10
4 Comments

I made some IH art, I thought it would resonate well here. I call it "Depressed Indie Hacker Wantanabe"

Hi everyone. I'm mostly a lurker here, so apologizes if sharing my drawing is way off topic for this community.

Like many IH-ers, I'm discontent with my 9-5 gig. I want to get out of it and create my own income generating thing. But I've been feeling so overwhelmed by all the risks of failure (I've got a mortgage and 3 young kids), that I've been having trouble getting started. Being genetically predisposed to depression/anxiety doesn't help either.

I put those feeling onto paper. It feels good to do something to be creative, even if it doesn't generate revenue.

"Wantanabe" is a bit of an homage to Shinichirō Wantanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame. Every time I see his name in the credits, I always think it would be a fun way to mis-pronounce the word "wannabe".

Hope you enjoy.

  1. 1

    Big fan of Cowboy Bebop!

    I hear you on the risk of failure. Why not keep your job, and do something on the side, so there's less risk? Since you've got a family and a house, you're probably low on time, so you need something simple, too.

    You could do something content based, or event based, or community based, that might fit that criteria.

    1. 1

      Thanks for the feedback and ideas.

      Why not keep your job
      It's really personally unfulfilling. I'm on the edge of burnout. It's hard to get started most days. I work on a team of one, on this old app that no one else wants to touch.

      I took some time off recently and just coded for fun, and that was really nice. If only I could make money that way: writing silly apps that serve no purpose but to entertain.

      And yes, having young kids means time is really hard to come by.

      Hmm, I like the content based idea. It feels more creative that building a SaaS. I like the substack business model. It reminds me of the good ole days of the Internet when content was written for the love of it, and not for the ad dollars.

      One thing is, I don't know how to do is build an audience. In my mind, it's looks a bit scary. I'm not used to standing up and drawing attention to myself.

      1. 1

        There is a way to make money writing silly apps.

        Create a YouTube channel and start shitposting your creations.

        Here are some good examples of what I mean:

        1. 1

          Thanks for the examples.

          I had not considered shitposting as a marketing method. Hmmm, I guess it's pretty low risk, at worst I get banned from a community, and maybe tarnish my reputation a bit in some circles.

          Maybe if product I'm "selling" outweighs the annoyance of the advertising vector, most people won't mind. The key is to impress more people than you annoy.

          @AthosBlade Great suggestions, my brain juices are now flowing with ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aut34F8nt8g

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments