Day 793 - Hangups - https://golifelog.com/posts/hangups-1677888814401
"If you can't do, teach. If you can't teach, consult." That's the management consultancy adage you heard a lot.
I used to hate coaching and teaching. I'd rather be doing – even though I'm technically a consultant, I see myself as doing the hard work of doing, as a practitioner than someone who just doles out "strategy".
But lately I've taken to coaching a lot. It started out of necessity, for survival. I needed the money. In the past, I normally wouldn't do it, especially if I had options. But I find myself starting to actually *enjoy* it now. It still tires the hell out of me everytime, but it's no longer done degrudgingly, or with anxiety. I look forward to sharing what I know, and bonus if there's a receptive audience.
It's been 10 years since I started as a designer. I wonder if it's the time span, that after a (long) while you gain enough confidence and stories that training and coaching starts to feel more normal. I wonder if it's due to my recent inner shift in dismantling of old narratives that no longer serve me. I don't know if it was age or life stage that triggered it – turning mid-40s soon and becoming a new dad can be a powerful cocktail to catalyse change.
I don't have the origin answers, but in practice it's all coming together nicely now.
Many things I used to have hangups about, no longer are. In my work, life, lifestyle, family, the world.
That's all that matters.
I used to hate coaching and teaching. I'd rather be doing – even though I'm technically a consultant, I see myself as doing the hard work of doing, as a practitioner than someone who just doles out "strategy".
But lately I've taken to coaching a lot. It started out of necessity, for survival. I needed the money. In the past, I normally wouldn't do it, especially if I had options. But I find myself starting to actually *enjoy* it now. It still tires the hell out of me everytime, but it's no longer done degrudgingly, or with anxiety. I look forward to sharing what I know, and bonus if there's a receptive audience.
It's been 10 years since I started as a designer. I wonder if it's the time span, that after a (long) while you gain enough confidence and stories that training and coaching starts to feel more normal. I wonder if it's due to my recent inner shift in dismantling of old narratives that no longer serve me. I don't know if it was age or life stage that triggered it – turning mid-40s soon and becoming a new dad can be a powerful cocktail to catalyse change.
I don't have the origin answers, but in practice it's all coming together nicely now.
Many things I used to have hangups about, no longer are. In my work, life, lifestyle, family, the world.
That's all that matters.
Jason Leow
Author
Quite niche yes. Basically, a designer who designs experiences and services. In the Public Service mah 😉
Day 792 - Things you don't need to launch - https://golifelog.com/posts/things-you-dont-need-to-launch-1677835578845
There's a series of [viral](https://twitter.com/marckohlbrugge/status/1629810355781369859) [tweets](https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1630813028156579841) going around about the things you don't need to launch a product. Things like favicon, logo, a registered business, business cards, a website, privacy or cookie policy, optimisation, dark mode. As long as you deliver on the value that you bring, customers don't really care. As always, I know this is generalising, and there's sure to be some outlier cases where a favicon matters.
But the main point that most who object fail to see is that we can get away with a lot more than we assumed. Waaay more than we're comfortable, than we normally expect.
I know this to be true, from experience:
- Started Outsprint, my consulting biz without a logo, website, favicon, or even registered business. My first invoice was paid to my personal bank account. People trusted *me* because of my track record and past work. It helped that I worked with the organisation before I started the biz. They were hiring *me* specifically to do the work, and the logo, website and what not are just tiny details in the bigger scheme of things. Not a dealbreaker. I only got the business entity, website, logo, business cards and stuff after a few months.
- I started so many indie MVPs with just emoji icon as logo. Some of them are still using it, even though profitable! Keto List Singapore, Grant Hunt, Safe Distancing SG are examples. Using an emoji not just saves time, but you can also easily use the icon *like* a logo in messages and marketing!
- After I had a registered business, I used it as a holding company for all the products I made. No need to register a separate entity until it needs one (e.g. when thinking of selling). At launch, you won't even know if it'll get there so why bother!
- I hardly ever optimise the websites of my products. Plugins For Carrd is now 2 years in, getting some substantial revenue, and only recently did some minor optimisation, like compressing pngs and gifs. Spending time getting all the Lighthouse scores to 100 is pure vanity at play – the last few points are the hardest to overcome and the difference in user experience are hardly noticeable.
- Dark mode is just developer fetish. Most websites and apps don't need need it. All my profitable products do not have dark mode.
I can go on.
Tl;dr - if you're over-thinking these things that don't matter, you 're more likely to fail when it comes to entrepreneurship.
Hard truth.
But the main point that most who object fail to see is that we can get away with a lot more than we assumed. Waaay more than we're comfortable, than we normally expect.
I know this to be true, from experience:
- Started Outsprint, my consulting biz without a logo, website, favicon, or even registered business. My first invoice was paid to my personal bank account. People trusted *me* because of my track record and past work. It helped that I worked with the organisation before I started the biz. They were hiring *me* specifically to do the work, and the logo, website and what not are just tiny details in the bigger scheme of things. Not a dealbreaker. I only got the business entity, website, logo, business cards and stuff after a few months.
- I started so many indie MVPs with just emoji icon as logo. Some of them are still using it, even though profitable! Keto List Singapore, Grant Hunt, Safe Distancing SG are examples. Using an emoji not just saves time, but you can also easily use the icon *like* a logo in messages and marketing!
- After I had a registered business, I used it as a holding company for all the products I made. No need to register a separate entity until it needs one (e.g. when thinking of selling). At launch, you won't even know if it'll get there so why bother!
- I hardly ever optimise the websites of my products. Plugins For Carrd is now 2 years in, getting some substantial revenue, and only recently did some minor optimisation, like compressing pngs and gifs. Spending time getting all the Lighthouse scores to 100 is pure vanity at play – the last few points are the hardest to overcome and the difference in user experience are hardly noticeable.
- Dark mode is just developer fetish. Most websites and apps don't need need it. All my profitable products do not have dark mode.
I can go on.
Tl;dr - if you're over-thinking these things that don't matter, you 're more likely to fail when it comes to entrepreneurship.
Hard truth.
Day 791 - Stress, the hidden sleep killer - https://golifelog.com/posts/stress-the-hidden-sleep-killer-1677729257394
I know I know, what a dramatic post title. But I really do feel it.
For the past 3 years I've been so stressed and anxious. About work, finances, feeding the fam, indie hacking, the pandemic, my health, everyone's health, the state of the world.
Like the weight of the whole world's on my shoulders.
It's only until recently did I realised just how heavy the load I've been carrying was.
And it's during these past 3 years that I started on sleep biohacking. To tragi-comic results. I could never quite nail it. There's always something wrong, something that went well going wrong again, and countless issues to getting proper sleep, in quantity and quality. Quantity I could still influence somewhat, but it's the sleep quality that are often out of my control. I would toss and turn, depsite having done everything in the book to help me sleep well. You name it I've tried it – magnesium, fluid intake, blue light, screentime, EMF, sleep tracking, exercise, daylight viewing, quantum energy... EVERYTHING. But sleep would sometimes inexplicably get worse without warning.
Sleep is an infinite game, I used to belabour the point.
But recently, I've been getting relatively good sleep without much effort. In fact, I've been lazy and not been the most disciplined with sleeping early and pre-bed screentime. Yet, better sleep was easier to achieve. The sleep scores are at least 10% higher than usual, if I had slept the same amount in the past. And the only factor I can attribute it to is stress and anxiety.
I'm not the most embodied person. I charge ahead, while not being very aware that I'm holding in a lot stress and anxiety. And that undercurrent of stress ate into my sleep quality. What's not expressed and managed well in the day, rears its ugly head at night. And that went on in the background for 3 years. I didn't realise it was that long. I should have.
But [things changed for the better this year](https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686). And with most of the root causes of my stress gone or diminished, I naturally slept better. Thankfully.
Stress truly is the sleep killer.
Stress biohacking = sleep biohacking.
For the past 3 years I've been so stressed and anxious. About work, finances, feeding the fam, indie hacking, the pandemic, my health, everyone's health, the state of the world.
Like the weight of the whole world's on my shoulders.
It's only until recently did I realised just how heavy the load I've been carrying was.
And it's during these past 3 years that I started on sleep biohacking. To tragi-comic results. I could never quite nail it. There's always something wrong, something that went well going wrong again, and countless issues to getting proper sleep, in quantity and quality. Quantity I could still influence somewhat, but it's the sleep quality that are often out of my control. I would toss and turn, depsite having done everything in the book to help me sleep well. You name it I've tried it – magnesium, fluid intake, blue light, screentime, EMF, sleep tracking, exercise, daylight viewing, quantum energy... EVERYTHING. But sleep would sometimes inexplicably get worse without warning.
