Lifelog

In Jan I wrote out [open questions and uncertainties I had going into 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/open-questions-for-the-year-ahead-1641344137895). These were questions I had no answers to back then, but were sufficiently important that I knew they were weighing on my mind.

All my fears, concerns, aspirations and wishes in the form of open questions for the year, and my best answers to them now, one year on:

• Will I live up to the year with *alacrity*?
[I did](https://golifelog.com/posts/alacrity-reviewed-1672098577973). At least it showed that I can start.

• How long will I take to hit $200 MRR?
A year wasn't enough. But this is no longer an important question, because it's more about getting revenue from anything anywhere, to keep this indie lifestyle.

• Will I ever hit $5k revenue in my life?
I've achieved it before during pre-pandemic times, I'll achieve it again... eventually. World reopening. Biz is picking back up again. Some back of envelope calculation shows I'm around 70% of that target this year. So I'm hopeful.

• Will I ever make enough money off my products to support my lifestyle and family?
Still an open question, even though there's a glimmer of optimism. One project had doubled in revenue, but it's still long ways off my family breakeven point. I can't bank on that. I need more income streams.

• What other products can I make?
I made Sheet2bio and many Carrd plugins (about 20!) this year. Sheet2Bio was a big and public failure, but I own my losses. I learned a lot from it. I love my maker trajectory for plugins. It's done for the right reasons, at the right pace.

• What other products do I want to make?
Great question that's still open. I'm 100% certain I still want to make other and more products. But I don't know what. Building an AI-based product had been super tempting throughout the year, but I'm thankful I didn't jump on the bandwagon. They were fads ultimately.

• What's my next big thing?
No longer an important question. The epiphany this year is: No more one big thing. No more main projects. All projects will be side projects and small bets, even if they get big.

• What's my next product for tech for good?
Still open. This had been on my mind all year. Since safedistancing.sg (which I started in 2021) winded down in April this year, I've been searching for my next tech for good project to do. I like to have at least 1 project a year. But nothing much to show for this year. I'm even considering cancelling all the monthly/annual subscriptions from my patrons on Buy Me A Coffee! Too ashamed to keep getting donations if i'm not doing much in that space.

• Do I still have what it takes to create something profitable and popular?
Yes. I had many big moments of doubt this year. Even more low moments than I can recall. But at least my plugins project was the signal amidst the noise, that I might still have what it takes.

• When will I embody a wealth mindset?
Maybe not so important anymore. It's still a weak area of mine. But I decided I will get there when and if I do get there. Till then, I'm not going to sweat over it. I'm going to just focus on leveraging on my strengths and assets, then tunnel-vision over my deficits.

• Do I have what it takes to get rich?
I do want to get to a financially comfortable position for me and my family. But that doesn't have to be rich rich. And besides, I think time is the true wealth, and being focused on using time to be present to my growing toddler son, is already richness.

• Will I be able to grow my savings back to what it was?
I burned through all my savings this year. It was terrifying and stressful. Thankfully some gigs saved me. I'm unsure if growing my savings back the the pre-pandemic days is even possible in 2023, even though there's some possible big projects on the horizon. If anything, my stance is survive before thrive. Survival first. Savings can come later.

Since 2016, I had been using the 8 forms of capital framework by [Ethan Roland & Gregory Landua](http://www.appleseedpermaculture.com/8-forms-of-capital/), to think ahead for what I would like to achieve for the year. For the uninitiated, this framework talks about capital isn't just financial capital but there's 8 forms of it:

💵 Financial capital: money, financial instruments, investments

⚒ Material capital: possessions, natural resources, tools, infrastructure

🌲 Living capital: nature, land, ecosystems, animals, health (my own addition)

💡 Intellectual capital: ideas, knowledge, words, images, intellectual property

💪 Experiential capital: action, embodied experienced, worldly wisdom

👥 Social capital: connections, relationships, influence

🎨 Cultural capital: song, story, ritual, art, theatre, community customs

⛩ Spiritual capital: prayer, faith, beliefs, spiritual attainment

This annual review framework is uncommon but I love it. It's captures how I feel about how everything is interdependent and connected. I've never had a problem thinking about things in life that I treasure beyond mere money, but this truly forces me think wider and deeper about everything. Think of it as 8 different lenses to view reality and life. Each offers a different but useful viewpoint. Together it forms a good picture.

I set my [intentions for 2022 in January](https://golifelog.com/posts/2022-in-8-forms-of-capital-1641014096319), and here are the results:

💵 Financial: Hit $200 MRR from all my products by 31 Dec 2022, through small doggedness.
- I was under the impression that by downsizing my MRR goal I could hit it. But that didn't work for me. It didn't work for the market and product I was in. In fact, what really helped me was reframing my entire relationship with MRR being the one true metric to strive for. *Why does it have to be monthly and recurring?* If my goal is freedom and lifestyle, it shouldn't matter how and where the money comes from. That was the biggest epiphany I took away this year. MRR is a simply a mental relic of my SaaS indie hacker beginnings.
- So I refocused my efforts from one main project to my whole portfolio, and put serious effort back into my consulting again. Now it's about survival, about staying in the game, about getting revenue from whatever wherever. It's less "indie hacker/bootstrapped SaaS founder", more "indie solopreneur".
- And the part about small doggedness, 1% compounding? I couldn't be more wrong. It only makes sense to be patient, dogged and consistent if you're working on the right product, if the product had shown product-market fit, or if it's post-revenue. Being dogged on the wrong thing won't bring results no matter how long you wait.

