Discuss this article or ask me any questions you may have.
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Great article, Paul. Hope more minimalist shared their experiences. For me, it’s a paradox to be minimal in the Internet: seems that you have to be constantly noisy, as to get thousands of users, and charge a handful of them a few bucks per month. When you start, one bad customer (over-demanding and cheap) can destroy your business. If you go solo, the amount of skills and tools you need to deal with and stay updated… I deeply admire the ones that made it. Chapeau!
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Great stuff, I'm with you. I recently did an overhaul of my business and let a few painful clients go to reach a point where money and happiness converge.
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Thanks! And ya, that sounds like you're on the right path.
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Good article, Paul. I love reading posts like this that add balance to the 'grow at all costs' model you'll see on Techcrunch etc. The guys at Basecamp have written some great posts in this area too (e.g. https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3972-reconsider - more about investment, but similar vein).
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What about when you create a course and the people score you low because of the lack of coverage in your topic and it would ruin your reputation. How to prevent that? It's hard to find niches and when you find it, there could be not that much of opportunity because a lack of audience, and when you can't price up because of the audience. So, what about you, how did you accomplish that?
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I fully agree Paul. I set out on my own years ago and did very well, in the textbook sense. I was a one man shop and built up a handful of clients. Two of them were 40 hour/wk clients. I was making far more money than I had as an employee (still don't make as much). Problem was, my typical day started at 7am and ended around 12-1am. Most often 6 days a week. Sundays were when I would only work 4-6 hours. I wasn't happy at all. I ended up walking away so I could take a breather and do it right the next time. That's what I'm working on now and pretty much everything you said is how I'm approaching it. Do work I love, get paid enough for it to enjoy my life and family and create my own freedom.
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Amen. It's hard to use this information (minimalism not your post) though. This knowledge is deeply ingrained in my mind and I always ignore it (at my own peril since most of the things I make aren't "successful"). I think this philosophy is like riding a bike. Once you've done it once and done it well, you'll always be able to do it and it'll be your defacto MO. But prior to crossing that boundary you're bound to make the mistake over overloading.
Great article, Paul. Hope more minimalist shared their experiences. For me, it’s a paradox to be minimal in the Internet: seems that you have to be constantly noisy, as to get thousands of users, and charge a handful of them a few bucks per month. When you start, one bad customer (over-demanding and cheap) can destroy your business. If you go solo, the amount of skills and tools you need to deal with and stay updated… I deeply admire the ones that made it. Chapeau!
Great stuff, I'm with you. I recently did an overhaul of my business and let a few painful clients go to reach a point where money and happiness converge.
Thanks! And ya, that sounds like you're on the right path.
Good article, Paul. I love reading posts like this that add balance to the 'grow at all costs' model you'll see on Techcrunch etc. The guys at Basecamp have written some great posts in this area too (e.g. https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3972-reconsider - more about investment, but similar vein).
What about when you create a course and the people score you low because of the lack of coverage in your topic and it would ruin your reputation. How to prevent that? It's hard to find niches and when you find it, there could be not that much of opportunity because a lack of audience, and when you can't price up because of the audience. So, what about you, how did you accomplish that?
I fully agree Paul. I set out on my own years ago and did very well, in the textbook sense. I was a one man shop and built up a handful of clients. Two of them were 40 hour/wk clients. I was making far more money than I had as an employee (still don't make as much). Problem was, my typical day started at 7am and ended around 12-1am. Most often 6 days a week. Sundays were when I would only work 4-6 hours. I wasn't happy at all. I ended up walking away so I could take a breather and do it right the next time. That's what I'm working on now and pretty much everything you said is how I'm approaching it. Do work I love, get paid enough for it to enjoy my life and family and create my own freedom.
Amen. It's hard to use this information (minimalism not your post) though. This knowledge is deeply ingrained in my mind and I always ignore it (at my own peril since most of the things I make aren't "successful"). I think this philosophy is like riding a bike. Once you've done it once and done it well, you'll always be able to do it and it'll be your defacto MO. But prior to crossing that boundary you're bound to make the mistake over overloading.
Great things! Thanks! 🙏