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Passing my full-time salary after 2 years 🎉

May was my biggest month yet as an indie hacker 🥳

For the first time ever, I finally took home the same amount as I did when I was working a full-time job.

Here's what's working, what's not, and what's on my mind for June 👇

1️⃣ Raising prices

After months of procrastination, I finally built up the courage the raise the prices of my product (Building With Bubble)

Throughout the first week, things were slow...

I made 0 sales.

Every day, I wanted to revert the changes, but I forced myself to stay persistent.

I finally had the confidence to know that my product is worth more.

Every part of me also believed I needed to change something to triage the slump.

I considered rebuilding my website, experimenting with new distribution channels, and even A/B testing pricing models.

In the end, I decided to change nothing.

Instead, I doubled down on what was already working.

Creating great content, which increases the amount of value I can offer customers.

After one week, things took a sharp turn.

Every day, I was selling multiple lifetime deals at US$199.

I remember sitting in the park on a Sunday, refreshing my emails and seeing I'd just made US$600.

But after two weeks, it changed again...

The last week of the month was also slow. Sales were few and far between.

Building a product is constantly an unpredictable battle.

Throughout this next slump, I know to stay focused and double down on content creation.

2️⃣ Surpassing my full-time salary

When I quit my job 2 years ago, I only ever had one goal - to make as much from a product each month as I was working full-time.

I remember initially thinking this was going to be a 6-month journey.

I couldn't have been more wrong...

It was 2 years later (down to the month) that I finally made as much in profit as I would have selling my time to a company I despised.

Although there's still a long journey ahead, it honestly feels like I've finished the game of indie hacking 😅

If I was to only ever take home this amount for the rest of my life, I could easily maintain a happy and fulfilling lifestyle.

I hate to toot my own horn, but I'm genuinely proud of myself for persevering to this point. I couldn't tell you how many times I wanted to give up along the way.

3️⃣ MRR up, but MRH down 📉

While I was so focused on mitigating sales and generating content throughout the month, I forgot to measure and improve my monthly recurring happiness.

At the end of the day, MRH is the most important metric I need to optimise in my life.

Throughout May, I'm disappointed that I didn't take the opportunity to experience new interests or experiences across all areas of my life.

Instead, I went back to my old habit of putting my head down to only focus on work.

Coming into June, I need to prioritise my happiness and remember why I'm doing this.

I'd love to continue trying new experiences each month (I'm open to any suggestion! It could be sports, activities, or hobbies).

In-summary 👇

May was a monumental month. As I move into June, I'm prepared for what could potentially be a slower month for revenue, but a bigger month for growth in happiness.

If you found this tweet insightful, I'd recommend checking out my Twitter profile where I share regular tweets about indie hacking.

  1. 2

    I’ve enjoyed reading this, congrats! 🥳

  2. 1

    Congratulations on achieving your goals. Working for yourself is both incredibly challenging and rewarding beyond expectations. There's no school that effectively teaches these skill, it's all what you learn and develop along the way. Glad you kept your course and now have something to show for it

    1. 1

      Thanks Pierre! There's still a long way to go, but I'm excited for the journey ahead.

  3. 1

    That is a great feeling. I started a company years ago and after we paid expenses and whacked up what was left I had a monthly check that crossed the $8,333.00 mark meaning I was making over 100k per year on it. It was like being sober and drunk at the same time, it was just a mental threshold but when it was crossed that was the point I knew we had "won" at least for the moment. My initial expectation was that I hoped the business would make my car payments so at this point it was crazy.
    Whatever you are building you should set a few personal thresholds to help you understand the value of the payments - does it cover expenses - WOW! step one, that's HUGE, did it pay your cable bill? Your car Payment? Your rent? Your expenses? pick a few and keep them in the back of your head, crossing those lines is cooler than saying $1,000/month - but yeah the 100k thing had personal significance to me. - it shouldn't have but it did. Note: this was a monthly recurring revenue business, not discreet sales.

    1. 1

      That makes complete sense! I'll try and note some additional milestones that I can celebrate along the way.

      It's always easy to dismiss these moments to prioritise work, but I'm slowly learning that it's important to acknowledge progress along the way.

  4. 1

    How did you get traffic?

  5. 1

    Congratulations on the success so far! You make a good point with MRH. Sometimes we get bogged down in our business and forget to enjoy life.

    1. 2

      Appreciate it!

      At the end of the day, your happiness and health are the two most important things in life. I try and remind myself of this every day.

  6. 1

    Awesome man, big congrats, and thanks for writing this! Really enjoyed it.

    It's funny how product sales come in bunches and then you can have a slump for a while. I'm not as far along the journey as you (around $100 / month) but I see it as well. Good to know that it's not just me and I shouldn't let it get me down.

