This is not a success story. This is not a "humble brag". Two years ago, I start with a goal of reaching $500 MRR through my side projects. Six months in, I am at $50 MRR, riding a huge wave of momentum. Fourteen months in, I am at $200 MRR and have three profitable products. Now I'm two years in, I have shut...
At last I did it! After more than 2 years of launching failure after failure, I managed to build a successful, profitable product and achieve financial independence. In this book I will explain in detail what happened and how I went from no idea to $2k MRR with CyberLeads in 6 months...
I can smell freedom. It's close. After many years of trying and failing, I finally had one good product and one good distribution channel. Things were changing. Fast. Now I was able to niche down. Escape competition. Double down. Surpass my salary. And quit my job. Here is what happened...
That's it. It's done. I just quit my job to go full time on Cyberleads. It's been a long time coming. I launched CyberLeads nearly one year ago. But it's been three years years since I first started building products seriously and dreaming about this moment. My first 19 products failed. CyberLeads was...
Yoohoo! It actually happened. I have officially quit my job. I am about to experience complete freedom for the first time in my life and be self employed. Hopefully forever. Let's talk about what comes right after gaining your freedom. Maybe it can help you be prepared when it's your time...
It's been almost a year since I quit my day job. And I'm living the dream. Waking up without an alarm clock. Having free time. Enjoying life and exploring new hobbies. Dating. Life is good. But I'm starting to feel agitated. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I've been so used to experiencing...
I'm looking at my dashboard. I just hit $10,000/month. Normally, this would be cause for celebration. Champagne. I have made it. All these years of work have finally paid off. But the truth is, nothing has even started yet. I just received an email from one of my clients to setup a weekly meeting schedule...
I'm looking at my dashboard. I just hit $10,000/month. Normally, this would be cause for celebration. Champagne. I have made it. All these years of work have finally paid off. But the truth is, nothing has even started yet. I just received an email from one of my clients to setup a weekly meeting schedule...
I'm reading a book on how to build a team. It says that I should empower my employees. Align them with the vision and core values of the company. And define the culture. Seriously, is this what I've become? These things are exactly why I quit my job...
I'm in my teenage bedroom. Looking at my globe lamp. It's an old one, from a second hand store. Many countries have changed since. But somehow it makes it feel even more magical. I spin it and place my finger randomly to stop it. I wonder if I'll ever visit that place and if my dreams will ever come true...
That's it. It's done. I just made my first million. To be honest, I don't even know what to say. Or how to feel. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I went back in time and sat next to myself while building my first projects. Tell myself that everything will come true. That it will way longer than I think...
I'm looking at my charts. They are all falling. Plummeting. CyberLeads is dying. And I'm not sure why. Why is this happening. I'm working harder than ever before. I'm on a call with Jonathan. It's been 3 hours already. We've been having calls every day. Going through every single number. We should be able to find...
Wow.. I don't believe it. After all these years, I am actually shutting down CyberLeads. I'm taking down the service offer from the homepage. Emailing all of my clients. Letting them know about it. Giving away refunds. And cutting ties with everyone. I feel like a complete loser. And that I was wrong about everything...
Let's be friends:
Finally, special thanks to everyone that inspired and supported me, whether they know it or not.
• Pieter Levels, thank you for building in the open and making this movement happen for all of us. It was your revenue tweets and blog posts that made me realize that I could do the same.
• Courtland and Channing Allen, thank you for building Indie Hackers and putting a name to our little movement. I have read every single post, listened to every single podcast and have day dreamed countless times being on your show.
• Patrick and John Collison, thank you for building Stripe. You made it possible for people like me to make a living on the internet. Most importantly, thank you for building Arc Institute. I really hope from the bottom of my heart that you succeed. Not only because of you. But because if you do succeed, all of us succeed, and even the next generations succeed. You’re the ultimate inspiration.
• DHH, thank you for bringing common sense to the tech industry. Reminding us that you don't need to run a VC company and become a billionaire to be successful. And that you can have work life balance.
• Jason Fried, thank you for sharing your contrarian views regarding work. It's inspiring to see how ahead of the culture you were with remote work and SaaS. Your books are awesome too.
• Pat Walls (and Demi), thank you for replying to my emails back in 2021. Also for your awesome daily blog, which definitely inspired me to continue to write daily. Finally, thank you for showing us the power of focusing on one business, which you can adapt and evolve over time.
