Why your side project makes $0

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  • čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
  • I went from $1K/month to $83K/month in 2 years. Here are 5 mistakes I made as a developer building micro startups (SaaS, AI tools, boilerplate & habits tracker)
    🔗 All my startups - www.marclou.com
    ⚡️ Ship your startup in days, not weeks - shipfa.st/
    💡 Newsletter for solopreneurs (14K readers) - marclou.beehiiv.com/
    📸 Instagram - / marclouvion
    💼 LinkedIn - / marclouvion
    🐦 Twitter - / marc_louvion
    00:00 - Intro (from 25% to 100% profitability)
    00:30 - Mistake 1
    03:30 - Mistake 2
    04:33 - Mistake 3
    07:10 - Mistake 4
    08:11 - Mistake 5
    09:56 - Outro (the difference between devs who earn $)
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 260

  • @marc-lou
    @marc-lou  Před měsícem +25

    I'm putting all I learned from entrepreneurship into videos, but my channel is still quite new.
    You can find more content on my blog - especially about marketing & mindset - marclou.beehiiv.com
    Keep shipping ⚡

    • @aakashkathait8328
      @aakashkathait8328 Před měsícem

      Hi Marc
      Can you make a video about your marketing strategies🙌🏻

    • @Wasteyourlifewithmemes
      @Wasteyourlifewithmemes Před měsícem

      hey, Marc With lots of projects,I don't know how you find time for reading people's comments but I would love help you out with your newsletter and I want to write you a free email for your newsletter. What do u think? lmk

    • @nimigeorge8089
      @nimigeorge8089 Před měsícem

      Hey Marc Lou,
      your videos are amazing and really insightful
      How do creatives/developers intern for you?
      would love to be of service to you and learn how to be an indie hacker at the same time

    • @jjbarker7450
      @jjbarker7450 Před 23 dny +1

      Would love a video where you recommend how to learn how to code.
      I am a good web designer but I have only used CMS systems and cant code. I want to start a project that requires coding and I dont know wether I should buy help or code it myself

  • @VincePolston
    @VincePolston Před měsícem +243

    "Users don't care about the invisible. Users only care about one thing: they want a solution to their problems" -- facts

    • @Not_Aran8276
      @Not_Aran8276 Před měsícem +3

      They sure don't care about my invisible channel name.

    • @iNT3NS3CLUTCH
      @iNT3NS3CLUTCH Před měsícem +3

      I don't entirely agree with his points after, I can't count the amount of times I've opened a website in light mode and since it doesn't have or support dark mode I instantly clicked off because it killed my eyes. I think some small easy to implement features like that can help with retention

    • @dinoscheidt
      @dinoscheidt Před měsícem +2

      Yes. And someone to sue when it goes wrong.

  • @techmoneymogul
    @techmoneymogul Před měsícem +170

    Mistake List:
    1) Free plan
    2) Shiny Tech Syndrome
    3) Subscriptions
    4) Bad headline
    5) Over engineering

    • @sardorbekomonkulov6379
      @sardorbekomonkulov6379 Před měsícem +12

      To do list*

    • @selimmidikoglu5534
      @selimmidikoglu5534 Před měsícem +4

      Free plan is not a bad thing for kinda major projects which you come up with new idea. You might even have similar apps already exist on the market free plan brings customers and feedback in early stages. Than you can refactor app according to user feedbacks and new features. Than it is better to go premium features after some popularity and taking feedback stage.

    • @407wrld3
      @407wrld3 Před měsícem

      @@selimmidikoglu5534 yes free plan or demo is a must, or at least money back

    • @llothar68
      @llothar68 Před měsícem

      @@selimmidikoglu5534 No Free plan is bad. But it might be too late to change this mistakes in the industry.

    • @frozendeadbush5026
      @frozendeadbush5026 Před měsícem

      Ayo its my man coding papi

  • @deryckoe84
    @deryckoe84 Před měsícem +72

    I feel a read a 600 pages entrepreneurship book in 10 minutes. So much knowledge in this video. Having the certainty you are sharing everything based on your own experience with proven results makes it even better. Keep going. You are killing it man. Congratulations.

  • @jarostaz
    @jarostaz Před měsícem +72

    Haha I agree with all the points, building a product is more fun than marketing, but earning a profit is even more fun! Great video as always.

  • @Tomj0nes
    @Tomj0nes Před měsícem +10

    I dont usually comment on vidoes but honestly this video was great really informative and didnt feel like i was being sold bs, just honest information based of your experience. Keep up the great vids man and gd luck on future projects!

  • @mchuatak
    @mchuatak Před měsícem +14

    Thank you. This is really helpful for us who are just starting.

  • @shramini3757
    @shramini3757 Před měsícem

    Marc, this is golden! Discovered your channel thanks to the youtube algorithm a few weeks ago and can't stress enough how valuable your insights are for the fellow solo devs out there. Huge thanks!

  • @chrismixlist
    @chrismixlist Před měsícem +2

    Amazing advice. All of your latest videos have been packed with value. Thank you so much

  • @Silb0tic
    @Silb0tic Před měsícem

    Another great video Marc! You show failures and what you learned from it. That's the way to go!

  • @karateover40
    @karateover40 Před měsícem

    Love the content Marc. I am working on a SaaS now using your advice.

  • @eddiejaoude
    @eddiejaoude Před měsícem

    Great video! Thank you for sharing your experience, I can definitely relate

  • @Extremspide101
    @Extremspide101 Před měsícem

    Love the content Marc! Thank you these videos are great insights

  • @James-to6lh
    @James-to6lh Před 16 dny

    Awesome video. Your advice is perfect for me. I'm launching my SaaS this month! Wish me luck!

  • @khaledsanny4817
    @khaledsanny4817 Před měsícem

    Wow... a 10 minutes video packed with sooo much knowledge. Amazing 🎉

  • @bjorndunkel
    @bjorndunkel Před měsícem

    Thank you Marc, that is so well explained.

  • @volimsir
    @volimsir Před měsícem

    Hey Marc, great video!
    I also want to start building things on my own, but I have a really hard time coming up with ideas. Maybe it's because most of the time I just build stuff for other people.
    Maybe you could do a video on that? How you come up with ideas about a project/startup you want to build?

  • @jrabelo_
    @jrabelo_ Před měsícem

    hi marc, thanks for sharing this amazing knowledge, I was very confident about selling my sass as a subscription model but not sure anymore after watching you, thanks a lot

  • @Jeff_Leon
    @Jeff_Leon Před měsícem

    This advice is gold! I often find myself guilty of doing some of these things. I still have a very hard time believing you launch fully functional software businesses in a few days. Would love to see some of your live streams recordings.

  • @jamesjenkins9480
    @jamesjenkins9480 Před měsícem

    I'm working on a side project right now and this video is perfect timing for me as I'm trying to figure out how to monetize it. Thanks for the insight!

  • @RhinoInsight
    @RhinoInsight Před měsícem

    Amazing! Having launched few weeks ago, I almost did the exact same mistakes! I really like the content and format!

  • @usmanabdurehman97
    @usmanabdurehman97 Před 2 dny

    Very nice video man. Learnt a lot

  • @nicholasfinch4087
    @nicholasfinch4087 Před měsícem +10

    HAHA Ship to production!
    The definition of "F**K IT, we're doing it live"
    I love it

  • @luanfelipecosta
    @luanfelipecosta Před měsícem +1

    Thanks for the tips!
    Super helpful

  • @ravitejachandana6199
    @ravitejachandana6199 Před 13 dny

    Very much valuable information. Thanks for sharing ❤

  • @adityakadam2256
    @adityakadam2256 Před měsícem

    Hi, thanks for sharing all this. It is very insightful and your content is very inspiring.

  • @santoshkumar-wq4qd
    @santoshkumar-wq4qd Před měsícem +2

    Thanks for sharing your SAAS experience

  • @VeeWebCode
    @VeeWebCode Před měsícem

    finally a geniune video. love ya man

  • @R00YSEC
    @R00YSEC Před 8 dny

    Thank you for the video Marc!

  • @freenrg888
    @freenrg888 Před 4 dny

    It was helpful. Thanks Marc

  • @Yassinius
    @Yassinius Před měsícem

    Solid advice, thanks so much!!

  • @farrukh.
    @farrukh. Před měsícem +19

    Marc growing on social media like a 🚀

  • @ramzy8874
    @ramzy8874 Před měsícem

    Amazing video, straight to the point ✅

  • @francosbenitez
    @francosbenitez Před měsícem

    Loved your explanation, man!

  • @barisballi70
    @barisballi70 Před 29 dny

    That was crazy helpful. Thank you

  • @livelyfairr
    @livelyfairr Před 13 dny

    Love your videos Marc!

  • @samuelemonasterolo4634
    @samuelemonasterolo4634 Před měsícem

    Amazing video Marc🔥

  • @jmgutierrez962
    @jmgutierrez962 Před měsícem

    Thank You sir.. I need to write these things down in my github online portfolio. These insights are gold.

