How to turn Coding into a One Person Business

Summary

The video script outlines a one-person business model tailored for software engineers, emphasizing the potential to earn more through side hustles than a full-time job. It details the framework of creating, growing, and maintaining a software product, highlighting the low startup costs and scalability of software. The script encourages leveraging social media and online platforms for marketing, and stresses the importance of customer feedback for product improvement. It also teases a '10x stage' for further business growth, inviting viewers to subscribe for more insights.

Takeaways

• 💼 The 'one person business' model is a framework where an individual is the primary owner and worker, taking on multiple roles such as developer, marketer, and project manager.
• 💡 Software engineers can adopt this model to create a side hustle that potentially earns more than their full-time job, leveraging their coding skills to create unique and innovative products.
• 🚀 The 'create' stage is crucial for a one person business, where the cost of starting is low for programmers, requiring only a laptop and possibly a domain for a website.
• 🛠️ Ideas for software products can be found or inspired by existing SaaS products on platforms like Product Hunt, and should be unique or innovative in some way.
• 👨‍💻 The speaker's personal example of the 'create' stage was developing 'InstaDM', a software to automate outreach on Instagram, using Node.js and React.js.
• 📈 The 'growth' stage can be challenging for developers, who may need to step out of their comfort zone to market their product through social media, partnerships, or email campaigns.
• 🤳 For those not comfortable being on camera, platforms like AppSumo and Product Hunt can be used to drive traffic and attract the first customers.
• 🔧 The 'maintain' stage involves occasional bug fixes and improvements based on customer feedback, with relatively low time commitment for maintenance.
• 📊 Software scalability means that as the user base grows, the cost of maintaining the software remains relatively the same, leading to higher profit margins.
• 👂 Listening to and incorporating customer feedback is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction and improving the product for future users.
• 🔄 The speaker hints at a '10x stage' for one person businesses, suggesting the potential for exponential growth in output, income, and product launches, which will be discussed in a future presentation.

Q & A

What is the 'one person business model' and how does it relate to software engineers?

The 'one person business model' refers to a business where one individual is the primary owner and worker, taking on multiple roles such as developer, marketer, and project manager. For software engineers, this model allows them to leverage their coding skills to create, grow, and maintain a business independently, often with lower startup costs compared to traditional businesses.

Why might a software engineer consider adopting the one person business model?

A software engineer might consider adopting the one person business model to have more control over their work, potentially earn more income than their full-time job, and to diversify their income sources, reducing the risk of being solely dependent on a full-time job that could be at risk of layoffs or downsizing.

What are the three main stages required to successfully run a one person business according to the script?

The three main stages to successfully run a one person business are create, grow, and maintain. These stages involve developing the initial product, expanding the business through marketing and partnerships, and then sustaining the business by continuously improving the product and customer satisfaction.

What are some cost-effective ways software engineers can start their one person business?

Software engineers can start their one person business with minimal costs by using their existing laptop, leveraging free or low-cost resources and tutorials online, and possibly investing in a domain name and website template. The focus is on creating a product that requires minimal upfront financial investment.

How can software engineers find innovative ideas for their one person business?

Software engineers can find innovative ideas by visiting platforms like Product Hunt or acquiring.com to see current SaaS ideas and get inspiration. They can also build on top of existing ideas or identify problems they or others face and create solutions for them.

What is the importance of the 'create' stage in the one person business model?

The 'create' stage is crucial because it sets the foundation for the business. It involves developing the initial product or service. Many businesses fail at this stage due to high costs or lack of a viable product idea. For software engineers, this stage is often more accessible due to lower costs associated with coding and developing software.

Why might software engineers struggle during the 'growth' stage of their one person business?

Software engineers might struggle during the growth stage because it requires skills outside their usual expertise, such as marketing and public relations. It may involve tasks like creating viral content, engaging on social media, and networking, which can be challenging for those who are more comfortable behind the scenes in coding.

What strategies can a software engineer use to market their product without being in front of the camera?

A software engineer can use strategies like posting on platforms like Product Hunt, AppSumo, and Reddit, or sending targeted emails to potential customers. These methods allow them to market their software effectively without the need to be publicly visible or create video content.

How does scalability benefit a software engineer's one person business model?

Scalability benefits a software engineer's one person business model because software products can typically handle an increase in users without a proportional increase in costs. This means that as the user base grows, the business can generate more revenue with relatively stable or even decreasing costs, leading to higher profit margins.

What is the 'maintain' stage in the one person business model, and why is it important?

The 'maintain' stage involves ongoing support and improvement of the product after it has been created and grown. It is important because it ensures the product continues to meet customer needs, remains up-to-date with technology, and maintains a high level of customer satisfaction, which can lead to referrals and long-term success.

