I just accepted a challenge to build and release a product in 30 days with a $5,000 penalty 🤯

Glad it resonated :) it's a big mental shift that lots of maker-y type folks struggle with.

Even the other comments on this thread cheering you on for taking on an extremely difficult challenge...I think it's valuable to interrogate why folks respond that way, and if that's actually healthy or valuable for you.

IME, for many people, it's not that they want to see you succeed or fail, they want to see a show. They're here for the excitement, and excitement is a very brittle foundation for a business.

If I were in your shoes, I'd be focusing on building my reach to potential customers. I'd offer a valuable and relevant incentive to sign up for the waiting list, e.g. look at those past guides, etc, and see what is most likely to attract the kind of person who'd benefit from and pay for the paid service.

Once you get 50 people on the waiting list, you'll realize that you can get 100. Then 500. Then 1000. And not just people on the list, but people who trust you enough to solve their problem that when you offer something paid, a larger % of them will actually consider taking out their credit card and buying. '

Once you have that list, and you know who's on it and why, it becomes SO much easier to do a 30 day challenge and actually make sales. That's how my partner wrote and launched a book in 24 hours that's sold nearly 10,000 copies since launch. Not only did she use every advantage she had, but she chose a difficulty setting that wasn't designed for "excitement" but instead, for effectiveness.

Challenges are great as long as you remember to set yourself up for wins instead of optimizing for "glory."