Freedom is my highest value.

I always hated the education system and never wanted a 9-5 job.

While in high-school, I made it a goal to pursue entrepreneurship and make money online.

The only skills I had - HTML and basics of Python.

I knew that coding is a highly valuable skill, yet several critical questions remained unanswered:

• "How do I turn this into a business?"

• "Do I need a college degree?"

• "What steps do I need to take to make $3k / month online?"

Advice that I found online was quite useless.

I attempted building a startup and it failed. Six months of work and effort of 3 people was wasted (or so I thought).

I hustled and had nothing to show for it.

What I didn't realize, is that I was building a solid portfolio of work.

People found out what I was doing and pretty soon I started landing freelance clients.

In less than a year I went from making $0 to $4k per month from my laptop - partially passively.

Every week I get job offers in my LinkedIn inbox.

Now I’m a contractor - currently working with Yahoo.

I work remotely and in my own hours.

But the best part is watching how companies build, market and profit from software. I observe and learn. (the goal is to eventually build my own product, where the serious money is made).

If you’re interested in this career path - keep reading.

Learn programming & start getting paid fast (as a beginner):

I attribute my fairly quick success to two things:

• Self-education

• Mentorship

To be honest - mentors are a cheat code.

I know there’s not supposed to be a shortcut to success, but having a mentor is definitely one.

My biggest breakthrough happened after I reached out to a successful freelancer on LinkedIn. I asked him for a 1-hour consultation on his rate. He really liked my message and agreed to help me.

Two months after implementing his advice my income tripled.

We will discuss the principles he taught me:

1. You are the niche

2. Build in public

3. Entrepreneurial mindset

These sound vague, but are very practical - let’s discuss them in detail.

Entrepreneur vs Employee Mindset

Without a proper mindset, you will end up as a replaceable worker.

Writing lines of code has no intrinsic value, but it allows you to solve problems in a leveraged way. One piece of code can run 24/7 and serve customers while you sleep.

If you don’t know what product to create - that’s fine. You can start by building for other people.

Business owners will pay you well if you have the skills to make their vision come true. Then you can observe & learn, see what products are in demand and then make your own.

Note: You can still make passive income doing that - by taking responsibility for the end result and outsourcing the work. Basically an agency business model.

Escape competition - your niche

The first piece of advice from my mentor:

It might sound like years of work, but in reality you can become an expert quickly - if you direct your focus to the right things.

He illustrated it in a way that made it click:

• HTML Developer: builds static pages in HTML; very easy to replace with AI and no-code tools

• Python Programmer: knows the basics of a programming language; writes simple automation scripts; relatively easy to replace

• Django Developer: has skillset to build robust server-side applications; more specialized and harder to replace

• Full-stack Developer: understands how to build entire applications from ground up; very valuable and not easily replaceable

• Fintech Full-stack Developer: knows specific problems in the industry and has the skillset to solve them; extremely valuable and one in a million

I recommend to start specializing from day 1. You can always shift later, but it’s good to start learning by working on a specific project aligned with your interests.

It’s important to capitalize on your unique interests.

Think of Joe Rogan - what is his niche? You could say he’s a podcaster. But he’s also a comedian, UFC commentator and conspiracy theories enjoyer. His interests are so unique, that he is irreplaceable.

This is also true for you. Ask yourself these questions:

• What do you do in your free time?

• What products/software do you already use?

• What apps do you wish you had?

• What past jobs have you worked?

• What excites you the most?

• Do you know anyone who could benefit from custom software?

Write down the answers. This itself should generate you 3-5 project ideas. They don’t have to be anything novel.

It could be a food delivery app, e-commerce store or your own social media platform.

Explore those ideas. Which one sparks the most excitement in you?

Start getting experience fast

You don’t need to know how to build it.

Pick an idea and figure it out. Learn from YouTube and Udemy. When I was starting, ChatGPT wasn’t available - but it’s another great tool you can use.

Tip: Build your hobby project as if it was a commercial venture.

1. Projects with commercial appeal will help you get clients faster. SaaS-like projects look very good on your portfolio.

2. You can include it as commercial experience on LinkedIn.

3. Creativity and problem-solving is what makes you valuable - not the knowledge of Python syntax.

Not to mention It might actually work. I met a guy who liked books and made a marketing tool for authors. He’s currently running a solo SaaS company - no employees and passive income.

Programmers will get replaced by AI.

Entrepreneurs - not really.

It’s impossible to struggle financially if you learn this intersection of skills:

• Software Development

• Product Design

• Marketing

• UI/UX

• Problem-Solving

• Time Management

• Using AI Assistants

Don’t learn them separately. You will figure it out as you build.

The key is to just start.

Which 90% of people won’t do - which is great for you. The competition is too easy to beat.

Build in Public

This is key. In order to get paid, people must find out about your work.

The most effective ways of marketing yourself (as an engineer):

• Write LinkedIn articles about your projects

• Go to coding & tech meetups - the fastest way to network

• Directly DM recruiters and companies you’d like to work for

• Ask your friends and family if they need an app

• Organically mention what you do in everyday conversations

Example 1:

I made a mobile app for tracking my weightlifting progress. One day, I was showing it to a guy in the gym. Turns out, he was an executive in a steel-manufacturing company and needed an app for his business. This is how I landed my first client.

Example 2:

My parents own a second-hand clothing store. They used Excel to track sales and customers, but I’ve built a software that makes it more convenient. I included this app in my resume and it landed me my first $3k/month contract, because a company was looking for a similar solution.

LinkedIn is really powerful for this. I am getting inbound job offers every week because my profile is polished and there is content about my projects, which showcase my expertise.

So how to write LinkedIn articles?

Just document what you’ve built, what you’ve learn, and what challenges you overcame.

Screenshots, videos, GitHub repos, deployed app - all make your content more appealing.

Below is an example of mine.

Tip: maybe you already have some interesting projects? Leverage your hard work and make some content about it.

Your Actionable Plan

Let’s turn all of this into a practical step-by-step plan.

Start by building a hobby project.

If you don’t have an idea:

• look at your personal interests (fitness, music, books) and build something related

• brainstorm with your friends & family how an app could make their life easier

• think how some of your repetitive tasks could be automated

• build a clone of your favorite app / software with your unique twist

Pick something you don’t know how to build. It will force you to rapidly learn & grow.

Commit to one project.

Imagine you’re building for the market. Focus on smooth user experience and add useful features. Pay attention to detail and make it really good.

Document your journey.

As you build, write LinkedIn posts about the progress.

When your project is completed, write a long-form article about the problem you solved, tech stack you used and challenges you faced.

Word of mouth is often the fastest way to land clients. Tell everyone about what you do. (but don’t be pushy).

How long will it take? Depends on your current skill level, but an absolute beginner could start getting clients in 12 months with a little bit of grind.

Let me leave you with my best advice.

Do what feels like play to you, but looks like work to others.