How I pivoted from SaaS to content making. AMA
Hey Indie Hackers!
It's been a long time since I posted here. Time to fix that.
So, it's almost a year since I sold my product and decided to switch to content making.
For the whole year, I've been tweeting some useful stuff related to UI/UX area. As a result:
- My followers grew from 1K to ~25K.
- My newsletter grew up to ~8200.
- I've started a youtube channel, that has 780 subscribers right now. I would be really grateful if you check one of my videos and provide some feedback. Also, it might be interesting for indie hackers like you, because there I share how I started earning thanks to UI/UX
These achievements are mediocre. I know many guys who get a much bigger audience in less time. But at least that's how it is, without any lies :)
Everybody speaks about consistency. So let me just show you a screenshot, showing how to INDEED grow an audience on Twitter. One screenshot only:
This is the number of tweets per day. So looks like for 246 days I've been tweeting every day. It's not always been good content, sometimes just some fluff. But if I'm correct, I've made more than 100 (I counted 110) UI/UX tips with images, so roughly every 1-3 days I posted something useful.
Now apart from Twitter, I'm trying to conquer the scary Youtube.
There are many things that are way more harder on youtube than on other platforms:
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Making videos take too much time. Making a tweet can take 1 minute, while making a video might take days.
-
Speaking in not native language makes it worse :)
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Getting exposure on youtube seems to be harder. At least, when you tweet a lot, you can experiment more. But on youtube, you cannot just make 10 videos in an hour to "experiment", since it'll take weeks.
So we will see how it goes, I'm really curious how things will turn in the next year. I hope I'll return to this post and comment on what I'll have gotten by that time.
Time will tell 🤷♂️
Congrats Victor.
Thank you!
Welcome
Congrats Victor! Not a lot of people have the courage to switch to something other than SaaS especially in the IH world, glad it's working out!
yeh
Thank you! :)
Congrats on your achievements! For someone whose newsletter just crossed 1000 subscribers, 8200 actually sounds like a lot to me.
Do you have a link to your newsletter?
Also, I'm curious to hear when you started monetizing your newsletter and how that went for you.
Youtube: I don't know anything about UI/UX, so I can't give you qualified feedback content-wise. But I think you're on the right path with your YouTube videos in terms of presentation. If you continue to upload, you will get even more natural over time.
As for the newsletter, the main idea that worked for me very well is launching some side-products, like lead magnets you know.
For example, I made a free book, and put it under email wall.
https://user-interface.io.
I don't update the blog, literally have no time, but yeah, 8200 subs with ~35% open rate.
Thanks for your feedback regarding youtube!
Nice post, thank you
Congrats Victor! making videos indeed is a real deal and you seems to be doing a good job at it thus far.
This is inspiring, thanks, Victor! Congrats!
Congrats, Victor! The growth of your Twitter account has been amazing.
Congrats :)
I follow you on Twitter, didn't know you have a YouTube channel.
For suggestions regarding your YouTube channel, videos about tutorials, and tips related to UI/UX. Also, doing a portfolio, design tools reviews, and weekly design inspiration. Those are what comes to my mind right now
I always read your tweets the really good keep it up and good job
Good Decision! YouTube is 2nd biggest search engine in the world with 3 billion searches per month. So more opportunities are on YouTube.
Twitter is no doubt is one of largest social media platform.
Keep your good work up!
great read thanks for sharing.
Awesome progress Victor, congratulations! 🎉
Thank you!
you should go for YouTube video's SEO. I can help you in ranking your YouTube Videos by optimizing your Videos and helping to rank them on 1st page of YouTube in your search category.
Gratulations @Akcium! Regarding your YouTube channel: Your Thumbnail game is already on point 👍 You mention consistency. In which frequency do you plan to post to YouTube?
Thank you.
Well, at first I thought that if I make a nice quality video, then 1 video will bring me a big number of subscribers, like, say, ~500 :)
Now I realize that I barely get a few. So I'll try to keep the pace at 1-2 videos per week (hopefully 2). It's way too harder than I thought, but... watch me! :P
You mentioned scalability with youtube and how every video takes days. I agree with that somewhat, I am currently only uploading 1 or 2 videos. But, when I started I actually challenged myself to upload 30 videos in 30 days, it was a good way to push myself and learn the software I was making videos about.
While the the amount of time that it takes definitely depends on the topic, there is definitely a way to create "tips" type of content in scale, and you can do this for #shorts.
I've seen (I think tiktokers; I don't have the app but seen their format on IG) basically they have the same format for their videos. "interesting websites to look into when you are bored" "part x" . What you could do is, "UI tip to make your life easier" "part x" and then record a video that's quick and more personal.
You can try that and see how it goes, all the best :)
Thank you for your idea! Yeah, I thought about t shorts, I'll keep an eye on it. Right now they look a bit confusing, you cannot (?) see them on desktop and everything yet in beta, but yeah, tips/tricks that can be explained in one minute looks like a very decent idea
@ItsKev Curious about your challenge! How did it turn out? Intrigued to have a look at your channel as well! Could you share it?
I just love coming here and finding inspirational posts like these.
Thanks for posting and well done!
Thank you! I do the same, I always look at others who were able to make significant things, and inspire from them
Props and thank you for sharing!
I was really encouraged by your response below on why you switched from SAAS to content.
Helps clarify the path I’d like to take.
Yeah and you know what, it's like really a feeling you have that you're doing something you like.
I had this feeling with SaaS too, but the thing is that it's like a one HUGE project, and it's more complicated than making content.
Eventually you'll need to hire some people, and I prefer to work alone :P
Hi Victor, congrats on your achievements so far.
Thank you for the tips you share. I am one of the learners on your mailing list.
Thank you! :)
Congrats! May I ask why you decided to make the switch?
Thanks!
I think it's way harder to run a saas business. It's like, you need to be the same content guy because you need to promote your product, but apart from that you also need to code and maintain it.
Also, I really love when I see the growth, what didn't happen in saas. It's pure dophamine
It sure is!! I have wanted to get into content but only for the purposes of marketing a potential product. It seems tech influencers are doing really well now.
Congrats, Victor! Your growth is amazing!
I've been following your journey for months, and the screenshot speaks for itself. You really did show up every day and shared a tremendous amount of good content in the past year, which you even distilled in your 50 UX tips e-book. ;)
Hi there ;) I know you! haha :) We're connected on Twitter
Thank you! :)