June 2022 Retrospective

Finally learning SEO, feeling passive leverage, almost 10 youtube subs, and project transitioning.

10m Read

7/4/2022

Product KPIs

👀 Page views: 208

⬇️ App downloads: 40

⌨️ App opened: 84

Thoughts:

It's crazy to think I built and released Timeva in a month. That's a 24x improvement over the time it took to build Light Bulb.

When started building Light Bulb 2.5 years ago I was just a developer who thought I could code, drop a few IG posts, tweet some tweets and bam, I would be a successful solopreneur.

Now, I'm a product builder who knows distribution strategies are just as important as the product. The difference between a developer and a product builder is vast. More on that in another blog.

I'm experimenting with copy writing AI to assist with blog content for the Timeva blog. I'm really happy with the way it's turning out. The question there is, will the SEO traffic come in and will it be worth the effort in the long run. We'll see.

There are two open issues with Timeva, one being that the 'start timer' analytic event isn't getting tracked for some reason. Secondly, the timeva app SOMETIMES goes into background mode and the timer freezes. I have a fix in mind but I'm having trouble reproducing the issue consistently.

👀 Page views: 26

⬇️ App downloads: 6

🎹 Musical ideas created: 22

Thoughts:

I've been focused on Timeva, so the dip in Light Bulb traffic isn't surprising. I want to improve my social media automation to keep creating interest around Light Bulb. It's awesome to see prospects trying out Light Bulb and existing users recording their new music on Light Bulb.

I'm starting to understand what it means to own a passive asset that works while I sleep. Light bulb enables creative musicians to record and organize their new music anytime, anywhere regardless of what I'm doing. This allows me to own more of my time while creating value simultaneously. I think this is the feeling of leveraged growth entrepreneurs talk about.

👀 Page views: 210

Thoughts:

I have a long way to go but my writing is improving. I'm beginning to understand that how an idea or product is packaged is critically important. Build products that others want to unwrap.

Social (totals)

Twitter: 137 followers

Youtube: 9 Subscribers

Instagram: 380 Followers

Indie Hackers: 10 Followers

Thoughts:

Growth is slow and steady. I'm enjoying the process of creating youtube videos and packaging ideas into concise forms.

I hope to connect with other solopreneurs and builders along this journey. I want to create win-wins and share my knowledge with the world. You and I won't be the last who try to become indie developers/solopreneurs.

💰 Revenue: $6/MRR

Thoughts:

Nothing new here. I'm still in the early learning, sharing, building and iterating phase of my solopreneur journey. I'm looking for product-market-founder-fit. I have a few ideas and am building prototypes in July.

Milestones

👍 'When you win, what will you do' blog post blew up on indie hackers!

👍 SEO friendly Timeva nuxt3 site and blog.

👍 Utilizing and exploring copy writing AI

👍 Learned about SEO and collecting great tools to validate, research and implement SEO

👍 Released Timeva v0.0.14 with theme names, theme copy, and improved auto update UX

👍 Learned Tailwind CSS.

👍 Discovered and implemented slick Vue.js animation library @vueuse/motion

👍 'How I code custom components...' youtube video surpassed 100 views!

👍 Released two dev focused youtube videos ('Tailwind CSS...' and 'Vue Animations...') and cheatsheets to help developers try new tech!

👍 Started the quest to find part-time work to increase runway. Had 2 great interviews for a Sr. Front-end position.

Retrospective

🧠 2022 is halfway over now. It's unlikely I'll hit my 2022 goal of $1k/MRR from $6/MRR but that changes nothing. I have time to build one additional product this year and I'm going to give it everything I have.

🧠 June felt slow. Looking back, I accomplished a decent amount. It can be hard building for the future with no immediate ROI. I'm thankful for my habits that pushed me through even on my worst days.

🧠 I'm still dealing with the mental discomfort of transitioning from my first product (Light Bulb) to my second (Timeva).

🧠 It's hard to give something you love less of your time to make something new but it's healthy to let go and required as a solopreneur.

🧠 I need to automate and scale my efforts. I have tricks up my sleeve and need to spend the time getting them out my sleeve.

🧠 I'm proud of myself for not putting tons of additional dev effort into Timeva without direct user feedback.

🧠 I need to make sure I'm getting clear analytics for Timeva in app events and fix the background freeze bug.

What's next?

🗓 Architect my next product and create the first functional version for personal use and testing

🗓 Timeva analytic improvements & fixes

🗓 Marketing automation

🗓 Locking in part-time work

🗓 More great blogs like 'When you win, what will you do'

🗓 More copy writing AI tool experimentation

🗓 Improved SEO abilities, tools and knowledge

🗓 20 Youtube subscribers!

🗓 Second Timeva member key sale!

Feel free to join the journey to become a solopreneur. Connect on any platform and I'll see you in the next one 👋.

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