Building a browser extension empire

[Tau Ceti]

July's growth was slower as expected due to Summer slow down but the current MRR is $USD 1.2K.

Good month overall. I managed to ship more features and started work on a major feature which means that I will be soon able to release the next subscription plan at a higher price point.

My 10K goal for the MRR before the end of the year is definitely not reachable but 3K to 4K seems achievable.

 

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[circleme]

@Tau Ceti

Hope you are doing well. How is the journey going?

If you hit a plateau, would you consider going back to your original strategy and stacking more extensions? I'm thinking about that one lately, as my TAM is insanely small. It was by purpose, but the possible gains are quite limited, so I have to consider an intentional iteration (II) approach.

Looking forward to you answer.

 

[Tau Ceti]

@Tau Ceti

Hope you are doing well. How is the journey going?

If you hit a plateau, would you consider going back to your original strategy and stacking more extensions? I'm thinking about that one lately, as my TAM is insanely small. It was by purpose, but the possible gains are quite limited, so I have to consider an intentional iteration (II) approach.

Looking forward to you answer.

Hi @circleme I am doing fine thanks. I hope you are doing ok too.

The journey is going well. I am about to release a massive new feature for my users. As always, I am following the same principles, that is releasing the most basic version of the new feature and then improve it over the next few months after I get some feedback from my users.

I am hovering between 1.4K and 1.5K in terms of MRR. So it's growing steadily despite the summer slow-down.

I think I am going to stick to one extension for now at least until I hit 10K MRR, then I will make an offer to buy my biggest competitor. His extension now has less users than mine and he hasn't really improved his product in the last 6 months. It's very basic and ripe for a takeover.

I think if I can acquire his extension in the next 6 months, I can establish a small monopoly over this market. There are a few other small players in this space but I won't worry about them for now.

So that's the plan.

I am hoping and working towards reaching between 3K to 4K MRR at the end of the year.

For starters, I am also planning to hire a copywriter to write 1 or 2 articles per month in order to boost my SEO reach.

Secondly, I will start thinking about adding some free tools to the website in order to generate some traffic and maybe convert those users into paying users.

I am also starting talks regarding a potential partnership with another extension builder who has 100K++ installs across his many extensions. I ll give him a commission for every sale I make from the traffic that he refers to me. The partnership is set to start in September, we are still working out the details.

Finally, I need to do a brand update. The current name of my application/extension is too specific so I need to make it more generic in order to target a bigger market.

I personally think you should stick with your small TAM and simply dominate it. Once you dominate it and the cash flows in, you can start acquiring competitors or similar/related extensions in order to increase your TAM.

At least that's how I see it.

 

[Tau Ceti]

August update.

MRR is sitting just below the 1.5K mark at this time. I just released a big update that is the foundation for many new features that are upcoming.

The partnership with the other extension dev is set to start this month. No fixed date yet, I still need to set up the referral processes in the app and in the extension.

The plan is to reach 1.8K MRR by the end of September and build a few other features. I also need to record some videos to educate the users on how to use the extension/web app.

I am very excited about the future possibilities.

The only thing that scares me at the moment is the re-brand. I need to do it before the end of the year and I need to be careful to not disrupt my users as well as the payment's infra and what not.

I also know after doing some research that I am going to take a massive hit in terms of SEO performance but there is nothing I can do about that.

That s a learning right here. When you start to build a product, then using a very specific name can help reach more users at the beginning but as the product grows, you need to un-niche yourself and therefore a renaming/re-branding becomes necessary. Oh well.

 

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[Tau Ceti]

This is a middle of the month update but there is no one else except my spouse I can tell so today was a very good day.

Someone mentioned my extension on social media and it blew up. I made $1000 in less than 24H. Incredible.
The MRR has gone up by $400 and it looks like its not over yet.

I am going to bed now. Curious to see what I will wake up to. Scared as well. Very scared.

 

[Deleted8v369]

I'm very bullish on Chrome extensions as a business model. It's one of the most overlooked.

The stats speak for themselves:

Apple App Store: 1 billion iPhone users
2 million iOS apps = 500 users : 1 iOS app

Google Play Store: 2 billion Android users
3 million apps = 667 users : 1 app

Chrome Store: 2 billion users
200,000 extensions = 10,000 users : 1 extension

Bottom line: Launching a Chrome extension gives you 20 times more potential users than an iOS app. There is significantly less competition in the Chrome extension marketplace, making it a great opportunity for your app to gain traction.

1. There is an existing app store for discovery, so it is easier to find browser extensions.
2. Low barrier to install (does not require admin rights even)
2. There is relatively low competition for browser extensions.
3. You can focus on one channel (such as Chrome with 50% or more market share).
4. The natural evolution into freemium makes it easier to monetize
5. People are more likely to pay for desktop apps versus mobile
6. Browser extensions integrate seamlessly into existing workflows, making them even more convenient to use.

Notable examples:

LastPass: 25m+ users
Loom: $73m funding
Grammarly: Valued $1B+
Honey: $4B sale

My most popular Chrome extension has 13 users after I released it two or three years ago. I'm impressed.

 

[Tau Ceti]

My most popular Chrome extension has 13 users after I released it two or three years ago. I'm impressed.

Thanks. Its not easy but very rewarding. Keep trying.

The cost of development of an extension is pretty low. You could have an MVP ready in less than a week.

 

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[The-J]

My 10K goal for the MRR before the end of the year is definitely not reachable but 3K to 4K seems achievable.

Wanna bet? Lol

I've been playing a lot with ChatGPT Plus & the new plugins. Super powerful. Using a free plugin might get me to pay $100/mo for Zapier. Wonder if that makes sense with your business model.

 

[srodrigo]

Thanks. Its not easy but very rewarding. Keep trying.

The cost of development of an extension is pretty low. You could have an MVP ready in less than a week.

I imagine it depends on the extension. I'm curious now, I might do some Chrome Store research.

 

[Tau Ceti]

Wanna bet? Lol

I've been playing a lot with ChatGPT Plus & the new plugins. Super powerful. Using a free plugin might get me to pay $100/mo for Zapier. Wonder if that makes sense with your business model.

I am not really a betting kind of man but look, I am not saying it won't just that it is unlikely. I will push as hard as I can no matter what.

 

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[Tau Ceti]

I imagine it depends on the extension. I'm curious now, I might do some Chrome Store research.

Absolutely it depends on the extension but at the end of the day, you need to create an MVP which means the bare minimum of the bare minimum.

Then you can add more features later. So the initial cost should be pretty low otherwise, that's not an MVP.

 

[oneac]

Just read through this whole thread and wow.

Seeing the action you've been taking is sobering. I applaud you for your effort and thank you for mentioning Josh Comaeu, I'm going to pour over his stuff.

How influential has he been in your indie hacker journey? Do you have any other SaaS figures you look up to?

I'm following your journey and relate so much to your path. I'm in the process of leaving my hometown (saving money, clearing obligations, etc. I plan to leave in late December)

 

[Tau Ceti]

Just read through this whole thread and wow.

Seeing the action you've been taking is sobering. I applaud you for your effort and thank you for mentioning Josh Comaeu, I'm going to pour over his stuff.

How influential has he been in your indie hacker journey? Do you have any other SaaS figures you look up to?

I'm following your journey and relate so much to your path. I'm in the process of leaving my hometown (saving money, clearing obligations, etc. I plan to leave in late December)

I don't really look up to anyone, I follow some people on Twitter who are a few steps ahead of me.

Good luck with your move.

 

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[Tau Ceti]

I just crossed the 2K per month threshold.

The revenue is growing without any advertising.

I am working on a quite a few features currently. I hope to cross 3k per month in early November but who knows really.

I just got to keep grinding.

 

[Tau Ceti]

September update

The MRR grew by $625 this month.

The current MRR is sitting at 2K currently but will most likely reach 2.5K by the end of October if everything goes well.

I hired an accountant to do my taxes. It's real PITA to do your taxes in Sweden if you are not an employee.
The state takes 50% of the gross revenue. It hurts just to think about it but it is what it is for now.

