8 Simple Principles That Helped Me Grow a Highly Profitable Online Business Without Ads

Forget “business as usual” and embrace the freedom you have.

I hate how most self-proclaimed business gurus claim how simple building a digital business and making money online is. Yet, when I look back at my journey, it’s never been the complex strategies that led to significant results. It’s really been the simple practices.

I won’t deny the sleepless nights and numerous mental breakdowns I went through when nothing seemed to work out. But if I’m 100% honest, the actual results in my business came from doing the simple things — over and over and over again.

It wasn’t weird growth hacks or thousands of dollars of advertising costs. It’s been genuine relationships, delivering value, giving before I asked to take.

Following these (and a few more) rules helped me go from zero to multiple 6-figure profits in less than two years.

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

— Jim Rohn

I ditched unsolicited advice.

Shortly after my last product launch, I’ve been at a networking event. I met a friend who knew about my successful launch and came over to learn some details.

Apart from the success story, I also shared the things that went wrong. Right when I started to talk about the lessons I learned, and why certain things didn’t work out, one of his friends also stopped by and joined the conversation.

That person had no idea what I was doing and what my business is about. She had zero experience in my industry. And nobody asked for her opinion, yet she constantly interrupted me to give advice. She was so convinced that her ideas are great that I couldn’t stop her from talking.

Luckily, one of the principles I’ve been following long before that conversation is avoiding unsolicited advice.

I deeply appreciate honest and critical feedback — BUT I choose the people I want to learn from.

There’s nothing more annoying than people who don’t know what they’re talking about but who just don’t stop talking.

If you want to move fast and build the online business you’ve been dreaming about for so long, you need to learn how to ignore noise and chatter.

Surround yourself with people who know what they’re talking about and who can give you helpful advice, but ignore the rest.

Someone who’s never launched and sold a digital product can’t judge whether you’re doing it wrong or not.

They might have opinions, but luckily, opinions don’t take us far. If you want to move fast, you need solid advice, not an opinion.

Don’t touch it twice.

Imagine the following:

You open your email inbox and quickly scan through the new messages. You see a message that requires you to do something. You put it on unread, close the emails, and go back to doing what you’ve been doing before.

While doing that, you constantly think of the email that requires action and get worried.

Ever been in a similar situation?

I’ve been there so often. Sometimes, I procrastinated on replying to certain emails and messages for days.

Luckily, I came across the don’t-touch-it-twice-rule, which made my life significantly easier.

Here’s the deal: When you open an email, you immediately reply to it/save it/forward it — you do what needs to get done.

You don’t put it on unread and open it again a few hours or days later. You only touch it once and get it done immediately.

This rule can be applied to any area of your life.

Thinking about calling your mum? Do it right away, or set up a timer that’ll remind you to call her later today, so you don’t forget about it.

Packing your bags for the next holiday? Pack everything at once, so you’re done quickly and don’t need to think about it for multiple days.

Touch it once, get it done, and move on. This is easy-peasy but super effective, especially if you’re at the beginning of your journey as an online entrepreneur and need to get lots of small tasks done every day.

I accepted that I’d suck at a lot of things.

Mistakenly sent newsletters, Facebook posts that went live at the wrong time, live streams with horrible lighting, spelling mistakes on sales pages — I’ve done it all.

There are many reasons people fail to build a profitable online business. Some believe they deserve to make money quickly and give up after the first 48 hours, some follow the wrong strategies, and others struggle because of perfectionism.

Let’s be honest: We all want to do a good job. Nobody is proud of creating garbage.

But there’s a difference between doing a good job and trying to do everything perfectly.

The main reason I was able to build a 6-figure online business within a year is that I moved fast. I’ve set goals, learned how to turn them into reality, and just did it.

I tried to do everything as well as I could, but mistakes were inevitable.

And even now, I’m making mistakes all the time. But it doesn’t matter because I have happy clients, a growing business, and a satisfied mind.

If I spot a mistake, I revise it as soon as possible, but I don’t try to be perfect because I know it’s not sustainable and effective.

I stopped looking at the top.

When I started my entrepreneurial journey, I was strongly inspired by female business owners who’d built million-dollar companies.

I often spent hours per day scrolling through their Instagram feeds and stories, feeling inspired by their success but desperate about my own progress.

Over time, I learned to stop comparing my journey to others.

