Day 621 - 100% sleep - https://golifelog.com/posts/100percent-sleep-1663025435962
I did it. I finally did it. I hit 100% score for sleep!
Writing this down for record and remembrance:
Date: Monday night 12 Sep 2022
Sleep tracking app: Sleep Cycle iOS app
Sleep score: 100%
Went to bed: 8:48pm
Woke up: 5:06am
In bed: 8h 17m
Asleep: 8h 7m
Asleep after: 9min
Heart rate: 67
This was despite me having a sore neck for the past few days and not being able to move freely to sleep on my side. This was despite me being slightly unwell and exhausted from my consulting last week.
It was tough sleep last week. I was at 83% (my normal range), then went to 58% after a particularly intense day of work, then built it back up to 74%, then 82%, then 85%, then 88% (yesterday), and then 100% today. It took me 5 days to get back up.
But the number of days here wasn’t the critical factor here. It was the commitment to self care. To prioritize taking care of myself, at the expense of all other things like fun and play, even some family time.
All my past sleep problems, and poor health resulting from sleep deprivation, were simply a prioritization problem. I felt I could sacrifice sleep for other things. I thought it was a commodity that I could trade off freely without consequence. This is a pattern of behaviour right from my 20s till now. I guess I’m only truly starting to learn this lesson now, after two decades. Only “starting to learn”, because I still fall into the trap of my old ways from time to time.
Sleep is the first mover.
Writing this down for record and remembrance:
Date: Monday night 12 Sep 2022
Sleep tracking app: Sleep Cycle iOS app
Sleep score: 100%
Went to bed: 8:48pm
Woke up: 5:06am
In bed: 8h 17m
Asleep: 8h 7m
Asleep after: 9min
Heart rate: 67
This was despite me having a sore neck for the past few days and not being able to move freely to sleep on my side. This was despite me being slightly unwell and exhausted from my consulting last week.
It was tough sleep last week. I was at 83% (my normal range), then went to 58% after a particularly intense day of work, then built it back up to 74%, then 82%, then 85%, then 88% (yesterday), and then 100% today. It took me 5 days to get back up.
But the number of days here wasn’t the critical factor here. It was the commitment to self care. To prioritize taking care of myself, at the expense of all other things like fun and play, even some family time.
All my past sleep problems, and poor health resulting from sleep deprivation, were simply a prioritization problem. I felt I could sacrifice sleep for other things. I thought it was a commodity that I could trade off freely without consequence. This is a pattern of behaviour right from my 20s till now. I guess I’m only truly starting to learn this lesson now, after two decades. Only “starting to learn”, because I still fall into the trap of my old ways from time to time.
Sleep is the first mover.
Day 620 - Vanity vs Valuable metrics - https://golifelog.com/posts/vanity-vs-valuable-metrics-1662949489781
Writing this to remind myself of what matters.
### Vanity metrics:
- Likes
- Impressions
- RTs
- Replies
- Page views
- Clicks
- Followers
- Email sign-ups/subscribers
- Mentions from press
- Praise from peers
- Free users
- Revenue 😱
### Valuable metrics:
- **Positive testimonials** from customers that shows you're adding value to their lives.
- **Negative feedback** from customers who's invested enough to give feedback. Also shows that there's still room for improvement.
- **Paying customers** – Not to be mistaken with free users. When people open their wallets, they have skin in the game. It's the difference between heaven and earth.
- **Profit.** Note I didn't use "revenue". Because it's easy to earn $1M. Just spend $2M on ads. Profit is the what's sustainable. Profit is what makes your thing a real business.
- **Number of people you helped.** This group could be your paying customers yes, but it shouldn't be the entire group. Help other indies, other non-users, help grow your industry. Volunteer or do pro bono. Give without asking.
- **Your quality of life.** If your business isn't improving your life, why are you doing it? Sure, maybe we got to hunker down and hustle for a time to make it succeed. But always question if—on your death bed—it's truly worth the trade-off. If I have to be a martyr and sacrifice my family life for decades, count me out.
- **Freedom.** This is personal to holder. To me. If my work isn't allowing me the autonomy and ownership to make my own decisions on time, effort, creativity, joy, people, impact and equity, then it's work that I should seriously start reconsidering.
*Did I miss anything?*
### Vanity metrics:
- Likes
- Impressions
- RTs
- Replies
- Page views
- Clicks
- Followers
- Email sign-ups/subscribers
- Mentions from press
- Praise from peers
- Free users
- Revenue 😱
### Valuable metrics:
- **Positive testimonials** from customers that shows you're adding value to their lives.
- **Negative feedback** from customers who's invested enough to give feedback. Also shows that there's still room for improvement.
- **Paying customers** – Not to be mistaken with free users. When people open their wallets, they have skin in the game. It's the difference between heaven and earth.
- **Profit.** Note I didn't use "revenue". Because it's easy to earn $1M. Just spend $2M on ads. Profit is the what's sustainable. Profit is what makes your thing a real business.
- **Number of people you helped.** This group could be your paying customers yes, but it shouldn't be the entire group. Help other indies, other non-users, help grow your industry. Volunteer or do pro bono. Give without asking.
- **Your quality of life.** If your business isn't improving your life, why are you doing it? Sure, maybe we got to hunker down and hustle for a time to make it succeed. But always question if—on your death bed—it's truly worth the trade-off. If I have to be a martyr and sacrifice my family life for decades, count me out.
- **Freedom.** This is personal to holder. To me. If my work isn't allowing me the autonomy and ownership to make my own decisions on time, effort, creativity, joy, people, impact and equity, then it's work that I should seriously start reconsidering.
*Did I miss anything?*
Day 619 - 3 years of keto - https://golifelog.com/posts/3-years-of-keto-1662865691826
I started on the ketogenic diet on 2 Sep 2019. It’s been three years.
To the uninitiated, the keto diet is form of low carb, high fat diet. We’re eating too much sugars and carbs in our modern diets, and that’s leading to a whole host of metabolic conditions like diabetes, inflammation, and obesity. Keto aims to counter that, by drastically reducing our carb intake, and training our metabolically flexible body to burning more fats.
And three years on, I never felt better.
Some stuff I learned along the way:
### Year zero
I started on keto as a last ditch effort to heal from a series of chronic gut issues, which included surgery. It was nice to look back at my [first week on keto](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/one-week-on-keto-intermittent-fasting-267905d763e868b56a/index). All the pains of easing into a difficult habit. Keto flu. Fatigue. Queasiness. Bad sleep. Headaches. Brain fog. Sugar cravings. It felt so impossible then. But I did it!
### 1st year
I did strict keto mostly for the first year. Lost 10kg, couldn't fit into my clothes, became quite gaunt. I learned so much about nutrition in my first year, I felt like I took a diploma course. All the little insights about eating habits and nutrition got compiled into a running log of a blog post called [counter-intuitive things I learned about nutrition and wellness while on intermittent fasting and keto diet](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/counter-intuitive-things-i-learned-about-nutrition-while-on-intermittent-fasting-and-keto-423975f00843835a30/index). One of the last few things I wrote – "Your keto today won't be your keto tomorrow". 100% true.
### 2nd year
Even within my 1st year I started to explore more meat less fat, and slowly moved out of eating fat bombs. By the 2nd year I was definitely into [meat-heavy keto, or ketovore](https://golifelog.com/posts/keto-two-years-on-1631240576181). The 10kg in weight I lost, I gained it back weight, but I didn't get back the old dad bod cubby fat - my frame remained slim. Talking to other keto veterans, they say if your clothes sizes didn't change, it's likely you gained muscle. Every month I would do some days of intermittent fasting and strict ketovore, to self-correct the occasional treat. Sometimes if I see my dad bod belly coming back, I'll go strict for a few weeks. This was also during the lockdowns and the birth of my baby boy, when it got easier to stay in routine.
### 3rd year
But by Year 3, I started to feel I needed more adjustments, in particular adding more carbs back. It's strange - I started to feel like the diet wasn't giving me as much energy as it used to. Most days ketovore, some days carnivore, some days with carb reloading. But sticking to mostly single ingredient carbs like rice, pasta. And tiny portions, like a few spoonfuls. On average, I veering towards a low carb freestyle intuitive eating sort of approach now. It's so much easier to stick to a diet philosophy and let that framework make the eating decisions for you. It's 10x harder to listen to the body and eat intuitively. Worse coming from someone who didn't have the best relationship with food and being embodied. But three years on, I feel a growing confidence in eating intuitively. I check in with my body if a food is something I truly need. I'm starting to enjoy whole, natural, single ingredient, non-/minimally processed foods. Even on carb reloading, I don't gorge on carbs like a starving prisoner released. I nibble it, eating mindfully, cautiously. And stop if it I hear whispers from the body that it's enough. This approach certainly helped a lot in feeling like I can carb reload without releasing the flood gates and going back to before keto.
It feels really hopeful now, my diet journey. I think fundamentally, coming back to listening to my body, heeding what it truly needs, not what it craves from poor past eating habits, had all along been what I was after. It's eating like that that truly brings health and a sense of wellbeing.
The diet you healed yourself with might not be the diet you eat in the long term.
Onwards!
To the uninitiated, the keto diet is form of low carb, high fat diet. We’re eating too much sugars and carbs in our modern diets, and that’s leading to a whole host of metabolic conditions like diabetes, inflammation, and obesity. Keto aims to counter that, by drastically reducing our carb intake, and training our metabolically flexible body to burning more fats.
And three years on, I never felt better.
Some stuff I learned along the way:
### Year zero
I started on keto as a last ditch effort to heal from a series of chronic gut issues, which included surgery. It was nice to look back at my [first week on keto](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/one-week-on-keto-intermittent-fasting-267905d763e868b56a/index). All the pains of easing into a difficult habit. Keto flu. Fatigue. Queasiness. Bad sleep. Headaches. Brain fog. Sugar cravings. It felt so impossible then. But I did it!
