Week 2: Wins as a Beginner Solopreneur
Learning from my investments
Last week we kicked off this new series, “Wins as a Beginner Solopreneur”.
That issue included:
What I’ve invested in
What I’ve changed
What I’m aiming towards
Digital skills
My personal thoughts on my journey
But with each issue I’ll talk about something different—it won’t always be those things I’ve bulleted above.
My goal with this series is to share my process of building online with you, and to inspire and teach you about building online.
I've been attempting to build online for about three years. There honestly hasn’t been a period of time where I have just honed in and truly gave it my all to one specific thing when it comes to building online. Instead, I’ve had a lot of moments where I’ve felt like I’ve burned out as a result of spreading myself thin.
And this is just me getting vulnerable here, which is sort of the point of the series.
So here’s an update since last week.
What I’ve invested in
Literally Academy by Lara Acosta
I’ve taken some notes. That’s about it. Listen the course is long, but I plan to finish it within a month. I’m really excited to start implementing what I’ve learned from this course into my LinkedIn journey.
I’m also excited to start posting on LinkedIn because it’s a new platform that I haven’t seriously attempted growing on before.
What held me back before from posting on LinkedIn was thinking that the content I was posting wasn’t “professional” enough. But what I’ve learned in the academy is that this should sort of be the least one’s worries.
Instead, the focus should be on building key alliances with people. Much like in real life, it’s a lot about who you know on the platform and how you help them (whether or not it’s for free).
What I’ve learned from the academy this past week (no spoilers, it’s stuff you can find anywhere else online):
Optimize LinkedIn profile
Don’t dilute your message, just be really upfront and honest with what you believe
Commit to at least 3 posts a week
Copywriting course by Kieran Drew
Haven’t started it. Waiting til I finish Literally Academy.
What I’ve changed
…with mindset
I’ll talk more about this below, but my mind is set on just being real in my content right now. I think I’m being called to do this more in all areas of my life overall right now.
And guess what?
To be “more real”, I’m actually not trying to be more real. Cause you don’t need to try to be real when you already are. The thing is most people force it, online and in real life. Forcing being real (or authentic) looks like you trying too hard to relate to other people online (e.g., commenting on things you don’t really care about).
People can tell when you aren’t being truly interested in their work, or when you don’t even feel true to your own work.
…with content/business
Nothing really–I’m still sticking to this plan of posting content.
Substack
3 long form posts per week
1 note every day
X
Key takeaways from my articles on Substack
Personal stories
Lifestyle/business insight
LinkedIn (well, when I do start posting after the academy… subject to change)
Repurposed Substack articles
Solopreneurship and lifestyle posts
I’ll know more about what else I’ll post about when I finish the academy…
What I am aiming towards
As I spoke about in the first issue, my aim is still on creating a newsletter. I think a newsletter is a foundation to be established early on. It’s personal, powerful and it lasts if you nurture your subscriber list well.
I’ll call it The Pitstop Newsletter.
In The Pitstop Newsletter, I’d offer things like
high value content, valuable insight, tools or case studies
promote free guides, coaching or digital products
encourage engagement between my audience and I
Besides growing on platforms, finishing the academy, and solidifying a niche (I’ll share that next week), this newsletter is like… the next “major” thing I’m aiming to build.
Digital skills
Learning email marketing and copywriting. Every great entrepreneur knows how to tell stories well. Also I want to build up the skill of growing a strong personal brand. This will come after I strengthen mine, but I think it’s something that I would want to help people with somehow as an entrepreneur.
My personal thoughts on my journey
I’m grateful that I don’t have a solid business yet. I’ve been building for about 3 years, and I used to get upset and wonder what I was doing wrong.
Then I realized, everyone is on their own path. Sounds like something anyone would say, but it’s just the genuine truth. I have learned a lot about myself even in just brainstorming ideas, spreading myself thin, being unsure about what platform to build on, being afraid to connect with others, etc.
In all of that, I have gotten much closer to the message I’d like to share. And it’s all thanks to God, because I truly do trust His timing.
No matter where you are at in your path (to anything), you have got to understand that the timing at which things happen for you is so perfect to you, and no amount of rushing will change when you get results, build that brand, make those sales, etc.
Sure you can get some results here and there, but to really be aligned with what God has for you, it takes patience, peace, and the urgency that He places in your heart.
Other entrepreneur endeavors I’m thinking of
I really like transportation.
I like to drive. It’s how I clear my mind and it’s when you have good conversations with people.
I’m so eager of sharing with you guys what I’m thinking in terms of transportation and building a business around that, but I don’t want to give too much away. A good writer builds suspense, ay?
Anyways, thank you for reading. Let me know what you thought of this post, and if you want me to touch on some points in another issue.
You are doing great. I like your new format.