Jason Leow

Creators often talk about building an audience, like how a speaker talks to an auditorium of passive, quiet people. The interaction is often one way, from creator to audience. The creator is at the centre, the hub, and the spokes are the different platforms and channels reaching out to his audience. It’s creator-centric. The creator is an influencer, influencing his audience with his content.

Yet nobody talks about the influencer being influenced by his audience. With feedback mechanisms like comment threads readily available on every platform, it’s now easy to hear what your audience thinks about your content. In fact, super amplified.

I think it’s arguable that the the influence in fact might be more the other way, from audience to creator, since it’s one-to-many.

Reading this Substack article by gurwinder made me realise that it could very likely be the case. The horrifying example he gave was that of the YouTube influencer Nikocado Avocado, a creator of mukbang videos, who went from “mild-mannered and health conscious” to “loud, abrasive, and spectacularly grotesque”. This is the phenomenon called “audience capture”.

It’s scary how you can lose yourself when you listen to what your audience finds entertaining and wants more of.

Likewise on Twitter. You hear a lot about tracking data and analytics on your best tweets, and “doubling down” on the best ones. I tried, and it does work. Admittedly, I found myself threading uncomfortable territory when tweeting out a strong opinion on contentious topics relating to entrepreneurship. Yeah I believe it, but the lack of nuance was disconcerting to me. That’s not how I like to have my discourse. Yet it’s tweets like that that do really well. Attention follows drama and controversy, but I don’t like drama.

Of course, this is in no way as serious as the situation with Nikocado Avocado, but a glimpse into the future if I truly followed the data and what audience wanted.

“This is the ultimate trapdoor in the hall of fame; to become a prisoner of one’s own persona. The desire for recognition in an increasingly atomized world lures us to be who strangers wish us to be. And with personal development so arduous and lonely, there is ease and comfort in crowdsourcing your identity. But amid such temptations, it’s worth remembering that when you become who your audience expects at the expense of who you are, the affection you receive is not intended for you but for the character you’re playing, a character you’ll eventually tire of. And so be warned: being someone often means being fake, and if you chase the approval of others, you may, in the end, lose the approval of yourself.” – gurwinder

The article got me thinking about just how much I’m being influenced by my efforts in building in public, building an audience. And I suspect, a lot more than I think. As much as I try to assert my own autonomy and be an independent thinker, I’m still human. We’re never as immune to audience capture as we think we are. I did notice my mental health isn’t all that good since I went serious on Twitter. I try not to compare myself with others, but seeing MRR updates and wins everyday doesn’t help.

It’s death by a thousand paper cuts.

So what can I do, to preserve my sanity, mental health and not be dis-functionally influenced by my audience? Some ideas:

• Engage more with folks who are moderate and balanced
• Avoid accounts who brag, bring drama and make me feel unbalanced
• Have frequent digital detox
• Let go of expectations of fast growth (which really is greed, which in turn makes you do things you wouldn’t want to)
• Avoid being too clear on labelling myself, who I am and what my niche is (makes it hard to escape)
• Just be myself and play the long game

Anything else I can do to avoid audience capture?

Do you keep a happy folder?

A collection of emails that makes you happy reading them. It could be emails of positive feedback, praise, congratulations, or just a simple thank you that you liked. Something like:

“This plugins remains the single best piece of investment I made for my personal brand.”

Wow.

I’m trying this now. I get feedback of all sorts for my products, from various channels and formats like email, messages, tweets. But no single place to read them.

So I created a folder in my inbox (ok, it’s a “label” in Gmail), and placed them all there. Bits from other channels and formats, I forward them as screenshots or links to that email folder. And on rainy, low morale days, I’ll look through these emails for that little bit of motivation.

Being an entrepreneur is tough. Indie hacking without any results to show for in the short term is hard. The days are long, but the years are short. Lately I’m finding more darker days than bright ones.

It’s like being on a hike. The view changes all the time as you climb. Sometimes you have to climb down into dark valleys. The summit you were aiming for wasn’t the real peak. Occasionally you climb up and get to a great view for a pit stop and a sandwich.

So I’ll take anything to help me stay motivated and sustain the journey. Being able to look back and see the impact of my work is one way to practice that.