### 1st year
I did strict keto mostly for the first year. Lost 10kg, couldn't fit into my clothes, became quite gaunt. I learned so much about nutrition in my first year, I felt like I took a diploma course. All the little insights about eating habits and nutrition got compiled into a running log of a blog post called [counter-intuitive things I learned about nutrition and wellness while on intermittent fasting and keto diet](https://jasonleow.github.io/200wordsaday/articles/counter-intuitive-things-i-learned-about-nutrition-while-on-intermittent-fasting-and-keto-423975f00843835a30/index). One of the last few things I wrote – "Your keto today won't be your keto tomorrow". 100% true.
### 2nd year
Even within my 1st year I started to explore more meat less fat, and slowly moved out of eating fat bombs. By the 2nd year I was definitely into [meat-heavy keto, or ketovore](https://golifelog.com/posts/keto-two-years-on-1631240576181). The 10kg in weight I lost, I gained it back weight, but I didn't get back the old dad bod cubby fat - my frame remained slim. Talking to other keto veterans, they say if your clothes sizes didn't change, it's likely you gained muscle. Every month I would do some days of intermittent fasting and strict ketovore, to self-correct the occasional treat. Sometimes if I see my dad bod belly coming back, I'll go strict for a few weeks. This was also during the lockdowns and the birth of my baby boy, when it got easier to stay in routine.
### 3rd year
But by Year 3, I started to feel I needed more adjustments, in particular adding more carbs back. It's strange - I started to feel like the diet wasn't giving me as much energy as it used to. Most days ketovore, some days carnivore, some days with carb reloading. But sticking to mostly single ingredient carbs like rice, pasta. And tiny portions, like a few spoonfuls. On average, I veering towards a low carb freestyle intuitive eating sort of approach now. It's so much easier to stick to a diet philosophy and let that framework make the eating decisions for you. It's 10x harder to listen to the body and eat intuitively. Worse coming from someone who didn't have the best relationship with food and being embodied. But three years on, I feel a growing confidence in eating intuitively. I check in with my body if a food is something I truly need. I'm starting to enjoy whole, natural, single ingredient, non-/minimally processed foods. Even on carb reloading, I don't gorge on carbs like a starving prisoner released. I nibble it, eating mindfully, cautiously. And stop if it I hear whispers from the body that it's enough. This approach certainly helped a lot in feeling like I can carb reload without releasing the flood gates and going back to before keto.
It feels really hopeful now, my diet journey. I think fundamentally, coming back to listening to my body, heeding what it truly needs, not what it craves from poor past eating habits, had all along been what I was after. It's eating like that that truly brings health and a sense of wellbeing.
The diet you healed yourself with might not be the diet you eat in the long term.
Onwards!
Day 618 - What does a good opportunity look like in indie hacking? - https://golifelog.com/posts/what-does-a-good-opportunity-look-like-in-indie-hacking-1662777252937
I read this from James Clear's recent newsletter:
"3 things that help luck:
1. Deconstructing your craft, so you know what good opportunities look like.
2. Remaining vigilant, so you notice when lucky breaks come your way.
3. Acting quickly, so you are more likely to seize luck when it arrives."
– [James Clear](https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/september-8-2022)
#2 and #3 are familiar, but #1 got me thinking because I realised I don't know the answer to that...
So what does a good opportunity look like in indie hacking? In particular, for my products?
Some thoughts:
- Viral. But not all viral are created equal. Viral is an opportunity if it converts, if it helps you achieve your goals. If it's just a funny viral meme with no engagement, no conversions, then not an opportunity.
- People pay for pre-sales, in droves. If there's not even a product yet but people are willing to open their wallets, you might be on to something.
- When you hit more than $10k monthly. I used to think hitting $1k was enough as a signal that the product is a great opportunity. But that's too low a bar. Hardly even ramen profitable. Just breaking even isn't enough to count as a great opportunity. $10k is a better benchmark.
- When you're pulled forward by external forces—market demand, feature requests, high usage—it also means opportunity. When you can't build fast enough, or don't have enough time to serve everyone lining up for it. In contrast, if you have to push hard on everything, the process feels uphill, and with little to no results, that's a sign there's no opportunity.
- When you're having fun and not caring about the results or rewards of your work other than the joy of doing it, yet people love it, sign up and pay. That's a perfect overlap of customer desirability and maker enjoyability.
- When you get multiple offers for micro-acquisition. Bonus points if the project is not even revenue-generating yet.
- When it's a saturated market and there's already multiple existing competitors, yet customers come to you.
- When you don't do paid marketing or ads, yet customers come to you via word of mouth.
*What are the other ways a good opportunity looks like in indie hacking?*
"3 things that help luck:
1. Deconstructing your craft, so you know what good opportunities look like.
2. Remaining vigilant, so you notice when lucky breaks come your way.
3. Acting quickly, so you are more likely to seize luck when it arrives."
– [James Clear](https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/september-8-2022)
#2 and #3 are familiar, but #1 got me thinking because I realised I don't know the answer to that...
So what does a good opportunity look like in indie hacking? In particular, for my products?
Some thoughts:
- Viral. But not all viral are created equal. Viral is an opportunity if it converts, if it helps you achieve your goals. If it's just a funny viral meme with no engagement, no conversions, then not an opportunity.
- People pay for pre-sales, in droves. If there's not even a product yet but people are willing to open their wallets, you might be on to something.
- When you hit more than $10k monthly. I used to think hitting $1k was enough as a signal that the product is a great opportunity. But that's too low a bar. Hardly even ramen profitable. Just breaking even isn't enough to count as a great opportunity. $10k is a better benchmark.
- When you're pulled forward by external forces—market demand, feature requests, high usage—it also means opportunity. When you can't build fast enough, or don't have enough time to serve everyone lining up for it. In contrast, if you have to push hard on everything, the process feels uphill, and with little to no results, that's a sign there's no opportunity.
- When you're having fun and not caring about the results or rewards of your work other than the joy of doing it, yet people love it, sign up and pay. That's a perfect overlap of customer desirability and maker enjoyability.
- When you get multiple offers for micro-acquisition. Bonus points if the project is not even revenue-generating yet.
- When it's a saturated market and there's already multiple existing competitors, yet customers come to you.
- When you don't do paid marketing or ads, yet customers come to you via word of mouth.
*What are the other ways a good opportunity looks like in indie hacking?*
Jason Leow
Author
Totally! Without which we won't last long enough to get to product-market fit or profitability
Day 617 - My biggest bottleneck that I don't know - https://golifelog.com/posts/my-biggest-bottleneck-that-i-dont-know-1662677670780
A question regarding indie hacking that I've been pondering for the past few days:
> "What's my biggest bottleneck now? Am I working on it? If no, why not?"
Why past few days? Because I realised I didn't know the answer, and I've been wrecking my brain for one.
It's empty.
Perhaps this explains the real reason why I feel stuck with regards to the progress with my products. I don't even know what my biggest bottleneck is.
I asked:
- Is it product-market fit? Maybe my products just don't solve a good enough problem that enough people will want to pay for. This could be partly true. My products so far are vitamins, not painkillers. The solution could be placing more small bets.
- Is it marketing? Yes I can always do better, do more in marketing. But it doesn’t feel like it’s the biggest bottleneck, when product-market fit is dubious at best.
- Is it lack of energy/motivation? This could be true too. I've been trying so long, I'm starting to feel tired. I was burned out for the past 2-3 months, and only starting to slowly get back to work on products.
- Is it lack of time? Being a new dad I've always lacked time. But that simply brought more focus and prioritization. I wake at 5am to work on my projects. I work on weekends. And I have the same 24h as everyone as. So that doesn't feel like a bottleneck.
- Is it lack of money? To make money in products you often got to invest money. Domains, hosting, web infrastructure, all costs money. The biggest expense of them all - my quality of life, my cash runway to support me and my family. Not gonna lie...that's been a challenge lately yes. It does take away some mental bandwidth, brings stress, thinking and worrying about it. But that's not the bottleneck to my progress. It's a background noise that's always there – sometimes louder, sometimes a whisper.
So you can now see. I have ZERO clue.
Perhaps not knowing is the biggest bottleneck of them all.
And the solution is collecting and finding the data to ascertain it.
You can't fight an enemy you can't see.
> "What's my biggest bottleneck now? Am I working on it? If no, why not?"
Why past few days? Because I realised I didn't know the answer, and I've been wrecking my brain for one.
It's empty.
Perhaps this explains the real reason why I feel stuck with regards to the progress with my products. I don't even know what my biggest bottleneck is.
I asked:
- Is it product-market fit? Maybe my products just don't solve a good enough problem that enough people will want to pay for. This could be partly true. My products so far are vitamins, not painkillers. The solution could be placing more small bets.
- Is it marketing? Yes I can always do better, do more in marketing. But it doesn’t feel like it’s the biggest bottleneck, when product-market fit is dubious at best.
- Is it lack of energy/motivation? This could be true too. I've been trying so long, I'm starting to feel tired. I was burned out for the past 2-3 months, and only starting to slowly get back to work on products.
- Is it lack of time? Being a new dad I've always lacked time. But that simply brought more focus and prioritization. I wake at 5am to work on my projects. I work on weekends. And I have the same 24h as everyone as. So that doesn't feel like a bottleneck.
- Is it lack of money? To make money in products you often got to invest money. Domains, hosting, web infrastructure, all costs money. The biggest expense of them all - my quality of life, my cash runway to support me and my family. Not gonna lie...that's been a challenge lately yes. It does take away some mental bandwidth, brings stress, thinking and worrying about it. But that's not the bottleneck to my progress. It's a background noise that's always there – sometimes louder, sometimes a whisper.
