trains.fyi

A lot of the things I build are poorly monetized. This is about half my fault, and half intentional. I'm not very good at identifying opportunities to monetize, and a lot of the time for projects I build, I don't necessarily want to.

A lot of these projects I just build for fun - and in that, there are some advantages.

1 - The Exposure

I hate this word, but it's valuable to get your name out there. When trains.fyi hit the front page of hacker news, I gained maybe about 50 more twitter followers than I had before (which doubled my followers). It doesn't seem like much, but I've now got 50 more people interested in what I'm working on.

2 - The Feedback

Other people are quick to point out certain things about your build that you may not have even thought of. Strategies for how you could monetize, new features, or spin offs.

3 - The Experience

You build this thing, you get better at building. You can even use the code later on for other projects (which I've done many many times).

4 - Your Health

Building something for fun always helps me restore my balance when I'm feeling like my life is out of control. There's something pure about building something specifically for you, with your requirements, on your time, with your deadlines, and launching it. No clients, no employers, or even customers to dictate what to do. You're totally in control of the product, because you don't necessarily care about the outcome.