⚒ Material: Meaningful materialism for health.
- The goal was to invest in tools that bring me health. But I didn't consume much this year. Everything went to family. My biggest purchases were limited to Black Friday where I bought some software subscriptions and sleep biohacking tools. That's about it. Nothing more than a few hundred dollars.
- Perhaps that's the most meaningful form of consumption. That I didn't consume just for its own sake. That I didn't consume because other areas of life needed more resources.
- And if anything, my health needed more attention and practice than consumption.

🌲 Living: Move more, feel fit.
- I failed this goal last year, and failed this again this year. Utter defeat. I can feel my health spiralling downwards. I think moving and exercising more is the solution, but I didn't do it. Work was *always* more pressing. Family matters took more attention.
- I think if I were to make a dent on my [Fit AF goal](https://golifelog.com/goals/213), I got to start thinking differently about this. How can I achieve this even on my worst days? How do I sustain this habit without a drop of willpower needed? 🤔

💡 Intellectual: Follow my entrepreneur nose.
- I wanted to follow my intellectual curiosity more and learn to smell opportunity. That's something I feel I've accomplished to some degree this year. I've launched new products like Sheet2Bio and many Carrd plugins/tools (about 20!). I'm building new things based on ideas that my customers give me. The time gap from idea to launch is shorter. It's a start for sure!
- I want to do more, and deepen skill in this. It's true. Curiosity, opportunity-sensing – these need practice. They are skills that anyone can learn to get better at, even non-entrepreneurs.

💪 Experiential: Learn about web3 and AI.
- I wanted to build indie projects in the web3, crypto and GPT-3 space, but didn't. And in the span of 1 year, the AI space blossomed and moved past those technologies. Dalle, Stable Diffusion, and now ChatGPT. Who's talking about NFTs and web3 now? Nobody. I realised many of these are fads, and framing my intentions in terms of fads ensures I lose interest pretty fast.
- A better way to frame what kind of experiential capital I'd like is probably in evergreen experiences/skills. Learn a new programming language. Launch a new type of product I've never launched before. Try new marketing hacks, like ads perhaps. Much better to frame this in the *how* than the *what*.

👥 Social: Serial 1-on-1 Twitter conversations.
- I wanted to double down on building relationships on Twitter. I thought Zoom calls were the solution. That didn't happen haha. I guess as much as I love socialising on Twitter, even calls are too much. Though the format might not have went as intended, the spirit of connecting with more depth and more people did happen. The highlight was meeting some indie friends like Kevon, Greg in real life. So there's no in-betweens! Either over text replies, or IRL haha.

🎨 Cultural: Pivoting identity to wealth subculture.
- Learning about wealth and investing was always something I felt I *should* do more of. Money mindsets were an area I felt I needed to improve on. But I never felt heart aligned to it. It felt like a chore. So nothing much happened in this space. That's another tip about setting intentions. Sometimes you miss.
- If there's one epiphany here, it's the lesson about [doubling down on my strengths instead of weaknesses](https://golifelog.com/posts/strengths-based-approach-to-indie-hacking-1667862467896). From sports I knew working on weaknesses was the key to improvement, but maybe that doesn't have to be true in entrepreneurship. I’m so past working on my deficits. I’m just going to leverage on my strengths and assets, and go.

⛩ Spiritual: Mindful familyhood.
- I wanted to bring more mindfulness and presence to my family. It’s not just about being social, but a spiritual pursuit: To bring a quality of attention, care and being present to these very dear people I love. I want to build fond memories with them, not raw regrets.
- I don't know about results, but this was front and centre in every action and decision I took this year. Family family family. Was I more mindful and present? I don't know how it's perceived by them, but I know I truly tried. Was there more fond memories than raw regrets? I'm not keeping tabs but I know I truly tried. In the end, with family, with any sort of spiritual practice, I think the salvation is in the attempt. And I did.

That's 2022 for me through these eight lenses.

*How was your 2022?*

Here's a fun way to review the year of 2022 – best and worst of a thing, event or category in your life this year.

Here's my best and worst project, marketing hack, habit, purchase, tweet:

### Best and worst project

🥇 **[Plugins For Carrd](https://plugins.carrd.co).** Last year it was the underdog that won best project. This year, it's still the champ. Revenue had doubled. I continue to enjoy working on it. I'm in more communities than ever. I keep finding new opportunities and ideas to work on. I'm grateful for this.