So you can now see. I have ZERO clue.
Perhaps not knowing is the biggest bottleneck of them all.
And the solution is collecting and finding the data to ascertain it.
You can't fight an enemy you can't see.
Day 616 - 8h sleep goal: Review - https://golifelog.com/posts/8h-sleep-goal-review-1662590114659
I said in mid August that I was going to try sleeping early to get [8h of sleep](https://golifelog.com/posts/8h-sleep-goal-1660433590964), so that I can get myself back in reasonable shape for my consulting gig.
> So I’m going to try to get 8h of sleep every day from now till start of September. I’m going to exercise daily in the morning. I’m going to eat well. I’m going to wind down for the evening properly. I’m going to prioritize self care. I’m going to get my family on board for this. I’m going to do what’s required to:
>
> - Feel rested from sleep
> - Feel stronger in body
> - Feel sharper in mind
And almost one month since that intention, happy to report back that it really did help. In fact, I was surprised how much it helped.
Because the effects felt immediate and obvious. One month in I feel:
- Clearer in mind
- More rested
- More motivated for everything in life
- Exercised daily
- My spirits felt lifted and lighter
- Needed less coffee
- Didn't feel like I was struggling to get by each day
- Sleep pressure decreased - I had harder time falling asleep. It used to be immediate the moment my head hits the pillow (which on hindsight, might be too high sleep pressure)
Before, I was in kind of a low energy slump which I couldn't seem to extract myself out of. But with 8h sleep I started to climb out of it.
It's that simple.
So simple, I was surprised. Actually, cut that – I was shocked. I was shocked by how sleep deprived I actually really was. Goes to show just how important sleep is, and how my struggles can be traced back to the vicious loops of my poor sleep hygiene (sleeping late, getting less than 7h sleep, not winding down enough). I was carrying to accumulated burden of sleep debt and it was seeping into everything I did in life.
Therefore, slump.
So I'm continuing this 8h thing.
I'm not done yet with my sleep debt yet.
> So I’m going to try to get 8h of sleep every day from now till start of September. I’m going to exercise daily in the morning. I’m going to eat well. I’m going to wind down for the evening properly. I’m going to prioritize self care. I’m going to get my family on board for this. I’m going to do what’s required to:
>
> - Feel rested from sleep
> - Feel stronger in body
> - Feel sharper in mind
And almost one month since that intention, happy to report back that it really did help. In fact, I was surprised how much it helped.
Because the effects felt immediate and obvious. One month in I feel:
- Clearer in mind
- More rested
- More motivated for everything in life
- Exercised daily
- My spirits felt lifted and lighter
- Needed less coffee
- Didn't feel like I was struggling to get by each day
- Sleep pressure decreased - I had harder time falling asleep. It used to be immediate the moment my head hits the pillow (which on hindsight, might be too high sleep pressure)
Before, I was in kind of a low energy slump which I couldn't seem to extract myself out of. But with 8h sleep I started to climb out of it.
It's that simple.
So simple, I was surprised. Actually, cut that – I was shocked. I was shocked by how sleep deprived I actually really was. Goes to show just how important sleep is, and how my struggles can be traced back to the vicious loops of my poor sleep hygiene (sleeping late, getting less than 7h sleep, not winding down enough). I was carrying to accumulated burden of sleep debt and it was seeping into everything I did in life.
Therefore, slump.
So I'm continuing this 8h thing.
I'm not done yet with my sleep debt yet.
Day 615 - How I'd start over and grow on Twitter as a creator: - https://golifelog.com/posts/how-id-start-over-and-grow-on-twitter-as-a-creator-1662503663921
This is how I’d start over and grow on Twitter as a creator if the slate was wiped clean:
1. Reply thoughtful replies - Replying remains one of the best ways to grow your following. Notice it comes before #2 about tweeting. Because in the beginning no one will see your tweet. But by replying, you’re leveraging the audience of the account you’re replying to. If you reply something that adds to the conversation and people find valuable, they might check out your profile, and some might click follow. Don’t reply stuff like “Yes” or “Agree” or “No disagree” and call it a day. “Thoughtful” can mean many things: educational, entertaining, empathetic. The good thing about using “thoughtful” as a quality barometer - it’s an in-built mechanism to prevent burning out from replying too much. I once tried 80 replies a day but couldn’t even hit that many to reply to. Now I do like 10-20/day.
2. Tweet once a day - I’ll go for once a day because I’m coming from a habit-building, long game point of view. I think many creators start off strong, have grand ambitions of building an audience, want to do a lot, but fizzle out after a few months. Bonus: write 7 tweets within 1-2h once a week, and schedule them. Why batch write? Because it takes time to get into the groove when writing tweets. After you write one, you might as well ride the momentum and write 6 more. Writing just 1 tweet a day ends up taking more time over 7 days compared to batch writing all 7 at once. Caveat: I’m referring to solo creators, not startups with media teams.
3. Make like-minded friends - My latest definition of building an audience: Surrounding myself with people who help me build my best self in public. It’s like forming a mastermind group on Twitter, where we collectively benefit from the right kind of inspiration, accountability, influence to help us progress on our goals. By the way, if I want this, I need to do #1.
4. Reply, reply, reply - This repeat is intentional, for emphasis. Being the reply guy remains the best way for growth for newbies. Yes it does take energy to engage on Twitter, and can be a huge time suck… That’s why I try to do it at the end of the day after I’m done with my core tasks.
That’s it, thanks for attending my Twitter growth course.
1. Reply thoughtful replies - Replying remains one of the best ways to grow your following. Notice it comes before #2 about tweeting. Because in the beginning no one will see your tweet. But by replying, you’re leveraging the audience of the account you’re replying to. If you reply something that adds to the conversation and people find valuable, they might check out your profile, and some might click follow. Don’t reply stuff like “Yes” or “Agree” or “No disagree” and call it a day. “Thoughtful” can mean many things: educational, entertaining, empathetic. The good thing about using “thoughtful” as a quality barometer - it’s an in-built mechanism to prevent burning out from replying too much. I once tried 80 replies a day but couldn’t even hit that many to reply to. Now I do like 10-20/day.
2. Tweet once a day - I’ll go for once a day because I’m coming from a habit-building, long game point of view. I think many creators start off strong, have grand ambitions of building an audience, want to do a lot, but fizzle out after a few months. Bonus: write 7 tweets within 1-2h once a week, and schedule them. Why batch write? Because it takes time to get into the groove when writing tweets. After you write one, you might as well ride the momentum and write 6 more. Writing just 1 tweet a day ends up taking more time over 7 days compared to batch writing all 7 at once. Caveat: I’m referring to solo creators, not startups with media teams.
3. Make like-minded friends - My latest definition of building an audience: Surrounding myself with people who help me build my best self in public. It’s like forming a mastermind group on Twitter, where we collectively benefit from the right kind of inspiration, accountability, influence to help us progress on our goals. By the way, if I want this, I need to do #1.
4. Reply, reply, reply - This repeat is intentional, for emphasis. Being the reply guy remains the best way for growth for newbies. Yes it does take energy to engage on Twitter, and can be a huge time suck… That’s why I try to do it at the end of the day after I’m done with my core tasks.
That’s it, thanks for attending my Twitter growth course.
I started working to grow my Twitter after a long time and sure going to following your advice. Thanks for the post
Day 614 - Passive vs aggressive - https://golifelog.com/posts/passive-vs-aggressive-1662426271413
A question from a previous [James Clear newsletter](https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/september-1-2022) stuck with me:
> Sometimes it benefits us to be passive: to allow life to come to us and unfold without force. Other times it benefits us to be aggressive: to bend the world to our will and actively shape the life we want.
> Are you being too passive or too aggressive right now?
How do we tell when to do which?
How do we know when to be passive and flow alongside the tide of life?
How do we know we should be proactive in bending reality?
Some thoughts:
**Passive**
- When you're in a situation where you don't have much control over
- When acts big or small makes little difference
- When it calls for presence—observing, listening—than solutioning
- When things aren't broken, don't need fixing...or even going well
**Aggressive**
- When I have a lot more control and autonomy than I realised
- When a small act can have huge differences
- When you're called on by others to contribute
- When things are sub-optimal
I'm not sure where I'm going with this thought experiment.
Truth is, I feel more led along by life right now than bending reality proactively.
Maybe it's a phase, my current life stage, a natural season of life.
Maybe I've done a lot of bending in the past and now it's just time to let things come to fruition.
Maybe there's a lot of things out of my control now and it's time to watch.
Maybe that's why I needed to figure it out by writing this down.
*How do you tell when to be passive, when to be aggressive?*
> Sometimes it benefits us to be passive: to allow life to come to us and unfold without force. Other times it benefits us to be aggressive: to bend the world to our will and actively shape the life we want.
> Are you being too passive or too aggressive right now?
How do we tell when to do which?
How do we know when to be passive and flow alongside the tide of life?
How do we know we should be proactive in bending reality?
Some thoughts:
**Passive**
- When you're in a situation where you don't have much control over
- When acts big or small makes little difference
- When it calls for presence—observing, listening—than solutioning
- When things aren't broken, don't need fixing...or even going well
**Aggressive**
- When I have a lot more control and autonomy than I realised
- When a small act can have huge differences
- When you're called on by others to contribute
- When things are sub-optimal
I'm not sure where I'm going with this thought experiment.
Truth is, I feel more led along by life right now than bending reality proactively.
Maybe it's a phase, my current life stage, a natural season of life.
Maybe I've done a lot of bending in the past and now it's just time to let things come to fruition.
Maybe there's a lot of things out of my control now and it's time to watch.
