Daniel Faggella, 28, has turned his passion into a seven-figure business. His subscription-based e-commerce site, Science of Skill, sells online fitness and self defense curricula and products to students around the world. When it comes to working, the black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu says, ”I never wanted to do stuff I wasn’t actually interested in.” Currently, Faggella is the only employee at the business, founded in 2012. He relies on four loyal contractors to help with tasks like copywriting and web support.
Faggella is part of an important and fast-growing trend: The rise of million-dollar, one-person businesses.
Many people think that running a solo business means a life of financial struggle. But for a small but rapidly-increasing number, it can be a ticket to seven-figure revenue, according to new statistics on “non-employer” businesses from the U.S. Census Bureau. Non-employer businesses are those that have no employees other than the owners and could range from a family-run, Main Street business to freelance web design firm.
Consider these statistics:
- 33,624 non-employer firms brought in $1 million to $2.49 million in revenue in 2014, the Census Bureau found. That is an 11% increase from 2013, when there were 30,174 firms in this category, and a 45% increase from 2009, when there were 23,176.
- Another 1,991 non-employer firms brought in $2.5 million to $4.99 million in 2014. That number rose 17% from 1,709 in 2013.
- An elite 365 firms brought in $5 million in revenue or more, up from 332 in 2013. That is a 10% increase.
Dan Faggella Credit: Science of Skill
To be sure, the vast majority of one-person businesses are not breaking $1 million. The government tallied 23.8 million non-employer businesses in 2014, a number that is up 3.6% since 2013, and a relative few reach seven-figure status.
One of the fastest growing categories for 2014 was “transportation and warehousing.” The category, which includes Uber drivers, saw a 13.5% increase and also had the largest number of new firms added: 148,626. Taxi driving isn’t a particularly high-revenue occupation, as other research shows.
That said, there were many non-employer businesses breaking six figures in 2014–an encouraging sign for anyone running an independent business or hoping to start one.
- In 2014, there were 1,812,554 businesses that brought in $100,000 to $249,999, up 6% from 1,716,210 in 2013.
- Another 570,491 firms brought in $250,000 to $499,999, an 8% percent increase over 2013, when there were 530,274.
- 248,636 firms brought in $500,000 to $999,999, up 8% from 231,026 in 2013.