You would think that for this amount of taxes, you would get some world class health care and solid infrastructure but that is not the case, far from it. What does the Swedish government do with all that cash, I have no idea.

Anyway, I don't really care at them moment since my focus is on increasing the revenue not optimizing my taxes. That will come later once I reach 30K MRR.

I will be going on leave for 6 month from my job in January which means that I will be able to spend 6 months full time building the extension and the web app.

My wife will start working in January as well as she will graduate in December and is pretty much assured of getting a job since she works in healthcare.

So between my wife's income and the income from the extension, our standard of living will remain the same(we are not big spenders and we don't foresee any kind of massive expense in the next 12 months)

But until January, I have to keep working before work, after work and on the weekend. I know that I am pushing myself pretty hard and I don't think I will be able to keep going like this for too long so this leave will be welcome in order to keep my sanity.

I have about 20 to 30 users waiting in the wings to use the new features I am currently developing so I think I will be able to reach between 4k to 5k in MRR before the end of the year.

I am confident I'll be able to maintain an healthy gross profit margin of 85% to 90%.

The affiliate program I started hasn't yielded any new users so far. Oh well! It was a small investment of time and now the infrastructure for it is set up so if I want to onboard a new affiliate it should just work.

But I don't have any plans to do that just yet, the product is not mature enough and still has a lot of bugs.

That's it for now. Good luck to you all out there who are just starting. it's a tough journey but very rewarding.

 

[for]

September update

The MRR grew by $625 this month.

The current MRR is sitting at 2K currently but will most likely reach 2.5K by the end of October if everything goes well.

I hired an accountant to do my taxes. It's real PITA to do your taxes in Sweden if you are not an employee.
The state takes 50% of the gross revenue. It hurts just to think about it but it is what it is for now.

You would think that for this amount of taxes, you would get some world class health care and solid infrastructure but that is not the case, far from it. What does the Swedish government do with all that cash, I have no idea.

Anyway, I don't really care at them moment since my focus is on increasing the revenue not optimizing my taxes. That will come later once I reach 30K MRR.

I will be going on leave for 6 month from my job in January which means that I will be able to spend 6 months full time building the extension and the web app.

My wife will start working in January as well as she will graduate in December and is pretty much assured of getting a job since she works in healthcare.

So between my wife's income and the income from the extension, our standard of living will remain the same(we are not big spenders and we don't foresee any kind of massive expense in the next 12 months)

But until January, I have to keep working before work, after work and on the weekend. I know that I am pushing myself pretty hard and I don't think I will be able to keep going like this for too long so this leave will be welcome in order to keep my sanity.

I have about 20 to 30 users waiting in the wings to use the new features I am currently developing so I think I will be able to reach between 4k to 5k in MRR before the end of the year.

I am confident I'll be able to maintain an healthy gross profit margin of 85% to 90%.

The affiliate program I started hasn't yielded any new users so far. Oh well! It was a small investment of time and now the infrastructure for it is set up so if I want to onboard a new affiliate it should just work.

But I don't have any plans to do that just yet, the product is not mature enough and still has a lot of bugs.

That's it for now. Good luck to you all out there who are just starting. it's a tough journey but very rewarding.

Why haven't you incorporated so you can leave the profit in the company and avoid paying income taxes?

 

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[Tau Ceti]

Why haven't you incorporated so you can leave the profit in the company and avoid paying income taxes?

Because this is just the start of the journey, I still don't know if this business if entirely viable.

Also I am moving to another country within the next 18 months and I don't want to keep creating new companies in each new country. Seems like a PITA to me.

Eventually I will hire an accountant to do this stuff but until then I want to keep things simple.

Most countries have a sole-tradership set-up that can be used very easily, so I prefer to go with that for now.

 

[Tau Ceti]

October update.

October was a tough month. November is not looking pretty either so far.

I don't know if it's the end of the year approaching or if finally the recession that has been predicted for the last year has finally arrived but after an amazing September, the results of October have been disappointing.

I finished the month with an MRR of $2343, still up but barely. Churn is up massively.
I guess you win some and you lose some.