Sleep is an infinite game, I used to belabour the point.
But recently, I've been getting relatively good sleep without much effort. In fact, I've been lazy and not been the most disciplined with sleeping early and pre-bed screentime. Yet, better sleep was easier to achieve. The sleep scores are at least 10% higher than usual, if I had slept the same amount in the past. And the only factor I can attribute it to is stress and anxiety.
I'm not the most embodied person. I charge ahead, while not being very aware that I'm holding in a lot stress and anxiety. And that undercurrent of stress ate into my sleep quality. What's not expressed and managed well in the day, rears its ugly head at night. And that went on in the background for 3 years. I didn't realise it was that long. I should have.
But [things changed for the better this year](https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686). And with most of the root causes of my stress gone or diminished, I naturally slept better. Thankfully.
Stress truly is the sleep killer.
Stress biohacking = sleep biohacking.
Day 790 - March goals - https://golifelog.com/posts/march-goals-1677638809382
I wanted to [build build build in February](https://golifelog.com/posts/february-goals-1675215463951), and I did it.
*Now what?*
March on, riding the momentum to keep building.
I'm not done yet. I feel a new season of aliveness. [The mental health pivot](https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686) I wrote about once in February was more important than it looks. Probably the most important thing that happened to me last month. Like a huge burden's been lifted off my shoulders. So much so that even on poor sleep days, I get through it fine. Not that I want to get into the bad habit of sleeping late again. But it just goes to show just how much deadweight I was previously carrying. All the background inner processing that goes on when chronic stress and anxiety is there. Since the inner pivot, health haven’t been the same. It’s gotten way better! No more chronic ailments. It really was psycho-somatic.
I've been trying to run a marathon while pulling along an elephant.
**No more.**
F**k the elephant and every deadweight before that. Screw the self-imposed rules and limiting beliefs. The finger to other people's opinions and influences.
Now, I am *the* f**king elephant and I'm gonna charge you down.
March on!
*Now what?*
March on, riding the momentum to keep building.
I'm not done yet. I feel a new season of aliveness. [The mental health pivot](https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686) I wrote about once in February was more important than it looks. Probably the most important thing that happened to me last month. Like a huge burden's been lifted off my shoulders. So much so that even on poor sleep days, I get through it fine. Not that I want to get into the bad habit of sleeping late again. But it just goes to show just how much deadweight I was previously carrying. All the background inner processing that goes on when chronic stress and anxiety is there. Since the inner pivot, health haven’t been the same. It’s gotten way better! No more chronic ailments. It really was psycho-somatic.
I've been trying to run a marathon while pulling along an elephant.
**No more.**
F**k the elephant and every deadweight before that. Screw the self-imposed rules and limiting beliefs. The finger to other people's opinions and influences.
Now, I am *the* f**king elephant and I'm gonna charge you down.
March on!
Day 789 - February wrap-up - https://golifelog.com/posts/february-wrap-up-1677581355716
The shortest month of the year has passed.
I had wanted to [build build build](https://golifelog.com/posts/february-goals-1675215463951):
> I just want to build build build. And then share cool stories in this digital campfire called Twitter with other builders and hackers. Not to win social status or get more followers but just to make cool things and tell a story!
And I think I achieved it. 5 new Carrd plugins. A productive long list of improvements to my Plugins project. A banger month on Twitter. Starting on a new long-term consulting/coaching project with a non-profit client.
It was such a short month...it didn't feel enough! I want to continue this building momentum for the months to come.
Revenue:
- Current MRR (all from Lifelog): $109 (•$0)
- One-off revenue: $755 (↓$61)
- Total revenue: $864 (↓$61)
- Total costs = $385
- Total profit: $479 (↓$230) (excl. consulting revenue)
- Profit margin: 55%
I had wanted to [build build build](https://golifelog.com/posts/february-goals-1675215463951):
> I just want to build build build. And then share cool stories in this digital campfire called Twitter with other builders and hackers. Not to win social status or get more followers but just to make cool things and tell a story!
And I think I achieved it. 5 new Carrd plugins. A productive long list of improvements to my Plugins project. A banger month on Twitter. Starting on a new long-term consulting/coaching project with a non-profit client.
It was such a short month...it didn't feel enough! I want to continue this building momentum for the months to come.
Revenue:
- Current MRR (all from Lifelog): $109 (•$0)
- One-off revenue: $755 (↓$61)
- Total revenue: $864 (↓$61)
- Total costs = $385
- Total profit: $479 (↓$230) (excl. consulting revenue)
- Profit margin: 55%
Day 788 - Substack 100 - https://golifelog.com/posts/substack-100-1677486583381
Just passed 100 subscribers on my [Substack newsletter](https://jasonleow.substack.com)!
I started on Substack ~3 months ago on [19 Nov 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/started-a-substack-1668822280392), but the true origin of the newsletter was back on 1 Jun 2022 on the now-defunct Revue.
[](https://jasonleow.substack.com)
It all started as a hedge against Twitter platform risk. In fact, it wasn't even a newsletter at all when I started. I started a Revuew newsletter then to collect emails in case of being deplatformed. Not the most compelling sign up call-to-action, I must say.
But over time I experimented. Iterated from a email collection point to a monthly Revue newsletter where I post my monthly wrap-ups. It was an easy transition because I've been writing these monthly reviews for years now. It's just copy-pasting over and publish – there I'm done! Then the next iteration was moving to weekly publishing and onto Substack, where I again repurposed posts from my daily writing habit here on Lifelog. I also gave it a proper [project status on Makerlog](https://getmakerlog.com/products/jasons-indie-solopreneur-journey) – now that means something. Now it's a place to share longer form stories about my indie journey, stuff I almost never share on Twitter. A kind of sneak peek behind the scenes in long form.
And guess what I love most about this project? The fact that I still have no clue what I'm doing or want out of it. 😅 The zero expectations part of it is an experiment in itself. Can I grow a project without wanting it to *be* something, without desiring to achieve *anything at all*? I've known for a while that for me, expectations hinder more than help. This is a project to see if what an expectationless project looks like.
I guess the next phase of 100 → 1000 is to see it unfold!
---
Weekly peek behind the scenes of my indie solopreneur journey here:
👉 jasonleow.substack.com
I started on Substack ~3 months ago on [19 Nov 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/started-a-substack-1668822280392), but the true origin of the newsletter was back on 1 Jun 2022 on the now-defunct Revue.
[](https://jasonleow.substack.com)
It all started as a hedge against Twitter platform risk. In fact, it wasn't even a newsletter at all when I started. I started a Revuew newsletter then to collect emails in case of being deplatformed. Not the most compelling sign up call-to-action, I must say.
But over time I experimented. Iterated from a email collection point to a monthly Revue newsletter where I post my monthly wrap-ups. It was an easy transition because I've been writing these monthly reviews for years now. It's just copy-pasting over and publish – there I'm done! Then the next iteration was moving to weekly publishing and onto Substack, where I again repurposed posts from my daily writing habit here on Lifelog. I also gave it a proper [project status on Makerlog](https://getmakerlog.com/products/jasons-indie-solopreneur-journey) – now that means something. Now it's a place to share longer form stories about my indie journey, stuff I almost never share on Twitter. A kind of sneak peek behind the scenes in long form.
And guess what I love most about this project? The fact that I still have no clue what I'm doing or want out of it. 😅 The zero expectations part of it is an experiment in itself. Can I grow a project without wanting it to *be* something, without desiring to achieve *anything at all*? I've known for a while that for me, expectations hinder more than help. This is a project to see if what an expectationless project looks like.
I guess the next phase of 100 → 1000 is to see it unfold!
---
Weekly peek behind the scenes of my indie solopreneur journey here:
👉 jasonleow.substack.com
Day 787 - The only Twitter hack I've always loved - https://golifelog.com/posts/the-only-twitter-hack-ive-always-loved-1677372946295
I've written a lot about [tiny Twitter hacks I learned](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-6-1674712438527) over the past 2 years being serious on Twitter.
But recently I've thrown the whole playbook out the window, and going back to what got me started on Twitter—and indie hacking—in the first place.
Building in public.
Like, for real building. Actual products. Real sh*t. Doing what I love. Making stuff. Just simply sharing the joy of creating, and connecting with other makers who enjoy doing and reading about the same.