💩 **[Sheet2Bio](https://sheet2bio.com).** It was a fun SaaS project to work on, but it failed terribly. I had a solution looking for a problem, and sadly that's always a bad sign for business. True enough, I launched to huge fanfare but the response was dismal. I learned loads from it though! It's still alive though I'm not putting much work into it for now, just biding my time to see what I can do with it.

### Best and worst marketing hack

🥇 **Diversifying distribution.** I started being serious on LinkedIn in April. Diversified myself into Reddit and Facebook and started being serious about helping people there, giving value to the community. Got to be a mod for the Carrd Facebook group in Oct. I started newsletters – for myself and for my Carrd plugins project to collect emails. Recently, went to Mastodon as a [Plan B for Twitter](https://golifelog.com/posts/twitter-plan-b-1671582153083). Platform risk is lower, and I like my current set up.

💩 **Cross-posting between my Twitter accounts.** Such a bad idea. It's so common a practice I didn't much much about it. That's until I saw someone's brand account got banned with zero chance to appeal. The main reason seems to cross-posting (we don't know for sure). Indeed that's in the T&Cs - that no cross-posting between accounts allowed. I've since removed most links or relations the accounts have to each other, and to tweet on their own. No more RTs and QTs.

### Best and worst habit

🥇 **Sleep biohacking.** This was best habit last year, and I'd say it's again the best habit I have worked on this year. No other habit got me interested for this long. Of course, few other habits are as infinite a game as sleep. Even after 2 years (I started this in 2020), there's still new things to learn, new biohacking equipment to try, new challenges cropped up every month to manage. Yet when I do it well, no other habit gave as much benefit and impact on health, well-being, mental clarity, and overall joy in life. Sleep truly is the first mover amongst first movers.

💩 **Stress.** The biggest realisation this year was how all my ill health links back to chronic stress, and my lack of habits/routines to destress. Even poor sleep is a side effect of runaway stress. It's the elephant in the room that I never realised till just weeks ago, but am so grateful now for that epiphany, because there's no cure without awareness. The promising upcoming habit to dive deeper into in the new year is stress biohacking.

### Best and worst purchase

🥇 **Carrd Pro Plus 100 subscription.** At $159 per year it might be my biggest SaaS subscription, but also my most worthwhile. The most important feature of this plan is I get 100 sites – that way, I can make more templates and plugins without worry! Like they always say, you got to spend money to make money. And at $159 for ONE YEAR, this pays for itself within 1 month of revenue.

Notable mentions:
- Keychron C1 mechanical keyboard – Bought this upgrade in March. No Bluetooth for less EMF exposure. Tenkeyless layout for faster and better functionality. The RGB backlight is always a delight to see and use. The tactile "thock" of each key is delicious to the ears. Keyboards are such underrated investments.
- Sleep tech – Anything that helps me sleep better is always a good investment. The quantum sleep card, anti-snoring device all helped in their incremental ways.

💩 **jasonleow.eth** I bought it my name .eth domain on a whim to jump on the bandwagon, but I had no idea what practical value it can offer. And indeed, after months, it's just another white elephant. I'm not into web3. Neither am I investing much in crypto. Still unsure what problem this solves...

### Best and worst tweet

🥇 My [best tweet](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) is also now my pinned tweet. It's best not because of performance or likes/impressions, but because it's something I'm super proud of having said it out loud – that my family is my most important reason and anchor, even while I hustle on Twitter. It's gives perspective. It reminds me of what my true priorities, my North Star.

💩 A tweet I won't even link here. I made some comment in someone else's tweet thread about AI art, and got whirlpooled into the toxicity of insecure artists just want to project their fears on others. It's such a waste of time. I hoped for constructive dialogue but was only met with sarcasm and flaming. In the end, I had to mute and block accounts, key words and tweets. It's always amazing to me how much of a nice bubble I found in Twitter, away from the toxicity of politics, identity wars, lame internet fights. Peace.

*So what’s your best and worse for 2022?*

I had a [one-word aspiration for 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/alacrity-1641079911090):

Alacrity.

> /əˈlæk·rɪ·t̬i/ brisk and cheerful readiness
> “I accepted the invitation to 2022 with alacrity.”

I remember clawing towards the finish line in 2021, at the end of two long pandemic years. I recalled I desperately wanted—NEEDED— some sense of hope for the future, in 2022. I thirsted to *feel* it.

Now, looking back at 2022, I think I accomplished it.

Sure, I didn't have that attitude of cheerful readiness every single day. Nobody does. But overall, there's been a net positive of cheerful readiness.

2022 didn't start off promising. But things really took a turn for the better in April when the social distancing restrictions got lifted. Suddenly, there was hope that life as it used to be was a possibility. We could all go out and have a normal family dinner together. We could see friends and family without fear. We could go to work. We could mingle. And now, I would say we're 80-90% back to pre-pandemic days. The crowds are back. The tourists are back. People are out.

Best of all, business is picking back up again. Revenue isn't back to pre-pandemic days, but there's signs all round that opportunities in quantity and quality are emerging. There's lots of reasons to be cheerful about.

2022 had been a year where the world reopened and I realised I *can* again start to be alacritous for the future.

