Let's start with a truth that feels both a privilege and a burden: we are deeply grateful for the life we have. We've built a home together as a Polish-Turkish couple in Ireland, navigated complex careers in the tech world, and found a stability that our parents and grandparents worked tirelessly for.

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This is not a story of escaping a life we hate.

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It is a story of honoring a life we crave even more. It is about confronting a quiet but persistent tension many of us in "successful" careers feel – the gap between a good, respectable life and a life that feels truly, profoundly alive. This is our exploration of that space in between, and our manifesto for building a bridge.

The golden cage & the quiet rebellion

There's a subtle narrative sold to many of us: achieve professional stability, and fulfillment will follow. But what happens when you arrive, only to find the cage, however golden, is still a cage?

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The dominant narrative around passion projects then offers two unrealistic exits: the bold leap of quitting your job to "follow your bliss," or the polished myth of the "5-to-9" entrepreneur who effortlessly builds an empire after hours.

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The reality for most of us is far messier. It's found in the quiet moments stolen from a demanding schedule.

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For us, Ola and Riza, On Way Storytellers is not built in a sun-drenched co-working space. It's built on the tram during the morning commute. It's built in the long, quiet evenings after our 9-to-5 jobs are done.

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This project is our conscious act of rebellion against the false dichotomy of "stable career" vs. "soulful life." It's our commitment to proving they can coexist, and this is what we've learned on the journey.

Reframe time: from scarcity to sacred intention

The biggest illusion is that you need more time. We've found the real key is intentionality. A focused 15-minute conversation over coffee can achieve more than two unfocused hours of scrolling. We don't have endless hours, so we treat the time we do have as sacred. By reframing small pockets of time as valuable opportunities, we shift from a mindset of scarcity ("I have no time") to one of intentional action ("What can I build in this hour?").

Lean on strengths: the architect and the alchemist

A project like this, built in the margins, would be nearly impossible alone. Our partnership is our superpower, largely because we are wired differently.

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Ola is the architect. With Gallup strengths like Discipline and Analytical, she thrives on creating the systems and narrative frameworks that give our passion structure. Riza is the alchemist. With strengths like Ideation and Positivity, he brings the visual flair and intuitive connections that transform that structure into a felt experience.

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We don't try to be good at everything; we trust each other's innate genius. This creates an efficient workflow, but more importantly, it prevents the burnout that comes from constantly operating outside your natural talents.

Embrace "good enough": perfection is the enemy of the done

In our day jobs, the pressure for polish is immense. But for a passion project, "perfection" is a trap that leads to never launching at all. We had to embrace what we call a "good enough" economy. We focus on delivering our core value – deep, contextual storytelling – and allow for imperfection in the execution. This is how we move forward, sustainably, without getting paralyzed.

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Building a soulful side hustle isn't about finding a magical reserve of extra hours. It's about being fiercely intentional with the time you have, leveraging your unique strengths, and giving yourself permission to build something real and imperfect, rather than waiting for the perfect moment to begin. The journey is happening now, in these stolen moments, and that is what makes it so very alive.

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