Not tweeting for the sake of "consistency". Not tweeting to get attention for your personal brand. Not talking about "mental models" or "cognitive biases", or "10 ways to use ChatGPT to get rich". Not building an audience. None of that Twitter guru creator BS. I gotta admit, for the past 2 years I experimented a lot in those areas. And I'm sick of it. It's just noise, in the end. I'm equally guilty of adding to that noise, in an already crazily noisy world.
I'm done.
It now feels great to be back building in public, sharing thoughts and ideas about indie hacking, and all my throughputs and outputs. My tweets had been scheduled a month out based on the old approach, but increasingly I'm writing a new tweet for the day, on the day itself, because I have things to share about what I'm building! I'm consistent but not as a end in itself but as a consequence of building. All the past and upcoming scheduled tweets are beginning to feel out of alignment, less authentic, too abstract, too forced. And all the creator accounts I used to follow – boring and bland. I'm kicking many of these accounts out of my engagement list and adding builders back in.
Which I should have always done to start with.
Thinking back, this was exactly how I started on Twitter in the first place, and got me past 1k followers. I just starting to build indie products under a 12 startups in 12 months challenge I set out to do, called [#1mvp1month](https://twitter.com/search?q=%231mvp1month&src=typed_query). Then I got tempted and influenced by the gurus, went off track.
Now I've come full circle. Back to my roots. Back to my why. Back to who I am.
Makers gotta make.
But recently I've thrown the whole playbook out the window, and going back to what got me started on Twitter—and indie hacking—in the first place.
Building in public.
Like, for real building. Actual products. Real sh*t. Doing what I love. Making stuff. Just simply sharing the joy of creating, and connecting with other makers who enjoy doing and reading about the same.
Not tweeting for the sake of "consistency". Not tweeting to get attention for your personal brand. Not talking about "mental models" or "cognitive biases", or "10 ways to use ChatGPT to get rich". Not building an audience. None of that Twitter guru creator BS. I gotta admit, for the past 2 years I experimented a lot in those areas. And I'm sick of it. It's just noise, in the end. I'm equally guilty of adding to that noise, in an already crazily noisy world.
I'm done.
It now feels great to be back building in public, sharing thoughts and ideas about indie hacking, and all my throughputs and outputs. My tweets had been scheduled a month out based on the old approach, but increasingly I'm writing a new tweet for the day, on the day itself, because I have things to share about what I'm building! I'm consistent but not as a end in itself but as a consequence of building. All the past and upcoming scheduled tweets are beginning to feel out of alignment, less authentic, too abstract, too forced. And all the creator accounts I used to follow – boring and bland. I'm kicking many of these accounts out of my engagement list and adding builders back in.
Which I should have always done to start with.
Thinking back, this was exactly how I started on Twitter in the first place, and got me past 1k followers. I just starting to build indie products under a 12 startups in 12 months challenge I set out to do, called [#1mvp1month](https://twitter.com/search?q=%231mvp1month&src=typed_query). Then I got tempted and influenced by the gurus, went off track.
Now I've come full circle. Back to my roots. Back to my why. Back to who I am.
Makers gotta make.
Day 785 - My first plugin just passed 1k downloads - https://golifelog.com/posts/my-first-plugin-just-passed-1k-downloads-1677195770815
2 years ago, it didn't even exist. Today, my very first Carrd plugin—the animated accordion FAQs—went past 1000 downloads.
If you're reading this and you've ever downloaded the plugin, thank you for your support. ❤️
It's wild to see this is even possible!
The plugin's origin story was completely happenstance. I was learning Vue.js two years ago and made these tiny little apps as learning projects. Felt it was a waste to let these apps collect dust, so I decided to embed it into Carrd to showcase my learning progress, and also to extend Carrd's features. A brain fart got me thinking of sharing it as a free clone site to others, and like they say, the rest is history. Those were the good old days, when I had to manually clone each site and transfer to requester. And I say it with reminiscent fondness. 😌
Months later, the Seller program on Carrd came into existence and sharing these plugins as templates are now so much easier to do - requester just logs into Carrd and downloads it directly. No manual cloning and transferring required. The upside is sometimes I get a referral fee if they don't have a Pro plan, but it's a bit of hit and miss as not everyone who downloads the template needs a pro plan. Sometimes, people would leave a tip (as it's set at $0 pay what you what). It's less about the money and more about the gesture – that someone found enough value in it to want to open their wallets in appreciation.
To be truly honest, I'm not even sure how this plugin (or any other plugin for that matter) gets around, lest say get to 1k downloads. I do share the link but only on rare occasions, yet the numbers signal it has a life of its own!
And I'm super grateful for it. 🙏
If you're reading this and you've ever downloaded the plugin, thank you for your support. ❤️
It's wild to see this is even possible!
The plugin's origin story was completely happenstance. I was learning Vue.js two years ago and made these tiny little apps as learning projects. Felt it was a waste to let these apps collect dust, so I decided to embed it into Carrd to showcase my learning progress, and also to extend Carrd's features. A brain fart got me thinking of sharing it as a free clone site to others, and like they say, the rest is history. Those were the good old days, when I had to manually clone each site and transfer to requester. And I say it with reminiscent fondness. 😌
Months later, the Seller program on Carrd came into existence and sharing these plugins as templates are now so much easier to do - requester just logs into Carrd and downloads it directly. No manual cloning and transferring required. The upside is sometimes I get a referral fee if they don't have a Pro plan, but it's a bit of hit and miss as not everyone who downloads the template needs a pro plan. Sometimes, people would leave a tip (as it's set at $0 pay what you what). It's less about the money and more about the gesture – that someone found enough value in it to want to open their wallets in appreciation.
To be truly honest, I'm not even sure how this plugin (or any other plugin for that matter) gets around, lest say get to 1k downloads. I do share the link but only on rare occasions, yet the numbers signal it has a life of its own!
And I'm super grateful for it. 🙏
Day 784 - Pit stop for social impact patronage project - https://golifelog.com/posts/pit-stop-for-social-impact-patronage-project-1677120042697
I just sent out a [Safe Distancing SG](https://safedistancing.sg) site closure post and [gratitude email](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jasonleowsg/safe-distancing-sg-site-closure ) to all my Buy Me A Coffee supporters, and to give notice that I'll be terminating the subscription payments from my monthly/yearly subscription supporters.
I mean, the site will still be live. I won't take it down yet. It's great to archive and for remembrance. All my other projects are still up. I can still continue receiving coffees anytime. It's just that I wanted to give my supporters a polite way to step down from the financial support. I'm also iffy about continuing to receive money when I no longer update the site and have no new social impact projects in the pipeline. Costs for domain etc continue though... so I will just have to absorb them.
So the #socialimpactpatronage project comes to the end of a season. A pit stop for indefinite period. At least until I can find another meaty social impact project to work on.
It's a bit of a bittersweet finale. That's the kind of territory from building these social impact projects. You don't aim for product longevity if you can help it. The ideal outcome is that the social issue is solved for good, the vulnerable group you're serving no longer exists, or had moved out of their challenging situation. In this case, it wasn't through my effort alone that we no longer needed Safe Distancing SG. The whole country had moved on, and the use case simply faded away.
Ending a product is a good outcome, in such circumstances.
And I'm grateful for it. For having the opportunity and privilege to build it, and to end it.
Thank you for everyone who lent a hand. Till next time, comrades.
Onwards!
I mean, the site will still be live. I won't take it down yet. It's great to archive and for remembrance. All my other projects are still up. I can still continue receiving coffees anytime. It's just that I wanted to give my supporters a polite way to step down from the financial support. I'm also iffy about continuing to receive money when I no longer update the site and have no new social impact projects in the pipeline. Costs for domain etc continue though... so I will just have to absorb them.
So the #socialimpactpatronage project comes to the end of a season. A pit stop for indefinite period. At least until I can find another meaty social impact project to work on.
It's a bit of a bittersweet finale. That's the kind of territory from building these social impact projects. You don't aim for product longevity if you can help it. The ideal outcome is that the social issue is solved for good, the vulnerable group you're serving no longer exists, or had moved out of their challenging situation. In this case, it wasn't through my effort alone that we no longer needed Safe Distancing SG. The whole country had moved on, and the use case simply faded away.
Ending a product is a good outcome, in such circumstances.
And I'm grateful for it. For having the opportunity and privilege to build it, and to end it.
Thank you for everyone who lent a hand. Till next time, comrades.
Onwards!
Day 783 - The mindset for sleep biohacking - https://golifelog.com/posts/the-mindset-for-sleep-biohacking-1677015159550
They say mindset is everything. Sometimes it's easy to shrug this off as some new age BS, but I recently discovered this about sleep.
Yes, the mindset for sleep biohacking.