The truth is, you never see the mess in other people's lives. You only see the highlights because that’s the only thing we publicly display.

Too often, we compare our day #1 to other people’s day #1500 and ask ourselves why we’re not succeeding yet.

In our fast-paced world, most people are impatient. They want change and results — and they want it now.

Whenever you’re comparing yourself to someone who’s way ahead of you, you’re essentially comparing your beginning to their level of mastery, which is quite unfair.

Being inspired is good, but don’t allow someone else’s light to intimidate you. Nobody is you, and that’s your superpower — just keep going.

Sales is service.

One of the most effective mindset shifts I experienced in the past years was falling in love with sales.

At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, I hated selling. I hated it so much that I’d give away stuff for free instead of asking for payments.

Over time, I learned that sales is service and that I can only make an impact if I can sell. If I can’t sell, I can’t keep my business running.

“You get to make up the rules. You don’t have to do business the way the other people in your market do business. You don’t have to do business with clients you don’t like. You can create a business you love. And it all starts with getting clear on what that business looks like and what your life would look like if you had that business.”

— Jeff Walker

Does it make the boat go faster?

If you want to build a reliable online business, you’ll need to make lots of decisions. Once you’ve built a solid foundation, you might receive lots of messages, requests, and opportunities.

And while opportunities and new ideas can be a good thing, they can also be a distraction.

Whenever I’m about to decide whether I join or start a new project or take the time to hop on a call with someone, I ask myself if it makes the boat go faster.

Does this specific project or person help me achieve my goals? Does it bring any value to my life or business? Does it add to the impact I want to create in the world? And does it do any of that in the most effective way?

Ever since I started asking myself that question, saying no has become significantly easier.

The truth is, most shiny objects won’t make your boat go faster. They’ll slow you down.

Sometimes, you might still say yes because you believe in a mission or vision, but most of the time, you’ll be better off by ignoring the things that won’t move you forward.

Be so good they can’t ignore you.

I receive at least 15–20 private messages per month from aspiring creators, writers, or entrepreneurs who want me to help them.

They haven’t lifted a finger yet, but reach out asking for support. I ignore all of them.

The most ignored truth when it comes to making money online is that you can learn everything. The internet is full of advice on how to start and scale any kind of business. All you need to do is making an effort.

If you’re doing a good job, you’ll attract the right clients and like-minded people who’ll love to support you. But first, you need to do the damn work and show the world that you have something to say.

I didn’t message a single person asking for help until I was making 6-figure profits because I didn’t expect anyone to help me.

Now don’t get me wrong: Asking for help is a great practice. But make sure you do the work first.

If someone asks me how to make a full-time income writing online but hasn’t published a single article yet, I instantly click the delete button — every single time.

Do the work first. Make an effort. Use Google.

You can find answers to most questions within minutes, if not seconds.

Hold the vision, trust the process.

The most painful truth I had to embrace while building my business was that most things would never work out as planned.

I once prepared a product launch for an entire month. I had a great sales page, well-written emails, and a solid product.

A few minutes after we opened enrollment for the program, we received an email from a subscriber who said she couldn’t complete the payment because something went wrong on the checkout page:

Over the next four days, we received many more similar emails because our payment provider had errors and couldn’t ensure that all payments went through.

The most annoying part was that I couldn’t do anything to change it because I sold the product through an external platform and couldn’t even figure out why the problem happened.

Sometimes, you need to stick to your vision but be flexible in the execution.

Most things won’t turn out the way you initially planned, and you need to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.

As long as you have a clear vision and know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you’ll be able to move forward, even when challenges come up.

As Jeff Walker writes in his book Launch:

“To get to a business you love, the first thing you need to figure out is the “why” behind your business.”

Overall, my journey from being a 19-year-old aspiring entrepreneur to becoming the CEO of my dream business was bumpy and sometimes even frustrating, but it was also incredibly instructive, inspirational, and worth every minute I spent worrying.

I genuinely believe that everything worth having takes effort and that it’s nice to work hard for something you want.

If living your dreams were easy, anyone else would do it too. But it’s not. It takes courage, persistence, and lots of trial and error.

The good news, however, is that it’s also incredibly rewarding.

Waking up each morning and being able to work on something you genuinely care about is probably one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

Interested in building an online business and creating freedom? Download my 6-Figure Online Business Framework for FREE.