What is the additional '10x' stage mentioned in the script, and why is it significant for software engineers?

The '10x' stage refers to the potential for a one person business to significantly increase its output, income, and product launches. It is significant for software engineers because it represents the opportunity to leverage their skills and business model to achieve exponential growth and success beyond the initial stages of creation, growth, and maintenance.

Outlines

00:00

💼 The One Person Business Model for Software Engineers

This paragraph introduces the concept of a one person business model, particularly tailored for software engineers. It emphasizes the potential for higher earnings through such a business model compared to a traditional full-time job. The speaker shares personal experience, suggesting that software engineers can be the primary owner, developer, marketer, and project manager. The paragraph outlines the three main stages of running a one person business: create, grow, and maintain. It also touches on the low cost of starting a software business and the importance of creating a unique and innovative product. The speaker provides an example of their own journey, from creating a web design agency to developing a software product called InstaDM, which automates outreach on Instagram.

05:01

📈 Growth Strategies for Software Engineers' One Person Businesses

The second paragraph delves into the growth stage of a one person business, focusing on strategies software engineers can employ to expand their reach and user base. It acknowledges the challenges introverted developers might face when promoting their products but encourages them to step out of their comfort zones. The speaker suggests using social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts for content creation and promotion. For those who prefer not to be on camera, alternative methods such as leveraging platforms like AppSumo and Product Hunt, or sending targeted emails to potential customers are recommended. The paragraph also highlights the scalability of software products, noting that as user numbers grow, the cost of maintaining the software remains relatively low, leading to increased profit margins. The speaker shares personal anecdotes about marketing their software, InstaDM, through various channels and emphasizes the importance of customer feedback in the maintenance stage of the business.

Keywords

💡One Person Business

A 'One Person Business' is a business model where an individual takes on multiple roles, such as the developer, marketer, and project manager. It is central to the video's theme, illustrating a self-sufficient entrepreneurship approach. The script mentions that even though it's a 'One Person Business,' partnerships can still be formed, but the individual remains the primary owner and worker.

💡Software Engineer

A 'Software Engineer' is a professional who designs, develops, and maintains software applications or systems. In the context of the video, the software engineer is positioned as an ideal candidate for the 'One Person Business' model due to their ability to create unique software products that can be marketed and scaled independently.

💡Side Hustles

The term 'Side Hustles' refers to additional income-generating activities outside of one's primary job. The video emphasizes that through coding-based side hustles, one can earn more than their full-time income, suggesting a strategy for financial independence and leveraging coding skills for entrepreneurial ventures.

💡Create Stage

The 'Create Stage' is the initial phase of establishing a 'One Person Business' where the individual develops their product or service. The video discusses the importance of this stage, noting that many businesses fail here due to cost, but for programmers, the cost of starting is minimal, requiring only a laptop and potentially a domain for a web application.

💡Growth Stage

The 'Growth Stage' is the phase where the business begins to expand its reach and customer base. The video highlights the challenges software developers might face during this stage, such as the need to market their product and engage with potential customers, which may be uncomfortable for introverted individuals but is essential for business growth.

💡Maintain Stage

The 'Maintain Stage' involves ongoing support and improvement of the product after it has been created and grown. The video suggests that for software, this stage requires less effort compared to other types of businesses, as software is scalable and does not incur additional labor costs as the user base grows.

💡SaaS

SaaS stands for 'Software as a Service.' It is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is provided over the internet. The video mentions SaaS as an example of a product type that can be developed and marketed by a 'One Person Business,' leveraging the scalability of software to grow income without proportional cost increases.

💡Innovation

In the video, 'Innovation' is the process of creating new and unique products or services. It is emphasized that for a software engineer's 'One Person Business,' the product does not have to be overly complex but should offer something innovative to stand out in the market, such as a simple yet efficient tool.

💡Product Hunt

Product Hunt is a platform where new tech products are shared and discovered. In the script, it is recommended as a resource for finding SaaS ideas and for marketing one's own software product by posting it to attract potential users and gain exposure.

💡Marketing

Marketing in the video refers to the process of promoting and selling a product or service. It is a critical aspect of the 'Growth Stage' for a 'One Person Business,' where the software engineer must take on the role of a marketer, using social media and other platforms to reach and engage with potential customers.

💡Scalability

Scalability is the ability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work. The video highlights the scalability of software as a key advantage for a 'One Person Business,' where increasing the number of users does not significantly increase the workload or costs, allowing for greater profit margins.

Highlights

A one-person business model can be more lucrative than a full-time software engineering job.

A one-person business involves being the primary owner, worker, and wearing multiple hats such as developer, marketer, and project manager.

