I have been working alone for 3 years, and my old links have been making orders for 2 years. Last year, my profit reached 1.5 million! I would like to ask you about your experience in building and expanding a team?

The writing is not good, please just read it
 
background

I graduated from university in 2018 with a degree in engineering. After graduation, I worked on a construction site for two years and saved 40,000 yuan (which was also the start-up capital for me to start working on my own).
 

Enter the industry
In 2019, I couldn't stand the nature and environment of the work on the construction site, so I wanted to change to a company closer to home. I accidentally entered this industry and earned 3,000 yuan a month. I was very motivated at the time. Fortunately, I learned a lot during this period and got some understanding of the categories the company was doing.
 

Start working alone
As I mentioned before, my salary was only 3,000 yuan. After I became a regular employee, although my performance was good, my boss was a bastard and didn't pay me commission (I haven't received tens of thousands of commission until now). Later, I thought about it again and again, and took tens of thousands of yuan from Gongdianzan to start trying. Unlike many people with sufficient funds, I just rented a house at the beginning, selected products and put them on the shelves every night after get off work, and I also made products related to the company's categories at the time (but I didn't make the company's products. At that time, I still had a strong sense of professionalism and felt like it was stealing). I did this for about half a year, and my monthly income from my side job was nearly 10,000 yuan, which was a bit of hope.
 

Officially working alone
As I mentioned before, after my side business started to take off, I became a little absent-minded at work. My mind was always on my shop. In addition, the income from my side business exceeded my income from my day job, so I gradually had the idea of ​​quitting my job and going home to work on my own. Later, due to a conflict with the company, I resigned and officially started my career as a solo worker.
 
Maybe I’m lucky enough. After continuing to expand the product line that I had accumulated while working alone, the products I launched one after another, although none of them became hits, the sales were still good and the profits kept rising. Because I didn’t have to go to work, I had a lot more free time. In the past few years, I have been digging deeper into vertical categories. After all the ups and downs, I’m lucky enough to now have a car and a house, and I also earned the money for my wedding myself.
 

status quo
Now the old links from the past two years have been making orders, and I am also slowly developing new products, but I still have a sense of crisis in my heart. After all, I have to bear all the risks and pressures by myself. The income is indeed much higher than that of working, and I am not a particularly motivated person. I am quite satisfied with the current situation and don’t want to make too much trouble. But on the other hand, I am worried that I will not be able to keep up with the development of the platform as I get older. I am also thinking about whether to set up a small studio. I hope you can give me some advice.
 

income
Let's talk about the income issue that everyone is most concerned about. Sometimes I feel that I am really lucky. Compared with many big guys, I have hardly encountered any major setbacks in the process of working alone, and my income has also increased steadily. In the first year of 2020, my side job income was about 100,000 yuan. I was also working at the time. Now I think about it. The level was really average at the time. I just took advantage of the rising opportunity of the industry at that time. I was still working in 2021. This year has increased compared to last year. I can't remember the exact amount because I don't have the habit of keeping accounts by myself. It should be 200,000-300,000 yuan.

2022 and 2023 were the two years in which I quit my job and devoted myself to the business, and I really saw the results. In 2022, the overall profit reached nearly 700,000 yuan. I was lucky in 2023 and launched several good products. In 2023, which is the past year, the profit reached 1.5 million yuan. I hope to maintain growth in 2024.
 

at last
I hope that those who want to work alone will be cautious. It is best to start with a job and wait until your sideline income reaches the level of your job and your skills are mature before making a decision. After all, the current environment is not good. I have a lot to say but my ability to express is limited, so I will stop here. I hope my experience can help you.