Lessons learned from 5 years of indie hacking

$1k a month is actually amazing. You would have to have $300k in a bank account at 4% to make that amount from interest each month. So another way to think about where you are at is you have created $300k worth of capital value that pays out at 4% per year. You've invested $300k worth of your time and effort into "savings".

I think we signed up on IH around the same time and my projects are at around $400 MRR. There are many more who are at $0. So I would feel super proud to be where you are personally. For every one of those big success stories I think there are a ton of people like us just slowly compounding month by month.

Your insight about putting aside your own "vision and desires" really resonates with my experience. It's an almost spiritual idea to realize you need to let go of what you want in order to get what you want. We have to reject the ego and the self and serve others before they will pull out their credit card. These days I see it as a venn diagram: where do the things I am interested in and want to work on overlap with what people need and will pay for? At the center of those two overlapping circles is the good stuff. That's the sweet spot of win-win for maker and customer. I've tasted it in a small way with my projects and it sounds like you have too. My plan is to double down on finding those sweet spots and growing into them.

Best of luck! I hope you keep trying things. It sounds like you are on a good path.

Thank you for sharing your golden points.

Really enjoyed reading this Allison! So much of it resonated with me. I think many of us would feel much the same way regardless of what our MRR is.

I cringe at how inflexible I was when my company first started to take off, around the 2 year mark. Looking back, it cost me so much business. I was stubborn and naive, but hey, I like to learn by doing! Ultimately I'm ok with my mistakes.

"The illusion of meritocracy had faded."

This hit home, REAL HARD. After 15 years in corporate and entertainment finance, I have been waking up to this feeling that this legitimizing myth had lost all power over me. I'm now on a path to start 2 companies and, by the end of this year, I will be completely independent.

There's a great post on indie hacker about waiting to quit one's job. Between that post and this one, I feel like I'm getting well acquainted with not reinvting your wheel.

Keep going, Allison.

Unreal story. Thanks for sharing all those insights. Your determination is admirable. Your reflections are super valuable and you're likely in the same boat as so many solopreneurs are. Keep it up, I'll be following the journey.

This is a double edged sword for me. On one hand, it's really refreshing to get a dose of honesty and not another "learn how I reached $15k MRR in 3 weeks" type post. On the other hand, substantial financial success isn't guaranteed.

Either way, I admire the grit and perseverance it takes to quit a stable job and become an indie hacker. Keep it up. $1000/month is an amazing feat!

Facts were spoken Allison! 👏 I completely agree with your perspective that an excessive passion can actually hinder rather than drive a business forward.

Passion is a Double-Edged Sword
💯

Thanks for sharing 🙏

Hi Allison, great writing. I quitted my corporate job a years ago, doing 6 months full time hacking, earned like $150. Yeah, indie hacking is hard.

So now I'm also doing Freelancing on the side, as well, and felt more at peace now. Will still try building my products on the side, but I feel you. Congrats on the $1k milestone.

I believe if:

• you know what you want, have a precise, tight well researched biz project, all mapped out;
• and you understand customers and the marketplace, you have common sense, and you can calculate, and take informed risks;
• you have skills to build and market;
• you have the motivation to fight for it;

that is, when you are really READY, you may take off fairly quickly. If not kill the project and start anew.

But getting READY can take years.

That's quite a bold decision you made! I am sure you have been doing well since you completed 5 years. ;-)

hey Alison one of the best information thank u for great information as well to i have upload to a similar website here is
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"many failed ventures to eventually build a sustainable, profitable business*

You know this word can't be understood untill one start building projects.

Validating idea and knowing in our heart the project might take months before making any traction even make us doubt the idea in the long run.

I discovered must successful ideas sometimes don't come with big plan or dream

Great article Allison. One thing I would like is how long did you work before starting out for 5 years? I would believe sustaining for 5 years would have required quite a lot of capital in hand that prevented you to not get a job back.

hey Allison
An emotional journey and valuable lessons for those with intentions like you.
We team Fordeer with Invoice Order Printer working on Shopify have been doing just like you on this journey.
If possible, we can have links or cooperation for mutual development.
Thank you.