May wrap-up | Jason's newsletter
May wrap-up
40% of 2022 had passed. Time for a reality check.
I tend to prefer being optimistic most of the time, but I feel the days are passing me by way faster than I can feel them, and that makes me feel anxious.
What have I achieved so far?
Still low MRR.
Still no $5K/m revenue.
Still no breakthrough products.
I had set an intention to try #30daysofluck challenge for May, but got side-tracked by Sheet2Bio. In a way that's good. I launched my 2nd SaaS. That's another opportunity that can buy me more luck.
The past few months were hopeful, forward-looking ones. But with the halfway point coming up on the year, I think being realistic is in order. Hopefully, the switch of focus for early morning deep work will help me make more progress too.
I definitely need to double down on getting to ramen profitability.
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Twitter stats - May vs Apr
– Tweets: 1537 vs 1466
– Tweet impressions: 346K vs 390K
– Likes: 3.8K vs 4.1K
– Engagement rate: 4.2% vs 3.9%
– Profile visits: 67K vs 79.3K
– Mentions: 1652 vs 1643
– New followers: 237 vs 406
– Link clicks: 955 vs 818
– Retweets: 341 vs 332
– Replies: 1.5K vs 1.4K
Viral tweets:
– No mega viral tweets but 3 tweets in the 10K-20K impressions, all build in public, indie hacking tweets. Which kind of makes sense, because I'm no longer writing that kind of tweets that has potential to go mega viral.
What’s interesting:
- First time getting 4% and above for engagement rate. I think this mirrors the new approach I'm leaning towards - more building in public tweets means people are more engaged in my tweets, even though impressions are waaay down (though that could be due to overall downturn in impressions on Twitter)
- April's double follower gain came back down again to my usual 200+. So when I asked in April if "Is the "reply guy" approach less effective now? Or is it simply a case of better converting tweets due to building in public?" – hypothesis debunked!
- Link clicks continue to be high. In March and before it was in the 300+, now tripled! Huge mystery there 2 months in a row.
- Wrote 2 threads - they still don't work
- Updated my Twitter profile in ages (to sync with launch of Sheet2Bio)
Other Apr metrics
– Revenue:
Current MRR: US$129 (all from Lifelog)
One-off revenue: ~US$418.55
– Lifelog
4 new trial sign-ups in May, compared to 5 in Jan-Apr. But of the 4 in May, 2 had cancelled, 1 had yet to use it, 1 active user.
2 trials cancelled before subscription kicked in
Added 1 new paid subscriber added but 2 paid subscribers churned
No new features nor fixes.
Got my first roast of Lifelog
Lifelog's Twitter account hits 500 followers!
– Plugins For Carrd
Sold 17 plugins at US$345 revenue. Sold 5 mobile navbars, 6 mega navbars, 4 testimonial sliders, 2 listings with filters & search plugin.
Launched a new plugin called floating button welcome video plugin
Marketed mega navbar plugin on IH, FB, Telegram and mailing list
Opportunistic marketing on Reddit, IH.
Started a new scrappy blog called Carrd Tricks for SEO content - sharing tips and tricks for Carrd
Created a proper email address, Twitter account, Revue newsletter - it's the real deal now!
– Sheet2Bio
Started Sheet2bio on 1st Apr (not a joke!). First Github code commit on 2 Apr.
Finished beta testing phase.
Came up with queue system for sign ups
Added responsive progress bar, revenue charts, spinning loader
Added lots of tweaks to landing page - emoji, header/footer to explain the brutalist vibe, basic styles + CSS
Launched it on Twitter on 26 May, done lots of pre-launch seeding and post-launch marketing
Launch went well, but no signs ups so far
Applied for $5k Tweethunter grant for indie hackers
– Cohort-based writing course for introverts
Put on hold to focus on Sheet2Bio launch. Will get back to it in June.
Chugging along to 197 total members now
Upside of being featured on Indie Hackers in Apr was an influx of new members. Downside of that influx is the members who were active before the influx went quiet after. Overall engagement on the chat group is way down.
– Keto List Singapore
No ad revenue this month.
This site needs a refresh. Time to also break away from table2site.
– Outsprint consultancy
Continued with daily posts about design on LinkedIn (since Mar)
Thoughts on LinkedIn: Memes work too, comments are more combative, people aren't as nice (as Maker Twitter).
Got 1 warm lead this month, following up on another
– Sweet Jam Sites
Total refresh needed - website, pricing, marketing
Built a canned reply Carrd site to reply to DMs asking for feedback on products that I have no experience in - fun 30min build! Demo: https://notyourcustomer.carrd.co/
– Tech for good
$51.75 'donation' of annual coffee from Eddie
4 monthly coffees ($5.45 each) = $21.80
Started and completed 70% of new landing page for social good project KidsPlaySafer.SG
– Sleep goals
Slept less in May.. more 70%s scores. Weather's getting hotter every day - time to unwrap the Moona!
Feel more tired, getting occasional giddy spells. Nap more!
Forgetting the fundamentals due to focus on work. Need to get back to it!
– Health
Continued daily morning walks, and tiny body weight workouts.
Started climbing stairs back home after walk
Feeling stronger by the day
– Money
No progress on my Mind My Millions Telegram chat group
Invested some spare change to buy the dip in the crypto market
Onwards to June!