Elaine Pofeldt – Author Biography
Early Life
Elaine Pofeldt is an American journalist and author. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English. She built her career in business journalism, rising to senior editor at FORTUNE Small Business magazine, where she worked for eight years — twice nominated for the National Magazine Award for her features — and ran the magazine’s website and its annual business plan competition.
Career
As an independent journalist specializing in small business, entrepreneurship, and careers, Pofeldt’s work has appeared in FORTUNE, Money, CNBC, Inc., Forbes, Crain’s New York Business, and many other publications, and she has contributed to the Economist Intelligence Unit. She noticed a striking trend: a record number of one-person businesses were hitting $1 million in revenue without employees. She began profiling these founders for Forbes online, and the reporting became The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want (2018), published by Random House — a road map to seven-figure solo entrepreneurship, later updated in a revised edition (2021). She has run her own independent business since 2007 and co-founded 200kfreelancer.com, a community for independent professionals.
Major Works
The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business (2018; revised 2021) and Tiny Business, Big Money.
Writing Style and Themes
Pofeldt writes practical, case-study-driven business journalism: each chapter profiles real solo founders, extracts their strategies, and organizes them into usable categories. Her themes include the power of automation and outsourcing, choosing high-revenue niches, and designing work around the life you want rather than the reverse. Her tone is encouraging and evidence-based — proof that very small can be very profitable.
Legacy
Pofeldt gave the “business of one” movement its defining text and its data. The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business is the standard reference for solo entrepreneurs aiming at seven figures, and her Forbes column continues to document the trend.
