This is the story of my first side project and how it failed and what I learned from it.
In December 2020 I started to work on figmabox.com, a design resource website for Figma files. The business plan was to get sponsors and add affiliate links when the traffic increases.
I bought the domain name and started to develop the website. After a few days, I launched it.
3 years from the lunch day, here are the lessons I learned.
Things won't work out as you thought
Before I started to work on the project,
I did competitors and keyword research. And I estimate that My website will receive around 100,000 visitors each month within the first year.
I was a little over-optimistic!
After 3 years, my website receives 400 visitors per month. Many times lower than I estimated.
when you are working on your projects, you tend to be optimistic and overconfident. And you think everything will work according to the plan. But that's a big mistake!
Planning is different than reality.
Know when to quit
The goal of the website was to test if I could make money from it in 1 year. And if not, move to another project.
But I was attached and this is the biggest lesson.
Although, I saw the sign of failure from the first year when I saw the low traffic. I ignored it and I convinced myself that things might change over time.
It needs more time...
Another year and my website will become successful I said to myself.
So I kept working on it for another year.
But I was over-optimistic again!
In the second year, I started to get offers to include affiliate links. Yay, finally I will make some money!
Nope!
The affiliate provider uses PayPal and Paypal does not support my country. Even if the Paypal issue didn’t exist the traffic is low anyway. And I won't be able to make much.
Here...
You will think that I will stop working on this website after all these problems. And move to something else, right?
I kept working on it, I refused to let 2 and half years of my efforts wasted.
I kept things this way, until...
I saw my personal website get more traffic than my side project. And this was an awakening moment. Because it let me finally see that my side project has failed. Whatever I do things won’t change, I need to move on with my life.
Know when to quit and move on with your life when you see the signs.
What’s next?
After this experience, I started to work on a new side project called Reechly. It’s a Chrome extension that helps you generate a personalized LinkedIn message.
You can join the wailing list here https://reechly.com/
Thanks for reading!