Before, I was anxious about my sleep. The anxiety could be due to the general background anxiety during the pandemic (I started sleep biohacking then). It could be due to the growing pains of settling into fatherhood. Or it could even be due to financial anxiety. Or a combination of everything. I would obsessively track my sleep quantity and quality. Each night entailed a win or a fail. Did I get enough sleep? Did I sleep well? What can I do to keep up with the sleep debt?
Yet somehow, I never felt like I was on top of things. I was always flailing. Always one step behind this "infinite game" as I like to call it.
But something shifted recently. The anxiety is mostly gone. It could be due to being able to let go of the [experiences of the past few years](https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686). It could be that finances are doing better this year. It could be that my toddler is turning three soon and things are a lot more stable with him being older and more independent. For sure my sleep habits had not changed much. Yet I'm less fazed by poor sleep nights. I'll feel tired for sure. But I've got this "I got this" sense of equanimity to it. Tired? OK sure. Life goes on. I'll handle it. Got sh*t sleep like 50% sleep score? Oh well shrugs. Looks like I have to catch up on sleep debt tonight, and try to nap a bit or move around more. I still try to manage my sleep in all the ways I know, but the mindset's totally different. And it's psychosomatic. When I got this, I feel less burdened by the sleep lack. I just go about my day, function normally.
Life goes on.
Amazing what a mindset shift can bring.
Yes, the mindset for sleep biohacking.
Before, I was anxious about my sleep. The anxiety could be due to the general background anxiety during the pandemic (I started sleep biohacking then). It could be due to the growing pains of settling into fatherhood. Or it could even be due to financial anxiety. Or a combination of everything. I would obsessively track my sleep quantity and quality. Each night entailed a win or a fail. Did I get enough sleep? Did I sleep well? What can I do to keep up with the sleep debt?
Yet somehow, I never felt like I was on top of things. I was always flailing. Always one step behind this "infinite game" as I like to call it.
But something shifted recently. The anxiety is mostly gone. It could be due to being able to let go of the [experiences of the past few years](https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686). It could be that finances are doing better this year. It could be that my toddler is turning three soon and things are a lot more stable with him being older and more independent. For sure my sleep habits had not changed much. Yet I'm less fazed by poor sleep nights. I'll feel tired for sure. But I've got this "I got this" sense of equanimity to it. Tired? OK sure. Life goes on. I'll handle it. Got sh*t sleep like 50% sleep score? Oh well shrugs. Looks like I have to catch up on sleep debt tonight, and try to nap a bit or move around more. I still try to manage my sleep in all the ways I know, but the mindset's totally different. And it's psychosomatic. When I got this, I feel less burdened by the sleep lack. I just go about my day, function normally.
Life goes on.
Amazing what a mindset shift can bring.
Day 782 - Purchasing power parity - https://golifelog.com/posts/purchasing-power-parity-1676945322213
Does activiating purchasing power parity really help with (revenue) growth?
Heard a lot about the upsides... But what might be some downsides for indie solopreneurs that few talk about?
I asked that [question on Twitter](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1626523347772407808) and got a great discussion out of it!
Here's a summary on the potential pros and cons:
**Upsides:**
- It's not about revenue but access. PPP allows your product to be more inclusive and equitable to everyone around the world.
- Good for brand and reputation, as it's seen as a kind gesture for folks from countries with weaker currencies.
- Brings in more sales and gross revenue you would otherwise not have, even if it's a smaller margin.
- PPP makes more business sense where the costs of replication is zero or very small, e.g. digital products. Services or physical goods might requires more analysis to make it worthwhile.
**Downsides:**
- Abuse by tech savvy customers who know how to use VPN to buy via countries with better exchange rates. The question is, would this be in the small minority? Or are your customers that tech savvy that there'll be widespread abuse? Re: Gumroad (which I use), thankfully, they require a credit card from the same country of the geolocation address, so that helps make it harder to abuse.
- Dilution of your brand and erode the perceived value of your product if it's cheaper. But it's relative to income levels of those who need PPP, so it's a toss up.
- You attract a different group of customers who might have different support needs/load, types of questions etc. It will have to be worthwhile for you to support that. Customers asking 100 questions before buying, requiring a call, etc, might not make it business sense.
- Sense of fairness. Would those paying full price feel that it's unfair, or that they are subsidizing people in other countries? How would that perception of fairness influence their decision to buy? They might not even be aware there's PPP to start with...
- Might not be financially worthwhile depending on your product and business model. If server costs increase with increased usage (e.g. generative AI apps), then PPP might cause a loss. Have to account for cost per user, even at the lowest PPP rate. If your business model is more service-related, like say, consulting/freelance, or customer/tech support that's manpower/time-intensive and constitutes a huge part of your delivery, then PPP might not make sense.
- Taxes and fees for certain foreign currencies. There might be additional tax and conversion/processing fees that payment platforms will charge you when customer buy from those countries. On top of that, you'll also have to handle tax compliance in more countries = more complexity. If sales volume is high, it might be worth it.
*What else did I miss?*
Heard a lot about the upsides... But what might be some downsides for indie solopreneurs that few talk about?
I asked that [question on Twitter](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1626523347772407808) and got a great discussion out of it!
Here's a summary on the potential pros and cons:
**Upsides:**
- It's not about revenue but access. PPP allows your product to be more inclusive and equitable to everyone around the world.
- Good for brand and reputation, as it's seen as a kind gesture for folks from countries with weaker currencies.
- Brings in more sales and gross revenue you would otherwise not have, even if it's a smaller margin.
- PPP makes more business sense where the costs of replication is zero or very small, e.g. digital products. Services or physical goods might requires more analysis to make it worthwhile.
**Downsides:**
- Abuse by tech savvy customers who know how to use VPN to buy via countries with better exchange rates. The question is, would this be in the small minority? Or are your customers that tech savvy that there'll be widespread abuse? Re: Gumroad (which I use), thankfully, they require a credit card from the same country of the geolocation address, so that helps make it harder to abuse.
- Dilution of your brand and erode the perceived value of your product if it's cheaper. But it's relative to income levels of those who need PPP, so it's a toss up.
- You attract a different group of customers who might have different support needs/load, types of questions etc. It will have to be worthwhile for you to support that. Customers asking 100 questions before buying, requiring a call, etc, might not make it business sense.
- Sense of fairness. Would those paying full price feel that it's unfair, or that they are subsidizing people in other countries? How would that perception of fairness influence their decision to buy? They might not even be aware there's PPP to start with...
- Might not be financially worthwhile depending on your product and business model. If server costs increase with increased usage (e.g. generative AI apps), then PPP might cause a loss. Have to account for cost per user, even at the lowest PPP rate. If your business model is more service-related, like say, consulting/freelance, or customer/tech support that's manpower/time-intensive and constitutes a huge part of your delivery, then PPP might not make sense.
- Taxes and fees for certain foreign currencies. There might be additional tax and conversion/processing fees that payment platforms will charge you when customer buy from those countries. On top of that, you'll also have to handle tax compliance in more countries = more complexity. If sales volume is high, it might be worth it.
*What else did I miss?*
Day 781 - Makers gotta make - https://golifelog.com/posts/makers-gotta-make-1676882845741
Doing the [review of all the products I've ever made](https://golifelog.com/posts/all-the-products-i-made-1676710309695) was fun. A few interesting themes emerged:
- I started my 1st business in 2011. That's more than a decade since!
- My 2nd biz (Outsprint Design) from 2015 still accounts for 90% of my revenue. It's wild to think anything you made on 2nd try would have this much longevity and endurance.
- 2018 was the year of public design products. It was also when I started indie hacking, bringing the indie approach to creating social impact products.
- Out of the total 35 products, 33 started in the last 5 years, since 2018. When I was 38. I sure am a late bloomer! But when I do start, I go go go.
- I only learned to code my own products from 2019. But I already made 11 things by then (using Wordpress)! The point here is: Coding is not necessary for making.
- 2020 was the year of COVID products... understandably. It was my way of coping with the crisis, by making things that could make a difference. It's a way to reclaim some sense of control over the whole pandemic that's out of our control.
- Products made for a particular phase or season in life are susceptible to short lifespans. Like my COVID projects, or the keto one. That doesn't mean they're not worth doing. It just means I got to build it with an expiry date in mind, even if it's self-inflicted.
- The underlying thread weaving all the products together is that they were all in niches where I had direct experience in. It could come from my lifestyle (like keto, sleep), or work (like public design), or things I'm living through (like COVID). When I did try products were I never had any experience in (like Restobio for the F&B industry), it fizzled out fast. And the ones with staying power were in niches/topics that were persistent in my life – design (Outsprint), writing/reflection (Lifelog), coding/making (Plugins), social causes (COVID, social good projects). Projecting that ahead, it'll be safe to say, as long as I stick to projects where I have direct experience and are part of these few persistent themes, it'll have a better chance of success.
