4 ms·
1. Try to get as much motivations lined up as possible, and motivations that point in the same direction. E.g. "I care about this topic" and "I can make some mo
by itamarst 9y ago
1. Try to get as much motivations lined up as possible, and motivations that point in the same direction. E.g. "I care about this topic" and "I can make some money." (https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-focused/ https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-focused/)
2. Avoid contradictory goals. "I want to make money selling a product" and "I want to learn a new tech stack" don't work well together.
3. If you're trying to make a product, start with evidence there's real demand for it.
4. If you're trying to learn, pick either a really short hard deadline, or something you will actually find useful. (https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/09/09/side-projects/ https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/09/09/side-projects/)
Real example: I wrote a book (https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/ https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/).
1. I wanted to sell a product, but also really care about the topic.
2. I very carefully avoided spending time coding or learning new technology, focusing purely on writing (e.g. https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/07/10/stop-writing-software/ https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/07/10/stop-writing-softwar...)
3. I had multiple posts reach front page of Hacker News for this topic, clear evidence that people cared.
- ckdarby 9y agoYou would have better checkout conversion if you switched to Stripe. That checkout prompt is too much on mobile. Also, I wanted to see a preview of what is in the book ;_;, could not find and abandoned cart.
- itamarst 9y agoThanks for the info! I'll see what I can do about the popup. (Unfortunately on its own Stripe is problematic, due to things like EU VAT MOSS, so I'm limited in what I can use to services that do taxes for me.) If you want to see a preview, you can sign up with your email to get an excerpt on the email form on the original page.
- muzani 9y agoI like the tips and would have bought the book if it was on Amazon. But the checkout page is quite a lot of work. I'd have to dig up my card and possibly deal with the pain of it getting rejected, and not being able to see reviews. So it's too much for an impulse purchase.