Onwards.

Let's not refuse free money!

More opportunities to conduct training for governments in the future, especially overseas ones (imagine Africa!)

✅ Changed the primary font to Nunito

❌ Gradient background for hero section of landing page - I tried, but looks like it needs more code customization than I am comfortable with (I don't know React/Nextjs). Can only set it as a monolithic color for now, no gradients. I toggled between a dark purple background and white one, I think the white one works better. Dark is harder to read for most, and we want the landing page to be clear and informative - so it doesn't always need to look similar to the game page (which we want a different experience). I foresee it'll be helpful to get a Next.js frontend dev to be on the landing page team in future, so that you can do the code customization.

✅ Changed logo to the new logo by Khanh

✅ Updated the url to the game as game.kidsplaysafer.sg

✅ Added the domain kidsplaysafer.sg to the Stackbit site. It's now LIVE

I’ve been building in public all along ever since I started my indie hacking journey in 2018.

What building in public means for me:

• sharing wins - new customers, revenue milestones, streaks
• revealing failures and losses - being honest about what didn’t work
• lessons and insights - best part of build in public is to learn from the mistakes of others
• building an audience - people who are interested in my story, and support me

But I think what I’ve been doing all along is really building my best self in public:

"Tweet your doubts, internal pep talks, positive affirmations, worries, and celebrations.
If they matter to you, they’ll matter to someone else, too.
Don’t just build in public. Build your best self in public. We’ll cheer you on! 👏"
– @benbarbersmith

Because the way I build in public, it’s less about celebrating wins and revenue updates but more about sharing mistakes, struggles, failures, and lessons. It’s about practising being vulnerable out in the open in public. It’s about sharing my personal growth journey as an indie hacker, founder, solopreneur. And through sharing that growth, I hope to connect with others and learn from them about their own struggles and lessons.

We collectively learn and grow together. And support one another to grow even more.

Building the product in public is just the means to an end.

The real endgame is building my best self in public.

Build your best self in public > Build in public

I once heard of a good definition of product-market fit:

When something is pulling you forward and seemingly showing results on its own, it’s tending towards product-market fit.

When you’re having to push hard on something yet results don’t always show, it’s likely to not have product-market fit.

It makes so much sense, yet sometimes we blind ourselves to the pull signals we get from reality. Because we’re fixated with making something else successful, something we think should be successful. Some story we made up in our heads, that a particular product is what we want to succeed by, not the product that’s actually showing results.

So for August, I’m setting the broad intentions of doing what pulls me forward.

I wrote in my July recap that 2 projects are pulling me forward:

• Outsprint design consultancy
• Plugins For Carrd

If there’s anything this month that I want to do well in, it’s this one thing:

My upcoming consultancy gig in August.

It’s with a non-profit organisation, something I’ve always wanted. My consulting clients are 99% government, but my heart is always with social causes and working directly with non-profits. This is also about something I love - helping vulnerable families, growing community, education. There’s also potential for repeat projects, so it’s a job that I desire to overdeliver on, so that we can have a longer working relationship. It’s a $30k project, and I’m super grateful that it allows me to extend my runway to continue working on my indie products.

For my Carrd plugins, it’s continuing to pull me forward. Yet I continue to not give it the attention it deserves. Why? It’s weird. I wonder if it’s because it started as a side project. Perhaps I’m still in the side project mode on this one, so I deprioritize it? Yet it’s not the lack of interest or passion. I do enjoy working on it. If someone asks a question about Carrd, I drop my work and help. That can’t be something that can’t be forced or faked.

And when I asked myself, “What would the product look like it this was your main project?” So many ideas come to me. Ideas I want to work on, features I want to create, plugins I’m excited to build.

And I will.

So, two missions, one month.

Onwards.

– Revenue:
Current MRR: US$109 (all from Lifelog)
One-off revenue: ~US$281
Total revenue: ~US$390
Total profit (excl. salary): ~US$350

– Costs:
Heroku: $9/m
Table2site: $8/m
Carrd: $7.40/m (US$89/y)
Domains: ~$16/m (~US$200/y)

Twitter stats - Jul vs Jun
– Tweets: 1293 vs 1376
– Tweet impressions: 183k vs 304k
– Likes: 2.8k vs 3.2k
– Engagement rate: 4.9% vs 4.4%
– Profile visits: 38.2k vs 69.9k
– New followers: 141 vs 217
– Link clicks: 203 vs 528

July went by in a blink. Many days, just making it through the day felt like the most productive thing I could do. It was hard getting motivated to do anything. Most days, I scraped by.

