Today’s my two-year anniversary as a solopreneur.
If you’ve ever wanted to be a solopreneur, or if you’re already on your own solopreneur/entrepreneur/creator journey, I hope my story can inspire you to overcome fear and follow the path you know you’re meant to take.
December 4th, 2020 was my last day as an employee.
A month prior, I’d gotten a short email from my boss that I’d be fired in 30 days.
Did I suck at my job?
“No. Your patients and coworkers love you, and all your paperwork is always done right and on time.”
Was I not seeing enough therapy patients?
“No. All your numbers are good.”
So why was I getting fired?
“We’re moving away from telehealth and pulling everyone back into the clinics. Since you’re fully remote and live far away, you’re fired.”
That meant I had 30 days and 3 paychecks of runway to figure my life out.
But I couldn’t find another therapy job.
The last 12+ years of my life I’d spent optimizing for a career as a therapist suddenly seemed…suboptimal.
I literally couldn’t do the only thing I’d dedicated over a decade of my life learning how to do.
So I took an inventory of what I loved doing:
- I loved writing, but didn’t want to do formal research.
- I loved teaching, but didn’t want to work in academia.
- I loved helping people improve their lives, but didn’t want to do therapy anymore.
How could I build my life around writing, teaching, and helping people improve their lives, and do it all on my terms?
After a brief existential crisis, I decided to pivot and build my own business around creating content to help people flourish.
My first four months, I made roughly $0.00 as I bumblefucked my way through learning how to build a business and create content.
The early parts of your journey are weird.
On one hand, you’re excited at the limitless possibilities of what you could accomplish.
On the other, you have no idea what the fuck you’re doing. And because you’re so early, and your audience numbers and other performance metrics are so small, you have no idea if what you’re doing is working or will pay off.
This is where most people give up.
But slowly, I connected with incredible people online who offered guidance and support, I took some kickass courses that helped me level up, and relentlessly learned and experimented with different strategies.
Since becoming a solopreneur, I’ve:
- Had $0 months and $27k months
- Lost sleep over stress and slept past 10am on weekdays
- Worked all weekend and taken mid-day trips on a whim
- Questioned my abilities to create valuable content and been flooded with positive feedback from people
- Felt like I’m bellycrawling through broken glass and felt like I’m on top of the fucking world
These are all part of the dichotomy of being a solopreneur/entrepreneur/creator.
Every single day since I got that fateful email telling me I was fired has been a fucking grind filled with uncertainty, questioning my abilities, and not knowing if what I’m doing will pay off.
But I’ve loved every second of it.
Because when you:
- Face your fears
- Clarify what you want out of life
- Iterate, experiment, and execute every day
- Embrace the mindset of “I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out.”
I promise you, you’re entire life will change.
You’ll do work that fulfills you.
You’ll make an impact on the world only you can make.
You’ll attract incredible people and opportunities on your journey.
And you’ll never dread Monday again.
Today, I write. I teach. I help people improve their lives. And I do it all on my terms.
So can you.
Until next time—memento mori,
Corey
