Let’s be real.
I’m 35.
I have two months of runway left in the bank.
And by most traditional metrics, my indie hacking journey is a spectacular flop.
At 33, I jumped into this world with two years of financial breathing room. I stretched it to 29 months, but the needle hasn’t moved enough.
Honestly?
I haven’t pushed hard enough but played it safe. I’ve tiptoed around the edges of success, terrified of falling flat on my face.
And I’ve been this close 🤏 to giving up. To throw in the towel and admit that maybe this dream of living off my own products isn’t for me. Maybe the whole plan in my head is just…bullshit.
The thought of not making that money keeps me awake at night. (I need $25k to survive another year and keep pushing.)
It’s all down to me.
But I’m so done with being the “nice guy,” avoiding risks, and finishing last.
So, let’s get this out of the way.
My list of failures is longer than I’d like
Before I get to the wild part, let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
I’m not sure I want to get it as a badge of honor, but my track record isn’t exactly stellar.
- GestioneShop (2021): Shopify management for Italian stores. Made $220.
- Simple Weekly Task Planner (2022): A free Notion template. $110.
- Database of Tweet Prompts (2022): Another free Notion thing. $1500.
- Launch case study (2022): Free Notion product. $110.
- Mentorship program (2023): Burned out before I even launched. $0.
- Newsletter sponsorship (2023): $400.
- PostgreSQL Backup Guide (2024): $10.
- Alohi (2024-current): My first real app. Made ~$700, now slowly dying 🥲
- BlackTwist (2024-current): $6k + $600 MRR (Okay, at least one bright spot.)
- MVP Service (End of 2024): Talked to 10 people, went nowhere. $0.
I leaped into this indie world without a safety net, and now I’m on the edge of a cliff with no parachute.
I love this journey, but it’s brutal. And sometimes it makes me feel like I am the problem.
Looking at those failures, Alohi is my biggest regret so far.
I learned to code for it, built the MVP in three months, launched it, got almost 100 users (10 paying), and then… life happened. Bad design choices. A feature that didn’t work. I got stuck and months vanished.
Now, I’m wondering if I should let it die or try to rebuild it.
The plan moving forward: more failing?
For as long as I can remember, the fear of failure has been my biggest enemy.
It’s fueled my perfectionism, my procrastination, everything.
The fear of rejection has held me back from selling, from pushing things further and truly putting myself out there.
But this year I promised to do things differently.
To fail more.
To put myself out there more.
And I’ve been thinking about launching a quick series of offers just to see what happens.
Not overthinking, not polishing everything like I always do.
Just putting stuff out there.
It’s not a solid plan yet. More like an idea, a way to force myself to get over that fear and learn to be okay with failing.
It might be a total disaster. It might end up with even more failures to add to my list.
But maybe this wild experiment will be the catalyst I need to finally break through?
This is going to be interesting (and probably painful).
Stay tuned.