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anxiously

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I was anonymous within my business for quite some time (~$X,XXX,XXX/ARR). It got to the point where my demos/sales calls would begin to question why they can't find anything about me online, for instance, "Why should my business trust you? I can't find anything about you?".

At a certain point I had come to a realization that things operate a certain way for 99% of people and companies and being contrarian doesn't help. If you want to win you need to play their game and that may mean having a public presence and playing on their playing field (that field may be LinkedIn, Github and other common fields).

I will say you don't have to become an influencer asshat which is what I want to avoid at all costs. You don't need to be "famous" and build a following of any kind. I focus my time on networking and building trust within my domain.

Can someone explain this vtoon trend to me? It doesn't seem to be driven by anonymity because their real name is easily findable, so I assume it's something else? It seems very common, especially in certain communities.

Freedom. Freedom to work when I want, if I want, on whatever I want, or not at all.

Not dealing with people, offices or maintaining any kind of professional image.

Not sure what to call it, but a sort of liberation knowing I don’t rely on a company or external force to make my way through this life. A sort of stability and certainty I guess.

The only time I have ever been "proud" of my work is when I began making money on a service I built as a side project.

Knowing I built something people found useful and were willing to pay for was a big moment for me. The day I quit my full time job and worked on my own service full time was a big moment in my life.