I turned 27 on Tuesday

This past Tuesday, I turned 27.

I disconnected from work, great day at the beach playing volleyball, and had amazing connecting phone calls with my family and friends.

Couldn’t have asked for more.

My birthday always gets me reflecting on my past year. And I was stunned when I realized:

March 2024:

I was completely broke, barely affording rent, not going out, and surviving on instant noodles, bread, and eggs.

March 2025:

I’m traveling through East Africa, renting apartments and motorbikes, and eating in the best restaurants.

It baffled me how much changed in just 1 year. And I was thinking: “If this happened in 1 year, how much could then change in 5?”

Sky is the limit. Not only for me but for everybody who dedicates themselves to consistently putting themselves out there as a creative force in the world.

So today I want to share with you a little about my timeline of how I am where I am today and the lessons I learned throughout:

1st of June 2023

The day I decided to try to build a business online. I bought an online course for $1300 and a laptop for $700 (my laptop got stolen a month before, so had to buy a new one).

I spent $2000 in one day, dedicated to making this blogging thing work… 6 months blogging and battling the Google algorithm.

I was writing about things like matcha tea, protein powder, and Jiu-Jitsu - topics I liked but had nothing to do with my deepest inner self.

I wasn’t showing me in my writing. I wasn’t sharing my thoughts, beliefs, or experiences. I was writing for the algorithm, not for myself.

Fast forward to December 2024

Blogging didn’t work. 6 months in, I made zero money and felt completely disconnected from writing.

Looking back, I’m glad it didn’t work.

If I had made money doing something that didn’t feel authentic, I might have stuck with it and burned out completely. Instead, this failure forced me to change.

Then, while sitting in a coffee shop in Iraq, I stumbled upon Dan Koe and Dakota Robertson talking about ghostwriting and using Twitter as a platform.

So that inspired me to start a Twitter account and buy Dan Koe’s course, The 2-Hour Writer (like so many of us did 😅)

And that’s when things began to shift.

For the first time, I was writing about things I truly cared about. It wasn’t about SEO and Google rankings anymore - it was about creativity and authenticity and sharing my true passions and beliefs.

Then at the same time, friends introduced me to Threads, and I started writing on there too. Sharing my thoughts and beliefs felt amazing. My writing was still crap, but the foundation was set.

February 2024

Of course, I still needed to make money. So I decided to try out Ghostwriting.

I found a mentor and dedicated myself fully to the path and in April 2024, I made $10K in just one month.

I went from completely broke to making $10k - you can imagine what relief this was for me.

So I kept Ghostwriting for the following months with ups and downs but I quickly realized ghostwriting wasn’t for me.

Writing for others felt just like blogging - I was helping build other people’s brands but wasn’t sharing myself. It didn’t align with who I am.

August 2024

I burned out.

All the symptoms were there:

I was agitated, anxious, not wanting to get out of bed, and isolating myself. So I knew something had to change.

September 2024

I took a trip to the forest in Belgium with my best friend tripping on mushrooms. 2 days in the forest, disconnected from work and my phone.

I came back with a lot of clarity.

The mushroom told me that I had to slow down, pivot, and focus on creating a business that felt authentic to me. To focus on creating something that I want to do for life.

From that moment on, I committed to building something I want to do forever - something rooted in sharing my truth and connecting with others.

So I stopped ghostwriting and focused on Threads, where I then shifted to mentoring people on how to write content that actually gets read, challenges popular ideas, and connects them with their audiences. I shared templates, hooks, and strategies that 100s of people now use.

In the past 6 months, I helped many people grow their audiences by the 1000s, establishing them as great writers on the platform.

Watching others succeed with my guidance filled me with a sense of purpose. I knew that’s what I wanted to continue doing.

January 2025

Lennox Saints (those who are on threads know him) reached out to me with an idea:

How about we create a community for writers to connect, learn, and have space to ask questions and get guidance on how to build their online writing business?

I’m in.

I’m a community guy and I knew that this was the best next logical step.

March 2025

I’m writing about topics I truly care about, mentor people 1:1 on how to write and our community grew to 38 members in just 2 months!

So in case you’re an upcoming writer and want to learn how to monetize your writing without burning out, you can check out our community here:

Just fill out this application form and we will get back to you: https://www.notion.so/lennoxsaint/1bb05239a98780acab96da666c63f955

So what did I learn through all this?

I learned that the best business strategy is to be yourself. In my content I was more and more who I truly am, I put myself out there, got to know myself, and explored new ideas.

Through that my tribe found me, and people started reaching out to me to collab, wanting to learn from me, inviting me on podcasts, cohorts, seminars, and communities.

And that’s the thing:

When you’re authentic, you connect with others in a way that resonates deeply. The people you need will come to you. You will find the right opportunities. Be yourself and have faith and what you need will find you.

So here are a few of the lessons I learned starting a business:

• Don’t focus on monetizing. The reason I burned out is, that I solely focused on monetizing (blogging and Ghostwriting). But when I started to focus on building my brand, helping others wherever I could, and putting myself out there, things started to shift (internally and externally)

• Put yourself out there. Write, connect with people, and share your beliefs. Share who you truly are with your audiences. Hop on calls with other creators, be social, praise others, and help wherever you can.

• Live an interesting life. Read books, go on walks, reflect, travel, seek discomfort, and stay curious. That’s how you become a creator who has actual influence on the world.

• Business is about personal growth. Building a personal brand isn’t about business - it’s about personal growth. It forces you to confront your fears, insecurities, and shortcomings. Use your business to work on yourself.

So over the past 20 months, I realized that my business has little to do with making money.

My business is about sharing my truth, connecting with others, and staying true to myself. It’s about building something I can do for life - a business that feels authentic and fills me with purpose.

Build a business you love, one that feels true to who you are. Experiment, explore, and keep asking yourself:

Do I want to do this for life? 

If the answer is no, pivot. If it’s yes, have faith and keep going.

Your business should feel like an extension of your soul - something that connects you with love, truth, and purpose. That’s how you make an impact and create something meaningful for the long term.

That’s how you build a business that you wanna do for life.

Please, if you have any questions, reply to this e-mail and I get back to you. And in case you want to join our writers’ community, you can do so here.

With love,

Heythem