Maybe that's why I needed to figure it out by writing this down.
*How do you tell when to be passive, when to be aggressive?*
Day 613 - Tiny Twitter hacks I learned & love, part V - https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-v-1662343563502
Part 5 of tiny yet cool Twitter hacks that I’m slowly accumulating over all the daily practice and observing how others do it:
Read [Part 1](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-1640567252125), [Part 2](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-ii-1642293081196), [Part 3](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-iii-1645066528768), [Part 4](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-iv-1656294820581).
- **Occasional profile page face-lifts**. I recently updated my Twitter profile bio into [indie solopreneur](https://golifelog.com/posts/im-an-indie-solopreneur-1659662395379). It felt more authentic, and gave visitors something more about why they should follow me. It gave a small boost in new followers.
- **It's ok to walk away.** I took a break for 2-3 months but continued with daily scheduled posting. But I replied a lot less. And mostly didn't care about the app on weekends. Engagement and impressions suffered, but it's not too hard to build it back. If I'm in this for the long game, this is but a small blimp.
- **Shit-posting is a viable strategy.** Just like how @dagorenouf got big using startup memes. Not to mention, it's just so much fun, and a good way to cull my following of folks who don't get my humour. If you can't find what I find funny funny too, maybe we're not in the same tribe.
- **Write only when inspired.** I now write my indie hacking tweets only when inspired. Spending just a few minutes on it. But it's all queued up to a consistent publishing schedule. The best of both worlds from consistency and inspiration!
- Caveat to the strategy of reply thoughtful replies to big accounts: **You don't have to reply to big accounts** if you don't have anything good to say or if it's no fun that they don't reply to you. Just shut up and learn from them. Replying to peers is more fun.
- **Build your best self in public.** My latest take on building an audience = Surrounding myself with people who help me build my best self in public (inspiration, accountability, influence). Build an informal mastermind of peers on Twitter. [Build an audience and it builds you back](https://golifelog.com/posts/build-an-audience-and-it-builds-you-back-1661390959486), and I should stick to influence from people who are actually a good influence.
- **Tweet about your product without tweeting about your product, by actually doing the thing with your product.** I stopped tweeting writing-related content + plug about my product, and just tweeted single building in public tweet + screenshot of longer form Lifelog post, followed by a reply tweet to the link to the Lifelog post. No more daily asks to get people to my product. It ended up working slightly better - I had more sign-ups using this indirect strategy than direct asks. Instead of talking about writing, just write and show how it's done.
- **My latest form of engagement list is a list of @mention account names in a DM to myself.** I stopped using Twitter Lists because of too much noise (it showed replies). I used Chrome bookmarks to open >20 profile pages of everyone on the list, but that was a pain - it just hung my Chrome for a while before I can use it. Now I use a 'bookmarks' list in a DM to myself, open the desktop DM picture-in-picture window, and click through to open up profile pages. No more having to switch windows/tabs, open them all.
- **Tweeting about my family.** This isn't about using family or kids as a tool. It's about being authentic and just sharing what really moves me as an indie hacker. I recently [tweeted](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) this out, which I consider one of my most personally significant tweets I ever posted. It didn't go viral, but that wasn't the goal. It felt right, because that's increasingly what drives me, what gives me happiness to what I do.
*What other tiny Twitter hacks do you know?*
Read [Part 1](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-1640567252125), [Part 2](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-ii-1642293081196), [Part 3](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-iii-1645066528768), [Part 4](https://golifelog.com/posts/tiny-twitter-hacks-i-learned-and-love-part-iv-1656294820581).
- **Occasional profile page face-lifts**. I recently updated my Twitter profile bio into [indie solopreneur](https://golifelog.com/posts/im-an-indie-solopreneur-1659662395379). It felt more authentic, and gave visitors something more about why they should follow me. It gave a small boost in new followers.
- **It's ok to walk away.** I took a break for 2-3 months but continued with daily scheduled posting. But I replied a lot less. And mostly didn't care about the app on weekends. Engagement and impressions suffered, but it's not too hard to build it back. If I'm in this for the long game, this is but a small blimp.
- **Shit-posting is a viable strategy.** Just like how @dagorenouf got big using startup memes. Not to mention, it's just so much fun, and a good way to cull my following of folks who don't get my humour. If you can't find what I find funny funny too, maybe we're not in the same tribe.
- **Write only when inspired.** I now write my indie hacking tweets only when inspired. Spending just a few minutes on it. But it's all queued up to a consistent publishing schedule. The best of both worlds from consistency and inspiration!
- Caveat to the strategy of reply thoughtful replies to big accounts: **You don't have to reply to big accounts** if you don't have anything good to say or if it's no fun that they don't reply to you. Just shut up and learn from them. Replying to peers is more fun.
- **Build your best self in public.** My latest take on building an audience = Surrounding myself with people who help me build my best self in public (inspiration, accountability, influence). Build an informal mastermind of peers on Twitter. [Build an audience and it builds you back](https://golifelog.com/posts/build-an-audience-and-it-builds-you-back-1661390959486), and I should stick to influence from people who are actually a good influence.
- **Tweet about your product without tweeting about your product, by actually doing the thing with your product.** I stopped tweeting writing-related content + plug about my product, and just tweeted single building in public tweet + screenshot of longer form Lifelog post, followed by a reply tweet to the link to the Lifelog post. No more daily asks to get people to my product. It ended up working slightly better - I had more sign-ups using this indirect strategy than direct asks. Instead of talking about writing, just write and show how it's done.
- **My latest form of engagement list is a list of @mention account names in a DM to myself.** I stopped using Twitter Lists because of too much noise (it showed replies). I used Chrome bookmarks to open >20 profile pages of everyone on the list, but that was a pain - it just hung my Chrome for a while before I can use it. Now I use a 'bookmarks' list in a DM to myself, open the desktop DM picture-in-picture window, and click through to open up profile pages. No more having to switch windows/tabs, open them all.
- **Tweeting about my family.** This isn't about using family or kids as a tool. It's about being authentic and just sharing what really moves me as an indie hacker. I recently [tweeted](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) this out, which I consider one of my most personally significant tweets I ever posted. It didn't go viral, but that wasn't the goal. It felt right, because that's increasingly what drives me, what gives me happiness to what I do.
*What other tiny Twitter hacks do you know?*
Day 612 - What's worse: Sleep debt or sleep hangovers - https://golifelog.com/posts/whats-worse-sleep-debt-or-sleep-hangovers-1662261530948
Happy to announce that after more than 2 years of sleeping at 8-9pm and waking up 4-5am, my body clock had finally settled into that routine. Maybe my circadian rhythm had switched over for some time already but I didn't realise it until I had to change my routine.
Because recently when I had to work and sleep later than usual (past 10pm), when I sleep out of routine like this, I wake up feeling like I have a hangover. 😵
Like literally:
- Head feels heavy, groggy
- Tension in the forehead
- Feeling sleepy by late morning
- Fatigue even though I sleep more for 7.5h
- Not alert unlike my usual alertness at 7.5h sleep
- Thirsty
I used to just wake up at the same time anyway on weekends even if I sleep late, at the expense of sleep quantity. Not sleeping in might be better for your heart, at least. A University of Arizona [study](https://twitter.com/steveonspeed/status/1497798849129107457) showed how for every hour your sleep shifts on the weekend, you're 11% more likely to develop heart disease. So consistent sleep keeps you alive.
But that's at the expense of sleep debt/deprivation. So to be honest, I'm not sure what's worse:
**Sleep debt or sleep hangovers**
Something to learn more about on this sleep biohacking journey!
Now that my body had settled into that 5am routine, next goal is to be able to wake up naturally on my own at 4:40am without an alarm.
Onwards!
Because recently when I had to work and sleep later than usual (past 10pm), when I sleep out of routine like this, I wake up feeling like I have a hangover. 😵
Like literally:
- Head feels heavy, groggy
- Tension in the forehead
- Feeling sleepy by late morning
- Fatigue even though I sleep more for 7.5h
- Not alert unlike my usual alertness at 7.5h sleep
- Thirsty
I used to just wake up at the same time anyway on weekends even if I sleep late, at the expense of sleep quantity. Not sleeping in might be better for your heart, at least. A University of Arizona [study](https://twitter.com/steveonspeed/status/1497798849129107457) showed how for every hour your sleep shifts on the weekend, you're 11% more likely to develop heart disease. So consistent sleep keeps you alive.
But that's at the expense of sleep debt/deprivation. So to be honest, I'm not sure what's worse:
**Sleep debt or sleep hangovers**
Something to learn more about on this sleep biohacking journey!
Now that my body had settled into that 5am routine, next goal is to be able to wake up naturally on my own at 4:40am without an alarm.
Onwards!
Jason Leow
Author
Maybe it took shorter but I wouldnt know cos I didnt test it earlier by breaking routine. But can imagine it must take many months to at least 1 year? Cos we slept one way for decades… makes sense that decades of habit takes time to change.. (my guess)
Day 610 - Give 10x ask 1x - https://golifelog.com/posts/give-10x-ask-1x-1662073070823
Marketing is simple:
Give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, ask.
Give 10x, ask 1x.
That's it!
It's funny how I've always known this, but I realised I've only scratched the surface of what it means and how it applies to me.
***What if I made things to simply give away?***
Tools, templates, apps.
Not just content to impress or to establish myself as an authority.
A few reasons why I think giving as marketing works super well for me:
- I enjoy giving, helping others.
- My personality tends towards altruism (I started my career in non-profit, charity sector).
- I've always made pro bono stuff already
Thinking back, this is exactly how it worked out with [Plugins For Carrd](https://pluginsforcarrd.com) - my free plugins are a loss leader but converted so many customers. I also enjoyed helping others with their Carrd problems on Reddit, Facebook and Telegram.
