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My Q4 and going forward

In my past posts, I have been complaining about my low sales during Q4, while everyone else is having the best time of the year. This time, it’s different. No, my sales did not skyrocket, but I am choosing a different mindset. No more moaning (yes, I could do that and start with how AI messed up everything for me) and no more being the “victim” (the algorithm does not like me, stuff).

I suppose I am growing up. Realising a few things about solopreneurship.

Yes, it is very “solo”. You have to do everything yourself.
It is slow, very slow.
You need to learn all the time.
You need to adapt all the time.
You need to persist, be consistent, and show up again and again.
You are the main motivator, investor, and auditor.
It is not “one job”, but several bundled up and done together.
You will not see any reward for a long time (or at least it feels like a long time for you)

So, after several years, I have made some small breakthroughs. I have got consistent traffic (albeit small) to my Etsy shops and Social media, and I have made some sales in Q4. Yes, it is a trickle. But where there is a trickle, there can be a stream. This year, I have been focusing mainly on setting systems and collecting data. That should be a good and healthy springboard to 2026.

Also, if you know me by now, I do have a shiny object syndrome, and I am constantly testing new things on the side. It keeps the boring and mundane more exciting. I am seriously looking into Facebook, which I have been rejecting and avoiding religiously for many years (my mindset stopped me there), and I will give more time to Substack as it has so much potential, especially for local community building. Did try Threads briefly, but will probably give them a miss, as I feel that most of it is just shouting into the void.

My steps I will be focusing more on are as follows:

Following the data from Q4, doubling down on what worked.
Simplifying processes, are the systems working?
Can I use AI and where to save my time?
Trying Facebook/Substack, while dropping Threads
Prioritizing my health, doing less if possible.

I hope you all will have a fabulous 2026, dear friends, and that you will stay on the solopreneur journey 🙂

P.S. This blog is still going to be about the same thing. A super ordinary person, trying to become independent and self-employed based on what can be learned from mostly freely available resources. Is it achievable? And will I find out the answer in 2026? 🙂

Why mistakes are good

I know, it is getting boring – AI this and AI that. But I hope you remember my argument why being human online is important. And I have a little proof to back it up today.

It happened to me on three platforms, within a span of a few months. I was invited to be a part of a smaller community, or I was asked to take part in beta testing. Namely, these platforms are Etsy, Pinterest, and Canva. I have been using all of them for years.

Do I have any advantages because of that? To be honest, no. At least not at the moment, but I can tell that big platforms want to connect with real people and create little communities that they can rely on. Maybe a shift?

So I hope this little post motivates you to keep on going, just as wonderful and just as human you are….

How I do it:

I basically write as I speak. Using Grammarly here and there.
I do not aim for perfection.
I write about my own experience.
I use my own thoughts and ideas, not ChatGPT
I am legit and truthful across the platforms (often confused with authenticity)

Have a great autumn, dear friends 🎃

Is the solo-preneur route still worth it?

So many things have happened since my last post. And it really felt glum.

Not only AI creations everywhere, but also tariffs, the cost of living, and blah, blah, blah. I was really feeling that there is no point continuing the solo entrepreneur way, no matter how glamorous it sounds 🙂 My social media presence was stagnant across the board, probably the lowest it has been.

So, what is the situation now? It is getting better; views and visits have increased slightly, but that is to be expected, as autumn has always been my best season.

I am going to restructure my media, staying faithful to Pinterest and YouTube, and doing very little on Instagram.

Pinterest – not growing, there was a significant dip, but it is getting better now, so I am keeping it

YouTube – I realised a long time ago that it pays very little in my niche, but the real value is brand awareness and links to the shop/services, so yes, I am keeping it

Instagram – is the weakest link, very little value for me personally, I know some people swear by it

The time and energy I save by this, I will redirect to Facebook. Yes, Facebook. I just want to try to see if I can really reach my target audience there.

And Substack. I heard a lot about it. I like the community aspect of it. It seems to be less toxic than other media, and it will push me to write more regularly.

But to answer the question above, for me at the moment, I am grateful to have a job that I enjoy and that gives me time to build my side hustle. I have accepted that I might be one of the people who tried to be an entrepreneur but never achieved it. Something is comforting in this knowledge. Will I keep on trying? Of course, I will.

Have a great autumn, dear friends 🍀

Is there any point in staying creative?

