Left my job, went full time on my business!
by Harry DrySo it's Monday morning. Normally, I'd have just have got off the Northern Line, walked into the office and be prioritising goals for the working week.
Well, I still going to do that. Just for my own startup!
I told the team last week that I think I had enough momentum to try full time with my marketing site. They were understanding and wished me luck.
I'm not making much money, and it wasn't an easy decision, but when in doubt I think Impatience with actions, patience with results, is a good maxim. The more risks I take, the luckier I seem to get.
My problem with with a job is that it protected me from ever feeling desperate. Now, this might sound weird but I like that feeling.
I like being on the back row of the grid at the Grand Prix. Rain is pouring down. And somehow I've got to figure it out, rise to the challenge and get myself on the podium.
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I did the same move some years ago and for me the biggest challenge has been finding the self discipline to keep a regular schedule. But once you get used to it, being able to work on your own projects is amazing. Good luck ✌️
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Thanks Andrea.
Any tips on keeping a good schedule?
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When you work for yourself there are no boundaries between work and personal life and this can lead to unhealthy habits.
For example in my case I often found myself working late at night. I was going to bed late and I was waking up tired in the morning. And since I was tired I started skipping gym/tennis. One day I realized that working after dinner was a bad habit that I needed to change.
One thing that helped me was reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.
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Good luck! You can do it!
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Thank you my man Andrey. I agree.
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Wow! Congratulations!!!
I am currently working on passportlist.co and will be grateful to get your feedback! -
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Good luck Harry! Looking forward to seeing you succeed.
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Love your Twitter threads Harry. Keep going.
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Good luck to you Harry, and see you at the London meetups.
- Chris S
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Nice one, looking forward to it Chris!
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Congrats on your achievement!! I've been trying to do this for years now. Someday it will come true.
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haha! Thanks Monik. You'll get there :)
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Just signed up after reading your post on Nomad List and its use of long tail keywords. I was scrolling down the home page and just randomly clicked a photo. Glad I did.
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Haha! thanks macario. yeah, that was a fun one :)
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I really like the site! Signed up a short while ago - marketing is exactly what I need help on at this stage of my side hustles. All the best and keep hustling! I really hope your sponsorships work out!
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Cheers Zhhan! Nice of you :)
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Holy shit dude, that's awesome! Good luck with it all!
Have to say that Marketing Examples has inspired my next project I am going to work on. I think that Marketing Examples is a really great site, and how you have done everything is absolutely great. You've definitely made a follower for life out of me haha, so thanks @harrydry and good luck with this full-time!!! 🎉
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Callum my man! Such a lovely comment thank you. Are we talking about Bookerino? Or a new idea.
And yeah, I think growing an audience via creating value does open up a lot of doors. Keeping everything free. Look at Version 1 of Indie Hackers or Nomad List. Both similar sites.
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No worries mate, more than welcome. And it's a new idea, although Bookerino will continue!
Yeah I'm going with the value first approach this time around. I've followed Nomadlist and IndieHackers and how they started and you're completely right, it's having value upfront that made them what they are.
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Totally agree, good luck Callum. Hit me on IHLondon Slack if any questions :)
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Wow, I really enjoy your website and content. It seems to be like a new way of blogging. Already subscribed! :D
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Cheers Romeo. Thanks for checking it out. Lovely comment!
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All the best Harry!
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Cheers Edwin!
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Good job! Suggestion to you would to post on a regular basis, post whatever trends. And to assume it will take some time to build a follower-ship, it won't be done in a month. But 1yr down the line it might surprise you.
Btw would be cool to have more interactive marketing stories in the future.
Subscribed!
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Nice.
Dont give up. Will miss u on the trains lol-
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Thanks Pedro!
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I subscribed to your newsletter because of this. I wish you good luck with the project!
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Hola Baidoc! Great to have you onboard the ship :)
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Awesome dude, rooting for you.
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Cheers Avi!
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When you gave your talk at the meet up, it seemed obvious to me that you would end up running your own gig sooner rather than later. Good luck, and well done on taking the leap!
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Thank You! And, I'll take that as a nice compliment. Cheers :)
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Hey Harry, a fellow digital marketer here and love this site you put together. It's given me a few ideas for my own project already.
Actually first heard of you from your Kanye West story, which was solid. Wish you all the best!-
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Thank you! and yeah, that's the idea - Real world marketing examples to inspire (and copy!) :)
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First off, congratulations!! You are GOALS. Also writing down the impatience quote for personal motivation 😈 can't wait to read through your case studies tonight. As a marketing student, I feel like I'll learn a lot from this!
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Really nice on you Le! Lovely comment :)
Let me know what you think!
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Me and you both 😂
Read Atomic Habits if you haven't already!
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What, you quit your job Pete?
Got the audiobook. Thought the start was a bit heavy tbh
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I love the Northern Line from Euston 🤗
Some bold move you got there. I will say the same but not now; I'm working on it. Well done!
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Cheers Daveyon. Good luck making that transition yourself!
