March was an interesting month for me.

• I've developed a process for figuring out what to build (and it's working!)
• Comb Updates
• Started an LLC (finally)
• Turned 28 (🤯)

A Process for Figuring Out What to Build

To figure out what to build, I've been engaging with people daily on various programming subreddits.

My hypothesis is that helping people online will show me what people want more of. Eventually I will have built an archive of content and have built relationships with people who I've helped. The hope is to eventually cobble these two (content + relationships) into an info product.

I've had some success this month thanks to this process. I started on March 6th, and have gained >2000 karma over 3 weeks 🤯

6 Big Lessons

My biggest lessons from this reddit journey are below.

1. You have NO idea what will resonate.
   This is a probabilistic domain. Just keep helping people by posting high quality content, and success will follow.
2. Work Smarter
   It is fairly hard to write a blog post, but it is much easier to answer a question on Reddit. Don't spend time writing a blog post no one will read. Instead start commenting, and turn successful reddit comments => blog posts.
   Start small & let the market decide what content to double down on.
3. Focus on Low-hanging fruit
   These subreddits are flooded with questions every minute.
   Success is probabilistic, so focus on maximizing throughput.
   Focusing on low hanging fruit is an obvious way to get there.
4. Reddit is a good way to build an audience, but it will take time
   There is no overnight success here. Show up every day and doing the work. Your results will compound, and people will recognize you as a helpful pillar of the community (eventually).
5. Content is Leverage
   Every comment requires some effort to create. But once it's made, you can reshare it for ZERO cost. You can use it to answer the same question indefinitely.
6. Helping people 1 on 1 is a great way to get content ideas
   I've been helping a friend learn how to code. I showed him how to debug an issue, and it blew his mind.
   
   I shared the lesson on Reddit, and it was my most successful post to date.

Helping people manually is a great way to find lessons worth sharing.

What's Next

My overarching goal is to organically arrive at an info product that people need.

I'm going to get there by continuing to organically help folks on Reddit. I'm hoping by next post to have an interesting update here. Stay tuned by giving me a follow on twitter 🤓

Updates on Comb

Last month I pivoted to audience building on Reddit in order to help me build things people need. This meant putting photorake and comb on the backburner.

On March 10th, my friend Philippe sent me a dm pointing me towards someone in need of comb.

This was motivating; there are people with the problem that comb solves, and few knew how to address it. I received some constructive feedback, which I've been addressing whenever I'm free.

I'll be adding automations to help streamline the unfollow process within Comb in early April. Stay tuned on that.

SBMSR Software Solutions

I've finally started an LLC to control all of my endeavors. I got it started on Stripe Atlas, which is a platform I've had good success with in the past.

I know the name is generic, but I can always file a DBA down the road. Speed > Perfection.

This LLC is now powering everything that I've been working on so far:

• Freelance Contracts
• SaaS Projects (comb, photorake)
• My Web Development Blog

I'm happy to see it jam packed with stuff already. Shows how much I needed it.

28

I turned 28 this month, and I must say it's been a pretty wild ride.

It took a ton of effort, mistakes, and luck to get to a point where I can wake up every day excited to do my work.

I never thought I'd be where I am today, and I'm even more excited to see where all of this hard work will take me. I feel so lucky and proud to be doing what others dream of.

If you're on the fence of taking the plunge, I can anecdotally say that the scariest part is quitting the day job. Once I did it, I found that I had regained control over my schedule, what I work on, and the technical decisions behind my work. My quality of life increased exponentially.

It was easily the best decision I made while I was 27. I now live a more fulfilling life.

Conclusion

This was a crazy month. I'm seeing traction on Reddit, have some quality of life improvements for comb in the works, started an LLC, and had a lot to reflect on after turning 28.

I'm looking forward to kicking even more ass next month. I'll keep helping folks on Reddit, will launch my Comb improvements, and will hopefully have a clear vision of the next product to build.

If you'd like to stay in the loop, give me a follow on twitter. Cheers!

'til the wheels fall off 🚀