How I started my brand LOUDDAR, an academy and shop that struggled for 3 years

In early 2023, while still receiving income support from CentreLink and under mutual obligations, I was asked to meet my ‘Activity Requirement’. An activity that would help people get into employment such as the self employment assistance, employability skills training or the controversial ‘Work For The Dole’. I decided to go with the self employment assistance route since I had a background in marketing, and I learned that multiple income streams are vital for success.

It all began by doing the micro business skillset at the provider ‘Sydney Business’. Apart from the quizzes and the whole-day classes every Thursday for six weeks, my major assignment was creating the business plan. Originally, my business would be a marketing agency, but has changed into a potential DJ / Producer academy containing a course, eBook and some templates/samples under the name SIDELOUD. But SIDELOUD did not appear on Google then!

The idea of SIDELOUD came from the DJ competition I participated in August 2022, YourShot. This DJ competition, when selected, offers the contestant six weeks of DJ refinement and a live performance of 25 minutes at the nightclub, Home Bar in Sydney. SIDELOUD drew inspiration from YourShot, but it would be a different world.

I was eager to undertake the small business coaching from Sydney Business once my business plan was assessed for viability, however the panel meeting did not turn out well. Two panelists (an old lady and a male) ended up being scary and mean like that of a typical shark tank game. Twice in a row, I tried my best to pitch my business and the panelists became offensive to me regarding the profitability.

And so, in complete depression and despair throughout Winter 2023, I had no coaching or mentorship for my then-brand SIDELOUD. Without following my business plan, I ended up posting instead of marketing my products online just to gain an audience. Great content, but where are the products! I could have thought of my Instagram page as a shopfront but it wasn’t until January 2025.

For two years (2023–2024), I posted the wrong content, but useful to educate and entertain the audience. They were EDM DJ tutorials that blew up views but no value to the product. I could have balanced these DJ tutorials with some production carousels and some more fun content on LOUDDAR (formerly LOUD PUNCH and SIDELOUD), but plans ended up in despair due to the levels of stress, anxiety and depression I had to tackle through. Fortunately, LOUDDAR ended up on Google thanks to simple SEO strategies I implemented like using the right keywords.

Another obstacle hindered the success of SIDELOUD back in 2023. I was approached by some random Christians on the weekend after attending a Catholic retreat regarding a Bible Study. But the Bible Study was heavily focused on ‘Satan’ rather than Jesus, led by the Shincheonji Non-Trinital church. It triggered further depression, sleep deprivation and anxiety for around six months of attendance, as well as destroyed my complete freedom on Tuesday and Thursday nights when they were times for studio EDM production. At times I was stalked by the organizers of the ‘cult’ Bible Study as they wanted to spend more time with me and myself to come offline.

But on the bright side, I was able to visit the University of Technology Sydney campus (UTS) for their open day. I visited the UTS startup hub and told them that I was starting a business/brand. Luckily, I was able to participate in the Rapid Value Creation (RVC) program which was an important milestone for the success of my SIDELOUD brand. Not only my social media and digital marketing skills were refined during the course of the program, but my AI and digital product creation skills were taking shape. I learned that RVC isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, but it was about achieving financial success through effective decision-making and consistent effort, all thanks to the Digital DJ Journals as part of the product range.

From June 2024 until June 2025, I was keen to undertake the small business coaching program just to be safe of my income support payments falling behind. However, the levels of anxiety and stress continued to build as I not only had no network, but at home the entire time. I was focusing too much on the fun content I have been uploading to Instagram and YouTube with little time to modify the Shopify website. Eventually, my brand website had to be migrated to Beacons.AI and Wix as I suffered cost blowouts from my Shopify website regarding maintenance and design. Originally, I thought Shopify was the best website for any business, but it would depend on the needs. For a typical EDM brand, Wix or Beacons.AI would be a better solution.

During my time of small business coaching, I was fortunate to have a mentor guide myself but I experienced a rapid change of mentors. The most recent mentorship meeting was in June 2025 when it was a Business Health Check offered by the Self-Employment assistance program.

By January 2025, after a successful Instagram carousel ad, I made my first sale. It was a Digital DJ Journal I created and pioneered during the time I completed the UTS Rapid Value Creation program. From the same ad, I made another sale from the Digital DJ Journal, and no further sales were made for a year.

I had some thoughts of creating an online course for my business for a while, but I knew it would be time consuming but better for my buck! In June 2025, without any significant investment on aggressive marketing efforts, I launched my first course (5-day Energy Flow Challenge for DJs / Producers), but no significant sales were made.

Everything I made in terms of products were tried-and-tested for three years. My social content strategy, though driving brand awareness, did not match my products and the content in the website. But a financial scam of a $2k loss hindered the success of LOUDDAR in late 2025 since it was an illegal ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme I tried out. By early 2026, I utilized Wix as a secondary website for my brand (now a main website), but traffic was fluctuating in small numbers unless I ran an ad. I did not run ads that time as I was recovering from the financial loss.

It’s now the financial year (FY) of 2026–2027, and after significant business plan delays I suffered in the first six months of 2026, I feel that this new FY would provide me hope and success, especially this upcoming Christmas. From July to around October 2026 (despite some minor health struggles), I would strive to improve my overall content strategy, make my first sales on a channel called Gumroad, participate in affiliate programs to cover costs on tools I used (e.g. InstaClubHub for Instagram viral content ideas, Kit for email marketing) and continue increasing brand awareness on social media by simply being active and present.

I also launched my new eBook, published on Gumroad and my main website, which is titled ‘How to Go From Studio Burnout to Mainstage Banger’. It’s a must read for any music producer struggling in the beginning just like myself. A new 72-hour system to cure beat block, escape studio depression, and craft mainstage-ready festival bangers — without burning out or losing your sleep schedule. I learnt that eBooks would be better in monetising educational or motivational content at low time and costs in the short term, and they can be bundled with any template or sample pack I market.