About three weeks ago, in the full hot throes of ADT emotional distress — 36 months of torturous grief and anxiety layered on top of what I can only call professional rock bottom — I made a terrifying move. I announced on my LinkedIn page that I was starting a 365-day build-in-public campaign.
How did I know I'd hit rock bottom? Because I hated everything about what I was working on. I was lost. Disgusted by the sight of my own phone, knowing the poisonous feeling of dread waiting in the messages. Stupid, unnecessary meetings I had to attend, feigning politeness, expending energy running a team on a project I didn't care about. That was all me, in my head — because in reality the project could have been interesting, and the people on it were great. Competent. A pleasure to work with. But everything about it felt wrong.
Like most decisions I've made over the last six months, I made this one on a whim, purely from gut. I sat debating whether to click Post on LinkedIn, committing to 365 days of a campaign I knew I'd break myself upholding — that's just how I am.
This morning, a milestone. First revenues: $9,200 monthly, likely recurring if I treat this client like the gold they are.
I feel real energy again. Real joy in the work. I'm able to dedicate part of my day to my life's mission — sending deserving 18-to-26-year-olds on epic dream adventures through the Finn Wardman World Explorer Fund — and spend the rest helping clients I actually enjoy working with. Ones who pay me before I start an engagement (like SaaS), or I move on to the next. No AR. No chasing invoices. No toxic relationships with people I don't want in my day. If the vibe on a client call is off, I don't take the project. I don't break that rule. I'd rather be broke than miserable.
Having my bank account run down to sub-$10 is not new for me — I've been creating my own way of life through work for twenty years. Fortunately, we're not that close right now. But booking revenue inside three weeks on a new venture is extremely promising. Not the best I've ever done, but a lot better than the last three SaaS attempts, one of which I ran five hours a day for twelve months and it never saw a dollar. My SaaS days are over.
So this week I start in earnest on a real problem for an amazing new client — the kind I really can't wait to work with, solving problems I know I can solve. Making their lives better, easier, more productive. Freeing them up to work on what actually drives their business, rather than the mundane repetitive tasks a light AI layer can handle — the kind I can design and run for them.
Announcing to a 10,000-person Linkedin network that I'd hit professional rock bottom was absolutely terrifying. Today, it feels like the right decision. More than that — it feels like coming off a long ridge in bad weather and dropping into a valley with actual sun. Still tired. Terrain's different now, strength is coming back to the legs, and it feels...right.
With a smile, changing the monthly revenue numbers on the score board.
Monthly Revenues $9,200 | Clients 2 | Prospects — not too worried about