🎯 3 Moves That Helped Me Land First Clients as a Solopreneur
Real lessons from my first months of building a one-person business after 6 years at Miro.
Hello everyone 👋 I’m Kate Syuma, and welcome to Growthmates.news — the newsletter where we explore growth stories to inspire your professional and personal growth. Join the community of 7,000+ Product, Design, and Growth people from companies like Amplitude, Intercom, Miro, Atlassian, Grammarly, Framer, and more.
If we haven’t met before, I run a one-person business from Amsterdam 👋
Stepping into solopreneurship wasn’t a sudden or easy choice. For years, I was genuinely happy in my corporate chapter — it gave me a stable 6-figure salary, a role I loved, an incredible team and mission, and a clear, predictable path ahead. Everything about it made sense. At least on paper.
But quietly, a new energy was growing within me — a pull toward more freedom, creativity, and meaningful work. Solopreneurship has its own rhythm: some months you’re behind, others everything clicks, but most of the time you’re just laying tiny bricks, unable to see the full structure.
For a long time, that uncertainty held me back. I told myself to wait for the right moment, the perfect plan.
Yet with each month, the inner call grew louder, urging me to build something of my own — something that truly aligned with how I wanted to live.
In today’s issue of the monthly rurbric “The Creator Path 💫”, I’m pulling back the curtain on that uncertain but rewarding rhythm — and invite you to reflect on what your own version of building could look like.
Before we dive in… Meet Growthmates Partners 🚀
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Now, let’s dive into today’s story 👇
Stop chasing titles. Create your own.
Let me share a small story. When I was at Miro, leading Growth Design, I received a counteroffer from Frame.io — relocation to New York, a big role, a “dream opportunity.” At the time, I was living in a small city called Perm, so everything about it felt shiny and exciting.
I said no to that offer because I was on track for a promotion at Miro. And because I believed that identity came from titles, the corporate ladder looked like the safe and socially approved path. I even had a neat career vision chart:
Manager → Head of design → VP → Independent Advisor.
But the higher I climbed, the more something shifted.
I became Head of Growth Design — the title I worked so hard for — and suddenly it didn’t give me the fulfillment I expected. The nature of the work changed. The part of me that loved building and creating felt more distant. Somewhere along the “right” path, I drifted away from what actually energized me.
Admitting that to myself was uncomfortable.
I wanted slow mornings for yoga, reading, creativity.
I wanted the freedom to travel, to work from anywhere, to spend real time with my husband, my cat, my friends — simple human things that make life feel like life.
To get that, I had to buy back my time. And that meant letting go of the ego-safety that titles provide.
So I started asking a different question:
How do I want my days to actually feel?
And I began reverse-engineering my decisions from there. Now it’s been two years since I stepped off the corporate path.
I work as a solopreneur. I don’t really have a title — some days I’m a founder, some days a facilitator, some days an advisor — and honestly, I don’t need one. I’d rather build my life around who I am and how I want to live, than try to prove who I am through a label.
Because at the end of the day, we’re all more than our job titles.
P.S. Do you still believe in hustle culture?
3 strategies that helped me find first clients.
When I left Miro to go solo, I didn’t have a plan, a website, or an audience.
But within a few months, I had my first three paying clients — without cold outreach or ads.
Here’s what genuinely worked 👇
1. I leveraged LinkedIn the moment I announced my transition.
I simply posted that I was leaving Miro and shared what I’d be doing next. People who had followed my work reached out immediately. That single post led to inbound opportunities from teams at Intercom, Grammarly, and Manychat.
2. I built credibility long before I needed it.
Instead of chasing leads, I invested in relationships. I launched a podcast to speak with product and growth leaders I admired. I wasn’t selling anything — I was learning in public and turning those conversations into content. Over time, that turned into warm introductions, referrals, and consulting work.
One of the standout episodes from that time was my conversation with
— a powerhouse in growth who led teams at SurveyMonkey, Miro, Amplitude, and Dropbox before building her own successful solopreneur career.It was a special moment for me to invite Elena — especially to talk not about her thoughts on PLG, but way deeper topics. In this episode, we talked about navigating career shifts, finding your “superpower zone” setting boundaries that allow you to thrive long-term, and how companies can transition from product-led growth to product-led sales with layered growth strategies. Give it a listen if you’re exploring a similar path. 🫶
3. I shared free value in formats people actually wanted.
I wrote a guest post for a popular newsletter (thank you,
) a deep dive into how Miro’s user onboarding evolved through startup, hyper-growth, and scale.It quickly became one of the most read pieces that year and brought thousands of new readers into my world. Many of those people later reached out as clients because the article showed exactly how I think and how I approach product growth.
