My Personal Solopreneur Journey Building A Business For 3 Years. Don't Read This.
I thought you wouldn’t read, but anyway.
My journey is long.
Introduction :
Hi, I’m Templater Guy.
And I’m about to do something which I’ve never done previously online.
I’m sharing my journey in the past 2 years as a solopreneur trying to build a profitable online business.
This is something I have never talked about before anywhere.
But, I made up my mind to share it, so you don’t have to spend years trying to find the business model that can make you a decent living.
So, sit back & enjoy reading my journey.
Year 2020 : The Student Mindset
( Level 0 )
To be honest, this was a year where I didn’t have much business knowledge or didn’t think there was any need to start a business. I was a university student at this point and was pretty much enjoying my life without a care for money. You know how it works : friends, family, parties.
Year 2021 : Need For Business
( Level 1 )
The idea of building my own business was a cause of decreased freedom and the limitation of mindset imposed by my university. To be honest, I realized this quickly by listening to podcasts of top business owners in the entrepreneur space.
Because “I resonated with them”.
And I decided that if a job doesn’t grant me freedom, then let’s start a business.
Year 2022 : My 1st Business Model
( Level 2 )
“Everything is easier said than done.” - Steve Maraboli
Now that I decided to start a business, I wanted to do it for myself in private. And I knew that I knew nothing about business at this point.
So, I searched, looked up, browsed…
For almost 6 months of pure research - not executing.
And found a lot of business models that promised results.
The most promising I thought would work for me was: Etsy.
Yeah, it’s Print-On-Demand.
It’s a business model where you create designs to be printed on top of clothing & ceramic materials like t-shirts, shirts, and mugs, etc.
I loved designing & thought that it was a simpler business model for me.
So, I decided to give it a try.
What can go wrong in 6 months, right ?
I started to design retro images for t-shirts & mugs as they were in high demand.
Honestly, it was a lot of work than I thought.
Finding the right product
Writing SEO-optimized keywords & tags
Finding the right price point
Creating high-quality images
But, these images drove very little traffic to my store.
So, I decided to pivot.
Since I loved designing, I created mockups for my products in Photoshop as a part of my business.
So, I looked up Etsy to find that these digital products sell really well on the platform.
So, I spent almost 10-12 hours/day for 3-4 months creating new mockups, learning Photoshop better, writing better keywords & everything.
Trust me when I say I did everything.
You know what must have happened after that !
Yeah, I failed.
I did see some traffic, but the business revenue was $0.
Is that a real business, then?
Etsy is a great platform where many have succeeded, and I’ve seen them make sales with their product, but I realized it just wasn’t cut out for me.
Did I give up ?
No, I started looking for a different business model.
Year 2023 : Found The Business I Enjoyed
( Level 3 )
“Nothing happens, and then everything happens.” - Fay Weldon
This is the time when I gained the most of my current business knowledge. I spent 3-4 months just learning the business models out there that suit me the best.
In this short span of a few months, I :
Learned about Notion Templates
Learned Canva Designing
Improved My Writing Skill
Stacked Business Ideas & Concepts
Realized that “Digital Product“ is the Best Business model
Opened my Twitter/X account
You can reach out to me easily on X :
Once I started using Notion, I enjoyed building systems that proved useful in enhancing my personal lifestyle.
Once I started using Canva, I realized how easy & beginner-friendly it is to create designs compared to Photoshop.
Once I learned about Digital Products, I realized how easy it is to make a living by leveraging No-Code software tools.
Once I started writing on X, I realized how easy it is to connect with people & drive traffic to my products.
I formed new connections with people even though I used a faceless account, people still recognized the person’s ideas behind it.
And I got that first “You made a sale !“ notification on my mobile.
Although it’s a free product sale, it was a special day for me, realizing “It’s possible“.
Year 2024 : Expanding My Solopreneur Business
( Level 4 )
And here I am now.
Sharing my journey with you wanting to start your own solopreneur business.
You can do it without any employees, but just yourself & your knowledge.
So, start with “Digital Products Business“.
But, I’m not a “6-figure business owner“, you know.
I’m still in the process of learning new methods & ideas too.
I’m sharing every idea I get along this solopreneur journey.
The Tool That Reduced My Business Burden
Once I built my business to a certain point, I didn’t get enough time to do everything in my life.
Managing my business got harder, and I couldn’t focus on my personal interests.
This is when I realized the power of “Building Systems“.
I can’t deny saying “Without Notion, my life would have been much harder“.
And I now know the true potential of systems built with Notion & Canva.
Not many who use Notion would agree with me saying it’s so saturated, but I use Notion almost every day in my life now.
You just don’t have the “Right Systems“ in place.
But, I did.
This is why I can run my business easily without burden.
This is what I’m talking about here “Leverage No-Code Tools”.
And I saw this as a common problem for many businesses & individuals.
So, I built Notion templates around these problems & sold them as products to get faster results.
You know what, I made a lot of them free, so they don’t have to pay to reduce burden.
Yeah, they got it for Free.
And I’m continuously working on finding new problems that individuals & business owners have that I can solve with a system.
I believe in “Turning every problem in your life into a template as itself the solution.”
So, you can count on me to build these systems for you.
If you have problems related to your life or business, reach out to me & I’ll build a system for you.
Proof Of Work :
Discover the Notion templates I built to help enhance your personal growth in life & business.
I’m still working on building templates that help with your business, so stay with me until then.
I’ll be counting on your support then.
Thanks for reading about my journey.
( although I made a point not to read it because it felt personal )
And I’ll be sharing my best ideas on this platform as I build a community here on SubStack, so consider subscribing :