It's most certainly not peaked yet. 2023 will be the year to truly look forward to with true, unbounded alacrity.

Okay, I'm now ready for a new word for 2023. What might it be......? 🤔

I wrote before about how my Plugins For Carrd project has surpassed Lifelog and all other projects. I observed how I'm spending a lot more time making new plugins, doing customer support, answering questions, being everywhere. I can feel my focus moving into the project more and more, like it's my main project in practice. It's pulling me forward. There's good demand. People give good feedback on my products. Above all, I enjoy working on it.

Yet I say: No more main projects. All projects are side projects. All are small bets, even if they get big.

Am I being a hypocrite? Or in denial?

Nope. Because small bet mindset is about having a healthy skeptical perspective while grounded in reality.

I might be spending more time there *for now*, but deep down, I still recognise it for what it is:

- It's still linked to a platform. And there will always be platform risk.
- It's still a single project, so a single point of failure.
- It's shown potential at a scale of a small indie side project, but to grow it beyond? To thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of revenue per month? Very hard to say. There's no precedent. Nobody's really tried.
- Competitors are entering the market. Things will get harder, the business might get tougher to grow.

Hence, my point: I'm having no illusions about this being the One True project.

If it gets there, great, If not, no biggie. I'm still going to be diversifying my portfolio of small bets. Even though I have 3-4 active projects on hand now, I still think I'm not sufficiently diversified yet. I'm already thinking of new projects to work on in 2023.

Small bet mindset is about being a healthy, realist skeptic.

If there's any hard truths I learned this year, that would be this small bet mindset.

In short, the only factor for starting a newsletter was if I could sustain it.

Not whether it build trust and relationships.
Not whether it fits into my marketing plan.
Not whether it will bring in more revenue.
Not whether it establishes my expertise.
Not whether if helps build an audience.

In fact, I'm not even thinking much about any metrics or growth.

Because it's no point thinking about those metrics (yet) if I start a newsletter for a few months and fade away. *Why bother, right?*

The only thing that matters is whether I can keep it going for long term without burning out. It's about the long game here.

I actually hesitated even starting one for a long time. I thought I can try it partly for fun, partly to collect emails (as hedge against deplatforming), but never knew what to write about; if I would enjoy writing for an audience; whether I'll even enjoy it.

Then eventually I got an idea that the best way to start one is to repurpose whatever I'm already writing already. I figure that was my monthly reviews. It's more long form, and suitable for a newsletter. It provided a exclusive peek into my indie solopreneur journey building my portfolio of bets that I don't share much on Twitter or anywhere. Most importantly, it's something I religiously do anyway. All it took was copy-paste and click click click to schedule the monthly newsletter, and it's done, in a matter of minutes. That felt like the best low commitment and low bar approach to try starting a newsletter. Revue also made it relatively simple to start.

And after many months, I settled into the rhythm of posting monthly, and it became hygiene. That's when I started thinking if I could go weekly. Again, what can I post? Same tactic – repurpose content. I wrote everyday on Lifelog already, and every week there would be something about my indie products or ideas in that problem space. I have a 700+ day log of content to look through, surely that would be more than enough to post weekly without fail!

And so I did, just weeks ago. I moved my newsletter from Revue to [Substack](https://jasonleow.substack.com). It's all text, no images. Just stories and ideas. No fancy hacks. Plain and simple. I doubt I'll post daily, because that's more like Twitter or social media.


I got my Revue newsletter to about 55 subscribers, and since moving to Substack, it's now at 75. It's nice to see people interested in my journey. To be honest, I'm not even sure what to make of my newsletter. Is it a top of funnel thing? Or to build relationships? Or is it for monetization through premium content later? I don't know, and not too worried that I don't know. For now, I write for myself, and anyone getting any benefit is happenstance. It's also nice to grow something where I'm not trying to immediately extract value, and just see how it goes.

I'm in this for the long game. Whatever game that might be.

I don't usually don't celebrate Christmas, but it's still fun to think about what I want for Christmas, as a writing prompt. So in order of priority:

1. Good health
2. Ramen profitability
3. Family time
4. Freedom and fun
5. Travel

You can't achieve anything without good health. As I move into my mid-40s, I'm all the more aware how fragile this bag of flesh and bones is. Without good physical health, I can't even chase after my toddler son, and play with him. Without mental wellness, I'll be too stuck in my moods that I can't enjoy what life has to offer. Riches and freedom are no use if I'm sick all the time. So health—and always health—is the first mover.

Ramen profitability is second in priority because to thrive, first you got to survive. Priorities priorities priorities. The dry season from the past pandemic years taught this lesson well and hard. I made the decision to continue with consulting instead of thinking of it as something transitory. And thankfully it always came through at the last minute, and saved me from having to go back to a 9-to-5. I learned the lesson of cockroach survival at all costs deeply. And the only way to be grateful for that lesson is to live it out properly in the coming years.

