Side project: 1st anniversary, vanity metrics, spend 1-2 hours weekly, next steps...

Hey! Some of you might have seen Virtual Mojito - The all-in-one library for virtual experiences

About a year ago, I started this project because many people around me were asking for a "Zoom alternative" for their events, remote teams, or even online communities.

My intention was to write a list to showcase 10-20 options. However, after getting a list of 70 tools, I decided to turn my collection into a directory site built with Notion.

The project grew from a directory to also featuring virtual events, founder stories and making a coffee income in 12 months.

Vanity metrics

• Attracted 51,215 unique visitors
• Showcased 206 products
• Listed 485 events
• Received 318 subscribers
• Interviewed 24 founders

Only 1-2 hours a week, what I did exactly?

Review Product Hunt, BetaList, Indie Hackers on a regular basis. Whenever I see a product related to virtual events, remote work and online community. I'll bookmark it, reach out to the founder and ask if they want to be featured.

Consume everything I can about the industry and help people create a better virtual experience. Then I will consolidate my knowledge into a bi-weekly newsletter.

Spot quality events and put them on the calendar. Some communities also actively submit events to me, so I never run out of content.

I might write about the project once a month and report my progress on social media. That's how I usually get attention and traffic.

Let's talk about money?

I'm making a coffee income through:

• Buy Me a Mojito
• Sponsored content on the newsletter
• Just started selling my old Virtual Mojito Notion template a few weeks ago

My expenses

Literally just the domain, nothing else

All my tools are completely nocode and cost nothing. Such as Notion, Fruition, Airtable, Typeform, Substack, Buy Me a Coffee, Zapier

Next steps

The virtual experience industry changed a lot. You can find a tool to run a virtual event, remote team and online community easily. Hence it's no longer a major need.

However, a lot of people are struggling because having the right "tool" is just the first step, "how" you run your virtual experience is the hardest part. So I will focus on creating content to help people achieve this particular objective.

I have refreshed the website last night just because I want to LOL but of course, I have considered better UX as well. So there we go NEW Virtual Mojito

If you're an active event organizer, online community builder or you're making a product to help foster virtual experience. Let's talk! I'm on Twitter @felix12777

Thanks for reading. Ask me anything :)

Other articles on IH about Virtual Mojito:

1. How a dummy like me created a visual brand & marketing materials that pop

2. How I attracted 20,000+ visitors on a Notion page in 5 months

3. From 0 to 5,000 - Growing a side project in 30 days