Ruby on Rails Engineer - Jan Matuszewski

Team Subkit -

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jan Matuszewski, a freelance ruby on rails engineer located in Poznań, Wielkopolska, Poland.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I am a consultant in the programming field; my customers are mainly product owners who are looking for a person that will help their in-house engineering teams with optimizing the processes inside the company and writing some code.

Tell us about yourself

I've started working on my own part-time while having a 9-5 work. In the company, I was hidden under numerous hierarchy levels, not seeing the impact of my work. On the contrary, the additional work I did overtime was completely different; I saw much more impact my knowledge and skills could have. Feeling that I had an impact was the decider that I left my job and went all-in into my business.

There are multiple things motivating me every day:

  1. I truly enjoy seeing my client's businesses grow and being close to them.
  2. I am passionate about optimizing technical stuff, and my work usually includes I don't suffer from a lack of motivation.
  3. Seeing the world being a little bit better place thanks to my effort.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

In 2021 I was the main person responsible for creating applications for issuing COVID-19 passports. We built the application in less than 3 weeks and helped over 500,000 patients by delivering their passports. I mentioned that I am passionate about optimizing stuff; there are numerous projects where I worked on improving my client's essential KPIs with great success.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

There are always new problems, and we - business owners, have to switch our mindset from seeing a problem as difficult rather than as an opportunity. Keeping the right mindset even when things go completely wrong is likely the biggest challenge.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Work on resolving a problem/need with the audience and money - picking the wrong niche might be the main reason for the failure.
  2. Validate your ideas early - don't fully trust that your idea must work.
  3. Find a business partner - alone, you can't achieve even 10% of what would be possible with a good team. It's especially difficult for me as I am naturally introverted, and seeking people isn't my thing, but I am doing my best to change it.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://jmatuszewski.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-matuszewski/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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