The amount of sign-ups is also going down which could point to this situation being tied to broader economic issues but I can't say for sure.

I have released some massive UI updates both on the website and on the extension. I also had to ask my extension's users for more permissions as I am planning to change the name of the service to avoid any potential trademark/ copyright infringements.

That means that I have lost about 800 free users because of that. The way it works when you request more permissions for an extension is that Chrome automatically disables the extension.

Then users have to manually re-enable it with the new permissions. Nothing can be done about that and from the point of view of security, it makes complete sense.

In the end the users who have not re-enabled the extension don't really matter. I notified all my paying users with a personal email about this update just to make sure they would know what to do.

So that's where I stand now. I think I was lulled in a false sense of security for the last 6 months, always expecting the MRR to go up. But October and now November are reminding me that in business nothing is certain.

So even though I am not happy to see my churn go up and MRR stagnating, I need to get used to this feeling that things can change from good to bad in a matter of weeks.

I am not worried though. I know I can do this but it will take time and effort.

I follow this guy on twitter who has a SaaS as well.

On his MRR charts that he shares publicly, we can see that he too struggled around the 2K to 3K mark in his journey and then after 12 months of investing in the product and marketing, his business took off. He now makes close to 90K a month.

I hope to replicate his success as well in the coming year.

Onward and upwards. The road to 10K will be difficult but I am running a marathon, not a sprint. The bigger picture is what matters here. in 12 months from now my MRR will probably vary by a few hundred $ on a daily basis so I can't let this little slump get me down.

Everybody wants to be in charge when things go well because then you get to reap the profits but it's hard being at the top when things don't go your way.

I am learning lessons that I will carry with me forward on this journey.

Good luck out there. Stay strong.

 

[uhhfeef]

Rooting for you man. Keep pushing!

 

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[Epynok]

Churn is up massively.

You could try to offer some incentive for staying a certain period of time. Give them something like a gift or a special deal to look forward to.

JMO.

 

[Tau Ceti]

You could try to offer some incentive for staying a certain period of time. Give them something like a gift or a special deal to look forward to.

JMO.

My payment processor (Paddle) already does this. When a user is about to churn or become delinquent, it starts an automated email sequence with coupons codes and different incentives.

In exchange, if they manage to keep the customer, they take a cut of the earnings, not sure how much.

In the last 4 or 5 months, I think it managed to keep about a dozen of users who would have churned otherwise. It's pretty efficient.

I don't have a problem with churn itself, it's inevitable, but churn coupled with low growth is not a good combo.

 

[Tau Ceti]

November update.

November was tough month but it ended well so I am happy about that.

The MRR is sitting at $2649 and projected to grow to $3K at the end of December. We will see if that happens.

I got new customers, and released a couple of minor versions of the extension. The extension is becoming better each day and more stable as well. A lot less bugs are reported.

I have about two weeks left of work at my day job. I secured a 6 months unpaid leave with my workplace so that I can work on my business full time from January 2024 until the end of June 2024. As per the law in Sweden, if I decide to come back, they have to take me back no questions asked.

I will still have to work my notice period if I choose to resign in June 2024. That means that even though I may not need my job by then, I will have to go back to juggling the business and the day job at the same time for up to 3 months.

I will use the time between January and June to automate many processes in the business so that the business can be run with ease with very little time.

I am also planning to tackle major features during those 6 months and go into maintenance mode during my notice period so that nothing breaks. I will also plan major features for the end of 2024 as my time will be limited between July and September 2024.

I will also focus heavily on marketing and outreach to potential businesses.

Another thing I am exploring is asking for a CC to start new free trials. I am getting too many complaints from free users whereas my paying users only talk to me when I reach out to them.

Such a strange world we live in when people get some software for free and have the balls to whine about random stuff.

Anyway I digress, the point is that I need to target the people who are most likely to buy my software. At the moment, I rely on volume(aka spray and pray) which is not the best way to do it.

I am so glad I have an accountant that takes care of the bills for the business and the taxes. The tax system in Sweden is not simple and I don't have time to learn to navigate the intricacies of it, so I decided to pay an accountant $50/month to take care of the tax reporting.

