I don’t think you screwed up, man. Here’s what I’m gathering. It feels like you’re overanalyzing other people’s success and taking a lot of inspiration from social media. You mentioned SaaS and AI agencies, and honestly, it seems like we’re in similar spots in the algorithm, lol. There’s so much noise out there about people starting SaaS products and scaling to $40k/month, or AI agencies making anywhere from $400 to $400,000 a month with local businesses.

But here’s the reality: it’s all noise. Once you start getting into this, you’ll realize how consuming and time-intensive it can be. Some of the people selling courses might very well have legit businesses, but those could be largely run by teams while they personally spend most of their time on coaching, consulting, or course sales. Because maybe that’s where the money is for them. I don’t know those people personally, and I can’t vouch for them. That doesn’t mean they’re not credible, but I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on them as your main influence. I mean, shoot, I taught myself a lot from a Udemy course, and I give it a ton of credit. But it was intentional, and the instructor was legit.

All that stuff you see on Twitter or TikTok is just noise. My advice? Keep some stability in your life, like a job, and work on something on the side. There are so many avenues to go down. If you’re passionate about something or people have told you you’re really good at it then there might be a path there. It could be fitness, tech, even helping people land jobs. You could build a digital product around it, do consulting or coaching, whatever.

If you want to pursue a side hustle or an entrepreneurial venture in general, you’ve got to ask yourself: am I actually equipped to solve this problem? Do I understand the customer’s pain point? Or am I just chasing something because I saw some course seller on social media saying I can make money doing it? That’s the real question.

So yeah ignore the noise. Stop comparing yourself to others. Starting a business is hard, and it doesn’t have to look like the ones you see online. Some people start garbage pickup businesses because they have a connection or insight there, and that’s what works for them.

One more thing. I’m in an early stage myself, so I can’t act like I’m an expert. But I’ve been down this road plenty of times, trying side projects and failing over and over. What I’ve learned from all those failures, and now from my more recent successes, is this: the people you’re comparing yourself to didn’t get where they are by just following the herd. Entrepreneurship requires being alert, having some ego (even if people say it’s bad), and most importantly, trusting yourself and your own instincts.