Gave up 300K/yr as a blockchain dev to make a pomodoro timer 🤔 AMA!

Hey Dago 😊💜 Thanks for reminding me to break down my goals into smaller ones 😆

I currently have about 15 - 20 customers (I'd need to make the full count lol). So, let's say, for the next 10 users, I have devised a marketing and cold selling plan. Mostly, I plan on using the powerful search engines that Twitter and Reddit offer to make some cold 1-on-1 sales.

Here's my full plan

So far I had medium success (got some sales, but nothing too crazy). I'll keep putting in some work in and adapting my plan, maybe I can just pull it off with slow organic growth 😄😊

Also, doing cold sales seems to have boosted my ASO (SEO for the app store) by quite a lot, so maybe I'll start getting more sales from the distribution and exposure of the app store 👌

Hey, thank you so much for chiming in! 💜

When you decided to become an indie app developer, did you gave up your job and became self-employed? How did you manage the financial responsibilities (rent, food, ...)?

I did give it up. I am doing freelance to pay the bills, but I make sure that I work as least as I can to dedicate most of my time making apps 😊 My financial plan is what I call a Job MED. More on that here if you're interested: https://newsletter.maximedupre.com/issues/why-i-decided-that-being-an-indie-app-maker-having-a-300k-job-913972

And what about the emotions in such a situation (uncertainty about future)?

This will sound weird, but I've come to enjoy those emotions (or at least embrace them). I've come to realize that uncertainty brings pure excitement, and at this point of my life, I'm choosing excitement over comfort and security 10/10 times. Furthermore, those challenging emotions bring up the best in me and they force me to grow 🙏

And again another question :D You decided to make your "learn project" to a real product. At which point did you recognize that you can sell your product? I am asking this because I am a backend developer, learning frontend right now and also will probably learn it by doing some side projects. And I thought about maybe also building something useful for others, too.

I love this 😊 I just scratch my own itch. I believe that if I build something that I love using, chances are that others will love using it too. Just find a problem in your life that really annoys you and that you are passionate about solving and do it! Then share your solution with the rest of the world. People will likely buy it and if not, no problem, you had a blast doing it and you are solving a real problem in your life.

I hope this helps 🙏

Hey Zahil 😊

I first went through this course on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/ethereum-and-solidity-the-complete-developers-guide

But really I learned much more by working on some random projects than I did by watching any course.

Hi Alex 👋😊

Great question.

I'm more interested in ideas than technologies. I only work on ideas that I am very excited about 😊

So:

If the idea necessitates me to learn or use a new tech? Awesome 😎

If the idea necessitates me to use JS, a programming language that I have used for 15 years? Great 😆

While I love the blockchain space, I don't have any itch I'd like to scratch that's blockchain-related. It's the itch that keeps me going every day, not the tech 😎 I'm definitely open to the idea of building more smart contracts in the future (if an itch appears 😁).

Hey Joe 😎

The realization that “Every man has two lives, and the second starts when he realizes he has just one” — Confucius

drops the mic

Haha exactly 😅

But I'm not thinking in terms of which tech to use - I just work on ideas I'm excited about. Whatever tech is needed to make my ideas come alive is the tech I'll be using 😊

Who knows, I might be back to doing Solidity in the future 😎

Hey Matt, thanks for the question 😊

The transition has been nothing short of life-changing. If you want to stop deferring happiness and excitement in the future and stomach the tradeoff of less money security and a little bit more stress, I highly recommend it 🙏

If someone else wants to go all in, this is what I'd say:

1. Make sure you understand the sacrifices you'll be making and make sure you fully accept them in advance. Accept the worst outcome before even into this adventure.
2. Make sure you reduce your expenses beforehand and have a job MED if you have no savings or runway. More on job MED here: https://newsletter.maximedupre.com/issues/why-i-decided-that-being-an-indie-app-maker-having-a-300k-job-913972

Great question Matt, thanks a lot 😎

Hey Stan, thank you sir 😆 I might just be crazy 😅

Hey Damien 👋

The idea of a Job MED (Minimum Effective Dose) is so incredibly important. I lowered my living costs so I could reduce hours to part-time (10 hours/wk). If I hadn't done that I wouldn't have made a fraction of the progress I have made. Learning to live like this has also cemented the idea that I never want a full-time job again... I'd happily make the sacrifice for what is priceless personal time.

