SHS #226: How I became an online entrepreneur (with barely any followers)

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The FINAL cohort of Authentic Influence for 2026 starts in September 2026.

Hi friend,

I'm an accidental entrepreneur.

I couldn't even think of building an online business. If you told me 5 years ago I'd be doing this, I'd say:

Because where I'm from... those from 'business families' get direction and do business. The rest of us who do normal jobs, do jobs.

Little did I know the internet economy challenges all of this.

It changed in October 2021 with a random tweet:

I wrote this for fun, with no plan.

I had a few hundred followers at that time.

Not a large audience.

But I had an engaged audience who knew that I'm supremely consistent with my writing. I used to publish ~17 articles every month at that time.

I thought I'd get 10 responses.

I got 120+!!!!

So here's what I did:

1. I DMed them with a Google Form
2. 80 people filled it
3. I selected 40 people from 20 countries
4. Got them on a Slack group
5. Created a 3-week course with 1h call/ weel

And for three years, I made a living out of it.

I then took feedback to improve and testimonials to showcase on my product page.

Put a price tag = $99 for the first ten seats, $129 for 15 thereafter.

The first cohort was in January 2022, and we sold out.

I then made many changes like:

• reduce seats
• increased prices with every cohort
• started doing 1-1 with clients
• conducted guest sessions from Justin Welsh, Ankur Warikoo, Jay Clouse, Tim Denning, etc

If Twitter didn't become X, we would've still run Summit 21.

We started with $99/p, and the final cohort was $599/p.

We sold out 11 out of 12 times.

What I'm trying to tell you is:

1. You don't need a large audience to make money online - you need an engaged audience and good quality content.
2. You don't need prerequisite learning. Just keep upskilling on the side!
3. The internet has a world of opportunities.

The only thing you need to do is... start.

And I can help you build an audience. Join the final cohort of 2026 of Authentic Influence - apply here. Save months of 'figuring it out' :)

Love,
N

PS: Here's a detailed article I published years ago about this.​

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