Staying up to date on your market (on sort-of autopilot)

Staying up to date as an indie hacker can be tough. You've gotta know the latest about your wider market, your niche, your discipline (development, marketing, etc.), and honestly just about every other discipline too.

Plus, if you want to get really overwhelmed, you could stay on top of demographic trends, economic trends, new rules and regulations, and on and on and on…

So I was curious how indie hackers were staying on top of everything. More to the point, I was curious how they do this and remain productive.

Here's what I've found.

Sources

First off, let's talk about where indie hackers are getting their intel from:

• Customers: This is super important. One of the best ways to stay relevant is to understand what's happening for your customers. Talk to them about the product. Talk to them about the industry. Read their reviews and what they're saying about you. Engaging with your customers is just good business.
• Competitor: Keep tabs on your competitors, as they'll likely have their fingers on the pulse. Get on their email lists. Read their blog posts. Follow their socials. Check out their roadmaps. And per above, see what their customers are saying via review platforms like G2 and Trustpilot.
• News: This one might be a little too obvious but I can't just not include it. Read the news that is specific to your product.
• Industry newsletters: I'm a huge fan of newsletters, and in my book, there's no more efficient way to stay on top of things. Invest some time into finding (and then winnowing down) the best newsletters for your purposes. See what other people you respect are reading. Look for the ones that curate and distill everything you need to know, as well as those written by thought leaders in the space. If one of them wastes your time, remove it. In case it helps, here's a list of good newsletters for indie hackers.
• Podcasts: Same deal as newsletters.
• Blogs: Same deal as newsletters.
• Social media: This is another big one. Find experts and folks with their fingers on the pulse. Follow and interact with them. Follow your competitors (as I covered above). Note specific hashtags that you want to stay on top of. And set up social listening for keywords like your product name, your competitors' products, and relevant words for your market. I personally enjoy the email notifications I get from reddit and Twitter. And speaking of Twitter, Twitter lists are a good option too.
• Communities: There's a reason you're here reading this right now. Communities and forums are right up there as some of the best places to find info before the masses catch wind of it. People in the know are having conversations all over the internet. Don't just read the posts. Read the comments.
• RSS: There are plenty of RSS readers out there that will help you stay on top of updates from your go-to websites. That way, you don't have to waste time checking each of them.
• Books: Of course, it's always a good idea to read — some of the most successful people in the world read crazy amounts to stay on top. It's time-intensive, though, so I'd be very selective about what you read.
• Ongoing ed: Trainings, courses, bootcamps, certifications. Be discerning about which ones are actually worth your time, though. And keep in mind that most free options will be for beginners.
• Conferences: If there's one in your industry, this can be a decent option for learning the latest and meeting folks. And if not, well, there's always Microconf.
• Industry organizations: Lots of industries have organizations that you can join. As I understand it, the main benefit is networking.
• Networking: Shoot the shit with people in your industry. Learn from them. Meet interesting people. Ask them what trends they're seeing.
• Industry buddy: More in the same vein here. If you find someone that you like and respect, set up a regular time to meet and talk shop.
• Mentor: Mentors are hard to come by, but if you can find one, that's gold. Stay in contact. Meet with them regularly. @dqmonn's MentorCruise might be an option for some.
• Co-founder: If you've got a co-founder, leverage them. If you're sharing what you learn with each other, you won't have to do so much looking. And it diversifies the sources nicely too.
• Working in the industry: And a personal favorite is to continue working in the industry while you build your side-hustle. Your work, in addition to paying you, will keep you up to date. And they may even pay for ongoing ed if you ask them to — many do since it's in their best interest.

Routine

So how do you do all of this? You don't. I'll talk a little bit about the highest-leverage, quickest-to-consume sources below. But here are a few tips for staying efficient while you consume them.

• Time-box it: Regardless of whether it's daily or weekly or something else, schedule it. This will help you to remember to do it. It'll also prevent you from doing it for too long or procrastinating with it when you should be working. Try to figure out when you're least productive and schedule it then — usually sometime in the afternoon..
• Batch it: In that same vein, do it all at once, not piecemeal throughout the day. It's much more efficient this way.
• Be discerning about content: Identify topics and sources that you want to learn from. Don't go outside of those. Rabbit holes are not your friend here, and neither are interesting stories that don't apply to your business (those are great, but save them for later).

Autopilot (sort of)

I'm a big fan of starting with a main gig and a side-hustle. Whether you're employed or freelancing, allow that gig to inform you (and pay you) while you build your product. So start there. Then do the following:

1. Spend a little time finding and signing up for newsletters.
2. Set up Google Alerts for relevant keywords.
3. Set up a Feedspot-type of product (see below) to send you updates via email. Don't forget to target relevant communities with it.
4. Set up social listening via a product like BrandMentions, targeting not just your product but competitors and relevant keywords as well. Get those notifications to your email.

And voila: You're getting a ton of information on autopilot. Information is sent to your inbox, and all you have to do is read it.

Now, block out a time for consuming this info in your schedule. And get back to work.

MONETIZATION BONUS: If you're already consuming this content, perhaps it wouldn't take much longer for you to create a newsletter where you post the curated links (at a minimum) or even summarize them. That way, you can monetize something that you're already doing anyway. It won't be for everyone, but it may be a slam dunk for some.

Tools

To do all this efficiently, here are some tools that can help:

• Google alerts: I'm not a big Google fan and I don't particularly want them to have my data… but their alerts are super helpful so I've got a few going at any given time.
• Flipboard: Here's a news feed of what matters most to you.
• Feedspot: All your favorite sources from youtube to RSS in one place. I use this and their email notifications have been super useful.
• Feedly: Similar to Feedspot, but it comes more highly recommended by indie hackers.
• Vivaldi: A browser with a great browser-based RSS feature.
• Paved: Technically, this is a place for sponsors to find newsletters, but you can also use it to find quality newsletters for your own purposes.
• Mention: This is a social listening platform where you can track content sources to find mentions.
• Social Searcher: Search for mentions for free.
• BrandMentions: Their social tracker allows you to track mentions of your brand and those of competitors. They also have a hashtag tracker.

How do you stay up to date?

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