• Nassim Taleb, thank you for writing the Incerto. They felt like throwing a grenade in my skull. Rewired my brain. I don’t say this lightly, but they completely changed me, forever. I have read them all, twice, and even bought them to have physical copies in case the world gets destroyed. Eyxaristo poli re Nikola.
• Daniel Vassallo, thank you for introducing me to Taleb's books and philosophy, they changed my world view and helped me with my journey. Also for sharing your authentic thoughts and taking a stance, even if it's not popular.
• Stamos Venios, thank you for inspiring me to start this journey and for teaching me that you learn by doing, not studying. If I was to summarize the whole book series in one sentence, it would be exactly that. My wildest dream would be to inspire someone, just as much as you inspired me.
• Sam Parr, thank you for sharing my little business with your audience. Even more importantly, thank you for always being nothing but kind and generous to me. Funnily enough, your show, "My First Million", helped me make my first million.
• Derek Sivers, thank you for having the most awesome blog on the planet. Also for writing all your books and giving everything back to charity. You are awesome.
• Jon Yongfook, thank you for building and failing products at the same time as me, from 2018 to 2020. You launched BannerBear roughly at the same time I found CyberLeads, after roughly the amount number of failures. It was cool to not fail and succeed alone.
• Damon Cheng, thank you for showing us that even indie makers can acquire and grow businesses. Your run from quitting your job till today is legendary.
• Marc Köhlbrugge, thank you for building WIP.chat. Seeing other successful makers public TODOs made me realize that everyone just builds things, fixes bugs and makes mistakes. Like me. This was actually one of my most important realizations. It was frame breaking.
• Danny Postma, thank you for showing us that even indie products can exit to a larger company. And that even after an exit, if you want it bad enough, you can go back to square one and try again and again until you succeed again.
• Jason Cohen, thank you for your amazing blog and talks. Probably the best business blog in the world. And for your talk on boutique bootstrapped businesses. Seriously, that talk helped me niche down, raise my prices and change my life.
• Dru Riley, thank you for running an amazing campaign for CyberLeads together, back in 2020. Those high revenue months were the final push and confidence I needed to quit my job. Thank you my brother. Forever grateful.
• Andreas Klinger, thank you for being a class act and making an effort to help me find a job when I needed one. Also, for always replying to my emails and DMs.
• Vic, thank you for helping me find the next lever of growth for CyberLeads. No joke, you helped me change my life.
• Jordan Mechner, thank you so much for writing and publishing “The Making of Prince of Persia”. It's amazing, raw and authentic. What an beautiful piece of art.
• Mubs, thank you for launching 50+ projects in public throughout the years and showing us how fast one can build.
• Paul Graham, thank you for the amazing essays. Every time I felt lost, I would go to your beautiful blog and pick an essay to read. They always helped. They weren't an accurate map, and they never pretended to be. They were like a compass.
• Andrey Azimov, thank you for your epic 2018 run, becoming Maker of the Year and changing your life. Your scrappiness and determination were infectious.
• Dimitris Raptis, thank you for being one of the very few people from our little hometown that is in our little bubble and industry. Also, thank you for reminding me that working on products you enjoy is more important than the money you make.
• Katerina Limpitsouni, thank you for being the final person from our little hometown that is in our little bubble and industry. I've used your designs and illustrations countless of times. They are awesome.
• Shaan Puri, thank you for the podcast, the awesome thoughts, writing and funny stories. I love that you are always optimistic. I love that you are always excited about the future. And I love that you are always planning and setting goals for yourself. Your passion for life is contagious.
• Dimitris Kourtesis, Nikos Tsoniotis and Stefanos Tsiakmakis, thank you for accepting me in your startup incubator back when I knew nothing. Thank you for teaching me that killing projects is just as productive as building them. This was one of the biggest lessons I ever learned.
• Justin Jackson, thank you for your essays and podcasts regarding the importance of markets. You might not know it, but they were super impactful to me and helped me end up in the lead generation market, which helped me find CyberLeads and change my life.
• Josh Pigford, thank you for being one of the first people to show your complete list of failed products before your big success. I remember seeing the list and preparing mentally to go through the same. I built 19 failed products, then the 20th changed my life. Thank you.