  • @muammar88
    @muammar88 Před měsícem

    Excellent tips! I agree with everything you said.. Sadly learnt the hard way!

  • @Joseph-Codes
    @Joseph-Codes Před měsícem

    Thank you this was really insightful and helpful. By the way I just subscribed

  • @Notepad123
    @Notepad123 Před měsícem

    Thanks for the video brother 🤘🏽

  • @frenchmike
    @frenchmike Před měsícem

    great tips bro, keep it up. merci

  • @rustapan
    @rustapan Před měsícem

    Very valuable video. Thanks!

  • @davidhack2409
    @davidhack2409 Před měsícem

    Great stuff Marc!

  • @anthony_riera
    @anthony_riera Před měsícem

    Awesome video Marc! I'm thinking of getting rid of my free plan on my app for a while, this might be a solution to unlock some revenue!

  • @tobiaszgala7108
    @tobiaszgala7108 Před 14 dny

    Very good video thank you for sharing your experience

  • @Jegory316
    @Jegory316 Před měsícem

    Amazing content, thank you for sharing

  • @lennonsigwenamudenda6768
    @lennonsigwenamudenda6768 Před měsícem

    Thanks a lot @marc-lou these are amazing lessons I am learning quite a lot.

  • @ThePharaohsCat
    @ThePharaohsCat Před měsícem +1

    Great stuff. Crucial value

  • @luiswebdev8292
    @luiswebdev8292 Před měsícem

    watchign this video makes me thing I need to shift my mindset so much, sound exciting

  • @myworldworks
    @myworldworks Před měsícem

    Love the video Marc.

  • @valterszaluzinskis2453
    @valterszaluzinskis2453 Před měsícem

    Excelent video, educating and for some reason even motivating😂

  • @jennyliu07
    @jennyliu07 Před měsícem

    Pretty sound! Thanks!

  • @javiasilis
    @javiasilis Před měsícem

    Wow, thank you for #3. I was wondering how I was going to implement the one time payment for an OpenAI wrapper. I will definitely use the pay per use model.
    I will investigate more about it.

  • @Kreshel1
    @Kreshel1 Před měsícem

    amazing advice, thank you very much

  • @joshuaedward6893
    @joshuaedward6893 Před měsícem

    Hmm, this is insightful. I guess I will put a few unnecessary features on my app on hold for now. And also try the pay for what you use model. Thanks again for the insight

  • @andresnavarro1825
    @andresnavarro1825 Před měsícem

    Thanks. Very usefull information!

  • @DanielJustavino23
    @DanielJustavino23 Před měsícem

    great content Marc!

  • @hamzahmd_
    @hamzahmd_ Před 14 dny

    Love the unique content.

  • @thomasthurzo8792
    @thomasthurzo8792 Před měsícem

    Like always, a Great Video. Cheers.

  • @SwiftUIForBeginners_TY
    @SwiftUIForBeginners_TY Před měsícem

    Great video very nice tips!

  • @vannhantran547
    @vannhantran547 Před 29 dny

    Glad we have Marc sharing his gems

  • @glowdragon
    @glowdragon Před 14 dny

    This video is so valuable that I created a new playlist for videos like this one.

  • @tntg5
    @tntg5 Před měsícem

    Thanks Marc for these tips ! They are very valuable!
    Could you please tell us about how you started your journey on twitter ?

  • @bethfiore
    @bethfiore Před měsícem

    Your channel is amazing

  • @MorrisseyDelicia
    @MorrisseyDelicia Před měsícem

    Man, can you make a video about how do you sell? I`m stuck in it. Great work bro! Thanks a lot!

  • @shakapaker
    @shakapaker Před měsícem +1

    I agree with all points, amazing content 🔥I think without a free plan they will just not use it and there will be the same 3% that bought or maybe a bigger percentage. Trials a way to go anyway

  • @CrapuleScred
    @CrapuleScred Před měsícem

    Salut et super contenu merci. Je regarde un peu car j'essaye de voir des opportunités d'apprendre et éventuellement d'en dégager un revenu afin d'être indépendant sans pour autant gagner des sommes astronomiques. Et puis quand je vois un autre surfeur ca fait plaisir.
    Moi ce qui m'intéresserait ca serait de connaître ton parcours plus en détails, et surtout ton cheminement pour l'apprentissage. Je m'intéresse un peu aux possibilités du nocode/lowcode actuellement. J'avais tenté un début sur les bases html et java de mémoire mais je n'ai pas continué.
    En ce moment je check la formation de base gratuite sur contournement et donc j'abord airtable, zapier, softr etc... J'aime bien. A voir si je persiste. C'est pour ca que c'est toujours intéressant d'avoir des pistes et vu que tu sembles partager volontiers ton parcours.
    Enfin je cherche de quoi apprendre et progresser. Idem j'ai une petite chaîne sur les jeux de société (rien à voir) mais je pense possiblement ouvrir une nouvelle chaîne youtube sur un autre sujet, pourquoi pas mon apprentissage en la matière. Mais je n'aime pas trop montrer ma tête même si elle est normale 😅.
    Aller merci à toi et à bientôt. J'aurais pu l'écrire en anglais mais bon on va faire exception :)