That's how it worked out for my consulting too. I gave more value than I charged. Over-deliver. Always top up with something valuable that the client never asked for.
Maybe that's why my marketing didn't work out for Lifelog - I wasn't giving enough, or giving ten times before an ask. I was trying to "create content" *just because*.
Giving as marketing might just be the path for me. Not sure why I took this long to realise!
Just show up leveraging on my strengths:
- helping others
- creating things
A strengths-based approach, onwards!
Give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, ask.
Give 10x, ask 1x.
That's it!
It's funny how I've always known this, but I realised I've only scratched the surface of what it means and how it applies to me.
***What if I made things to simply give away?***
Tools, templates, apps.
Not just content to impress or to establish myself as an authority.
A few reasons why I think giving as marketing works super well for me:
- I enjoy giving, helping others.
- My personality tends towards altruism (I started my career in non-profit, charity sector).
- I've always made pro bono stuff already
Thinking back, this is exactly how it worked out with [Plugins For Carrd](https://pluginsforcarrd.com) - my free plugins are a loss leader but converted so many customers. I also enjoyed helping others with their Carrd problems on Reddit, Facebook and Telegram.
That's how it worked out for my consulting too. I gave more value than I charged. Over-deliver. Always top up with something valuable that the client never asked for.
Maybe that's why my marketing didn't work out for Lifelog - I wasn't giving enough, or giving ten times before an ask. I was trying to "create content" *just because*.
Giving as marketing might just be the path for me. Not sure why I took this long to realise!
Just show up leveraging on my strengths:
- helping others
- creating things
A strengths-based approach, onwards!
Day 609 - September goals - https://golifelog.com/posts/september-goals-1661992112377
My one goal in September:
**Go all in and do well for my consulting gig.**
The ironic thing is... I've once wanted to transit out of consulting badly. I wanted to stop doing it. I wanted instead to go fulltime on my indie products.
But—here's a BIG but—from a neutral, business point of view it didn't make sense.
I'm good at it. The clients I serve are my tribe (especially non-profit folks). It's meaningful. It scales for social good. It pays well. I do enjoy working on it.
If you look at the famous ikigai framework, it checks off all the circles.
Why did I ever think I would want to stop doing this over some internet product that just has 10x less scale, revenue, meaning and social good?
It's weird. I wonder if it's influence from social media, from the exciting digital nomad lives I see. Perhaps that made more sense when I was single. But my life stage situation had changed. More stability and routine might actually be beneficial for the family.
That's why I recently set an intention for my consulting service have a permanent place in my portfolio of projects. Not just something that pays the bills while I try to grow my indie products. Not something that I transit out of once I make enough MRR. But as a lifestyle, career choice.
I admit, sometimes I still get inwardly drawn to the fulltime indie path.
But I can have both.
I can consult, and also work on products and travel in the off season.
Either/or is a false dichotomy.
**Go all in and do well for my consulting gig.**
The ironic thing is... I've once wanted to transit out of consulting badly. I wanted to stop doing it. I wanted instead to go fulltime on my indie products.
But—here's a BIG but—from a neutral, business point of view it didn't make sense.
I'm good at it. The clients I serve are my tribe (especially non-profit folks). It's meaningful. It scales for social good. It pays well. I do enjoy working on it.
If you look at the famous ikigai framework, it checks off all the circles.
Why did I ever think I would want to stop doing this over some internet product that just has 10x less scale, revenue, meaning and social good?
It's weird. I wonder if it's influence from social media, from the exciting digital nomad lives I see. Perhaps that made more sense when I was single. But my life stage situation had changed. More stability and routine might actually be beneficial for the family.
That's why I recently set an intention for my consulting service have a permanent place in my portfolio of projects. Not just something that pays the bills while I try to grow my indie products. Not something that I transit out of once I make enough MRR. But as a lifestyle, career choice.
I admit, sometimes I still get inwardly drawn to the fulltime indie path.
But I can have both.
I can consult, and also work on products and travel in the off season.
Either/or is a false dichotomy.
Day 608 - August wrap-up - https://golifelog.com/posts/august-wrap-up-1661898219925
Current MRR: US$109 (all from Lifelog)
One-off revenue: ~US$345↑ (vs ~US$281 in Jul)
Total revenue: ~US$454↑ (vs ~US$390 in Jul)
Total profit (excl. salary): ~US$414↑ (vs ~US$350 in Jul)
Tweet impressions: 254k
Engagement rate: 4.2%
New followers: 254
One-off revenue: ~US$345↑ (vs ~US$281 in Jul)
Total revenue: ~US$454↑ (vs ~US$390 in Jul)
Total profit (excl. salary): ~US$414↑ (vs ~US$350 in Jul)
Tweet impressions: 254k
Engagement rate: 4.2%
New followers: 254
Day 607 - 888 LinkedIn followers - https://golifelog.com/posts/888-linkedin-followers-1661831879855
It's no secret that I'm trying to build a brand and an audience on LinkedIn. It's been about 6 months since starting in late March this year. So am pretty happy to hit 888 followers there! (Only locals will understand the significance haha)
Here's some learnings and thoughts:
- Started with 600+ followers in late March, so I grew about 200+ over 6 months. Not crazy growth, but steady at the least. Got a handful of viral posts (>10k impressions) but nothing regular. Most days my combined impressions are ~1k or less.
- But since starting, I've received more opportunities to consulting and training gigs. My current project was something that came via someone messaging me on LinkedIn! Another training opportunity with a non-profit institute also came from LinkedIn. My regular posts gave visibility, made my presence more top of mind, and at the right time, they remembered me and the skillset I provided.
- As always what's most surprising to me was how posts have longevity here. No 24h algo like Twitter. Some of my posts get impressions and likes even after weeks.
- Being a content creator on LinkedIn is still uncommon. There's still lots of leverage to be had in these early days. You get more exposure, less competition.
- Posts with images of interesting designs and some commentary on it seems to do better than text based posts.
- Experimented with different posting timing (8am, 11.30am) but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.
- Memes have a place on LinkedIn too. What works: funny, work-related, nothing super outrageous. People in employment are often too worried to post memes. You'll stand out.
- Photos of my past projects seems to be well-liked too. Which was surprising to me since I thought no one would care.
- Unlike Twitter, there's still a market gap of LinkedIn tools. Writing editors (to count the number of characters before the truncation), carousel generators, analytics, etc.
- Hashtags still work in LinkedIn, unlike on Twitter where it's mostly dead as a tool for reach. I get people outside of my LinkedIn connections liking my posts.
- The "reply guy" approach that work on Twitter works on LinkedIn too, but I'm not spending much time doing that. I really should, since just 1 post per day won't be enough.
- Know who your audience are. My audience on LinkedIn are: designers, local in Singapore. But because many indie hackers are starting on LinkedIn, I end up connecting to them as well and liking their posts. Which doesn't help me with my brand- and audience building on LinkedIn (it shows up on your activity feed, and LinkedIn algo sometimes also shows what you liked to your connections/followers, which I don't want). So I'm experimenting now with engaging with fellow designers and locals more.
- It's been pretty hectic building 2 different audiences for separate niches. Even with batch scheduling and all, it's been hectic, and big time suck. I need to find more tools and systems to make it easier.
Here's some learnings and thoughts:
- Started with 600+ followers in late March, so I grew about 200+ over 6 months. Not crazy growth, but steady at the least. Got a handful of viral posts (>10k impressions) but nothing regular. Most days my combined impressions are ~1k or less.
- But since starting, I've received more opportunities to consulting and training gigs. My current project was something that came via someone messaging me on LinkedIn! Another training opportunity with a non-profit institute also came from LinkedIn. My regular posts gave visibility, made my presence more top of mind, and at the right time, they remembered me and the skillset I provided.
- As always what's most surprising to me was how posts have longevity here. No 24h algo like Twitter. Some of my posts get impressions and likes even after weeks.
- Being a content creator on LinkedIn is still uncommon. There's still lots of leverage to be had in these early days. You get more exposure, less competition.
- Posts with images of interesting designs and some commentary on it seems to do better than text based posts.
- Experimented with different posting timing (8am, 11.30am) but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.
- Memes have a place on LinkedIn too. What works: funny, work-related, nothing super outrageous. People in employment are often too worried to post memes. You'll stand out.
- Photos of my past projects seems to be well-liked too. Which was surprising to me since I thought no one would care.
- Unlike Twitter, there's still a market gap of LinkedIn tools. Writing editors (to count the number of characters before the truncation), carousel generators, analytics, etc.
- Hashtags still work in LinkedIn, unlike on Twitter where it's mostly dead as a tool for reach. I get people outside of my LinkedIn connections liking my posts.
- The "reply guy" approach that work on Twitter works on LinkedIn too, but I'm not spending much time doing that. I really should, since just 1 post per day won't be enough.
- Know who your audience are. My audience on LinkedIn are: designers, local in Singapore. But because many indie hackers are starting on LinkedIn, I end up connecting to them as well and liking their posts. Which doesn't help me with my brand- and audience building on LinkedIn (it shows up on your activity feed, and LinkedIn algo sometimes also shows what you liked to your connections/followers, which I don't want). So I'm experimenting now with engaging with fellow designers and locals more.
- It's been pretty hectic building 2 different audiences for separate niches. Even with batch scheduling and all, it's been hectic, and big time suck. I need to find more tools and systems to make it easier.
Jason Leow
Author
Cool! See you there! Try using a batch writing, scheduling tool like Publer. Their free plan is pretty sufficient for starters..
i've been wondering about LinkedIn reach etc, thanks for sharing - great insights! Like you, I don't have much time to spare. Might try 1-2 times a week for a start!
