A sudden left turn.
From market research to marketing agency (2025. 06. 30. - 2025. 07. 02.)
My original plan was to post once a week.
But this week got so unexpectedly exciting that I had no choice:
I had to split it in half. So this is only Part 1, covering three days.
Hello!
I’m Zoli, a 16 y/o working on a tech business from scratch. I’m documenting everything — the wins, the losses, the bad decisions, and the lessons I learn along the way.
What have I done so far?
Even though my main app stack work didn’t progress that much in recent days, things definitely weren’t standing still.
Here’s what I achieved:
Read chapter 16 of Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel)
Continued learning Figma (click here to see how I progressed)
I finished my Substack account setup and designed the post structure
And joined an agency?
How I partnered with another young founder
I’ve been focused on building my own business. So, the idea of joining someone else? Honestly, it wasn’t even on my radar.
Last week, while doing the (failed) market research, I ended up chatting with a few early-stage entrepreneurs, the exact kind of people I want to build for.
One of those conversations went into an interesting direction.
After some back and forth, this person offered me a spot in his agency, NexFlow Media. And I didn’t know how to feel about this.
I was suddenly sitting with a real offer on the table. Not a freelance gig — a partnership.
I had some very obvious reasons to say no:
I’m below 18 years of age, so I can’t legally make money from a business.
I’m working on my own business, and I don’t have time for another.
But a few days after… I said yes.
I joined as a copywriter — unpaid, but with a 25% ownership of the agency.
Why?
Because to me, this wasn’t about the money. Let’s be honest: 25% of zero is still zero, and NexFlow has no paying customers yet.
But this felt like the perfect opportunity to learn and experience.
I mean, how could I learn marketing better, if not by writing actual copy for actual offers, in an actual marketing agency?
I considered this partnership as another part of my journey, and a brilliant way of learning some crucial skills that I’ll need to succeed with my business in the future.
I joined, but set clear boundaries: I’ll spend only up to 1 hour a day on agency work.
My own business remains the top priority. Period.
A short takeaway
The lesson I learned from these 3 days is not yet clearly defined. But I’ll try my best to give some advice that might just spark an idea or answer a question.
When working towards your goals, you have to find a rare state of your mind,
Where you’re hyper-focused on your mission,
but also open to opportunities that help you move forward
at the same time.
This is difficult. That’s why it’s really important to keep your main mission, that one goal, in mind at all times, and align everything else with that.
See you in Part 2
This was just from Monday to Wednesday.
In Part 2, I’ll cover the rest, including a brainstorming session that made me rethink my entire perception of productivity, and will also affect my first app stack.
See you in a few days! Wish me luck — I’ll need it.