I have been asking myself this. I have lost many views on Pinterest and YouTube since my last post. The accounts are literally getting choked by the amount of “other content” that appeared in massive amounts. So what am I doing about that? Let’s call it weathering out the storm.

For my mental health’s sake, I look at my analytics only once a day, usually in the morning. I keep on with my posting schedule – for the sake of consistency, but I streamlined it a bit. I do not give it more time than before, actually, I give it a little be less of my time. I changed a few things – from generic to super specific and very authentic.

The data is still not in, so I cannot tell at this point if it is working. I am spending more time on AI – educating myself as much as I can (but not becoming sick of it). And looking for ways to automate what I can. My main question is: What is the advantage of these times? Not many people are able to give me a clear picture. Usually, it is just a fragment of their view and their reality. But it does seem that the internet as we know it is changing.

I am relying on something that always worked for me – creativity, authenticity, directness, and a small circle of friends/community members. Is this a good strategy? Ask me in five years 🙂

What I am doing now:

Revising my goals
Streamlining/changing social media (Substack maybe?)
Figuring out how to use AI in my systems
Learning more about AI and how it disrupts the internet world

Have a great summer, dear friends 🍀

“Do What You Can” Strategy

Recently, I have been overwhelmed more than ever. Yes, it is caused by the AI avalanche, and I have written about it in my previous post. And will not mention it here again. It’s more about the feeling I have when summer creeps in, seeing everyone on holiday, chilling, and relaxing. It is the time when I recap the Q1 and Q2 (they are almost always slow and laborious). I always try to figure out what I am doing wrong and what I can do better, and it is always about doing more. And that is exhausting.

Recently, I have had enough posts and videos coming across my desktop with titles like these: Do less, to achieve more! Discover the slow-living lifestyle! Stop trying so hard! So I thought to myself, why don’t I try, at least for a while, to do less? I do not have to be on every social media ten times a day, I do not have to have ten research tools, and I do not have to have a new product every week.

I am not embracing the slow living lifestyle, yet, or hiring a van and going off to the mountains, no. But what I am doing is reducing the clutter, streamlining, and sticking to a very simple process. Actually, creating processes and structures that are basic and not overbloated – and take less time. So that is my summer plan. I call it “Do what you can strategy” while staying sane, not burning out, and fairly happy. Is it too much to ask? There is a fear, I admit that by doing that, I will miss something, I do not know what it is exactly, just feels strange. I somehow feel guilty by doing less…

And yes, it is nothing new. The saying: work smarter, not harder, comes to mind. We all have heard it. But how? I am doing this in my typical amateurish way:

Looking at everything, every task I do regularly.
Can I simplify it somehow?
Can I drop it completely?
Making a new visual workflow based on those three points above.
Putting a time limit on the new tasks/assigning a day
Reducing posting frequency on SM

Questions I have: Will this change anything? How will it show on my results? I am giving it 3 months, which will get me through Q3, and then I can decide for Q4 if I am going to stay with it or go back to my old ways.

So that is my summer, dear friends. I hope you all are having an awesome time and getting closer to your successful solopreneur dream 🙂

Why I am writing as a human

This is going to be a very short one, but maybe a valuable one. I have noticed the shift in search and how you get discovered. I struggled for years with SEO—doing it but not really, and if I am honest, mainly failing in it. And now, finally, things are shifting. AI is the new search engine—and it thinks and searches differently.

AI figures out very quickly what is written by AI, or with the great help of AI – and discards it. O.K., it will not be discarded if you have social proof, like lots of engagement and reviews. But who has? Even the big names in the industry are having AI-created comments, bot subscribers, and so on. We can all see it and spot it (for now). Even if we don’t spot it, the A.I. will.

Anyway, what I am trying to say here is, don’t be lazy and don’t take shortcuts. Your human voice, style, and experience will become increasingly valuable. Even if it does not look like it now, weather it out.

So that’s all from me for now, my friends, have a great week 😊

P.S. I always like to update my posts so you can see how my thinking evolves over time. My own personal feeling atm is that I prefer real people in life and online. I am not excited about following an AI influencer. Of course, I am not the targeted demographic, but still, something inside me tells me that people will prevail. I do prefer advice or a real cook, real plumber, or real baker. I know they have perfected their craft, tested it, and are showing me what they know. That is a whole package, real value. The storytelling is valuable, too, but I do not need to hear everyone’s story. Sometimes I just see the background, the dog on the sofa, the blooming garden behind the window, showing me a glimpse of this person’s life. AI personalities will have to work very hard to make up for this, creating an interesting and relatable context.

