In the last edition of The Bumpy Ride, I made two promises:
āIāll write again on August 31st.ā
āBy then, I should be spending only 20% of my time building, and 80% of it marketing!ā
Today is September 22nd, so, clearly, I failed to keep my first promise, and as for the second oneā¦
Indeed, I spent more time on marketing than I did on building Polar Habits during the second half of August. You could say it was an 80-20 splitā¦ But only because I barely spent any time at all building the product for the past month!Ā š¬
I donāt know how to do marketing and Iām not too keen on it either, but because I promised to prioritise marketing over building the app, I tried to stay away from the code. As a result, I ended up doing very little of either one. I procrastinated.
Half-heartedly, I tried engaging more on social media, posted a few things on Reddit, and even did a āShow HNā on HackerNews, but I had no strategyāno plan at all. No wonder it didnāt work!Ā š¤·š»āāļø
Itās a real struggle! š
If Iām going to continue building Polar Habitsāespecially if I wanted to do it full-timeāIād need more people to find out about it, and for them to find it valuable enough to pay for it. I canāt sustain building it without income. That means I need to focus more on marketing + sales.
How am I going to do that? I couldā¦
šĀ Write about habitsāmaybe start a curated newsletter?
šĀ Create more visualisations like this one, to empathise with, educate, and entertain1 people interested in habits, productivity, and self-improvement.
š¢Ā Partner with productivity experts, coaches and influencers to promote the app
š¤Ā Offer an affiliate program, allowing people to earn an income for sharing Polar Habits with their audience
šĀ Introduce a referral programāfor example, offering 3 months of Pro subscription for every annual subscription.
There are probably a dozen other things I could try, but hereās the problem: I donāt enjoy any of that!Ā šš»
Well, at least not as much as I enjoy building the product itself.
Iām drawn to building a product, not building a businessātwo very different things! š
That thought reminds meā¦ Back in May, I read this post from Corey Wilks: The Hidden Cost of Success and Why You Might Not Be Willing to Pay It.
In the article, Corey challenges his readers to understand the realities of achieving success, and whether or not those realities align with what they truly want.Ā š
I didnāt connect the dots at the time, but it was such a thought-provoking article that it stayed in the back of my mind. For the past couple of weeks, Iāve been asking myself this:
Do I really want to go all in on building my own business? What for?
I know I want to continue building Polar Habits. I genuinely enjoy building my own product, but Iām not sure that I want to go all in on turning it into my full-time business. The financial pressure sucks the joy out of it!Ā š
That brings me to the conclusion for todayās post:
Iāve decided to take it more slowly, and in the meantime, look for a job thatās flexible enough to allow me to build a product on the side without the pressure of generating a full-time income.
In fact, Iāve been interviewing for a role at a company that Iām super excited to work withāitāll be amazing if it works out. The closer I get to the final stages (and Iām very close) the more anxious I get. So, wish me luck, please!Ā š¤
My next promise (hopefully Iāll keep this one š): write again before the end of October!
Thanks for joining me on this ride! š
It means the world to me, so thank you!Ā š
- Merott
I think I just invented a triple-E framework.