👋 Hey, it’s Orel here! Welcome to my weekly newsletter where I share my journey and lessons as a solopreneur who quit his job to chase his dreams.
I am a software developer, and so far I have x3 failed projects, and x2 ongoing.
I also publish Tech Books summaries along with Anton Zaides.
Last week I talked about my partnership with Anton on BookWiz.
I shared the journey, how it started and why it ended.
It took me some time to get over the rejection and figure out how I can improve and what things I can take from the partnership.
I have refined my thoughts into 6 key actionable that will help you be a better solopreneur, whether in a partnership or alone.
Key takeaways
Working solo
Have some time off the grid.
Build a weekly todo list, not daily.
Finish a first version, as fast as possible.
Working in partnership
Write down what you agree upon and why.
Review what you agreed upon before discussions.
You don’t need to have a weekly meeting. Be flexible.
Working solo
#1 Clear your mind and have some time off.
Look, I can’t stress enough the importance of giving yourself free time to let your thoughts wonder and be stress-free, as much as possible.
During the last 10 months of being a solopreneur, I have experienced a wide range of emotions.
From loneliness to depression through burnout.
I would sometimes feel so bad that for weeks I didn’t feel like doing anything. I would wake up, stare at the screen, hoping the day would pass and I’d go to sleep and wake up feeling better.
Let me tell you something, after trying many things like trying to do new things and trying to artificially reduce the stress by working on my psyche, the thing that made the most difference was having time off. No internet, no electronics.
Not only does it remove most stress you had, it opens your mind to think about new ideas and helps you calm and recharge.
Actionable
Schedule at least a day a week to relax and get off the grid.
That means no internet, as little communication on the phone as needed and no work.
In the beginning it feels extremely weird, and you will probably just sit there, staring and considering what to do next.
Now, you might ask: Isn’t a day a week is a lot of time?
Maybe. But you should not become a solopreneur to run a sprint.
You run a marathon. You are here for the long haul.
Don’t burn yourself out so bad that you quit the race.
Even MrBeast takes a day-day and half off every 10 days or so.
In his interviews he says that he gets tired and that he has to take time off to regain his power.
#2 Don’t plan your day. Plan your week.
A few of months ago I started planning my day every evening, before going to sleep.
In the beginning it felt good to know what I am going to work on everyday and not needing to wing it.
Over time the stress crept in and burn out started to build up. And at that time, I had no idea why.
I was enjoying my work, I was always productive and I was progressing. But it was never ending.
See, when you plan your day, you find that you always have things to do, so your days will be always be full. No time off.
Actionable
Don’t plan your days. Plan your week.
Decide on several things you are going to accomplish that week and focus on them.
It’s okay to deviate a little bit in the beginning to find out what works best for you.
And after you’re done with your week’s tasks, you’re done for the week. Rest, find inspiration and do things you don’t usually do.
Actionable #2 (partnership)
If the plans are related to a project in which you have a partner, communicate those with your partner.
Let them know exactly what you’re going to do this week, so you don’t feel pressured to do more or feel like you haven’t done enough.
#3 Finish a first version fast
When Anton and I started working on BookWiz, we had a core feature of managing your books backlog.
Over time we added more features, like Goodreads scraping and automated lists export, which took us weeks to develop and were eventually put away and were never used.
We thought that we need to have a killer feature, beyond the core feature, before we share it with people. And that was a huge mistake.
Even if you have a killer feature, if the core usage of the app is not good, people will not use the app and most of them will not even get to use that killer feature.
Actionable
MVP is too general to be used when you want to build a product and ship it fast.
Instead, decide on one core feature you want to build and let your community tell you if they like it or not. Then, build around it, pivot if needed, and work according to the user’s feedback.
Working in a partnership
#1 Write things down
One of the problems I had in the partnership was being to scattered.
Anton and I used to have a weekly zoom meeting where we’d discuss progress, ideas and decisions.
And most times I would forget what we agreed upon, start writing the code and suddenly have an idea to do things differently or forget what we agreed and ask Anton what does he think we should do.
Actionable
After every discussion and decision making session make sure you write down the main points of your decisions.
And more important, write for yourself exactly what you need to do and if you need to, add a why.
Hindsight tip: Keep those notes in the same place you organize your other tasks and notes, so you never miss it. And that leads me to my second point.
#2 Review what you agreed upon
It’s not enough only to write things down. They are worthless if you don’t review them.
Funny (now) story:
The worst time that I forgot what Anton and I decided was when Anton and I agreed on what an unauthenticated user will see in the navigation bar and wrote it in bold in our meeting’s document.
A day later, I asked Anton what did we decide to do about the navigation bar for unauthenticated users.
The response was quite a wake-up call for me, after Anton told me how annoying it is that I forget these things that we wrote down (It was literally the first and biggest item on the list)
Now, you might think that this is a problem that only I have and that it would never happen to you. And you might as well be right.
But these are the lessons from my experience, so if you have some lessons of your own, share them so we can learn from your mistakes and success as well :).
Actionable
Before you start working on a feature, make sure you review the document that’s related to that feature.
If after you read everything something is still unclear, consult your partner about it.
#3 Be flexible with your meetings schedule
Anton and I started our communication about the project via WhatsApp.
Long story short, it caused a lot of stress, because we worked at different times and getting your phone blasted with notifications about the project was disturbing.
So we moved to Slack and a weekly zoom call.
Over time the weekly Zoom called has put more pressure on me than it did good.
And it was totally my fault.
I felt like I need to have something to show for every week, so I tried to work as fast as possible and ship something so it looks like we’re progressing.
And many times UI adjustments I made made other ones look bad and I didn’t bother to check it, because I was too stressed to finish coding.
And the problem? I did not communicate this with Anton.
Actionable
Don’t let stress affect your work. At the very least talk about it with your partner and see what you can do to mitigate it.
Actionable #2
You don’t have to meet on a regular schedule. Do what feels comfortable, there isn’t a formula for that.
Final words
Look, we all have a different journey and we experience different things.
This is my experience as a 10 months solopreneur, who mostly spends his time at home, lonely.
I learn something new on a daily basis, and things that I thought were right two months ago, like planning your day the evening before, I find wrong at this point of time.
And that’s good. It means that I am growing and learning and let you in on my experiences and lessons so you can learn and share as well.
So here’s what I ask of you:
Help me see things that I don’t see. Share your lessons and tell me what you think, so we can all grow and learn more from each other. ❤️
📣 What I enjoyed reading this week
Great software teams don't release in phases by
- I usually share articles that are more relevant to solopreneurs, but I really enjoyed reading Anton’s article and it can be relevant to any of us in the future.Good design can obscure poor logic by
- Wes talks about the fact that an attractive design can be a disguise for weak content.Growth plan for my new SaaS: from $240 to $100k by
- The title says it all. I am rooting for you man! Good luck :)