How to stay motivated on the idea

I have the same issue now.

I did some long but manageable bits for my project but now need to learn how to do something new and the steps are unclear. This is dampening my motivation.

I prefer when I have a difficult but clear roadmap of steps. Whenever it becomes unclear, my doubts resurface and I lose focus.

Inevitably, I think I need some small outlet for when I'm really bored. So now I'm looking if there are tiny fun problems I can build in 2-3 days as a side project to my "main project" :-)

I also have not been successful at validating the idea. I reached out to 10 potential customers and two fora where customers hangout and could not get an interview. This makes me think the idea is of the low success likelihood type.

So, my learning is that it is important to have that customer validation not only for when you launch but to actually have the motivation to finish!

Hi Remy

Must be common . I am not a guru here and i am starting new (Squaredojo - just setting up my sidehustle, the side design is still in progress - - links not work etc tec so dont judge me for that yet ) and i know what you mean coz i have suffered from same problems too. I have bunch of unfinsihed projects from last 10 years so i can say a word or two about these problems.

Problem: Dampening motivation
Yes , we are not always motivated to work. Are we ? no matter what we are doing. Good that you divided work into manegable bits. So you have to learn something new to proceed further. I agree that it does take you off the track for sometime but forget abou the project and think it as a skill upgrade exercise. Learning something new will not only help you complete your current hustle but it will be a lifelong asset. You are increasing your own value man for yourself and in market. Isnt that something exciting ? Other thing is i do not know anyone who knows all. This is the path we all need to go through to complete stuff. Work for your hustle or work for a corporate there is time we dont know how to do stuff and we need to step back to step forward. Take it as a requirement with bonus of upskill.

Problem: No good feedback or none
Reaching out 10 people and getting no feedback does not mean your idea suck. Are you a person who has never got 10 rejections in any aspect of life altogeather. That does not mean you suck. There are just too many factors why someone not responded your request. You do what is in your hand and dont give up and move forward. I am glad that you sharing your issues with community here coz that gives others confirmation too of the common dilemas we face. Moreover , 1 good criticism is much worth than 1000 useless feedbacks. So i would say keep trying and find a more suitable person to get quality feedback. Does not matter if u cannot validate from many.. may be soon you will find a good one or two. Other thing what about other ways of feedback - like market research . Unless you are building something totally fresh ( which i doubt) there has to be similar product(s) in market /across globe. In that case read their customer feedback /data abou that company/product. if you are really genius and is new product then perhaps need to broaden your search for feedback. if one way is not working try another. if u email before to get feedback this time use blogs, use twitter, stand outside your potential customers area with print out and some soda cans and ask for feedback and give free sodas. Last but not least - u can use market research companies. Do trial or one off payment to such companies and give a month a try . They might help u gather feedback. (since ur app is fresh idea)

Remember airbnb was airbedandbreakfast.com before. Read about that. They had discouraging to no feedback in early days

https://inc42.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ff-airbnb-started.png
Image from http://fundersandfounders.com/

How to stay committed ?
if this was easy then your neighbour will be doing side hustle too. This is difficult man coz face it - when things dont work we dont enjoy it. Some of us are willing to work hard but it can only go so far without seeing some results (in shape of salary or product looking nice and progress milestones). Obviously u have no salary for your side hustle so it is the later but u have obstacles in ur progress (we all do). What to do ? There are few things that i can think of (again im same boat i am not guru or expert)

1. Watch some motivation videos of other people running product companies .
2. List some interview sof Courtland. (they motivate me and others thats we here.. right. right ?)
3. Post and talk to others - THAT you are doing now. Good on you. already on track.
4. Make and find likeminded friends - I doubt u have a support network . Fighting solo is makes hard job harder.
5. Give some credit prizes when u reach milestone. Not sure what u been building but have u given urself some break /award. Set something for your next milestone and look forward to that well deserved award.
6. Annouce publicly your next target and update statuses. You will stick to work schedule due to public shame of failure.
7. Find app or service - where u deposit 20 dollars and its lost if u dont meet that goal. Nobody wants to lose money.
8. Take break - think of consequences (and write on paper ) of not completing workand retiring from 9 - 5 job like anyone else. Do you like that prospect ? I am not against retiring from regular job but we are all here coz we all want /desire someting different. Right.

cheers
Dee

Hi Remy,

It might also be that the closer you get to the end result, the less spectacular it becomes. Or you might find it daunting that once you've finished the project you have to start marketing it, and it might not catch on as big as you'd like. So by postponing a launch, or starting a new project, you avoid a sense of failure. I've fallen trap to this behavior numerous times. By avoiding to finish it, in you mind, the sky is still the limit, but the reality can be sobering.