• Nathan Barry, thank you for being one of the few people continuing to share revenue numbers after reaching millions in revenue. We have small businesses like myself doing that. We also have huge public companies doing that. It's great to have companies in the middle, like yours, do that too. Also, thank you for showing me the value of niching down and focusing on one segment of the market at a time. It really helped me grow CyberLeads and change my life.
• James Clear, thank you writing Atomic Habits. It is the most practical book I have ever read in my life. Inspired by the book, I remember writing my daily habits in green if I did them and in red if I didn’t. That alone made me stay consistent and helped me discover the marketing channel that changed my life.
• Ali Salah, thank you for being one of the OGs from 2018 and showing me that slow, consistent growth, in a saturated market, while focusing on product, can actually happen. This hasn't been my own experience and it's another example that anything and everything can work, there are no magic recipes.
• Michael Aubrey, thank you for being another story of hard work. Seeing you try for multiple years before finally achieving success is inspiring. Reminds me of my own journey.
• Reilly Chase, thank you for showing me that you can build a boring business, on top of an existing platform, and grow alongside it. Been inspiring to watch you grow over the years, build a team, a house and a life for yourself and your family.
• Rob Walling, thank you for your books and for your amazing podcast. I've listened to so many episodes over the years and there is always something interesting to take from them, because you and your gueststalk from experience, not theory.
• Jack Butcher, Bilal Zaidi and Trung Phan, thank you for everything you have been sharing with us for the past years. Jack, for your amazing art and thoughts. Bilal, for the great podcast episodes, both with NIA and Creator Lab. And Trung, for the funny memes and history insights. As you can already tell, even the title of this book series is inspired by you.
• Nico Jeannen, thank you for showing us that building and exiting multiple little businesses is possible. Also for keeping it real and sharing the good and the bad. There aren't that many people that do that and it's inspiring to see.
• Marc Lou, thank you for setting a new standard on shipping fast. I thought I was prolific for shipping 20 products from 2018 to 2020, but you took it to a whole new level. Respect.
• Peter Askew, thank you for blurring the lines between boring and cool. Selling onions online is simultaneously one of the most boring and one of the coolest businesses in the world.
• John O' Nollan, thank you for inspiring me to build a remote business and travel the world. You were one of the first entrepreneurs I looked up to, and still a massive fan.
• Harry Dry, thank you for showing me the power of storytelling and copywriting. Seeing your Yeezy.Dating saga unfold in real time back in 2018 was awesome and your climb to the top of the copywriting world is inspiring.
• Jordan O' Connor, thank you for your amazing blog. I remember reading every single post, multiple times, as you grew your business from zero to tens of thousands of dollars per month, changing your life for yourself and your ever growing family.
• Tim Ferris, thank you for writing the 4 hour work week. I remember reading it back when I was still in my hometown, lost, and dreaming of a life of adventure, travel and experiences. Fast forward a few years, I managed to do that. Thank you.
• Sahil Lavingia, thank you for building Gumroad, it helped me make my first $100K online. Also, thank you for challenging the status quo, thinking out of the box, doing things your own way and never being too busy to reply to my DMs back in the day. Truly grateful.
• AJ from Carrd, thank you for showing us that you can build and grow a simple, elegant and useful product by yourself and make great money without charging high prices. Frame breaking.
• Alex Napier Holland, thank you for being real and having authentic thoughts and opinions. Your are one of the very few non BS and non cringe people on my timeline.
• Florin Pop, thank you for staying humble and ambitious at the same time. It's inspiring to see you set goals and then go after them.
• David Park, thank you for sharing the good and the bad so openly and authentically. Not only in business, but in life too. Your story is inspiring.
• Andrea Bosoni, thank you for showing me the value of being consistent and for being one of my Italian brothers. It's been great your amazing content for all these years, whenever I see your posts I always get a nice feeling of familiarity.
• Flavio Copes, thank you for showing me the value of writing daily, with the simple heuristic of "do stuff, encounter problems, write about the solution". Your website and blog remind me of what the internet was originally made for, real and authentic.
• Lim How Wey, thank you for sharing all of your knowledge around SEO. It was really helpful to me. And thank you for always being kind and supportive, I truly appreciate it.
• Arvid Kahl, thank you for sharing the story of exiting your SaaS business. It's been awesome to see you re-invent yourself and write your books.
