A human story that I SHOULDN'T share.

Alex here, the founder and writer of this newsletter:

Today I celebrate 1 year since I started my online journey. A personal story.

No guru will ever tell you this…

5 lessons. A non-guide. What I learned, what I lost, what changed.

I just can't believe it...1 year ago I was opening my Twitter account. Changing the whole trajectory of my life.

Leaving a comfortable 9-5 job in the enter of Berlin, to chase freedom?

And what happened? Let's go on a little journey:

1. The first online dollar.

Made with only 40 followers, a guide on how to do branding with AI. Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the email from Gumroad: "you made money".

So it is possible to make money on the Internet while you sleep? Yes.

Do you wanna know one of my secrets? My whole goal in 2023 was to make 1 online dollar.

I CRUSHED IT.

But it got worse.

I earned more...

2. A mission.

I was unhappy. Because in corpo I didn't have a mission, I was just a high-performer, with perpetual anxiety to do better, never enough, too slow.

But online, I had control now. On my impact on the world, on my destiny, on my work.

So I enjoyed the daily grind, learning, getting better.

Putting on the many hats that a solo entrepreneur needs to put on.

Marketing, sales, writer, builder, coach, CEO and much much more.

Driven by the ideal of being a useful guide to help others grow in life. I enjoy teaching and I'm a garbage sales guy or marketer.

Some form of educator. A meaningful voice.

And it was too much. Too much multitasking.

Until I re-discovered AI. Practical AI to "fix" my bottlenecks and weaknesses and human limits.

Midjourney, my graphic designer.

ChatGPT, my researcher and business buddy.

Make, my automation team.

VoiceFlow, my AI coaches.

And many more tools.

And people found value in this. In fixing my problems and sharing.

But it got worse.

It worked.

3. It worked. But others got lost.

99% of the people I started with never made even 1 dollar. Never made it past 1000 followers.

I sometimes check their profiles. Good smart people.

I reached certain milestones: 10k followers, a couple of months with 10k earnings, a couple of posts with 100k views. Never really went viral.

A small fish.

Just pure hard grind. 21.000 posts. That's my stupid secret.

But it got worse.

I changed.

4. I traveled to 3 continents this year.

(before I only traveled in Europe my whole life)

Indeed my life was changed. I became a digital nomad, a business owner, an international speaker on AI.

A restless soul.

It was never enough. Always more to do. Never good enough.

A little man.

In 1 year I helped teams, companies with dozens of consultants, smart entrepreneurs, I built AI solutions, made comprehensive practical courses, free resources, went on hundreds of calls to give value, spoke in front of hundreds of business leaders in Las Vegas.

All case studies that you can read on my website.

Yet, a stupid little man, a voice in my head.

Who.do.you.think.you.are.

But it got worse.

I persisted.

---

5. 43.276 online dollars later. I helped I can estimate around 1500+ people.

And on some days I wake up feeling like a total loser, uncertain, not even half as smart as Alex Northstar.

Because this whole journey...

Alex Northstar is a man that is smarter than normal boring stupid Alex.

A role-model for my little sister.

Or a man that demands too much. Alex Northstar does not sleep, is never tired, is always helpful.

Yet normal Alex is often a tall, skinny mediocre man.

That just doesn't give up.

I made hundreds of mistakes this year.

But I hope I was useful to you my friend.

Perhaps made some of your days 1% better. made you 1% smarter.

I try my best.

Maybe it will get better?

I love giving useful AI and human support to the good people, before I become obsolete and useless and forgotten.

THANK YOU for reading this little newsletter.

Got tips friend? thoughts for year 2?

Just hit reply.