Family time is next in line. You're always replaceable at your job, but you're not replaceable at home. If I shut down all my products tomorrow, nobody will miss my presence in one week or month. But my absence will be sorely felt at home. As much as my indie solo career gives me lots of meaning, purpose and fulfilment, it's hardly the most important identity or core of what makes me ME. Writing this down is an important reminder to myself at least of what truly matters.

Freedom and fun is 4th in priority. Ok I covered my bases, so comes self-actualisation. Going indie was ultimately about freedom – freedom from location, people I don't like working with, projects I don't feel for, meetings I hate attending. It's also about the promise of financial freedom, whilst taking full control of how I get there. Fun is how I'd like to get there.

Finally, travel – the only luxury item on the list. I forgotten how travel feels like. And travel might have changed permanently for me in the next 10 years or so, because it'll be near impossible to travel solo. I can hope that there's still a chance I can do so. Yet at the same time, also find ways to enjoy a different way of traveling now, with a kid in tow. Maybe those memories will be different, and bring a different meaning to travel.

*So what do you want for Christmas?*

Read this from recent James Clear's newsletter:

> Philosopher [Simone Weil](https://www.amazon.com/Need-Roots-Declaration-Routledge-Classics/dp/0415271029) on the value of risk:
>
> "Risk is an essential need of the soul. The absence of risk produces a kind of boredom which paralyses in a different way from fear, but almost as much."

This resonated loads! Now I know why I chose to do what I do, why this indie solopreneur path. Why even when employed, I chose to do riskier special projects. Because risk is an essential need for a human being.

Just as she alluded, yes, being in constant fear isn't good. But a constant absence of risk in life is also just as bad. Just many things in life, the dosage makes the poison. It's beneficial in moderate dosages but harms in large dosages. This process is called hormesis.

I think this mirrors what they say about stress, a physiological consequence of risk. There's good types of stress, called eustress, where you feel excited but there isn't any real threat. There's acute stress which isn't harmful in itself as long as the stressor's been dealt with and you discharge and relax after. Bad stress is chronic stress. Likewise you can say that about taking on risk in life. Some risks are fun and exciting, with no threat or ruin. Some risks are acute but dissipate quickly. It's the constant risks that feel inescapable that becomes toxic.

Another parallel is exercise. In moderate amounts, exercise actually helps you grow stronger. It's like lifting weights. During the exercise you actually tear micro muscle fibres. It's in the recovery that you grow stronger. But if you overdo it, your body can't recover and you injure yourself sooner or later.

That why I love this indie solopreneur path. When done right, it gives me just the right level of risk that I can have fun with, or recover from, thus making me stronger and smarter each time. That's also why I'm not a fan of back-to-the-wall scenarios where you take the leap of faith and go all in. That's waaay too much risk or stress, especially now when I have family to feed (it might be more manageable if I was single).

The risk makes me feel more engaged with the work I do, and I get more personal growth and fulfilment out of it. It keeps me on my toes ever so slightly, making me feel more alive than the stability of employment. I could never take anything for granted as an indie, make no assumptions, and offer no certainty.

Every action is a bet, and every result is at best a hint.

I'm never bored on this journey. That's why I love it so much and want to keep doing this for as long as I'm healthy and clear of mind.

Risk some, or die (inwardly).

The trick to reading and learning all the indie solopreneurship advice and tips is knowing that there's always fine print that they left out.

Example: "Raise prices*"

* up to a point, but where this point is located depends on supply/demand, price sensitivity, competition, anchoring bias etc.

The recent Gumroad price hike was a good example. Creators who said raise your prices are now leaving Gumroad due to Gumroad raising prices. Hypocritical much? Somewhat. But the original advice to raise prices always had fine print which they left out, and might not be aware even.

You can raise prices, but if you raise by too much, customers will feel it's unfair and go to a competitor. If you raise prices but no good convincing reasons were given, people won't like it. People might be willing to pay more if there's more value, like new features tio help them earn more money, but Gumroad did no such thing. And if your product is a commodity, you get customers who are price sensitive and no loyalty to your platform – a price hike would just scare them away to other commodity platforms.

So context matters.

Every indie advice/tip should come with fine print. If it's not there, go look for it, because there's nothing worse than following well-intentioned advice only to have it backfire in your face.

Ok so after writing about [platform risk on Twitter](https://golifelog.com/posts/twitter-platform-risk-1671411641106) and feeling paranoid about things there, I decided to do something about that and set up a Plan B in case things go sideways.

