Indie hacking is hard af

Career switches I made in the past 2 decades:

2003 - Cable tv
2007 - Social welfare
2011 - Web design (self-employed)
2012 - Service design in gov
2015 - Design consultancy agency
2018 - Started indie hacking
2020 - 1st SaaS and MRR
2023 - Still no ramen profitability… 😕

Indie solopreneurship definitely takes the cake when it comes to how hard it is to “make it”…

In most of my other careers it took 1-2 years, 3 years max to hit my desired goal.

I’m year 5 in indie hacking and still nowhere close!

It got me thinking: WHY?

• It’s not due to not having the required skills, knowledge or training. I didn’t study media communications, but joined cable tv as my first job. I never studied any web design, but started a web design gig in 2011, and did design consultancy inside government in 2012. In all occasions I learned on the job, picked things up as I went. It was stressful at times, hard all the time, but I learn fast and usually within 1-2 years I hit my stride.

• It’s can’t be due to running a business, because I started my first business in 2011 in web design, and another in 2015 for a design agency. The only difference is both are services and more analog/in real life, while indie hacking is product-based and more abstract due to being online.

• The key difference is having to learn more about distribution and marketing. And learning how to code (way harder skill to learn than others).

• Season of life. I was single, younger, more energetic. Now, I have family, older, more tired, sleep-deprived. Just energy levels alone to hustle is significantly lower. Risk appetite had also changed - I can’t take irrational risks anymore because I got 4 other individuals to feed (being sole breadwinner).

• Timing. The global crisis like the pandemic didn’t help. It definitely threw a spanner in the works and added 2 years delay at least.

What other barriers did you experience yourself when it comes to indie hacking?