Currently, I feel there is too much AI, but I think it will subside, same as you have a sugar craving, have that big piece of cake, and then, just not be able to eat another slice. And no, I don’t think that AI will disappear, it is here to stay. But it will evolve and streamline. Social media is bloated with AI content, will it survive? I don’t know. It seems to me that comments from bots don’t add any value. An alternative may emerge and be more balanced. My advice would be to stay human.

What is Q2 and Q3 good for?

To put it simply, it is a grind. Setting up systems, batching, and outreach. The only thing I enjoy about it is thinking about new products and creating them if there is any time left.

Outside of that, I try to catch up on learning, as learning never stops. At the moment, I am deep down the AI road. Not using it much, yet. But I will end up using it for sure, especially where it can save me time.

I could write this post with AI, but I did not. It goes against what I set up to do here. So I would rather write in my imperfect way. I do believe that authenticity is a special currency and will be more valuable in the future. People will be hungry for human-made content, human-made stories. It is obvious. Same as you keep on eating chocolate cake every day – one day you just don’t want it and you crave something very ordinary like a freshly baked bread. But that is not what I wanted to write about.

So what am I actually doing during Q2 and Q3.

Revising my strategy
Revising the systems I have set up and improving them
Preparing new products for Q4
Learning new things and catching up with the market trends

I know, it is not that exciting, but it has to be done.

Have a great week, and stay productive, dear friends 🙂

P.S. I am not writing about the world economic situation on purpose. As a solopreneur who has been through many up and downs, the only thing I will say is – ‘Stay calm and don’t lose your focus.”

The most simple advice on the productivity – 2 buckets system

By now, I have read so many articles and posts on productivity ( I don’t even count YouTube videos) that I should be a productivity expert myself. So am I?

No. But I have figured out this: Everyone will recommend the system that works for them, but my situation and goals might be completely different. The more steps there are to implement, the less likely I am to implement them. I am not an app person, so apps do not do it for me. Notion templates look nice, but I am not that cohort, it passed me by (unfortunately). The Outlook I use at work, that simple fact blocks my motivation. Time blocking looks nice visually, but I am not able to block big chunks of time for anything.

So what I have been re-discovering recently is: just having two buckets. In one bucket I put everything that is connected to my “Has to be done now,” and the other bucket is: “Do this in the future but not now.” This helps me to eliminate videos and books that have nothing to do with my current situation, but might be useful down the road. I actually spent so much time watching videos on how to make a course, webinar and etc. But I am not at that stage, yet. Instead, I should just do things connected to my immediate business goal (or watch a video connected to it). I have realized that even though I am not doom-scrolling, I am wasting time on advice that is just not for me. So my new productivity plan has a different perspective. What is right for me now? And what is for “future me” and can wait. I am not saying that it solves everything. It does not, but it is definitely something I can start implementing NOW.

I hope that you are having a restful Easter weekend, dear friends 🙂

For anyone selling digital products

I love digital products. They helped in more than one way. I did buy plenty. Anything starting from different kind of planners to short business plans and how to…

First thing to remember is that I must find you – if I do not find you, I cannot buy from you, if I notice you on my feed, I will probably listen to what you have to offer
If everything you are talking about is about ‘selling this thing to me’, I will probably not buy it
I will want to know, how did you get to those results or how your product is going to save me time and a headache. If I am not convinced, I will not buy.
If you add your life story or simple back story, I am more likely to relate – and buy
If you have millions of followers, I will probably not buy as I will assume that this is basically your business and I cannot apply what you recommend – I know, the logic is warped but that is what I will assume
If you ask for anything above 29 US, I will probably not buy. Especially, if it is the first time, I am seeing you and listening to you.
I will happily try any freebies you offer, stay on your email list, and try crazy bonus offers if they make sense.
I am more likely to buy if I can see that you are a real person 🙂

So here you go. I hope this helps you a bit with promoting or tweaking your product.

Have a great spring, dear friends 🙂

Image, created by AI, after asking it to create a digital product image 🙂