I don't think I'll ever stop making. I just can't help myself! 33 products in 5 years. I've theoretically got another 40 years left in me.
That means I might have 264 products ahead!
Onwards.
- I started my 1st business in 2011. That's more than a decade since!
- My 2nd biz (Outsprint Design) from 2015 still accounts for 90% of my revenue. It's wild to think anything you made on 2nd try would have this much longevity and endurance.
- 2018 was the year of public design products. It was also when I started indie hacking, bringing the indie approach to creating social impact products.
- Out of the total 35 products, 33 started in the last 5 years, since 2018. When I was 38. I sure am a late bloomer! But when I do start, I go go go.
- I only learned to code my own products from 2019. But I already made 11 things by then (using Wordpress)! The point here is: Coding is not necessary for making.
- 2020 was the year of COVID products... understandably. It was my way of coping with the crisis, by making things that could make a difference. It's a way to reclaim some sense of control over the whole pandemic that's out of our control.
- Products made for a particular phase or season in life are susceptible to short lifespans. Like my COVID projects, or the keto one. That doesn't mean they're not worth doing. It just means I got to build it with an expiry date in mind, even if it's self-inflicted.
- The underlying thread weaving all the products together is that they were all in niches where I had direct experience in. It could come from my lifestyle (like keto, sleep), or work (like public design), or things I'm living through (like COVID). When I did try products were I never had any experience in (like Restobio for the F&B industry), it fizzled out fast. And the ones with staying power were in niches/topics that were persistent in my life – design (Outsprint), writing/reflection (Lifelog), coding/making (Plugins), social causes (COVID, social good projects). Projecting that ahead, it'll be safe to say, as long as I stick to projects where I have direct experience and are part of these few persistent themes, it'll have a better chance of success.
I don't think I'll ever stop making. I just can't help myself! 33 products in 5 years. I've theoretically got another 40 years left in me.
That means I might have 264 products ahead!
Onwards.
Day 780 - Here comes the sun - https://golifelog.com/posts/here-comes-the-sun-1676784259686
Just a few months ago, I was at a carnival with my wife and son. It felt like the whole Singapore was there. Everyone looked like they were having fun, being out.
Like the pandemic didn't happened.
I remarked to my wife that it felt surreal to see everyone like that. Like how could everyone have moved on from that so easily? I felt emotionally distanced from the fun, even though I was physically there. There, but not really there.
We talked about it, and concluded it could be some form of trauma still lingering in the back of my psyche.
Then just yesterday, we were out and chanced on a basker performing on the guitar. As we watched the performance, I had this mindful moment of self-awareness, a realisation that I no longer had that surreal feeling. I was enjoying the performance, just as everyone as in the audience. I *almost* had a tear in my eye.
The basker was playing *Here Comes The Sun* by the Beatles:
*Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright*
*Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darlin', it feels like years since it's been here*
*Little darlin', the smile's returning to their faces
Little darlin', it seems like years since it's been here*
*Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright*
And I can't think of a more apt song to signal the start of this new season.
Onwards.
Like the pandemic didn't happened.
I remarked to my wife that it felt surreal to see everyone like that. Like how could everyone have moved on from that so easily? I felt emotionally distanced from the fun, even though I was physically there. There, but not really there.
We talked about it, and concluded it could be some form of trauma still lingering in the back of my psyche.
Then just yesterday, we were out and chanced on a basker performing on the guitar. As we watched the performance, I had this mindful moment of self-awareness, a realisation that I no longer had that surreal feeling. I was enjoying the performance, just as everyone as in the audience. I *almost* had a tear in my eye.
The basker was playing *Here Comes The Sun* by the Beatles:
*Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright*
*Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darlin', it feels like years since it's been here*
*Little darlin', the smile's returning to their faces
Little darlin', it seems like years since it's been here*
*Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright*
And I can't think of a more apt song to signal the start of this new season.
Onwards.
Day 779 - All the products I made - https://golifelog.com/posts/all-the-products-i-made-1676710309695
A list of everything I've ever made over the years – all 35 of them.
And only 3 are still making money currently:
- Outsprint
- Plugins For Carrd
- Lifelog
That's a hit rate of only 8.5% for making profitable products.
Ship MORE.
And only 3 are still making money currently:
- Outsprint
- Plugins For Carrd
- Lifelog
That's a hit rate of only 8.5% for making profitable products.
Ship MORE.
Day 778 - Ask why you shouldn't do it, not why you should - https://golifelog.com/posts/ask-why-you-shouldnt-do-it-not-why-you-should-1676584348308
Saw this tweet and really enjoyed the contrarian perspective when starting on a new idea or product:
> Don't try to validate your next startup idea. Instead ask people why you SHOULDN'T start working on it. That way you'll reduce your own biais 🔥 – [@xavier_coiffard](https://twitter.com/xavier_coiffard/status/1625865771384463363)
Because we always consider more reasons we can add to the list of reasons for doing it, but seldom consider *removing* reasons, or reasons that disprove the idea.
It's Nassim Taleb's *via negativa* approach basically. Focus in what it isn't. A recipe for what to avoid, what not to do. Subtractive, not additive.
And when you're entralled by a shiny new object of an idea, everything in your brain is compelling you to make irrational judgements to persuade yourself and others that you are right. You might even co-opt "intuition/gut feel" as a reason even if you don't. There's so many things to watch out for:
- Personal bias - You're interested in the the topic and that blinds you to seeing the reality of the market conditions needed to judge if pursuing the idea is a good decision
- Lack of information - As with most products starting out, you don't even have enough data to make a good judgement call, but you make them anyway, filling in the gaps with your own subjective interpretations.
- Over-optimism - You drank the Kool-aid and believed in narratives like "patience for results", even if you're working on the wrong thing and you're actually stalling.
- Media hype - Everyone and their mother is talking about it (like NFTs, web3, now AI), so you got on the bandwagon too without deeply understanding the technology or how investors/companies hype up certain things because they are incentivized to do so.
The way I see it, there's a lot more skewing forces to convince you that your idea is a good one and you should pursue it. Less forces balancing out the other way (other than cynical family members/friends).
It just makes more sense then to ask people why you should drop it, to address those blindspots directly. You usually have enough knowledge of the pros anyways...
Ask why you shouldn't do it, not why you should.
> Don't try to validate your next startup idea. Instead ask people why you SHOULDN'T start working on it. That way you'll reduce your own biais 🔥 – [@xavier_coiffard](https://twitter.com/xavier_coiffard/status/1625865771384463363)
Because we always consider more reasons we can add to the list of reasons for doing it, but seldom consider *removing* reasons, or reasons that disprove the idea.
It's Nassim Taleb's *via negativa* approach basically. Focus in what it isn't. A recipe for what to avoid, what not to do. Subtractive, not additive.
And when you're entralled by a shiny new object of an idea, everything in your brain is compelling you to make irrational judgements to persuade yourself and others that you are right. You might even co-opt "intuition/gut feel" as a reason even if you don't. There's so many things to watch out for:
- Personal bias - You're interested in the the topic and that blinds you to seeing the reality of the market conditions needed to judge if pursuing the idea is a good decision
- Lack of information - As with most products starting out, you don't even have enough data to make a good judgement call, but you make them anyway, filling in the gaps with your own subjective interpretations.
- Over-optimism - You drank the Kool-aid and believed in narratives like "patience for results", even if you're working on the wrong thing and you're actually stalling.
- Media hype - Everyone and their mother is talking about it (like NFTs, web3, now AI), so you got on the bandwagon too without deeply understanding the technology or how investors/companies hype up certain things because they are incentivized to do so.
The way I see it, there's a lot more skewing forces to convince you that your idea is a good one and you should pursue it. Less forces balancing out the other way (other than cynical family members/friends).
It just makes more sense then to ask people why you should drop it, to address those blindspots directly. You usually have enough knowledge of the pros anyways...
Ask why you shouldn't do it, not why you should.
🎰 Day 777 - SaaS idea: A11y × AI - https://golifelog.com/posts/saas-idea-a11y-ai-1676508270598
I've been brewing this idea for a SaaS for a while that combines a bit of my wide-ranging interests: web accessibility, design for disability, social impact work, SaaS, indie hacking, and GPT-3 AI.
Idea:
Consumer/Enterprise GPT-3 AI app for image captioning, and generating alt text for images on the internet.
