9-5 job → one-person business. Building lovable and useful webapps in public for a life of freedom, clarity & growth.🐻 https://nitter.gq/t.co/1aIQMTC1aK https://nitter.gq/t.co/pTIv63RmqP
Joined January 2012
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As an employee, I thought it was about the salary.
When I became a solo builder, I thought it was about the product.
Now I realize it's all about the people.
I've learned that you should ship before it feels ready and talk a lot about the idea upfront.
Also, not every idea needs to become a product. ☝️Ditch the so-so ideas and focus on the good ones.
I started writing down everything in my head and my stress dropped noticeably.
The brain keeps cycling through a thought until it trusts something is holding it. A note does that. Your head is a bad storage unit, because you're using it to think and remember at the same time.
For me, everything goes into Obsidian, mid-anything. A thought is gone in 10 seconds otherwise, and it will bother me later.
My only advice is to write down your decisions. Before you quit and before you launch.
Your gut feels sure in the moment, but the page shows what you actually knew.
I can't decide which MacBook Pro to buy. 🧐
Please help.
Is the new PROLED touchscreen worth the extra cost if I don't use the touchscreen at all? Is the display quality that much better?
And for local LLMs, should I go with 48 GB or just get 64 GB right away?
A room full of nods means you've made peace with being agreeable.
If nobody ever disagrees, you're pitching ideas that don't cost anyone anything.
Ambitious ideas make people uncomfortable first and grateful later.
The reason for people to escape their 9-5 jobs and become entrepreneurs is oftentimes a deep desire to work on things that matter to them.
This can unlock unseen capabilities and motivation in persons that seemed to be mediocre in their jobs. In my opinion, starting a business is the perfect vessel to grow personally and become the best version of yourself.
Just realized I live the solo builder dream:
- Work on my own products
- Ship web apps on my own schedule
- Build in public and learn from other builders
- Pick my own hours for my own projects
- Be part of an amazing community of builders
Life is great 🤗
Things a solo builder needs before writing any code:
1. A problem you've had yourself
2. One person who'd use it
3. A single core feature
4. A landing page that explains it in 10 seconds
5. A day to launch it
Think back to the days at your 9-5 when you did what was asked and the days you worked on your own project.
Compare how you felt at the end of each one.
Something I've noticed building apps:
Starting a new app feels exciting, while shipping the last 10% feels boring.
The builders who keep going through the boring part are the ones who actually launch.
And the ones who handle the marketing well are the ones who succeed.
I hid a Halloween easter egg in Turbo Agenda 🎃
Do you like it?
(If you already know Turbo Agenda, you can jump to 0:30 for the easter egg.)
Lots of people swear by talking to AI. I still type, and copy & paste a lot.
How do you operate with AI, and why? Typing or voice?
How to become unbeatable:
- Experiment relentlessly
- Build in public
- Embrace failure
- Learn from feedback
- Follow the data
- Double down on what works
- Enjoy the process
It’s hard to beat someone who never stops learning and improving.
The older I get, the more I realize most of my suffering was an interpretation, not a fact.
- A difficult conversation: a burden or a gift?
- A rainy Sunday: a lost day or a free one?
- The concert: do you enjoy it, or spend it complaining about the price, the crowd and the sound?
The event is one part of the story.
The meaning we give it is the crucial thing.