Day 606 - Mooncake hobby 🥮 - https://golifelog.com/posts/mooncake-hobby-1661740622115
If you only did something once a year, does it still count as a hobby?
Not sure about you but I'm taking it as a hobby. Especially when it comes to mooncakes.
Mooncakes are a specialty pastry that's given and eaten during mid autumn. It's a Chinese ethnic custom that dates way back. Right now it's more of a commercial festival, kind of like Christmas.
But there's something about mooncakes that I'm particularly passionate about. My annual mooncake pilgrimage to the [old school store Tai Thong Cake Shop](https://www.taithongcakeshop.com/) in Chinatown that's been around since the 50s. Buying this gives me sooo much joy.
The hollow sounds of the wooden mooncake moulds.
The yellowed posters from the 80s.
The smell of glorious bakes.
I’m like a kid in a candy store there.
I'm fascinated by the heritage craft behind it. That it's still made by hand to this day at the shop is an achievement in itself – most mooncakes are now factory made, even the brands that are so-called heritage brands (looking at you Tai Chong Kok). It's just not the same. The taste simply isn't as good. The browning on the crust is too even, under-baked. The sweet lotus paste and salted egg tends to be dry and crumbly, unlike freshly baked ones which are oily and moist. The shops are revamped to a modernized look to appeal to younger folks. There's no much soul.
What's the most precious about these heritage, hand-made mooncakes is how it's a disappearing trade. The masters are old. They have no successors. If there were successors, they modernize the business and the old flavours get lost. Within the past decade, I've seen 3 heritage pastry brands lose their soul to modernization.
My heart breaks when I see that.
I love my heritage pastries with a passion, and also hate that fake modernization with a passion.
So I guess this qualifies me as a mooncake hobbyist?
All the elements of a hobby are there: passion, interest, delight, loving it for it's own sake.
I'm a mooncake hobbyist.
There I said it.
Not sure about you but I'm taking it as a hobby. Especially when it comes to mooncakes.
Mooncakes are a specialty pastry that's given and eaten during mid autumn. It's a Chinese ethnic custom that dates way back. Right now it's more of a commercial festival, kind of like Christmas.
But there's something about mooncakes that I'm particularly passionate about. My annual mooncake pilgrimage to the [old school store Tai Thong Cake Shop](https://www.taithongcakeshop.com/) in Chinatown that's been around since the 50s. Buying this gives me sooo much joy.
The hollow sounds of the wooden mooncake moulds.
The yellowed posters from the 80s.
The smell of glorious bakes.
I’m like a kid in a candy store there.
I'm fascinated by the heritage craft behind it. That it's still made by hand to this day at the shop is an achievement in itself – most mooncakes are now factory made, even the brands that are so-called heritage brands (looking at you Tai Chong Kok). It's just not the same. The taste simply isn't as good. The browning on the crust is too even, under-baked. The sweet lotus paste and salted egg tends to be dry and crumbly, unlike freshly baked ones which are oily and moist. The shops are revamped to a modernized look to appeal to younger folks. There's no much soul.
What's the most precious about these heritage, hand-made mooncakes is how it's a disappearing trade. The masters are old. They have no successors. If there were successors, they modernize the business and the old flavours get lost. Within the past decade, I've seen 3 heritage pastry brands lose their soul to modernization.
My heart breaks when I see that.
I love my heritage pastries with a passion, and also hate that fake modernization with a passion.
So I guess this qualifies me as a mooncake hobbyist?
All the elements of a hobby are there: passion, interest, delight, loving it for it's own sake.
I'm a mooncake hobbyist.
There I said it.
Added 1 new paid subscriber... thanks Reece!
+$10 to MRR, bringing total MRR to $109
Got a new trial sign-up...thanks aragaorenan!
Day 605 - Land where I land - https://golifelog.com/posts/land-where-i-land-1661642353037
Are expectations ever useful?
Because if you expect something and didn’t get it or got less, you get disappointed.
If you expect something and got it exactly how you expected it, you feel neutral.
Only when you got way more than expected, you’re pleasantly surprised and delighted.
So imagine if you had lower expectations, or little to no expectations at all… wouldn’t your surprise and delight be through the roof?
Some might object to this, saying that without expectations, we wouldn’t work as hard, put in effort, or play the part. And we’ll more likely end up with nothing. Expectations makes us rise to the occasion, they say.
I disagree. It’s mutually exclusive. It can be. If I enjoy the process; if I like putting in my best effort anyway, then I’ll be motivated to work just as hard. Just without the weight of expectations.
Jason Fried (https://world.hey.com/jason/tossing-a-key-87b91f17) recently wrote this, which inspired this reflection:
"We land where we land. Trying too hard narrows the desirable outcomes.
Expectations are the enemy here — they limit the number of great landing spots, and make the idealized one impossibly hard. Relax your expectations, and hundreds of positive possibilities open up.
When you don’t go in with expectations, you almost always come out ahead. It’s better to have a wide gaze, point in a general direction, do your best, and just see what happens."
The distinction is subtle, but it’s there nonetheless. Don’t try to run a business, just run a business.
Indeed. Instead of expecting results in exactly the way I want it, perhaps it’s time to retire that unrealistic need and just land where I land.
If I’m not always looking ahead for what I expect, perhaps then I can be more aware of where I am right now, the opportunities available, the landscape around me, in order to leverage everything better.
And ironically that might end up helping me get to the success I want faster.
Because if you expect something and didn’t get it or got less, you get disappointed.
If you expect something and got it exactly how you expected it, you feel neutral.
Only when you got way more than expected, you’re pleasantly surprised and delighted.
So imagine if you had lower expectations, or little to no expectations at all… wouldn’t your surprise and delight be through the roof?
Some might object to this, saying that without expectations, we wouldn’t work as hard, put in effort, or play the part. And we’ll more likely end up with nothing. Expectations makes us rise to the occasion, they say.
I disagree. It’s mutually exclusive. It can be. If I enjoy the process; if I like putting in my best effort anyway, then I’ll be motivated to work just as hard. Just without the weight of expectations.
Jason Fried (https://world.hey.com/jason/tossing-a-key-87b91f17) recently wrote this, which inspired this reflection:
"We land where we land. Trying too hard narrows the desirable outcomes.
Expectations are the enemy here — they limit the number of great landing spots, and make the idealized one impossibly hard. Relax your expectations, and hundreds of positive possibilities open up.
When you don’t go in with expectations, you almost always come out ahead. It’s better to have a wide gaze, point in a general direction, do your best, and just see what happens."
The distinction is subtle, but it’s there nonetheless. Don’t try to run a business, just run a business.
Indeed. Instead of expecting results in exactly the way I want it, perhaps it’s time to retire that unrealistic need and just land where I land.
If I’m not always looking ahead for what I expect, perhaps then I can be more aware of where I am right now, the opportunities available, the landscape around me, in order to leverage everything better.
And ironically that might end up helping me get to the success I want faster.
Received $10 one-time fee when customer cancelled after subscription charge kicked in... thanks Rudi!
Offered to refund via email but no reply for 2 weeks 🤷♂️
Day 604 - Many small bets, or one big bet? - https://golifelog.com/posts/many-small-bets-or-one-big-bet-1661585169116
Let’s settle the debate:
Many small bets, or one big bet?
What are the factors and context that helped you decide which to choose?
I tweeted that question out and was blown away by the nuances in the replies. Here’s me trying to do justice to them all and summarizing it:
It’s not binary, it’s a spectrum
----------------
Many small bets versus one big bet is a false dichotomy. In between there’s many shades of grey. It can look like this:
• Many many small bets (5 or more?)
• Many small bets, with 1 more in focus (like 80:20)
• Many small bets, but work on them one at a time serially
• 2-3 small distinct bets, in different markets
• 1 big bet with 2-3 spinoff related small bets in same market amplifying each other
• All-in on 1 big bet
For different stages of the journey
----------------
• Small bets for learning (when uncertain about market or problem space), place big bet when more certain after learning
• Small bets as a means to get to a big bet - this is a common approach. Try many bets, see what sticks and go all in on one
• Small bets as a safe-fail if big bet fails - as Plan B of the prior point. Do small bets to learn how it’s done, go big on the one with most potential, but if it fails, go back to small bets
• Small bets for fun in itself - this is for makers who might not be after monetization.
Other factors to consider
---------------
It’s about discerning probability of success, which we’re notoriously bad at estimating but do so anyway:
• Growth stage (pre-revenue, pre-PMF vs post-PMF) - makes more sense to adopt more bets at early stage.
• Market demand, competition - if there’s established demand, presence of other competitors, less need to make small bets to test and learn
• Personality - I get bored if I just do one project for years. I enjoy variety and it suits me. Others prefer a focused, craftsman path on just 1 thing.
• Product type, niche - some products simply need more time/depth to build, or need more support/maintenance, hence need more focus (i.e. 1 big bet). More technical SaaS with machine learning could be an example. Ebook, digital downloads are on the other end, and a small bets approach are more likely to succeed.
• Cash runway - this determines the approach. Basically, the longer your runway, the longer you can focus on 1 big bet without payoffs.
• Family situation - if you got many mouths to feed, less chance you can have a long enough runway to focus on 1 big bet for a long time. Sprinkling it with freelance work while working on products is a common path here.
• How fast you can ship - if you can ship fast, there’s less opportunity cost to make many bets
• How enjoyable - similar point to personality. Do you enjoy making many bets or just one? Besides cash, attention and motivation are scarce resources for a solo indie hacker.
• End goal (unicorn vs lifestyle biz) - if your aspiration is to build a typical VC-funded unicorn startup and have a grand exit, then 1 big bet is the obvious way. For lifestyle-business solopreneurs, you have a choice of both.