  • @L.R.-xh2pm
    @L.R.-xh2pm Před měsícem

    Unfortunately I couldn’t agree more. I did all the mistakes you mentioned and much more on top. But what doesn’t kill me right…🎉

  • @khaledsanny4817
    @khaledsanny4817 Před měsícem

    Thank you for this great content. Please can you teach your marketing techniques ?

  • @hooligansofts7430
    @hooligansofts7430 Před měsícem +1

    Hey Marc,
    Kinda curious, you said that you stuck with the one time payment plan for your landing page generator, just wanted to know how do you keep up with the expenses? I assume internally the app utilizes openAI APIs to keep up and stuff, so do you provide the source-code and the user is. asked to self-host? I mean, keeping up with open AI usage, hosting, database usage for LIFETIME doesn't sound very sustainable

  • @mohammadz5474
    @mohammadz5474 Před měsícem

    Amazing advices ❤

  • @davidkostuchenko3654
    @davidkostuchenko3654 Před 2 dny +1

    I understand the logic behind mistake #1 about the free plan,
    but the example of free vs paid didn't add up for me.
    Am I wrong ? or am I missing something ? or perhaps just nit picky.
    Free plan vs 10$/month plan example:
    Core variables:
    New visitors per month: 10,000
    Conversion rate to paid plan: 3%
    The example:
    1st month: 10,000 * 3% = 3,000$
    2nd month: 10,000 * 3% = 3,000$ + 3,000$ (from existing users) = 6,000$
    3nd month: 10,000 * 3% = 3,000$ + 6,000$ (from existing users) = 9,000$
    etc...
    (And of course I'm leaving out people that cancel and maintenance cost out of the example)

  • @dus10dnd
    @dus10dnd Před měsícem +2

    Just because all of the software industry wants to move to subscriptions doesn't mean it makes sense. If it is a service that has compute and storage around it... and you provide a justifiable value, subscriptions make sense. If you're making an app that you ship which has usage not dependent on a backend... release it like traditional software. Accept a one-time payment for that version with updates for a year, or some reasonable time. When a new version comes out... a new charge, and it can include a discount for existing customers.

  • @LS-in1xn
    @LS-in1xn Před 10 dny

    I about indiepage just now... so wish to follow this path!

  • @pasha0423
    @pasha0423 Před měsícem

    Excellent content 👏

  • @nicolasdiot7007
    @nicolasdiot7007 Před měsícem +11

    Love it ! I'm currently developing a SaaS this month with your advice : same tech stack, no typescript, no test, no subscription but life time payment and no free plan. Just keep it simple with one main functionality and launch in one month maximum

    • @rusl12
      @rusl12 Před měsícem +4

      What's the plan for the lifetime membership when you decide to close your product in 6 months' time? No offence intended, that's just what happens with most products and I am genuinely curious

    • @rusl12
      @rusl12 Před měsícem +1

      Something that isn't addressed in the video (because it's probably not important for the solo entrepreneurs??) is that subscriptions are a good method for an ongoing exchange of value. As a user I like this because my regular payments are incentivising the developer to continuously deliver me value, meaning 1. they won't shut down and 2. they will keep improving the product to stay competitive. One-time "lifetime" payments offer neither of those.

    • @dvillegaspro
      @dvillegaspro Před 20 dny

      Why no typescript?

  • @ES-eb6pb
    @ES-eb6pb Před měsícem +1

    can you do a video on how to get legal information for your startup? like do i need to buy lawyer services for terms and conditions and other legal things that may need to be specified in my website.

  • @danielloseyTech
    @danielloseyTech Před měsícem

    so good, thanks!

  • @AppySpaces
    @AppySpaces Před 4 dny

    00:02 Offering a free plan can kill your revenue
    01:19 Free plans may hinder profitability for solo entrepreneurs
    02:34 Provide free tools for users to try before purchasing
    03:55 Users prioritize solutions over aesthetics.
    05:14 Subscriptions have drawbacks for both business owners and users.
    06:34 Implement a pay-per-use system for fair user pricing
    07:53 Craft an excellent headline for your project.
    09:12 Remove anything not directly valuable to the customer.
    Crafted by Merlin AI.