    Also, love the idea of monthly recurring happiness... I often end up working more than I did before indie hacking out of some fear that if I don't make it I'll have to go back to a job. But by doing that I miss out on the freedoms that made the indie hacker lifestyle appealing in the first place. This is a great reminder to be more flexible and enjoy the journey a bit more... especially with summer coming and lockdowns loosening a bit, it's good timing.

    1. 2

      Most of my close indie hacker friends also find the same trend. Unless you have a SaaS with recurring payments, sales will always be sporadic.

      The best thing you can do is focus on building long-term acquisition strategies like SEO or audience building.

      You're absolutely right about optimising for happiness. If you're not happy working for yourself, you may as well just get another full-time job for another company. The happier you are, the more likely you are to excel in all areas of your life.

  7. 1

    Wow! Thnx for sharing this, really enjoyed reading it!

    1. 1

      My pleasure! Still a long road ahead, but will be sure to share as many insights along the way as possible!

  8. 1

    Great story of perseverance, thanks for sharing.

    Love the concept of MRH.

    1. 2

      Thanks Nuno! MRH is my new north star metric 😉

  9. 1

    First of all, congrats on the well deserved achievement! 🎉
    Second of all, thanks for introducing the concept of MRH. I will definitely keep track of this moving forward 👌

    1. 1

      Appreciate it!

      I'm thinking of finding a way to quantify MRH as a legitimate metric. I'd thought about rating each day out of 10, then calculating the average at the end of the month. I think happiness is essential for anyone wanting to build a lifetime business.

  10. 1

    "monthly recurring happiness". Well said man. I'll definitely remember that one. The day I stopped chasing money is the day I felt like I got out that box I was in. You never make money right away when investing in yourself or even if you do, your ass just got lucky lol.
    That's why they always say to lead with passion. Only passion can make a year of hard work feel like a month. Am I right guys?🐱‍🏍

    1. 1

      Absolutely! Couldn't agree more 👏

  11. 1

    Congrats! I think that prioritizing our true happiness with family members is 1000x more than the MRR.

    Keeping that healthy balance is golden.

    1. 1

      Absolutely! For most people building a lifestyle business, happiness is freedom is the main objective.

      The maker in me would love to find a way to quantify monthly happiness 🤔

  12. 1

    First of all, congratulations! Second, (it might be a weird question) but, I noticed you are using gumroad to checkout the courses, does gumroad host courses now too? Or do you just send them a key so that they can get into a different platform where you are hosting your courses?

    1. 1

      Thanks! Gumroad allows you to host and stream video content.

      Because my website is hosted separately from Gumroad, UX is a little cumbersome, but it's sufficient for the time being.

      When someone buys a course, Gumroad adds the files to their streaming library on their own platform.

      1. 1

        Oh! That makes a lot of sense! I didn't know that at all. Yea, I noticed that you had a wordpress site and the saw the gumroad pop-up. I'd love to use it, but I have to open a LLC in another country if I want to use paypal because Gumroad only does PP and I can't even use my US bank since I'm not currently living there 😅.
        Anyways, I was actually going to get in touch with you the first time I saw you post about LWB, (It was a while back). And was going to ask if you have thought about adding a "Spanish" version of your courses for the spanish speaking audience. I've considered making a similar online academy in Spanish, but I'm busy with other projects. But if you ever want to offer a second language, let me know, maybe we can work something out.

  13. 1

    Congrats, that’s awesome!

    I like the MRH idea. @jimzarkadas, you will like it, too.

    1. 2

      Thanks! I think MRH should be a mandatory metric for indie hackers to measure 😉

      1. 2

        Thanks a lot for the mention @nikwen!

        @LachlanKirkwood MRH is 100% a must-have I totally agree, it's smart that you made it a KPI to measure :D

        I recently switched to 4 days of work per week to protect my MRH and make sure I have a system to be consistent not only at work but also at having fun. This might be a interesting idea to explore.

        Also regarding activities I am a huge fan of playing music (learning acoustic guitar atm), skateboarding and surfing. I also recently got a drone to get into video and filming and is pretty fun as well!

        I vlog all these on my YouTube channel in case you want to check it out here is the drone unboxing haha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzHyz7G_hjY

        1. 2

          Love it! While everyone says to enjoy the journey, it's easy to fall into a slump of repetitive work that feels meaningless over time.

          Thanks for the suggestions! I started learning some instruments a few months ago, but the drone is definitely on my to-do list! Keen to dive into your vlogs 👀

          1. 2

            Haha anytime man! Happy to be in touch, I also followed you on Twitter :-) Keep it up and all the best!

            1. 1

              Awesome, would love to stay in touch!

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