13 learnings from my 1st year as a Solopreneur 🚀
Month-by-month reflection of my 2024 path + some updates.
In November 2023, I officially started my “pathless path” as a *solopreneur/advisor/creator/podcast host/educator*. I put “solopreneur” in the post title, but I’m not sure if this describes the nature of my work these days, either.
This is a deeply personal topic, and I’m planning to look back and reflect on:
→ Why I left a “comfortable seat” after 6 years at Miro;
→ What I learned progressively during the last 12 months;
→ How I envision the future of my “solo path”.
Whether you’re still working full-time, at a career crossroads, or have recently started building an independent business, I hope this post will give you some useful, fresh perspective.
Ready? Let’s dive in after a quick word about some partners 👇
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Why I leaped from a full-time job to a “solo path“
Before diving into learnings, it’s probably best to remind people about the “WHY“ behind the transition and where my origin comes from.
My career journey was always well-strategized, predictable, and some people who know me would say “Kate, you were always doing everything right”. But what is right? Is it a certain confirmation of the collective mindset and norms? For me, it was exactly that — following the path of accepted role models.
My growth journey at Miro was also well-strategized and linear, however, some people said it looked exponentially fast. In total, I had many titles over 6 years in one company, from a UX Designer to Head of Growth Product Design.
I started feeling that the nature of my true inner calling was somewhere outside the corporate environment. I wanted to do 5 other things on top of my full-time job, and I felt I could get more joy and a sense of impact by doing them properly. Here are 5 independent paths I envisioned for myself: [1] Growth Advising, [2] Growth Coaching, [3] Growthmates Podcast, [4] Courses, [5] Newsletter.
13 learnings over the last year as a Solopreneur
But what does it look like right now? I've learned a lot, and I’d like to invite you to join me in a time machine and take a retrospective look at some of them.
1. Don’t get too relaxed after getting your first client.
In November 2023, I had just returned from a long European trip, and my first client was waiting for me to get started. I was excited and relaxed at the same time. When I announced that I left Miro, many people reached out with some interest in collaborating (most of them wanted a full-time engagement).
I started working with my first client at that time as I built very warm connections with their Product Leader, and we’re still staying in touch. I thought this should be the beginning of some longer-term relationships, as this is how I used to think about work and commitment. But the reality turned out differently. There was one thing I didn’t know yet that could impact the advising collaboration — the changes in management.
If you built nice relationships with the team and the person who “hired“ you, but then there’s a new manager coming in place — it can impact you directly, as they have their own plans and visions.
Since then, I’ve been trying to ensure these 2 things are in place:
The person who’s “hiring” me as an advisor is deeply involved in working with you (ideally Founder / CEO).
The people you’re investing your intellectual capital with are reliable performers who will stay in the company long enough and nurture the knowledge you’re sharing.
In December, I learned that I couldn’t rely further on that collaboration in Q1, and it was definitely not the best time to plan fresh new partnerships. Since then, I literally planned income streams and collaboration a quarter ahead, but it took time and effort to get into that mode.
2. Turn on “consistency + commitment“ mode earlier.
In December 2023, I already had a ton of useful content, but I still haven’t officially started this newsletter. My first article on Substack was “The Evolution of Miro Onboarding” which I shared on
’s newsletter back in August. It sill remains one of the most popular articles on his blog with thousands of people who found it valuable. And it took 6 months (!!!) for me to start my own writing.Why so? Well, there are as many reasons as excuses. I was processing leaving a company where I spent 6 years, trying to find my tone of voice, and of course, had a lot of doubts.
I officially started publishing consistently (every week) in February. Since then, Substack has become the home for both my Podcast and Newsletter. Today (November 2024), more than 4500 individuals from companies like Amplitude, Intercom, Miro, Atlassian, Grammarly, and Framer are reading this newsletter. I’m very grateful for everyone's trust. 💜
Looking back, I wish I had started earlier, right after my successful partnership with Kyle, which was a great foundation. But as they say, "Better late than never.” As I continue, consistency and commitment have been my mottos in the content creation world. This is what woke me up to start writing this story as well.
3. Each client is different — balance clear boundaries with flexibility.
In January, I felt like I was at the beginning of something new and exciting. It was a new year with new plans and a lot of work to be done to create a stable client pipeline.
I had a very big opportunity with a well-known company, and I made a mistake. I treated this case as “every other company” without considering the nature of the enterprise procurement process.
My boundaries were very clear but not flexible enough.
The contract negotiations took so much time that the team started progressing with plans and execution, and the “momentum” was gone. I wish I’d taken this opportunity, as there are products that deliver real value with a mission that resonates (= my main criteria for choosing companies to work with).
