So... apparently I don’t actually work for myself?

1 minute 42 seconds read time

Todays Topic: Apparently working for yourself isn’t about ‘passion’. It’s about using your skills to solve real problems for paying customers.

Hey, it’s Nichole your resident cautionary tale.

Working for yourself is a lie. Let me explain why.

I thought it meant set your own hours, be your own boss, and wear pajamas (because who even wears real pants anymore?) Yeah, about that..

Look, I'm as passionate about building a business as the next guy (though with slightly less, ahem, success so far). But I started to see a pattern.

Most people I know in business, didn’t follow their bliss. They followed real problems for real people. Big difference.

At first, I was like, ‘Ugh, that sounds like a creative killer. I mean the dream is do what I like’. But it gets better.

Full disclosure: The past few weeks have been a masterclass in epic failure. Remember Noah Kagans' 48 Hour Money Challenge? Three paying customers?

It’s more like a graveyard of rejected ideas and deafening silence from potential clients.

Realized I’m not attacking this problem the right way. I’m was focused on what I think the problem is, what mine are, and became a validation vampire desperately seeking approval.

Google Trends, Facebook Ads, online marketplaces. Even Reddit wasn’t safe — “Hey internet, need this thing I made?”

But it also taught me how to fail fast instead of the months I was doing before and I don’t even care about being rejected anymore. It’s more like an internal scream of, ‘HOW CAN I HELP YOU?’… haha moving on.

Here’s the takeaways (because who doesn’t love a happy ending to endless fails):

• Business win by solving real problems.

• You are always working for someone. The ‘you’ in the equation is your approach and the clients you choose to take on.

Don’t worry there’s also a semi-happy ending. Last few weeks solving problems on Reddit communities I’m in — 30 minutes a day because frankly I need a win. Turns out my knowledge is needed in places I never imagined.

People are giving me their problems and telling me their pain points. And those real pain points align with my skills.

So I’m taking those Reddit issues and putting them through the 48-hour challenge. Wish me luck. Maybe next weeks newsletter will be titles, ‘How I landed my first paying client (and didn’t cry in the shower)’.

Catch you next week! And if your ‘I wanna start a business’ resembles a nightmare, there’s no shame in course correcting. Just, maybe avoid the Reddit harassment route.

Question of the Week

Think about the last time you helped someone with a problem. What did you do? What skills or knowledge did you use? Can you identify a similar problem that other people might face and could benefit from your help?