11 mistakes I made as a solopreneur

And how to avoid them.

👋 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 x5 failed projects, and x1 ongoing.

I also publish Tech Books summaries along with Anton Zaides.

It’s been almost a year since I left my 6 figures job to become a full-time solopreneur.

The mistakes I made and keep on making are piling up, so I decided to share with you the top 11 mistakes I made, so you can learn from them.

If you’re short on time, here’s the full list (In a nice-to-read order):

By the way, the list has 12 items. 11 just looks better in the title ;)

Mistakes short list:

1. Trying to get big things done instead of taking it a step at a time.

2. Using complex tech stack to build something quite simple.

3. Work endlessly. Even when I had nothing to do.

4. Trying to do too many things at the same time.

5. Not going out of the house for weeks on end.

6. Writing a web app desktop-first.

7. Build product before verification.

8. Not focus on my niche.

9. Neglect physical health.

10. Not planning my days.

11. Planning my days.

12. Neglect reading.

If you’re here, it either means you have nothing to do but read my article or I got your attention. 😜

I’ll divide the mistakes into sections: Mindset, Products and Personal. Feel free to jump to whatever interests you the most.

Either way, let’s get it started with mistake #1:

Mindset

1. Too many things, not enough focus

For around 2-3 months I had way too many things on my plate:

1. PinkyPartner

2. BookWiz

3. LinkedIn

4. Substack

5. YouTube

6. Prepare for the Eras Tour

Now, some might call it champagne problems, but it can be as bad as having nothing to do. Trust me. I’ve experienced both.

To be honest, the most time-consuming things were the projects. Having too many products you want to build makes you stressed about all of them, and the more you have, the less quality work you produce.

Solution:

Focus on 2-3 things only. Put the least valuable ones in the drawer to review in the future, once you’re available for something new.

2. Work non-stop

When I started building PinkyPartner, I was so excited about the projects that I spent 14 days writing code non-stop, rarely leaving the house.

It felt exhilarating at the time, but once I finished, I found myself in a sort of depression. It was as if I had been riding a two-week dopamine rush that suddenly came crashing down.

So for the next 30 days, I wrote about burnout, how it feels and what I did to try and get out of it.

Solution:

Take a day off.
I always take Saturdays as my days of disconnecting. I do my best to stay offline and enjoy the freedom.

3. Never leave the house

At the beginning of my journey, I truly believed that I needed to work as hard as possible and do as many things as I possibly could within a day.

So I stayed at home for the first several months of my journey.

This loneliness made me go into a bad spiral of feeling awful and getting addicted to playing chess online.

Solution:

Leave your house EVERY DAY. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to your mood and psyche.

I work out 5-6 days a week, the rest I go with my girlfriend out on a walk or meet people.

4. Focus on big things rather than small steps

Until not long ago, I looked at a project from the perspective of “Looking at the whole picture”, which is smart when you start to dictate the direction.

But once you’re on the path, it causes a mess, inconsistency and quick burnout.

Solution:

Look at the big picture, build a short-term plan (1-2 weeks) and start walking the path, step by step, trusting yourself that you built a good plan.

Worst case? You figure out that your plan was not good, so you refine and learn for the next time.

Products

5. Complex tech stack

Since I worked in 2 companies that had very complex systems and pipelines, I believed that this was the way to build products.

I used Serverless Framework and AWS for my projects, which was not only time-consuming but also costly.

Solution:

Frankly, most of your early products will not get any traction. Instead of focusing on complex and scalable technologies, use the most simple ones you can find that will do the job.

Here are my go-to frameworks and technologies:
React+NextJS+Vercel => Frontend, backend and CI/CD.
Mongo/Supabase => Database.

Easy and free.

6. Build before verify

I did it twice. Both had bad results.

The first time when Anton and I had a design for BookWiz. Instead of asking friends and potential users how they feel about it, we started building.

Eventually, the design was awful and didn’t vibe with the purpose of the website.

The second time it happened when I was too afraid to make cold calls and verify my idea to improve chess clubs, and I built most of the core feature. Then, I gathered the courage and called.

100% said it’s not really helpful and they wouldn’t need it.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Solution:

If possible, before you commit a lot of time to build something, do your best to get a verification.

It doesn’t have to be a rubber stamp, but at least something that will hint that you’re in the right direction.

7. Go desktop-first

The first version of BookWiz was desktop only.

Anton and I spent weeks building that version, just to learn that not only the design is not good, but most of the users tried to access it from their mobile phones.

And let me tell you, desktop designs look AWFUL on mobiles and are rarely usable. On the other hand, mobile designs look decent on desktops and are usable.

Solution:

Unless your product is a dashboard or a very complex tool, there are 0 reasons not to go mobile-first.

