From 9-5 to my dream—my 1-year journey and the origin of Processized
12 months ago, I quit my 9-5 job as a product manager at an American scale-up to build something of my own.
The goal was to start generating a minimum of $5k/month in less than 12 months.
My business only made ~$1.5k until June (from Gumroad)—so I was basically eating up my “Start my own business” fund, which would last for 12 months in total.
But then, fortunately, the money started flowing.
$2.5k in July, $500 in August, $250 in September, $5k in October, $7.5k in November, $2.5k, and a promising pipeline of prospects in December (so far), so I consider this goal achieved.
But money isn’t the biggest reward.
What’s more important is that I do what I love and get paid for it.
Since I quit my 9-5, I haven’t worked a single hour because what I do doesn’t feel like work for me.
My business revolves around my zone of genius or what the Japanese would call IKIGAI—reason for being.
This means that 95% of my “work” is doing what I’m uniquely good at and what I love doing.
And the best part is that by doing this I’m helping others, and, as a bonus, getting paid for it.
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Was achieving this hard? Yes.
Did I have episodes of severe anxiety? Yes.
Did I almost quit? Yes.
Was it worth it? HELL YES!
I’m literally “tap dancing to work”, as Warren Buffet would say, every single day.
I couldn’t ask for anything better. I feel extremely grateful for this.
And I hope this happens to you too (if it hasn’t already).
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What follows is the story of the journey from when the idea of Processized (my business) was born, through all of the ups and downs, to where I am now.
While the story is quite long, reading it in its entirety can be useful for anyone considering starting their own entrepreneurial journey or for those who are struggling while already on it.
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It all started 6 years ago when I was working as a product manager at an IT firm.
I remember sitting in the office surrounded by my colleagues, all of us working late into the afternoon and pushing the 9th hour of work.
Suddenly, a thought struck me:
"People like Elon Musk and Bill Gates make literally 100,000 times more money than I do, yet we all have the same 24 hours in a day.
They achieve an output that is 100,000 times greater than mine. Heck, Elon Musk is building rockets, and he still has THE SAME 24 HOURS!"
With that realization, I thought to myself:
"If they can make 100,000 times more than I do, I can AT LEAST double my own output. I can deliver the same results but in half the time."
From that day forward, I set a goal for myself:
I wouldn't work more than 5 hours per day at my day job and still consistently get promoted.
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This CHANGED my life.
Why?
Because every time I crossed the 5-hour mark, I had to optimize.
And since I wanted to advance my career, the complexity of my work steadily increased.
Because I only had 5 hours, I had to constantly look for ways to make myself and the teams I led more effective and efficient.
I've read everything I could get my hands on about work organization, knowledge management, and productivity (that’s why I owe a lot of credit to David Allen, Tiago Forte, and others).
I was implementing these things personally and in the IT teams I led.
After a few months, this brought great results. I was being promoted and my teams were delivering well, yet I was leaving the office at 3 PM.
This is how I became known as “The Productive Guy” 😂
Then, I noticed something that would become instrumental in my life.
I realized that while I had great success in my career, my colleagues around me were struggling. Many of them worked more than they wanted to and some even suffered from burnout.
Additionally, the organizations I worked for were often chaotic, disorganized, and lacked efficient operations and processes. This resulted in wasted time, resources, and unnecessary stress.
As I observed all of this, I felt sorry because I knew the solution.
The solution lay in the effective work systems that I had been developing personally and with my teams for years.
That's when a thought struck me: "I could do this for others!”
I could help entrepreneurs and organizations optimize their work and processes, enabling them to grow effectively without wasting time, experiencing stress, or wasting resources.
Shortly after that, I made the decision to quit my job and start my own business.
This is how Processized was born.
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I started building systems for others and teaching them how to optimize their work.
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't an easy journey.
It took me a few months to figure out how to translate my knowledge & skills into systems that would work for other entrepreneurs.
I didn't see results for half a year—and because of that, I almost QUIT...!
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It was around August. I had no sustainable income, zero clients, leads weren’t replying, dozens of ideas failed.
What’s worse, I only had 4 months of living expenses money left.
I started seriously thinking about returning to my 9-5 job. I even created a CV!
But then, when I was watching Alex Hormozi's presentation, he showed a chart that changed my perspective and filled me with motivation to not quit.
It was this chart.
It helped me realize that I was in the phase called the "Crisis of Meaning" or "Valley of Despair".
It's the moment when, after the initial period of excitement with your new business, after months of trying, you still haven't seen results from your work.
This is the phase when most entrepreneurs quit and move to another exciting opportunity.
But, the theory says, if you persevere and keep pushing and learning, you'll exit the valley of despair, start seeing results, and eventually succeed.
This is EXACTLY what happened to me.
And maybe if I hadn't watched Hormozi's presentation, I would now be sitting in the office as a product manager who returned from his "entrepreneurial episode", wondering what could have happened if I hadn't quit.
Thank you, Alex.
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After deciding not to quit, I analyzed everything I had done so far and formed a hypothesis to explain why my efforts were not yielding results.
I won't go into the details in this post, but in short, the issue was this:
I was not seeing results because I was primarily focused on selling low- to mid-ticket products, which ranged from $20 to $200.
Given the relatively small size of my audience, this strategy was insufficient to generate enough revenue to cover my expenses.
As a result, I decided to shift my focus exclusively to high-ticket products, which involved providing personalized 1-1 services.
This decision turned out to be a great one.
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I initially worked with colleagues in the IT industry.
Once I began to see great results, I expanded my services to solopreneurs and small businesses.
In the beginning, I provided free services to my first 8 clients.
Each new client's feedback was invaluable, helping me improve my systems and processes.
It was like each client's input was a blacksmith's hammer, forging a better sword with each hit.
After gaining confidence in my ability to deliver results, I started charging good money for my services.
Some of my initial free clients converted into paying clients.
As a result, my systems have been battle-tested through direct 1-1 work with nearly 20 entrepreneurs from various industries such as consulting, construction, education, ecommerce, and marketing agencies.
Additionally, thousands of people who purchased my systems online have indirectly contributed to their refinement.
Today, Processized is generating a sustainable income. I get to do what I love and get paid for it, and I am healthy and surrounded by people I care about.
I couldn't ask for anything more.
I am grateful to God, mentors like Hormozi and Brunson, and the people close to me for their support on this journey.
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That concludes my story.
If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading.
I apologize for the length, but I wanted to share everything in the hopes that it would help at least one person to embark on the entrepreneurial journey or inspire someone not to give up when facing challenges.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.
With love,
Simon
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
Processized Partnership: If you want to become the most optimized entrepreneur in your niche in 60 days (guaranteed), book a 30-min no-commitment call. Let’s chat about how I can help you free up at least 10h/week for high-impact work and maximally automate & delegate your business.
EntrepreneurMind: The all-in-one Notion workspace to run your ENTIRE business in ONE place. It includes a 3-step system for effective work management. Satisfaction guaranteed: +100 purchases and 5-star only rating.
Free systems: Explore Notion templates for different business use cases.