1. Replicate Twitter account on Mastodon
2. Auto-tweet to a mirror Telegram channel
3. Auto-backup my tweets and followers to Google Sheets

Setting up a Mastodon account was initially confusing due to the servers you have to choose. The original Mastodon server were closed to sign-ups, so that didn't help. The other servers were more niche topical sites which didn't resonate, or needed manual approval which sucks. In the end, I found the mas.to server which a few indie hackers are on, and went for it. Too bad there's no easy way to auto-tweet to Mastodon – you got to create a API key in Mastodon, then set up a Zapier webhook to do the auto-tweet via Twitter. Might explore that at a later stage. Btw this is my Mastodon handle:

### [@jasonleow@mas.to](https://mas.to/@jasonleow)

The auto-tweet idea got me thinking of using my pro IFTTT account, so I set up a applet to auto-message new tweets to a dedicated Telegram channel. So this Telegram channel now acts like a mirror of my Twitter account, and it comes with discussion feature activated too so followers can reply too. I like this setup – I've always liked building on Telegram, and run many communities on it. So makes sense to have a personal 'account' here to direct people to. The next step is to kill the connection to Twitter and have it auto-message via say Google Sheets. My Telegram channel here:

### [jason_leow channel](https://t.me/jason_leow)

I also created 2 more applets in IFTTT to auto-backup every new tweet and new follower into their respective Google Sheets. That way I at least have a backup of all my content and following moving forward. As for all the followers before, I had a csv file downloaded from one of those Twitter backup apps. So that would suffice.

Things feel more assuring and secure with this Plan B in place.

Now back to regular work! Enough of this Twitter drama and distraction...

But he had not written a single post... waiting to see if he cancels, before updating my MRR.

I've seen many founders reinvest part or whole of their revenue back to the product or company, especially in the early days. Many even don't draw any salary or keep profits at all till revenue gets big enough. They use the money in a few ways:

- @philostar buys writing services to write SEO articles for his 4dayweek.io job board
- @tibo_maker acquires small projects from other makers as lead gens for their own project Tweethunter
- Others hire freelancers or VAs to offset the work they hate so that they can focus on the work that moves the needle
- Recently I've been buying relevant domains for Plugins For Carrd as lead gens (e.g. plugisnforcarrd.com, plugemoji.com)

Watching them, I've always felt a tinge of guilt not reinvesting. Even if my product earns just $10 or $100, I keep it. Part out of laziness, part out of not knowing what I can do with such a small amount of money.

But taking a step back and looking objectively, that amount of money isn't significant to my lifestyle anyway. My main income stream is from Outsprint. Lifelog brings in around $100 per month. Plugins For Carrd a few hundred. I don't need NEED that money. If that money were to disappear tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt my lifestyle. *So why hold on to it?* That's a question I've never asked myself.

The other point in favour of reinvesting is the popular saying, "You have to spend money to make money". It's a the ultimate growth hack, isn't it? A very foundational one at that. With money you can grow the product or team to make more money. * Why not use it to multiply itself?* is another question I should have asked more often.

How should I reinvest should I choose to? Seems like there's a few ways to do reinvesting:

- Put 100% of every dollar earned back into the product until it hits a revenue target, e.g. $10k.
- Put X% of revenue back every month in perpetuity, and adjust up or down as it grows. There's a common 50-30-20 model in business where you allocate 50% to paying themselves, 30% to taxes, and 20% to reinvesting.
- Or a combination of both. 100% reinvesting in the early days, then switch over to X% later.

With a new year approaching, I'm leaning towards setting a new rule in the new year that I don't keep anything for any product till it hits a revenue target, say $1k. Spending up to $1k per month on growing the product sounds pretty significant. I can regroup and adjust again when I do hit that milestone (if ever!).

**New product practice in 2023: Reinvest every dollar into the product until it hits $1k.**

*What do you think of reinvesting?*

Twitter changes had been pretty wild lately for creators and indie makers:

- Removal of tweet source
- Revue newsletter shut down
- Linktree and aggregator links banned
- Links to other social media platforms banned
- Risk of [suspension](https://twitter.com/maximehugodupre/status/1603416430644436992) from verification process from signing up for Twitter Blue, or from cross-posting

To be fair, Twitter's new owner Elon Musk did caveat that they will be doing a lot of dumb things in the coming days as Twitter pivots to a new mode. But the scope and rationality of the changes, and how it's done, had not been assuring. I'm beginning to get paranoid about platform risk on Twitter. To borrow a term from the crypto space, there's definitely a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt).

Thankfully, I'm somewhat diversified in terms of distribution for my products:

- Plugins For Carrd: Telegram, email, Facebook, Reddit, Indie Hackers (and soon Pinterest, Deviantart), Flurly, Gumroad, Twitter
- Outsprint: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- Lifelog: Telegram, Medium, Dev.to, Hashnode, Codenewbie, Quora, Instagram, Facebook, LifeBlog, Twitter
- Tech for good projects: Telegram, Buy Me A Coffee, Facebook, Twitter
- Building in public: Makerlog, WIP, email/Substack, Lifelog, Twitter

When I started being serious on Twitter, it was to market my products like Lifelog and Sheet2Bio, but a lot less so now. If all these Twitter changes happened during that phase, I would have been super worried. Right now I use Twitter mainly to build in public, and to build a personal brand so to speak. It's more top of the funnel channel for me now. To be honest, I'm not sure how much Twitter figures in my customer acquisition channel. Twitter is top referral for Plugins For Carrd, but does it convert to paid customers? I'm not sure – I only get very few DMs about my plugins. Most of my communication with Carrd plugin customers is on the other channels and email. Likewise, my consultancy remains mostly word of mouth, and now LinkedIn, no Twitter. I upkeep a Lifelog brand account on Twitter, but it isn't converting – what converted in the past was me sharing and talking about Lifelog (which I had since stopped doing because it wasn't working well).

