🟢 Alternative to following some else’s dream
How this solopreneur has carved her path
(5 min read)
Normally I write about my path towards fulfillment and financial freedom, but today’s edition is special.
My first interview!
Today’s guest is the first friend I made on Substack.
Someone interesting, inspiring, and supportive. Someone you’ll want to know.
She is curious, free-thinking, and courageous.
She’s been helping push forward the world of Web3 and now even has gone viral in just her 2nd week of Instagram posts in a totally different field.
I wanted to understand her path towards fulfillment and financial freedom.
I’m SO EXCITED to introduce to you… [drumroll 🥁] … Sabrina Bonini!
(P.S. The bold in her answers is mine.)
Interview with of
What’s your “origin story” as an entrepreneur?
What inspired you to take some risks and carve your own path?
Sabrina:
I've always been a very independent person. Always somehow getting bored of my corporate jobs, despite loving what I was doing.
Simply getting tired of having to depend on a boss or other people to decide on my path, or my holidays, or my salary.
Tired of following some else’s dream.
So I had a few ideas to start businesses during my 20s, but never saw completion for one reason or another (mostly fear, I came to realize).
Then, after the pandemic, I couldn’t take it anymore and left my last corporate job.
I was able to get unemployment benefits for a year and a half, which made it easy to stop for a while and think about what I wanted to do.
I changed to a new industry and was learning about it and discovering if I liked it or not.
It turned out I did and that’s when I took the first step towards doing my own thing on my own terms.
After testing the market a little, I started offering my services officially and looking for clients.
Can you share some of the challenges you’ve faced and how you overcame them?
(What pivots did you make along the way to discover founder-business fit and product-market fit?)
Sabrina:
During the first year, and despite having unemployment benefits that assured my bills would get paid, I was always terrified to start going solo.
I thought I would not get enough clients and money to sustain myself, and I’d have to spend my savings.
I’m also in a very new and very volatile industry (Web3) so that was stressful too, not knowing where it was all going and whether in a few months it’d still make sense to work in that industry or not.
I didn’t want to go back to my previous industry and profession, so thinking I’d have to would stress me out too.
Again, it was mostly fears.
In the end, facing those fears and seeing that they were all games that my mind was playing, I learned to live with them and let them fuel me.
I’ve had to pivot a few times. This was also scary at first.
I now know I will keep doing it forever.
Part because of the nature of entrepreneurship, and part because of my own nature.
I like many things and so my curiosity will take me to different paths and that’s ok.
Actually, it's what I want.
But I have to say that the latest pivot worked and feels like it’s going in the right direction at last, so that’s exciting!
What are your favorite ways of earning money right now?
Who is your ideal customer for each of those offers?
What are the main ways they find you?
(I’m particularly interested in both paid and organic customer attraction efforts because I find that getting people’s attention is often far more challenging than offering a high quality product or service.)
Sabrina:
Currently, I'm only earning through my services. I’m a content writer (and content creator in the making), so I offer writing services to tech companies.
I’m also writing my own newsletter here on Substack.
For the moment it is free to read, but I’ll start a paid subscription soon and this is more for individuals (solopreneurs or solopreneurs in the making).
Here I’ll offer another kind of service more related to vocational astrology, coaching, and education.
As for the content creator side, I've recently started a new path focusing on creating content about Formula 1.
The goal is to attract brands/teams related to F1 that wanna work with content creators.
Don’t know if this can lead me to something else (I’ve had ideas for creating physical goodies, but that would come on a much later stage).
This is in a very early stage, but I’m already enjoying the ride.
All my customer attraction efforts have been organic so far.
Either creating content online or networking in events.
I’ve made myself a thought leader in Web3 by participating in many events as a speaker or host.
This works for me, as I can choose the clients I want to attract and work with (which is very important for me and my mental health!).
In this journey, what have you been most proud of?
Sabrina:
Overcoming my fears and sticking to my goal of working for myself, despite the constant pivoting and uncertainty.
Some people feel alive—they feel that their lives are fulfilling and interesting.
Others don’t. They could be feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, or disconnected.
Maybe they’re 35 years old and have thrived in the corporate world but feel burned out and don't like the rat race.
What should they do?
Sabrina:
I was that burned out 35-year-old!
I'd tell them to find a way to get out of that loophole, in a way they feel more comfortable.
Take a rest to recover, some time off if they can, so that they can see things clearly.
If they really don't know what to do with their life, they should learn about themselves.
Self knowledge is very powerful.
For me, therapy and astrology made wonders.
I learned so much about myself that I could find my path as a solopreneur way easier.
This is part of the reason why I wanna help others find themselves with vocational astrology.
And if they have a dream or something they wanna try, I’d say “go on and do it!”
They will regret not doing it.
Many of us find it difficult to make friends after college.
With technology and society the way they are, what advice do you have for making friends these days?
Sabrina:
I'm the first one that struggles with this. So please, if you have THE answer, tell me! 😄
If you could wave a magic wand and reprogram your mindset in a certain way, what might you change?
Sabrina:
Scarcity mindset is really bad, and I struggle with it a lot.
It’s what keeps me from moving faster and maybe missing some opportunities.
I guess it also has helped me to be more cautious and save money, etc.
But a little bit less of it would be nice 😂
If longevity escape velocity doesn’t happen in our lifetime, and eventually you’re on your deathbed reminiscing about your life, what would you like to feel about it?
Sabrina:
That I have enjoyed it to the fullest.
Consider your dream life.
What would an amazing [day/week/month/year] look like for you?
If your current life differs in any way: How so? How do you think you’ll move towards the life you want?
Sabrina:
I think I'm getting closer. I don’t really have a certain ideal in my mind.
The most important thing is that I enjoy what I do, that I can decide what/when/where/how much I do it, and that I can enjoy free time to rest and do the many things I like doing besides work (which I also enjoy!).
The only thing I’d like to have and I don’t yet is to live in a quieter place, looking at the sea and not looking at another building in the city.
But maybe in the future I can make this happen.
Where can we follow you, cheer you on, and support you?
Sabrina:
You can subscribe to my newsletter, Diary of a Modern Solopreneur:
And follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn:
https://www.instagram.com/sabrinabonini.f1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinabonini/
Thanks so much to
for this interview!If you haven’t subscribed to her yet, do it now using the form right here 👆. I always look forward to her posts.
🔜 Coming up (Saturday’s post):
How to be top 1% on Upwork within the first 24 hr of signing up
🖥️ Personalized guidance about how to earn $5K per client
As mentioned in my recent post...
I’m offering a live workshop and Q&A where I’ll teach everything my partner and I learned while building a group coaching business that earned up to $41k/month revenue from $5k per client:
Finding the niche, crafting the offer, raising our prices, running ads, our 1:1 sales call script, what fulfillment looked like, and what I’d do differently if I were to start again.
It will take place on Zoom on Mon Feb 26 at 1:00p ET.
There are 3 spots remaining. 🎉
Reply if you want more details.
Thanks for reading ❤️
Great to see you started an interview series! It adds extra value to your newsletter. Awesome to learn more about Sabrina and connect with her.
I love reading interviews - this one was inspiring to me as I would love to eventually quit the corporate job and live the dream of helping people live healthier lives as my only job!