Problem:
- Inclusive design and web accessibility (aka "a11y") is important work but often deprioritised because it's deemed as "expensive" or "time-consuming" or "not relevant to our target customers". But companies might take it up if it's dead easy to implement, like just *npm install a11y*.
- One important a11y feature is having alt text for images in your website. Without alt text describing the images, folks who have visual impairment/blindness using screen readers will be deprived of social participation and understanding the context of the content through the image. Like say memes for example - all the context is in the image, and people don't often caption or describe it in the post or in alt text.
Opportunity:
- Platforms are now giving more algorithm weight to images with alt text. So it's good for business/marketing. Personally I add alt text to all my images on Twitter, not just for the higher algo juice but also for inclusion.
- AI like GPT-3 aren't just good for text-to-image generation. They can also read images and describe them. There's already [2 MVPs](https://gpt3demo.com/category/image-captioning) doing that. I tested out one of the [apps called CLIP](https://huggingface.co/spaces/akhaliq/CLIP_prefix_captioning) using a Spiderman meme, and the result "A group of cartoon characters standing on top of a blue skateboard" isn't not the most accurate description tbh. Lots of room for improvement and maybe that's where the opportunity is?
Features & business model:
- Imagine if alt text is automated and hassle-free. All it takes is to install a package and the software adds all the required alt text for you into the code. Or you're uploading a picture to Twitter and the app auto-generates a description in 1 second. Most basic MVP version would be like CLIP – a drag and drop for an image to get a text description.
- B2C: Chrome extension to write alt text for you when triggered on a site. Or a mobile app that adds an alternative AI keyboard option to your normal keyboard that you can trigger on any text field using a command like `/gen`.
- B2B: Premium npm package or plugin that reads all images in your site, adds alt text descriptions to HTML automatically. Payment can be a mix of recurring and non-recurring: one-time generation vs monthly ongoing generation. Great for ecommerce sites with lots of images uploaded every month.
*What do you think?*
Idea:
Consumer/Enterprise GPT-3 AI app for image captioning, and generating alt text for images on the internet.
Problem:
- Inclusive design and web accessibility (aka "a11y") is important work but often deprioritised because it's deemed as "expensive" or "time-consuming" or "not relevant to our target customers". But companies might take it up if it's dead easy to implement, like just *npm install a11y*.
- One important a11y feature is having alt text for images in your website. Without alt text describing the images, folks who have visual impairment/blindness using screen readers will be deprived of social participation and understanding the context of the content through the image. Like say memes for example - all the context is in the image, and people don't often caption or describe it in the post or in alt text.
Opportunity:
- Platforms are now giving more algorithm weight to images with alt text. So it's good for business/marketing. Personally I add alt text to all my images on Twitter, not just for the higher algo juice but also for inclusion.
- AI like GPT-3 aren't just good for text-to-image generation. They can also read images and describe them. There's already [2 MVPs](https://gpt3demo.com/category/image-captioning) doing that. I tested out one of the [apps called CLIP](https://huggingface.co/spaces/akhaliq/CLIP_prefix_captioning) using a Spiderman meme, and the result "A group of cartoon characters standing on top of a blue skateboard" isn't not the most accurate description tbh. Lots of room for improvement and maybe that's where the opportunity is?
Features & business model:
- Imagine if alt text is automated and hassle-free. All it takes is to install a package and the software adds all the required alt text for you into the code. Or you're uploading a picture to Twitter and the app auto-generates a description in 1 second. Most basic MVP version would be like CLIP – a drag and drop for an image to get a text description.
- B2C: Chrome extension to write alt text for you when triggered on a site. Or a mobile app that adds an alternative AI keyboard option to your normal keyboard that you can trigger on any text field using a command like `/gen`.
- B2B: Premium npm package or plugin that reads all images in your site, adds alt text descriptions to HTML automatically. Payment can be a mix of recurring and non-recurring: one-time generation vs monthly ongoing generation. Great for ecommerce sites with lots of images uploaded every month.
*What do you think?*
Day 776 - What being rich means - https://golifelog.com/posts/what-being-rich-means-1676431792718
Being rich is being often portrayed as having mansions, supercars, yachts and expensive divorce settlements. That's what being rich for the top 0.1% is like. But for the us mere mortals, we don't want to be that kind of rich. Our rich looks a lot simpler.
What "I wanna to be rich" really means for me:
- Waking up without an alarm clock, and going back to sleep after waking up because I can. This includes no 3am downtimes, no urgent support cases.
- Waking up in a new city or country every week or month if I so choose to. Or being able to choose to stay in a foreign place for long term. Travel anytime, anywhere, first class.
- Not buying fast cars but being able to afford one if I so choose to, while not actually exercising that option... because it's lame.
- Buying all the healthy food I want and need for me and my family, and not having to second guess if I can afford it this month.
- Donating generously to a social cause, or helping a friend out without expecting any return, or just having time/money to help others more.
- Retire one's parents. My parents are already retired but it'll be great to give them a quality of life that's more than comfortable.
- Being able to have leisurely and quality time with family and people I love. Key word is "leisurely", not in a hurry to get back to work.
- Having lots of time to do what I truly enjoy working on. A steady stream of interesting creative projects done in a calm and joyful manner, with no concern for making it profitable.
- Being healthy, free from chronic ailments, having time for personal fitness and feeling a sense of wellbeing.
*Does this resonate?*
What "I wanna to be rich" really means for me:
- Waking up without an alarm clock, and going back to sleep after waking up because I can. This includes no 3am downtimes, no urgent support cases.
- Waking up in a new city or country every week or month if I so choose to. Or being able to choose to stay in a foreign place for long term. Travel anytime, anywhere, first class.
- Not buying fast cars but being able to afford one if I so choose to, while not actually exercising that option... because it's lame.
- Buying all the healthy food I want and need for me and my family, and not having to second guess if I can afford it this month.
- Donating generously to a social cause, or helping a friend out without expecting any return, or just having time/money to help others more.
- Retire one's parents. My parents are already retired but it'll be great to give them a quality of life that's more than comfortable.
- Being able to have leisurely and quality time with family and people I love. Key word is "leisurely", not in a hurry to get back to work.
- Having lots of time to do what I truly enjoy working on. A steady stream of interesting creative projects done in a calm and joyful manner, with no concern for making it profitable.
- Being healthy, free from chronic ailments, having time for personal fitness and feeling a sense of wellbeing.
*Does this resonate?*
Day 775 - New MVP tech stack: Tweet + Stripe payment link - https://golifelog.com/posts/new-mvp-tech-stack-tweet-stripe-payment-link-1676347876339
A bit of a [trending indie hacker thing](https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1623710997331738625): Validating product ideas with just a tweet, and a Stripe payment link to collect presales.
Before, the barest of MVPs would be a landing page with some copy and an email sign-up form, *ala* Dropbox.
Now, you don't even need a domain and website! Just tweet and buy button! Love how we're pushing it to test product ideas with the most minimum of effort.
I find this to be poetic. Such economy of effort, and so simple an approach to show an idea. No bells and whistles, no snazzy "change the world" copy, no invasive click funnel tracking, no rainbow gradient call-to-action text or buttons.
Just 280 characters. And a link to buy.
The 280 characters is key. If you can't communicate what's valuable to your customers in a tweet, maybe it doesn't really have legs.
The Stripe payment link is key too. Waitlist sign-ups are notoriously unreliable metrics to validate market demand. It's such low commitment to just give your email. But open up your wallet to pay right there right now, with no real product made yet? A lot of upfront faith, a huge commitment and a great signal for demand.
And with tweets having only a 24-48h life cycle, it's clear at the end if your idea have potential.
Tweet + buy = pure poetry.
Before, the barest of MVPs would be a landing page with some copy and an email sign-up form, *ala* Dropbox.
Now, you don't even need a domain and website! Just tweet and buy button! Love how we're pushing it to test product ideas with the most minimum of effort.
I find this to be poetic. Such economy of effort, and so simple an approach to show an idea. No bells and whistles, no snazzy "change the world" copy, no invasive click funnel tracking, no rainbow gradient call-to-action text or buttons.
Just 280 characters. And a link to buy.
The 280 characters is key. If you can't communicate what's valuable to your customers in a tweet, maybe it doesn't really have legs.
The Stripe payment link is key too. Waitlist sign-ups are notoriously unreliable metrics to validate market demand. It's such low commitment to just give your email. But open up your wallet to pay right there right now, with no real product made yet? A lot of upfront faith, a huge commitment and a great signal for demand.
And with tweets having only a 24-48h life cycle, it's clear at the end if your idea have potential.
Tweet + buy = pure poetry.
