Fear holds your actions.

Building IT projects can bring a lot of negative thoughts to your head:

1. I don’t have any skills
2. I will lose focus on my job and never succeed
3. I need to quit my job to do that
4. I don’t have ideas and co-founder to start with

Solopreneurship is not what you expect

Just start. I saw many people fail to get first customers. Imagine you are starting out and can’t even get 1 user. That’s not what solopreneurship is. That means you didn’t even start.

Don’t focus on planning and getting everything right. You can’t have the perfect solution, UI/UX, or fantastic marketing. You probably will fail at everything, and that’s okay. But If you never try, you never know how it will go. By trying, you get experience and user feedback. Then you can build something that really provides value, and people are ready to pay for that.

So how to get the first user?

It should be you. Start by developing and thinking about the problems that you face yourself. What can you automate? How? Build a solution for yourself first, and then try to improve it.

If you can come up with a solution for your own problem, chances are other people out there are facing the same problem and would benefit from your solution. NoCode tools and AI can help you build a project in a matter of days.

If you can't find anything that you can solve for yourself – don't worry.

Being bad at doing something is not bad. Not doing is bad.

I am not perfect at building or launching. I am really not. I failed many times and will fail many more just because I always try to get more things done and provide more value.

But that’s okay because I’m learning and getting better with practice. Stop thinking about how bad you are at something. Focus on what you’re doing and how you’re improving. And remember that the only way to get better is to take action and keep going.

You will succeed faster if you focus on the path and provide value to customers. The earlier you start → the faster you get your treasure. You only really need to find 1 successful startup. That's it.

Ideas ain’t cash

Ideas cost nothing. They are just words. What matters – is execution. If you don’t have any ideas – it’s okay.

Talk to people but don’t say that you are building something. They will nag you about the problems they face, and you can get an insight into what you can build.

And also, always keep your ideas somewhere. I write them in Notion space.

The worst thing is to forget the idea, so don’t let this happen to you.

Ideas are easy. Execution and staying persistent are hard. So don’t be bothered if you don’t have any ideas. Here are 3 steps that will 100% get you ideas:

1. Observe. Follow people who are creating what you want to build or use what you want to create. So it is either your competitors or your targeted audience. It is also wise to follow other creative people as it brings you unique and creative ideas.
2. Talk to people via DMs. Ask them to try your solution. Sell it!
3. Observe what you are doing every day. Can you take something from it and make it faster/better?

Making a slight improvement in delivery or value is enough to build something huge. Look at Stripe. They started as easy to-connect payment gateway. And they are still very simple!

“I need a co-founder and go all in!!!”

No, you don’t. There is no need for a co-founder to start building projects, especially if you have no skills or experience. Do you think you would attract a great co-founder this way?

Now, when I have the knowledge, audience and skills, I can find partners and make 2x-5x profits on some of the projects as my partners either have a serious problem to solve or an audience (sometimes both). I can do that only because I am experienced now!

Don’t look for a co-founder to start your business. It will take you more time to start and does not increase your chances of success.

In fact, you don’t need to go “all in”. Don’t start by quitting your job.

Start by providing value to 1 user, then to 10, then to 100…

And when you monetise it and get equal money from your startups – quit your job.

You can then invest your full-time in building and growing your projects.

TL;DR

Fear of failure can prevent you from taking action. It’s normal that you experience something like this. Just don’t allow it to stop you from doing what you need to be doing.

Solopreneurship is not about getting everything perfect but rather about taking action and learning from the experience.

Ideas are easy, but execution is hard. Focus on providing value to users, and money will come.

Don't worry about finding a co-founder, and don't quit your job until you have a steady income from your project.

If you want more...

I talk a lot about building, growing, and rapidly launching startups.

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And yes, it is going to be hard. But being poor is even harder.