Revealing The Shocking Secrets Behind Dan Koe’s $1M+ One-Person Business Empire.
And what he doesn’t want you to know.
I misjudged Dan Koe.
When I first saw his content, I thought “great”. Here’s another Twitter-bro flexing his fake lifestyle, designer watch, and Lambo. I clicked off. I was hoping never to see his content again.
But I started to watch his YouTube videos in 2023.
I was ready to criticize again. But I couldn’t. The content spoke to me. His approach to the one-person business model rewired my brain. I watched another video. And another. I binged the entire series.
He was right. I was wrong. I realized my mistake. Sorry Dan.
Here’s what I’ve learned from the man himself.
The Future of Work
Dan Koe believes we will all work for ourselves.
One of his quotes that lives rent-free in my head:
Solve a problem in private, it’s called self-improvement.
Solve a problem in public, it’s called business.
As humans, we’ve solved problems since birth.
At some point in our lives, we couldn’t read the words on this page. We wouldn’t walk, talk, or change our Spiderman-themed underwear. But we solved all those problems through self-education, coaching, and practice.
If you’re not improving yourself every day, what are you doing with your life?
But most people stop solving the problems in their lives. This causes entropy. The universal law states that everything decays into chaos. Without intervention, this eventually leads to death.
People suffer two deaths:
Death 1: The day you stop improving.
Death 2: The day you stop breathing.
What does this have to do with business?
In short, everything.
Business is about solving problems. If you can’t solve your own, you can’t solve others’ problems. But if you’ve ever solved a problem in your life, you’re qualified to start a business. Business is nothing more than a vehicle to get paid for the value you create.
The internet has shifted power from corporations to individuals.
Anyone can self-educate on any topic. Anyone can find a coach to guide them through skill acquisition. Anyone can practice this skill on themselves and their own business. We have all the tools to work for ourselves. It’s only a matter of time until we do.
The future of work is solopreneurship.
Everyone can start with the one-person business model. It’s beginner-friendly. Requires minimal start-up capital or costs. No supply chain. No inventory. No staff members. You can build the entire business around a skill you’ve learned.
If you’ve solved a problem and have a pulse, you’ve got everything.
Here’s how you start.
You have everything you need to start a one-person business
If you’ve got a:
Pain.
Passion.
Profession.
You can start a one-person business.
Dan Koe entered this world through web development. While he studied it in college, he self-taught the entire curriculum in a month or two. He used this skill to get a 9–5 job. And then used that experience to begin freelancing online.
I took this model and applied it to my world.
My first one-person business combined my professional experience in consulting, public policy, and government procurement. I started a consulting business to help construction and infrastructure companies win government contracts.
I quickly reached six figures in revenue. But I didn’t enjoy it.
Luckily, I found a buyer. I had a client who wanted to buy my consulting business. I was able to exit that business, but I created another 9–5 job for myself. I didn’t negotiate the terms of the acquisition effectively. This process taught me a lot.
While I had this job, I started to create my next one-person business.
I focused on sales and marketing for solopreneurs, SMEs, and entrepreneurs.
This is the business you see today. This business aligns with me more. I could take the sales and marketing skills I learned (professional skill) and combine them with a passion (solopreneurship) and a pain (revenue) that I’ve experienced for myself.
The great news for you?
You only need one of profession, passion, or pain to get started. You don’t need all three.
The majority of my audience comes from a tech background. So if I was a data scientist, software developer, or did any sort of coding, I’d take that deeply technical skill and freelance with it while I had a 9–5 job or coach (or tutor) those who want this in-demand skill.
You don’t need some crazy innovative idea.
Don’t try to build an app. Don’t go for a SaaS product. Start with the one-person business model first. Why? Well, if you can’t resell a skill you already have, how on earth will you be able to sell an app? You don’t have the sales and marketing skills yet.
Stick your hand in the river that’s already flowing.
Start unscalable. And then add leverage afterward.
