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Crossed $60k in monthly recurring revenue

It took us more than a year to stabilise the business! (Productized services are hard - you have to assemble the right value proposition, in front of the right type of customers, but you also need to build an excellent team to deliver the services) but we had an excellent last 4 weeks, and just crossed $60,000 in revenue.

Goal this year will be to hit the holy grail of $83,000/month ($1m ARR!), we still have a couple of months to cross it.

That's pretty cool!

Happy to answer any questions / share my learnings of the journey :)

  1. 3

    That's insane! Well done!

    1. 2

      Thanks :) !

      It took way longer than expected actually to achieve that milestone. But it's all about the journey... If your journey has growth (personally, for your staff, ...), learnings and fun along the way then it's a good journey overall that's really good!

      I think I'll be thinking more about that instead of stressing myself too much over revenue goals since it's like having a tunnel vision. Play for the long game, it compounds, and the results will be there :)

  2. 2

    Congrats!

    And I would agree on the awesome team angle. Hiring the right people is so hard, but when it works it's like a breath of fresh air.

    1. 1

      Exact feeling I have. And for them, it is too.

      My learning is that if you can't find great people for your role, try to first understand if you can fix anything for them first.

      When you employees have a job they like (in our case: remote work, competitive compensation vs. local rates, and non boring work as they constantly are working on different projects), it's also easier for them to be great at it!

  3. 2

    This is amazing. Well done

    What's been the most counter-intuitive thing that you've come across building ManyPixels?

    1. 1

      Here is my biggest learning where I was really wrong but my co-founders turned out to be right:

      Awesome team > Processes

      I used to be almost like a freak in terms of building processes, templates. I wanted to "fix" design subjectivity (you can see it in my IH interview) by forcing designers to use templates etc. Instead, my co-founders told me: Hire awesome people (who communicate well and understand well customer needs) and let them do their job. We did that, we created a great environment for them, and will probably help them a bit with processes later.

      I also have some learnings on marketing, team building, and creating a value proposition that I will write in a free book this week.

      1. 3

        Interesting, can't wait to read the book when you release it.

        1. 2

          I already wrote a free book but will release one tonight or tomorrow night specifically on marketing.

          Here is the free book: www.productizebook.co (don't worry - no need to leave your email, it is just a Google Doc ;))

          1. 1

            Am interested in reading your book on marketing. Please reply to this thread when it comes out.

  4. 1

    Hi there, Robin!

    Thank you for sharing your success with us on this platform. I just downloaded your book from Google Docs. Would you be able to give me some advice?

    My interest is to create a productized service where I can help businesses integrate Augmented Reality onto their platforms (web3D and mobile) for the promotion of their products and to increase their sales.I might be overthinking it, but I'm struggling to figure out what that would mean in practical terms and how to productize it.

    For Augmented Reality, it's mostly through mobile devices that this can be done and on websites, Web3D is how 3D models of a product, like a chair for instance, can be showcased on the internet. I'm a decent programmer but would want to build a team, so hiring a programmer, UX Designer, a 3D model artist and a Social Media Manager are the positions I feel that I would need to get started.

    As far as a business model, I'm also trying to figure out how to create a product that includes monthly subscriptions for our services. I'll read your book ASAP, but if anything comes to mind, please let me know!

    Thank you again for sharing. It's great to learn about your work!

    • Wyntonio
  5. 1

    I've been following your product/service for a while. It's a tad on the expensive side for me :( Maybe a cheaper, simpler plan? Although likely I'm just not your target market

    1. 1

      Sure - you can use the code MP25OFF for 25% off on your first month.

  6. 1

    super dope! I'm interested to hear about your margins? You have to pay your team etc. How much is profit before tax?

    1. 1

      Currently about $25,000/month gross profits!

      1. 1

        lekker bezig! :)

  7. 1

    Very cool, congrats! How many people do you have on your team?

  8. 1

    Is there any specific implementation for your subdomain and root domain in terms of Google Analytics measurement?

    Missing this important point would affect your Google Analytics Data health.

    What I mean exactly is:
    You have the root domain: manypixels.co
    You have the gallery page: gallery.manypixels.co
    You have a blog: blog.manypixels.co

    If someone jumps out between your subdomains/root domains Google Analytics is going to mark them as a new session. You wouldn't want to see the same user as a new user on your G. Analytics report. It would affect your Data Health as well as your future improvements based on your data.

    Not a big deal for now but it'll be important if you continue to grow at this pace.

    Also, I am wondering how you handle Website UI Design. Let's say I'll demand a 7-page web design from you. Normally, it takes a minimum of 30 days with a UI designer according to my experience because there are many revisions, extra ideas, and communication problems. It really depends on the customer's demand, but do you have any average order time for a web design project?

    The last question, as far as I understood, I can add extra designs such as a logo or a business card if you finish that 7-page web design, right?

    I really liked the product and your web site design.
    Congratulations!

    1. 1

      Hey drumpoll,

      Yes we do have to fix our SEO/subdomains!

      1. We have all kind of design projects. All customers are required to come up with wireframes (even rough ones) to save on time and our designers/managers are trained to ask many questions to reduce lead time. I didn't calculate the average yet but it can be as low as 1 day for a fully finished landing page to 1-2 weeks for longer projects with lots of page sand lots of back and forth.

      2. Yes you can make as many design requests as you want (in your request queue) and queue them up and down. Once that project is finished, your designer will work on the second project and so on!

  9. 1

    Congratulations Robin! Well done!

  10. 1

    hey would love to learn more! I'm a productized service business. How do you deliver? I've been thinking of a semblance of no-code tools like woo commerce + zendesk, etc

    1. 1

      Wrote a book on it :) www.productizebook.co

      Mostly we developed on our platform but that's not really necessary at the beginning. Use tools!

  11. 1

    congratulations @Vinrob !! !

  12. 1

    Wow! It's amazing! I read the story from your book few weeks ago. Such inspiring things!

    1. 1

      Thank you, and hope you enjoyed the book!

  13. 1

    Congratulations Robin!

  14. 0

    Hello,

    Hope you all are having a good day.

    I'm a recently hired software developer that will someday like to build a product that provides value as an indie hacker.

    I have a few questions that I'll appreciate any input that I can get.

    How can I build my online presence as a newbie developer?

    Are there any recommended websites, forums, meetups, or conferences that can help me out in my journey?

    Are there any specific Reddit groups or platforms that I can add value?

    Thanks for the pieces of advice in advance.

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