I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
The long road to $81+ million in product revenue
Hey Reader,
Last month my friend Codie posted a tweet asking, "What's the craziest way you've made a lot of money?"
I quickly fired off a reply and closed Twitter... then it got a ton of traction with nearly 800,000 impressions:
I got annoyed with MailChimp and decided I could design something better.
$81 million later @ConvertKit has worked out pretty well! pic.twitter.com/fOHE1h7pzH twitter.com/Codie_Sanchez/…
What's the craziest way you've made a lot of money?
July 20th 2021
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While $81 million is an insane amount of revenue, it only tells part of the story. ConvertKit was not my first product. In fact, it wasn't in my first 5 products. I realized I've never listed out all the products I made before I had something take off.
Building a successful business and learning how to earn money is the combination of thousands of small skills (as I talk about in the ladders of wealth creation) and I practiced a lot on failed projects.
So for the first time ever, here are all the products I made in chronological order:
- Shoestring — A budget web hosting company using WordPress multi-user to easily setup websites for people on a shoestring budget. I didn't get any customers, but I learned a lot about WordPress. Revenue: $0
- Shop208 — A local social network for the Boise area with business profiles, the ability to follow a business, write reviews, read updates, and more. Built on WordPress and BuddyPress. It got a couple hundred users, but no meaningful revenue. It turns out marketplaces are hard! Revenue: $0
- OneMotion — A web application for sign language interpreting agencies to schedule appointments and coordinate with freelance interpreters. I was hired to build a custom application for $10,000, the client got all the rights for their business, then I retained the rights to sell it to other businesses (outside their local region). I only ever got one other client. Revenue: $300/month
- Legend Themes — I took my WordPress knowledge and started building WordPress themes to sell. I'd followed the OGs in the space like Brian Gardner and Adii Pienaar and wanted to build a similar business. I sold two themes and struggled to get traction. I decided that the space was oversaturated (a ridiculous idea in 2009) and shut it down. Revenue: $70
- OneVoice — My first iOS app, OneVoice was built for kids with non-verbal autism. I started it at a hackathon at the PayPal offices in San Jose, then finished it over the next few months. Sales started slow at first and then gradually grew to average around $3,000 per month. It was my first real product success! Revenue: $50,000+ (over 4 years)
- Fluent — Eager to continue learning iOS development I built a delayed repetition flashcards app called Fluent. It never really got traction, but I got a lot better at programming. Revenue: $75
- Commit — As I was getting into writing I made a habit tracking app called Commit. It was the tool I used to stay on track to build a writing streak of over 600 days in a row. I marketed the app and got good coverage in Lifehacker and other publications. Revenue: $20,000+
- iOS Design Weekly — Inspired by Dave Verwer's iOS Dev Weekly, I asked him if he'd be okay with me starting the design counterpart. He gave the okay and I started my very first email newsletter. It never made money, but I grew it to just over 1,000 subscribers before pivoting to focus on books. Revenue: $0
- The App Design Handbook — The product that really put me on the map. Through writing, publishing, and launching I learned a ton and found a replicable process for earning a living as a creator. Then sharing my journey publicly built a following. Revenue: $90,000+
- Designing Web Applications — I immediately turned what I learned from my first book into writing a second one. The launch was twice as big and the book continued to sell well. Revenue: $200,000+
- ConvertKit — There it is! My 11th product ended up being the one that turned into a product used by hundreds of thousands of creators and that I'm using right now to send you this. Revenue: $84 million
For those who know the story, ConvertKit took a while to get traction. So I actually continue to build and launch new products as well as rework and maintain a few of my bestsellers. In the few years after ConvertKit's initial launch, but before getting real traction, I launched Authority, Photoshop for Web Design, and The Product Launch Masterclass.
There's no such thing as overnight success. Instead you keep learning, stay patient, and use your new skills to climb to higher rungs on the ladders of wealth creation.
Show up consistently for a long time and you can't lose.
WHAT I'M WATCHING
CODA on Apple TV+
Last night Hilary and I went out to a local theatre to see CODA, a movie about a girl, Ruby, who is the only hearing member of a deaf family. She loves singing, but spends most of her time helping out the family fishing business.
It's so good. I only cried once...or 10 times. Movies about people overcoming adversity—especially financial adversity—to pursue their passions really hit me.
FROM ART OF NEWSLETTERS
Sahil Bloom - Why writing makes you a better investor
Sahil is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter. Before this interview I had no idea that he started growing his account right as COVID started and now has 250,000 followers! Outside of writing great twitter posts, Sahil is Vice President at Altamont Capital Partners, a generalist investment fund managing over $2.5 billion in capital.
In this episode we talk about growing Twitter accounts, newsletters, and the rise of creator capitalists. I think you'll like it:
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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