How Deya Ditched the 40-Hour Work Week to Make $100K/Year as a “Soft” Entrepreneur
You’re going to fall in love with this creator
Photo by Roberto Nickson on Pexels | edited on Canva by author
Having studied hundreds of content creators, I can sense when they’re about to “blow up” (in a good way!)
Deya is one of these.
She lives in Berlin with her cats and has close to 40K YouTube subscribers. Her business makes $100K+ a year, and she works with clients as their Digital Business Manager (DBM).
“A DBM is normally the second in command in a small digital business to the CEO, founder, or visionary.” — Deya
Screenshot from one of Deya’s YouTube videos
What makes Deya different from many other business owners is she knows what’s important to her. She’s found her “enough”.
She calls this enough “Soft Entrepreneurship”.
“Traditional, hard entrepreneurship says hustle, hustle, hustle. More at all costs; more is always better. Do more, be more, work more — you’re a machine!
“It destroyed my life […]
“So last year, I made the switch from Hard Entrepreneurship to Soft Entrepreneurship, and it changed my entire life.”
In the process, Deya made a list of rules for Soft Entrepreneurship that helped her ditch the 40-hour work week.
And I believe she’s unlocked the secrets to a good life.
So, what are these rules?
RULES FOR SOFT ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Rule #1: “A very, very, VERY strict zero-shame policy.”
Here’s how Deya explains it:
“Casual shames are like if you get up late and start work a little bit later.
“I used to say things like, ‘Why are you starting work so late? You’re already behind! Do you know there are people that wake up at 6am? They’re getting so much more done than you — like, you’re being so lazy!’”
These “casual shames” used to plague Deya when she wasn’t living up to her “highest possible self”.
“[…] You know, that person in your mind who’s perfect at everything.
“She’s like the fittest, most productive, most creative, nicest, [and] best mood version of you […] You compare everything you do to that person.”
Does this shaming ever do anything to improve your life?
Not really.
So rather than shame herself, Deya does the tasks that make the most sense strategically for her business. These are often creative tasks — recording videos, writing scripts, etc.
Beyond that, she’s just human.
She doesn’t beat herself up if today isn’t her most productive day ever.
Similarly, Deya has no emergencies in her business. “I’m not a doctor in an emergency room. It doesn’t matter if things get done today or tomorrow. It really isn’t that deep.”
Takeaway for you:
To stop the casual shames, consider this:
Would you say what you’re thinking to your best friend?
“If Georgie — my business best friend — came to me and was like, ‘Deya, I started work kind of late’, I’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, good for you! You’re still going to get everything done. We both know you’re working so hard. If you needed the extra sleep, your body needed the extra sleep.’”
Rule #2: Get clear on what you’re optimising for
The default goal for most people — especially business owners — is to make more money.
Deya warns against this:
“If you’re not clear or haven’t thought about what you’re optimising for, you might end up sacrificing things that are actually important to you […]”
Money isn’t even the thing we want.
It’s what money can do for us that makes it so appealing: More freedom, more time with family and friends, hobbies, travel, etc.
These are the things we should be optimising for.
“Never forget why you’re really doing what you’re doing. Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn’t that enough?”
— Derek Sivers, Author of Anything You Want
Takeaway for you:
What are you optimising for?
Knowing this in advance is important so you can focus on the things that matter to you instead of doing what others think you should.
There’s no shortcut to figuring this out.
I recommend opening a blank Google Doc, writing “What I’m optimising for” at the top, and typing whatever comes to mind.
Let your subconscious mind do the heavy lifting.
Rule #3: Put constraints in place
Ecological philosopher Edward Abbey once declared, “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
Deya knows that too much of a good thing can be bad. That’s why she’s put constraints on her business.
Let’s start with an obvious one: Money.
“Money constraints would be knowing what your enough number is […] Okay, you hit six figures. Who cares? Now it’s multi-six figures. Okay, you hit multi. Who cares? Seven figures, eight figures, nine figures […] What’s the point of doing all of that?
Without constraints, you’ll likely default to more.
Nothing will satisfy you.
Deya also doesn’t have an infinite to-do list. Every day, she sets out to achieve three big things. And if she does these things, she feels good about her day.
Work expands if left untethered.
“I also have a very strict energy constraint, which is the standard of did I do my best for today?
“Because a lot of times, people are like, ‘Oh, give 100% every day.’ [The thing is], your 100% might look different some days. There are a lot of things going on, and your 100% doesn’t look like yesterday’s 100%.”
Finally, Deya has constraints on her time.
She stops working at 5 pm and closes her laptop on the weekends. She knows that if she opens her laptop, she’ll be triggered by Slack and email to go into work mode.
“That’s just not fun for me.”
Takeaway for you:
What are your non-negotiables?
What are your boundaries?
Once you’ve nailed them, stick by them. Words mean nothing without action.
If you say you’re going to stop work at 5pm, do it.
Rule #4: Life > work
When you become overly invested in your work, you ride an emotional roller coaster every single day.
“Video does well? Great; I’m happy! Video doesn’t do well? I’m sad.”
Deya has more pillars to her identity than just her business.
For example, she’s invested lots of time and energy into her friendships. She also prioritises her health.
“If a video flops [or] a launch doesn’t do super well, it’s just something to analyze and try to do better next time. It has nothing to do with you personally […]
“Sometimes, when we start businesses, we think ‘we’ equals the business — but that’s just not true. The business is a separate entity. It doesn’t mean anything about your worth, which is priceless as a human being.
“My work is just a small part of who I am.”
Takeaway for you:
Think about your five key pillars of life: Work, health, relationships, finances, and fun.
Which ones aren’t supporting you right now?
Where do you need to invest more time?
Before jumping into soft entrepreneurship, there’s something you should know:
“You can only work smart if you’ve done the hard work first.” — Sinem Günel
For Deya, it’s taken her seven years to get to where she is today. She was a “fresh duckling straight out of university”, and she started her career at one of the big four consulting companies.
She hated it.
“Out of pure desperation, I started [freelancing online] in the evenings and on weekends at $10/hour — just trying to find something that would be an alternative […]”
When Deya first started freelancing, she was doing everything: Design, copy, admin — even voiceovers. “I had no clue what I wanted to do. I just wanted to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what would stick.”
My story is similar to Deya’s.
For years, I wrote articles before my 9–5, recorded podcasts during lunch breaks, and filmed videos from 6–8 pm.
Only now am I reaping the rewards.
So yes, soft entrepreneurship is possible — but don’t be fooled. It takes a lot of work to get the ball rolling.
“You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.”
— Brian Tracy
But don’t let this stop you.
Soft Entrepreneurship could unlock the life you didn’t even know you wanted.
Want to ditch the 9–5? Get my free 19-page guide: Everything I Did to Quit My 9–5 Job & Transition Into Profitable, Sustainable Solopreneuring :)
