Succeeding vicariously

I’ve been freelancing for a local tech startup since July. And it’s been the perfect fit. I love the work, the team, the culture. I’m making regular commits to their frontend (Rails, Tailwind) and marketing site (Webflow), helping to move the needle, and can see their traffic go up (and I believe revenue too). It’s great to be impact from the work I do, even though it’s not my own product. Above all, it’s a great feeling to see it succeed.

It’s a strange feeling. It’s not my product, but I happen to feel just enough sense of ownership that it feels like I am winning too. It’s like being on a winning team. Or hanging out with winning friends. Their success is not mine technically, but influence is real.

I’m succeeding vicariously through my client’s success.

And it’s spilling over into my own indie products – I start to feel more optimistic about my progress. I get new ideas from building features for them. I relearn old techniques in coding, UX, SEO, marketing that I know about but never tried or thought of trying. I get a sense of pride delivering good work, and that makes me want to do the same for mine. I gain confidence from coding in an unfamiliar language, and that lowers my own barriers to trying out new technology. I build skill in using AI and other dev tools, and that helps me with my own. The best part - front row seats to see how a founder builds a growing, profitable startup with product-market fit. HUGE learning opportunity.

It’s a strange feeling, but I know this isn’t some weird delusion of grandeur. It’s real, and rooted in real results.

But first time I’m experiencing this vicarious success.

And I like it. And excited for what might come.