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Making It as an Indie Developer

Making It as an Indie Developer

Have you considered a life of freelancing, consulting, or solopreneurship? Whatever you want to call it, one thing is certain: you'll be on your own. Let's talk about what it will take to survive, and eventually thrive, as an indie developer. From making the transition, to finding customers and managing projects, to thinking like a business and leveling up. You'll come away with my strongest defense of the indie life and a broad-strokes outline for success.

Jeremy Smith

November 06, 2023
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Transcript

  1. “Ah, but how will you capture us? We know the

    secrets of the Fire Swamp. We can live there quite happily for some time.”
  2. Gaining knowledge and building risk tolerance can grant you access

    to a place most people would consider unlivable.
  3. Schedule and location Caring for children or elders Building a

    business Educational or personal goals Tailoring role or tasks
  4. Enough time in the right spots, earning attention authentically. Enough

    patience and persuasiveness to turn attention into engagement. Ultimately making an invitation that leads to a buying decision.
  5. • Security audits for web applications • Fractional CTO to

    early-stage startups • Application performance improvement • Developer coaching • Salesforce integrations • Heroku to AWS migrations
  6. • Social media • Private communities • Newsletters, Blogs, and

    Podcasts • Meetups and Conferences • Marketplaces
  7. “Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering

    anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention. …when someone chooses to pay attention they are actually paying you with something precious.”
  8. • They don’t see it • They don’t understand it

    • They don’t care about it • They don’t know how to respond • They haven’t been sufficiently persuaded If People Aren’t Responding
  9. “…you only need to deliver $30/month worth of value to

    500 customers to gross $180k/year.”
  10. 3 4 3 3 5 6 # 6 6 4

    4 7 7 7 7 7 7
  11. • Build relationships • Share what you are doing and

    learning • Craft and make pitches • Stay in touch and over-communicate • Set expectations • Manage time and costs • Forecast and make projections • Celebrate successes • Advise and mentor • Do your own research and discovery • Run your own experiments • Hire and pay for your own services Being Proactive
  12. “…if you understand the technical work of a business, you

    understand a business that does that technical work.”
  13. “How must the business work?” Business is a system for

    creating customer outcomes, resulting in profits Starts with vision of the future, and attempts to change present to match Envisions the business as a whole Entrepreneur Technician “What work has to be done?” Business is a place people work creating internal solutions, resulting in income Starts with vision of the present, and intends to keep future much the same Envisions the business in parts
  14. The Framework Knowing Your Why Making the Transition Managing Yourself

    Finding Customers Thinking Like a Business * + , - .