EP13 - Justin Weiss's shift from side projects to successful product launches

Stacking the Bricks: Creators and Entrepreneurs You Can Relate To

"The idea that, oh well, I shouldn't charge money for this because… some reason.

Justin spent years noodling on side projects. He made every excuse in the book for not charging for them, including some we haven't often heard:

At the time, it seemed like, 'Why should I charge money for this? This is a passion project of mine.' So I should just release it for free."

But last year, he decided to make a change.

Justin took 30x500. In the first 3 weeks of droppin' ebombs on his blog, he added his first 50 mailing list subscribers. (ebomb, n: our special brand of educational content marketing.)

He kept at it, just an hour or two a few times a week. He researched his audience using Sales Safari; he wrote ebombs; he came up with a simple formula, really, to make writing those ebombs dead simple.

He started a book on the wrong foot; threw it away. Twice. Then he went back to basics and wrote, launched, and presold a beta book. He revised and shipped a finished book. He's made nearly $20k in sales so far. He didn't get on Hacker News or Product Hunt, just built his blog, built his list, and sold from there.

All on an hour or two a few times a week, in the morning, on the side

Justin also has a job and a little kid.

If my prose seems rote and workmanlike, it's because that's exactly what Justin did: He used 30x500 to take something people angst about, that they treat like their BIGGEST EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE EVER, and turned it into something he could simply do, the same way, over & over until he had created a wonderful result.

It's not that his book itself is formulaic, but the process to create it could be a formula. And maybe his ebombs have a distinct pattern to them, but they help people, and people share them, and nobody's complaining.

The process isn't exciting. The results are.

If I could snap my fingers and teach the entire world something, that would be it: The drama of "creative work" rarely helps, and often hurts. It's energy and value just… burning off.

If you're in the place now where the "fun" and "excitement" has worn off and you want to get real and make a product that helps people, and one that earns you money… well, you definitely want to listen to Alex's interview with Justin today!

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