7 Crucial Lessons I’ve Learned in 2 Years of Making Money Online

I hope they help you as much.

I started side hustling 2.5 years ago.

Nine months into that, I quit my job at 25 to make a living online.

Of course, I had no idea what will I do for a living. I just wanted to be a freelancer and my pre-requisite for quitting was enough money and enough clients.

But now, I’m a full-time solopreneur.

I’m incredibly grateful to do what I love for a living. The fact that my mom and I went out for a movie yesterday, which was a weekday. My husband and I met after 4 days today and went out for coffee.

Having control over my time feels like the ultimate definition of ‘wealth’.

Here are the seven lessons I’ve learnt, and if you’re looking to step into this journey, I hope this helps you too.

1/ Experiment Your Way Into Things

I didn’t want:

• a course
• digital products
• an email list

I just wanted to freelance.

Random experiments got me on the solopreneur path instead of freelancing, and I couldn’t be happier. My course is the consequence of putting out a tweet and experimenting my knowledge on a cohort.

My digital products are 100% created based on the questions I received more frequently.

But there’s another benefit.

Doing everything as an experiment helps you get less attached. It’s common to have our eyes on the reward and get discouraged when our expectations aren’t met. But that can’t be our mindset in this field.

Did it work? Good. Let’s

It didn’t? That’s okay.

Experiment away and have fun along the way.

2/ You Need an Email List

This is the only thing you own.

Platforms own followers, you own the list.

I remember when I started, Ayodeji Awosika told me to build an email list. I replied to him that there was no point in it, it’s not like I’ll ever ‘sell’ anything. Hes said it doesn’t matter and at least I won’t regret it later.

So I started a Substack newsletter. Today,

• my Substack helps me connect to readers on a deeper level + get personal
• my mailing list from my lead magnet receives a free newsletter on side hustles + are more likely to purchase my products

The list is a sure-shot way to get attention as people check their emails frequently.

Start with Substack (it’s free).

3/ You Need a Lead Magnet

My ‘free’ product has earned over $1k in a year.

Upload a freebie on Gumroad and put on ‘pay what you want’.

This will help you:

• build an email list
• give value for free at scale

Only if people see value in your free stuff will they want to pay for it.

But more than that, launching a digital product was a powerful feeling for me. I felt like I can actually launch this entire business from the comfort of my home and a laptop.

And that made me feel so empowered!

4/ Barrier to Entry is Low

But to stay (and thrive), is high.

You just have to write online to enter this world. You have to be a damn good writer who gives value in order to stay.

So write enough until your audience wants you more.

One way to do this is to stop falling for tricks and hacks and don’t lose your personal essence. Your life experience is something nobody in the world has experienced — use it.

Use stories to connect to others.

And keep practising to improve your skill.

5/ It’s All About The Process

Most of your ideas won’t work.

Most of your work won’t get views.

The only way to be able to show up after that is to be in love with the process.

Have a routine, and show up no matter what. Take adequate time off but be consistent in what you do.

It will be very difficult to move to the internet full-time if you’re not thick-skinned to take the hits and the lows and become friends with uncertainty.

Showing up more often increases your surface area of ‘getting lucky’.

So being lucky is largely in our control.

6/ Pareto Principle

80% of your success will come from 20% of your work.

But you still have to show up 10 times for 2 things to work.

Most of my articles don’t get views, I still publish 15–18 articles each month. It’s the most time-consuming part of my day.

Make peace with this to avoid disappointment.

7/ Use Tools

To help you live a better life. That’s the beauty of the internet!

I use

• Hypefury to schedule tweets and LinkedIn posts
• Canva Pro for my graphics and ebooks
• Gumroad for my products
• Clockify to log my hours
• Calendly for calls

And outsource once you have enough cash.

Summarising

I hope this helped you in your journey.

Here’s a summary of what we discussed:

1. Experiment your way into things
2. Build an email list
3. Have a freebie
4. The barrier to entry is low, but staying isn’t easy
5. Be in love with the process
6. Pareto principle
7. Use tools to help you

Making money online isn’t rocket science, it just requires a lot of time and effort. Much more time than successful people tell you to.

My own timeframe for my goal is a few years.

Whoever is trying to tell you that you can do it in 10 days is going to sell you something. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you, haha.

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