Break the Rules. Build Your Lane.
What a Run-On Sentence Can Teach Solopreneurs About Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness
Break Rules and Win Big.
For years, I was a communications manager at a Fortune 500 company. Our number one rule: Write clearly, succinctly, no run-on sentences! Educators reinforce this message with lots of red pen. Run-on sentences were a clear sign you lacked the talent to communicate effectively.
Well, did you hear about this year’s Nobel laureate in literature, László Krasznahorkai? His debut novel, Satantango, unfolds as one single paragraph. No line breaks. His latest, Herscht 07769, is one sentence - stretched across 400 pages. That one sentence just earned him $1.2 million — or roughly $1.2 million per period. (AP News, 2024)
As a solopreneur, we are all trying to break rules. What Krasznahorkai did with writing, we’re doing with our businesses.
The Courage to Do It Differently
Most of us were taught to color inside the lines — in school, in career, in life. There are rules to success, right? Hard to believe that is accurate when you see the headlines of those who are creating breakthroughs - they were not following the last idea. They were leapfrogging it!
Over and over, I have heard follow the playbook, follow the rules. But I believe the rules that keep things easy, the rules keep you small. Krasznahorkai didn’t follow the rules — he followed what he believed.
He trusted his voice and his purpose enough to make people take notice.
As solopreneurs, that’s our superpower too. We’re not here to fit into a crowded market. Otherwise, we would just work for someone else.
We’re here to create our own lane — and that means being misunderstood before we’re acknowledged.
Rebellion is Required
Breaking rules doesn’t mean disrespecting what came before or burning it all down. It means knowing which boundaries to bend and which to keep sacred. Krasznahorkai didn’t ditch grammar — he mastered it before he broke it.
Likewise, you don’t throw out the basics of business — you outgrow them.
Solopreneur Rethink Success:
Launch before you’re “ready.” Not looking for perfection.
Choose depth over scale. Know your sh**!
Lead with community before conversion. You are the differentiator.
Build brand before algorithm. Know who you are! You are the brand.
And yes — it takes longer. But that’s because you’re not chasing attention. You’re building authority. While everyone else fights for visibility, we’re building inevitability. Once our lane is paved — once people finally “see” us — they can’t unsee the magic we have created. We are no longer competing; we are leading.
Shift Your Mindset
FROM: Feeling “too different” to fit in TO: Realizing difference is your differentiation
FROM: Waiting for permission TO: Taking action before validation
FROM: Playing by everyone’s rules TO: Writing your own playbook
FROM: Feeling unseen or behind TO: Building credibility that compounds over time
Remember, we don’t need a seat at someone else’s table. We’re building our own table. And we get to decide who’s invited.
Your BoldLEAP Moment
So if your offer, your message, or your model feels like it doesn’t quite “fit”… good.
That’s your proof you’re building something worth finding.
Like Krasznahorkai, you’re writing your own Herscht 07769 — one long, unbroken, breathtaking sentence that only makes sense when someone finally reads it all the way through.
Stay the course.
Stay bold.
Stay different.
Because rule breakers don’t wait to be seen — they build something unforgettable.
About Charissa
Charissa Gant is a Change Strategist with over 30 years of experience driving change for Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. Most recently, a Principal Director at one of the world’s largest consulting firms, she now leads BoldLEAP Collective — a community for courageous solopreneurs. Charissa@boldleapcollective.com
Citations:
Associated Press. (2024). “Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.” AP News.
Satantango (1985) & Herscht 07769 (2024, English translation) by László Krasznahorkai.