Solo entrepreneurs combine toughness, talent, and drive like no other. By definition, everything is on them. Creative work, managing finances, sales/marketing, development… they always hold the reins because there’s no one else to hand the reins off to.

They’re forced to be half-God, half-mortal like Achilles. But like the mythical Achilles, solo entrepreneurs aren’t infallible -- and several of their weak spots can be covered by working with a professional employer organization.

Admit It: You Can’t Do It All

When you’re on your own, running your business successfully is no easy task. You have to find all the work. You have to get all the work. Then you actually have to do all the work.

That doesn’t leave a lot of time for the finer points of growing your fledgling industry, let alone devoting hours upon hours to sorting out the details of payroll, health insurance, and more. It would be nice if you had a full team to do that for you, but you look across your desk and see… not much.

Partnering with a PEO allows you to access a full team to handle the necessary areas you just don’t have time for -- and access it cheaply. Who’d say no to that kind of support staff?

… And You Can’t Be An Expert On Everything

If someone told you that they knew everything there was to know about a massive topic like politics or law and they’d only read up on the subjects for a few weeks, you’d raise an eyebrow. That just isn’t enough time to understand the ins and outs of a complex topic, but it’s exactly the same position solo entrepreneurs put themselves in when they think they can handle all the functions of a PEO.

Chances are your business does something other than payroll and benefits administration, so you’re effectively starting from scratch when it comes to figuring those things out. Not only does that take tremendous amounts of time -- time you’d rather be using to grow your business -- but it also opens you up serious mistakes that professionals just wouldn’t make.

Working with a PEO eliminates those potential liabilities. Not only is the cost minimal, but the benefit in peace of mind is huge.

You’re Perfectly Positioned To Grow

You might be a solo entrepreneur now, but you probably don’t want to be forever. Using a PEO to handle your basics in the early stages means that when the need for an assistant or second in command comes along, you’ll hit the ground running.

A relationship with a PEO allows you to offer your first employee a solid payroll system, Fortune 500-level health insurance, clear employment guidelines and more. And that’s the sort of thing someone wants to see when they take a chance on your business -- all the positives of a major company combined with a boutique work environment and potential for growth.

You have enough to worry about when you start and run your own business. It’s worth considering the advantages of partnering with a firm that can give you access to a stable of experts who will not only help manage your affairs, but who will create an attractive, stable foundation on which your business can grow.