🏆 Step 1: Define "Winning"

• I want to launch a software side project that makes ≥$1,000 MRR by month X so I can start diversifying my income and eventually replace my day job.

<aside> 😄 Good Outcome → Side project that does $1,000 MRR

</aside>

<aside> 🤩 F#$@ Yea! Outcome → Side project that does $5,000 MRR

</aside>

<aside> ⏲️ Timeframe → I want to pull this off within X months

</aside>

🚫 Step 2: Set My Anti-Goals

💩 Don't Want

• Hire and manage anyone other than freelancers. I am open to have a cofounder, though.
• Have this affect performance in my day job
• Sacrifice more than X hours with family.
• Work on an idea that is too boring.

💎 Want

• Spend ~2 months building out the MVP and then spend the majority of the X months on growth and revenue.
• Hone my craft and pick up a new technology, while remaining mindful not to spend too many innovation tokens
• Additional $1,000 - $5,000 each month to put into my savings.
• Meet interesting founders and makers in the process (Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, Trends Group, All Access Pass people, and other cool entrepreneur communities).

✉️ Step 3: Back of the Envelope (How might we get there?)

Back of the Envelope Calculations

Analysis

So it looks like to hit my F#$@ Yea! goal ($5,000 MRR), I'll need to find 200 customers paying $25 each month. That sounds doable, and I can always try raising my prices to hit my revenue goals. It still won't be easy since I need to find a SaaS product that is worth paying >$20. I personally don't have many subscriptions as high as that other than developer tools, so perhaps that is an area that I can explore and target. I think with X months I have a good amount of time to execute on my idea if I stay focused throughout it.

🚀 Step 4: What Momentum Can We Create in the Next Hour?

<aside> ⏳ What could I do in 1 Hour

</aside>

• Brainstorm a lot of ideas and shortlist ones that interest me and are viable business opportunities.
• Email/call/text people that I've worked well with in the past and talk with them about being potential cofounders/collaborators.