Sometimes a little step away from the work is what it takes to uncover that idea or solution you’ve been trying to force. #buildinpublic #indiehackers

After building projects privately for the last decade, building in public itself feels like a "fail" at the start. Easy to think I'm writing for no one, unsure of myself, unsure of the point.

Abandon your desire for instant gratification, everything you attempt will be better for it. Need a cure? Hop on a skateboard and figure out how to do a kickflip. (wear a helmet)

Every once in while I think I fool myself into thinking I'm building solutions for big teams and everybody else. Not the case. I build stuff mostly for people like me: people who like to run lean, stay scrappy, and clean up. #buildinpublic #indiehackers

Not everything you build lasts forever Technology evolves, competitors come along, customers change, the rules/rates on rented land change, etc. Keep that in mind and be prepared for the change. Build a list of customers that can move to a new project, exit while things are still good, etc.

You don’t have to build unicorns, you know. A good cow or two, some goats, llamas, or even a handful of chickens might get you what you want. Heck, start with an ant farm if you have to. #buildinpublic #indiehackers

2 secret ways to getting what you want: 1) Make it happen. or 2) Find a wealthy old person you can cozy up to for their remaining years. Good luck!

If you're a solo maker or small team, think in reusable systems. Once you're familiar with something, each time you use it, it gets easier. That compounds pretty fast, and eliminates some of the psuedo-productivity that can creep into any project. #buildinpublic #indiehackers

I've lost track of how many failures I've had since I started. But stacking some months that exceed my old W-2's annual salary make the leaner times much easier to weather. And I've had some decent runs of lean times! Ultimately, still enjoying it, and all certainly worth it. #buildinpublic

People obsess about tech stacks. I'm a dad, I've got a toddler. I personally don't want to be spending any time messing around in AWS. Sometimes paying a little extra for simplicity and abstraction is the right call - especially at the beginning. #buildinpublic #indiehackers

You don't have to reinvent the wheel. When I first started building sites on WP, I'd find something that worked, copy the setup, tools, and strategy to a new instance and create a variation of the winner. Same blueprint with a new spin. That approach can re-apply to almost anything.

SLAPPSHELL's main use-cases & licensing options: - Small businesses: Get a single tier self-hosted or managed service. - Developers/Freelancers: Pro tier self-hosted to ship white-label serviceCRM for your own clients. - Reseller license to sell the boilerplate yourself. youtu.be/pzgwg3LNCKs

When I started, I quit my job, cashed out my 401K, and jumped into an idea with basically no market research or validation. Probably not the smartest approach, and that idea totally sucked. But there's something valuable in just jumping in and starting the damn thing. #buildinpublic

Staying curious has been the most valuable thing for me so far. Open your mind and welcome new experiences. Ask someone who knows. Hire someone. Partner with someone. Use what you need to. You don't have to figure it out all at once or have the answers in order to start. #buildinpublic

Holidays are a busy time for one business I run that involves selling artwork on Etsy. In the descriptions I include when to order by to receive before Xmas. And every year, I get the same messages: #buildinpublic #indiehackers

I almost quit at the beginning of 2025. At that point, my losing streak was almost legal drinking age. Then, I had one more idea I wanted to try (the initial test idea for SLAPPSHELL) and had my best single month in a very long time.

The "iterate and adjust" stage is where you'll experience your setbacks and failures. That's not a bad thing though. That's where most of the valuable learning happens.

Your customers don't care about your tech stack. Should you? Here's what I actually use to launch & run projects super fast for ~$80/month (and you can start for free):

I just launched a whole bunch of use case landing pages for serviceCRM. If you're building solo, landing page templatization and SEO automation is a major asset. Way back when I would spend hours to days doing that manually - page by page - with excel & Wordpress. #buildinpublic

I was using the first iteration of serviceCRM myself to capture and manage my own leads before I started shaping it up for other businesses to use. To celebrate the launch week, I'm looking for some folks who'd like to get up and running with the platform for free! Reach out for details!

Pretty solid launch day on @ProductHunt so far. I think serviceCRM is tied for last! Check it out here: www.producthunt.com/products/ser...

Some people asked me about the article template I'm using. I built myself a template/system to help make that fast & easy for me so I can focus on the core of the broader project. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RT7... What's your system?

10 years ago I started a project stitching together beer koozies from old wetsuits in a 100-yr old basement. Now I build "money printers" This is how I got here, and how you can build your own: