(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)
Are you struggling to juggle your many tasks as a founder?
Want to share something with nearly 100,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing
by Pete
I feel that I'm spread very thin as a founder. My business partner has been out of action lately, and I'm feeling the pinch. I also find it hard to hold myself accountable, and I'm wearing many hats at the moment.
How do you handle this feeling?
Simon Hakim shares the reminder that it's only natural to feel overwhelmed when there's so much happening:
When I started my first business, I was doing the majority of the work. Although we were able to hire some people, my cofounder didn't have the same drive that I had. So, we went our separate ways.
When I started my second business, I found a cofounder who made my life easier. He does his job and I do mine. Over the years, we've grown as a team.
When things get super busy, I know that I can't take everything on. I prioritize what needs to be done, and slow down when I need to. I used to write long lists of the things that needed to be done, but now, I make more manageable lists with a focus on the next three months. I also try to get my team to just achieve one thing at a time.
Andy Cook spent seven years being stretched too thin and wearing too many hats:
My biggest realization was that most of sustainability comes down to mindset and taking care of yourself. If you can get one or two tasks done every day, even small ones, those will compound into something large over time. It really is a marathon, not a sprint.
Here are some specifics that have helped me:
Say no to anything that isn't mission critical!
Viktor Ilijev says that sometimes, we're so deep in the woods that we can only see the trees in front of us:
This frustrates us because we're the ones that envisioned the forest in the first place!
You can do things like write affirmations, stay disciplined, exercise, and all the other things that a coach will give you. They work until they don't.
It's because you're forgetting a simple fact: You're the person with the vision for it all.
Here's my trick: I snooze emails from successful campaigns and new contracts at random for about three weeks. I forget about them, then when they pop up, they put a smile on my face.
This forces me to live in the moment, takes a load of stress off, and helps to me realize that it's me who pushes this all forward.
Thanks to Indie Hackers, you get the support of many other hat-wearers. Lean into that! I hope this helps with your struggle today, because you never know what great thing is going to happen tomorrow!
James Fleischmann lends a few thoughts that might help:
The main thing is using project management software to organize and prioritize your work. I wrote this post on efficiency a while back. Check it out for more tips!
How do you manage wearing different hats? Share your top tips below!
Discuss this story.
from the Volv newsletter by Priyanka Vazirani
🎞 Since Instagram launched Reels, engagement on regular, in-feed posts has dropped by 44%.
🧐 The "D" in "DAO" may not stand for democracy.
💰 Creators on Facebook can now earn money through videos that use licensed music.
🤖 A chess robot has broken a seven-year-old's finger at the Moscow Chess Open.
🍄 The psychedelic mushroom space is heating up, and founders may find new opportunities.
Check out Volv for more 9-second news digests.
A new employee's first days with a company are crucial. The employee should be able to adapt to the company culture and structure with ease, and an excellent onboarding strategy can go a long way towards facilitating this. Here's how to implement an effective onboarding process that will help foster a positive experience for all involved!
The onboarding process should create a sense of belonging for the new employee.
Whether they work in physical offices or from a remote setup, onboarding plays an important role in their relationship with the organization.
When employees find the onboarding process effective, research shows that they become motivated and are inclined to contribute more to the growth of the business. Don't leave your onboarding process to chance!
What are your top tips for effective onboarding? Share below!
Discuss this story.
by Aytekin Tank
Staying happy and healthy:
Take care of your whole self.
Hit the gym, play pickup basketball, climb the monkey bars with your kids...do whatever makes you feel alive and joyful. This matters just as much (or more) than the quarterly earnings report. Try not to work after 10 PM. Wind down before you go to bed, and let go of anything unfinished. Tomorrow’s a new day.
Discuss this story.
Hey indie hackers! I'm Anthony Castrio, and I quit my long-term freelance gig a few weeks ago to work full-time on Indie Worldwide, a community of founders.
In that short amount of time, we've grown from $0 to $1K MRR! Here are my stats:
This is a community that I've been growing for over three years now. I recently added a monthly membership option, and leveled up my marketing efforts.
Read on for more!
These steps had the biggest impact on my growth:
1\. Ditched my custom coded landing page: Maintaining a Gatsby site turned out to be a big time suck. I ditched the old landing page and switched to Carrd, which has helped me move a lot faster.
2\. Streamlined onboarding: Potential customers can reach a payment portal way earlier now, while free newsletter subscribers automatically get pitched to upgrade. I've made it much easier for people who want to pay me to be able to!
3\. Switched to a monthly recurring model: Previously, everything was set up as an annual payment. The problem is that it wasn't actually recurring because I wasn't sure how to set that up. I procrastinated on it for over a year. Now, it really is a monthly recurring subscription!
Building MRR made me much more confident about quitting freelancing and working full-time to improve the community. I know that I can depend more on the revenue, therefore I can confidently invest in things like paid services and hiring part-time help.
4\. Leveled up my marketing efforts: I focused primarily on Twitter. I analyzed my last three months of tweets and doubled down on the kinds of content that brought the most new followers. Here's what content worked:
I also posted a lot more frequently here on Indie Hackers, and on Reddit.
Now that I've reached $1K MRR, my next big goal is to get 100 paying users in the next 100 days.
When it came to quitting, I went with my gut.
I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish with freelancing, and I was beginning to feel torn between ongoing work there, and what I wanted to achieve with Indie Worldwide.
Once I made sure they would be fine without me, I made the leap!
When you post on Reddit, pick a community that you want to post in, then sort by "top, all time."
Read the top 10 posts to get a feel for the kind of content that's valued in that particular subreddit. Review the community rules before you post, then give it your best shot. The worst they can do is ban you!
Thanks for reading! If you're interested, check out my next post on cofounder speed dating.
Discuss this story.
I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:
Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.
Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.
Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Pete, Priyanka Vazirani, Sk Rafiqul Islam, Aytekin Tank, and Anthony Castrio for contributing posts. —Channing