Maybe all these FUD is a good catalyst to step back, reflect, and ask:

- *Do I really need to spend so much time on Twitter when it isn't 100% clear if it helps with my business?*
- *What about shifting my build in public presence to other Twitter-alternative platforms (e.g. Mastodon), or distributing to more platforms (e.g. Product Hunt forum, Discord, Slack)?*
- *Where else can I go to diversify distribution channels for my products/services even further? Slideshare, Flipboard for Outsprint?*
- *What else can I use Twitter for?*

The other thing I use Twitter for is make friends with other indies, learn from them. That's one aspect of the experience that I grew to like a lot. Now it's a big reason why I continue to engage with other accounts. It'll be hard to find equivalents to that experience.

*Came for the marketing, stayed for the community.*

That's definitely one thing I will miss if I ever get deplatformed or it gets too unbearable.

Hopefully this will not come to pass.

I’m a creature of habit. Routines in my daily life help me think less about what I should be doing, when I should be doing it. It’s the momentum that helps me stay healthy, disciplined, committed to important things in my life – health, mental wellness, family, career. It’s like productivity workflows but for life. It’s the bedrock foundation of everything else that I achieve in life.

And when my routines go awry, everything else downstream gets messed up too.

All it needed was a consultancy project to throw a spanner into the engine. I had a good routine going for the months before that, honed from the past 3 years working from home through the pandemic lockdowns. But the world had reopened, and now work is starting to revert to how it was before, I feel like a sailor being at sea for months and feeling the land-sick when I touch solid ground for the first time. I guess I wasn’t prepared for the disruption to that change, and paid for it through my sleep, exercise, stress levels, family time.

Now I know why my numbers had been going down recently.

I can’t will the world to go back to as before so that I can have my routines again. I’d rather not either. But I can regroup and re-routinize in new ways.

Routine routine routine.

I use the simplest note system on the planet for my content flywheel.

- Take and save notes in Telegram Saved Messages
- Use some notes in Lifelog
- Repurpose content directly from Telegram or from Lifelog, to other channels

No complex note-taking system. No automation. No excessive tagging or categorising. No networked thought.

Just an app that I open and use everyday anyway, to collect notes. And on to another app that I use and write on every day, to process, think through, reflect on them. And then onwards to other platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn for content distribution.

This simple note system is how I'm able to keep writing on Lifelog for 700+ days, post on Twitter and LinkedIn daily for the past year. The results speak for themselves.

It's so crucial that it starts on an app (Telegram) that's easily accessible and habitual. Because any layer of friction, no matter how tiny, raises the barrier to utilising the note system to its full potential. Taking notes often happen when life is happening. When you're out and about, when you're having an interesting chat with a friend, when you see something at the mall. If I had to log in to take a note, it'll fail. If it's a desktop app, it fails. If I have to open my web browser to access it, it fails. If my network is spotty and without internet—I'm underground on the train, or out in the jungle—it fails. If I can't take notes hands free (like voice memo), it fails. It has to be always on, always available.

Mostly importantly, a note system where the notes are actually *used*, not just hoarded. So much of note-taking systems I see is an elaborate way to hoard stuff you'd never use again. So much effort, so little utility. It's digital hoarding at it's most subversive.

That's why I say note system , not note-*taking* system. It's not just for note-taking but also note-*using*. otherwise what's the point?

The best note system should be **generative**, not archival. It should stir up dust, not collect dust.

I like this simple note system. It works for me.

I can't stop thinking about this question that James Clear asked in his [latest newsletter](https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/december-15-2022):

What is your relationship with self-discipline?
What is your relationship with self-forgiveness?

That pairing of questions is so perfect. Self-discipline and self-forgiveness, like yin and yang, like fire and ice.

Self-discipline is what people often think they need when it comes to building a wholesome habit streak, say daily writing. Self-forgiveness is the other half of the equation people don't know about. You need some self-discipline to get started on a streak. But you also need self-forgiveness if you happen to break it. Breaking the streak doesn't make the habit any less wholesome, but it does feel sucky for a while, because that's how streaks work (as a disincentive). Self-forgiveness is the balm that soothes that suckiness, so that you'll bounce back and keep going all over again.

Self-discipline is putting in your best effort every day; self-forgiveness is forgiving yourself if you tried but wasn't good enough to win.

Self-discipline is being hard on yourself today. Self-forgiveness is being soft on yourself yesterday.

Self-discipline is the father. Self-forgiveness is the mother.

Too much self-discipline and you get too uptight or stressed out. Too much self-forgiveness and you get too lazy or ineffective.

Reflecting on myself: I'm weighted more in self-discipline. I could do with more self-forgiveness. My relationship to self-discipline vs self-forgiveness isn't balanced. And it's time to balance that out. As much as I practice self-discipline seriously, I got to also practice self-forgiveness as seriously.

