From Layoff to $3K MRR: A 10-Day Challenge Success Story
I had set a 12-month goal of reaching $2500 MRR 🎯
About 3ish months in, I've already surpassed it! 🚀
The truth is, www.aiCarousels.com almost didn't happened. I wasn't really sure about the idea. But it was an incredibly stressful period in my life, and I needed to take my mind off the potential job cuts at my 9-to-5.
While I was waiting for the resolution of the situation, I challenged myself to a 10-day #buildinpublic #challenge (you can binge-watch the whole saga here: https://medium.com/@fernandopessagno)
I was thinking that worst case scenario, I just lose 10 days, and I still could think about something else and learn a thing or two! 🤷♂️
Looking back, that first version makes me cringe a bit. It was basic compared to how it works today 😅
However, it got the job done, kept me accountable, and was good enough to check if there was interest out there.
It also built momentum going forwards (shipping and rolling updates is way more exciting than building forever!)
As a foreign worker relying on a work visa, layoffs were my worst nightmare, and unfortunately, losing my job became a reality 😔
But then, realizing that just around 3 months ago, this project's MRR wasn't even a thing, and that if it triples, it could mean 10K per month, I think it was actually a blessing in disguise! 🙌🌟
In my specific case, I learned that when life gets a bit crazy, you can find ways to channel the negative energy into something awesome.
And if you're uncertain about bringing your new idea to life, maybe an X-day public challenge to put it out there can work for you too.
Challenges often get a bad reputation because of TikTok, and yes, you might see some shameless copycats (I've actually seen a few here trying to do that - always add your own twist to things!)
But I promise, this one isn't too bad! I highly recommend it.
PS. Still trying to sort out the visa thing! Not everything looks as good as the MRR chart – yet!
AI is Coming to Fuzen in January! 🚀
Google Whisk - Generate images using images as prompts, not text prompts
After 19,314 lines of code, i'm shutting down my project
Need feedback for my product.
40 open-source gems to replace your SaaS subscriptions 🔥 🚀
Challenges are a great way to get you going, I just finished a 7 day challenge myself to launch my project without getting lost on development. As you say, releasing new features and updates is way more exciting than building forever.
Congratulations on reaching your goal so soon, that is a good sign, and also, congratulations on the product, it looks sleek and really useful. I am creating my first carrousel!
I hope everything goes well with your visa 🤞
Thanks man and congrats as well! What have you built during those 7 days?
Way to go Fernando! And good luck on getting your visa.
🤜 💥🤛
This is an awesome project! As an international student myself i can definitely relate to the struggles that come with it. If you had the choice, would you head back home and keep working on this? Or would you rather find another job to keep your working status?
Thanks! No ... my life is here in Sweden now, I live with my GF here since 2 years ago. I will apply for another type of visa soon that hopefully put all these worries aside.
I love Sweden
Very inspring, thanks for sharing! I am fully empathize with you as I am also a foreign worker, and always need to consider visa thing. Your story is truly bold.
This comment was deleted a year ago.
Very motivating. Looking to launch in January myself 😬
Best of luck! Any hints of what´s about?
It's cool to see how taking a small step during uncertain times led to something big. Keep it up!
Congratulations on surpassing your MRR goal!
Public challenges can be a great way to stay motivated and accountable and to get feedback on your ideas. I'm glad it worked for you!
I wish you all the best in sorting out your visa situation.
Thanks man, I really appreciate this!
That is inspiring. I’ve been thinking of building something AI powered as well but it’s seems all my ideas are already been done.
Hello good afternoon, if you are interested we can work together on your idea I am good at marketing and I can bring you value, I am from mexico.
You can still create something that already exists, but make it better! In my opinion, the AI features should merely be a layer on top of a solid product.
The main thing here is you need to either get started or life will eventually force you to get started. That why I recommend anyone reading this to just get started even if it small. Here read this article Be patient to start small while thinking big.
Just do small project and try to sell it. It will teach you a lot of thing more than anything you have done in your life.
Congrats! What advice would you give us hackers on finding the next AI gig?
well I'm not one to give advice often, but even though I have nothing against chatGPT wrappers, they seem more like a short-term strategy. I would consider creating a product in the traditional sense, not just an "AI gig" thing. It should be something that's good even without the AI features, where the AI only serves to enhance it.
gj Fernando!
great
Congratulations!! Good luck on your journey!
UI of aiCarousels is very simple and clean, your journey radiates inspiration and the power of perseverance! 🌟🚀
Appreciated!
Good Luck!
I have read your posts on medium before. It is amazing to see. Good luck on your journey.
Thanks for mentioning that! It means a lot! When I wrote them, I thought nobody was going to read them.
Haha no. Your posts popup on my foryou on medium. and I love to read them.
💪
Curious what kind of SEO and link building you did outside of your 10 build in public posting on Medium and Twitter
mine was the first AI tool for making carousels, so when it came out, many publications and blogs, etc, posted about it = a lot of backlinks
Its motivating, Good luck on your journey!
🙌🙌🙌
I'm also on a journey with my SaaS to break free from the 9 to 5 grind. You are my inspiration! Good luck on your continued journey!
Hey thanks and best of luck to you to!
From which country you are trying to get visa? Countries like Malaysia is offering digital nomad visa and tech entrepreneur visa as well
Appreciate that ... Sweden is where I am and planning to stay. I will apply for I will apply for a partner's visa, it will take some time but I think it will be approved.
Good luck on your journey! 2023 has been tough but intrinsically motivated individuals always find a way even in the worst of scenarios.
Well said! And thank you!
Inspiring! Good luck on your journey!
thanks man I appreciate it!
Nice! What was your marketing strategy?
I mostly focus on SEO. Mine was the first AI carousel generator, and after launch, since it was a novelty, it was shared a lot on social media and gained many backlinks. This gave me a head start. Now, I am building many free social media tools in hopes they'll bring even more traffic.
🚀 Hey everyone! Abhi here! I'm back with a burst of energy and three exciting challenges! 💥
👔 Job Hunt (3 Days)
🎯 Goal: Land an awesome remote job!
🛠 Process: Sending over 500 job applications daily with some tech wizardry! 💼
💡 Productized Service (4 Days)
🎯 Goal: Sell Design | Development services for $200!
🛠 Process: Unleashing a killer marketing strategy to snag 5 clients and reaching out to a whopping 5000+ potential clients daily! 💰
🚀 Launch SaaS Product (4 Days)
🎯 Goal: Craft a B2B SaaS or tool making $1000 MRR!
🛠 Process: Kicking off Pre-Order Sales and crafting a strategy to reach a massive 5000+ user base! 🚀
🧠 Learning: Last time, I made a small but impactful mistake. Using the block time principle didn't quite work for me, so I'm now designing my days around themes to supercharge my focus! 💥
🌐 Info: Unfortunately, I had to skip these challenges last week due to some urgent work. But now, I'm all in, ready to put in the sweat and blood!
📈 Join me on this adventure, and I'll share my daily journey with you - the wins, the oopsies, and the growth! 📚💥
Let's do this! 💪💥 #Buildinpublic
what the hell is this comment???!!!