A Year That Ends with High Motivation: Uplifting Testimonial & Officially Building on Web3.

We're getting closer to the end of the year, so it's time for reflection and sharing the strategy for the next year. Also, I have some exciting news to celebrate.

I named 2022 the Year of Experimentation and Discovery. This newsletter is a public-facing part of this experiment. While getting closer to the end of the year, it's time for reflection. Let me quickly share my learnings and new bets with you.

Mentoring vs. Building

Mentoring a Web3 (music & NFT) startup [May-July]: I couldn't focus on this while dealing with moving to Portugal. I realized I needed more experience with the vertical, so it didn't go well or serve my purpose.

Mentoring a solopreneur (regenerative agriculture) [during the year]: Although I'm not an expert, building the business from scratch helped us learn during the process. We initially focused on the vision, strategic planning, and value proposition. Then, as clients started approving projects, we began building business processes.

New Bet: Combine mentoring or consulting with building and training. (In other words, build a process and show them how they benefit.)

Sharing My Journey vs. Sharing My Learnings

I've been writing about my journey, and it's closer to a diary format. However, I have realized that sharing my learnings with a case is more engaging. 

New Bet: Share the problem and how you're trying to solve it, not your entire personal journey.

LinkedIn vs. Substack

• Substack has more tools than LinkedIn to engage with your audience.

• Substack offers more insights about engagement than LinkedIn.

• I have an audience on LinkedIn, but I need to build one on Substack. 

No Need to Bet Right Now: I'll focus on building an audience later and wait to make a bet. I'll find the best medium when sharing my learnings with business cases. 

Building a Product vs. Building a Process, or Solopreneurship vs. Freelancing

I realized I'm good at

• Understanding the client's needs and building processes with ready-to-use online products or no-code tools

• Creating content for the client to benefit them.

New Bet: Don't build a product to promote. Use products and tools to design systems and processes.

New Bet: Create teaching/learning material to multiply your impact.

Enough with the bets. 😄 It’s time to share the super-cool things that happened in the last 2 months:

Increasing My Web3 Experience

I've just started to work with Talent Protocol, and this is the perfect collaboration opportunity for me. Talent Protocol is a Web3 startup where we can create a beautiful Web3 resume, make meaningful connections, and access exciting Web3 opportunities. I'm developing better reports and building new processes or improving current ones for them while I'm gaining experience in what I've been looking for: Web3.

PS: If you want to join the platform, here it is.

Super Uplifting Feedback

I was asked to create learning materials for a document automation tool called Portant for the 100 Days of No-Code community. When I started to work on it, I realized I needed to understand the perception of the product by its users, so I ran user research. When I got the Portant's CEO's feedback, I understood that I had made the right decision.

You need to join the 100 Days of No-Code challenge to see the learning materials, but you can view the user research deck here.

PS: Portant updated the website based on my research findings. 

Having Fun with AI: DistilledLX

In August, I met AI art generators and decided to create something with them. So I decided to combine my discoveries in my new city, Lisbon, with AI art. At that time, I was learning Webflow to build websites, and when it all came together, Distilled LX was born. 

I'll focus on new AI solutions for automation and process. If I don't learn to benefit from AI, I'll be a boomer. 😄

Next Steps

It was more learning and exploration in 2022, and the focus of 2023 will be more on building and creating. I'll revise this newsletter's content and title based on the 2023 strategy. But I still need to make up my mind. 

Why don't you share what you want to see here? Also, you can share business problems you're facing to tackle with me. You can use the “Leave Comment” button. I'm sure we can learn and have fun together.

Stay curious until next time,

Tolga