TAGS: SOLOPRENEUR I INDIE-MAKER
How do ideas come to life? And who are the humans who make-up their businesses? Meet Tiago, a founder of Wannabe Enterprenur Community (whose non-serious name immediately attracted my attention)👇
Wannabe Entrepreneur. Why this name?
There are two reasons. The first one is that I always felt like a “Wannabe” Entrepreneur because I had many ideas but never really invested my time in them. That changed after leaving my job to 100% focus on them. Additionally, I believe that being an entrepreneur is a never-ending subject. We are always learning how to become better entrepreneurs.
How did it all start?
Once upon a time, there was a little kid selling handmade bookmarks to his second-grade friends and he made a few euros until the teachers told him that it was not allowed… Since then, I have been obsessed with building businesses and at the age of 28, I decided to leave my job at Trivago to focus full-time on my own businesses.
Soon after, I started feeling anxious and created the Wannabe Entrepreneur Podcast to speak about my journey and express what was going on in my mind. The podcast became a ritual for me and it was the entry point to Indie Hacker’s community.
As my audience grew, I created my “patreon” program and gave the supporters access to a private Slack channel. This channel became a really cool spot and suddenly I was feeling less lonely. That made me realise that maybe this Slack community could be a product on its own, detached from the podcast. And that is the story of the WBE Community 🙂
What helps us connect?
I've noticed that people tend to connect when they feel safe and among those who share common interests. In the case of the WBE community, everyone is passionate about creating and enjoys discussing their projects and activities.
Practically speaking, I've seen a significant increase in engagement whenever we host a virtual event where members can see each other face-to-face.
What did you learn about yourself through your business?
As an indie hacker, I have learned the importance of taking care of myself and the potential for burnout. I have also come to understand the value of trusting myself and being confident in my abilities in order to succeed.
The conventional belief that a traditional job is the only path to happiness is not true, and once you have experienced the freedom and fulfilment of working for yourself, it is difficult to go back to a conventional job.
A productivity tip I recommend is…
One of my productivity tips is to create a Trello board where I collect and organize tasks by priority. Additionally, I use Calendly to manage my appointments, because it saves me time and eliminates the need for back-and-forth communication to find suitable times for meetings.
What brings you the most joy? (A question left at Playground by Taylor from Focusmate)
Receiving positive feedback from a customer and seeing that my work has contributed to their happiness. I want to make a positive impact on the world and anything that indicates that I am doing so, brings me the greatest joy.
P.S. Learn more about the Wannabe Entrepreneur Community here.
P.S.S. Working on something of your own too? Playground programe is an unusual mix of accountability buddies & games. Check if it's for you.