Next, I created a free growth playbook for my niche. It took almost three months to make — but it changed everything. 2,000+ people downloaded it, shared it with their teams, and many of those readers later became clients.
The pattern?
Your first clients rarely come from aggressive selling.
They come from being visible, valuable, and specific.
If you’re just starting, here’s a simple 3-step playbook👇
Get clear on your focus - What problem do you help solve? Write it in one sentence.
Show up consistently - Share your process, your learnings, your ideas.
Create one proof of value - A teardown, a playbook, a report — something that shows how you think.
The rest follows.
People who see your work and trust your thinking will reach out.
Your job is simply to make it easy for them to say: “We need your help.”
P.S. What’s stopping you from landing your first 3 clients?
What’s next?
The past two years have been a roller-coaster. Some days feel like a full-blown identity crisis. Some days, 10–12 hours of deep work turn into a five-figure breakthrough.
And some days… absolutely nothing moves.
But here’s what I’ve learned:
Solopreneurship isn’t just a one-person business.
It’s a one-person experiment in who you’re becoming.
And even when you build solo — you’re not meant to walk solo.
That’s why I’m launching a new season of the Growthmates podcast — The Creator’s Path 🔊
This season is especially close to my heart, because it’s about the kind of people I learn the most from — those who build their lives with intention, even when the path isn’t linear or obvious. Meet my first guests:
Michael Riddering — from creating courses to building companies
Nad Chishtie (Lovable) — why self-made generalists will shape the future
Ioana Teleanu — how to become a creator and pivot your career
- (Lovable) — about lifelong “creator mindset” over job titles
Catt Small (Dropbox) — creating courses, books, advising with FT job
…and more to come
You’ll hear stories from creators carving their own direction, people who balance demanding full-time roles with side projects that light them up, and solopreneurs who are quietly (and sometimes chaotically) shaping work on their own terms.
These are people who:
Build with purpose — not for the title or the applause, but because something inside them says “this matters.”
Face uncertainty head-on — staying with the discomfort instead of running from it, and using it as fuel for the next step.
Turn their curiosity into meaningful work — following small sparks and turning them into products, communities, and careers they’re proud of.
This season is an honest look at what it truly takes to create — the doubts, the messy middle, the breakthroughs, and the quiet discipline behind the scenes. My hope is that these stories remind you that you’re not building alone, even when it feels like it.
And in the meantime, I want to express my gratitude to other solopreneurs and newsletter creators here — who keep inspiring, even when this path is tough:
, , , , , , , . Follow them here, they’re creating awesome stuff 💜Before you go…
Today’s post was a bit different from what I usually share — but deeply personal.
Solopreneurship shaped not just how I work, but how I live.
My mission with The Creator Path has always been simple: to help you design work that feels authentic, sustainable, and fully yours.
If you’re exploring your next step as a creator or solopreneur, here are a few ways I can support you on that journey 👇
User-centric Growth Course — save 25% before Monday ⚡️
If these frameworks sparked new ideas — imagine working through your actual product challenge with my feedback, templates, and a dedicated community (AI will be there as well). This week, you can save 300$ for the enhanced program.
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Onboarding Design Sprint 🏃♀️ or PLG Advising (only 2 slots for Q1 🚀)
I will work closely with your team to help you fix your product growth challenges and improve the first user experience that can drive x2 uplift on your Activation.
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Let’s tell your product story to a trusted audience of 29,000+ product, design, and growth leaders — and co-create meaningful content that inspires the wider product and design community.
👉 Request content partnership: hello@growthmates.club
Thank you for reading and for being here — truly 💜. Every month, I’m reminded how many of us are quietly building our own paths, step by step, even when it feels uncertain or slow.
If this newsletter gave you even one idea, one insight, or one small nudge toward your next move — that already means the world.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and learn more about my work on Growthmates.club.
With best regards,
Kate Syuma