The results are in.

I recently launched a budgeting app and I want to breakdown the behind the scenes of building a business.

For the past three years, I have been a part time content creator. I've developed skills as a marketer, as a social media strategist, and learned how people actually use these platforms. Along the way, I've landed over $100,000 in brand deals and partnerships (over the course of 3 years).

Here's the problem: none of it is consistent.

Some months you get a $10,000 deal. Then the deals go ghost for three months. Sure, $10,000 should last you three months - but that's not how cash flow works. You need money coming in consistently, not in unpredictable bursts.

The only way around this? Create your own product.

A lot of influencers go straight to courses, paid programs, ebooks. Some are genuinely valuable. Most aren't. They're either outright scams or stuff you could learn yourself with a few hours of searching.

Below is a good tweet that breaks down how I think most course gurus are essentially earning money by teaching you how to earn money.

But here's what I realized: the real value of those products is that people are lazy. Lazy to search. Lazy to organize their own thoughts. So they pay a creator who's already done the work.

But even after that somewhat revelation - I still wanted something different.

I kept asking myself: How can I earn money consistently, but at scale?

If you sell a one-hour course, you have to sell it over and over. You're constantly chasing new customers. But with a subscription-based service? You get a user hooked once. Then you just show up every month with more features, more value, more reasons to stay. Once they're onboarded, they're in your ecosystem.

That's why I focused on creating a budgeting app.

I've been teasing this product for three or four months. It finally launched in mid-November.

Here's where I'm at: 30+ users total. Only 8 paid. And honestly? It's probably more like 4 or 5 real customers - some of those are friends and family who paid because they love me, not because they found the product.

I have over 40,000 followers on Instagram.

8 paying customers.

That's humbling. But it’s also the reality for most creators.

I'm not going to lie - I thought I'd have way more than this in the first few weeks. But I also know the truth: I had no clear strategy. I haven't done the proper work yet. So instead of spiraling, I'm treating this as data.

Le me share with you what I am changing, as it might help you with your business.

Entrepreneurs focus on building and optimizing to grow revenue, then selling for profit. And deep down, yes - I want money. But focusing on money will get me nowhere right now.

I need to focus on the vision. The storytelling. The product. The actual value I'm trying to provide.

If I focus on the quality and the product, everything else will follow. Below is a great take from Michael Jordan on how all his success came from him putting in the work first (winning championships) and then having his brand be created around the work he put in.

When it coms to creating content, I have to put myself in their shoes. That person struggling with debt, drowning in bills - and figure out how Munyun actually helps them. I have to live this and put this vision out there. Because when consumers feel seen, everything else follows. The users, the numbers, the revenue - it trickles in.

First: create great content. Get eyeballs on the product. The rest comes after.

As a content creator, I'm obsessed with metrics. Engagement rates. View counts. Growth curves.

But that's the wrong frame for this.

What I need to focus on now is simple: can I get one customer from one piece of content?

If I post a video and it only gets 1,000 views and 50 likes, the question isn't "why didn't this perform?" The question is: "Did I get a new customer from this?"

I'm not paying for ads. Everything is organic. I don't want to convince people with money to buy my stuff. I want them to find it, see it, feel it - and decide for themselves. No paid marketing. No buying visibility.

One customer. One video. That's the metric that matters right now.

No matter how many strategy ideas I think of, no matter how many content plans I make - I have to create, execute, deliver, and repeat. I must execute.

I'm competing against billion-dollar companies who are fighting for the same attention from people who need help managing their money.

And while it does seem like I am at a disadvantage, I need to focus on how to leverage me being a 1 person business to my benefit.

I can be nimble. I can move fast. I have no rules, no restrictions, no layers of approval. I can push the edge, be controversial, do things that brands with corporate oversight could never do.

Here is a cool and creative guerilla marketing video that went vial during Black Friday.

That's my weapon. But only if I actually use it.

I have been spending a lot of time listening to podcasts, watching videos about entrepreneurs and founders, trying to understand how to make this product work. I listen to the Founders podcast (click logo below to access their YouTube) and learn from history's greatest founders - how they started, how they grew, how they persevered.

And after hours of listening the one thing I have learned is -

I need free time.

Not time to work. Not time to create. Time to sit, do nothing, and just think.

Different ideas need space to form. Strategy needs room to breathe. If you're always executing, you never step back to ask if you're executing on the right things.

So every day, every week, I will start to make time to sit with my thoughts.

That's where the real work happens.

- - - If you make it this far be sure to check out my budgeting app.

Luv,

Luv