The first $ is the hardest. Here's how I made it.
How I made my first online $ after 500 days of failing.
I have something important to tell you:
Persistent alone isn’t enough.
Even though many successful entrepreneurs will tell you that all you need is persistence, that’s bull.
I was persistently ignorant for over 500 days.
I ignored every marketing book I read and every marketing advice I got and just “shipped it and hope it sticked”.
Where did it get me? Nowhere.
Today I’ll share with you the journey to my first online $.
Background - Where it all began
It's 2020. COVID.
I am addicted to video games. I play 4-14 hours a day, depending if I had work that day.
One day, a colleague of mine comes into the office, after attending an event of a famous coach in Israel. She had his book.
It's called (Brokenly translated): "In The Height of Success"
At that point I didn't read a non-fiction book in over 25 years (My entire life).
Needless to say, that book has changed my life forever.
It has opened my eyes to productivity, entrepreneurship and being a boss of my own.
Then "Rich Dad Poor Dad" sent me into a reading spiral that got me out of the gaming addiction.
The itch
It's 2023. I am working at a startup company. 6 figures job.
At this point I read over 160 books about productivity, entrepreneurship, self growth, money management, time management and more.
And one thing really popped out to me.
Many successful entrepreneurs talked about the obsession. You need to be obsessed in order to succeed.
You need to have an itch you can't scratch.
And thanks to several awful bosses I had, the itch to quit everything and just build products on my own was stronger than ever.
So on August 16, 2023, I just decided to be irrational and impulsive and go into the Engineers Manager office and give him the news.
It felt so liberating.
The first 500 days
These days were my trial by fire days.
I read, learned, write online and built products with 0 validation, 0 feedback and 0 knowledge.
All I knew was to code.
And so I did what everybody would do. Follow the leader.
I followed the mantra "Ship and see what sticks", which is, to this day, very popular among solopreneurs.
And so, I built over 10 products, filmed shipped them and hoped for the best. Hoping something will catch fire and go viral.
Nothing worked.
I also filmed + edited an 8 hours-ish course on how to build a SaaS product, which has never seen the light of day.
The 500 days biggest mistake: Building in isolation
For over 500 days I built 10 products that had nearly 0 eyeballs, and were built in complete isolation.
0 confirmations that I was on the right path.
My process? Simple:
I thought of an idea that was maybe a problem for other people and I built a solution for it.
Easy.
I spent weeks of building, end to end, without any feedback. Just me, myself and my intuition.
The first time anybody has seen my product was when I released it.
And it was also the last time 😂
The second biggest mistake
I didn’t even give the products a chance.
Once I released it, I gave it a few days and waited to see if something works or if anybody’s interested.
Spoiler alert: Most products didn’t even get an encouraging comment.
After each release I moved into a short (or long) phase of burnout and depression, until a new idea popped into my brain.
P.S.
As I am writing this, I realize that many of my burnouts were due to the feeling of loneliness.
And that loneliness came from building in isolation.
These were the worst burnouts. Those that I could hardly shake off.
So be smart. Don’t be me and either build in public or verify your ideas. (More on that now)
The Critical Turning Point
One day something has changed.
I realized I cannot keep on doing things the way I did before and hope something would change.
So I took an oath.
I would not read any book, besides the 5 best books I could find about marketing, until I make my first $.
These books are:
100M Offers - Alex Hormozi
100M Leads - Alex Hormozi
Dotcom Secrets - Russell Brunson
Experts Secrets - Russell Brunson
Traffic Secrets - Russell Brunson
The most important lesson I learned from these books?
No audience = No traction = No customers
No matter how good your product is, if you don’t market it, nobody will see it and it will die along 99% things on the internet.
The product that changed everything
After learning about the RAG technology, I decided to give it a go and build a product that uses it.
So I built a Substack articles outline generator.
Its goal is to generate very good and personalized article outlines, based on the top articles in my niche and my own writing style.
A very minimal product that solves my own problem.
I decided to start sending out DMs to people, to get feedback on the product and improve it.
And send DMs I did.
In less than a week I sent over 100 DMs, finding people to give it a go and tell me what they think.
How did the DMs work?
Each DM was extremely personalized.
I wrote a script that generates a personalized message, based on the users publication and articles.
I edited each message to be human and to not feel like I am just spamming.
I got around 80% response rate and started a personal conversation with each person.
We talked about general stuff, their interests, hobbies and their writing habits.
Most times the conversation naturally steered into me introducing them naturally to my product.
Other times the conversations ended on a friendly note.
When I didn’t feel like the other side would be interested in my product, I just kept up the good vibes and the nice conversation.
It’s nice to meet new friends, regardless of if they might be interested.
My first $
The first 2 months of testing I gave people free access to try the product.
Started with giving people 1 month and 250 credits free, and slowly lowered it down to 1 week and 10 credits.
Then, I decided to stop giving everybody free access and just send them the url to the landing page.
They’ll decide if they want to buy.
And one person, named
, with whom I talked quite a lot and got tons of feedback from, decided it was worth it enough to pay for it!It wasn’t a coincidence. And it was not something I didn’t expect.
I had dozens of conversations with Kacper beforehand. I added many features and changed things just for him.
This trust in combination with the product that solved his problem made him pull out his credit card and pay for it.
And thus, Kacper became my first even paying customer.
came in close second :)Final Words
I’ll repeat it again:
Persistence alone is not enough.
In order to truly progress and succeed you must have the will to learn and try new things.
Every. Single. Try.
You’ll know you’re on the right track when you start doing things you hate.
This really hit home. I signed my first SEO contract last week. Haven’t gotten paid yet—but for the first time, I had to send out an invoice! That was new for me.
I’ve spent over 10 years working in-house and at agencies. Ironically, I got into this industry through my own fitness blog, which I built from scratch. That blog became my resume. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak—but years in the job market slowly crushed it. The past three years felt like living in a cocoon, trying to break out. My wife didn’t always understand that feeling.
Then came the layoff in November. It broke the bubble—and gave me the excuse I needed to finally step out.
Right now, I’m at a point where I can’t even cover my mortgage. I have backup—my wife, my dad, friends, and church—but I’m stubborn. I want to do this on my own, and I’m hoping to quickly turn the corner and build something profitable.
That Sun Tzu quote comes to mind: “Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.” When your back’s against the wall, you fight harder. And honestly? I’ve never felt more alive.
Your story resonates with me for that exact reason. Traditional jobs can dull your passion. They force you to live in ways that aren’t natural. The future feels both terrifying and thrilling. Thanks for sharing—it reminded me I’m not alone in this.
Thank you, Orel, for taking me through your journey. I’m also planning to launch my first digital products this year. And thanks for the heads-up and for being real about the mistakes you made—so I can be more mindful too.