💯 That's exactly how I feel. Couldn't have said it better!

Would you recommend blockchain dev contracting over web? I'm sure I could get a higher rate in blockchain. What kinds of blockchain projects did you work on? I just want to avoid getting involved with scammy projects, building utility into meme coins that kind of thing.

To answer the first part of your question, I'll quote my blog post

"3. Optimize for mental energy
I could keep freelancing as a blockchain dev and make $155 per hour. But I won’t. Why? It might seem like I’m contradicting myself because I’d be working less if I did. See, I’ve been a web developer for more than a decade before I even knew what blockchain was. Web development is easy for me. I don’t need to have massive bouts of learning. It takes no effort. I don’t have to worry about my performance. I already have all the clients I need. I can get in, do my job and do it well so that I can get out and focus on my business without expending too much mental energy."

If you feel like you wouldn't be expending too much mental energy doing blockchain freelancing, definitely do it for the higher rate 👌

I usually worked on ERC-20 tokens of all sort, but mostly reflection-based tokens.

I hope I could help a bit Damien ☺️ Thanks for chiming in!

Hey 😇

My strategy is only to scratch my own itch and share the solution publicly. This maximizes for enjoyment, excitement and lifestyle.

Being passionate about what I'm working on is what gets me up in the morning and makes me stay consistent.

Hope this helps 😎

I think it's a balance. You don't want to waste too much time on something that isn't viable, and yet you'll build the most value over the long-term.

Maybe compromise on a medium-term cut off? For example, you go all in on an idea for 3 months and then decide if it's proven viable enough to continue, or move onto another idea.

One of the difficulties I had is sunk cost fallacy. Once you've committed to something over the long-term it can be very hard to walk away even if you know it's the right thing to do.

Hey Timothy 😎 Thanks for the question 😊

What made you quit and not build on the side? Not a great work life balance at the job?

I'm more of a "burn the boats" kinda guy 😅 I don't even think it's the smartest move, but that's just how my brain works 🤷🏻‍♂️

It's very hard for me to work at a job when every cell in body wants me to do something else. It's infernal 😄

Check out this blog post if you're interested in a more in-depth answer 😊

https://newsletter.maximedupre.com/issues/why-i-decided-that-being-an-indie-app-maker-having-a-300k-job-913972

Hey mrdodo 👋😊!

Definitely.

That being said, it doesn't need to be much. I like to build dummy projects while I'm learning something just to have proof of skills. You just want to reassure the person that will be reviewing your proposal.

As long as you're confident in your abilities and show up as such in an interview, having some small projects to illustrate your capabilities is more than enough in my experience.

Keep in mind that is just needed for your first contract, as by the second contract you should have at least 1 solid item in your portfolio 😉

I hope this helps 😊

It definitely did. But honestly, if I had an itch to scratch that would necessitate the use of this tech, I'd definitely do it. Although I find the tech completely revolutionary and disruptive (in the good sense), I don't have much interest in building something with it.

Hi Craig 👋😊

Question #1: How did you get to $155/hour as blockchain solidty dev with zero blockchain experieince in 3 months? (Question 1a: What was you full stack knowledge before month 0 blockchain learning?)

I just learned about it and got my first contract on Upwork 🙃 The rest was crazy word to mouth. Blockchain dev are HIGHLY in demand. This might help answer your question 👌

Question #2: Were you freelancing or fulltime employee? If freelance, could you have done both at the same time?

