The exact 10-step path I'd follow if I had to start over today, from zero. E-commerce, AI, content and automation — no fluff, no €5,000 courses.
Most beginners fail because they hop. Choose one of three: e-commerce (selling physical or digital products), content + creator economy (audience-led income), or AI services (using new tools to solve real business problems). Commit for at least 90 days before judging results.
Before you buy a course, a logo or ads — spend 2 weeks consuming free content from operators who actually do it. YouTube, Twitter/X threads, podcasts. Take notes. The internet has €100k of free education if you know where to look.
A laptop, a phone, an internet connection. That is enough. Skip the LLC, the fancy website, the branding agency. Your first €1,000 online doesn't care about any of it.
Don't dropship random gadgets. Pick a niche you actually understand. Validate with a simple Shopify store (€29/mo) or even an Instagram page first. Use TikTok organic content as your free traffic engine. Reinvest every euro into better creative, not ads — until your content converts.
Treat ChatGPT, Claude, and AI image/video tools as your unpaid intern army. Use them for: product descriptions, ad copy, customer support replies, market research, content scripts, and even building simple websites. The leverage is absurd if you actually use them daily.
Even if you don't want to be 'a creator', document your journey publicly on one platform. It costs nothing, attracts customers, partners and opportunities, and compounds for years. Pick the platform you naturally enjoy: X, TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube.
Forget perfection. Sell something — anything — in your first 30 days. A digital product, a service, a t-shirt. The lesson from one real customer beats six months of planning.
Once you have revenue: automate the boring stuff (email flows, invoicing, customer service with AI), delegate what drains you, and reinvest 50% back into the business. This is how a side hustle becomes a real company.
Online business will reward you for inputs nobody sees: deep focus, sleep, training, reading. Treat your body and mind as your most important asset. No win is worth burning out for.
Most overnight successes took 5-10 years. The people who win online are the ones who simply didn't quit. Show up, ship, learn, repeat. Compound interest works on skills, too.
Free university — learn anything, from anyone
When you're new, it's hard to know where to start. The internet convinces you the answer is an expensive course from someone with a rented Lambo on YouTube.
99% of what those courses teach is on YouTube — for free, often explained better by the people actually doing it.
"If someone is selling you a course on how to make money, they make their money selling the dream — not from the business they claim to teach."
— Jack
Spend €0 on courses for your first 6 months. Spend that money on a domain, your first stock, your first ad test, your first product sample. Learn by doing — and by watching people who build in public.