The origin story
How it begins
My background
In the fall of 2015, i left the traditional 9-to-6 of the corporate track after accelerated growth in Adobe, Vodafone and Bitdefender, to start something on my own.
9 years later, after doing lots of exploration and experimentation both in terms of the "what" and "how" of my solo business (e.g. 10+ areas of activity and 30+ viable revenue streams) and with a thriving setup at the moment, i want to dedicate 25% of my bandwidth to helping other highly experienced professionals (sr. leaders and experts) start and grow their own business, and make a good living out of it.
Why now
The decision to do something consistent in this direction came after many 1:1 conversations with people who have just started an expertise-based business on their own, or with solopreneurs who wanted to grow to their business to the next level.
Additionally, all the executives that i’m working with on business strategy and org design projects have shared with me that they are thinking of going solo at some point, sooner or later.
Interestingly, there are more and more seasoned professionals who see this other way of offering their experience and expertise to the world, besides being an employee, a freelancer or a startup founder.
On top of this, in all the communities and professional associations that i’m part of, i’ve seen four types of people - when it comes to solopreneurship:
Dreamers: One day, i’ll make the leap and start something on my own. No more back-to-back meetings or energy-draining colleagues - how will i make this big step?
Starters: Let’s go! I just launched my own business, hope i’ll make this work before i run out of savings - will i find any clients?
Rookies: I’ve been doing this for a couple of years, still surviving, not yet thriving - is there a way i can bring more stability and predictability to my business?
Veterans: I’ve seen and done lots of things in this space, already have multiple stable revenue streams - how could i take my business to the next level?
I can name these stages because i went through all of them:
Dreamer: 2010-2015 (lots of dreaming)
Starter: 2016
Rookie: 2017-2021
Veteran: 2022-now
I’m not any kind of guru, i’m still working on improving my writing and on making space for this new direction in my professional life, where i’m mainly working as a Strategy Adviser for CEOs in Tech.
Yet i feel this calling of helping other solopreneurs start and grow their business. What i can promise you is that i’ll do my best to share inspiration, examples, practices and useful resources that i curate and create.
What will this be
Solopreneur Gym is the main project that i’m starting in this space of offering business mentoring to solopreneurs, in an accessible way.
Its purpose is to help you improve the health of your solo business.
Even though i’ll be writing this newsletter primarily for Rookies and Veterans, i hope Dreamers and Starters will find value in it as well.
Also, even though i’ll be writing for highly experienced professionals, i hope that people who haven’t been leading entire organizations or who haven’t reached the level of becoming local experts in their fields will find value in it as well.
Most of the content will be free, offering inspiration and examples that i find useful for healthy solo businesses. I’ve collected hundreds of resources like this over the years, that i’ve tried and tested on my own business.
For people wanting to go extra and actually practice a couple of hours per month for the health of their business, i’ve invented the Gym Pass - also offered for free:
access to monthly practical DIY workouts for your solo business - imagine setting aside 1h sessions to work on your business, guided by the materials that i create for you;
access to occasional live sessions on relevant topics (like segmentation, positioning, portfolio management, productizing services, effective GTMs for various offerings etc.) - mix of free & paid sessions, with subscriber-only discounts for the paid ones.
Now, let’s get this going.
Solopreneur Gym starts now. Wednesday, September 25th, 10:38pm local time.
Stay tuned,
Bülent