Once I reach 10K MRR, then I will look into getting up to speed with this matters but as of this moment I would much rather spend my time increasing my revenue and getting new customers than doing taxes.

I am also investing in my health. I try to sleep 8h per night, do stretches twice a day, stand for half a day as well to avoid sitting for too long. I am also buying a vertical mouse to avoid wrist pain and potential future injuries.

I will prepare a longer post for the end of the year that will reflect on my learning's of 2023 and my hopes for 2024.

 

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[uhhfeef]

Exciting stuff!! Would love to see how you navigate the execution in those 6 months.

By the way, what do you use to monetize your extension? I looked into extpay, paypal, paddle, stripe.. but i'm going to go with extpay as that's the easiest way to start monetization for my extension.

 

[Tau Ceti]

Exciting stuff!! Would love to see how you navigate the execution in those 6 months.

By the way, what do you use to monetize your extension? I looked into extpay, paypal, paddle, stripe.. but i'm going to go with extpay as that's the easiest way to start monetization for my extension.

I use Paddle because I dont want to deal with sales taxes.

They take care of everything. At the end of the month, the send me the money.They pay the taxes on the sales to the various governments around the world.

I send a copy of the wire transfer to my accountant, and they report it to the Swedish tax office. It literally takes 2 minutes of my time each month.

I have a Nextjs web application that receives the payment notifications from Paddle. The extension talks to the Nextjs app to know which user is paid or free.

 

[uhhfeef]

I use Paddle because I dont want to deal with sales taxes.

They take care of everything. At the end of the month, the send me the money.They pay the taxes on the sales to the various governments around the world.

I send a copy of the wire transfer to my accountant, and they report it to the Swedish tax office. It literally takes 2 minutes of my time each month.

I have a Nextjs web application that receives the payment notifications from Paddle. The extension talks to the Nextjs app to know which user is paid or free.

ah thank you so much for clearing that out. yes I've heard paddle makes payments seamless

 

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[oneac]

Such a strange world we live in when people get some software for free and have the balls to whine about random stuff.

LMAO. I'm proud of your progress, you're an inspiration to me. Currently done with the idea validation process and am now about to move to learning the tech.

Can't wait for the reflection post.

 

[Tau Ceti]

LMAO. I'm proud of your progress, you're an inspiration to me. Currently done with the idea validation process and am now about to move to learning the tech.

Can't wait for the reflection post.

Thanks man. I am rooting for you as well. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have some questions.

 

[oneac]

Thanks man. I am rooting for you as well. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have some questions.

That means a lot. I'm stuck at a cross-roads and I really think you could help me out. I just sent a DM.

 

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[Tau Ceti]

Reflections on 2023

At the start of 2023, I did not have a business. I had a small web extension (or plug-in) that had 952 users but was not monetized.

As of now, I have almost 2800 users in total and out of these users, I have 57 paid ones (approximately).

That gives us a conversion rate of approximately 2% which is abysmal, let's not kid ourselves.

The MRR has gone down since November and is now around $2500 with an LTV of $300.

The CAC is around 0 since I am not doing any marketing besides writing blog posts.

How to build a business in 2024

I think that starting with something small that had a single feature, was a good way to get the ball rolling.

I did not have to worry about the competition too much as the competition was busy fighting with each other.

My extension did one thing and 1 thing only but it did it well.

I think this confirms that the way to succeed these days is to create an MLP instead of an MVP.

If you are not familiar with those acronyms, you can read more about them in the link below:

MVP vs MLP

MVP stands for Minimal Viable Product which means that you create the most bare-bones functioning product that works but can also look like crap and with a non-intuitive design straight out of the 2000s.

That may have worked at one point but nowadays, I think the best bet is to go with the MLP or Minimum Lovable Product.

It is the same principle as the MVP but this time, you‘ll spend more time on the UX/UI to make your product very lovable(think nice animations, nice branding/colors, cool name) and very intuitive to use.

How far you take it depends on you and there is no clear consensus as to when an MVP becomes an MLP.