Day 774 - Platform risks everywhere, part 2 - https://golifelog.com/posts/platform-risks-everywhere-part-2-1676253343336
First [Twitter](https://golifelog.com/posts/twitter-platform-risk-1671411641106), then [Stripe](https://golifelog.com/posts/platform-risks-everywhere-1676106319991), now Heroku:
> My @heroku account has been deleted, bringing down all my applications. No message, no email. Has anyone ever had this happen to them?? ...Quite the audacity to not send a single email either. – [@dannypostmaa](https://twitter.com/dannypostmaa/status/1624689089332281344)
Platform risks everywhere. I feel like I don’t know these platforms anymore...
Some might object that these rug pulls are just remote, theoretical possibilities. But that's the thing. We don't know for sure how high the exposure is for us because that's the nature of black swan events. It's belong to unknown unknowns, not known unknowns.
But with monthly stories like this on Hacker News [[1](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32854528)] [[2](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33743750)], and stories of Paypal randomly freezing funds, hosting platforms shutting down servers, it's not a stretch to think it can't happen to anyone, even smaller players like us indie solopreneurs.
What's the solution then?
- Backup backup backup
- Get insurance coverage
- Diversify
Multi-cloud, multi-payment processor, multi-income streams.
Host not just on Heroku, but at least have back-ups or secondary instances running on Render, MongoDB Atlas, AWS. Offer not just Stripe but PayPal, PayPal credit card, ChargeBee, CoinBase, Amazon Payments, Alipay, crypto. Offer payments outside of major credit card networks and payment platforms, like services provided by local banks.
Double or triple work be damned.
Crazy I know. Especially for indies and startups who don't even have the time and bandwidth to be spread out across so many platforms. But short cuts don't sidestep reality. And that's the reality of financial and payments industry. Something to think about. And for the edge cases where you can't *multi-* your way out off, there's commercial insurance to consider for coverage.
And these incidents totally reminded me of being diversified in ways that platforms can't touch you. Because these platforms aren't services that we can switch away easily. These are the shovel platforms in the gold rush, fundamental internet infrastructure services that you can't run away from if you're a digital business.
That's why I'm even more grateful for my consulting work with local government organisations now! That income stream is outside of credit card networks, payment platforms, and not even really on the internet. Government payments to vendors will never be blocked by banks. Bunker-level hedge against platform risks there.
The one question that I'll leave fellow indie solopreneurs with to ponder (including myself):
*What's stopping a critical infrastructure/platform that your business depend on to randomly terminate your account? How prepared are you for that unknown unknown?*
> My @heroku account has been deleted, bringing down all my applications. No message, no email. Has anyone ever had this happen to them?? ...Quite the audacity to not send a single email either. – [@dannypostmaa](https://twitter.com/dannypostmaa/status/1624689089332281344)
Platform risks everywhere. I feel like I don’t know these platforms anymore...
Some might object that these rug pulls are just remote, theoretical possibilities. But that's the thing. We don't know for sure how high the exposure is for us because that's the nature of black swan events. It's belong to unknown unknowns, not known unknowns.
But with monthly stories like this on Hacker News [[1](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32854528)] [[2](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33743750)], and stories of Paypal randomly freezing funds, hosting platforms shutting down servers, it's not a stretch to think it can't happen to anyone, even smaller players like us indie solopreneurs.
What's the solution then?
- Backup backup backup
- Get insurance coverage
- Diversify
Multi-cloud, multi-payment processor, multi-income streams.
Host not just on Heroku, but at least have back-ups or secondary instances running on Render, MongoDB Atlas, AWS. Offer not just Stripe but PayPal, PayPal credit card, ChargeBee, CoinBase, Amazon Payments, Alipay, crypto. Offer payments outside of major credit card networks and payment platforms, like services provided by local banks.
Double or triple work be damned.
Crazy I know. Especially for indies and startups who don't even have the time and bandwidth to be spread out across so many platforms. But short cuts don't sidestep reality. And that's the reality of financial and payments industry. Something to think about. And for the edge cases where you can't *multi-* your way out off, there's commercial insurance to consider for coverage.
And these incidents totally reminded me of being diversified in ways that platforms can't touch you. Because these platforms aren't services that we can switch away easily. These are the shovel platforms in the gold rush, fundamental internet infrastructure services that you can't run away from if you're a digital business.
That's why I'm even more grateful for my consulting work with local government organisations now! That income stream is outside of credit card networks, payment platforms, and not even really on the internet. Government payments to vendors will never be blocked by banks. Bunker-level hedge against platform risks there.
The one question that I'll leave fellow indie solopreneurs with to ponder (including myself):
*What's stopping a critical infrastructure/platform that your business depend on to randomly terminate your account? How prepared are you for that unknown unknown?*
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Day 773 - 3 years - https://golifelog.com/posts/3-years-1676154651089
Tomorrow the last of the COVID restrictions in Singapore will be lifted. Most of the social distancing restrictions are already lifted but mask-wearing on public transport stuck around. Tomorrow, we hit 100%. The inter-ministry work team is also disbanded. A signal that normalcy is back.
For good.
The first COVID case in Singapore was reported on Jan 23, 2020. So we've just passed 3 years.
THREE EFFING YEARS.
If you're reading this—anyone reading this; breaking the fourth wall here—well done, you. We survived.
And I thought it's important to acknowledge you—whoever you are reading this—because of this line I chanced upon:
> "I wasn't myself for months and no one noticed"
I felt that. It really resonated. Hard. Personal story.
We were *all* not ourselves for months and nobody noticed. Because everyone was struggling. No one was spared. The virus was totally democratic and affects everyone, young and old, rich and poor, happy or sad.
Some days I walk around in town, and everyone seems happy and going about lives in a normalcy we craved so badly for just 2 years ago, and I get a sense of disconnect. Are we supposed to just move on like that? After all that collective trauma and hardship?
If you've never been acknowledged for surviving and perservering through, I want to do that for you now.
I see you. You did it.
*We* did it.
It's okay now.
We're fine now. You're fine now.
For good.
The first COVID case in Singapore was reported on Jan 23, 2020. So we've just passed 3 years.
THREE EFFING YEARS.
If you're reading this—anyone reading this; breaking the fourth wall here—well done, you. We survived.
And I thought it's important to acknowledge you—whoever you are reading this—because of this line I chanced upon:
> "I wasn't myself for months and no one noticed"
I felt that. It really resonated. Hard. Personal story.
We were *all* not ourselves for months and nobody noticed. Because everyone was struggling. No one was spared. The virus was totally democratic and affects everyone, young and old, rich and poor, happy or sad.
Some days I walk around in town, and everyone seems happy and going about lives in a normalcy we craved so badly for just 2 years ago, and I get a sense of disconnect. Are we supposed to just move on like that? After all that collective trauma and hardship?
If you've never been acknowledged for surviving and perservering through, I want to do that for you now.
I see you. You did it.
*We* did it.
It's okay now.
We're fine now. You're fine now.
Day 772 - Platform risks everywhere - https://golifelog.com/posts/platform-risks-everywhere-1676106319991
Woke up this morning to news that [Flurly got shut down by Stripe](https://flurly.com/blog/flurly-stripe-shutdown) with zero notice. All my Carrd plugins are on Flurly, so that means no one can buy my products! Not the 5am morning I expected, but dived into crisis mode. Scrambled all day to move my Carrd plugins over to Lemon Squeezy.
Quickly researched the top payment providers I knew from previous conversations – Lemon Squeezy, Payhip, Thrivecart. In the end, decided on Lemon S because:
- The UX was more fresh and modern. Saw a [tweet](https://twitter.com/_insiteful/status/1617277307496050688) before that it converts better – 9.6% conversion rate vs Gumroad 2.8%.
- All the features I need for handling digital downloads, plus more. I like that I can define variants for 1 product for my single license and unlimited license versions.
- Merchant of Record, which in finance dummy speak, safer and more protection for sellers.
- Heard they have an affiliate program coming up... something which I want to explore this year.
- Sadly, fees are higher on Lemon S. Flurly is 1% + 3.7%, compared to Lemon S $0.50 + 5% of total, with extra +1.5% for international payments, extra +1% for PayPal transactions, and +0.5% if I have subscription payments. Napkin calculations shows I got to pay 6.5% at least, and 7.5% if customer pay through Paypal! Trade-offs I guess... hope the benefits outweigh the costs.
Thrivecart’s lifetime deal was tempting though... maybe I can consider that if sales figures and volume go up. Payhip has good community features where members can log in to view premium content, which I might explore for my communities (Lifelog, 5am club) in the future.