Freelance! I could have done both at the same time. I just don't want to waste time or mental energy on something other than what I want to do 😇 Check this out if you'd like more info on my thought process

Question 3: As someone very near burning out of the "unlimited" runway i thought I had and no closer to making $$ on my side project, and being a developer with 10 years experieince, would you recommend learning blockchain dev to do the type of job you did to replinish my runway?

That's definitely the right option if you want to maximize the amount of money you make and don't mind because compensated en exchange of your time 👌

I hope this helps 😊 Don't hesitate if you have more questions 💪

Hey Damien 👋😊

Check this out

Don't hesitate if you have some more questions 😇

Hey 👋😊

Read your post and idea comes to me - make a Blockchain pomodoro timer.
With smart contracts for deadlines between chain users. With photo validation.
How about implementation?

I like crazy ideas like that 😆 I'm not sure my users would prioritize this feature, so I'll let you take a stab at it hahaha

Also, I made my own free Pomodoro timer for windows. Maybe it helps somebody.
https://taskboard.pro/timer/

Look cool 👌 I wish I understood Russian 😅

Cheers 🔥

Hey Piyush 👋

Sure! This should be helpful:

I first went through this course on Udemy. Then I started creating dummy projects, just for the purpose of learning.

Then I started looking for contracts online. Here's the process I used to gain clients on Upwork.

I hope this helps 😊 Don't hesitate if you have more questions 💪

Hi Abhi 👋

Of course!

I first went through this course on Udemy. Then I started creating dummy projects, just for the purpose of learning.

Then I started looking for contracts online. Here's the process I used to gain clients on Upwork.

I hope this helps 😊 Don't hesitate if you have more questions 💪

Hi Eshika 👋 I'm not sure I understand what you mean 😅 Can you elaborate?

Thanks 🙏

Hey Martin 👋

I got the first contract on Upwork, of all places 😆 Then there was a lot of word to mouth and got referred most of the time (the clients came to me instead).

Here's a process I used on Upwork to gain clients

There is huge demand for blockchain devs. It doesn't really matter if you have previous experience or not, so long as you understand Solidity pretty well 😎

I hope this helps 🙏

Thanks 😊😎

Hmm, I'd say no more than a month or two. I don't really remember the exact duration TBH, as I was also in the middle of learning Swift. Sometimes I could watch a course for a couple of days, so that also delayed the MVP progress. I hope this help 😌

Of course Sergey 😊 Once you've learned how to do some Solidity, I recommend you

1. Go on Upwork and apply to jobs until you have no more credits.
2. Save a search query on your dashboard for blockchain jobs
3. Every day buy some 1$ credits to apply to some new jobs

It literally only takes 1 person to hire you to make it all worth it at > 125$/hr. I usually found a client in less than a week using this process. I hope this helps 🚀

Hey Janinah 👋 That's awesome news 😎 It will get hard (it always does) and you will start to doubt and question your decision. In those moments, remember why you are doing it - to live life on your own terms 😌

Cheers!

Hey Nathan 😇

I've been surprised by how much my ASO (SEO for the app store, for those who don't know) has been boosted by doing cold selling 😮 In some cases I've jumped from position 50 to position 15 for a specific keyword 🤯

I don't think anything has been harder than I expected, because my expectations were already that would be extremely hard 😆 I like managing my expectations that way, I can only be positively surprised when I have some small amount of success 😊

PS: Twitter and Reddit search engine is a game-changer to target your potential customers for cold selling 😎

Hi Sophia 👋

Thanks for the question 😊

I assume that by asking me about my "cheapest lesson", you are referring to the most valuable lesson I got from my journey that caused the least emotional/financial/personal turbulence (and then the opposite with the most expensive lesson)

I'd say the cheapest lesson I got was that listening to my gut instinct is always the right decision. I had doubts and fears, and although indie making is not the easiest path, I have not regretted it one second. Life is short and I got no time to waste 😄🙏 It was the cheapest lesson, because it was really more like a confirmation. I was at a point where I already felt good about taking the leap and accepted all possible outcomes.