• Risk appetite/assessment - one big bet means big win or big disaster. So lower risk appetite means you could go for many bets. Higher risk appetite more likely to go for 1 big bet.
• Full-time vs part-time - if you have a full-time job, going all in means taking a leap of faith and quitting. But holding a full-time job and doing side hustles part-time is like having a few bets going on.
• Scarcity mindset - going for many bets might mean a scarcity mindset. A desperate grab at whatever the comes. Good to reflect if that’s the case.
• Shiny object syndrome - does going for a portfolio of small bets a good business strategy for you, or are you just using it as a front for a deeper, shiny object syndrome?
• Distraction - more bets can mean more distraction, stress and time/energy suck. Depends on ability to manage and context switch.
It’s too confusing. Give me a silver bullet.
-----------------
Sorry no silver bullets. Whatever advice you follow, understand that that advice represents only 0.00000000001% of reality, yet it’ll be expressed as if it represents 99.9999999999% of reality, as absolute truths. Classic survivorship bias here. So, a possible, less sexy way through this jungle that I imperfectly practice is:
• Ask about their context, back story.
• Discern if your situation is similar to others based on the non-exhaustive considerations listed.
• Cherry pick and intuit the best ones that suit your context.
• Experiment, collect data, analyse and reflect, iterate or pivot. Make decisions based on reality not ideals, predictions or advice.
• Whatever the bet size, it should be pulling you forward. Overall trajectory should be upwards. Indicators/metrics may differ.
• Don’t be dogmatic on any one approach. Strong opinions, loosely held. Always be open to even challenge yourself.
• Act accordingly.
Many small bets, or one big bet?
What are the factors and context that helped you decide which to choose?
I tweeted that question out and was blown away by the nuances in the replies. Here’s me trying to do justice to them all and summarizing it:
It’s not binary, it’s a spectrum
----------------
Many small bets versus one big bet is a false dichotomy. In between there’s many shades of grey. It can look like this:
• Many many small bets (5 or more?)
• Many small bets, with 1 more in focus (like 80:20)
• Many small bets, but work on them one at a time serially
• 2-3 small distinct bets, in different markets
• 1 big bet with 2-3 spinoff related small bets in same market amplifying each other
• All-in on 1 big bet
For different stages of the journey
----------------
• Small bets for learning (when uncertain about market or problem space), place big bet when more certain after learning
• Small bets as a means to get to a big bet - this is a common approach. Try many bets, see what sticks and go all in on one
• Small bets as a safe-fail if big bet fails - as Plan B of the prior point. Do small bets to learn how it’s done, go big on the one with most potential, but if it fails, go back to small bets
• Small bets for fun in itself - this is for makers who might not be after monetization.
Other factors to consider
---------------
It’s about discerning probability of success, which we’re notoriously bad at estimating but do so anyway:
• Growth stage (pre-revenue, pre-PMF vs post-PMF) - makes more sense to adopt more bets at early stage.
• Market demand, competition - if there’s established demand, presence of other competitors, less need to make small bets to test and learn
• Personality - I get bored if I just do one project for years. I enjoy variety and it suits me. Others prefer a focused, craftsman path on just 1 thing.
• Product type, niche - some products simply need more time/depth to build, or need more support/maintenance, hence need more focus (i.e. 1 big bet). More technical SaaS with machine learning could be an example. Ebook, digital downloads are on the other end, and a small bets approach are more likely to succeed.
• Cash runway - this determines the approach. Basically, the longer your runway, the longer you can focus on 1 big bet without payoffs.
• Family situation - if you got many mouths to feed, less chance you can have a long enough runway to focus on 1 big bet for a long time. Sprinkling it with freelance work while working on products is a common path here.
• How fast you can ship - if you can ship fast, there’s less opportunity cost to make many bets
• How enjoyable - similar point to personality. Do you enjoy making many bets or just one? Besides cash, attention and motivation are scarce resources for a solo indie hacker.
• End goal (unicorn vs lifestyle biz) - if your aspiration is to build a typical VC-funded unicorn startup and have a grand exit, then 1 big bet is the obvious way. For lifestyle-business solopreneurs, you have a choice of both.
• Risk appetite/assessment - one big bet means big win or big disaster. So lower risk appetite means you could go for many bets. Higher risk appetite more likely to go for 1 big bet.
• Full-time vs part-time - if you have a full-time job, going all in means taking a leap of faith and quitting. But holding a full-time job and doing side hustles part-time is like having a few bets going on.
• Scarcity mindset - going for many bets might mean a scarcity mindset. A desperate grab at whatever the comes. Good to reflect if that’s the case.
• Shiny object syndrome - does going for a portfolio of small bets a good business strategy for you, or are you just using it as a front for a deeper, shiny object syndrome?
• Distraction - more bets can mean more distraction, stress and time/energy suck. Depends on ability to manage and context switch.
It’s too confusing. Give me a silver bullet.
-----------------
Sorry no silver bullets. Whatever advice you follow, understand that that advice represents only 0.00000000001% of reality, yet it’ll be expressed as if it represents 99.9999999999% of reality, as absolute truths. Classic survivorship bias here. So, a possible, less sexy way through this jungle that I imperfectly practice is:
• Ask about their context, back story.
• Discern if your situation is similar to others based on the non-exhaustive considerations listed.
• Cherry pick and intuit the best ones that suit your context.
• Experiment, collect data, analyse and reflect, iterate or pivot. Make decisions based on reality not ideals, predictions or advice.
• Whatever the bet size, it should be pulling you forward. Overall trajectory should be upwards. Indicators/metrics may differ.
• Don’t be dogmatic on any one approach. Strong opinions, loosely held. Always be open to even challenge yourself.
• Act accordingly.
Day 603 - Memories not money - https://golifelog.com/posts/memories-not-money-1661467751049
I once wanted my products to earn $1,000,000/year
Now I'm happy with this:
I [tweeted](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) this out as a reminder to myself. It's a tweet that's special and close to heart. A emotionally significant one, more than any viral tweet I had.
That life is made of memories not money.
Not achievements. Not any of my entrepreneur or indie hacking goals.
Yes, money, career goals and all are important things to me. They feed me, fulfil me, give me a sense of purpose in my work. But more and more I feel like they are just enablers for other even more important and urgent things. Like being present to my son, creating memories like this with him, together with my wife.
Sure, money, goals create memories too, but I doubt I will recall how my product got #1 on Product Hunt on my deathbed.
Agree, money does buy happiness to a certain extent, and money is needed for survival, and feeding the family is critical, but such memories are free to create.
*What's life's endgame, ultimately?*
Give me a ball pit with my son anytime, over a viral tweet, a grand exit, huge revenue.
Now I'm happy with this:
I [tweeted](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) this out as a reminder to myself. It's a tweet that's special and close to heart. A emotionally significant one, more than any viral tweet I had.
That life is made of memories not money.
Not achievements. Not any of my entrepreneur or indie hacking goals.
Yes, money, career goals and all are important things to me. They feed me, fulfil me, give me a sense of purpose in my work. But more and more I feel like they are just enablers for other even more important and urgent things. Like being present to my son, creating memories like this with him, together with my wife.
Sure, money, goals create memories too, but I doubt I will recall how my product got #1 on Product Hunt on my deathbed.
Agree, money does buy happiness to a certain extent, and money is needed for survival, and feeding the family is critical, but such memories are free to create.
*What's life's endgame, ultimately?*
Give me a ball pit with my son anytime, over a viral tweet, a grand exit, huge revenue.
Day 602 - Build an audience and it builds you back - https://golifelog.com/posts/build-an-audience-and-it-builds-you-back-1661390959486
"Build an audience" they say, but I realised the audience builds me too.
I'm no influencer (*cringe), but the influencer isn't just influencing but is also being influenced.
Because if I "double down on what works" and follow the validation loops to the extreme, I might end up becoming a person I don't want to be. I don't want to turn into [Nikocado Avocado](https://gurwinder.substack.com/p/the-perils-of-audience-capture).
But of course, the blowback can't be 100% bad. An audience might not always be a [prison](https://golifelog.com/posts/the-prison-of-an-audience-1659570063818) – yeah I'm revising my perspective.
It can be a vicious feedback loop where you lose your way. Or it can be a virtuous loop where it helps you grow.
So build an audience that will help you build your best self in public.
I WANT THAT.
That's the only way this game can be played in the long run. For me. I've been trying out a new way to be on Twitter.
I used to watch my likes, replies and follows like a day trader watching the stock market. But no longer. Most days now I don't even look. I just reply and enjoy the conversation.
I'm tweeting more off-the-cuff, inspired moments kind of tweets. And definitely way more shitposting. It's just way too much fun. If my audience are those who don't find my shitposts or jokes funny, maybe they shouldn't be part of my audience haha.
I also changed my [Twitter bio](https://golifelog.com/posts/im-an-indie-solopreneur-1659662395379) recently to reflect more authentically who I am, not just what I want to sell. That felt great. And guess what? I got a slight boost in followers and email newsletter subscribers. And I wasn't even watching.
The Universe always seems to work that inverse, perverse way. Stop wanting it, let it go, and it comes flooding back to you.
Lame. But that's reality.
I'm no influencer (*cringe), but the influencer isn't just influencing but is also being influenced.
Because if I "double down on what works" and follow the validation loops to the extreme, I might end up becoming a person I don't want to be. I don't want to turn into [Nikocado Avocado](https://gurwinder.substack.com/p/the-perils-of-audience-capture).
But of course, the blowback can't be 100% bad. An audience might not always be a [prison](https://golifelog.com/posts/the-prison-of-an-audience-1659570063818) – yeah I'm revising my perspective.
It can be a vicious feedback loop where you lose your way. Or it can be a virtuous loop where it helps you grow.