### Implications for indies
After all is said and done, can't help feeling worried for JR who made Flurly. I used Flurly all this while from the start, and if anything, not sure he deserves such a ban and a hefty, mysterious $425k fine, and with zero lead time for customers to react, when he had been transparent and trying hard to resolve it.
It's disconcerting to ponder the implications for the rest of us indies.
Reading the [Twitter discussion](https://twitter.com/FlurlyApp/status/1624177183626530816), I also realised a few things:
- Never crossed my mind there's platform risk on Stripe
- Clueless about US/international financial regulations
- Clueless about Stripe T&Cs to prevent getting deplatformed
It feels like the ground is shifting beneath our feet for us indies. Nothing feels safe these days... first an economic recession, then blatant copycatting in the indie scene, then Twitter platform risks, now Stripe.
How can an indie solopreneur prepare for all this?
Quickly researched the top payment providers I knew from previous conversations – Lemon Squeezy, Payhip, Thrivecart. In the end, decided on Lemon S because:
- The UX was more fresh and modern. Saw a [tweet](https://twitter.com/_insiteful/status/1617277307496050688) before that it converts better – 9.6% conversion rate vs Gumroad 2.8%.
- All the features I need for handling digital downloads, plus more. I like that I can define variants for 1 product for my single license and unlimited license versions.
- Merchant of Record, which in finance dummy speak, safer and more protection for sellers.
- Heard they have an affiliate program coming up... something which I want to explore this year.
- Sadly, fees are higher on Lemon S. Flurly is 1% + 3.7%, compared to Lemon S $0.50 + 5% of total, with extra +1.5% for international payments, extra +1% for PayPal transactions, and +0.5% if I have subscription payments. Napkin calculations shows I got to pay 6.5% at least, and 7.5% if customer pay through Paypal! Trade-offs I guess... hope the benefits outweigh the costs.
Thrivecart’s lifetime deal was tempting though... maybe I can consider that if sales figures and volume go up. Payhip has good community features where members can log in to view premium content, which I might explore for my communities (Lifelog, 5am club) in the future.
### Implications for indies
After all is said and done, can't help feeling worried for JR who made Flurly. I used Flurly all this while from the start, and if anything, not sure he deserves such a ban and a hefty, mysterious $425k fine, and with zero lead time for customers to react, when he had been transparent and trying hard to resolve it.
It's disconcerting to ponder the implications for the rest of us indies.
Reading the [Twitter discussion](https://twitter.com/FlurlyApp/status/1624177183626530816), I also realised a few things:
- Never crossed my mind there's platform risk on Stripe
- Clueless about US/international financial regulations
- Clueless about Stripe T&Cs to prevent getting deplatformed
It feels like the ground is shifting beneath our feet for us indies. Nothing feels safe these days... first an economic recession, then blatant copycatting in the indie scene, then Twitter platform risks, now Stripe.
How can an indie solopreneur prepare for all this?
The whole thing is brutal for everyone involved. But good to hear you were able to find a new place so quickly. Hopefully JR can get it sorted some how that is a heavy fine to have to pay.
Day 771 - Calm pursuit of creative flow - https://golifelog.com/posts/calm-pursuit-of-creative-flow-1676023986336
If there's anything that I want more for my work, it is what DHH (creator of Ruby on Rails) described so well in his blog post:
> "...it's the essence of a good work life: A place of calm for interruption-free pursuits of interesting projects. A portal to the state of flow." - [DHH](https://world.hey.com/dhh/how-it-started-how-it-s-going-baefaf09)
He was talking about his old basement office where he made his career-defining projects like Rails, but the main points were these key words:
Interesting projects.
Free of distractions.
Calm pursuit.
Flow.
That's what I'm after too. At the root.
Yes earning money is important. But it's a necessity, for survival, for family. Making projects that generate revenue isn't what defines creative success for me personally. It's not what can be counted - likes, impressions, page views, followers.
It's about being able to experience flow. The relaxed joy of creating. The calm pursuit of interesting projects, away from the noise of a noisy, noisy world. The aliveness of making something. Anything.
That's what truly counts. That which cannot be counted.
That which can be counted upon to feel a sense of satisfaction for a creative life well lived.
I'll die a happy man, if I could be close to that feeling for most days in a year, for most years in a lifespan.
Just let me create.
> "...it's the essence of a good work life: A place of calm for interruption-free pursuits of interesting projects. A portal to the state of flow." - [DHH](https://world.hey.com/dhh/how-it-started-how-it-s-going-baefaf09)
He was talking about his old basement office where he made his career-defining projects like Rails, but the main points were these key words:
Interesting projects.
Free of distractions.
Calm pursuit.
Flow.
That's what I'm after too. At the root.
Yes earning money is important. But it's a necessity, for survival, for family. Making projects that generate revenue isn't what defines creative success for me personally. It's not what can be counted - likes, impressions, page views, followers.
It's about being able to experience flow. The relaxed joy of creating. The calm pursuit of interesting projects, away from the noise of a noisy, noisy world. The aliveness of making something. Anything.
That's what truly counts. That which cannot be counted.
That which can be counted upon to feel a sense of satisfaction for a creative life well lived.
I'll die a happy man, if I could be close to that feeling for most days in a year, for most years in a lifespan.
Just let me create.
1 user signed up for trial and cancelled subscription same day
Day 770 - Right anger - https://golifelog.com/posts/right-anger-1675935721283
Is there such thing as anger that's right and good? Is there such thing as right anger?
The "right" prefix reminded of how the Buddha talked about the Noble Eightfold Path. It's a guide to end suffering, consisting of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. It's essentially a basket of practices for moral conduct, mental discipline and wisdom.
What if emotion—like anger—can be mastered for good and right conduct too?
I've always felt anger was dirty. It's always associated with poor, disruptive and socially deviant behaviour that gets you in trouble with the law, or at least socially. I avoided the emotion like a plague. But yet the more I suppressed it, the stronger it arises. Or it gets expressed in the body, somatically, as unexplanable rashes or pains.
Lately I've been thinking different.
Maybe that emotion is there for a reason. Maybe it's there to protect us. If someone did something that angered you, it's likely that some personal boundary was crossed, and you should have done a better job at maintaining that boundary but didn't. So anger comes in to guard you. It drives you to act by pumping you up with adrenaline and blood to your head and hands. You feel hot everywhere, and you can't sit still till it gets expressed. Or directed at some action. If anger is fire, it can destroy forests and homes, or it can cook a delicious, nourishing meal for your loved one. We can react reflexively, or we respond mindfully. The emotion is morally neutral. It's what we do with that burst of energy that determines which side of the camp you are.
I've been doing it all wrong all this while.
I can ***use*** it.
Like a cook tending a fire to produce the best, most delicious results.
I can let it guide me out of unwholesome mental conversations.
I can use it to shake me out of passive victim mentality.
I can tap on it to push me to act fast and decisively.
I can allow it to make me stronger.
I can immerse in it to focus better.
I can use anger.
You'll like me when I'm angry.
The right sort of angry.
The "right" prefix reminded of how the Buddha talked about the Noble Eightfold Path. It's a guide to end suffering, consisting of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. It's essentially a basket of practices for moral conduct, mental discipline and wisdom.
What if emotion—like anger—can be mastered for good and right conduct too?
I've always felt anger was dirty. It's always associated with poor, disruptive and socially deviant behaviour that gets you in trouble with the law, or at least socially. I avoided the emotion like a plague. But yet the more I suppressed it, the stronger it arises. Or it gets expressed in the body, somatically, as unexplanable rashes or pains.
Lately I've been thinking different.
Maybe that emotion is there for a reason. Maybe it's there to protect us. If someone did something that angered you, it's likely that some personal boundary was crossed, and you should have done a better job at maintaining that boundary but didn't. So anger comes in to guard you. It drives you to act by pumping you up with adrenaline and blood to your head and hands. You feel hot everywhere, and you can't sit still till it gets expressed. Or directed at some action. If anger is fire, it can destroy forests and homes, or it can cook a delicious, nourishing meal for your loved one. We can react reflexively, or we respond mindfully. The emotion is morally neutral. It's what we do with that burst of energy that determines which side of the camp you are.
I've been doing it all wrong all this while.
I can ***use*** it.
Like a cook tending a fire to produce the best, most delicious results.
I can let it guide me out of unwholesome mental conversations.
I can use it to shake me out of passive victim mentality.
I can tap on it to push me to act fast and decisively.
I can allow it to make me stronger.
I can immerse in it to focus better.
I can use anger.
You'll like me when I'm angry.
The right sort of angry.