My first failed business

This is definitely not one of those viral stories about how my business failed and I lost millions of dollars — it’s not that spectacular. I didn’t go into debt because of it, nor did I hit the so-called rock bottom or anything like that.

I just wanted to share how, a few years ago, I failed at fulfilling my dream of running a one-person online business and becoming financially independent.

I realize that I’m probably recording this episode mostly for myself — so I can once again take stock of everything that happened — but maybe you’ll find this story useful or inspiring in some way. Or maybe, actually, uninspiring — and that’s okay too.

After all, I know we don’t really learn from other people’s mistakes. More often than not, we have to go through all that ourselves to truly get it. And even then, there are times when we don’t fully understand what happened — or don’t learn anything from it at all.

[...]

That was also when I started spending a lot more time on YouTube, discovering the variety of topics and things content creators share with their audiences — education, daily vlogs, finance… it was all pretty new to me.

And then I thought: one thing I really enjoy is learning English. I’d love to create something that would give me even more opportunities to improve my skills — and at the same time, share that passion with others. I wanted to show people how important I think the English language is. So, I decided to provide free content and tips on my social media.

That’s when I created a brand-new Instagram account and started recording short educational videos. It’s funny to think about now, because back then Reels and Shorts weren’t even a thing yet.

[...]

So, how do you come up with your own product or service? The easiest way, at least for me, was to look for inspiration online. I watched what other people were doing and hoped that eventually I’d come up with my own idea.

And while watching videos of people starting online businesses and talking about the process and all that, one very simple idea really stuck with me. Someone said: “Solve your own problems.”

I know — it sounds so obvious now.

Of course, there were many things I could think of, but the most relevant problem I had at the time was that I was living in an English-speaking country, yet I didn’t really have anyone to talk to. For a long time, I hadn’t had the chance to meet any native speakers — or really anyone, apart from my colleagues at work, and I didn’t talk to them that much either.

[...]