Today is my first ever Gumroad pay day (over $2000 in sales)!

This was a long time coming.

2.5+ years in the making, still unfinished, but it had to go out!

I started my book Deployment from Scratch with a validation and working 5 months full time before going part-time so I have something to eat ;). Many months later, I am now again working more on the book than for clients and doubling down on finishing it.

I was telling myself there is no point in selling an unpolished version of the product but got feedback from an early mailing list poll I did, and enough people showed interest in getting a beta product sooner.

Still, I was waiting for a more solid version and at least 500 people on the mailing list.

Starting last month, I started to sell to a mailing list of 600+, made 20 sales over the first 24 hours, and with two more updates to the mailing list, sold 80 copies in the first month which are slightly over $2000 before Gumroad fees.

This wouldn't be possible without the mailing list (really, make one) and my blog that is basically my only place to advertise it.

I am actively helping people that reach out, which led to the first super positive testimonial (which I didn't even ask for). I also collected the first four 5-star ratings on Gumroad, which probably feels even better than money.

Lessons learned:

• Validations work
• Mailing lists work (even if it took me 2.5 years to build one)
• Selling unfinished projects works
• Getting 5-star ratings on unfinished projects is possible
• Being nice and helping others work
• Self-publishing works