I planned to build fun and creative projects to kickstart my momentum in July. But looks like I still needed more rest, so my break continued. And I did the bare minimum.

But the nice thing about doing monthly recaps is that I often realised I did more than I assumed.

Lots are happening for my design consultancy business Outsprint. New opportunities coming my way. Emails, phone calls, coffees, meetings. I attribute a substantial part of this to my content distribution on LinkedIn. It definitely is bringing me more visibility. If anything, it’s a reminder that I exist, and people who might have thought about working with me are getting reminded. It’s also timely that many of my clients (governments and nonprofits) are slowly emerging out of crisis mode and starting to re-think about improvement and innovation. Grateful for this business in my portfolio of businesses, that it’s still the sole breadwinner after all these years.

Plugins For Carrd continue to do well on it’s own momentum. Getting more enquiries, interest and feature suggestions. It sells. It continues to give me energy working on it.

These 2 products are pulling me forward, while for the rest, I find I’m having to push hard on them, without much progress. These are the signals from reality. Am I listening? Or am I still trying to bang my head on a brick wall chasing what I thought I wanted?

Much to ponder over.

Single-feature, whimsical projects like Random cat API inspires me more than complex apps that make millions.

It’s strange, but there’s an elegance to the simplicity and clarity of the product. Just an API to grab a random cat photo on the internet. People love cat pics, and this just makes it easier for developers who want to add some random fun to their websites and apps.

I LOVE IT.

Creative. Random. Fun. Funny. Looks totally useless but actually super useful.

All elements that check off the list of what I would deem as the kind of product I would love to make and be known for.

Because while other entrepreneurs are trying to make money and be famous, I just want a lifestyle that’s optimized for freedom. Freedom to do creative shit like that. Freedom to not worry about next month’s groceries.

Maybe I should make something like that a random dog API. Or random delicious burger API. The robots API that I use for Lifelog is another good example that I love.

Or a writing prompt a day API?

What other good instances of single feature but whimsical micro-SaaS projects you know?

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is eliminate the task.
Downsize. The rooms you don’t have, don’t need to be cleaned.
Donate. The items you don’t own, don’t need to be organized.
Delete. The projects you don’t take on, don’t need to be finished.
Is this a problem that needs to be solved?
Or is it a problem that can be eliminated all together?” – James Clear

I’ve always tried to do too much.
I’ve always thought I can do everything.
I’ve always believed I can achieve what I aim for.
I’ve always felt the most productive checking off all my to-dos.

The solution was always:

DO more. Take on more. Push more.
Work harder. Work longer hours. Work weekends.
Increase capacity. Increase limits. Increase sacrifice.

They say, when you only have a hammer, every problem is a nail. And that’s so true with this.

My blindspot is always about saying no, declining work, rejecting opportunities, asking for less.

Elimination as a productivity strategy is alien to me… somehow.

How then does one get better at this?

Find one task on my to-do list, and delete it.
Find one idea on my list of product ideas, and delete it.
Find one item in my room that I’ve not used in 1 year, and discard it.
Find one account you follow who’s no longer adding value to your feed, and unfollow.
Find one inactive account who follows you, and block-unblock it to make it unfollow me.

Every day, just eliminate ONE thing. Something. Anything.

I think this is a good practice to try.

Looks like it's have to be a general computed property that loops through the filters using filter() and indexOf

Sources:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70514735/use-operator-with-filter-method-in-javascript

https://codepen.io/brokunMusheen/pen/KzbayG?editors=1010

https://5balloons.info/combining-multiple-filters-on-list-using-computed-properties-in-vuejs/

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42683926/filtering-list-by-two-or-more-selects-in-vue-js-2-0

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63289599/how-to-add-multiple-filters-on-a-vue-components-data

I snore in my sleep. Somehow my nasal passage close up when I sleep, so I often end up just breathing through the mouth because it’s easier.

