Solopreneurs face unique challenges. You wear every hat: creator, marketer, salesperson, accountant. Your time is limited, your resources constrained, your energy precious. A value ladder for solopreneurs must account for these realities while building sustainable income.

The good news is that solopreneurs also have unique advantages. You're nimble, authentic, and directly connected to your audience. Your personal brand is your greatest asset. Your ladder can leverage these strengths while minimizing the burdens of solo operation.

🎩 🎩 Solopreneur

The Solopreneur's Reality

As a solopreneur, your time is your most limited resource. Every hour spent creating content is an hour not spent on delivery, sales, or rest. Your ladder must be efficient, generating maximum impact per unit of effort.

You also carry the full weight of your business. Burnout is a real threat. Your ladder must be sustainable, allowing you to maintain energy and enthusiasm over years. Short-term gains aren't worth long-term exhaustion.

  • Limited time: Efficiency is essential
  • Multiple roles: Systems reduce burden
  • Burnout risk: Sustainability matters

Leveraging Your Personal Brand

Your greatest asset is you. Your personality, story, and perspective differentiate you from competitors. Leak content that reveals who you are, not just what you know. Personal connection builds trust faster than generic expertise.

Share your journey, including struggles and failures. Let your personality shine through your content. People buy from people they like and trust. Your authentic self is your competitive advantage.

Asset How to Leverage
Personality Show authentic self
Story Share journey authentically

Simple Ladder Structures for Solopreneurs

Complexity is the enemy of execution. A simple ladder with clear rungs works better than an elaborate structure you can't maintain.

The 3-Rung Ladder

Rung 1: Free content (social, newsletter). Rung 2: Low-ticket digital product ($20-50). Rung 3: High-ticket service ($500+). This simple structure covers the essentials without overwhelming you or your audience.

The 4-Rung Ladder

Add a mid-ticket group program between low and high. Rung 1: Free. Rung 2: Digital product. Rung 3: Group coaching/course. Rung 4: 1:1 service. This provides an intermediate step for those not ready for one-on-one. 

Simple Solopreneur Ladder:
- Free: Daily value leaks
- $27: Digital product
- $197: Group program
- $1000+: 1:1 service

Products That Scale

As a solopreneur, your time is finite. Products that scale are essential. Digital products (courses, templates, memberships) can sell infinitely with no additional time. Group programs scale better than one-on-one. Design your ladder to include scalable offers.

Your one-on-one service is your highest-touch, highest-price offer. But you can only serve so many people this way. Use scalable products to serve more people and generate income without trading time for money.

Systems for the Solo Operator

Systems are your employees. Automate what you can: email sequences, scheduling, payment processing, content distribution. Document processes so you can delegate later. Build systems that let you focus on high-value work.

Start with simple tools that solve specific problems. A email service provider automates nurturing. A scheduler handles meeting booking. A payment processor handles transactions. Each system saves you time and mental energy.

Community and Collaboration

Solopreneurs don't have to go it alone. Build relationships with other creators. Collaborate on content, cross-promote, and support each other. A community of peers provides accountability, ideas, and encouragement.

Consider mastermind groups with other solopreneurs at similar stages. Regular calls to share challenges and solutions reduce isolation and accelerate growth. Your peers become invaluable resources.

Protecting Your Energy

You are your business. Protect your energy accordingly. Set boundaries around work hours. Take real time off. Nurture your creativity through rest and experiences. A burned-out solopreneur has no business at all.

Build your ladder to support your life, not consume it. Sustainable growth beats rapid burnout every time. Your business should serve you, not the other way around.

If you're a solopreneur, review your ladder through the lens of efficiency and sustainability. Are you leveraging your personal brand? Do you have scalable products? Are your systems reducing burden? Simplify where needed and protect your most valuable asset: you.

Mastering the _includes Folder: Reusable Snippets for Cleaner Templates

Oleh -

If you have already worked with the _layouts folder in Jekyll, you may have noticed that layouts can sometimes get cluttered with repeated code. Navigation menus, footers, social sharing buttons, or call-to-action banners often appear across multiple pages. Writing the same markup over and over makes your site harder to maintain. That is where the _includes directory comes in. This folder is designed to store reusable snippets of code that you can inject into layouts or even directly into posts and pages.

