Side Project

How much you genuinely believe in a project usually determines the outcome. Then external factors like what is driving you or why you are walking said path. For most, it’s wanting to see Stripe notifications on your home screen so when these fail to materialise, so does your enthusiasm. Remember, many start but few succeed.

Find something you want to build and a solid reason as to why other than generating revenue. It’s a cliche but usually doing that produces revenue as a by-product.

Put your idea in front of potential users a few times in different situations. If they don't bite, move on. How much time and effort you put in is irrelevant.

Why do you think it's failing?

If there's no market, move on.

If there's a market, but they just don't buy that your product is worth the switch/investment, keep on going.

Time and money, I can't keep up with server and hosting cost as well. After two years I don't see any traction in my project and I have to face it not all idea will work.

You need to know that enough relevant people have actually seen your product. If they haven't, work on that. If they have you need to make changes.

When the day comes that I lose my passion for this product, regardless of whether it has users or is profitable.

Time and money, I can't keep up with server and hosting cost as well. After two years I don't see any traction in my project and I have to face it not all idea will work.

You need to know that enough relevant people have actually seen your product. If they haven't, work on that. If they have you need to make changes.

Why do you think it's failing?

If there's no market, move on.

If there's a market, but they just don't buy that your product is worth the switch/investment, keep on going.

Whenever I lose interest.

Could be profitable or not. I’ve changed careers, sold businesses, and shut down businesses just because I was “over it”

I don’t like the “never give up and you’ll always win” mindset because life just doesn’t work that way. It’s not fair. It’s not always or only contingent on how bad or how long you want it.

Instead, I think of businesses and side projects like investing in the stock market, but instead of trading in dollars, I’m trading in time, effort, and ideas.

I don’t put all my dollars in one position and then hold it forever and expect to win big.

I spread that investment out across multiple positions expecting that any of them could be big but most won’t.

The real loss is simply not playing the game at all.

Whenever I lose interest.

Could be profitable or not. I’ve changed careers, sold businesses, and shut down businesses just because I was “over it”

I don’t like the “never give up and you’ll always win” mindset because life just doesn’t work that way. It’s not fair. It’s not always or only contingent on how bad or how long you want it.

Instead, I think of businesses and side projects like investing in the stock market, but instead of trading in dollars, I’m trading in time, effort, and ideas.

I don’t put all my dollars in one position and then hold it forever and expect to win big.

I spread that investment out across multiple positions expecting that any of them could be big but most won’t.

The real loss is simply not playing the game at all.

As long as possible. I have a couple of projects:

https://words-keeper.com - 10 years old. I even participated in the Google Cloud Platform Developer Challenge 2013, though I wasn't selected as a winner :( I was very upset because a lot of winning apps were much worse than mine. I suspect that 99% of those winners are closed now.

https://unilist.app - almost 5 years old. I developed it in April 2019 and have been using it almost every day. I started sharing it just a couple of months ago, perhaps it's too late, because there are tens or even hundreds of note taking apps are available now.

I don't have a lot of users at the moment, but I have a lot of ideas :) so I will keep improving both projects as long as possible.

I dont give up, I move on to the next project. Maybe I'll come back to the previous one with more experience, maybe I won't. Every "success" is personal. Sometime succeeding in a project can mean just actually finishing it. Give it time to grow. Money and fame isnt always the path, only a few succeed on this one.

for my experience, after 2/3 months after I release the project, I abandon. But, once i became old, i understand what a side project or a personal projects need, so, I have been working in the same for the past 2 yeas. Could be slow, but, work a couple hours per day makes that the project the best option.

I would completely Optimize to earn money. Money is a great way to keep oneself motivated. Any progress that takes you closer to earning your dollars is worth it.

If u tried long enough and it's not working then just pivot, keep pivoting until it works

You need to shift your energy from creating one product and hope for the best to creating a thriving environment to quickly create products and test.