Weekly Update #5

This week I felt busy. I finally have enough things going on that have deadlines that I need to start prioritizing work. I'm not so busy that I can't get to everything, but if I don't focus, then deadlines start slipping. I think that's a good place to be. Having a little stress keeps me focused and energized.

Let's go.

I've clarified my business plan.

I've said from the start that I want to freelance for cash and then use that money to build wealth (revenue streams separate from hours worked).

But what exactly those revenue streams are has been a little ambiguous. I write cloud software, so "SaaS" has been my answer. But what kind of SaaS? And how does that fit into also getting customers for freelancing and content generation?

I think I have it figured out now.

Tactically, this means:

• Freelance focused on building SaaS features and new SaaS apps. Double down on the tech I love, Next.js, React, and TypeScript.
• The SaaS apps I build are focused on improving your apps. So your app should focus on the core value proposition and leverage my SaaS apps to do the boring things: feature flags, collecting feedback, changelogs, and internationalization.
• To help people build faster, I will create a "SaaS starter kit." Plenty of these exist but what differentiates mine is when you buy it, you also get invited to our community of builders. We help you build and also beta test your SaaS apps.
• We will be the YCombinator of solo engineers and indie hackers. Not necessarily making investments, but YC has an incredible network effect.
• I use the community to have a constant stream of challenges people face and make content to help solve those challenges.
• I use the audience and community to reach new people who need my services, and I freelance for them.

Growth

Twitter

YouTube

• Creating content for YouTube has been satisfying but is a lot of work.
• I made my second video on getting started with Tailwind.
• I've been getting feedback on the videos though, which means people are actually watching them! At least a little, which is really cool.
• I've been using TweetHunter this week for Twitter. It's good, but honestly, all the Twitter tools are the same. Same features with the same name at the same price. There's almost no difference between them and HypeFury.
• Both of them cost $50/mo. I'm on the free trial.
• I'm going to try BlackMagic next week.
• Also, I've had 3 people reach out to me this week. 1 for help with Next.js authentication, and 2 for help getting into freelancing.
• The content that most people are interested in is around building SaaS and freelancing.
• I wrote a blog post on starting something new. I'll follow this up with one focused on technicals decisions.

Freelancing

• Last week felt like I was going nowhere. This week felt like it was moving at ludicrous speed.
• I got real movement on a contract with my old company. We built out the statement of work (SOW) and had good conversations about what needs to happen.
• The final project needs approval to happen, so now I just need to wait. I have several internal champions who are really pushing to make this happen. I'm hoping to sign the final SOW and start next week.
• I have a meeting scheduled with my old boss's company! He got me in touch with the VP of engineering, and I will see what challenges they have and how I can help. Very excited about this meeting.
• An engineer reached out to me on LinkedIn and asked for me to do a security and architecture review of their SaaS app. It'll take me quite a while to explore the entire project and write up the report. I suggested it would cost between $3k-$5k. The final quote I gave was for $3k.
• I'll probably raise that price in the future, but it felt like a fair starting point. Once I do the entire review, I'll have a lot of material to make the next one go faster.
• I met an old friend this week for dinner. His startup is getting acquired, and he's looking for hot talent fast to help accelerate his company. I offered to help, but he wasn't interested in contractors.
  Pffft! We'll keep in touch, and I'll see how I can help in the future. I'm having too much fun to stop running my own business now. I'd rather not be underpaid and overworked for someone else's dream.
• My current work migrating apps also moved along well this week. I had a meeting with a third party to understand how this one last app works, and I think I now have a good idea of how to migrate all the apps.
  I'll write up a migration plan, test it out, and present the final report. That will conclude phase 1 sometime in February, and I can start on phase 2.
• I am working on my first speaking engagement! It's through a friend at a local college. I'm a little nervous, but very excited too.

SaaS

• The first SaaS app I'm building for the above plan is Reiterate.so, which focuses on gathering feedback from your users.
• I picked the name because it's about iterating, and it's a Magic Card.
• It will have a simple portal to view feedback and a client library to integrate into your application.
• Pricing will be cheap, but if you buy my SaaS starter kit, you'll get it included for free.
• It's built with Next.js, and I'll be using it in a series of content around building a SaaS app end to end.
• I've spent about 4 hours on it so far, so I have a long ways to go yet.

I'm headed up to Vermont this weekend and will be back on Tuesday.

That's all for this week!