How I Built an AI-Powered Self-Evolving Solopreneur After Leaving the SOE

2026, I Decided to Leave the System

On the first day of 2026, I decided to leave the system. After three years in the SOE, I didn't take anything with me, but instead felt deprived of many things: passion for life, hope for the future, and most importantly, creativity and vitality.

What finally supported me to walk out of the wall wasn't the severance pay, but a completely new way of thinking about "productivity" that emerged from long-term spiritual struggle and urgent self-rescue.

In the eyes of the older generation, quitting means "losing income." People around me were all persuading me: the environment is bad, many people are unemployed, and many people are competing for your position. But I know very well that I'm not suited for that environment. **You let a bird race with cats and dogs on land, how can it win?** When the bird flaps its wings trying to fly, people only say flying is dangerous. I only have about 30,000 days in my life, I still want to try.

In my logic, this departure is called **retaking ownership of the means of production**. In the SOE, you're a part of the system, repeating the same gossip and rumors every day. Your benefits depend on your "position" rather than creativity; more importantly, you can hardly use any **"leverage"** there.

> **The essence of wealth growth is the manipulation of leverage.**

My goal of building a "solopreneur" is definitely not to be a hard-working freelancer taking orders, but to infinitely amplify personal will and move towards an ideal life. **The AI era has taken away all our excuses.** When you master AI, a 24/7 productivity lever with logic far superior to average employees, one person is a complete company.

Currently My System Has Four Core Levers

| Lever Type | Description |

|-----------|-------------|

| **Human Leverage 2.0** | AI Agent team centered around Sebastian |

| **Traffic Leverage** | 500K followers from university and self-rescue periods |

| **Digital Asset Leverage** | Self-developed courses, code, websites and apps |

| **Capital Leverage** | Mainly US stock assets |

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01. Business Mindset: From Human Employment to Renting Computing Power

I once started a business and led a team. Only bosses know how unreliable traditional **"human leverage"** is today.

> Managing people's emotions, handling communication losses, correcting低级错误... these drain entrepreneurs' energy.

I used to go back to my own company after overtime, sleeping less than 5 hours a day, leading to physical and mental breakdown. As a startup, employees might halve efficiency due to relationship breakups, slack off when boss isn't watching, or waste a week misunderstanding requirements.

Now I've completely abandoned traditional human resources and embraced computing power leverage.

In my architecture, the core employee is an AI Agent named **Sebastian**, my **"Commander-in-Chief"**. It has 24 sub-AI employees under it. They don't need psychological massage; only need clear instructions (Prompt). Except they can't go downstairs to get my delivery or argue with me, their abilities in logical modeling and code writing far exceed most average employees.

> You only need to give it a training period (internship). Fortunately, for Agents, the internship period is **"guaranteed to pass."**

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02. Super R&D: Industrial Delivery with Gemini + Claude Code

R&D is one of the most important departments. Using AI, I shortened product development from **1 year to 1 month**, simple websites in **10 minutes**.

Sebastian spent 10 minutes building my personal website www.zhixun.uk with Chinese-English bilingual interface, project showcase, blog pages - all clean, beautiful, smooth interactions.

If 10-minute website is just an appetizer, then 1-month trading journal TradeGrail is the main course, including all frontend/backend, database, user systems, payment systems.

My Toolbox

Workflow

Step 1: Architecture Modeling

Using Gemini's long context to clarify architecture through repeated communication.

Step 2: Frontend Polishing

Use Figma and Google AI Studio to polish product interface.

Step 3: System Development

Use Claude Code + VS Code for high-concurrency code writing and Debug.

Step 4: Automated Deployment

Hand to Sebastian for review, auto push to GitHub and deploy to Vercel.

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03. Core Tech: OpenClaw's "Full Permission" Butler

The core foundation is **OpenClaw**. It's not just a chatbot, but a **"digital twin"** with highest computer command authority.

Core Capabilities

Three Senior Supervisors

| AI Assistant | Responsibility |

|-------------|----------------|

| **Sebastian** | Commander-in-chief, 200+ skills execution |

| **Cyrus** | Media operations, monitor accounts, suggest topics |

| **Alice** | Life manager, task scheduling and progress tracking |

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04. Growth Flywheel: How 500K Followers Drive the "Perpetual Motion Machine"?

In the AI era, social media is a solopreneur's **"traffic reactor"**.

The **500K followers** I hold is trust assets accumulated during university (320K in 6 months) and self-rescue periods. When this attention combines with AI-driven product development, a magical **"flywheel effect"** emerges.

Four Key Steps

Step 1: High-Intensity Output (Build in Public)

Daily AI learning, programming, trading practice are high-value raw materials displayed transparently.

Step 2: 500K Followers' Traffic Amplification Lever

These followers are my "initial momentum" for any new product.

Step 3: Trust Conversion and Digital Asset Monetization

Deep trust converts audience to paying customers. This is **"passive income"** - marginal cost near zero once上线.

Step 4: AI-Driven Automated Feedback Iteration

The core of the flywheel's "self-rotation." Sebastian and Cyrus monitor feedback 24/7, AI automatically evaluates and generates optimization plans.

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05. Dimensional Reduction: How to Reconstruct Your Career with "Leverage Thinking"?

The core of solopreneur isn't technology, but **closed-loop thinking**. Find a pain point that generates value from input:

| Career | Input | R&D | Traffic | Closed Loop |

|--------|-------|-----|---------|-------------|

| **English Teacher** | Reading foreign articles | AI generates materials | Publish videos | Sell AI plugins |

| **Real Estate** | Policy insights | AI generates reports | Live Q&A | Build trust |

| **Admin/HR** | Familiar processes | Develop AI workflows | Share insights | Tool customization |

> **Remember: Your professional skill is "light", AI leverage is the "prism".**

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06. Conclusion: Those Who Dare to Leverage Reach the Future First

I once thought in my SOE office: **If the administrative system disappeared, could I still generate value?** The answer then was "no" - I was just a part.

But now the answer is **affirmative**. Whether TradeGrail or PrismNote being developed, they will grow on this "solopreneur" system.

> **Quitting isn't about escaping, but about "leveraging" more aggressively.**

In this era, not learning AI leverage is like insisting on digging with hands in the industrial age. **You're not trying hard; you're torturing yourself.**

Anxious within the walls, or reconstruct yourself with AI outside the world. The world has prepared infinite computing power, traffic, opportunities. **The only thing you need to do is press the start button.**

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First published in 2026