What I learned about being an entrepreneur
The short version is: It’s tough, haha. Even though I anticipated a start without regular income, a period where I had to scrape by and have a tough time making ends meet. I still underestimated how tough it could be at times. I’ve had months where there was no income at all and I’ve seen my savings disappear as the last snow at the start of spring. Looking for work is a skill at itself and not to be underestimated. You have to learn (how) to contact your network and to recognise opportunities.
What I learned about the world
That being said, I’ve been pleasantly surprised about my network, and people in general. In contrast to what I thought, most people are more than willing to help you out. Whether it’s by giving advice, helping out with the business side or introducing you to new contractors. I’ve had some help from more people than I anticipated and am eternally grateful for that. So to those who’ve been there for me: Thank you so much!
What I learned about myself
Oh boy have there been some tough lessons, haha. I learned that I’m far more opportunistic than I ever knew. And I honestly think that is a good thing in this stage. It means I am not afraid to take risks, even though they’re, mostly, calculated. It also means it sometimes bites you in the butt.
I also learned I am capable of functioning under financial stress. Especially the final months of 2025 were rough, and I managed to adapt and look for new ways to generate income. Even though it’s not ideal, let alone what I envisioned, it’s giving me more time to grow as an entrepreneur.
What did I do in the past year?
Ofcourse it went nothing like I thought it would, because that’s life. I thought, or more accurately hoped, that I would have a decent amount of studio work by now. But in reality it’s not exactly that. I have had some opportunities mixing and mastering, recording and producing and that is amazing. I’d hoped I’d have more by now, but that’s not the case. It is alright though, I still have faith it will keep growing and more work will come to me as long as I keep going.
Something I did not expect is that I’m doing more work as a live audio engineer. It’s something I used to do 15 years ago and I always enjoyed the work. Especially mixing bands. The only reason I stopped doing it was because my life back then was too full and I had to let some aspects go. I’m glad to be doing this more now and it also presented with a lot of new things to learn.
What is the plan for next year?
So let’s take a look at the near future: I will continue doing work as a freelance audio engineer and am open to more places to do so. At the same time I will keep growing as a mixing- and mastering engineer, ofcourse. And next to that I will do the occasional live show as a session guitarist.
I feel I’m on the right track, and the only thing I need is time and patience. All in all I love this journey so far and I’m glad I found the opportunist in myself and made the leap.
See you in the next post!
– Jochem