My most expensive lesson is literally my most expensive lesson 😆 Going from a pretty good salary to just a fraction of what I was making before is uncomfortable. But hopefully, I can turn things around in the future and live on my own terms 😎

I hope this answers it Sophia 😊

Hey Mike! I'm really impressed, thanks for the inspiration 👌 Your ASO course also looks tremendous, I might take a shot at it in the near future 🔥

Would love to zoom with ya, DM me on Twitter :)

Hey Philippe 😊

I was really scared of marketing before starting my indie journey and building in public 😅 But now it's really become a source of joy to be active on Twitter (if you can consider that marketing). It's true that I enjoy a little bit less cold DMs and posting on subreddits, but it's still not that bad (I hope you don't hate me too much 😆).

My ideal ratio would be to do 75% building and 25% marketing, but truthfully I'm kind of addicted to Twitter now 😅 I need to work on that - we should always focus on building IMO.

So if anything, I'm having the opposite issue right now 🧐

I hope this answers your question 🙏💜

Thank Emin 🙃 Glad to be on this journey with you 🔥

Did you set a deadline or goal you are aiming for?

I have a 1K MR goal for 2022. I'm not sure if that counts as a deadline. I'm not really thinking too hard about it. I just love doing it and that's the most important to me. Once I stop enjoying working on Microbreak Boss or talking about it, then it will be time for me to move on.

Also, there might be a point soon in the future where I have no more features to add - let's not forget this is just a break timer 😄 When I feel like it is the best timer on the app store and does its specific job very well, then I might be inclined to start a new project 😎

Time will tell 😁

Hey Courtland, thanks for the question 😊

I do think web3 will change (is changing) the world. I'm not so sure if it will obviate many of our beloved web2 apps.

What might happen is that web2 apps will start including more and more web3 primitives (NFTs on Twitter sounds cool 😎) - a merge of some sort. I see web2 as an extension of web1 and web3 as an extension of web2. I don't think that's a perfect comparison, but I think it gets my point across that I don't think web2 and web3 are competing against each other.

But who knows. Maybe DESO will replace Twitter, Facebook & Reddit, for example 🤷🏻‍♂️

Web3 is clearly disrupting finance, art and gaming (amongst other things). None of these have a clear association to web2 in my head 🤔

I hope this rant made sense 😂 As you know very well, this is a complicated and nuanced subject 😶

Cheers!

Hey Hugo 😅 I appreciate that you took the AMA very literally 😂

When are you making it so that you have to stake X amount for every pomodoro timeslot, and if you slack off during it you get slashed?

I'll check with customer feedback before I can answer this 😆

I'll help you with a supervising videocamera w/ AI to judge if you're slacking off.

My man 🙏 I think with this feature Microbreak Boss should go to #1 in the App Store 😄

Hey 👋 Thanks for the great question 😊

After you quit your job as a blockchain dev, how much runway did you have? And what date did you quit?

I didn't have any runway 😄 I really don't have many expenses though - I can get by freelancing only a couple of hours per week with my existing customers. I quit about Q2 of 2021 🤔

Did you try managing your job and side projects or was it just not feasible?

I'm more of a "burn the boats" kinda guy 😅 I don't even think it's the smartest move, but that's just how my brain works 🤷🏻‍♂️

Check out this blog post if you're interested in a more in-depth answer 😊

https://newsletter.maximedupre.com/issues/why-i-decided-that-being-an-indie-app-maker-having-a-300k-job-913972

Hey Goutham, thanks for jumping in here 😎

I'd say the hardest part is that the market for break/productivity/focus/pomodoro timers is a crowded one (to say the least 😅). I had started this project just for learning purposes, but now I have so much fun building it that I don't want to stop 😂

I do feel like I have a unique product though 😊 I don't know if that's enough, but so long as I'm having fun I'll keep doing it 🚀

Enjoying the rollercoaster ride :D