What Is Your Goal? (Indie Hacking)
I just wrote a A Simple Guide to Financial Freedom based on my experiences with Financial Freedom. Consider giving it a read if you are interested in this topic.
What is the goal of an indie hacker?
- person building an online project that can generate revenue
- person seeking financial independence, creative freedom, and the ability to work on their own schedule
Definition 1) has a clear goal: money. And pulling 2) apart also reveals that money is the core value. Here is how: financial independence leads to creative freedom and the ability to work on your schedule. You can’t have the other two if you don’t have financial freedom. This is an important point so take a moment to let this sink in:
You can’t have creative freedom or the ability to work on your own schedule without financial freedom.
Let’s see why that is. The ultimate scheduling freedom means freedom not to work at all. Similarly, full creative freedom means freedom to work on projects that may not generate any profits. This is only possible if you have another source of income — if you are financially independent.
Freedom is a sliding scale. You may have some creative freedom without full financial independence. Maybe you have a good job with room to explore your creativity. Or a flexible work schedule. But at the end of the day, your freedom is still tied to your financial situation. Even a very flexible work schedule has its limits. Breach them and someone may fire you. Running a business does not necessarily mean more freedom either. At best you are constrained by the market — you have to give people what they want. At worst, you are working all day every day just to stay afloat.
With this in mind, what most indie hackers want is more financial freedom. This is also what I wanted when I joined the community — even though I did not know it myself at the time.
Building a business can be immensely rewarding — as well as incredibly hard. I’ve mostly failed a building any sustainable business. I’ve had some products sell but I have always struggled to build enough momentum. Maybe I will in the future. Maybe I won’t. Luckily for me (and you?), we don’t need a business to become financially free.
You don’t need a product or a business to build financial freedom. I know because I have done it. I have “made” more money saving and investing than 84% of indie hacker products.
There is another way. And that way may be for you. If your goal is financial freedom, you have options. A business is one strategy. But not the only one. If you are set on building a business, fine. Go build something beautiful. But know that building a business is a risky financial decision. The most likely outcome is failure.
Instead of trying to make more money, you can spend less. Saving doesn’t sound as exciting as building a business, but it is a satisfying and healthy quest.
Whatever you decide to do, be clear about your goal. Why are you here? Once you know that, building a strategy becomes easier — and if you spend some time thinking about it, you may see that what everybody else is doing is not guaranteed to be the right path for you.