17
29 Comments

How I launched a product, got the first client & made my first $1000 from it within a week.

I built a website using Wix.com in about 3 days.

I used Wix because I've used it multiple times before and wanted to launch the site as fast as possible.

As soon as the website was done, I launched it on ProductHunt.com.

Got only 7 upvotes there.

I invited my friends to upvote it, but I didn't have many friends who knew about ProductHunt and how it works.

Then I shared about it with the link of ProductHunt on all my social media handles (Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and IndieHacker).

I sent out some cold emails as well and got zero replies.

On the next day of sharing and talking about it on social media, I got a DM on my Linkedin.

It was one of my ex-colleague who used to work together a long time back.

He said he and his partner are trying to build a product, and he's interested in using my service.

We immediately got on a call and agreed to work together again.

I met his partner, and he turned out to be an amazing guy. He was as excited as I was to work together.

That's how I got my first client within a week and made my first $1000 from my productized design service www.unlimiteddesignz.com.

What I've learned from this?

  1. Never ever cut your bridges
  2. Always be kind to everyone
  3. Never stop believing in what you do
, Founder of Icon for Unlimited Designz
Unlimited Designz
on December 31, 2022
  1. 1

    Awesome job there.
    Can you share what strategies did you use to acquire your first client?
    I'm in the verge of starting one and everything is laid out. Just need to launch lol

    1. 1

      I'm active on Linkedin and twitter where my potential clients hang out.

      For now I'm using cold DM on Linkedin to get clients. It's tough but kickin 🙂

      I try to send 50 dms a day.

  2. 1

    Great job!

    My partner and I also launched such an agency. Zero clients for now but we hope to get there soon.

    Please review and give feedback. It is precious to us.

    🌎 https://oscaragency.co/

    1. 1

      Great! Try to find a niche and focus on that. Keep networking and posting about it.

  3. 1

    Congratulations man! I am also about to launch my productized service. Any suggestions/observations you can share when it comes to launching a product on PH and how can one kill it over there?

  4. 1

    Excellent I am currently running my own agency and I had a similar story,
    I got 3 clients from my network
    But I was wondering what your next steps

    1. 2

      For now, I'm focusing on serving the existing client the best I can. I'm also sending at least one cold email a day. I'm planning to increase the number of cold emails.

  5. 1

    Congratulations on getting your first client! That's an awesome accomplishment. People always say "Your network is your net worth", and it was obviously true in your case. Good job and good luck!

  6. 1

    Congrats that you kept going despite not seeing initial traction!

    I'm a big fan of not burning bridges, my father raised me with a saying: "relationships only hurt those who don't have them".

    1. 1

      Thanks man. Great to know that. Your father is a great man.

  7. 1

    Great Job!
    I have to say getting your first paying customer is a milestone that probably 99% of the side project doesn't achieve, especially when the price is in $K.

    By the way, I am in active search for Non-Paying customer for my product. I noticed you don't have a feedback component and wanted to offer you early access to my feedback software for free.

    Check it out here:
    https://feedbackuser.webflow.io/

    Thank you and best of luck with your business!

    1. 1

      Thanks. Will check it for sure.

  8. 1

    Landing your first client is the toughhest thing
    Any pointers to starters like me

    1. 1

      Keep sharing good stuff on social media like Linkedin, Twitter. And don't give up.

  9. 1

    Always work with dedication for what you really need! Don't stop until you achieve what you really need. You have really made these lines come true! Congratulations and more power to you 🎊

    1. 2

      Thanks. That's very inspiring

  10. 1

    Congrats on successfully getting your first income, this is an exciting step. 🎉

    You got 7 upvotes on PH which is great for me.
    I launched my app on PH and only got 1 upvote and that was me. 🤣
    Because I am not familiar with its rules, my first launch failed.

    1. 1

      Haha, thanks, man. Keep trying. I'm doing the same.

  11. 1

    Great insight! Agree that past and present relationships (colleagues and friends) can make a huge impact on the success of what we work on today. It happened to me many times with job recommendations (got hired for 2 positions through ex-colleagues/friends), and simply finding projects or startups to work with.

    Also very nice UI! Did you use a particular framework or CSS library?

    1. 1

      Thanks.

      I just use Wix. It provides all the things I need for this till now.

  12. 1

    So happy for you. Landing that first client/customer is an amazing feeling. How do you plan on marketing your service going forward?

    1. 1

      Thanks man. Appreciate that.

      For now, I'm not actually planning for any marketing strategies but I'll planning to post my journey and relevant content here IH and Linkedin.

  13. 1

    Nice, this seems just like Designjoy. I really wanted to replicate something like it for development, but I can't think of a way to just drop into a project and be productive in the way that a designer can.

    1. 2

      I got lotta inspiration from Brett Williams. He inspired me to start this. Thanks to him.

      Just start man. Don't think too much. That's what I did :)

      All the best.

  14. 1

    Inspiring! For many founders, it takes much longer to land a first client.

    1. 1

      Yeah, I got lucky I guess.

Trending on Indie Hackers
Most founders don't have a product problem. They have a visibility problem User Avatar 94 comments Day 4: Why I Built a $199 Workspace Nobody Asked For User Avatar 51 comments How to automatically turn customer feedback into high-converting testimonials User Avatar 39 comments Built a "stocks as football cards" thing. 5 days in, my launch tweet got 7 views. What am I missing? User Avatar 34 comments Spent months building LazyEats AI. Spent 1 day realizing I have no idea how to get users. User Avatar 30 comments Why Claude Skills Are Becoming Important for Tech Careers User Avatar 25 comments