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I have worked on a side project for a year - The result: trust the proccess

You have an idea of a product and want to work on it as soon as possible. You start the new project full of excitement and joy. You build an MVP and share it with your friends. But after a short period, we abandon the project. There are many reasons why. The excitement at the beginning quickly fades away, we get bored, the project takes to long, or no one cares about it.
Sounds familiar? Well, that's how it is for me.
But this time I wanted to stick to it no matter what!
I wanted to build something and be patient. At least for a year. So I did. Step by step, day by day.

I had no users at the beginning. No one cared. No one knew that I even existed. The few users I had complained about bugs and that the software is not ready. It was not easy, but I stayed calm and fixed every issue I found, added new features and functionality. And over time I could see a steady increase in new sign-ups. Users were curious to give it a try. It was not so bad anymore.

And then it happened. Someone has found value in my product and paid for it! The feeling I had after I got my first customer was pure joy. He is the real MVP. I think I will never forget his name :'D

A Year Later

Now a year has passed. Thousands of people have joined. Every feedback I got helped me to create a better product. I get new customers nearly every day, have partnered with different B2B's and even received some inquiries if I want to sell the platform (which I don't intend to). It was not easy but it was worth it.
A lot of the users came from AppSumo and StackCommerce. They helped me to reach a bigger audience. Lifetime deals are not for everyone but they helped a lot to get started.

It Takes Time

Don't give up to early. It is a side project after all. It takes time to figure out what the customer wants and to shape the product. It is easy to be impatient in a world of instant gratification. But an empire will not rise overnight.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. But they were laying bricks every hour.

In case you have read this far. The project I have built is Resoume. A platform to create your online presence. It all started as a resume builder but I quickly added the option to create a personal website along with it. The option to have a personal website with social proof of your skills and ability is more important than ever.

Tech Stack

In case you are interested, here is a list of software I have used:
Frontend: Vue.js
Backend: Node.js
Payment: Stripe
Infrastructure: GCP
Email/Newsletter: SendInBlue
Chat On Website: Crisp
Telegram: Alerts/Notifications

  1. 6

    It Takes Time

    The thing I've realized in the past couple years is that success almost never happens quickly. The entrepreneurs who "make it" typically end up spending 5-10 years building their businesses.

    The trick to success then is figuring out how you can stay in business for 5-10 years to figure it out.

  2. 2

    Hello there,
    Thanks. It will help me for my potofolio. I need it in my studies.
    Really love the product ❤

    1. 1

      Thanks for the support 🥰

  3. 2

    Your product looks good, happy for you that things panned out 🎉

    1. 1

      Thanks! Worked quite hard to get there and I hope it will reach a new high this year. But I also plan to create a new product based on the learning from Resoume ^^

  4. 2

    "thousands have joined"; that's awesome! what's next?

    1. 2

      That is a good question.

      For now, I plan to launch again on HackerNews and ProductHunt to show the latest version. I think the product is in the perfect shape to hit the right spot now.

      But afterwards, I plan to reach out to other businesses who might want to use Resoume for their userbase. Like, resume writing services, consultants, or in general people who help others to find a job. It scales better and brings a more stable revenue stream and a second one as well.

      It is not easy to get the product to the user (especially if I do everything alone 😂), and I hope with that approach, I don't have to use too much of my time for that and can focus my time more on the product.

      1. 2

        gotta do all the things! this is the #fullstackfounder way!

        1. 2

          :allthethings: 😵‍💫

  5. 2

    Would you share a link to the project?

    1. 2

      Wasn't sure if it was ok to share it in the post, but here it is: Resoume ✌️

  6. 2

    I am not aware of your product but your journey will resonate with so many. I wish you every success.

    1. 1

      Thanks, my friend. And yes, I think I am not the only one with these 'symptoms' haha.

  7. 1

    Nice job! How did you go about creating the video on the landing page?

    1. 1

      I did some video recording of Resoume and downloaded a template for adobe after effects. Used the 14 days test period from Adobe and created the video in that time haha (but forgot to cancel and paid the one month anyway). However, I wanted to create a new one for the next launch ;)

  8. 1

    This is inspiring, and a really great product.

    1. 1

      Thanks, dpayette!
      I think I like to be a motivator. I didn't know that but discovered it recently 🔥

  9. 1

    Well done Gobie. I'm glad to see your persistence paid off for you. What was your time until first payment?

    1. 3

      Thanks Rab,
      That was one thing that surprised me the most. After one month of building the MVP and we are talking like the roughest version of an MVP you could imagine, I got my first customer.

      1. 1

        That's pretty good validation!

        For my own project I am my own first customer, so I don't know what that means. It's something I want and I will use many times over again. I would've built it anyways, so I really can't lose even if there's no customer number two.

        1. 1

          Tbh, I think even if you take all customers out of the product, the number of things that I learned just by going so far with the product is priceless. I think with time the complexity of features increased and I did learn a lot in term of coding. But even without coding, you learn everything from, design, copywriting, pricing, customer service, social media marketing, email marketing, legal and more.
          With the codebase I have, I could spin up a new project way faster than before. It was worth it from a lot of perspectives.

          Keep building!

  10. 3

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

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