39-year-old founder financing his journey with freelancing: “It’s the best way to learn how to run a business.”

Sashe Vuchkov's dream is to build one or more profitable micro-SaaS projects but he's had no big successes so far. Still, he's keeping the faith with his latest project is JSFreak.com. Here's how he's funding his journey to profitability.

Financing his journey

Sashe loves writing: blogs, posts, ebooks, poetry, jokes, and even software. He believes making software is creative writing on a higher plane. 

That's how he made his first dollars online — by selling freelance services to Bulgarian clients. The first time a client hired him, he wasn’t worried about his skills but as an introvert, the requirement to communicate with a stranger was the bigger challenge. Those first few video calls were a big undertaking according to him.

The solo founder started JSFreak.com as a side hustle, but is currently transitioning to work on it full-time.

"I keep the lights on by freelancing on Upwork and elsewhere, but my dream is to have one or more profitable micro-SaaS projects"

Business expenses

JSFreak.com, is a Wordle-like game for JavaScript developers, which can be played for free and requires no registration. Currently, it's available on a freemium model.

If the user plays the game on a regular basis, they can create a free account and start tracking their game stats. Sashe releases a new game daily. So, users can also subscribe to a daily email alert and get a notification when a new game is available.

There are several ways he believes he can monetize JSFreak but for now, he's working on getting feedback from actual users. Meanwhile, here's what he's spending on it:

• SiteGround Hosting: $40

• Google Cloud: $15

• Google Workspace: $6

• Mailgun: $35

• MidJourney: $10

• Domains: $20 

• PHPStorm: $9

• PhotoShop: $10

• Other: $50

Personal finances

Sashe says he's now spending less and less time on freelance gigs but it's still his primary source of income:

• Freelancing: $5,000 MRR

• Founder pay: $1000 a month max

• JSFreak revenue: $0 MRR

• Bank accounts: 2 years of personal and business expenses

Keeping things lean, he uses Google Sheets to budget his minimal expenses:

• Utilities: $317

• Food: $300 - $400

• Leisure:  $300 - $400

• Taxes: $325

• Upwork: $220 - $620

Become a creator of value

At a time when economies are more service-based, Sashe thinks there's no shortage of money. Thanks to industries like education, entertainment, travel, professional services, and more, he says you can start a business with zero capital and make a good living from it. 

There will always be room for yet another service provider, entertainer, or Indiehacker because there are endless possibilities for customization and personalization of the different offerings.

"There's an unlimited quantity of money that can be created with the creation of new value. All you need to get a slice of that money is to become a creator of value."

His advice is to finance your journey with freelancing.

" It’s the best way to learn how to run a business, and you don’t need any capital."

Savings and investments

While Sashe is debt-free, he saves a minimum of 10% of his gross income. As a resident of Sofia, Bulgaria, at least 20% of his income goes into a state social security system.

Ignoring the advice to “start investing early", he has chosen instead to invest in his education and projects. Reading books on how to write non-fiction, fiction, jokes, poetry, blog posts, copywriting, is all an investment for him.

"They say you can’t make much money writing, but that’s not true."

He believes writing is a core skill that you can use to supplement your other skills and your business as there's no success without clear and persuasive communication.  

Money-saving hobbies

It's the ideal scenario when your hobbies feed into your work so Sashe thinks his hobbies ultimately end up saving him money. In fact, he counts learning new things such as reading, writing, coding, and marketing as his biggest guilty pleasure. 

"I can lock myself in a cabin doing this for months and maybe even years."

To him, money is a byproduct, not the goal. He believes it's more important to improve your skills, character and create something valuable in big quantities.

"Always look at how to help the people who deserve it. The money will follow."