The unexpected email that kickstarted my indie journey
Everyone seeks a blockbuster debut.
Yet, my first internet money story is embarrassingly modest.
Remember the thrill of finding money in old jeans? That's what earning my first dollar online felt like.
Back then, my freelancing gig paid the bills. It was great. But what matters is the one earned as an indie.
So, let me tell you what I consider my real first dollar online.
A special one because it marked the transition from working for others to carving my own path.
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Like most people in our communities, I started freelancing to get out of the ordinary job world.
Fascinated by the "work whenever & wherever you want" freedom claims, I always dreamt of working for myself instead of someone else—but never did it fully.
Freelancing, actually, still meant working for others. And I ended up on the same treadmill as my peers anyway.
Then my chance knocked at the door.
One day, Vinrob showed up with a challenge to create a productized service in 30 days. So I joined, jumped on the onboarding call...
then left.
The fear of not making it won.
I wanted to play the internet business but sat on the bench…
It was not until months later, when I stumbled upon Matt D'Avella's course to beat procrastination, that my long-awaited opportunity to take action popped up.
And that month is still so vivid in my mind…
February 2021.
After watching the course, I went back to my old notes about the productized service idea. I chose to face it 2 hours a day, first thing in the morning.
That one day turned into a week. By the end of the month, the service was ready to lift off.
Yet, as I built in the cave, there was no line outside waiting for me. And the fear of failure crippled in again.
It didn't work.
Putting the cart before the horses killed the launch beforehand.
So, I gave up (again).
Freelance work was enough.
Fast forward seven months, I was in Amsterdam with a friend. We were going to a music event in a massive venue when the phone buzzed in my pocket.
Calendly sent me an email: "A new event has been scheduled."
My friend glared over. Drowned in my thoughts, I lost track of what he told me.
By then, I had already forgotten about the dream of becoming rich and couldn't remember any public calendar.
"Hmm... who's that?"
Once I opened the email, the epiphany. Someone booked a discovery call for my abandoned service, GestioneShop.
The appointment was in two hours—the same day.
Legs trembled out of pure anxiety.
I couldn't make it! I was attending a party in Amsterdam, remember?
Luckily, I've been fast enough to reschedule the call for the following week, prevent further appointments, and save my party time.
When I got home, I hopped on the meeting with the lead, delivered my best, and closed the sale. Later that day, I received my first indie payment—the juiciest one.
"A payout for $100 is on its way!" 😗🤌
It was almost three years ago, and it feels like yesterday.
Thinking backward, I lacked experience, took so long to take off, and got crickets in return.
Yet, the taste of independence made it all worthwhile.
Sure, if I could go back in time, I'd do things differently.
For example:
- Validate if the problem exists. In this case, small store owners want to do everything themselves to save money—they look for free help, not paid one.
- Reduce the MVP to the bare minimum. Instead of working 30 days on that project, I could've pitched the service even without a landing page to reduce the go-to-market time.
- Build in public. No amount of marketing helps if nobody is listening.
But the first dollar online is a learning rite of passage.
It doesn't matter if I shut down the service after a few months.
That hundred-dollar bill renovated my will to work on this dream.
It laid the foundation for my current work.
Luck showed me the way.
Meanwhile, I quit my freelancing work, started indie making, healed from burnout, and worked on 4 different products as of today.
What about you?
Do you remember where your first dollar online comes from?
Have a nice weekend,
Mattia