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Building in Public has helped me, even without an audience.

A while ago, IndieHackers introduced me to the concept of building in public, but I was pretty hesitant because I didn't really have an audience to build for.

I decided to give it a go anyway, and I've been posting regular updates for my latest project on twitter (@hrrsnbbnt).
And to my surprise, I've been finding it really helpful!

It's been super motivating to post what I've been working on.
Even though I don't really have an audience to post to, I think it's really helped keep me accountable to myself.

So if any IndieHackers out there are hesitant, I definitely recommend giving it a go and seeing how you find it.
And I'd love to see what you're working on!
Definitely leave your twitter handles 👇, and come say hi to me @hrrsnbbnt

  1. 4

    I've had a pretty similar experience to you by the sound of it. I started writing about my projects 'publicly' by posting retrospectives on my personal site each month.

    Of course no one read them. But just the act of writing down plans, thoughts, goals, and so on made a big difference in terms of accountability, motivation, and discipline.

    Recently started tweeting a little more about my projects. And this month I'm attempting to tweet through the process of going from 0 - launch on my August project.

    Dropped you a follow!

    1. 1

      Yes exactly! I think there is something very valuable to writing down your plans and posting them publicly, independent of people actually seeing your posts.
      Thanks dude! Followed you back. Excited to hear about your project!

  2. 3

    Buildinpublic on Twitter and elsewhere has gotten so popular amongst the indie community that I often hear entrepreneurs that are new to the concept go, "ugh do I really have to do it? I don't have an audience".

    For starters, NO, you don't have to do it to be a successful Indie Hacker...

    You should choose to buildinpublic and tweet in public FOR YOU first - so many benefits to retrospectives and writing/summarizing your successes and your failures.

    Choosing to do it as a means of growing a quick audience and attract a TON of users is like writing 1 blog post and hoping to rank super high in SEO - it's a long term game.

    If you grow an audience, that's just icing on the cake! Congrats Harrison, you earned a new follow ;)

    1. 1

      Initially, I felt resistant for exactly this reason. I had no audience so wasn't sure it was worth it. But, I decided to give it a go and have found it super useful.

      And thanks! Excited to see what you work on too!

  3. 2

    I feel exactly the same, was hesitant about this for too long and today finally got the "courage" to post my first build in public tweet. followed you, looks interesting :)

  4. 2

    I recommend doing this too. I did a 30 day writing challenge for the first time last month on Medium, to develop a habit for writing and publishing fiction (and to start writing on Medium). I posted short updates almost every day and had a grand total of around 15 views across all my stories.

    However, it was massively helpful in developing my process for writing fiction. Just knowing I would have to post something on Medium every day helped me stick to it.

    I kept a spreadsheet of my productivity broken down by hour to see what time's worked best for me, including running totals for how much I wrote, edited, and published. I could easily see where I was wasting/losing time which has already helped me become more efficient. I'm on track to achieve more this week than all of last month, and writing on Medium, even if hardly anyone was reading, helped a lot.

  5. 2

    That's super great to hear Harrison! Yeah I find that the writing is as much for myself as for my audience, if no one reads it, fine. I get to reflect and improve myself anyway. If someone reads it, bonus!

    1. 1

      Yeah for sure. I find it helps keep me accountable and make sure I'm working on things that are useful and interesting.

  6. 1

    It can also serve like a daily journal with no audience, which itself can be motivating to look back.

    1. 1

      Yeah exactly! A great way to track progress.

  7. 1

    That’s awesome! Gave you a follow. I’ve been debating sharing more of my journey too.

    Your project seems awesome

    1. 1

      Thanks dude! Definitely give it a go.
      And your stuff looks cool too!

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