Use your gut but don’t spend too much time before launching.

Praise for managed services

I use MongoDB which is hosted on Mongo Atlas for my database needs. I use Vercel to host my web application and I use the Chrome Web Store to distribute my extension/plug-in.

I always go back to this article when in doubt about what I should spend my time time on:

https://ghiculescu.substack.com/p/11-years-of-hosting-a-saas

Could I save a few bucks by deploying my application on AWS myself? Sure, but I would lose some sleep over it.

Could I save more money by using something other than MongoDB? Also possible.

Is it worth it? I don’t think so. Spending money on services that allow you to sell your product is not an expense, it’s an investment.

When you start thinking about adding more functionality to your product, start by looking at managed services that specialize in what you're trying to achieve.

I use another service to run cron jobs. I could build my own Node application, deploy it, manage my own jobs, and I would pay 5 dollars a month but I have to maintain it, secure it, update it.

I would rather spend time making more money than maintaining another application. This is what most people who start SaaS companies get wrong at the beginning.

You should spend your time building things that make your product better, not nickel and dimming your way to profitability.

There is always the possibility to optimize your costs down the line as long as you are profitable from the start.

A premium business is better

Do not be afraid to charge a higher price point than your competition. I price my product based on value not based on features.

I barely hear from my paying users unless I am the one reaching out. My free users on the other hand are never satisfied. There is such a thing as bad customers.

Free users are great for vanity metrics(think number of installs, page views, and so on) and early feedback but they don’t pay the bills and never will.

It is madness to think that if you bend over enough for your free users, that they will suddenly transition to paid users.

Most of my paying users pay without even finishing the free trial.

Free users are a PITA. That is why in 2024, I will ask for a CC for the free trial accounts. It should cut down on the free users signing up and inundating me with requests for features.

Be a product led company, not a feature led company

If you don't know where you are going, how do you expect to get there?

It’s fine at the beginning to not necessarily know where you will be at month number 6 or 12 but if you have a product that is more than 3 months old, you should already have an idea of where you want the product to be in the next 12 months.

I personally write everything I can possibly think of in a Google document, I let the ideas simmer and I get back to it later once I have had time to think about them.

Because of this process, I now have a good idea of the direction I want to take the company towards.

This means I can easily say yes or no when a customer requests a feature. If it fits in the overarching vision of the product, then I may consider putting the feature on the road map and if not, I can tell the user that it won't happen.

Do not be afraid to turn down customers.

I am never shy when it comes to telling the truth to my users. If a user is not happy, I prefer to cancel their subscription, refund their last payment and move on. No point trying to get blood from a stone.

When given the choice, the user can either accept things as they are now or move on and the choice is on them which makes it easy on my side to cut them loose.

This obviously needs to be done in a professional way. We are all adults here, no need to be a dick about it.

There are good days and bad days

Leave your ego at the door and keep your emotions out of the decisions. This is a business not therapy.

If a user is mad, take it on the chin and move on. If you are pissed at a customer, go for a walk. Nothing good can come out of you being a prick to your users.

Remember, it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and only 5 minutes to destroy it.

Some days, you feel like you are making zero progress, that the whole thing is just a waste of time and that getting a Switch and powering through Zelda for the next 2 weeks might be a good idea.

My answer to you is : this too shall pass.

Things are not bad forever and they are not good forever. The life of a business owner is made of many ups and downs.

If you are not comfortable with that and expect a smooth ride into the sunset, I think it would be wise to pause and make sure that this is the life you want for you and your family.

9 to 5 becomes 24/7

If you were not happy with your work life balance before starting a business, then Oh boy do I have to warn you to stay away from entrepreneurship!

The business becomes part of your life like nothing else. It is always there in the background. If you hope to have more free time, then think again!

It’s not going to happen, at least not during the first few years of your business being created.

After some time has passed and after you’ve put more systems in place, then maybe you'll be able to unplug, but for me, this hasn't happened yet and it won't happen for many years I believe.

There is just too much to build, too much to do. I am at its beck and call.

Don’t quit your job (yet)

We all have this dream to never work again for the “man”, to own our schedules and be able to take a day off or not work for a week if we want to.

I too share the same goals but it is delusional to want to quit your job the day the business is created.

If your business is not bringing at least whatever it is you make at your day job after taxes, then quitting your job just puts more pressure on yourself to succeed and to do it quickly.

The problem is that this kind of success is rare.

Most of the time you will try 3 or 4 different ideas before you find the one that works and then it will take even more time before you can live off of your business.

Take some time to read the examples below of slow and long SaaS ramp of death:

The Long, Slow SaaS Ramp of Death - Thomas Carney
Navigating the long, slow SaaS ramp of death - Baremetrics

Instead I suggest you be smart about it.

Try to negotiate going part-time for a while or use the laws of your state/country to your advantage.

For me, I went part-time for 3 months between April and July 2023. I worked 3 days a week at my job and 3 days a week (plus evenings and mornings) on my business.

In 2023 I learned that in Sweden, I could request to go on unpaid leave for 6 months and still keep my job.

That means that if everything goes to shit in 2024, I can go back to my old job in a heartbeat and the financial ruin can be averted.

Nobody told me this, I had to seek this information by myself. Don’t expect anyone to volunteer any information freely.

If you want to make it in this business of working for yourself, then you need to learn this: the buck stops with you.

You are the one who is responsible, you are the person in charge, it is up to you to secure your future to the best of your availability.

If you can’t or won’t put in the work required to succeed, then there is no one else to blame but yourself.

Look at the trend

It is better to take a step back and look at the trend of where things are going instead of focusing on the daily shenanigans. That doesn't mean you don’t need to show up everyday and do the work.

It simply means that most of the work you do will only pay off in the future:
- Write a few blog posts and see them rank in a few months.
- Get an affiliate partnership and watch the money roll in 3 months from now.
- Revamp your homepage and watch the conversions increase slightly over the next few months.

You get the gist.

Things take time and you'll need to be somewhat patient to see the results of your hard work.

Be like a monk, learn to be patient and accept that some things will take longer than you expected.

Time is better than money

If you had asked me 3 or 4 years ago what I most wanted after “making it”, I would have probably told you: a fast car, a big house, and stuff to fill the house from top to bottom.

Today I want only one thing: time.

Time is the most important thing in my opinion. There is never enough of it and it is and always will be limited.

Even if my business only allows me to live the same lifestyle as I am living now as an employee, as long as it allows me to have more free time in the future, then I would still consider myself wealthy.

To not have to show up at a given time 5 days a week is something that I long for. I wasn’t made for a 9 to 5 but the golden handcuffs almost made me forget that I was in a prison.

I want time to read books, to talk to the people I love, to do what I want during the day without having to ask permission. That to me is truly being wealthy.

I hope 2024 is the last year where I have to put up with this 9 to 5 schedule and I hope you do too.

2024 and beyond

I am not big on making commitments for the future. I think the whole premise of the new year's resolutions is just a cop out to do nothing until January each year but each to their own I say.

My goal for 2024 is to finally end my employment at my job and to maintain the same lifestyle I currently have but this time, paid for by my business. Anything above that is going to be a bonus.

That doesn't mean that I am not aiming to multiply my revenue and profit by 10 this year, not at all, in fact, I want to multiply it by 20, but it is also important to know what a wishful outcome is and what a satisfying outcome is.

Either way, I am going to work like a mad man and I will give it everything I have because our lives are too short to spend them having regrets.

I wish you all an amazing 2024 and I hope you succeed but if you haven't reached your goals just yet, don’t give up and try again.

The world is full of opportunities, 99% of people are too busy watching TikTok to notice but not you.

You got this.

Believe in yourself and be kind to yourself.
Take care.

 

[Matt Sun]

Thank you, I read all your post. Very inspiring.
I'm currently halfway through the Odin Project's React course, then NodeJs course and then try to get a part-time job and launch my app and heavily market it through TIkTok.

Still there is much to learn and work to do so this post is not wishful writing but something concrete.

Hope you do great in 2024 !