How do you find help for tasks that you aren't an expert in?
As an indiehacker, I work on product design and marketing. For certain tasks like copywriting, web development, branding etc. I require help.
There are platforms like Fiverr and Upwork but at the moment, I am not in a position to spend a lot of money since I am bootstrapping. Do you know of any platforms that are relatively cheaper or even give credit for tasks that I can pay for at a later date?
Not the advice you want, but perhaps the advice you need:
As an indie hacker with little money to spend, you don't have the luxury yet of saying "I'm a designer/marketer but nothing else." Until you gain some traction and have revenue coming in, you're at the "0 to 1" phase below, not the "1 to 2":
Beyond this, you simply have to face the fact that there's no free lunch: there's no reliable way to get other people — especially skilled, talented people — to give you their time, energy, or attention without giving them equivalent value in return. So perhaps you can leverage the skill sets you already have by seeking out a partnership:
And if you find that you simply have to find paid contractors to do some of this work for you, there's little other option but to spend some of your time finding alternative sources of income.
Here's a piece I worked on with several successful founders who share how they made ends meet before their businesses generated self-sustaining revenue.
Hi Channing,
Thank you so much for such a detailed response and for the advice. I really appreciate it!
Yes, you're right. At the moment, I do end up working on things that are beyond my expertise. Ideally, it would be great if I could take someone's help for it and of course give value to them in return.
Since cash is a bit tight, bartering skills is a great idea! This is something I am discussing with my fellow indiehackers - @MaxwellDavis @tiagorbf, among others. It would be super helpful to have such a community to leverage each other's strengths.
I read your article on how the successful indiehackers managed to make their ends meet. It's inspirational. Thanks for sharing that! Gives me a lot of perspective on how to approach my own product.
Hey Kavya, would you always search for someone who gets the job done for you or are you also looking for advice, someone brainstorming with you about a specific topic, or share their story with you during a virtual coffee?
Hello,
Searching for someone who can get the job done - no specific tasks at hand currently but I'm just looking for a platform which can support this.
For brainstorming, advice and virtual coffees, I am a part of the Wannabe Entrepreneur community (https://wannabe-entrepreneur.com/coworking/). I find it super helpful for these things
I'm a fan of asking for help from my network - communities/ founder networks/ ex-colleagues/ friends. Usually, there's someone who knows someone to get the job done! And I do prefer recommendations esp when bootstrapping.
What kind of services are you looking for? Happy to offer help/ recommend someone!
How do you leverage this network? Via Twitter / LinkedIn or some other platform?
At the moment, there aren't any specific tasks but I am exploring if there are any platforms that exist where I can get help in areas that I am not good at ;)
so how do you do marketing kavya? do you have advice for new comer in marketing?
maybe this question could be a new saas idea. tradding skill for another help, not with money
Over the past few months, I have been experimenting with different things on the marketing front - launched Resumey.Pro on Product Hunt and few other platforms, social media marketing on Twitter and LinkedIn, wrote blog articles.
Main focus in the next 2-3 months would be SEO.
Yeah, sounds like an interesting SaaS idea! Would be good to validate it with other indiehackers. Would you be interested in such a community?
"Would you be interested in such a community?"
Of course I do, will be great to see fellow indie hacker and learn with them together
you need basic knowledge in most aspects of the business to monitor other people.
so you either hire them or bring them as partners. I wouldn't advise freelancing websites for a startup because you'll need tweaks and you'll need them fast :)
Since hiring is out of question currently, bringing them as partners where there's a win-win situation seems more suitable :)
Thanks for your inputs Cern!