My ladders of wealth creation 2024
jasonleow • 7 Jan 2024 •
So @andrewtsao reminded me of Nathan Barry’s ladders of wealth creation:
Thought I can do a quick recap on my portfolio of products and how it’s spread across the different ladders, and see if there’s any opportunity areas for new products this year.
Ladder #1 - Time for money aka a job
- None, and trying to avoid as much and as long as possible
- But had been applying for jobs as backup plan, but to no avail
Ladder #2 - Service business
- Outsprint design consulting where I charge per project
- Occasional freelance design work where I get paid by hour
Ladder #3 - Productized services
- Outsprint design sprint packages where I charge fixed price for fixed scope
- No recurring productized services yet though it is tempting proposition
- Sweet Jam Sites, a productized JAMstack web design service is closed
Ladder #4 - Selling products
- My Carrd plugins belong to the digital products sold in existing ecosystem
- Lists Kit is a digital product like plugins
- My info directories like Keto List, KeyboardSG belong to digital products I guess.
- Lifelog is considered a SaaS with some overlap with a (writing) social network (– no wonder it’s so hard to grow it!)
- Sheet2Bio is a SaaS for people to create link-in-bio using Google Sheets
- No physical products/ecommerce yet, though could change once I get careerconversationcards.com or KeyboardSG up
- Avoiding marketplaces as it’s tricky
Looks like I got lots of bets in the last ladder, and very few in the middle 2. The middle 2 ladders are my main income generators right now, via Outsprint consulting. Yet, the consulting market is drying up for me, while my products in the 4th ladder are not there yet in terms of replacing my income.
Not the best set up, to be honest.
No wonder I feel the ground on the island where I stand disappearing, while the next island isn’t firm ground yet to leap onto.
Looking at this map, I think I can try exploring these opportunity areas:
Ladder #1 - Time for money aka a job
- Find a part time job at least that gives some stable income
- Or a fulltime job that’s flexible enough to let me continue my products as side hustle
Ladder #2 - Service business
- Be on lookout for a few clients I can keep freelancing for on recurring basis
- Start a recurring web design business? Where customers need continued support?
Ladder #3 - Productized services
- Offer a recurring productized service under Outsprint?
- Re-start some version of Sweet Jam Sites. Doesn’t have to be JAMstack related. Could be my own stack, or some niche? A done-for-you productized service that uses Lists Kit boilerplate to build info directories for you?
Ladder #4 - Selling products
- Launch Lists Kit
- Use Lists Kit to launch new info directory products (as showcase but also for profit)
- Keep indie hacking and shipping new products to see what sticks
- Restart Sheet2Bio and grow through SEO?
- Continue growing Carrd plugins and Lifelog
This is great. Lots of new ideas to think about and to try out for 2024!
Comments
Yes it’s a sliding scale of time for money from left to right. But can be a temporary thing - example, one might quit, but do some freelance at the side, productized consulting in the middle 2 ladder, while building and growing something in the last ladder. But being in first ladder while building out last ladder to replace your salary feels the most sane way!
I’m still firmly stuck on the first ladder. The two middle ladders still feel like time for money to me, so I skipped directly to the last ladder. I’m certainly planning to ramp things up this year per my theme for 2024.