My Online Journey
17th February 2024
I have always given priority to my personal projects. It’s not because I think that school/university is pointless, but because I find real fulfilment in having full ownership of my work, this contrasts with the feeling I get from traditional education, where I am merely one of thousands following a well-defined path.
My online journey started when I was 15. I vividly remember scrolling through Youtube and seeing a video on how to make a website from a Spanish YouTuber called ‘Romuald Fons’. It immediately triggered me. The following day, I eagerly set up my domain and hosting, launching a website to sell tennis bags via Amazon’s affiliate program. Despite having no prior experience or a clear plan, I plunged into this venture with an addictive willingness to learn.
You may be wondering why sell tennis bags, and to be honest, to this day, I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to focus on a single product, in a single niche. Back then all I knew is that I loved tennis, and made the website out of pure passion for the sport. A few months later I realised how limited I was, leading me to create a new website focused on all sorts of tennis products. In my mind, this would become the biggest tennis website in Spain, which ended up becoming a reality, having over 10,000 organic visitors per month.
I was quite naive at the time, as a website like this could be sold for many tens of thousands of euros, which would have made a good, profitable ending to my creation. Yet I decided to keep investing in it. There was a point during the journey where I had to outsource certain tasks, as I did not have time to research some of the other projects I was involved in, which led me to hire a few contractors internationally to write new articles for me, and even one of my brothers to translate the entire website from Spanish to English. I managed to create a system which would automate the growth of the website, yet I forgot one key aspect, adaptability. The Google Search algorithm makes important updates every year, and one of them completely crushed my website’s traffic to all-time lows.
During this time, I’ve gathered extensive practical know-how in SEO, Web Development, and Web Optimisation. At 16, I understood that this expertise was more than just knowledge – it was a valuable commodity in the marketplace. This realisation led me to set up my own freelance profile, offering my digital skills to diverse businesses. Within a year, I became the Top 1 freelancer in the platform in the Digital sector, serving over 30 different clients successfully.
A crucial realisation I discovered is this – If you don’t know something, take action, make something, and if it does not work, you will have gained valuable skills from which you can profit from. You can repeat this process many times, and I can assure you that you will get it right one day, and when you do, the combination of having a working product and a set of valuable skills will make you reach unimaginable highs.
I also had many, many ‘failures’ during this time, trying many different business models and making other websites in different niches, which did not work out as expected. Yet I don’t think a person can ever lose. The experiences and skills you gain from failures are extremely impacting. There are times where a ‘failure’ is so significant, that you immediately trigger an alert signal in your mind to work as hard as ever. This kind of motivation, born out of challenging experiences, often proves to be more effective than any other. It’s through these moments that you really grow and develop the resilience to succeed.
I encourage you to educate yourself in a field of your interest. When I say education I don’t mean ‘study’, but rather to take action, to start experimenting, to get your hands dirty. You can take me as an example: I had no idea what I was doing at 15, but through consistent iterations, taking action from day 1, and with hard work, I managed to create the biggest tennis website in Spain. Once you have skills that are valuable in the market, get out there and offer your professional services, establish a reputation, and the rest will come automatically. The path I recommend is the following – Become very good at something by building a portfolio of personal projects -> Look for clients -> Build a reputation -> Remain competent. Once you have great skills and a powerful reputation, I highly encourage you to build a business in your free time. Having a reputation and/or a loyal community will increase your chances of success. It’s not just about having more eyes on your product; it’s also about connecting with people in your network who can accelerate your journey with deals, investments, or opportunities.
In terms of time management, I recommend you to prioritise your time very strictly. If you truly want to succeed in the online industry, you have to stand out, and to do that you require discipline, a lot of it. Personally, I give myself 2hrs per day to work on myself. Back in the day when I was still in school, I woke up at 5am, and worked on my personal projects from 5am to 8am every weekday before school, and the rest of the day I only allowed myself to do schoolwork. Nevertheless, in the summer holidays, I worked 12hrs per day on my projects, It became quite addictive to see how my projects were growing while I was learning a ton. All in all, you will have to make sacrifices, but it is very worth it, both at a personal and professional level.
Summing up, prioritising personal projects and taking direct action in learning have been pivotal in my journey. Starting with a simple passion for tennis and evolving into a significant online presence, I’ve learned the value of hands-on experience over traditional education. The key takeaway is to immerse yourself in your passions, build a strong skillset, and commit time and effort to your goals. Remember, it’s all about the compound effect.
