👋 Welcome!
The power of social capital! Robbie shares a great summary of his learnings from a recent video by Jack Butcher on this valuable topic. The relationship between audience and assets is the cornerstone of social capital, as it generates the ability to create overlaps. A great example is David Perell, who has built an audience around people interested in learning to write. The asset is the resource that can be built around the audience and that benefits directly from continuing to grow the audience. In David’s case, this is his course Write of Passage. The monetisation of this course will benefit from the continuing growth of his audience. Read the thread and watch the video.
😺 Products of the Day
July 13, 2020
🥇 Feedback Fish: Collect feedback & make your customers happy.
🥈 Openbase: Choose the right open-source package every time.
🥉 Unwind 2: Deep mindful breathing exercises from your phone and watch.
🚀 Maker News
Developing A Vision
Spencer Fry from Podia shares how they reached profitability after five years with two rounds of funding and a clear 10-year plan. In the early stages, they kept costs low, did loads of customer research and developed their vision. In 2017 they rebranded from Coach to Podia and launched their first digital store platform for selling anything digital. They started to slowly grow their team, revenues continued to rise and as expenses were kept low. Their focus was on “make it work > make it pretty > make it fast.” When COVID hit and demand surged, they were able to quickly adjust to the market’s needs, thanks to the foundation they had built. Spencer writes that as a bootstrapper, profitability is the focus from day one. But as a venture capital-backed business, you are able to run unprofitably for years. But at the same time, Fred Wilson says: “I would encourage all entrepreneurs and leaders out there to embrace the idea of getting profitable sooner than you might think you can or should. It’s good for your companies and it is good for you.” Read the full thread.
Sales Tips
Pete shares some useful sales advice for Indie Hackers. He explains when, why, what and how to charge. The key learning is to charge as early as possible. Pete got the first sponsor for his newsletter after 50 subscribers. So “get selling”. Read the full post.
Building A Shopify App
Dylan Pierce writes a helpful post on Indie Hackers on the lessons he learned building his first Shopify app. These include keeping the scope focused by trying to solve no more than one problem and being able to explain the value of your app in one phrase. In the end “we’re all just fishing.” He explains that there are many factors that lead to success or failure and many variables one doesn't understand. Until you get to know a specific market, it’s difficult to succeed. Read post.
Audience Insights
Revue shares an update to its newsletter platform. You will no longer have to analyse data to understand which of your subscribers are actually engaging with your content. Their new tool will do this for you. Additionally, you will see over- or underperforming issues and find out where your new readers discovered you. Learn more.
Google Analytics Blockers
Marko Saric from Plausible Analytics shares some insights from his study on how many people currently block Google Analytics from tracking them. Out of the approx. 28,000 unique visitors from his June 2020 sample, 13% blocked Google Analytics. This ranged from 6% on a lifestyle site, 9% on a foodie site to 26% on a tech site. Additionally, 21% of laptop/desktop users, 57% of Firefox users, 53% of Linux users and 65% of DuckDuckGo users block Google Analytics. See below or read the full post.
💭 Afterthought
To finish the day, some motivational words from James Clear. We are all capable of so much more than we know. Talent or ability is seldom the limiting factor, it’s usually a lack of confidence. This often occurs when we work alone and self-doubt creeps in quashing our potential ideas and solutions. You can find support and “belief capital” by joining a like-minded community to regularly evaluate and validate your product ideas. Take care and see you tomorrow!
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