Maybe a bit of detail why Paul is doing so well from one of his "rat people". I've been buying his courses for years and what makes him stand out is that he's always, and I mean always, sincere. Look at the phrase in this article: "I'm basically a squirrel with money, and my margins are ridiculously great". That would offend anyone buying a product in a regular shop when the lady at the counter would say something like that. You might feel ripped off. But that's not with Pauls products.
Paul has always been upfront about everything. He writes that he'd rather see you unsubscribe than stay on his newsletter if his message is no (longer a) fit to you. He has carefully crafted a niche of customers, and nurtures them with new perspectives, outreaches, and educational stories. Plus, he's approachable. He responds to emails quickly and in-depth, which makes me feel like the guy I'm buying from is a nice person. I don't mind to spend some bucks on a good product if it's from someone I like.
Furthermore, this "nurturing" Paul does well, isn't a process of months. This is a craft, which takes skills to master and time to perfect. This time is mostly spend on investing in helping other people. Paul maintains several slack-channels actively to help his "customers" with their challenges. So from my perspective, there is no short-cut for becoming the next Paul. And if you must, then by all means join his Grow Your Audience course.
So what is his secret? he does the work. All the work. Messes up, learns, until he becomes sufficiently knowledgable to explain how it works to others. And then, he makes an MVP to see if there are people interested in learning what he's done the hard way. And that, combined with a down-to-earth personality that perseveres for 10+ years, makes you 33k/month. And it's well deserved.
1
Well shucks, thank you!
6
Great interview! I love the idea of a small sustainable company of one. I'm working toward making one of my own :) I have a question, and maybe it's a weird one, but here it is anyway: since you're frugal, and it seems like $33k/month minus $8k/month = a huge buffer after not very much time, what keeps you going and producing new stuff?
I'm curious because I don't know what I'd do in that situation, if I basically didn't need to work anymore, what would I actually do? Keep on making and selling stuff? Fill my time with hobbies? I don't know. It's hard to guess without being in that situation.
8
So Dave, I struggle with this daily :) I'm fairly driven, and am always thinking about what my next big challenge is. I definitely don't feel like I've "made it" but I'm in a good place... so lately I've been looking at where I can be the most help. I still want to make money of course, but I really enjoy making money when people feel they've been helped a lot by what they've purchased.
Sometimes though, I'm just gunna watch Netflix all day, or work in my garden/greenhouse or just drive (my fav hobby).
4
The $6/month living expenses must be a typo! Love seeing these indie-vidual hacker posts.
4
Good catch, fixed.
indie-vidual
😐
7
This is my new fav word: indie-vidual.
2
Nope, it's $6k total :) That covers everything: mortgage, cars, insurances (all of them), food, entertainment, things that break and need fixing in the house (which come up a lot).
3
Great information here, Paul! I've bought ChimpEssentials and am on your email list and they're both excellent resources for me.
I know that your email list is the primary driver of revenue for you. I'd love to know how you're building your email list with your current traffic where it is. Are you simply seeing good conversion with your minimalist email capture strategies? Anything else you do here that's been effective for you here?
TIA :)
2
Hi Joe - I'm actually pleased with my list size and how it converts to purchases, so I do zero to build my list. That said, I want readers not just subscribers, so the signup form at the bottom of articles attracts the RIGHT kind of folks I want on my list :)
2
Yeah, I totally get this! So many people worry about the size of their lists when it's the quality that really matters. Betters to have 1000 active and engaged readers than 10,000 who think you're average. I need to do a better job of this and focus on converting the right subscribers, not just as many as I can. Thanks for the reply and thoughtful response - very helpful :D
3
Great interview! Thanks for sharing your journey @pjrvs.
I have one question: If you were starting today, would you choose digital courses or software based on your past experience?
Saying that you replay digital courses: How would you go about choosing the topic if you didn't have any audience to ask/survey?
Best,
2
Hey Yuri, thanks! I'd probably do both, just like I did when I started in the product world. That way all my eggs aren't in one basket—and the two could be related (I didn't do this but I should have).
My goal is to continue to be profitable and not grow.