Main Questions Answered in This Guide

What are includes in Jekyll

Includes are small reusable code snippets stored in the _includes folder. Instead of writing the same piece of HTML in multiple places, you can put it in one file and then reference it wherever needed. For example, if you create a file called header.html inside _includes, you can include it in a layout with:

{% raw %}{% include header.html %}{% endraw %}

This makes your layouts cleaner and easier to manage. If you ever want to update your site’s header, you only need to edit header.html once, and the changes will apply everywhere it is included.

When should you use the _includes folder

Use the _includes folder when:

  • You have repeated code across multiple layouts (e.g., footers, navigation bars).
  • You want to keep your layout files short and focused.
  • You need flexible components that can change based on parameters.
  • You are building modular designs where different parts of the site share the same elements.

In short, includes are for anything you expect to reuse often. They help you avoid redundancy and reduce maintenance headaches.

How to include a file in layouts or posts

The syntax for including a file is simple:

{% raw %}{% include filename.html %}{% endraw %}

Make sure the file is placed in the _includes folder. If the file is in a subfolder, reference it with the path:

{% raw %}{% include navigation/menu.html %}{% endraw %}

This command works inside layouts, posts, and even standalone pages. It gives you complete flexibility in how you build your templates.

How to pass parameters into includes

Includes become even more powerful when you pass parameters. For example, you can make a button component reusable across different sections of your site:

{% raw %}{% include button.html text="Read More" url="/about" %}{% endraw %}

Inside button.html, you can access the parameters like this:

<a href="{{ include.url }}" class="btn">{{ include.text }}</a>

This allows you to create flexible components without hardcoding values. You can change the button text and link on the fly while using the same snippet everywhere.

Examples of common includes you can create

Here are some useful snippets you might want to place in your _includes folder:

  • header.html – Contains your site’s logo, navigation menu, and search bar.
  • footer.html – Includes copyright text, social media links, and site credits.
  • analytics.html – Stores tracking scripts (Google Analytics, Plausible, etc.).
  • related-posts.html – A reusable block that shows related posts at the end of articles.
  • call-to-action.html – A reusable CTA banner to encourage subscriptions or downloads.

Each of these can be updated in one place and reused across your entire Jekyll site.

How includes help avoid code repetition

One of the biggest challenges when building static sites is keeping the codebase clean. Without includes, every layout might need its own copy of a navigation menu or footer. If you change a link, you would have to update it everywhere. With includes, you update the file once and Jekyll automatically injects it wherever it is referenced. This is especially useful for blogs with dozens or even hundreds of posts, where manually updating shared elements would be impossible.

Common errors and how to fix them

Beginners sometimes run into issues like:

  • Placing include files outside the _includes folder (Jekyll will not find them).
  • Misspelling file names in the {% raw %}{% include %}{% endraw %} tag.
  • Forgetting to close Liquid tags inside the include file, causing build errors.
  • Passing parameters incorrectly (make sure they are written as key="value" pairs).

Fortunately, Jekyll’s error messages usually point out where the problem is, so you can fix it quickly.

SEO and performance benefits of using includes

While includes are primarily about clean code, they also have indirect SEO and performance benefits. A consistent header and footer improve site structure, which search engines appreciate. Having analytics or metadata in a single include file ensures that every page is correctly tracked. Finally, using modular code makes your site easier to optimize and update, which means fewer broken elements over time.

What to explore after mastering includes

Once you are comfortable with _includes, the natural next step is to learn about the _data folder. While includes give you reusable templates, the data directory allows you to manage structured content like navigation menus, team members, or product lists. The combination of includes and data files will take your Jekyll site to a new level of flexibility and maintainability.

Final Thoughts

The _includes folder is one of Jekyll’s most powerful features for keeping your site clean, modular, and easy to maintain. By learning how to use includes effectively, you not only save time but also reduce the chances of making errors across your templates. With parameters and reusable snippets, you can build flexible components that adapt to different needs. Mastering includes is a key step toward building professional GitHub Pages sites that scale gracefully as your content grows.

What Should You Do Next

Create a new file in your _includes folder—start small, maybe with a footer.html. Include it in your default layout and watch how easy it becomes to make changes across your site. Once you are confident, experiment with parameterized includes like buttons or banners. Then, move forward to the _data directory to learn how to manage dynamic content sources. This progression will help you become not just a Jekyll user, but a Jekyll power builder.