Fear of growth
You guys are probably going to think I'm nuts, but I think I'm afraid of growth. I've built various apps to help me in my various businesses, and one I made this year I believe has a lot of potential. I'm at 6 users, 3 paying, $50/mo/user so far. I find myself drawn to the other projects I work on that aren't paying anything at all - why is that, really?
Here I have something that my few users love - they rave to me about how they could never go back to their business without it, and that makes me really proud. These users are co-workers, and I've yet to convert someone that I haven't personally met.
I believe the fear stems from not believing that a random person would join and subscribe, and if so, that I would not be able to meet their expectations. Something would break, it's not what they wanted, something. As I write this, I feel silly to express a lack of confidence about what I've built, but it's the truth. It's how I feel at the moment.
I suppose what I'm asking is where do I go next...do I push to add more features and let the product sell itself through word of mouth, or just start marketing immediately as best as I can?
Do I hire someone to do the marketing, as I'm a better developer than a marketer?
From a tactical standpoint, I'd:
Building a business is taxing emotionally. Don't forget to spend time exercising your mind by finding the root causes of your fears.
Self-compassion is critical for success in building a business. Give this book a chance => https://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Imperfection-Think-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849X
I really appreciate your guidance, and I just picked up the book. Will definitely be a holiday read for me over the next couple of weeks. Thanks!
I'll create a simple survey and send it to the 6 users I have now to collect some feedback as you suggest.
I also just reactivated my Facebook ad as well, and bumped up the budget to a healthy amount ($150 over 1 month, which is my revenue, so profit returns to zero). I'll try this out next and see how it goes over the holiday.
Great to hear. Love that your reinvesting those profits. That's the path to growth for sure :) Good luck!
Feel free to reach out if you need any other help.
If you're looking to partner up with a marketing/growth cofounder, I may be interested. Currently looking for my next project to work on. Check my history for my growth hacker post w/stats.
But to answer your question above, I think it's helpful to think of Aaron Schwartz, the hacker behind Reddit. What most people don't know is that he actually built 2 other services - Watchdog.net (similar to Change.org) and collaborative enclycopedia (before Wikipedia). Obviously, these were both fantastic sites, bc they predate the actual ones that we are using now. The issue here was that Aaron's services didn't attract an initial group of users, and thus failed. He was a product guy, not a marketing guy.
If you are a 'product guy' - and have no desire to hone your marketing skills - then maybe you should partner up with a marketing cofounder. But, if you want to hone those skills, then definitely take that route.
@geraldine76 Can I shoot you an email with my mvp app? :)
If @JaySignorello is OK with that, (and if you are, of course :)) I would like to send you an email about my mvp app. Let me know 😀
go for it!
Thanks! :)