How do you think about it? What areas do you look to for improving and expanding (to increase the ROI of time/resources), while keeping a lean operation?
2
Thanks Julian! Mostly I look to expand empathy and knowledge :) Which sounds super HIPPIE, but it's true. Nuts and bolts though, I enjoy channels where growth in revenue can happen without growth in operations—like email marketing or online courses. Neither requires more from me to make more or reach more people. I always consider the cost of maintenance for what I take on. My friend Jocelyn has a great podcast about that topic:
Completely agree and understand where you are coming from 👍
Great, instead of big ;)
2
I sell courses on Udemy and the thought of having courses that are only open for short periods is so different. Tempted to give it a shot. Thanks for sharing!
1
Thanks Nick! The reason I've never used Udemy or similar is because if I'm making and promoting the course, I don't want to share revenue with the platform :)
1
Great stuff, thanks for sharing! I'm very interested in following the same path as I have 20+ years in software development experience and a fondness for writing. A newsletter is the way to go for sure, but where would you suggest my articles appear outside of that? Something like Medium, or my own site with some promotion on social media?
2
So you're on the right track, because publicly posting your writing will draw new people TO your newsletter. As to where, where do the people want to reach spend their time online? Where can you post what you write that'll show up on their radar?
1
Where did you learn how to write?
1
I have zero training or schooling (I dropped out of uni). I learned to write by reading for hours a day, every day since I was a kid; writing hours a day, every day for years; and listening to my editors/copyeditors who are all smarter than I am and better at writing.
1
Thanks for sharing your story. I've got a strange question. The illustrations on your wpcomplete website, have you designed them or have your hired someone? If you've hired someone could you please give me some details?
thanks for your post, very interesting. But I surfed your site and didn't find any direct links to your books that you self-published. Can you please give them? Thanks.
3
As I'm focused on my upcoming book, I no longer link to them from my site. If you search my name on amazon, you'll find them 🤘
1
This comment was deleted 4 months ago.
1
No, I stopped selling them years ago. It just wasn't something I was interested in at the time. No complaints about it, since I was 100% clear on the sales page :)
Maybe a bit of detail why Paul is doing so well from one of his "rat people". I've been buying his courses for years and what makes him stand out is that he's always, and I mean always, sincere. Look at the phrase in this article: "I'm basically a squirrel with money, and my margins are ridiculously great". That would offend anyone buying a product in a regular shop when the lady at the counter would say something like that. You might feel ripped off. But that's not with Pauls products.
Paul has always been upfront about everything. He writes that he'd rather see you unsubscribe than stay on his newsletter if his message is no (longer a) fit to you. He has carefully crafted a niche of customers, and nurtures them with new perspectives, outreaches, and educational stories. Plus, he's approachable. He responds to emails quickly and in-depth, which makes me feel like the guy I'm buying from is a nice person. I don't mind to spend some bucks on a good product if it's from someone I like.
Furthermore, this "nurturing" Paul does well, isn't a process of months. This is a craft, which takes skills to master and time to perfect. This time is mostly spend on investing in helping other people. Paul maintains several slack-channels actively to help his "customers" with their challenges. So from my perspective, there is no short-cut for becoming the next Paul. And if you must, then by all means join his Grow Your Audience course.
So what is his secret? he does the work. All the work. Messes up, learns, until he becomes sufficiently knowledgable to explain how it works to others. And then, he makes an MVP to see if there are people interested in learning what he's done the hard way. And that, combined with a down-to-earth personality that perseveres for 10+ years, makes you 33k/month. And it's well deserved.
Well shucks, thank you!
Great interview! I love the idea of a small sustainable company of one. I'm working toward making one of my own :) I have a question, and maybe it's a weird one, but here it is anyway: since you're frugal, and it seems like $33k/month minus $8k/month = a huge buffer after not very much time, what keeps you going and producing new stuff?
I'm curious because I don't know what I'd do in that situation, if I basically didn't need to work anymore, what would I actually do? Keep on making and selling stuff? Fill my time with hobbies? I don't know. It's hard to guess without being in that situation.
