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9 Comments

Made $2K in 2 weeks with my Notion style avatar maker. AMA!

Hey community!

This is Felix :) I will learn a new skill every year. I have already committed to this for 5 years. I decided to learn illustration design this year.

2 weeks ago, I launched Noto - Notion style avatar maker on Product Hunt. The product ranked #1 and #3 for the week. I am close to $2K in sales from this launch campaign and have received tons of social media engagement. The results have exceeded my expectations.

If we're Twitter friends, you might have seen my journey in learning illustration design since January 2021. I work full time as a marketing head for a fintech company. It's fun, but I'm always looking for something more challenging.

Illustration design appeals to me because I believe visual communication is important. Furthermore, I wanted to build and grow my skill from scratch and turning my skill into a business.

Important milestone

  • Jan: Drawing illustrations, random sketches on paper, and converting to digital art on a regular basis

  • Feb: Building and sharing my progress almost daily

  • Mar: Started learning from famous illustrators on YouTube and took three courses on Domestika

  • Apr: Launched 1st collection. Mono - minimal illustration pack, made $57

  • Jul: Launched 2nd collection. Dollo - dynamic avatar maker, made $357. Ranked #4 on Product Hunt of the day

  • Aug: Launched 3rd collection. Foco - lifestyle illustration pack, made $1

  • Sep: Launched 4th collection. Noto - Notion style avatar maker, made $1,930. Ranked #1 on Product Hunt of the day and #3 of the week

My life as a side hustler

  • Every day, 9-5, I had to pay a lot of attention to my full-time job as a regional lead
  • I have experience in data science, growth marketing, and venture capital. I founded one startup and have worked for three, including Techstars
  • I spend roughly 2 hours a day working on my side hustles, including illustration design and three other profitable #nocode projects
  • Illustration design is my 4th project and it seems like I'm going to devote more time to it
  • Doing side hustles keeps me motivated, solves problems for the community, and provides passive income

Let's talk. AMA!

Available on Twitter too!

  1. 2

    This is awesome and so inspiring! Especially as someone who also works a full-time job, it's encouraging to see what you can achieve just working on your hustle 2hrs a day.

    Did your recent launch success (and sales) come purely from the PH listing/Twitter audience? How did you begin building your Twitter audience?

    1. 2

      Thank you 🙏🏻 I started tweeting in Jun 2020 because of my addiction to Nocode. Like many people, I tweet almost everyday.

      I’d tweet things like product progress, hacks, tips, tools etc.

      Yes, the launch campaign is primarily contributed by Twitter and PH listing. I’ve a short post about the campaign plan as well.

  2. 2

    Congrats :o how you keep motivation and fight shiny object syndrome?

    1. 2

      Thank you! Oh totally, so many shiny objects in front of me now, especially new side project ideas.

      I’ve used FRM analysis from customer perspective to help me prioritize shiny objects. F = Frequency, R = Recency, Monetary. I score different things in point scale, so I know where to focus.

      Motivation mostly coming from existing customers and people who have been supported me. Sharing my progress publicly really helps!

      1. 1

        FRM analysis, its a really good idea to sort project ideas! What's your advice to take a step back from our product?

        For instance my niche generator notion template has super low performance, 1 sale for 400 product views. I think i cant step back from my project to see issues that cause this low conversion rate :/

        1. 2

          It's hard to tell if I'm in a good position to advise whether you should take a step back from the product.

          You might want to challenge yourself once again on these aspects:

          1. What problem are you solving?
          2. What distribution channels have you tried? Why it works/ why it doesn't?
          3. Who is your ideal customer? Where can you find them?
          4. If this product disappears tomorrow, do you think people will be disappointed?
          5. What are some examples of alternatives that people are using right now? And How people feel about them?
          1. 2

            Thanks for your message! I'll work more on these questions :)

  3. 1

    Great work Felix, Keep it up!

    1. 1

      Thanks Shivam. You too! Anything I can do for you?

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