Can't break the 4-5K MRR barrier. Can someone relate?
Hi!
I've been indie hacking for the past 3 years. Some of my products failed, one I sold, and two are doing pretty well.
In both of my recent products, my MRR has been the same for the past few months after pretty fast growth, and I think that maybe at this level, there should be some change in how I work to grow them.
So far, I've been focusing on:
Customer feedback > New features > Repeat.
From a marketing perspective, mostly relevant content and being active in relevant social media groups.
I think that maybe all the people who "needed" the product already have it, and now it's time to "convince" new people they need it. does that make sense?
Would love to hear if someone here felt the same!
I'm sure there are plenty more who need and want your product, you've perhaps just reached the limits of your network and base marketing competencies/approaches...it's time to get serious about marketing and sales basically 😊
Maybe it's time to focus on user retention and churn, instead of just user acquisition? I believe @patticus has shared some interesting stats before about how reducing churn is the most efficient way to increase revenue.
Thanks, will look for those stats!
In both my first 2 startups I launched with 20K MRR (did intense sales for up to 3 months before launching) - If you're open to share more details I'm sure I can give a few tips :) Find me on linkedin if you want
Keep staying the course and improving the product.
Eventually the MRR engine fires up and gets moving again.
This is like the situation where you hack away at an oak tree with an ax.
You hack at it 99 times, and it's still standing strong, so you think you're not making any progress (but that's not true at all).
But with the 100th swing, SHLACK!
The mighty oak falls down.
PS What's all this talk about hitting the limit of customers who need your product?
That's defeatist talk, a total scarcity mindset.
There are many more people out there who need your product and are ready to pay.
Go out and find them!
Hey Itay,
You've hit the nail on the head (that's British for "you're correct"!) - you've hit the limit of people who "need" the product.
Obviously this doesn't mean you're capturing every single "active buyer" there is but you've hit the limit of how many of those you can convert.
The question then is, how exactly do you convince new people that they need it?
You can't sell them your product because they don't care about it. It doesn't matter how amazing your solution is, if they aren't looking to buy, they are just going to ignore your sales and marketing messages.
You need to do something else.
My favourite approach and the one that I advocate is essentially taking what makes your solution unique and turning it into a brand new belief system that you then sell to your target audience.
This enables you to successfully sell your solution to the 99% that aren't actively looking to buy the solution that you sell right now (as well as create a whole host of other benefits - more word-of-mouth growth, more money from existing customers etc.)
Rather than repeat everything here (which would be physically impossible space wise), I'll just link you to this website which has all the details, free case studies and explanations - www.thebluntmethod.com
Hope that helps!
Best
Chris
Cheers Chris!
Will have a look at that.
You're welcome :-)
It's great to hear that you've been working on indie hacking for the past 3 years, and that you've had a mix of successes and failures. For your two recent products, it sounds like you've been focusing on customer feedback and new features, as well as relevant marketing strategies. I agree that it's possible that you've already reached the people who "needed" your product, and that now it's time to reach out to new customers and convince them they need it with a new GlenAllen Solution. One approach might be to focus on building a stronger brand and generating more visibility for your products through SEO, paid advertising, or other channels. It's also worth considering whether there are other use cases or markets that you haven't yet explored for your products. Good luck with your continued indie hacking!