The three main stages for running a one-person business are create, grow, and maintain.

Starting a business as a programmer is cost-effective, requiring only a laptop and potentially a domain.

Software engineers can leverage existing projects or quickly learn to create new software products.

Innovative ideas for software can be found by exploring platforms like Product Hunt and Acquire.com.

Choosing the right tech stack is crucial for the success of a software product.

Personal example of creating a software product to automate outreach on Instagram.

Growth stage challenges for software developers include marketing and social media presence.

Using platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts can aid in product promotion.

Alternative marketing strategies include using appsumo and product hunt for traffic.

Email marketing targeting potential customers can be effective for software promotion.

Software scalability means low maintenance costs as the user base grows.

The maintain stage involves occasional bug fixes and customer feedback incorporation.

Good customer feedback response enhances product satisfaction and ratings.

Software engineers can achieve high margins due to the low cost of scaling software products.

A fourth '10x' stage for one-person businesses in software engineering is hinted at for future discussion.

Transcripts

you are someone who codes I someone who

codes full-time but earns more money

through my coding based side hustles

than my full-time job now if I told you

you also can make more through this

coding based oneperson business model

than your full-time software engineering

income yeah more than those overpaid

software Engineers as well who just code

five lines a day and attend 10 meetings

per

day so what is this one person business

model that's built for software

Engineers before I discuss that let me

give a quick explanation of what the

onep person business model framework

that everyone and their mother has been

talking about now if you know how to

code I'm sure it's very self-explanatory

because it's literally in the name but

when you are a one person running a

business you are a oneperson business

now this does not mean you can't work

with anyone like you have to go solo Doo

you can't form any Partnerships with

people or businesses but the idea is

that you are the primary owner worker

person who's wearing all the multiple

hats right so you're the developer

you're the marketer and the project

manager all in one that's really what

makes up this one person business

framework how can you as a software

engineer adopt this one person's

business model because we all know the

market is

trash and you do not want to be laid off

with no side income it all boils down to

the first sentence you are someone who

codes to successfully run a one person

business for any field not just Tech you

have to be able to do three main stages

create grow and maintain for the rest of

this video I'm going to go over the

literal blueprint you have to follow to

hit all three of those things

particularly as a software engineer

running a oneperson

business the create stage is a very

important stage you see 40% of one

person businesses fail here the first

major reason is because of cost it's not

cheap to start a business but guess what

for programmers it is coding requires

only a laptop you can make a full web

app with just a laptop you probably

already own and you know maybe some

other minor cost such as like a website

domain okay so now that cost is out the

way here comes a real hard part what do

you create as a software engineer or

someone who is even learning how to code

or like studying computer science in

college you most likely have already

done the first two steps you've thought

of something and created it now whether

it be a school project like a small

calculator app program written in python

or maybe a website or two or some games

like you know you probably create a

snake with JavaScript even and even if

you've done none of these things you can

quickly go on YouTube and actually

create one of these things very quickly

so that means you can create your first

software product website game calculator

app today within the next like 3 hours

the point is most of you have already

created some sort of product and if you

have it it's really easy to just learn

and create one right and once you

created your first product whether it be

in the past or today you are skilled

enough to create a program of your own

that can do something unique and now no

one's asking you to make the next Tesla

software or the next Instagram it be

something super simple as long as it is

unique or Innovative in some way now how

exactly do you you know find these

innovative ideas I recommend going on

acquire. comom or product hunt to see

some SAS ideas of other developers that

you can build on top of or get

inspiration from once you have the idea

you want to create use a text stack that

you're most familiar with makes sense

with your idea certain text Stacks favor

certain ideas certain text Stacks don't

favor certain ideas and once all that

sorted you create your software I

personally favor the node.js reactjs Tex

stack just because it's able to

integrate very easily with mobile and

web platforms as just a bunch of

resources and tutorials on them now my

personal example of the create stage was

when one day I was messaging people on

Instagram asking if to need a website

created for the small business because

at this time I was applying it one

person business model and husting on my

own with a web design agency I don't

really do that anymore uh I shut it down

but after spending hours sending a bunch

of cold messages on Instagram I got the

idea to create a software that could do

code Outreach on Instagram efficiently

securely and fully automated so to save

my own laziness I decided to create a

product that did exactly that and I knew

it was able to message A bunch of people

on Instagram all I had to do is Click go

and I could walk away from my computer

and I know if I'm too lazy to do this

there's probably other people who are as

lazy as me if not lazier so I use my my

laptop from 2019 and spent about 2

months coding in nodejs and reactjs to

create the final product called inad DM

which is actually available right now I

even made a website for it using a

template I got from webflow like this

was my literal create stage example now

the next stage comes the growth stage

