Solo founder starts $600K wine ecommerce

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Updated: November 3rd, 2021

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From coding in his dorm room to 30 million users

Oleksandr is the creator of CleanMyMac, Setapp and many other macOS and iOS apps. He started programming in high school and during his time in the university, he started developing apps as a side hustle.

He went from making $150/month working as a developer in Ukraine to creating several apps that are installed in 1 of every 5 Apple computers in the world.

My take: Try to be early. Every new device, OS, platform, etc. will eventually open to developers to build apps for it. Being early gives you an incredible advantage.

Read the full story here.

Other stories of people making money with apps:

100 profitable one-person business ideas

Can't find a business partner? Want to start something on your own?

Although starting a business on your own can be challenging, there are always benefits to going at it alone, such as:

It’s just you starting out with no dependents, no complexity.
You can start with little or no money, and even while you have a full-time job.
You make the rules, the culture, the hours, everything — it’s just you.
100% equity – The startup is 100% yours.

We went through our database of successful businesses and found the best examples of solo founders.

See the full list here.

From $20K in debt to $1M in a year

We just interviewed Steve who started Rockstar Mind, a platform focused on helping guitarists and songwriters. But he still ended with $20K in debt. And he wasn’t going to get out of it giving lessons for $15 per hour.

Transitioning from traditional lessons to selling online courses was possible in part thanks to a successful launch strategy: finding partners with large audiences and offering aggressive commissions.

Steve also did something brilliant: he created a 'physical' version of the course, which allowed him to open a huge sales channel: Amazon. Check the full interview to find about his great selling strategies.

Online courses are a great way of making money with very little (or zero) investment:

I launched a stress-diffusing mints brand after building a $10M CBD business

Brandon was working for 8+ years doing marketing for a CBD brand. He would often help entrepreneurs trying to learn about the industry and after one of those calls, he felt that it was time to try to brainstorm himself and launch something on his own.

After a $350K investment, he’s now working with companies that are open to writing sponsored or branded content to get the word out. Remember, no ads allowed for CBD products on Google or Facebook and you can’t either sell on Amazon.

Read the full story here.

The CBD space is HOT, its global market has been estimated to reach USD 2,740 million in 2021. That’s why many people are jumping on it to start businesses creating awesome and innovative products with it (and making lots of money):

Pain relief balm ($10K/month)
Superfoods ($50K/month)
Oil tinctures ($220K/month)
Dog treats ($30K/month)

This solo founder bootstrapped a $600k/year wine cooler ecommerce

Sarah’s salary was drastically cut down due to COVID-19 and with a baby on the way, the choices were to find another low paid job or go after her dream of working for herself and start a business. She of course chose the latter.

Being a big fan of all things wine and the friend that everybody texts with questions and asking for recommendations, starting a wine coolers ecommerce seemed like a no-brainer. And she wasn’t wrong, the first month she made $50k on a Shopify basic package.

Read the full story here.

E-commerce is a phenomenal way to enter the entrepreneurship world. You can do it part-time and you can start selling even if your budget is low. And these founders can prove it:

Thanks for reading!

Pat

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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From coding in his dorm room to 30 million users

100 profitable one-person business ideas

From $20K in debt to $1M in a year

I launched a stress-diffusing mints brand after building a $10M CBD business

This solo founder bootstrapped a $600k/year wine cooler ecommerce

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