#57: How hard is it to build an online business? (my personal story)
And some changes I plan
Hey friends,
Welcome to the 57th edition of the “Level Up Ladder” newsletter.
This is a more personal edition, as I will talk a bit about my journey online and the things I plan to change.
1/ The hardships of online businesses
I don’t know where to begin because I don’t know when it started.
I will begin with the answer to the question in the title:
Very hard.
Or at least it is for me.
I probably first heard about building an online business about 6-7 years ago? Someone who was talking about creating an online course on Udemy that will generate thousands and thousands of dollars.
I built that course, on Udemy.
It probably generated around 100$.
Then people were saying that platforms like Udemy are scams because they take so much of your profit.
So I tried building courses on my own website. I ran ads and hosted webinars.
One person joined the course. And she wanted her money back after a week.
Spent a couple of hundred dollars on ads.
Then it was Twitter. People I followed were saying that you need to have a big audience to make it big. And you had to become viral.
I spent months there, buying online courses, getting into cohorts and doing “engagement pods”, but couldn’t reach 1000 followers.
Then, one post went viral and jumped to 10.000 followers over the weekend.
I thought I had conquered the world.
“This will surely boost my online business,”
I was convinced.
Then Elon came, the algorithm change, my engagement droped significantly.
I quit Twitter/X.
I went on LinkedIn.
“It’s the platform to be," everyone would say.
“It’s cringe AF.”, more people would say.
And they were right. I guess you’ve all seen this:
Anyway, I started engaging on LinkedIn, met some great people, and got into some very interesting conversations.
Launched an online course.
It flopped.
Of course, there are many issues with the launch. I didn’t do it properly, I didn’t prepare my audience, and I probably didn’t address the right audience.
And all of this took a toll, and takes a toll on my time, my focus and my overall confidence.
I would only work on my business on my free time, of course.
But since I started the MBA in December, that free time has shrank dramatically.
That meant I would sleep less. Maybe skip a workout. Maybe time with my loved ones.
The other thing is that I constantly invested money in this:
domain name and hosting
platform for funnels and sending automatic emails
creating landing pages
Faceboon ads
etc
And not to mention online course. I’m a sucker for online courses. Every time one of my favorite creators would release a new course on:
building an online business
growing on LinkedIn
using AI in your workflow
writing better copy
etc
I would jump on it.
Spend a couple of hundred dollars, watch 1-2 lessons, and drop it.
Or watch it all but not implement anything.
But it all came together yesterday, when I had to pay 200 euros for accounting services for my company. That has not generated revenue.
So, I made a decision to put the break on my online journey. Or at least slow it down.
I don’t know what that means, I mean, I don’t have a plan, I only know this:
I won’t spend another dime until I start making money
I won’t spend hours and hours engaging with strangers
I will only write posts that I feel are worth it (I’ll try to be as far for cringe-worthy as I can)
I will focus more and more on my career and on my MBA
And I will take the time to understand what I want from this online journey. The people I want to attract and the things I want to teach them.
Because, to be honest, the internet is full of people who are making millions by saying:
“You got this; believe in yourself.”
“True leaders trust their teams.”
“Wake up at 5, run 10K, eat a nutritious breakfast, work one hour on your business and you’ll be a winner.”
over and over again.
If you were curious :) I will continue writing this newsletter every week. I don’t know if it will have the same format, the same topics, or the same target audience.
The plan is to write it weekly, that’s for sure.
But I only want to write it for the people who read it.
That’s why I will unsubscribe the people who very rarely or never open it and I’ll probably limit reading it to being a subscriber (free, of course).
I’ll see. I have a lot to think about.
Again, I’m not saying building an online business or a side-income online is not possible. I’m saying that it is for me. And that it’s probably hard to do in your spare time if you have a career you care about and like and other interests.
We’ll see where life takes us.
I want to take the time to thank you for reading this and for supporting it.
I know some of you have shared it. Others have replied with nice words. All these things mean a lot.
And it’s the main thing that keeps me going.
Some things worth checking out
Chat GPT o was released this week, and it looks extremely powerful (not to mention that it gives us some “Her” vibes, if you’ve seen the movie)
This guy went on a blind date in Tokyo (from the US)
This Netflix crime show, with “True Detective Season 1” vibes
Again, thank you for reading.
I appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, or help, whatever you have :) by replying to this email.
PS: I’ll probably move away from substack next week, or soon.