We propose a simple dumbbell-shaped scheme of a Holmium-doped fiber laser incorporating a minimum number of optical elements. Mode-locking regimes were realized with the help of polymer-free single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) synthesized using an aerosol (floating catalyst) CVD method. We show that such a laser scheme is structurally simple and more efficient than a conventional one using a ring cavity and a similar set of optical elements. In addition, we investigated the effect of SWCNT film transmittance, defined by the number of 40 nm SWCNT layers on the laser’s performance: operating regimes, stability, and self-starting. We found that three SWCNT layers with an initial transmittance of about 40% allow stable self-starting soliton mode-locking at a wavelength of 2076 nm with a single pulse energy of 0.6 nJ and a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 60 dB to be achieved.