I recommend indie hackers to...

I recommend (or even strongly suggest) indie hackers to have a real job and then do whatever you're doing.

I get it. You wanna be free, independent, do your own thing. But which idiot told you'll be free and independent while indie hacking? You can't.

Your product needs to grow, you'll need to depend on your customers' feedback, VCs, tech/business partners and later on you'll have staff you'll be dependant on.

Another thing that nobody tells you. You'll start losing money from DAY ONE. Whether or not you're spending money, you'll be spending time, plenty of time. Let's say you work really cheap at $5/hr for only 5 hours a day on your very first project. For a month, that is already $750.

Now, they say for SaaS it is profitable after 5 years. So time commitment worst-case scenario - $45,000 ($5/hr x 5hrs/day/month/5 years) + monthly expenses + all the headaches, even if you love your project = reality.

Anyone telling you that you can make money on day one and the journey is really easy is trying to rip you off, trust me. Everyone telling you they have been profitable from day one either had a huge list of emails + a ton of work put into collecting it (or) had an existing + engaged following (or) had an insane amount of luck + viral nature.

It is totally fine you got motivated by seeing a $5 small win post somewhere. It is also fine you actually post your $2 small wins somewhere and feel good about it. It is NOT fine if you don't realize there is more to the journey and you need to keep going forward. Most online communities are negatively toxic, sites like indie hackers are positively toxic. In your small wins, people try to be very very very nice to you, people congratulate you so you keep going forward, not the opposite.

Without a real job, you'll get nowhere. Real successful indie hackers worked alongside having a job. A job gives you more financial safety to work on your project, it literally finances you and your project. There will be a time you'll need funds to even host your project further. Apart from the time intake I see no cons to having a job. Most of all it pays bills.

Say it with me:

• Indie hacking is hard.
• It takes years.
• It takes countless hours of work.
• It takes healthy off-work hours.
• I know I'll lose money from day ONE.
• Profit on day ONE is a lie, day one starts when you first work on it, not when you first launch on PH.
• $5 win is just a win. It won't pay bills, I can rest for a while and need to get to work.
• Repeat, I can celebrate my small wins NOT sit on it.
• Without a job, I'll run out of money. My project will die before I even realize it.
• A job pays my bills. My project doesn't, not yet.

All that said, you're free to quit your job IF you have at least $80,000 saved for 5 upcoming years. If you don't have $80,000, get a job or at least be informed about the reality before you take the risk.