Insights from a 1-year long solopreneur journey

On one afternoon in July 2023, I sat down with the CMO at AppsFlyer for 30 minutes. That meeting proved to be one of the most important and pivotal moments in my career.

I came into that meeting as an employee - earning a decent salary, feeling respected and appreciated, but a bit worn out.

I came out of that meeting as a self-employed man with 0 income.

I did have some stuff going on for me - 3 months of paid notice, a lot of appreciation and some connections. I also had a personal brand - I've been writing about 'writing' and 'thought leadership' for 3 years.

And yet, going solo for the first time in my life was absolutely scary.

3 months later, on October 5th 2023, I officially became self-employed. At that time I already had 3 paying clients at that point. I was freaked out by the uncertainty, but it was looking better.? My gut feeling at that time was “I might be able to pull this off”.

And then October 7th hit.

Added to the general grief and desperation, I was also worried about my new business. Well, not worried - terrified. Everything came to a complete stop. So did business.

In a twisted turn of events, my savior during those few weeks was volunteer work, writing for a person whose entire family - wife and 2 daughters - was kidnapped to Gaza. For sure, my best work ever.

When they returned, during the first ceasefire, something incredible happened - people started reaching out.

Entrepreneurs. Startups. Companies.

Within a few weeks, I grew from 3 clients to 11. After 3 months of going solo, I decided it was time to post about starting my own business.

Another surge of inquiries came knocking by.

All that took me for a crazy solopreneurship rollercoaster ride that I’ve just now begun to process. During this year, I've worked with over 20 clients, wirting over 1000 posts to over 50 different people.

It’s really impossible to describe everything I learned during this year. There’s a lot, and some of it is still being processed. But some are already set in stone. Here they are:

1. In business, nothing is less underestimated than a personal brand

Yes, it’s a new dawn and a new day. And everyone talks the talk about how important it is to build and maintain a personal, professional brand. But very few walk the walk.

When you break it down to everyday life, building a personal brand means - my words - having something to say for a very long time.

It means constant ideation and creation.

It means talking more about ideas and less about a product. It means more education and less promotion.

It means exposure and familiarity over perfection and formality. Not everyone ‘gets’ it. Not yet anyway.

2. An entrepreneur’s biggest fears are their own demons

Forget taxes, or bureaucracy, or chasing clients for payment. Those all suck big time, but in the end, they’re nothing more than a hassle.

The emotional stress that comes from having an unsatisfied client, or one that left you - now that's the real deal. Even when everything’s going well.

Buidling an emotional resilience is THE most important skill a soloprenuer can have.

3. Simplify any process you can

Having so much responsibility makes everything longer, more complex, and hassle.

That’s why most of my contacts are extremely simple. T&C include deliverables and termination. And that’s it. I don’t even mention payment terms, as I find it LESS important than the contract itself.

This makes it easier to work with me, but much more important - it makes my life easier. This contract T&Cs is one of the only things I thought I’d do as a business owner, and actually fulfilled it.

4. Having a good accountant will make your life easier.

Probably one of the most “money well spent” elements as a solopreneur. This is a classic case where "throwing moeny at the problem" actually makes sense.

Find someone. Pay them money. And focus on business.

5. Being available is part of the equation

You can’t disappear. Not really. When times are tough, or challenging, just overly busy, we all have the urge to unwind, chill, and take some time off.

Taking a break is possible. But not a very long time, and not without a very heavy cost, when you do come back.

I did. I remember the vacation (awesome), but I also remember the week after my vacation. Rough.

The more successful you are, the harder it gets.

Entreprenuers have others to take care of business while they're gone. Soloprenuers don't. Be very aware of that.

6. AI can help with (almost) anything

That is, if you know how to use it.

BUT - if you don’t have skill, or experience, or willingness to work hard - don’t count on AI to replace it. It won’t.

AI will save you time. It won’t save your business.

7. No quick & dirty recipes for success on LinkedIn

The feed is swamped with gurus writing about how to gain 1M impressions and 40K followers within a few weeks.

They are all great.

But they are usually writing about the most common elements - AI, hiring, career, personal branding.

Their audience is literally EVERYONE.

If you're in Supply Chain, or engineering, or eCommerce, or Product Analytics, or Gaming, or Fintech - like most of of the people trying to create a reputation for themselves - you’re in a much smaller niche. And that required a lot more work.

Don’t be blinded by the lights. It’s a long road ahead.

This year was intense, but incredibly satisfiying.

As almost everything I predicted about this year did NOT materialize - I’m limiting my predictions for next year. The only thing I’m pretty sure of, is that I’ll share my expereinces here.

#thoughtleadership