  • @borjafat
    @borjafat Před měsícem

    Really cool editing. Do you edit your own or do you have an editor?

  • @Srg9000
    @Srg9000 Před měsícem +1

    What do you do for licence agreements? Like who is liable if your servers are down or you sell the ownership for something you charged a one-time only fee for?

  • @juanmiguelguerrero7222
    @juanmiguelguerrero7222 Před měsícem +1

    Marc, How do you calculate the relationship between new visitors and monthly visitors? 1:32

  • @pavellegkodymov4295
    @pavellegkodymov4295 Před měsícem

    Cool, thank you very much!

  • @HehLul
    @HehLul Před měsícem

    Can you make a vid on how you learned the necessary skills to build a product in just days?

  • @THE_G0AlAPAGOS
    @THE_G0AlAPAGOS Před měsícem

    Hi Marc, I love your videos, style and the effort you put into your work, keep up the good work.
    Can I ask what tech stack/tools you used for the site builder?
    Thanks a lot.

    • @marc-lou
      @marc-lou  Před měsícem +1

      thanks! I used the same stack for all my products.
      + GPT-4 & SDX for tha landing page generator
      czcams.com/video/b_ANHgTHNSI/video.html

  • @karthickb1973
    @karthickb1973 Před měsícem

    only practical wisdom that really works.

  • @TypeScriptTV
    @TypeScriptTV Před 11 dny

    I watched your video and immediately changed the H1 of my website. 😅

  • @markodupor
    @markodupor Před měsícem +1

    Great stuff, but what I'm really interested in is how do you market yourself? I've created a couple of side projects which ended up making 0 profits simply because I suck at marketing and there was no real traction there.

  • @ivansnyman3832
    @ivansnyman3832 Před měsícem +2

    Great video, Marc. I just wanted to ask your reasoning behind not using Typescript? You mentioned you don't test code but wouldn't using typescript and a type system while coding reduce any potential bugs you could encounter with the compiler picking up type mismatches?

    • @claudiumomea2025
      @claudiumomea2025 Před 15 dny

      I think TS falls under the invisible things, which means that Marc prefers to don't type a bunch of TS lines to prevent "a possible" error. Most probably he encounters issues, but I assume he reached the conclusion that is requiring less time to fix the bugs on the go then to write all in types&interfaces. I may be wrong, but that is how I see it :D

  • @user-dk6nc8jo5z
    @user-dk6nc8jo5z Před měsícem

    Where can we market our products Are there any websites for that or do we have to use Google itself?

  • @Connor0to10
    @Connor0to10 Před měsícem

    Another great video!

  • @cocoarecords
    @cocoarecords Před měsícem

    Amazing and practical

  • @CyberTechBits
    @CyberTechBits Před 25 dny

    @marc I thought you were going to share your tech stack? What tools do you use to develop?

  • @comedyclub333
    @comedyclub333 Před měsícem

    Another reason why companies like Vercel can offer a free plan is that the free plan is limited enough to keep someone from using it in large scale. And since you get used to it for your side projects and see the benefits, you are more likely to consider it for your large scale projects, e.g. at your 9-5 job. What I'm trying to say: Free plans might work, it highly depends on the product you want to bring to the market.

  • @fabianschwarzfritz
    @fabianschwarzfritz Před měsícem +1

    So to sum up the positive:
    - Use one-time payment or pay-per use
    - If you have recurring external costs, use pay-use (credits)
    - Alternative 1: very limited trial / free time with either 7-days time or some free credits.
    - Alternative 2: Make some simple part of the app free, make the main part paid
    - The should be MVP minimal and shipped to the customer

  • @yoshirubin9481
    @yoshirubin9481 Před měsícem

    Hey started watching your content and have found some really interesting insights
    I saw you say you dont put a reset password button on your products, how do you handle a situation where a user forgets their password?

  • @sergeynazarov7410
    @sergeynazarov7410 Před měsícem

    French accent is like honey for my ears
    Thanks for sharing Marc

  • @oDOUGYo
    @oDOUGYo Před měsícem

    Love the T-Shirt! Where can I see the full graphic?

  • @dei8bit
    @dei8bit Před měsícem

    Bro OMG your videos and your intention, I really want to launch my apps, I really appreciate your advice I just get emotional because I want to achieve it and I feel your teaching as if it were from father to son ._. when I manage to monetize my apps, I will write you to thank you.