Nine lessons I learned from building my latest product in public
Including three vital things I'll do differently next time
One of my followers on Twitter, CK from @slow_is_better asked me what I learned from my build-in-public project.
I decided to write up a few reflections and then share them with you. Below are 9 lessons I learned from building my latest course in public.
1. It's tiring to work on a project 7 days a week for 30 days.
Especially, since I'd just completed 30 days of writing Atomic Essays in Ship 30 For 30. In the future, I may take a longer break between one major project and another. Or at the very least, work 5 days a week and leave weekends for rest.
2. Most of my readers said they wanted daily updates in my newsletter but ...
I didn't like putting people through that who originally signed up for less frequent messages.
So I'll be trying a different approach next time.
I discovered recently that you can create "sections" in a Substack newsletter. So I just created a section called Build In Public. On Monday, you'll get an email showing how to opt-out of the Build In Public updates.
3. I missed out on posting to LinkedIn.
It's a big mistake as half of my new subscribers since October had come from LinkedIn when I was posting their regularly. There's no reason that I could not have posted my daily updates to LinkedIn.
4. Posting updates is motivating.
I had at least one motivational hump during this project that I might not have gotten through If I did not have an audience cheering me on and telling me they wanted to see me finish.
5. Working to a deadline has magic to it.
If I had no deadline I would have let some steps take longer then they ought to. I said I'd create the course in 30 days despite other responsibilities and so I did. That meant reducing the scope of some tasks such as the offer page. It also meant finding a faster way to format the learning materials such as using Pages for the Mac instead of InDesign.
6. Trying to do even one more business project while creating the course was not sustainable. I tried to take on another course (as a participant) while I created iPARA and I had to stop. There just wasn't energy enough to create my course, report on what I did and also take another course at the same time.
7. The daily updates were another project in themselves.
It could take me an additional 10-30 minutes to write up an update. That may not seem like much but when you are already short on time and energy, it can be quite difficult. I would probably only do this a certain number of times a year. But maybe if I take weekends off, it may be more sustainable.
8. Building in public like this was so worth it.
I don't know what financial rewards will ultimately come from this course but the learning itself was priceless. Also, in the past, I taught my clients iPARA, so giving this program to future clients will save me time at the very least.
9. Financial returns?
So far seven people have trusted me to teach them how to organize their digital information. To them, I'm very grateful. Total revenue, before Gumroad took its cut, is $98. Small in the short run but I'm very proud of those sales. I'll never forget the exhilaration of seeing one sale after another come in.
That's it. I learned a TON and I'm proud that I completed the challenge.
I likely won't be doing another challenge until February. However, I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be back to my minimum posting schedule of Thursday mornings.
I'll also throw in a few extra updates during the week on occasion too including Monday's post about how to opt-out of the future build-in-public updates without unsubscribing from my newsletter.
Until then, take care.
Rodney
P.S. You can get your copy of the product I build in public called "iPARA: How To Organize Your Digital Information For Action" by clicking here.
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