So build an audience that will help you build your best self in public.
I WANT THAT.
That's the only way this game can be played in the long run. For me. I've been trying out a new way to be on Twitter.
I used to watch my likes, replies and follows like a day trader watching the stock market. But no longer. Most days now I don't even look. I just reply and enjoy the conversation.
I'm tweeting more off-the-cuff, inspired moments kind of tweets. And definitely way more shitposting. It's just way too much fun. If my audience are those who don't find my shitposts or jokes funny, maybe they shouldn't be part of my audience haha.
I also changed my [Twitter bio](https://golifelog.com/posts/im-an-indie-solopreneur-1659662395379) recently to reflect more authentically who I am, not just what I want to sell. That felt great. And guess what? I got a slight boost in followers and email newsletter subscribers. And I wasn't even watching.
The Universe always seems to work that inverse, perverse way. Stop wanting it, let it go, and it comes flooding back to you.
Lame. But that's reality.
Day 601 - Learning from others without being influenced - https://golifelog.com/posts/learning-from-others-without-being-influenced-1661310066546
This is a tough question. Something I’ve been thinking hard about.
Thing is, I enjoy learning collectively, from others. Learn from the mistakes of others so that I don’t have to make the same mistake too. Lessons and insights might provide new opportunities for me. Above all, from learning collectively, we form connections, make friends, build relationships.
It’s hard to hate on learning from others.
Yet there’s downsides.
You form narrative and perspective of how things should be, where there might be none, or where it doesn’t apply to you. Success stories and the factors that led to it, might not be applicable to my context. Survivorship bias, recency bias, lack of data, hype – all contribute to a narrow perspective becoming all-defining view of the world. Like my post about how the indie maker playbook is dead. If we didn’t observe reality close enough, I would assume the playbook still works as influenced. Yet the meta kicker is, it’s from learning from someone else’s experience that I learned this new discovery.
It’s a tough balancing act for sure.
On one hand I would love to continue learning from others. On the other hand, I want to have independent thinking, be discerning and selective, and not be overly influenced.
HOW?
It takes a lot of effort basically. It takes energy to not accept a cool idea or hack at face value, and consider the nuance and do the research. Anything that’s either/not or polarized are likely too simplistic – those are easy to tell. When it appeals to what I already like, or suits my personality is when it gets harder to be discerning. Worst of all, if it comes from an idol or someone you look up to, or someone with power or authority. Being around people who practice mindful speech, nuanced thinking, healthy skepticism is also great reminders. Above all, test every idea through my reality, my context, before accepting it into my worldview.
A self-aware, mindful gatekeeping thoughts, perceptions and narratives going in and coming out from the mind is the best way perhaps, of being able to benefit from learning from others yet be independent thinker.
Thing is, I enjoy learning collectively, from others. Learn from the mistakes of others so that I don’t have to make the same mistake too. Lessons and insights might provide new opportunities for me. Above all, from learning collectively, we form connections, make friends, build relationships.
It’s hard to hate on learning from others.
Yet there’s downsides.
You form narrative and perspective of how things should be, where there might be none, or where it doesn’t apply to you. Success stories and the factors that led to it, might not be applicable to my context. Survivorship bias, recency bias, lack of data, hype – all contribute to a narrow perspective becoming all-defining view of the world. Like my post about how the indie maker playbook is dead. If we didn’t observe reality close enough, I would assume the playbook still works as influenced. Yet the meta kicker is, it’s from learning from someone else’s experience that I learned this new discovery.
It’s a tough balancing act for sure.
On one hand I would love to continue learning from others. On the other hand, I want to have independent thinking, be discerning and selective, and not be overly influenced.
HOW?
It takes a lot of effort basically. It takes energy to not accept a cool idea or hack at face value, and consider the nuance and do the research. Anything that’s either/not or polarized are likely too simplistic – those are easy to tell. When it appeals to what I already like, or suits my personality is when it gets harder to be discerning. Worst of all, if it comes from an idol or someone you look up to, or someone with power or authority. Being around people who practice mindful speech, nuanced thinking, healthy skepticism is also great reminders. Above all, test every idea through my reality, my context, before accepting it into my worldview.
A self-aware, mindful gatekeeping thoughts, perceptions and narratives going in and coming out from the mind is the best way perhaps, of being able to benefit from learning from others yet be independent thinker.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Hit 600 days writing streak on Lifelog!
Day 600 - Is the indie maker playbook dead? - https://golifelog.com/posts/is-the-indie-maker-playbook-dead-1661221071495
Reading Jakob Greenfeld's [blog post](https://jakobgreenfeld.com/money-ads) "Why the indie maker playbook is dead (or how I learned to spend money on ads)" got me seriously thinking if the indie methods I've been using are no longer as effective.
He talked about how indies were able to create a profitable business without running ads. To the point it became a sort of humble brag on Twitter. Most depend on a personal brand to capture attention, usually by building in public. Jakob also mentioned how the landscape had changed a lot since. You can't launch features on Product Hunt. Twitter algorithm had also had a sea change from social graph to interest-based – so only a very small percentage (less than 10%) see your tweets. The Indie Hackers community feels kind of dead, with too much marketing noise, less people building cool shit.
Is the indie maker playbook really dead?
How can we confirm?
If dead, what's next?
I love how Jakob put words to some hazy suspicions I've been nursing for some time. I've been feeling the efficacy of my indie hacking efforts undergo stagflation too. A 'dollar' of effort seems to 'buy' a lot less conversions and followers these days. Building in public feels harder if I'm only ~4000 following and I'm likely only reaching less than 400 followers. I'm getting only 1-2k impressions per tweet on average. This feels similar to what happened to Facebook. Many influencers found it hard to reach their audience after algo changes, and had to resort to ads (which of course was what the platform wants). Product Hunt seems rigged, full of fake account upvotes, and gone are the days when a solo indie can make it into the leaderboard easily. I don't find the IH forum engaging anymore as well.
Of course, this is just my one person's experience and hard to confirm if the playbook truly is dead from that. But the writing's on the wall, isn't it?
Either evolve and change the playbook, or die.
What's next then? Is it really ads as Jakob said? I've always hesitated using ads, but seems like it's worth a shot.
What else can I do?
Brainstorming a bit:
- Emails. Email newsletters had always been recommended as a hedge against deplatforming. You own your audience's emails yourself, and every email gets sent. No algo comes into between you and the email. Only issue is whether users open it, which you can influence.
- Shift efforts to new features that the platform is actively promoting. E.g. FB/IG Reels get more algo weight when just launched.
- Building in public on video? With the overall trend towards more and more video content on social media, I wonder if moving to Youtube, Tiktok and IG Reels would help...
- Platform diversification - not depending on a single distribution channel for your business. Maybe Twitter starts to fail, but if you're also on LinkedIn, Tiktok, Instagram, you're more resilient to platform shocks. I definitely need to consider diversifying my indie hacking beyond Twitter. I'm building on audience on LinkedIn as well, but that's solely for my consulting biz.
- Diverse portfolio of bets. Again, using diversity as a hedge against risk. Have more than one product. Have different types of products in different industries. Have different pricing models - subscription and one-time. Have different business models - products *and* services.
What else can we do? What would you add to this new indie hacker playbook?
He talked about how indies were able to create a profitable business without running ads. To the point it became a sort of humble brag on Twitter. Most depend on a personal brand to capture attention, usually by building in public. Jakob also mentioned how the landscape had changed a lot since. You can't launch features on Product Hunt. Twitter algorithm had also had a sea change from social graph to interest-based – so only a very small percentage (less than 10%) see your tweets. The Indie Hackers community feels kind of dead, with too much marketing noise, less people building cool shit.
Is the indie maker playbook really dead?
How can we confirm?
If dead, what's next?
I love how Jakob put words to some hazy suspicions I've been nursing for some time. I've been feeling the efficacy of my indie hacking efforts undergo stagflation too. A 'dollar' of effort seems to 'buy' a lot less conversions and followers these days. Building in public feels harder if I'm only ~4000 following and I'm likely only reaching less than 400 followers. I'm getting only 1-2k impressions per tweet on average. This feels similar to what happened to Facebook. Many influencers found it hard to reach their audience after algo changes, and had to resort to ads (which of course was what the platform wants). Product Hunt seems rigged, full of fake account upvotes, and gone are the days when a solo indie can make it into the leaderboard easily. I don't find the IH forum engaging anymore as well.
Of course, this is just my one person's experience and hard to confirm if the playbook truly is dead from that. But the writing's on the wall, isn't it?
Either evolve and change the playbook, or die.
What's next then? Is it really ads as Jakob said? I've always hesitated using ads, but seems like it's worth a shot.
What else can I do?
Brainstorming a bit:
- Emails. Email newsletters had always been recommended as a hedge against deplatforming. You own your audience's emails yourself, and every email gets sent. No algo comes into between you and the email. Only issue is whether users open it, which you can influence.
- Shift efforts to new features that the platform is actively promoting. E.g. FB/IG Reels get more algo weight when just launched.
- Building in public on video? With the overall trend towards more and more video content on social media, I wonder if moving to Youtube, Tiktok and IG Reels would help...
- Platform diversification - not depending on a single distribution channel for your business. Maybe Twitter starts to fail, but if you're also on LinkedIn, Tiktok, Instagram, you're more resilient to platform shocks. I definitely need to consider diversifying my indie hacking beyond Twitter. I'm building on audience on LinkedIn as well, but that's solely for my consulting biz.
- Diverse portfolio of bets. Again, using diversity as a hedge against risk. Have more than one product. Have different types of products in different industries. Have different pricing models - subscription and one-time. Have different business models - products *and* services.
What else can we do? What would you add to this new indie hacker playbook?