From scarcity mindset to building an agency and three profitable SaaS products: A peek at an indie hacker's finances

Javier Velazquez started a marketing agency and used it to fund and build three profitable SaaS products. I caught up with him to talk about the numbers behind his success.

It's not often that we get to peek behind the curtain at a person's finances. But in this series, we're doing exactly that. Let's dive in. 👇

The hard numbers

Here's what he brings in:

• Formwise Revenue: $6.7K MRR
• Formwise founder pay: $0
• Total Brandlyft (marketing agency), Lead Dragon (SaaS), and White Label Chat GPT-3 (SaaS) revenue: $35k MRR
• Other income streams: <$100,000 (marketing agency, SaaS, and CMO consulting)
• Personal savings: Under $50k due to recent a real estate investment
• Business savings: 6 months of runway without revenue

Formwise's expenses are pretty minimal, and they're paid by Javier's marketing agency:

• Total: $2,876/mo
• Server: $200/mo
• Webflow: $50/mo
• Monday: $100/mo
• Canva: $12/mo
• Loom: $14/mo
• Bubble: $150/mo
• Marketing: $2,000/mo

And here are his personal expenses:

• Total: $3700/mo
• Mortgage: $1600/mo
• Insurances: $500/mo
• Utilities: $500/mo
• Food: $500/mo
• Gas: $100/mo
• Misc: $500/mo

With the numbers out of the way, let's see what he had to say about his finances.

Cultivate the right mindset

💰 "My parents were immigrants so they were tight-wads. I was always a saver but I became aware of my scarcity mindset and I didn't want to become like them, always worrying about money." —Javier

When Javier got out of high school and started paying bills of his own, he came to realize how quickly money comes and goes. Just one unexpected expense and poof, what little money he had saved was gone.

So he decided to enjoy the money he had instead of letting it disappear on something he didn't even want.

That doesn't mean he spends it willy-nilly.

And it also doesn't mean he doesn't stress about it. He just doesn't want the stress to control his life. As he says, he could die tomorrow.

I thought that piece about changing his mindset was really interesting. Can a change in mindset change your financial circumstances?

💰 "Yes, I feel like it has [affected my circumstances]. I don't feel wealthy but I am blessed. I am glad I've had the ability to make good decisions and I was surrounded by good mentors and advisors I could draw experience from." —Javier

Build businesses that fund new businesses

Javier started his marketing agency, Brandlyft, right out of high school, bringing on a partner a few years later. He soon became interested in the SaaS world, but didn't have the technical chops to make it happen, so he found a third partner to build the ideas he'd had.

He already had a good reputation in the agency world, so he was able to cross-sell and build another revenue channel. That's how he built LeadDragon and White Label Chat GPT-3.

Then, this March, he launched Formwise, which already hit $6.7k MRR. Currently, it's a side-project, with no one working full-time. They just work on it between other responsibilities.

And the great thing about all this? Formwise is fully funded by the marketing agency. It pays nearly all the bills, including a $2k/mo marketing budget.

Deferring payment

Javier and his partners have decided not to pay themselves from Formwise's revenue until they hit $10k MRR. The amount they take will then increase at certain financial milestones.

Of course, they do take home money from the other two businesses.

Strategic partner investors (vs VC)

As I mentioned, money is flowing into Formwise via the marketing agency. But Javier is also looking for funding, which he expects to secure later this quarter.

And they aren't just looking for any old VC funding.

They're looking for strategic partner investors who have large, complimentary audiences and distribution channels. Strategic partners like this often invest less cash, but that's ok by Javier. As he says it, if all they needed was money, they'd take out a loan and keep the equity.

It's a vertical growth strategy.

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Holding companies

Javier has business accounts for each of his companies. He also has a personal account (obviously) and an account for his holding company. The latter, by the way, is called Hyrule Capital, which I've gotta assume is a pretty awesome nod to Zelda.

He has this holding company for tax purposes. It's necessary since there are multiple businesses that he has equity in.

Invest in... blue-collar companies?

Speaking of which, Javier likes to invest.

He has a small index fund that he has contributed $250/mo to since he was 19. And he just bought real estate.

It's a nice little creek-side cabin that he currently lives in with his wife. But they're considering making it a rental in a year or so, as other cabins in the area are fully-booked.

💰 "I invest in lifestyle too. I have a cabin with Starlink on a creek and the fact I can fish in between Zoom calls is the best therapeutic investment I've ever made. I have also lost weight being able to walk the trails near my home." —Javier

His lifestyle investing also includes travel and good food. And he'd like to acquire small businesses in the future too.

💰 "[I'd like to] acquire small businesses that have solid blue-collar talents and optimize them. I think these will be valuable in the future. Have you seen how much A/C installation costs?" —Javier

Never pay interest

Javier isn't opposed to debt, but he is opposed to paying interest.

💰 "Avoid high-interest loans, especially student loans. I know friends who have financially crippled themselves for a decade or more due to this. I think they are victims of a predatory system, and they were not prepared to overcome the naiveness involved in making those decisions at a young age." —Javier

He says he always has $1-3k debt on his zero-interest credit card. He mostly uses it for paying monthly expenses like bills. And whenever the offer is about to expire, he refinances to another zero-interest card.

He says he never uses anything where he has to pay interest/usury. His parents were the same.

That said, he does have a mortgage and a car loan.

Some advice: Revenue > website

💰 "Keep things lean as all be, and focus on getting revenue before you spend on a fancy website. Build content marketing around your core avatar." —Javier

What financial tools should you be using?

Javier uses the Personal Capital app for budgeting.

You can find Javier on LinkedIn, or check out Brandlyft, LeadDragon, White Label Chat GPT-3, and Formwise.

And if you'd like to be featured as a guest in a future interview for this series, let me know in the comments!