Building a Business That Supports Your Life, Not the Other Way Around

Magda Sokolovic burned out at a digital agency in 2023, quit at the start of 2024 and went to Asia to teach yoga. Then she found out that teaching drained her too, and that "follow your passion" doesn't pay the bills. This is the unpolished version of how she ended up running a solo web agency from Berlin, Goa and Sri Lanka.

What the talk covers

• From passion to value to zone of genius: she asked what drains her, what gives her energy and what she is already good at that people pay for. For her, the answer was web development, and her agency now builds websites for female founders.
• Identity-lifestyle fit, like product-market fit with you as the product: the bigger the gap between the version of you on your LinkedIn headline and the real one, the harder every day gets.
• Freelancing doesn't cure burnout, it swaps the problems. The skill is choosing which problems are worth having.
• A guided exercise in the middle of the talk: eyes closed, picture your ideal day. Who is there, what is the work, how do your shoulders feel? Your business is supposed to serve that picture.

Five things that helped her

1. The messy middle is not failure. After every pivot, the old income stops before the new one starts.
2. Consistency. Daily LinkedIn posts took her roughly six months to show results.
3. Outsource what drains you.
4. Protect your energy, not your time. A packed day in a co-working space cost her a client launch date.
5. Work on your limiting beliefs, ideally with a coach and an accountability buddy.

Her filter for every new project, client or meeting: does this serve the life I pictured? If not, it's a no.

Q&A

How to balance protecting your energy with leaving your comfort zone (she alternates focused and social weeks) and how to find a coach (follow them for a while, then book a discovery call).

Who it's for

Anyone at the point where something has to change but the next step isn't clear.