Zero sales at launch is not a death sentence

My worst fear have come true.

Zero sales after launch. Just like Sheet2Bio, my last product launch.

But before I let my thoughts spiral into a cesspit of toxic negativity like the last time, I catch myself:

• Most of my Carrd plugins don’t get its first sale right off the bat. Usually it takes weeks. So why expect the same?
• Customers—myself included—seldom buy right away. They soak in the awareness for a bit, re-visit the site a few times, think about it, sit on it, then they buy. This explains point #1. So, give it time.
• Info directory boilerplates is a relatively new schtick for me, so people might need more time to warm up to my credibility before buying from me. There isn’t any social proof from paid customers either.
• I’ve only just started marketing. As I’ve reminded myself yesterday, a product launch is just one milestone out of many in the long game of finding profitability. I shouldn’t worry too much about whether a single event does well or not.
• My early suspicion was that there isn’t great channel-offer fit to my Twitter audience. This kind of confirms it. Lists Kit is an opinionated piece of software for a niche purpose, and if anything, I don’t think I know that many folks building info directories who share my point of view and development ‘taste’ in Twitter circle. So I should only really expect results after I’ve marketed on the right channels and communities.

So zero sales at launch is not the end of the world. At least, this isn’t a death sentence for the product… yet.

I find a lot of the work of being an entrepreneur is about managing your mindset and expectations. I was more naive back then during Sheet2Bio, not as battle-tested, and easily swayed. Today I feel like I can see clearer thanks to my past lessons, even if emotionally it’s still testing.

Here’s to keeping calm and carrying on.

[Update: Few hours after writing this, just got my first sale.]