this is where software developers kind

of falter they kind of mess it up you

see we can be introverts and cod all

day play out in ring like kaat but what

happens when we have to grow our

software what happens when we have to

create viral content like founder Le

content post social media posts or

Instagram videos with our face in it or

even message people to try our product

or try to land key Partnerships with

brands that can promote our product alen

ring is not going to save us then no

matter what potions or Shields we use

nothing's going to protect us or promote

our product beside us so you have to be

a little bit

extroverted and if you're comfortable

showing your face on social media and

speaking to the camera even if it's you

know uncomfy at first I highly recommend

just going out there putting yourself

out there and posting content about your

product use Tik Tok use Instagram use

YouTube shorts and short form content to

your advantage you see top softwares

having full on dedicated social media

accounts to their software promoting it

endlessly now if you absolutely do not

want to be in front of the camera I

recommend using free websites such as

appsumo and product hunt to bring in

traffic towards your product many many

and I mean many sasses use these two

platforms to bring anywhere from their

first 10 to 1,000 customers for their

product another medium people use is

code emails sending emails to potential

customers you get these potential

customers emails from buying them from

websites such as Apollo which have lists

and lists of potential people that are

interested in Tech or your industry so

you can Target these people and send

emails to them promoting your uh SAS or

product no matter which method you use

there is no speaking to the camera

required so you don't have to be

influencer to Market your software

speaking of marketing if you want to

learn more about coding or Tech

opportunities to increase your income as

a developer subscribe to my newsletter

using the link description below where

every Saturday I release an article

talking about the latest tech side

hustles you can do to make a lot of

income on the side now let's talk about

the growth stage personal to me my

personal example is I've been creating

content for nearly 4 years so I can talk

to a camera pretty easily I still mess

up a lot like I do a lot of mess ups

guys like a lot but ah be sure you see

that was mess up right there but I use

both posting on social media as well as

posting on product hunt app Sumo and

Reddit to Market my software instant DM

so I do the outbound introvert marketing

but also do the extrovertive marketing

because why not attack both angles

personally content has actually resulted

in more users and product hunt for me

but for some people it's the opposite

you just have to try and see what works

for your specific product website

software now usually in the growth stage

is where the one person business seems a

bit much because it's a lot to handle

but the truth is as a software engineer

you're not meant to be someone you know

who's like a master marketer and you

also aren't required to be one

developers such as Mark low who are like

going viral on YouTube now achieve

insane results posting on product hunt

before they became big creators on

YouTube so it's very possible and just

because you are following the one person

business model does not mean you can

never Branch out and hire maybe a

marketing expert to Aid you but it

definitely is not necessary and that is

the beauty of computer science and the

one person business model they go hand

to hand you can do a lot when it comes

to software now before we move on to the

maintaining stage I don't want you to

overlook a key highlight to why software

engineering is the best feel for a

oneperson business model as you grow

your product you will have more and more

users and because software is scalable

there is literally to no added cost for

you if 10 users join or a million users

join Max is some API cost but other than

that businesses such as Ecom stores get

hours of Labor added on to their already

hours of work as they get more users

with software you don't have to worry

about any of that ton of money so while

our income grows every month our costs

stay relatively the same and the margin

gets bigger and bigger and bigger and

this is the beauty of the one person

business model with software engineering

now you got your idea made to an actual

software you're growing it what's next

the maintain stage this is where another

key highlight comes with software to be

honest there's not much maintenance

usually when you spend the amount of

hours creating the software the first

time if you do it right there might be

occasional bugs you might have to fix a

month one or two but after that your

software is in pretty good hands you

don't really have to constantly monitor

every single day maybe a touchup every

single month here and there all you have

to do is focus on growing the product

now part of the maintaining stage is

getting customer feedback especially in

the early stages of your business

whether it's for your freelance website

projects your SAS or your mobile apps

actually listen and care for this

feedback that you're getting is going to

help shape your product out to be great

for every new customer so as one

customer comes in your product is better

for the next customer and this helps you

maintain customer satisfaction because

aside from having great software making

sure your customer knows that they're

heard is a great way to have them give

you a five out of five rating on the App

Market or whatever store or medium your

websites on so when future customers

look at your software they see that's

like five out of five with instad DM

other softwares I've launched I usually

just debug everything myself because

honestly is a very low time commitment

per week to maintain most of these uh s

products so I think you guys will

probably be in good hands yourself just

make sure your code is written well but

with all this being said there's

something I haven't told you all I said

there were three stages create grow

maintain but there actually one more

stage that most software Engineers don't

realize only they can get to and that's

a 10x stage where your onep person

business can 10x an output income and

products launch but that's for next time

so subscribe if you don't want to miss

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