Work Less. Earn More. Live Free.

This is my motto from now on.

It’s the dream I have for myself: the ability to do work where input isn’t directly tied to output, making it possible for me to work 2-4 hours a day (at the start) while juggling many other responsibilities.

Earning more, for me, means being able to afford anything I want—paying for groceries, taking my girlfriend out on a fancy date, enjoying a month-long vacation, financially assisting my family whenever and however needed, and keeping a roof over my head.

Enjoying life is a byproduct of achieving financial, time, and location freedom. With those, life truly becomes enjoyable.

This all looks easy on paper, but trust me, it’s hard!

There are countless internal and external factors to navigate on the path to achieving this trifecta of freedom.

For example, I’m scared of following a path that isn’t conventional.

My beliefs often conflict with this journey, and from time to time, they wrestle for my commitment to one side.

One of the biggest conflicts I face is the belief that selling solutions to problems I’ve solved is somehow wrong.

The idea that “money is the root of all evil” is deeply ingrained in my subconscious and affects how I approach sales.

If you’re from Africa, you may understand this sentiment all too well.

Despite these challenges, I’m gradually leaning towards designing a life of my own rather than living one that’s been assigned to me.

This shift has led me down a path I’ve seen others tread successfully—people like Dan Koe, Chris Do, Gary Vee, Justin Welsh, Iman Gadzhi, and Matt Gray, to name a few.

They’ve built what I call a Self-Driven Business.

These individuals use:

• Social media to build leverage, attract like-minded people, and establish their brands.
• No-code tools and software for digital real estate, product hosting, and email list management.
• Systems they create to develop products or services they can sell.
• Their online following to multiply their inputs and generate income.

This is the path I’m embarking on over the next year (and beyond), with a goal of making $100k by November 2025.

And yes, I plan to share progress updates with you every weekend for the next year.

To help you understand how I intend to achieve this, let’s look deeper into the self-driven business model and the potential opportunities it holds.

What Is A Self-Driven Business Model?

We live in an extraordinary era.

The internet has made it possible for anyone to be an entrepreneur.

All you need to do is build a brand around yourself in a unique way.

Tell your story, build leverage, and use that leverage to generate income through digital products or services that align with your specific skills.

You’ve probably seen this happen time and time again with your favourite online personalities.

You engage with them because they share their struggles, and you relate to those struggles, which makes you stay.

This connection builds trust and turns them into people of influence. Then, they launch a paid product, course, guide, or whatever else they’ve developed.

Because you trust them and see that the product fits your current needs, you buy it.

It’s a win-win situation. You get a solution that helps you, and they get paid for being themselves and sharing their knowledge.

Some people who don’t fully understand sales and persuasion might dismiss this model as a Ponzi scheme. But it’s a legitimate business model like any other. The key is the exchange of value.

Sure, we could talk endlessly about fake gurus, but let’s set them aside for a moment.

In my twenty-something years on Earth, I’ve experienced a lot and gathered a multitude of interests and stories.

The self-driven business model suits me perfectly.

There are two main paths I’ve observed for building a successful self-driven business. I’ve already tried the first path and failed, but this time, I plan to combine all both.

Path 1: Skill based

This is the most common path people advise:

• Learn a skill.
• Teach the skill.
• Sell the skill.

This was the premise on which egbontolu was built.

Before I started creating content, I was deeply interested in marketing and the psychology of persuasion, but I wasn’t sure how to make it profitable.

Should I start a business and use my knowledge to scale it? Or should I get a job as a marketer, and if so, what specific role?

These were the questions on my mind until I came across Dain Walker’s content on branding.

I was immediately captivated and decided to share my interest in marketing, teach what I learned, and hopefully sell my skills for profit.

Things started off well, but I quickly realised that the audience I attracted was one-dimensional.

When I experienced personal growth and changes in my interests, I hesitated to express them for fear of losing my followers.

So, I ghosted them—which, in hindsight, wasn’t the best move—and realised I needed a more diverse, yet interconnected audience.

Path 2: Development Based

This path resonates more with me. It’s based on the four external markets:

• Health
• Wealth
• Relationships
• Happiness

While Path 1 only focuses on wealth, Path 2 allows me to pursue my own goals, solve problems along the way, and create systems to help others achieve similar results.

This means I can be myself, improve myself, and profit from being myself. It aligns more closely with the life I want to create.

Path 3: Both

This is the approach I’m taking for the next year.

As I document the steps I’m taking to reach my goal, I’ll inevitably learn new skills that will aid in achieving it.

These are skills I can sell to others who might need them.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that my single goal for the year is the driving force behind all the content and knowledge I’ll share.

The plan is simple: I’ll sell the skills I acquire on my journey to making $100k so that you can benefit too if you’re on a similar path.

That’s it—that’s the plan. It may not be fancy or fully clear right now, but clarity comes from action, and we’ve got plenty of action ahead of us.

Each week, I’ll share what I’m doing, learning, and any milestones I hit along the way.

I have a feeling this is going to be an exciting year.

If you haven’t yet, this is your sign to set one big goal for the next year—one that could transform your life.

It doesn’t need to be fancy or complex. Just pick one goal that, if achieved, would positively impact every area of your life.

I know that to reach my $100k goal, I have a lot of internal battles to fight, and I need to overcome them fast.

Don’t wait until December to set your goals. Start now.

That’s all for today.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.

~ Tolu