How can Indie Hackers work smarter, not harder
Mr Beast gives a simple explanation of how to work smarter, not harder, when it comes to YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/q8Slp-p9MlI.
This seemingly goes against the principle of having a portfolio of small bets. Trying to do one thing really really well, and investing a lot of time in it seems very risky. Maybe his advice is too influenced by survivorship bias?
Oh boy! Haven't I heard this before? If we all could work smarter not harder.
Here is where his theory falls apart. Let me pick on phrases he used in the video
'You just think of really good ideas' ==> It assumes that you know what constitutes 'Good Idea'. Define 'Good Ideas'. If we knew it - we all would have pursued it.
"One that people genuinely want to watch" ==> Again this assumes that the creator knows his audience to know what people genuinely want to watch. Most of the small channels don't.
"You can pull 100,000 views in a week" ==> This assumes that you build it and they will come. How many times has this been true?
Completely agree with you. Maybe he could pull it off, but new YouTubers (and Indie Hackers) definitely need to experiment to find out what works
By "work smarter, not harder," Mr. Beast means that you should be focused and strategic in your work, rather than just putting in long hours without a plan. I've tried working a number of small projects in parallel and it's really hard to get right. Anytime I came across a hard or boring task, I would simply jump to the next idea.
That said, endlessly hacking away on a bad idea might never turn it into a good idea. The advice which has helped me is to be open minded, and constantly get external validation on what you are working on.
So your advice would be to find a balanced approach by having a strategic plan in place, but to be able to divert from your plan if necessary?
Yes, absolutely. I think it's important to have a clear vision for your business, but you also need to be flexible and be willing to adjust your plans as needed. If you're too rigid, you may miss out on opportunities or end up making decisions that aren't in your best interest.
Very true, thanks for writing this.
Thanks Mia
Great Idea.