I turned 30 a few months ago and I want to become a millionaire by the time I hit 40.
This gives me 10 years to figure things out, while also (hopefully š¤) not burning myself out in the process again.
So if youāre wondering why Iām giving myself so much time, hereās the answer, lol.
Little about me
At my core, Iāve been a developer since 2013, and in the last 5 years Iāve also:
- wrote articles on my blog (this one)
- made a YouTube channel ($50k)
- wrote an eBook ($30k)
- co-created a coding course ($150k)
- made a SaaS ($60k)
- started communities (P.S. The Indie Action Community has launched!)
And some other venturesā¦
As you can see, during these 5 years I made about $300k from various projects and the plan is to continue this to bring my net worth to $1m in the next decade.
For the fun of it, here Iāll start documenting from $0 revenue up to $1m. Weāll just keep it simple without considering the previous amounts (which went on taxes, expenses and some investments).
Just keep in mind that I already have projects that bring in some revenue every month, and I have an audience on X and YouTube.
I donāt believe having an audience is a requirement to complete this challenge but itās not bad to have, of course.
Why $1m?
This is how much weād need to be financially free. (we = me + wifey š)
This amount invested would give us $40k per year based on the safe withdrawal rate of 4% which will give us a pretty good lifestyle on āautopilotā financially.
If I really think about itā¦ the main goal is freedom. Freedom to do what I want, when I want, with whoever I want.
Do we really need $1m invested though for that? No, not really. With a $4-5k monthly income, weād be good to go.
But it would be nice to have that as passively as possible. And, it wouldnāt be such a fun challenge if it would be super easy, amirite? š
Soā¦ $1m it is!
How do I plan to make money?
I plan to continue launching and monetizing apps and products, while sharing the process online ā this will help with the marketing/distribution side of things. Besides this, I also want to learn how to use paid ads.
To begin with, I need to hone down my dev and marketing skills.
I need to learn how to:
- launch an MVP of an idea fast
- market it to the right audience
- see if itās worth doubling down on (if it brings in enough revenue), or itās a sign I need to move on to the next idea
- automate everything where possible
To launch an MVP fast I already know how to build websites (the frontend) but I need to learn better how to do the backend side (how to set up auth, db, payments, etc).
For marketing, Iāll:
- launch on different channels (Reddit, hacker news, indie hackers, product hunt?)
- make videos and/or streams about it
- talk about the product in public
- learn and try ads (heard these are powerful if done right)
The actionable plan
Since I donāt necessarily need a big hit fast, I was thinking of launching many small apps to see what skills I lack or need to improve.
I like the idea of launching many small bets. Trying many things and seeing what works. This will force me to act fast, fail fast, and learn fast.
Challenge: Launch 100 projects (Crazy, eh? š)
If letās say, hypothetically, Iāll launch 100 projects and apps in the next 10 years, and on average each of the apps makes $100 per month, thatās $10k per month in total.
I know this is just the theory and in reality only a few will be successfulā¦ But considering the high amount of apps (100), I believe that this will create a big surface area for luck to fit in at some point.
And even if it doesnāt work out, during this time Iām going to develop strong skills that will help a lot in other areas. For example, I could switch my focus to helping other businesses launch and try their ideas, as Iāll have stronger dev & marketing skills.
All in all, I think this will turn out well eventually.
At least I hope so, lol. š
Nonetheless, Iām going to share my experience here soā¦ Stick around to see whatās going to happen.
Cya! š«¶