How makers stay productive

I couldn't have done fimm as part time I guess.

But if you are solo why to do sprints?

I would focus on small and often shipping. It was hard for me to learn postponing all those, big, what I thought important things but i think it really is crucial to do so. I would always try to compare benefit and cost before working on something.

Good luck

Edit: Missed the feature request part on your message. Don't listen to your customers :)

Quite simply: Don't. As you've pointed out, you're only able to achieve "slow" growth given your fulltime job.

OK - slow growth is your speed, and that's absolutely fine. Don't pressure yourself to achieve more than you can - too much work and stress may burn you out.

What you need to focus on is growing steadily, with the proper focus and direction. Moving too quickly in the wrong direction is disastrous - just ask Hoover! They did an excellent job at launching a brilliantly terrible marketing campaign which pretty much ruined the company. All for the sake of growth. :)

With that said, here's a few things I've found:

1. Set a timer! I set a 30 minute timer and work steadily until it's up. Then I stretch, refill my water, or whatever, and reset the timer for another round. After about four of these rounds you've had two hours of focused, productive work.
2. Hide the phone while you're working! Replying to a DM, email or tweet will usually lead to mindless scrolling and make it that much harder to stay focused.
3. Take breaks and think about why you're building what you're building. Who is it for? etc.
4. Remember that you already have a product with customers. That means you're farther along than many of us on here. It's ok to take a rest day. :)

I have found that cranking out tons of features people request, generally leads to silence from them when the features are pushed out. So I just kind of work on lots of things in short bursts and when it's done I push it out. Rarely do I race to get something done anymore unless it's critical.