Hello, and welcome.

I’m Stefano, and I am genuinely grateful that you’re here. Thank you for trusting me with your time and your email address.

If you subscribed, chances are you've felt it too: that exhausting, frustrating gap between working hard and actually making progress. The feeling that you're spinning your wheels, chasing every new trend, and ending the day with more tabs open than you started with, but no closer to your goal.

I know that feeling intimately. I lived in it for nearly three years. And this newsletter exists because of it.

My Journey into the Trenches

My story as an entrepreneur didn't start with a brilliant idea in a modern co-working space. It started in the basement of a restaurant in Austria, where I was promised a chef's job but ended up washing dishes for 14 hours a day. It was there, feeling exploited and exhausted, that I learned my first lesson: if you don't value your own time and fight for what is fair, no one else will.

I returned home to Romania, armed with that lesson and a background in IT, determined to build something for myself online.

And so began the great chase.

I dove headfirst into the digital world with relentless energy. I built Shopify stores in a dozen different niches. I learned about marketing, spent money on Facebook and TikTok ads, and waited for the "cha-ching" sound of a sale that never came.

I was told dropshipping was a "dead horse," so I pivoted. I launched NFT collections on six different blockchains, creating entire universes of digital art. I built apps. I created content on every platform imaginable—YouTube, Patreon, Fiverr, even a brief, misguided attempt at OnlyFans.

On the surface, I was the definition of a "hustler." I was working 8+ hours a day, seven days a week, fueled by coffee and the incredible moral and financial support of my mother.

But behind the screen, the reality was stark. My bank account was empty, I was accumulating debt, and my spirit was completely drained. I had tried everything. I had hit a wall.

The Epiphany

In that moment of burnout, I finally understood the truth. The problem wasn't my work ethic. It was my lack of focus. I wasn't building a business; I was collecting hobbies.

I was digging a dozen shallow holes, hoping to strike gold, instead of digging one deep well until I found water.

And that's why "Lessons from the Trenches" was born.

This newsletter is my commitment to digging one deep well. It's the place where I share the brutally honest lessons learned from my expensive, exhausting, and ultimately invaluable journey.

What This Newsletter IS (and IS NOT)

So, what can you expect?

Every Tuesday, you’ll receive one email from me. It might be a deep-dive into a strategy that worked, a painful analysis of a mistake I made, or a mindset shift that helped me move forward.

But this isn't a monologue. It's a dialogue. The most valuable conversations happen when we share our experiences.

So, I have a question for you, and I invite you to answer it. Just hit 'reply' to this email and tell me: What is the single biggest challenge you're facing in your own journey right now?

There's no wrong answer. I will read and respond to every single email personally.

Thank you again for being here. Let's start building smarter, not just harder.

Talk soon, Stefano