TBH this post is just me trying to overcome my fear of engagement.
OK, so I've been on IH for a little while now. WONDERFUL site. Awesome community. I love the podcasts and I have been soaking up knowledge from you guys for quite awhile now.
But, in truth it hit me recently that I'm not a REAL indie hacker yet.
It's difficult for me to admit that actually and to clarify (if not already clear) I'm posting this because I know now that if I don't learn how to just put myself out there to even a SMALL degree, I probably never will, especially if it's something I really have worked hard for and care about. So the first step for me is posting this.
It's funny, even though I've been building things for so long it never really deeply hit me until now that putting yourself out there is almost like a muscle. If you don't do it often, it'll get harder and harder to do it. Also, when the stakes are higher it's almost like trying to carry more weight.
What lead me up to this specifically was recently learning about the stair-step approach from Rob Walling on the podcast:
https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/178-rob-walling-of-tinyseed
This encouraged me to start looking for some simpler ideas of quick things I could build to try and just feel that feeling of success.
After looking around for a bit I found a video that made shopify development look pretty attractive to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di50Y5b20p8
Side note:
If you're not already familiar with shopify, things have changed a lot since the video was done. The easiest way I found to get into it was to use the shopify CLI to generate a nextjs/node project and then just followed their tutorial to get a feel for what it would take.
https://shopify.github.io/shopify-app-cli/
https://shopify.dev/tutorials/build-a-shopify-app-with-node-and-react
Anyway, I went through all of this and learned the basics.
Then I went on the shopify subreddit for ideas and found one that looked viable and pretty easy for me to do. It's still has got a few kinks but I now have a product that is basically ready for users, but that's when everything stopped.
It feels ridiculous to write this but I've never gotten this far before and when it hit me all of a sudden that, "Whoa, this could actually work, I might get real users for this." All of a sudden I started shutting down. It's like I can't see the next step. I'm not accustom to that. Logically I understand what needs to occur next. Just do it.
But, ACTUALLY doing that.
It feels like looking down a cliff.
I'm sure others here have had to overcome this feeling before. I'm just wondering, once you have broke through this. Does it get easier to try something new again? For me the whole point of doing the smaller thing is to do the bigger thing.
Or, is this unique? Maybe there aren't as many people on here who have this phobia as I'd like to believe. I'm just curious.
First, well done on the steps you've taken so far.
Second, it definitely gets easier. For sure.
Third, most fears are entirely and unnecessarily self-inflicted. Even if you "fail" at your current project, all that matters is your gaining knowledge and experience for the next time.
As cliche as this is, I like to think about the indiehacker journey as climbing an enormous mountain. Some people are at the bottom just starting out. Some people are in the middle, some are near the top. Some climbers are fast, in great shape and well prepared. Others less so. Some may have fallen down and have bruises and injuries. But all that matters to you is consistenting taking steps forward day after day. At the bottom of the mountain, it's easy to say "wow, I'll never be like those climbers way up there." But that's silly, every climber "up there" started where you are – they've just been doing it for longer. You don't have to be embarrassed or worried about not being a "real" indiehacker. Nobody high up the mountain is looking down and laughing at the people below. In fact, it's quite the opposite – they all remember how hard it was at the beginning and they are cheering for you and hoping you keep at it. You may not be able to see the next steps and that is disconcerting. But you can also be assured that people have come before and succeeded.
To me, the most important things are:
Just keep moving forward, learning and making progress. Good luck!
All the posts I got before got me really motivated so I started working again and wasn't really watching IH. But I just wanted to say that this analogy is excellent - thank you for the insight, I will remember it.
Good luck to you! 👍
Beautifully worded, Steven!
This would also make for a nice standalone post if you're interested in making one. ;)
Thanks! Maybe I will make a post out of it.
Good job in posting this and putting yourself out there. 👍
Whenever you do something, it will be a little bit easier the next time. If you do it repeatedly, it will become second nature at some point. Keep putting yourself out there.
Thank you I will.
Hopefully, I'll soon have some cool new thing to show you all with a success story tied too it!
Good luck!
This comment was deleted 4 years ago.
Thanks for responding anilkilic
"This may occur due to lack of experience on selling stuff. You probably used to build, never think of selling them, how to find people, reach them, talk to them, convince them to buy. How about its ethics, how about its costs... "
I'm certain this is it. I've also built lots of things for people who already figured out marketing,sales,etc.
I've heard them talk and researched a bit about what's involved but it seems that is always a totally different experience from actually doing it.
"There are more to consider I believe I only faced 10% of those obstacles. So I'd suggest you to take the next step without overthinking. Do you need a landing page, go start building it, it should take less time than overthinking."
Yeah I'm realizing I've faced maybe 1% of that so far.
But today that feels pretty encouraging, time for the next challenge.
Feeling much more focused today, so time to go tackle this without getting too caught up with the future.