It has been a year since I decided to start indie hacking at the end of 2023 and released my first app. To be honest, this year has been quite a failure. Apart from the apps I’ve been maintaining, which has generated some income, the apps I worked on this year basically didn’t make any money (current MRR at $45 collectively).
After reflecting, I think the reasons are as follows:
- The products I made were not essential, and the target audience was small. If I want to do this full-time, I need to ensure that the features I develop are “painkillers”, not just “vitamins”.
- I didn’t spend enough time on marketing, and I often made excuses for not doing it. Many times, I’d tell myself, “it is hard to add a blog to the current codebase,” or “I’m not good at editing videos.” Apps could have continuously attracted customers through consistent marketing efforts, but without content, it’s like fishing without bait.
- I lacked discipline and planning when I worked. I often stopped halfway through updating features, and when I tried to pick them up again, it was difficult to get started, and my laziness got the better of me.
- The quality of the products was low. I underestimated the learning curve of developing iOS apps. The quality, especially the app preview and onboarding sections, was poor, resulting in low conversion rates.
What I did well this past year:
- I provided good service to potential customers, which helped with conversions. This was largely thanks to the sales skills I developed while freelancing on Upwork.
- I gained a lot of indie dev experience and now have built an internal framework for shipping products faster.
- I tried and learned to do marketing, especially on setting up ad campaigns.
My goals for next year:
In 2025, I am going to take indie hacking more seriously, especially around gathering requirements, conducting keyword research, and diving deeper into SEO, pSEO, ASO, and ad campaigns. The apps I make don’t need to be complex, but they must address real needs. Additionally, I want to leverage my engineering strengths and consider working on more B2B products such as selling APIs or even boilerplate code.
Goals for next year:
- Before the Lunar New Year (Jan 28), put in enough effort for marketing and polishing existing products.
- Release at least one more app by March, with a planned marketing strategy.
- Hit $1,000 MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) by June 2025.
- Hit $3,000 MRR by the end of 2025.