Indie biz is like a restaurant

Running a indie business has a lot more overlaps with running a restaurant than we thought. I like how Ev’s tweet talks about it:

After two years of launching a lot of products. There are 3 every creator should have:

👉 Gateway Product. Something free to get people in the door
👉 Taster Product. Something small to give people a taste
👉 Signature Product. Something big that sums up everything you do

Loved the labels - gateway, taster and signature. Feels just like a restaurant! Much better than saying “click funnels”, “top/bottom of funnel”, “lead gen”, isn’t it?

That got me thinking: Do I have this set up for each of my products, in those 3 layers? Thinking through:

Plugins For Carrd

• Gateway:
  • Helping the community with their Carrd issues on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, email
  • (Future) Blog posts / knowledge base docs
  • Newsletter
• Taster:
  • Free plugins with limited free support
  • Black Friday deals
• Signature:
  • Premium paid plugins
  • Bundle packages with custom support

Lifelog

• Gateway:
  • Tweets on writing and creator habits
  • (Future) self-paced writing course for introverts. Possibly be an automated email drip campaign/course, or a Gumroad standalone download.
  • Newsletter
• Taster:
  • Free one month trial
  • (Future) 1-month non-recurring payment for lower commitment
  • (Future) Writing challenges, events
• Signature:
  • Full monthly/annual subscription on Lifelog
  • Being part of close knit writing community

Outsprint

• Gateway:
  • Posts and tweets on LinkedIn/Twitter providing value and showing social proof/credibility for design
  • Free downloads of design tools
• Taster:
  • 1-day Jumpstart workshop
  • Short freelance stints
  • Career conversation cards
  • Design card decks
• Signature:
  • Design sprint consultancy
  • Consultancy on retainer
  • Training/Coaching programme

Overall a great framework to think through with! So much more clarity thinking in these 3 layers. Thanks Ev! 🙏