#2 - Dec. 2023 - Sell it before you make it
Discuss it publicly as soon as possible and then build it later.
📈 Monthly stats
𝕏 (Twitter) followers: 97
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): 0€
Projects launched: 2
Newsletter subscribers: 11
Hey everyone 👋
I hope you had a wonderful month of December! 🎄🙂 And I wish you all a beautiful year 2024, full of successes! 🚀😍
Before diving into the juicy details of this month's newsletter, here's a quick overview of what we'll explore today:
Takeaways
🌐 Personal branding: My personal landing page.
🎨 C·ZAN: My design system for mobile apps
🕒 Avoiding the Last-Minute Rush: I shouldn't wait the last-minute to start writing my newsletter.
🚀 Sell it before you make it: I shouldn't wait the last-minute to start talking about my new product.
🛠️ Developer to Marketer: I'm learning new skills about how to get customers
🌐 Personal branding
One of the first things I learned when becoming a solopreneur is that I am my own brand, I’m my own product. I need to build trust with my community on 𝕏 and my customers by showing my face, sharing my knowledge, and presenting the projects I'm currently working on.
I don't have a team of marketers working with me to establish my company's identity. That's why personal branding is important, and I'm dedicating time to it.
This month, I launched my website. It is simple and was built quickly: vivienmahe.com.
🎨 C·ZAN: Mobile Design System
Most of the projects I’m working on, for the moment, are mobile apps. I’m using my 13-year expertise to be able to build and iterate quickly, in order to start earning money as soon as possible.
When creating mobile apps, it is good practice to use a design system. This helps create a consistent UI/UX and allows for reusability of components within the same project and across multiple projects.
So, I have created my own design system called C·ZAN. It is still in its early stages, but I plan to expand it and invite contributors since it is an open-source project.
Feel free to give it a ⭐️, share it, and contribute if you want!
🕒 Avoiding the Last-Minute Rush
I wanted to address a challenge I faced these past two months: waiting for the last-minute to write my newsletter post.
As time flies and I focus on working on my products, which mostly involves designing and coding, I tend to forget about my newsletter.
Sometimes, I would have an idea for my next post, but I wouldn't write it down. It took me a while to realize that I needed to change that. So, for the next ideas, I started writing them down using just a few words. However, this approach was still not sufficient. A few weeks later, when drafting my new post, those few words were not enough to fully recall the entire idea I had in mind at that moment.
Not only did I struggle to remember all the ideas, but I also started to stress out about meeting my deadline to publish my post.
Here's the thing: if we delay, we risk losing those ideas. Last-minute work not only causes stress but also compromises the quality of your content.
Starting early provides you with the luxury of time: time to think, time to edit, and time to let your ideas develop into something truly impactful.
Write down ideas as they come. Instead of writing the entire piece at once, focus on capturing the essence of each idea. This way, when it's time to compile everything into a newsletter, you won't have to start from scratch. This approach makes the writing process smoother and ensures that your newsletter is packed with value from beginning to end.
It's way easier and stress-free!
🚀 Sell it before you make it
Moving on to a game-changer: the concept of 'sell it before you make it'. As a former 9-to-5 developer, my focus was always on creating the product, leaving sales and marketing to other teams. However, as a solopreneur you have to do everything by yourself. Now, marketing isn't an afterthought; it's the main event.
The key? Start talking about your product from day one. Engage with the 'build in public' community, share your process, and build excitement. This approach not only validates your idea but also creates a customer base even before the product is fully developed.
Unfortunately, I realized this when my current project was already quite in an advance state.
However, it's never too late to start!
🛠️ Developer to Marketer
Alright, let's talk about the transition from being a developer to becoming a solopreneur. I gotta admit, I feel more comfortable with the technical side of things. But stepping into the solopreneur arena, I quickly realized there's a whole different skill set I needed to master – marketing and selling my products.
And I know nothing about it 😃 But that's okay, I'm happy to learn and get better!
By the way, I've been gaining valuable insights from Jorge Medina's newsletter, 'The Complete Founder' (check it out at The Complete Founder). Jorge recognized the need to bridge the gap between two types of founders: those with a technical background and those without. If you embark on your journey as a solopreneur, you may align with one category or the other, but likely not both.
I highly recommend giving it a read!
🎬 That's a wrap for this month!
As always, keep experimenting, keep learning, and most importantly, keep sharing those experiences.
If you liked the content, consider subscribing to make sure you don't miss any future posts!
Until next time, happy creating! 🚀✨