• Amjad Masad, thank you for the amazing blog. I love how you combine philosophy, powerlifting, science, history and business. Also thank you for building Replit, it’s amazing.
• Swyx, thank you for inviting me on your podcast back in the day and for always being kind and supportive. Also for being prolific and constantly working on new things and technologies, it's contagious.
• Dmytro Krasun, thank you for showing me that progress happens slowly, then all at once. Your journey is awesome.
• David Perell, thank you for spreading the benefits of writing and specifically of writing daily. Your essays, podcasts and newsletters are fantastic.
• Noah Kagan, thank you for building AppSumo and for always keeping it real and honest. Seeing you embark on random new side quests like YouTube and being successful is cool to see also.
• Andrew Wilkinson, thank you for showing me that you can build insane wealth with boring businesses. Your essays and books are amazing. It's great to see your progress from being a freelancer, to running a small studio and being afraid to hire people, to managing hundreds of employees, to running a portfolio of companies, to finally going public. Insane.
• Andrew Gazdecki, thank you for building Acquire (formerly MicroAcquire) and helping indies like myself exit our companies and change our lives. Gazdecki style.
• Steph Smith, thank you for all the amazing essays. I remember reading "How to Be Great? Just Be Good, Repeatably" and realizing that I don't have to be fancy, just consistent. Also, every single one of your MFM appearances was great.
• George Mack, thank you for being one of the few, modern, original thinkers, popularizing new terms and expanding the lexicon. Your newsletter is one of the best I've read in my life, your ability to explain concepts is on another level.
• Jonathan Garces, thank you for all the amazing memories working on CyberLeads together. You are the only business partner I've ever had and helped me more than I could even imagine. It was a blast, my favorite business era.
• Lachlan Kirkwood, thank you for all the amazing chats over the years, going through similar milestones and challenges with our very different businesses. I'm really proud of you exiting your business and re-inventing yourself.
• Vytas Bu, thank you for believing in me and trusting me to work together. Even more importantly, I'm grateful to call you a true friend and thank you for treating me like a brother.
• Andreas Asprou, thank you for reminding me what true wealth is and for pushing me to take a break and write these books. I wouldn't have done it without you.
• Max DeMarco, thank you for inspiring me to continue being the main character of my life. You always have main character energy and it's contagious. Seeing you grow and always challenge yourself was amazing. Hope to make it to your next Muay Thai fight.
• Niklas Christl, thank you for being one of the most successful yet humble and honest people I've met. That contrast is amazing and inspiring. Hope to see you soon and catch up again.
• Giuseppe Ettore, thank you for growing side by side since 2020. I still remember showing you CyberLeads when it was just an idea, during lunch break at the office. Time flies. We started our jobs on the same day in Milan, we both quit our jobs since then, have achieved a lot and always support each other. And I believe we always will.
• Naval, thank you for the writing “How to get rich without getting lucky”. I remember walking around Milan, listening to it, on repeat, again and again, week after week, month after month. I think I can recite huge passages from it. Gave me a new perspective.
• Justin Gluska, thank you for the amazing chats in New York. I hope to see you again somewhere around the world.
• Eracle, thank you for welcoming me to Las Palmas. We had many amazing chats and nights out. Hope to visit again.
• Nikolas Konstantinou, thank you for welcoming me to the island of Cyprus. You have always helped me when I needed help, without asking for anything in return.
• Dawid Cedrych, thank you for being a dream client and for showing me that true business is a win-win game. I'm forever grateful for your trust in me, for encouraging me to write and for always being humble and real.
• Pete Codes, thank you for featuring me in your awesome newsletter and for being supportive over the years. It was also cool meeting in person a few years back.
• Jonny Ward, Daniel Ward, Doug Ward and David Carter, thank you all so much for being generous enough to invite me one of the impactful coffee/dinners of my life, when you had absolutely nothing to gain from me. I will never forget.
• Moch, thank you for giving me perspective on life and how you can continue being happy and positive no matter what happens.
• All the staff and friends at Cafe Nero for giving me free coffee and letting me write my books all day.
• Eneas Lari, for being my best friend in life.
• My family.
And to all the people that have supported me over the years or have shared my books. If I missed you, it's not on purpose.
Constantly updating this list.
Thank you to everyone that has been reading throughout the years 🖤