It’s been five months since my last entry. I’ve been busy, but I guess that’s life. I’ve really wanted to write, and I’ve done a lot of it privately. So, I’m going to try again to pick up this habit of writing in public.
I’m writing these lines in Sofia. A while back I launched my first two projects: Picmal and Cozy. I’ve made some money along the way. I even got an offer to sell Picmal for five figures. But it’s not enough to live on right now. Even though it isn’t easy, I have a strong desire to continue trying. I want to stay in the game. I enjoy working on my projects daily. Over the past five months, I’ve learned a lot. So I’d like to share here an unordered list of things I’ve been learning during this time. Not all of these will be true, but they feel true for me now. They can help those of you who are in a similar place. Without further ado, here’s the list:
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A one-time payment may not be the best option for your business, even though it benefits your users.
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Look for healthy markets. You want ones where it’s not winner-takes-all. Aim for a few competitors—about 10 is ideal—but make sure no single player takes most of the profits.
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Finding the right distribution channel is more important than the idea itself. The point is that you need a channel to show the product through. If you don’t have that, it doesn’t make sense to build it.
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This is pretty obvious, but I still made the mistake again and again. Once you’ve built the first version of the product, spend 80% of your time on marketing. Engage with customers. Discover the channels that suit your ideal audience. Then, aim to be present in many locations. Take your time with it, but focus on this.
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Do the short-term and the long-term at the same time. Short term, share your project in directories. Appear in many places. Contact potential users to ask about the project and how to improve it. Long term is SEO and GEO so you show up in search, building a brand around your project and creating an audience. Don’t wait for one or the other. Start doing both the moment you get some traction and see potential in your project.
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To grow a B2C product, social media is likely your most effective option. Go viral and all that bullshit. If you’re going B2B, start by talking to at least 10 potential customers. This will help you find out if their pain points are real or in your head.
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Entrepreneurship is wild, even for small apps like mine. You experience frequent fluctuations; the market around you changes, requiring you to adapt. Views on my projects are dropping for no clear reason—AI? I need to find a solution since this is one of my main selling channels. The bigger you get, the wilder it becomes, I suppose.
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If this doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean you’re shit. The normal outcome is that nothing works. If you make some money, you’re already in the top 1% of people trying to build a business. You have to keep trying. Or not. You can give up and go do other things, enjoy your life in a different way.
That’s it for now. I’m going to write more about this topic in the next posts, and I’m also picking the People More Interesting Than Me series back up. I’ve already reached out to a few people for the next interviews.