All my life I had an issue with my nasal passages constricting, and mouth breathing is normal for me. I used to be a long distance runner so that make it even more habitual.

But I know snoring is probably affecting my sleep, and likely my wife too (though she’s a heavy sleeper, she sometimes complains about it). Sleep is social. Being unable to breath properly wakes me up a few times without me being aware – that affects my sleep quality.

I’ve tried mouth taping before, but I’ll rip them off unconsciously while asleep. I think the reason it failed is that while it forces nose breathing, the tape didn’t solve the issue of constricted nasal passages. I got to get oxygen somehow, and my nose isn’t allowing me to, and my mouth is taped. Not a good place to be when asleep. So the tape goes off, inevitably.

So when @therealbrandonwilson recommended this nose device Mute by Rhinomed, I’m so intrigued I bought a trial pack right away. Few products trigger an instant purchase, but this was affordable and simple enough that trialling it was a nobrainer.

How it works: Like nasal strips, but instead of applying the strip on the skin of your nose bridge, you insert the device into your nose that props open your nostril. It’s made of soft plastic, and adjustable. I’m not sure if it’ll feel comfortable enough for sleep, but worth a try. Some stats I see on their site:

78% of users could sleep better
75% of users snored less
73% of users’ partners reported a reduction in snoring severity

What’s interesting is that this company also makes another similar product called Turbine for athletes to increase airflow by 38%! Wow.

I’m psyched to try this. Maybe this could finally help me with my snoring.

Will report back!

User asked if the filter tags can work together as AND instead of OR right now

Yet another enquiry turning into a feature idea! Yes 💪

My good friend @christinetrac1 just sent me $1M to cheer me up

YES $1,000,000
With my face on it 😂

Made me LOL
Made me feel like a million bucks

Even IRL friends don't do that!
This Twitter community.. yall gonna make me cry

So thankful for your sweet kindness, Christine! 💙

I’ve been lacking the discipline to manage my sleep habits and hacks. And that takes about 10-15% off my sleep score. It’s a trend I’ve been observing.

So if I’m not pushing, my sleep gets a 10-15% hit. Imagine if I give up all my sleep habits entirely! I’ll probably go to negative.

This is what I did when my scores were consistently 80s, and occasional 90s:

Sleep habits
----------
Sleep at least 7h
Alarm to sleep on time at 9:30pm
Cold shower before sleep
Wind down before sleep
Thermal comfort - 24ºC AC for me
Nightly meditation
No snoozing when alarm goes off

Food
----------
Dinner by 7pm
Regular water intake through the day
No drinking after dinner/8pm
1-2 coffee naps per day
Max 3 coffees per day
No coffee after 3pm
No junk food
No tea
Magnesium supplements

Light
----------
No screentime after dinner
Warm light for all screens
Daylight alarm
Daylight in morning

Exercise
----------
Morning walks
Body weight exercises

This is what I no longer do(❌) or do daily(⚠️), and as a result, get 60s or occasional 70s:

Sleep habits
----------
⚠️ Sleep at least 7h
❌ Alarm to sleep on time at 9:30pm
Cold shower before sleep
Wind down before sleep
Thermal comfort - 24ºC AC for me
⚠️ Nightly meditation
❌ No snoozing when alarm goes off

Food
----------
⚠️ Dinner by 7pm
⚠️ Regular water intake through the day
❌ No drinking after dinner/8pm
⚠️ 1-2 coffee naps per day
Max 3 coffees per day
No coffee after 3pm
⚠️ No junk food
⚠️ No tea
Magnesium supplements

Light
----------
❌ No screentime after dinner
Warm light for all screens
Daylight alarm
⚠️ Daylight in morning

Exercise
----------
⚠️ Morning walks
⚠️ Body weight exercises

It’s TELLING, isn’t it?

Sleep is an infinite game. And with infinite games, you got to put in effort every single day. Without which, everything slides downwards. Entropy ensues. There’s no rest, no break.

At least now I’ve listed it out. I know what I have to do.

The issue is finding the energy to do them, amidst the recent struggles of life.

Damn it's getting harder to generate content based off my existing knowledge base (in my head)