Indie Hacking β building smol businesses on your own terms β is a strange beast to me. From my first experiments back in 2011 where I went from idea to sales in 3 days to nowadays where I have a full-time job but think like a consultant, indie hacking has been near and dear to my heart.
I believe this is the best and worst time to launch something.
The best because consumers are used to paying and they hate big tech. People want your thing and they want to pay you. Not a faceless behemoth that steals their data and turns users into commodities. Blech
And if you're an engineer or product manager, the swan song of easy money in tech is irresistible.
Sometimes it feels like my career is running backwards π
Sometimes I feel like my career is going backwards.
β Swizec Teller (@Swizec) December 18, 2021
Started as a founder, became a freelancer, focused on indie hacking, now primarily an employee.
But every step lead to more money, less stress, and greater freedom Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
But I'll never stop tinkering on the side. Multiple streams of income are a great way to recession proof your career.
Leave your email and get the Indie Hacking Series - a series of curated essays from the trenches of Indie Hacking.
Get Curated Indie Hacking Essays
Get a series of curated essays on Indie Hacking. Lessons and insights from 10 years of building small profitable businesses. No bullshit.
Latest IndieHacking articles from Swizec
Coding is a brawl, not a battle of wits
Discover why coding is more like a boxing match, focused on delivering results rather than perfect technique. Learn how to navigate economic upheaval and prioritize business needs in this unexpected comparison.
The market always wins
No amount of growth hacking, investor money, or a/b testing will save you, if people don't want what you have.
How to add Typeform as a Gatsby source
Every year I ask readers if they're enjoying my newsletter. Then fail to use those responses π This year I said heck it and built a /testimonials page that shows everyone's feedback raw from Typeform. Here's how.
What is the goal of engineering?
How can you know you're succeeding if you don't know where you're going?
Different medium, different mindset
Ever wondered what it's like to make a physical book? It ain't as easy as shipping code lemme tell ya π
That time serverless melted my credit card
Serverless is pretty cheap. But you *can* get it wrong.
Why serverless fits side-projects perfectly
How do you provision servers for no load most days THEN ALL THE LOAD THIS MINUTE? That's how side-projects work and it's hard
How a $12 AWS bill powers a $50k business
my point is that running server code on the web has become ridiculously cheap *and* easy
5 years of books & courses or how I made $369,000 on the side
5 years ago I moved to America to chase a dream π stop selling time.
It's never been this easy to build a webapp
We live in exciting times my friend. It's never been this easy to build a webapp and make your first $1,000/month.