To turn this around, I use the "to succeed in business you have to be in business" principle. Don't see finishing your current project as the end, but as the start of a new project, based on feedback. Making it more likely to succeed.

Cheers,
Arjen

Maybe a guarantee in every project! Could come due to thinking that nobody will use it, frustration about how long it's taking to finish, deciding that it's not as unique or magical as once imagined, etc.

Anyway, one thing that really helps me is to find one tiny twist that makes it weird and unique and exciting for me, even if it doesn't actually improve the thing for users. That way, I'm motivated to finish the project just to be able to show it to people, and I'm not so worried about potential. Also I think this is a way to avoid direct feature-to-feature competition with existing solutions.

If you really decide it's not what you want to do, just cut out all future features and launch the thing to no users rather than scrapping it, for the sake of your self-confidence.

I believe it's a very common feeling. My two cents:

1. Have a very clear vision and very clear plan with steps and deadlines - this one is for the brain
2. Find your tribe, talk to other makers - this one is for the heart. Indie Hackers is perfect for this. I personally don't really have real life friends that share the passion for this kind of hobby, that's why I joined this community. You need to know that there are people in the same boat, you need to know that what you are going through is indeed very normal. Don't be afraid to ask for feedback, and engage with the community. Indeed there are people, who appreciate the work you put into choosing the right fonts and/or colors, because they know what they mean :)

I am feeling this way right now! But I keep telling myself that no matter what the outcome is, it will be worth it, knowing how to get a product out there. I keep working on it little by little every single day. I hope you will too :)

Ah, I get this all the time!

For me it is 2 things:

• Being really clear on the vision
• Being involved with people who can support you. I find that people giving feedback and challenging me give me a boost and reaffirm my conviction.

If interested I am building a startup to help with exactly this sort of thing - Oxogen.io
Phil

Validate the idea first before building it. Get some early signups or pre-purchases. Then you know there is already a group of people who are willing to buy it after the launch.

Generally, all ideas are exciting when they are unspecific.

Your mind fills in the gaps with excitement because as a builder you are generally overly optimistic (which is a good thing as it drives action).

Once the novelty rubbs off and you get into the knitty gritty, you start seeing the challenges more and more as well as how much WORK it actually is to build what you dreamed up before.

I think the best way is to work with someone else. In my own experience, it works a lot better.

But dont take just my word for it, Paul Graham (Founder of YC) lists "Solo Founders" as the #1 Mistakes that kills startups:

http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

I'm going through the same exact thing myself right now.

What helps is going back and re-evaluating your validation phase.

1. If you talked to people and validated that you're building a solution for their problems go over your notes to remind yourself that people need this

2. If you haven't talked to potential users, check out your competitors and realise that you can also get where they are and remind yourself how you're better/cheaper/faster than they are

3. Even if the product flops, think of the feeling you will get if after a few months you see a similar product pop-up thinking that you should have just pushed through. Minimising regret is one of the best things one can do for themselves

And of course, the biggest thing is what ArjenSchat said - building is only the start

At the end of the day its much better to have 2-5 failed projects than 10 abandoned projects

It's perfectly natural to feel demotivated during the development of a product. After all, it takes a lot of time and effort to see anything through to completion. However, it's important not to let that feeling get the best of you. Here are a few tips for staying committed:

1. Make sure you have a clear goal in mind. If you don't know what you're working towards, it'll be much harder to stay motivated.
2. Take breaks occasionally. It's important to give yourself time away from your project so that you can come back fresh and energized.
3. Find someone who can support and encourage you along the way. Having someone there who believes in your project can make all the difference!

Suuuuuuuper common.

For me, I try to stay interested in the details as well as the overarching project. This means that I can get excited about solving a specific part of the problem or over-engineering a component that I'm working on. Say, writing my own static page compiler with cool stuff such as automated sitemap generation, stuff like that.

Another thing I do is work on a couple of different projects at the same time. Sometimes I feel that I get too invested and slightly burn out, and a little bit of distance is all I need to become reinvigorated again.

I know that about myself too. It's really hard sometimes.

It helps me to remember the origin of the project. So why did I start it and what got me excited in the beginning.

Possibly explore how to publish it as soon as possible to get feedback from other people.

If people say the product is bad, fine, I shut it down.

If I get positive feedback, it motivates me to continue.

But midway through the demotivation phase, don't decide for yourself that the project isn't worth continuing.