So Dave, I struggle with this daily :) I'm fairly driven, and am always thinking about what my next big challenge is. I definitely don't feel like I've "made it" but I'm in a good place... so lately I've been looking at where I can be the most help. I still want to make money of course, but I really enjoy making money when people feel they've been helped a lot by what they've purchased.
Sometimes though, I'm just gunna watch Netflix all day, or work in my garden/greenhouse or just drive (my fav hobby).
The $6/month living expenses must be a typo! Love seeing these indie-vidual hacker posts.
Good catch, fixed.
😐
This is my new fav word: indie-vidual.
Nope, it's $6k total :) That covers everything: mortgage, cars, insurances (all of them), food, entertainment, things that break and need fixing in the house (which come up a lot).
Great information here, Paul! I've bought ChimpEssentials and am on your email list and they're both excellent resources for me.
I know that your email list is the primary driver of revenue for you. I'd love to know how you're building your email list with your current traffic where it is. Are you simply seeing good conversion with your minimalist email capture strategies? Anything else you do here that's been effective for you here?
TIA :)
Hi Joe - I'm actually pleased with my list size and how it converts to purchases, so I do zero to build my list. That said, I want readers not just subscribers, so the signup form at the bottom of articles attracts the RIGHT kind of folks I want on my list :)
Yeah, I totally get this! So many people worry about the size of their lists when it's the quality that really matters. Betters to have 1000 active and engaged readers than 10,000 who think you're average. I need to do a better job of this and focus on converting the right subscribers, not just as many as I can. Thanks for the reply and thoughtful response - very helpful :D
Great interview! Thanks for sharing your journey @pjrvs.
I have one question: If you were starting today, would you choose digital courses or software based on your past experience?
Saying that you replay digital courses: How would you go about choosing the topic if you didn't have any audience to ask/survey?
Best,
Hey Yuri, thanks! I'd probably do both, just like I did when I started in the product world. That way all my eggs aren't in one basket—and the two could be related (I didn't do this but I should have).
Amazing work @pjrvs 👍
This quote strongly resonated:
How do you think about it? What areas do you look to for improving and expanding (to increase the ROI of time/resources), while keeping a lean operation?
Thanks Julian! Mostly I look to expand empathy and knowledge :) Which sounds super HIPPIE, but it's true. Nuts and bolts though, I enjoy channels where growth in revenue can happen without growth in operations—like email marketing or online courses. Neither requires more from me to make more or reach more people. I always consider the cost of maintenance for what I take on. My friend Jocelyn has a great podcast about that topic:
http://hurryslowly.co/020-jocelyn-k-glei/
Thanks Paul, I migth check it out!
Completely agree and understand where you are coming from 👍
Great, instead of big ;)
I sell courses on Udemy and the thought of having courses that are only open for short periods is so different. Tempted to give it a shot. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Nick! The reason I've never used Udemy or similar is because if I'm making and promoting the course, I don't want to share revenue with the platform :)
Great stuff, thanks for sharing! I'm very interested in following the same path as I have 20+ years in software development experience and a fondness for writing. A newsletter is the way to go for sure, but where would you suggest my articles appear outside of that? Something like Medium, or my own site with some promotion on social media?
So you're on the right track, because publicly posting your writing will draw new people TO your newsletter. As to where, where do the people want to reach spend their time online? Where can you post what you write that'll show up on their radar?
Where did you learn how to write?
I have zero training or schooling (I dropped out of uni). I learned to write by reading for hours a day, every day since I was a kid; writing hours a day, every day for years; and listening to my editors/copyeditors who are all smarter than I am and better at writing.
Thanks for sharing your story. I've got a strange question. The illustrations on your wpcomplete website, have you designed them or have your hired someone? If you've hired someone could you please give me some details?
Bought them from here: http://www.streamlineicons.com/ux/
Hello,
thanks for your post, very interesting. But I surfed your site and didn't find any direct links to your books that you self-published. Can you please give them? Thanks.
As I'm focused on my upcoming book, I no longer link to them from my site. If you search my name on amazon, you'll find them 🤘
This comment was deleted 4 months ago.
No, I stopped selling them years ago. It just wasn't something I was interested in at the time. No complaints about it, since I was 100% clear on the sales page :)
This comment was deleted 4 months ago.