different skills. Each business owner focuses on bringing in money, as well as the business tasks she’s good at and loves to do. The stuff she isn’t skilled in (or flat-out dodges) goes to the person who excels and is eager for that kind of work. Each gets paid for what they do best.
And with freed-up time and energy, the small business owner can turn to essential but not urgent areas of the business. Strategic planning, branding, or even looking for new business often get dropped or pushed aside by the overwhelmed.
Why Does it Work?
In a Starburst business model, small business owners work for EACH OTHER, in their areas of expertise, but not as employees. The key again is reciprocity.
Every small business owner excels in certain areas but struggles or ignores others. In the Starburst model, you stick to what you do best and delegate the work that is not in your wheelhouse. Remember, the primary job of the business owner is to bring in the business!
Hiring cost money, time, responsibilities and risks. When you build a Starburst network, you can find the skills you need without committing to a permanent hire.
When one member of the network grows, everyone benefits. Referrals and collaborations create a ripple effect that multiplies opportunities for all involved.
Tell Me More...
The independent publisher has a writer for a client. Often the first task is coaxing out a finished manuscript! But publishing requires a wide range of skills.
But the publisher (remember, no employees) does not need each of those skills sets every day. With a Starburst approach, the editor builds a network of trusted specialists:
And what goes around comes around.
A marketer for small businesses pioneered a co-working space in her community.
These examples are of real clients from a real mastermind team I led. I saw the marketer yesterday. She wants to do my Profitable Business Plan workshop, coming up in January. The publisher gives talks at the creative marketing hub. She prodded and coaxed me to write my book, Formerly Corporate, where I first wrote about the Starburst model.
These are long-standing relationships, and business just keeps going around. I try never to miss a party with these folks.
If this Starburst idea seems like a dream, the network I sketched out above has been working for over 15 years. And there are several more business owners involved.
Can you imagine a “constellation” of Starbursts? All these little Starbursts shooting off new ones?
It takes time and determination to find the right people for your Starburst. But once this gets going, it is easier to connect with a collaborator’s network, and on and on. You build “colleagues for life”.
How to Build Your Starburst Network
This is a flexible, efficient way to do business, centered on the things you do best.
Treasure the Emotional Connections
Be genuine. The key to success here is again...reciprocity. What goes around comes around. As in any good relationship, you all have to put in the effort. You are building your teams.
When you’re in a Starburst Business, you’re saying:
Ready to start?
The Starburst Business Model is more than a strategy. It’s a mindset. It’s about shifting from trying to do it all yourself to working in a thriving, collaborative community. And aren’t we all yearning for community these days?
If you’ve read this far, you are thinking about how this could work for you. I’d say first—take note of the things you really don’t like to do in your business--the stuff that means you’re leaving money on the table. Then think of who you know who does that work. Or ask someone. I bet you’ll make more money than you spent for the help. And there’s three people in your Starburst already!
Lorette Pruden has helped hundreds of small business owners, sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders grow their businesses and manage that growth since 2000. She specializes in the Formerly Corporate—so many small business owners who’ve worked with her come from a corporate background that she finally wrote the book on it.
