Denys Robyn has always felt like an entrepreneur but never had the courage to take the plunge and he also has a family to take care of. After 20 years of working as an employee, he took stock of his life and decided to take the plunge to go freelance, quitting the rat race of being an employee and working for someone else. He’s currently working as a freelance consultant in product management, pricing and go-to-market strategies. He’ll be embedded into a company and work on long-term projects offering all his knowledge and services until the project is done. But that is not the end goal, it was only a step in between.

His ultimate goal is to offer a productized service by niching down. He started by building his product: the Rocket Pricing Plans. He is only offering this one service as a product to smaller customers. The upside? There are no project descriptions, no shifting timelines, and no unclear and difficult developments. By asking a few short questions, he will be able to figure out if someone is an appropriate customer for him, and the project will be finished in a set time. Even the budget and scope are set from the beginning.

The importance of investing in yourself

When Denys started as a freelancer, he had a lot to learn and a lot to do. He focused on the business itself too much and forgot to invest in himself. He’s learned how important it is to invest in his physical health, but also in his mental health. 

Denys was also convinced he could do it all without a network. If you ask him now, he will cite networking as one of the most important things to become a successful freelancer or entrepreneur. He’s been networking more and more these last few months and a new world has opened up to him. He has met so many new people and discovered a lot of opportunities. 

But he wouldn’t change anything about his journey. Like with so many things in life, you shouldn’t wait until you feel ready. It’s okay to just get started, test things, and discover the market. It’s most important to start, to get things going. Meet new people, start networking, talk to others, and follow training. Take a step in the right direction. It doesn’t matter what step, just to start. Everything else will follow.

You never know where your next opportunity might come from

So talk to people. Your friends, neighbour, your local baker, ex-colleagues, your mailman, … Be open to sharing what it is you do because you never know what reaction you’ll get. They might share information or their point of view, they’ll give you tips and tricks, and maybe even some new opportunities. Keep an open mind to other people and life in general and things will start happening for you.