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14 Comments

What does success look like to you?

When I embarked on the indie journey, I fantasized that I would be able to make tons of money quickly, and not have to work that much. It sounds stupid but it’s what got me started.

It’s been 2 years now and it didn't happen. My motivations have changed drastically but I'm actually happier than I've ever been!

Now, success looks like:

  • Spending my days working on things I care about
  • Seeing that my work matters to more and more people
  • Making an above average living
  • Have complete control of my time, so I can rest when I need

Of course, I’d take explosive growth and millions of dollars in sales any day, but I know I can be happy without it.

What does success look like to you?

  1. 5

    Success for me is being able to spend as much time with my kids as possible without asking for permission from people who control my time and $.

    1. 2

      That's a great definition!

  2. 4

    For me it's the combination of making money+doing something I like+being in control of my time.

  3. 3

    I don't know what success looks like.

    But I can tell what the opposite does: invisibility. No views, no follows, no sales, no subscriptions, no replies, no engagement. Radio silence. The feeling that, despite all the work and ideas, you don't even know whether your stuff sucks because nobody notices it.

  4. 2

    Success is finding your purpose in life.

  5. 2

    I'm currently in a situation (thankfully not fulltime) where I don't have complete control of my time nor the way I want to work and it cripples my well-being enough it affects the other things I want work on.

    Your last point is easily the most important for me. I should get it back before the end of the year though.

    1. 1

      Yeah, I know the feeling. Hard for the mind to solve creative problems (like building a product) when it feels stuck in external constraints. Hope you get reclaim more freedom soon 🙏.

  6. 2

    Same story here, don’t feel so bad.

    Those 4 points are “on point”. I have achieved 1 and 4 and have trouble with 3. But I’m committed long-term to grab point 3. I’m not even close to what I want, far from it, but there’s only one way to go and that’s forward.

  7. 2

    I've been a freelance digital nomad for almost 4 years now.
    traveling, enjoying life, and to an extend having control over my time.
    But I always felt something is not right. and It's that I'm still renting my time for money.

    I agree with the 4 points your listed, I would just rephrase it a bit differently:

    • having a stable passive income so I can work on things I care about even if they don't generate money
    1. 1

      that's an interesting one.Kind of a next step once you have financial freedom I would say, but doesn't have to be!

  8. 2

    I think those four are pretty good as well.

  9. 1

    Like many of you: being able to live in my own terms. I don't search complete freedom (because it's impossible, people always depend on us) but I try to get some money to buy me some time. What do I do with this time? Helping as much as I can. That's what makes me happy.

    I could help people in a company of course, but I don't like to be managed. I spend a lot of time trying to understand how I work, and, in my experience, no manager understand it as well as I do.

  10. 2

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

  11. 2

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 1

      That's a straightforward way to put it, and covers most of it if you exclude the meaning part. !

  12. 4

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 2

      That's a great way to see it. Work for you but in a way that benefit others 👍

  13. 2

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

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