Discover One Amazing Creator Everyday #Creator56
First step towards financial freedom start with building a mindset that helps you achieve it.
Today’s creator is an amazing indie hacker who is building cool projects and on the journey towards financial freedom and sharing his journey with the world.
Let’s discover the journey of this amazing creator 👇
Q. As you are currently building and growing emojination.io, curious to know, how your journey as a creator started?
A. It started at the age of 12. My friend's Mom was designing our school website. She also did a 5-page project for $500 for another client. When I heard that a 💡 went in my head. Programming = Lego Money 🧩.
I went to a book store and bought a book about HTML and started learning. Ironically I enjoyed the process so much, I forgot about the money and it wasn’t until I was 19 when I made my 1st $100 programming.
Between 13–18 besides programming, I learned Design in Photoshop/Illustrator and 3D art in 3Ds Max for game dev and 3d graphics creation.
Q. What’s the one thing you want to achieve in 2021?
A. A successful Product Hunt launch 🚀. It’s been 4 years since my last one and I miss the excitement and great feedback :)
Q. Is there anything unexpected or surprising you learnt as a creator?
A. The importance of a consistent marketing effort over the life span of the product was surprising. I used to think you do things in the burst, sprint to build the product, build the marketing, then back to the product.
Truth is a consistent effort is needed on all fronts. Sometimes one area needs more attention, but overall getting traction is about consistency.
Looking back, a lack of consistency stopped me from succeeding. While I’m still not quite there, I know this will work.
It works for many things in life including fitness. A lesson I learned many years ago.
Q. What’s the one mistake you have done and will advise others not to repeat that?
A. Biggest mistake is going 100% in on your own venture. Going to 0 on your bank account or into debt is a very bad idea.
Finding a more sustainable path is important, entrepreneurship is a long game. It’s a marathon, sprinting to the end and exhausting all your resources is how companies die.
I’ve done both, twice on product companies and once over-invested in the growth of agency business.
Instead, plan out an allocation of 50% to your own venture and 50% invested in other assets like private equity, public equity (stocks), crypto, real estate, etc.
I’ve seen successful founders put $300k + salary for a year to start the company. Then they would raise around.
The trick is, they have more money and not putting their family financials at risk. But, they do commit 110% of their time and energy to the new startup.
As a founder, having the stress of personal finances not being well taken care of can kill creativity and make you think very short term. This type of thinking will hurt the business.
Q. Which book you are reading these days?
A. Finished the Mom Test which was amazing! Next is “Traction” by Gabiel Weinberg and Justin Mares, the CEO of Skylab asked us all to read it so we are on the same page when talking about marketing
Q. What do you love to do when not working? Any hobbies you want to share?
A. Outdoor activities: Snowboarding 🏂, Road Biking 🚴♂️, Climbing 🧗♂️
Q. Can you name three Creators on Twitter that inspire you most?
A. @damengchen — one of the first indie creators I followed, he has been super inspiring
@tdinh_me — holy shit he builds features so fast and so amazingly creative
@MattVisiwig — created so many visually beautiful tools and has been super helpful
So many more I wish I could plug here
Q. Where can one go to find more about you?
A. https://yagudaev.com and @yagudaev on Twitter
Q. What would you recommend to others who are looking to start their careers in the startup/SaaS space on how to go about it?
A. Most importantly, understanding “the why you want to start in the space”. It is not for everyone.
Depending on your goals, working at a large company, getting experience and building your savings might allow a shorter path to financial freedom. A great article here: You Probably Shouldn’t Work at a Startup
Once you are convinced you to want to give it a real try. Realize it is a marathon, not a race. Consistency in building products and marketing over a long period of time will win. There are no shortcuts.
Q. Suppose there is a big whiteboard in front of you. What’s the first line you would like to write?
Connect with Michael on Twitter
Thanks for reading.
If you know anyone whose story must be shared like Michael, let me know, ashn9001@gmail.com.
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