8. Spread too wide (Social)

When I started writing, and before the last 3 YouTube videos, I shared random things that I liked.

I talked about personal development, entrepreneurship, stocks, books and more.

This is bad because you can’t grow an audience that will connect to you on a personal level.

It’s extremely rare to find someone who likes exactly what you like, so going that path is not very fruitful.

After

Anton Zaides

talked to me about it and wrote an extensive document, explaining what I did wrong and what I should do next (Thank you :)), I realized I needed to change.

Here are the results of me focusing on my niche

My best performing video in that time frame

Solution:

Figure out who you are and who you want to talk to. What kind of audience do you want to build? Then, start writing specifically to those people.

My target audience is people who want to take their first step into the solopreneurship world or have taken it recently.

So I share my journey, lessons and mistakes and the technologies I use to build my products.

Personal

9. Winging it (Not planning days)

This is something that I am guilty of to this day (Including today 🙈).

Starting the day without any goal or plan is a motivation killer. It makes you feel as if you didn’t progress the whole week.

For some reason, I find it extremely hard to stick to a plan or have a consistently improving system.

So here’s to my future me and other people who struggle with it:

I will find a way to make it stick. I hate it right now, but I’ll find a way to make it more enjoyable.

Solution:

What worked for me for the longest period was planning and setting goals for the week ahead.

At the end of the week, I felt much more energized and satisfied with the work I did.

I would take 30-60 minutes at the end of each week to contemplate the week that has passed and the next week’s goals.

I am going to give this system another go and commit to at least 8 weeks.

10. Planning my days

Before having the weekly goal-setting system, I used to write a plan for each day.
Every evening I would plan the next day.

The problem? It felt endless.

I mean, every day you have things to do. So when you plan your schedule day by day, you will never find time to rest.

On the other hand, when you plan your week, you know there’s an end. Once you’re done with your goals, you have the choice to choose whether you’re done for the week or if you have more left in you to get more done.

Solution:

Even if you decide to plan your schedule, make sure you have some longer-term goals.

That will ensure you have some time to rest and will make you feel much more satisfied with your work.

11. Neglect physical health

For the first 6 months of my journey, I put my physical health in a low priority.

I would wake up and start working immediately. From 06:00 to 20:00.
Even if I had nothing to do, I would just stare at the screen and hope something would come up.

I rarely went to the gym and ordered every other day. I reached 88kg (194 pounds) and felt awful.

One day, during one of my burnout periods, I decided to do something different, hoping that it would help me feel better and get out of the mud. And it did.

I started working out 5-6 times a week and slept a minimum of 8 hours a day. And although I am not at the peak, I do feel like it’s stopping me from going into a bad spiral again. It keeps me balanced.

Solution:

Find a way to prioritize your physical health.

Be it eating healthy, working out or going out on walks. Putting your health first is a game changer and it will make you feel so much better in the long run.

Personal tip:
Don’t worry about missing work hours. It’s better to live longer and happier than cramming more work hours.

12. Neglect reading

Reading is what got me to this point. It’s the thing that changed my life and set me on a new path. Thanks to books, I was able to quit my gaming addiction.

It did not only build the knowledge I have today, but it also helped me build discipline.

See, reading books is hard. I mean, you can get that knowledge through a quick summary or a YouTube video.

But it’s more than the knowledge. It’s proving yourself that you’re in control of YOU. That you’re not a slave to the monkey in your head that tells you to go and get a quick dopamine rush.

And if that’s not enough, the world’s greatest minds are or were book readers. They endorse reading more than anything else.

Solution:

Commit to reading 1 page every day. That’s it.
Most days you would read more than that and over time you’d be amazed at how many books you read.

P.S.

If you find it hard to do it yourself, find a friend or send me a contract on PinkyPartner, so we can build this habit together! :)

Final words

The solopreneurship journey is full of mistakes and lessons.

And more often than not, we tend to repeat these mistakes and then wonder how we let this happen.

This is one of the reasons I write about it. To document, learn and share these with you, so you can avoid these mistakes or at least of them in mind, for when and if you encounter them.

And although this journey is hard, there’s nothing more valuable than being able to wake up and work on things that you love and that energize you, without being micromanaged by a boss.

What I enjoyed reading this week

1. I created 6 (six) side-projects over this weekend by

   Alexander Isora
   - I was skeptical at first, but it’s actually genius. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

2. The honest guide to hitting 200k LinkedIn followers by

   Tom Orbach
   - As always, Tom sends our way more golden nuggets from his experience of growing Wiz page to 200k+ followers.

3. Probabilistic Thinking - Mental Model by

   Michał Poczwardowski
   - In this well-written article, Michal gives us practical applications of probabilistic thinking in our everyday decision-making.