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Signed up for your mailing list. Good luck!
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Thank you! Welcome to the club :)
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Congrats.. yes it is tough leaving the safety of a salary, one tends to attach to that 'security'
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To quote Taleb, "The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary"
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Congrats Harry...good luck!
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Good luck to you, Harry. I did the same at the end of last year. It's terrifying lol.
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I like that mantra, I'll keep that one in mind. Best of luck chasing the dream
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Cheers Dylan :)
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That's awesome, Harry. Must be a great feeling. Question: How did you decide at which moment you'd be ready to quit your job? Did you save to cover X months of expenses, or are those already covered by the current generated income?
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Hmm
Current income is all from sponsorship. That just about covers my expenses. That deal ends in around 3 months. Hopefully, by that point the site is bigger and better and the sponsor renews (but we shall see!)
That's partly why I quit. I need to get things moving now. I could sit around and wait on the subs bench and lose all my momentum.
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Awesome, congrats!
I'll be with you soon. It's a bit harder to pull off with a wife and kids. I'm thinking by the end of Fall I'll have knocked off enough debt and had enough savings to go out on my own!
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Haha. Thanks Jordan!
And yeah, certainly much harder. But probably even more rewarding.
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Congrats man! Hope it all goes well for you. Followed some of your tweet threads and found them fascinating.
Have you been to the Indie Beers meetup in London? Haven't seen you there before - would be great to meet. We've got another meetup this Weds.
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Hi James, Thanks a lot!
Yeah, a few people have been mentioning it to me. Apparently it's really awesome. I've been meaning to go.
Currently catching up with my parents in South England. Not 100% sure if I'll be up for London by Wednesday, but if so will catch you there. If not, the next one!
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Go seb!
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well done harry ! emailed you just now: let me know if you need free co-working space in the next weeks
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Congratulations and the best of luck! How are the financials for this working out? Do you have some runway?
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Probably about 3 months worth.
But hopefully my sponsorship will get renewed and then more money will come in.
Also, a lot of people seem to think I'm a marketing genius now haha! So I get quite a few emails asking me if I'm available to do contract work. I could perhaps do a few days of that as a fallback if needed.
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I hope to be in the stage (well I'm a student). I hope it goes well for you.
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I wish you good luck! Make it a success!
I have quit my job recently too and now I focus on https://www.indiehackers.com/product/justcomments full time. Doing so was a great motivator and the continuous chunks of time I can dedicate to building the product now are incredibly productive. Either destination (success or failure) I am getting there faster than before and it's important too.
If you would like to add discussions to https://marketingexamples.com make sure to consider JustComments ;-)
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Alright Alex, Thank You!
Just Comments looks cool. I'll tell my friends. For my site, comments is something I'm looking at. I'll probably code it myself as I'm after something bespoke.
Good luck with it. How are you getting users atm?
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Mostly users come from the search engines or referring sites. I experiment with google ads and cold emails/tweets but cannot say if it's working for me yet.
Building a comment system yourself could be a lot of work. But sometimes it's worth it :-)
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Takes a lot of guts! The road ahead will be tough as hell but I'm sure you'll make it through just fine :) At the very least you have Indiehackers like me to keep you company haha.
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Haha, Thanks John!
I've definitely had worse company!
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Good luck Harry! I did it once and it didn't go well. But I wasn't generating any money when I decided to do that, so I think you already have an advange. In any case, trying to reduce risk is always good, have that in mind.
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Managing risk definitely a factor. Good advice.
And thanks :)
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Harry small world, I've literally just done the same it's time for me to stop working 7pm -> 12am and work 9am -> 12am
If I don't take the risk I'll regret it in years to come, I'm the same not making much right now but that's fine as I know If I persist it will come.
My job like yours protected me and now I'm able to get out there and do this! It needs to be uncomfortable.
No more shoreditch for me for now but i'll be back with my own office soon enough!
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Nice one Noah! And Good luck :)
What are you thinking for an office? Shared one / your own?Currently I'm in cafes and stuff.
I used to be in Shoreditch as well. The good all trusty (not so trusty), packed, Northern Line into Moorgate. Then I'd walk the rest of the way.
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Thanks - It's a digital marketing agency.
Actually was commuting from Hendon Central through to Moorgate :)
Thinking eventually of a co-working space to start off with or maybe an incubator,
I can't work in cafe's it's too busy to think at times!-
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Nice, for the short term perhaps try AndCo. It is cafe's but there's some quiet ones and free coffee's available in some as well.
This one's quite a good option in Moorgate for co-working. Fairly cheap.
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Ahh, awesome thanks :) So what's your business going to be about?
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Pleasure. It's Marketing Examples — Real world marketing examples
Grow the audience and then build it out :)
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Exciting! I hope and guess we'll be hearing a lot more from you :)
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Thanks Rosie. I hope so as well :)
I don't want to be shouting about myself all the time. Hopefully more time to reply to others on the forum.
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Everyone's in Shoreditch haha! Well all the best when you do, and thank you
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