Highs & lows of indie hacking

I saw this graphic on Instagram talking about the highs and lows of parenting, and man did it resonate:

It’s 100% true. The more you zoom out, the better, more sane it feels.

This is why they say the days are long but the years are short. Because day to day it can be painful therefore feels long, but overall you’re having fun, so it feels short.

And the diagram is also 100% true of indie hacking.

By day – The revenue fluctuates, customers enroll, customers churn, a tweet tanks, another tweet goes viral. It’s a crazy roller-coaster ride if I watch the day to day too closely. Like day trading!

By week – The peaks and valleys start to cancel each other out. A customer subscription at the end of the week covers up for the churn earlier in the week. A few unproductive days in a row, but a hyper productive Friday makes up for lost time. Things start to feel more sane, but you don’t always see uptrends or downtrends…

By month – This is why I religiously do monthly wrap-ups. Because when you start viewing things by month, you start to see patterns and trends. If you’ve showed up consistently and did the work, a slight upward trajectory is inevitable. Maybe it doesn’t move the revenue/outcome needle much, but there’s observable improvements nonetheless. The hope is that all the effort is coiling the spring for eventual take-off.

By year – Annual reviews are the best in seeing your growth delta. A year ago, I had about half the number of Twitter followers, 3x less revenue than I have right now. But most importantly, I learned so much, pivoted where needed. Even if the revenue chart isn’t a hockey stick chart, the experience and skills gained probably is. The real million dollar valuation is my self growth chart. That’s all I need to know.

So, it’s a great reminder – it’s easy to get caught up in the highs and lows of the day-to-day, but each ounce of effort you take to zoom out a little, makes the challenging journey ever easier.

Know that your consistency mattered, and still matters.