You are an ethical cult leader.
Build distribution, and then build whatever you want.
In the online world, distribution = online audience.
While being a freelance web developer, Dan Koe started writing on Twitter (or X). He slowly built a following. He found other web developers who built a course teaching others to become web developers.
By accident, he realized that having an audience increased his leverage.
With an audience, he didn’t need to do manual client acquisition. He had clients already following him and consuming his content. They were already sold on him. They just needed an opportunity to buy.
After selling out his freelance service, he realized he could offer something new.
He could use his new distribution channel to sell coaching and consulting. This required less time and effort on the backend. Delivery was just his knowledge. After delivering this, he could then productize that knowledge into self-paced courses and resources.
Digital products are where he found his financial freedom.
I started writing on Medium in 2019.
When I started, I had no intention of creating a business from it. I just wanted to write. But after a few years, I realized that I had developed a high-value skill. I could stack my writing ability alongside sales and marketing.
Like Dan Koe, I started with a freelance service first.
But I’m also building an audience and digital products. I’m slowly adding leverage. One follower at a time. One digital product per month. One workshop every month. Last year, I added a done-with-you coaching service.
In 2025, I’m focusing on community offers and digital products.
I’ll maintain my done-for-you agency offer and my done-with-you coaching service. But the leverage and scale will come through my digital product sales to a 100k+ audience.
The good news? You don’t need a huge following to make money.
I’ve seen creators with less than 10,000 followers make $100k per month. And other creators with 250k+ followers make less $1k per month. There’s almost no relationship between follower size and business revenue.
Become an ethical cult leader.
Build a following around your vision, philosophy, and personality. That’s what gets people to stay. There are a million other people who offer sales and marketing services. But no one who does it like I do it.
Once you build distribution, you can build whatever you want.
You can build a business in 1 hour per day.
Spend your first hour of the day:
30 minutes of building
30 minutes of learning.
If you can do this, you’ll pass 99% of people who don’t do either.
Most people are sleepwalking through life.
The average American is:
In debt.
Divorced.
Overweight.
So, why on earth would you want to strive for average?
Being in the middle is the most dangerous position you can be in. The craziest thing is that you don’t even need to do much to get ahead. Investing 1 hour in yourself can change your life in 12 months (or less).
I started writing online with 10–15 minutes per day.
There was nothing earth-shattering about this habit. But it wasn’t the habit itself. It was my commitment to write every day since 2019. None of those days look exceptional. But the accumulation of days makes me uncommon.
That’s 1,800+ days of writing.
Only a handful of people on earth write more consistently than I do. Today, I’ve got a 100k+ audience, a six-figure business, speak on international stages every year, and travel to a new country every 3–4 weeks.
This all started from a 10-minute daily habit.
Don’t aim for big leaps. They sound and look sexy. But they aren’t sustainable. Business isn’t about being once-off great for a day. It’s about being consistently good for decades.
Start with 1 hour per day.
Do everything in your power to make this work. Wake up earlier, go to bed earlier, block out time in the morning. Be selfish and reduce commitments to things that don’t move you closer to your goals. Be uncompromising.
Fight for this 1 hour in your day like your life depends on it, because it does.
The complete Dan Koe roadmap to build a $1m+ one-person business:
I’ve followed Dan Koe’s roadmap.
I’m not making millions (yet). This takes time.
He went through 7 failed business models and years of trial and error before he found what he is doing today. I’m on a similar journey. I know it won’t be easy. But I love working towards it every day.
Here’s what you need to do:
Understand that the future of work is changing.
Leverage the skills you already have to build your one-person business.
Build your distribution channels alongside your business.
Start small. Create 1-hour blocks in your morning to work on your biz.
Do this for 6–12 months and your life will be completely different.
👉 I’ve previously sold a one-person business and I’m in the process of scaling another one to $20k per month. If you want my one-person business growth system, I’ve created a FREE email course for you to get started.