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This is the 3rd newsletter on diyfounder.com

If you’re in this space of solopreneurship, hustling, building, etc… you have probably heard of Pieter Levels - @levelsio on Twitter

But have you heard how he got his big break?

12 Startups in 12 months

Back in 2014, he posted that he was challenging himself to start 12 new projects in a year. He identified 2 issues he had with himself:

Problem 1: Finishing projects
Problem 2: Launching projects

Then he wrote:

"Like so many, I’ve suffered from these problems for years. These two problems are killing good ideas. I’ve seen it happen with myself and as much with others.

So I’ve decided to take things into my own hands. I want to change my habits and force myself to finish what I start. For the next 12 months, I’m launching one startup every month. This includes picking an idea, developing it and launching it to press."

-Pieter Levels

He quit after 7 projects

He didn’t just quit though, he struck gold.

His 3rd idea was gofuckingdoit.com and it went viral. He started making a few hundred dollars every month from it, providing him with a source of income.

But more importantly, this got the attention of the press.

His 4th project started with a spreadsheet with information on cities he lived in. He accidentally forgot to set the editing right so the next morning people had added locations.

Pieter then turned it into the famous nomadlist.com, which quickly generated +$25k a month and later +$1m a year.

So what’s the point?

In a keynote on his YouTube channel from 5 years ago, he mentioned that he felt depressed. His father told him that he should order 1 cubic meter of sand (it’s a lot) and start shoveling it into a new pile.

The idea is that just by doing something, you’ll feel better.

That’s the exact approach Pieter took. He just aimed for doing something, over nothing. With great execution and some luck, it worked out.

Ship more

To this day, Pieter believes in this message, just check out his pinned tweet.

To be honest, I’m trying this exact approach this year and this newsletter is my 2nd project.

Do you accept the challenge?
Keep me up to date.

Cheers,

Carlo

This is the 2nd newsletter on diyfounder.com

Last week I launched a fun project called aipetavatar.com.
I built it in a week for $97 and a freelancer from Upwork who set up the API.

I’ll explain how I did it in a future post.

A few years back I worked at a startup that spent over $100,000 to outsource all development. It tanked hard and today the URL is dead: brightowl.pro

So that got me thinking. What is, and what is not worth outsourcing?

As with anything nowadays, it’s a spectrum…

Don’t outsource your whole startup

Let’s be clear, outsourcing everything is probably not a good idea. If you don’t know how to fly a plane, you shouldn’t get in behind the yoke, right?

The same principle applies here.

Let’s say you start a blog but don’t know how your CMS works, that will get costly rather quick. But do you need to know exactly how a complicated API connection works?

I think not.

Stay basic

If you want to be successful at hiring freelancers, here are 2 criteria:

1. You need to know the basics of the task
2. You need to pick the right one

Going back to the API example, you don’t need to know exactly how it works. Let someone more technical set it up.

On aipetavatar.com, I couldn’t figure out how to set up the connection myself. But I found someone who did it for me for $28.

I still knew how the parameters within the API code worked, and that was enough.

How to find the right one

Don’t go scrolling through the endless pages of qualified workers. Instead, post a job that allows freelancers to apply.

Come back after a few hours and you’ll have about 10 applications.
Check them out, go with your gut.

I have 1 rule: Communication is key

Pick out 2 or 3, send them a message, and choose whose response you like the best. You don’t want to be interpreting bad English and misunderstanding each other. Too much hassle.

Start with a small task, choose well and you’ll be fine.
But don’t outsource your entire startup, that’s a recipe for disaster.

Cheers,

Carlo