But later on, I learned that my Growthmates podcast was a linking source for this company to find a new leader, which is another type of impact I uncovered later I can make beyond my direct advising contributions.
4. Strengthen personal positioning and invest in your content first.
In February, I officially launched this newsletter and started promotions for my first course on Self-Service Onboarding on Maven.
It was a time of collaborations, partnerships, and co-creations when I realized, I hadn’t been concentrating enough on myself.
Instead of shifting focus to so many directions and saying “yes” to each collaboration, I wish I’d create some space for myself to clearly define my positioning and double down on individual content and value delivery.
Later on, I realized from past clients, readers, and networks that my superpower is the “PLG + UX” combination. There are not so many experts on the market with that skillset, or advisors who are coming from a deep User Experience background and can be a “shortcut” to tangible solutions, not just abstract strategies.
However, to build a clear association with your positioning, you must make it visible through educational content, case studies, and free frameworks.
5. Set more realistic “roof shot “ vs “moon shot“ goals.
In March, we launched our first cohort on Maven. I used to be quite ambitious, and all goals were “moon shots” by default. But when you’re moving on your own in a new world full of “unknowns,” it can create extra pressure.
I set a goal of getting 40 participants in the first Maven cohort. While I didn’t have a big and established audience yet (it’s still a “work in progress”), the first cohort had 16 participants. Now, I look at that with gratitude and appreciation—this is a great “roof shot” outcome.
6. Don’t expect anything before your client signs a contract.
In April, I returned from a three-week trip to Japan. It was a time for me to recharge after quite an intense start to the year, and I had already begun negotiations with a new client for a solid 3-month plan.
When I got back from my trip, it turned out they had changed plans, and I had no backup plan. This brought me back to learning #1 and the realization that the client type of work is highly unpredictable.
Since then, I don’t build any expectations upfront before the contract is signed, and typically have several negotuiantions in process, whiletransparent with them all and sharing my capacity limits (max 3 clients in parallel).
7. Build your home on the internet, make it authentic, but don’t underestimate the effort to make it VISIBLE.
In May, I was working on growthmates.club new website together with my friends from GenBrand (check their work — they are absolutely awesome 🖤).
It was literally a new milestone for me: I finally started feeling like I was back home. In this chaos of content, clients' uncertainty — this creative project has brought me back to life. It connected together all things under one beautiful and authentic umbrella.
I’m very product with what we’ve created, and here’s a sneak peek into one of the playbook chapters 👇
One thing I underestimated was the distribution effort. I was too focused on the “product” part, while the marketing effort should have been an equal priority.
8. Be prepared for summer seasonality, and don’t be hard on yourself.
In June, it was tough. While it was summertime which should feel nice and easy, I felt that I need to keep investing into building more sustainable partnerships. When not a better timing than JUNE for that? 😅🌴
My website and playbook launch was great, almost 1000 people subscribed in the first 2 weeks. But there was one thing I learned:
Consulting business has seasonality. Summer is not the best time for building new partnerships, but most imporatntly — it’s outside your control. Don’t be hard on yourself and try to concentrate on other projects and plans from the “creative"backlog.
9. Don’t give up on things that give you more ENERGY than immediate revenue.
In July, I have been busy with several 1:1 Coahing clients. This is not type of service I’m actively promoting, as it turned to be more like an ad-hoc practice that gives a lot of joy.
Working with people on products gives a lot of food for thought. But working with people on their “human” goals and career challenges — it’s a food for soul.
Usually these people are coming to me proactivelly after following me for some time already, and I love finding a way to support them in their career challenges. I love looking at their career achievements as a result of hard work. Recently I’ve seen a person I coached from Intercom was promoted to Staff position, and it’s the best desireable outcome 💜
But I also realised that I need some support and “food for the soul”, and this is how I ended up being in a 4 days Yoga retreat in Austria.
No immediate revenue, but a ton of energy, inspiration, self-trust as a result of being in nature, silence and with myself.
10. Delegate to move further AND further.
In August, I started preparimg for many facinating activities. Clients work, podcast, course, and trying to keep the quality bar of my content, while staying consistent. That was a lot to maanage on my own 🤪
“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with someone”.
I din’t feel fast, as I couldn't find enough time to cross-share the podcast episode on several platforms, and my “To-Do” list was never complete. One day i woke up and realised that it can’t be like that anymore — I need someone to help me.
This is how I started looking for an assistant, and after several weeks of searching, I found the right fit. I believe on that scale and for content creators — it’s imporatnt to find like-minded partners who you’re on the same page with in your tone of voice, whom you can trust, and just invest into coaching them.