That way, like the twin wings of a bird, I can truly soar.

The past few weekly recaps revealed an interesting trend. I'm filling out entire pages full of ideas for my Plugins For Carrd project.

It's like I'm sensing so many opportunities, chancing on new ideas for plugins, discovering business ideas to try, and things to optimise for Plugins.

But here's the weird thing:

I'd decided to drop my main project and no longer have any main projects.
I'd decided that all my projects will stay as small bets, even if they get big.
I'd decided to spend more time on Plugins For Carrd, even if it stays a small bet.

I'm not sure how the newfound opportunities figure in my decisions to keep things small, but everything about the reality seems to be contradicting these decisions.

I'm spending more time, yet I call it a small bet?
I'm working on it mostly, yet it's not my main project?
I have a deluge of new opportunities and ideas, yet I care about it being big or small?
I've been pulled forward all along by it, yet I'm telling myself to not push?

Am I in denial about the project? Indulging in self-deception or protecting some part of my ego here?

Or do we always have to conflate effort spent to a project's priority/size?

I think I've spent lots of time and effort on previous projects with huge expectations, yet nothing to show for. Perhaps I can now try spending *some* time and effort with little/zero expectations, yet show some degree of results/success.

Or maybe I'm simply not used to working hard on a product pulling me forward, while reining in my expectations and emotions for it?

I have many questions. More questions than answers.

Many contradictions and paradoxes.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. Writing to figure it out and mirror back the hard questions to myself...

I asked a [question on Twitter](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1601215575828492298) about the pros and cons of discounts, and learned so much from everyone:

> "Discounts devalue your product, erodes trust." - True, or false?
>
> When would discounts be okay?
> When would it devalue/erode?

Here's me summarizing and trying to do justice to everyone's contributions:

### When discounts devalue your product
- When it's perpetually on discount (e.g. Udemy). People come to expect the discounted price as the true price, and no one would want to pay full price anymore. It also erodes trust as customers catch on that it's just a form of sales manipulation.
- Offering one simply because someone asked. This gives customers the impression that it's actually worth less.
- When the quantum for the discount is too high, e.g. 80%. Again, it hints at customers that the true value is lower for you to be willing to sell it at that price.

### When discounts are okay, or even beneficial, increase value/trust
- For purchase power parity. That's a discount that might in fact increase trust because it show you're being considerate to people in lower purchase power locales. Kindness is always good for biz.
- Timing and frequency matters. When it's occasional, or for celebratory occasions, like Black Friday, product/company anniversary, or to celebrate achieving a milestone of X number of users. People are more open to it and less chance existing customers will feel it's unfair since it's to 'celebrate' an occasional occasion. Maybe 5 or less per year might be a good rule of thumb.
- Discounts are often given only to new customers, and leave the existing customers out of the picture, which is a wasted opportunity to build more loyalty. So also give existing loyal customers something special, like beta access to some hot new feature or also a discount for subscriptions.
- When it's aligned to your brand, product, positioning, pricing, business model, market, price sensitivity of your customers, etc (e.g. "no discounts ever" Apple vs "always on discount" Udemy)
- When it's for a certain type of product among different products of one business, e.g. lead magnets. Any price point to acquire a customers at, is better than $0.
- When planning a price increase, give a discount for a week/month to anyone to get it at the last price. Be open and honest about the price rise, and the discount you can give right now. This move doesn't erode trust but increase it, because it shows you care for customers.
- Give a discount when upselling/cross-selling. When your customer buys a product, they get recommended related products at a discount. Or even cross-bundling discounts with other creators!

*What other situations would discounts be okay vs devaluing?*

Just minor text updates to the writing prompts, to test if the pipeline still works!

And to fix the announcement banner with new Google App Script link

I asked ChatGPT this question: "I have a goal to write at least 100 words every day. Please suggest a daily task list to help me achieve that goal."

What do you think of the reply? Legit? Was surprised it gave good standard answers 😆

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." – Douglas Adams

This seems to be a recurring lesson in my indie solopreneur journey. Or even in life.

It always starts off with ambitions, aspirations and goals. Very specific goals. Very targeted means to get there. A purposeful stance I adopt going into it. And sometimes I do get there the way I intended, but the satisfaction isn't always commensurate with the achievement. Something feels off. I've won trophies in school where I wasn't thrilled on receiving it. I redpointed climbing projects where I felt more relieved than joyous. I achieved revenue targets for one of my businesses but got burned out.

Yet when I did not go where I intended to go but chanced upon buried treasure, I feel blessed and overjoyed. I wandered down streets in foreign countries feeling lost and not in the direction I feel I should be, yet discovered beautiful places and neighbourhoods that are etched in my memory for life. Indie side projects that have a life of its own and pull me forward despite my original intentions are often my best performing products. I never expected to meet a girl (or any girl) at the office, yet I did, and one thing led to another and now I married her and had a lovely child with.

Every time I ended up where I needed to be without intending to, there's joy.

Chance = Yay
Stance = Meh

Makes me think: Why set any goals or intentions at all? 🤔