Thanks really cool. How amazing the mind is, like it has the function of resuming the dream from where it was left.
1,308 karma · joined March 6, 2019
"Not in the slightest. Reality still carries with it the endless enigma of unknowing. When I dream, I know I'm in dream. I know it is just a simulation created by my mind. But reality? I have no idea what reality -- waking life -- actually is. I have nothing to compare it to except for dreams, which stem from waking life. I love my reality, but I have also worked hard to build a reality I am very fond of."
From: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mrgep9/my_name_is_e_s...
Yes, the problem is getting there but with practice it’s doable for everyone.
Have you seen Prophetic AI? VC funded startup building a headset for inducing LD-s.
One side effect – I’ve learned – of seeing your income on colorful charts somehow wants to make it move UP by reducing expenses and finding additional income.
What would you add/remove? Maybe AI expense analysis based on uploaded bank statement?
A lot of us developers have websites. Why not add a "Hire Me" button for potential clients? Maybe we can make some extra money like this or even in time make it as our full-time freelance business.
I don't think I like Upwork (low prices?), TopTal (too exclusive?) or Contra (too many features?)
I just need a super simple site to list my skills and past projects. Maybe, and only maybe, there could also be some helpful tools, like an option to book a consultation call with me for a price.
It’s currently very simple on purpose and I’m choosing new features very slowly. Next up: - See how many times your profile is visited - Allow creating fixed price projects
Would be fun to hear what you think?
Rauno
Would be fun to read about the process of building and selling it!
But we never wanted just to work from anywhere. It was always about a more flexible lifestyle. And 4-day weeks could be the next important step. The tech sector will be probably leading the way, just as it did with remote work.
Would be interesting to hear what you think about 4-day week trend?
People are talking increasingly more about mental health, avoiding burnout, and work-life balance. Remote work was a niche thing in tech for quite some time until COVID acted as a catalyst. But we never wanted just to work from anywhere. It was always about a more flexible lifestyle. And 4-day weeks could be the next important step. The tech sector will be probably leading the way, just as it did with remote work.
Making a Google Sheets
I wanted to see how many tech companies I could find who are already advertising 4-day weeks on their career pages. So I started to build a list on Google Sheets and so far I've found 42 companies.
Building a frontend
Google Sheets is nice, but I needed a proper front end. I installed a fresh Laravel (my favorite!) and made an html/css draft. I never design in Figma, I like web browsers as my canvas directly.
Registering a domain
First, I wanted 4dayremote.com but it was taken. I also considered 4daysok.com but that's too similar to remoteok.com I went with 4daytech.com (registered via NameCheap).
Setting up database
I wanted to keep everything as simple as possible as I don't know if I will be working on the project in the future. It depends if it gets some traction or not. I discovered that Google Sheets has an API where I can just fetch data from a URL – perfect, I could use my already existing Google Sheet as a database.
Some technical work
Before getting the site up on the web, I had to do some technical stuff, like changing DNS records, creating a new site on my Digital Ocean server, and adding Plausible for gathering statistics.
Launch
It didn't take much time and this was important to me. I can't be sure if I can make some money with 4daytech.com so I wanted to start with something super simple. I spent some time in the morning at home and now wrote the blog post in a nearby park. Hope you like it!
Would be interesting to hear what you think about 4-day week trend?
But also, you can read Q&A-s with the founders about how they started, got their first customers, etc.
There are currently 200 founders making $1.6M per month with their solo startups.
Yes, in most cases, they're not making millions, but who needs millions anyway? If you can buy food, pay rent, and support your family with a product that you made with your own hands, wouldn't that be nice?
This is what my site https://microfounder.com is exactly about: "It's possible for a solo developer to build a profitable microstartup to pay the bills and live life on their own terms."
I feature new startups built by solo founders on the front page (for free) to show people that it's possible to build a profitable internet startup to pay the bills. Or, to keep the job and build a retirement fund, or travel fund, or whatever.
I'd say that every developer should think about it. Yes, of course, work your full time dev job but also start thinking and then building some small startups. Maybe you won't reach $10k MRR in a year (although I have many examples on my site who do) but still, you're starting to move in this direction.
And there's this question of "if" – can I succeed? Others are doing it, but me — me personally, can I do it? And I'd say of course, yes, 100% – because it's a matter of making the decision.
Anyways, I'm still planning to build a part of MicroFounder towards investments. Probably not legal/technical side but the marketplace, yes.
The idea is this: you're a developer and you want to build a (micro)startup that pays your bills etc. But it can be hard to find the necessary time and energy to work on it so much that it will succeed (or it takes just too long). And of course there's a risk that it will never take off.
So, you de-risk and sell part of it to an investor. Maybe even not a % of the company but you agree on a profit share for some period/amount.
Because now you have an idea for a startup and – let's say — $120k to pay your salary until you reach $10k MRR, or something like that. You will focus on this startup and see if it works out or not after a year.
Another thing is from the point of the investors. Like this whole MicroAcquire thing. I was considering selling my other solo startup RemoteHunt.com – some investors said that "hey take like $120k for 10% but I still need you on the project as otherwise I have to hire a team etc that takes a lot of money, time, etc.)
Not because of the idea specifically! But I've seen in my own life and in the lives of other "microfounders" that if you're not sure about your startup idea or you don't have that much momentum going on with it (it's a new idea, you haven't thought about it much) it's much easier to abandon the idea when you hear from friends, investors, or just some random people on Twitter that this idea is not a good one and it probably won't succeed.
"We started with cold outreach to creators, Indie Hackers, and startup founders, who might be interested in our product." – Marie from Tally ($24k/mo)
Depending on the product, some communities can be also helpful, but this probably doesn't work for everything. It did for Julien who is building NotionForms though (now $11k MRR): https://microfounder.com/startups/notionforms
But at least it was interesting for me to learn about how long it took for these particular solo dev startups to reach $5k MRR.
As I recently wrote in one of the latest newsletters (you'll find it on MicroFounder, called "keep going"):
"It can be easy to abandon your project as soon as you launch and don’t see instant results – be it visitors or paying customers – but I’ve been looking closely how microfounders build their startups for the last 3+ years and I’ve almost never seen a real overnight success."
They're now at $1M ARR: https://microfounder.com/blog/cofounder-in-marketing
(also open-source btw)