First 5 Subscribers: What I've Learned

TLDR:

Customer support that does not scale.
The Last-Mover advantage.
Honesty and transparency.

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Today is a day for celebration. JustFitness.io has finally got its first five subscribers. Three signups for the yearly commitment and 2 for monthly. I know it's not much, and B2C is tough, but it's a start. I am proud to have made my first $100 outside of an employer and, more importantly, in a creative pursuit.

Here's what I've learned and confirmed.
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Customer support that does not scale

Since JustFitness.io is a solo venture, I can do things that do not scale with its customer base.

I am in constant communication with everyone who reaches out to me. For instance, one person reached out with roughly two pages of feedback. We went over each item line by line. I offered to speak and share my screen via Discord to streamline the process. Now, we exchange emails at least twice a week.

Another person, who was going to wait for his trial to end, recently sent me this:

Man, your dedication and quick responses are phenomenal!
I was thinking about postponing my subscription until I used up all the free sessions, but after your amazing response, that subscription fee is well-deserved. Thank you for all the hard work!
You've got yourself a happy subscriber :D

In this reddit post, he provided a bit of feedback about a recent update. One feature was not fully functional, and another was removed without forethought. I addressed him about the concern as soon as I saw it got to work and replied again once I pushed the update. This occurred within an hour.

I'm well aware that these sorts of feedback loops will not be possible once JustFitness.io's customer base grows, but the lesson here is listening and talking to as many people as often as possible.

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Last Mover Advantage

I recently learned of the Last-Movers Advantage. Oh, look, another fitness app. What sets your app apart from all the others? And why would I pay for yours when there are a ton of free apps out there?

I hear this at least once a week. These used to be uncomfortable questions. Now they're my favorite. Because I've spent the last 2.5 years tearing apart every fitness app I could find to understand what works and what doesn't. What features need an iteration, and what has the market already perfected.

For example, rest timers are mandatory. JustFitness may have missed out on a few subscribers for missing such a critical component. It was a feature requested by everyone who reached out.

A complete show-stopper without it.

They were right.

Furthermore, being the "last mover" has allowed for iteration. The entire reason this app exists is to solve the Desktop to Mobile integration problem. I can only think of 3 web applications that attempt, and none of them use a Trello/Kanban board. After getting the board to work, the immediate next step was to learn how to communicate with a server and other devices in real-time.

Here's a bit of user feedback on that note.

First and foremost: desktop navigation! This is my absolute favorite as it has been a sticking point in most of the other apps I used; I find it way easier to create and modify the programs on the desktop than on the mobile.

The text-based way sets/reps are set up is simply genius! and ties neatly with desktop editing.

I could have copied my competitors and called it a day, but I had already been exposed to a better way. How could I not take on the challenge? These are the sort of responses that made those long nights after work worth it.

Side note: I'm sure drag and drop and syncing with a database in realtime is probably trivial to most of you reading this, but to me, back then, it was far above my skill level. These were required features from the start and refused to ship without them, so I had to figure it out.

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Transparency and Honesty

I admit it. Every day I learn something new. I didn't know the first thing about web development when I got started. Heck, I just figured out automated testing two weeks ago. I have no desire to present myself as some guru when I am thoroughly unqualified. Check my earlier milestone posts or the landing page feedback requests I've riddled across this site. I’m mostly asking questions.

I regularly posted and engaged on Twitter. I briefly experimented with giving fitness advice in an attempt to build an audience. Though you'd see these recommendations or books and articles, none of these actions and behaviors led to sales.

Why? Because I wasn’t honest with myself. I don't use social media in my personal life, but I'll drop what I'm doing if you're up for a chat. I am unqualified to give fitness advice; But If you've met me in person, you'd know that I'm only fit because I consistently follow the directions of people who’ve been teaching others their entire lives. Anything I’d have to say on the subject would just be parroting them.

Finally, I have no desire to become a public figure.
If you can find and extract value from JustFtiness.io; Then that is far more important to me than whether you know my name.

The people I’ve spoken with thus far are well aware of these notions. I believe the sales came from that level of honesty.

Let me know how I can make JustFitness.io work for you. If it doesn't meet your requirements, reach out. We'll bridge the gap!

** **

I know that one day I'll have to step out of the Technician's role, but until then, I'm going to continue the enjoy the hell of a roller-coaster this ride has been thus far. $5 a month means 400 subscribers for ramen-profitability. It's going to be tough, and I have to learn marketing. But if the last 2.5 years have taught me anything, I have more time than lessons to learn. I'll figure it out.

Thank you.