I've given up 2 times in 6 years — but I'm still here.
- 2017: I left my GF, country, and friends after spending 1 year building an app with 0 users — thinking I was Mark Zuckerberg. I started smoking again.
- 2020: After 4 years as an entrepreneur, 0 successful projects, lived with my parents — my head went crazy, I punched the wall 4 times. I spend the next 4 hours crying in my mum's arms.
I restarted the journey in 2021.
Every day has been a blessing, whether I made $0 in months at the beginning, or $50K/month now.
My 2021 mindset was different from the previous 4 years.
1. I never had uncontrollable outcomes, like money or followers:
Instead, I had one tangible goal in mind: How many apps am I going to ship?
If no one uses my app, it's still a success. It adds to my collection of apps, like Pokemon cards you'd collect.
And if I don't ship, I should have learned something.
2. I observed and imitated like a psycho:
How did
@dannypostma get LandingFolio #1 ranked on Google? Why is the YouTube video going viral? Why is this tweet from
@levelsio getting so many likes?
If something is working, there's a reason you can learn from it.
3. I made friends, real friends:
Of course, I commented on big X accounts to get engagement.
But I also looked at my peers —who, back then, didn't have many followers — and genuinely engaged with nothing at stake.
-
@nico_jeannen came to my wedding and added $15K of revenue to ShipFast thanks to ads.
-
@DanKulkov fixed my developer's mind, made me earn 6 figures in 2023, and was my psychiatrist last Tuesday.
A few things I wish I had known in 2021:
- Don't think past 6 pm
- Startups should start as 1 feature
- Ditch free plans and get paid for your work
- Your headline does 80% of the sales process
- Lack of sleep is the cause of most bad emotions