I wish I would do that earlier, bit so far it just unlocked more time for creative things (like writing this post), while not being operationally overwhelmed.
11. Plan conferences wisely: less is more.
In September, I was preparing for 2 conferences. I was also invited to 3 or 4 in total, but (luckily!) I was more mindful about my realistic capacity and postponed a couple.
I was preparing a workshop for one bigger conference (≈700 people, 20 participants) and a keynone speech for a smaller conference (≈150 people). In my case, the second one was way more significant ROI.
I shared my presentation about “Holistic User Onboarding” in front of 150 founders → 5 companies were interested in collaboration immediately → with 2 of them I’m working right now. But don’t underesimate emotial investment — I spent A LOT of energy, but also gained a lot after meeting like-minded founders, like this couple who are building Tally.so.
12. Think of your “solo“ scalability — can you do that all alone?
In October, I had an exciting month with 3 clients in parallel and a new offer I created — Activaton & Onboardig Audit. Almost all my income sources started performing as well (Advising, Onboarding audits, Podcast & newsletter sponsorships). But I started realising the limits of my services scalability.
While I’m still trying to find the right method, I realised one thing — we all need some from of “extensions”":
In clients work — involving the team into hands-on execution and building them through it.
In content creation — involving people to write “guest posts” on Growthmates stage.
In podcast — leveraging the network and community for recommendations.
I still do solo most of the things, but I don’t feel lonely anymore.
13. Turn most joyful activities into new revenue streams.
In November 2024, I already already applied learning #1 and started actively preparing for Q1 2025.
If you remember learning #9, it says, “Don’t give up on things that give you more energy than immediate revenue.”
I started questioning why things that give me the most energy cannot also be quite reliable income sources? They can’t until you proactively start thinking of them as such.
This is what helped me realise that in addition to advising work, I deeply enjoy:
Creating visual, useful inspiring content: my podcast and newsletter is a playground for that;
Teaching: there’s much broader spectrum of things I could deliver in a course format.
Writing: I just love it.
Spoler — next year is going to be a platform for trying them all 👇
What’s next? Some early updates
1. Growthates: In the company of women (new season ✨)
This mission cultivated in me for the last year since I started an independent journey, faced many challenges, and learned the reality of being a woman founder.
“In the company of women” is going to be a new season on Growthmates celebrating inspiring female leaders who drive change in their fields. In each episode, we’ll dive deep into stories of personal and professional growth, balancing career with family, finding time for creative pursuits, and the unique journeys these women take.
I interviewed these 9 amazing women already on my podcast.
I want to turn this mission to life in the best quality I can — this is why I’m dedicating the entire new season to that theme.
If you'd like to collaborate on Growthmates new season as a guest or a sponsor, please Submit a quick form → 💜
2. New courses on Maven 🎓
While I’m preparing a new “signature course” and collecting all the things I learned in my PLG + UX career for that, there’s one special cohort where I pariciate as a co-creator and would like to share it early with you.
The theme I was thinking a lot: How do you decide where to grow? IC vs Manager, in-house or solo? There are so many paths. For years, I’ve collected frameworks that helped me and my coaching clients with that decision making. Now we’d like to share this with everyone on a cross-way in planning the next career step.
To help you dedicate time for that at the beginning of 2025, we created a special 1-week Design Career Accelerator — learn more about the program that starts on January 20. For dear readers, apply “growtmates” promocode for 120$ discount.
Thankfully, I don’t feel alone in my “creator path” 🙏
I’d like to express my gratitude to other creators who kept inspiring and supporting my journey with their thoughts, content, and supportive actions in my 1st year.
- — for joining my podcasts and conecting to many talanted folks in the community.
- — for checking-in, connecting with people, and always being a support.
- — for setting a high bar of content and co-creating an article that was deeply important for me.
- — for tons of energy and “useful pings” that your content gives.
- — for overall making “solopreneour” a desireable path and saying “yes” to me on something we’ll share very soon! 🤫😅
- — for authentic content and always friendly vibe.
- — for our supportive ongoing co-parthership on Onboarding topics.
- — for setting up the highest quality bar.
- — congrats on joining the advisors and creators community!
If you’re not subscribed to them yet — it’s time to check their beautiful content👆
This is all for today, dear readers. If you found this helpful — please share your reaction and leave some comments 💜 It would give a huge support for me to continue creating this!
Connect with me on LinkedIn and learn more about my work on Growthmates.club.
With best regards,
Kate Syuma
The are always so informative! Great evening read :)
Great article! Thanks for sharing it. 🤩