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Edit: To add some more context. What I mean is neither look like the good guys or the bad guys, but one of them is spending an awful amount of energy trying to paint the other as the bad guy and themselves as a good guy, which I hope a lot of people aren't buying anymore. Because at the end of the day, I think the honest truth is that everybody is just trying to serve their own interests.
I am curious, is there an equivalent light model for speech to text, that can run real-time on the MacBook? I'm just playing around with AI models and was looking into this (a fully locally running app that lets you talk to your computer).
Also came here to share my recommendation, which isn't mentioned here by anyone. The #1 book I read in 2023 that has been deeply impactful to my life.
Courage to be Disliked - by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi
: raises hand :
Vitamin D + Magnesium + Vitamin K2
Vit D 60k IU once a week Magnesium Glycinate 350mg every night Vitamin K2 100mcg per day
The enzyme that converts Vit D into its active form, that enzyme requires Mg for its activation. I was previously taking Vit D for 1 year with almost 0 movement in my blood levels. Magnesium changed that.
I had healthy blood levels of Calcium. Yet my ribs cracked. The problem was lack of K2. But I eat enough meat mainly chicken, then why? Turns out chicken need to be fed grass (contains Vitamin K1) which their bodies convert to K2, so if I eat grass-fed chicken my body would get K2. Chicken are mass produced and fed some grain whatever is probably the cheapest food required to make them grow. No K1 for Chicken. No K2 for me. Welp.
Started taking the combination above. Went from Vit D level of 20ng/ml to 135 ng/ml in a matter of 3 months. Have dialed down the supplements in order to stabilize at a healthy level (aiming for 70-80ng/ml).
- eat more than your BMR (basal metabolic rate) but less than your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) in order to maintain your BMR as you lose weight
- the gap between BMR and TDEE can be increased with exercise
- cardio burns calories but weight/resistance training helps build/maintain muscle mass as one's body drops weight, hopefully more from fats
- every week or so, resetting one's system by eating a very high calorie or carb heavy meal helps jolt the system as well as one's mindset. I personally find it easy to stick to good eating habits if I eat like shit once a week (on purpose, rather than accident).
An idea that strikes in the middle of the night just won't come back the next day. Or any other serendipitous idea. So I note it down using the path of least friction.
I still find it funny to meet friends who are hardcore football or cricket fans and watch them lose their mind if I said a single not-very-positive word about their favourite teams.
One of my favorite projects and one that keeps bringing me joy is my online course on Programmatic SEO.
Created in January 2021, after the initial 5-digit launch sales, i didn't work on the course or make any updates and just kinda left it.
The course has been making >$500/mo in fully passive income. I love it more than the SaaS product I run even though that makes >50x more per month.
Course landing page, for whoever is interested - https://preetamnath.com/programmatic-seo
Next 1. Complete my journey of learning to code by building and launching 1-2 simple apps in the year. 2. Build a few new businesses that run with low maintenance effort in software, content or a combination.
It'll just sell one phone.
aPhone.
It's, a phone.
Not aPhone 1, aPhone 2. That's not minimalist.
Just aPhone, 2022 edition. And so on.
It's aPhone for people who like regular sized phones. 5.8" display max, 3-4ths of the way to flagship specs, a $500 ish price tag.
Pair it with near stock Android with minor adjustments only, and i really think the aPhone could be a hit and help build a (not a billion-dollar) multi-million dollar company.
Dreading the day I'll have to start searching for a replacement :(
I haven't been active much recently on account of having burnt myself out during the pandemic years with work and writing. But here are some of my favourite pages:
Micro SaaS guide: https://www.preetamnath.com/micro-saas
Programmatic SEO: https://www.preetamnath.com/programmatic-seo
Why you should write: https://www.preetamnath.com/blog/why-you-should-write
I run both apps and info products. For earning a few hundred, info products are infinitely easier, usually take a one-time upfront effort and have little to no maintenance, bugs etc. to fix.
In your case, an info product could be a short course on a very specific skill that you have, maybe related to coding.
For example, I created this course called Learn Programmatic SEO[1]. Created it in Feb 2021 and after the initial launch high, earnings stabilized to around ~$500/mo. I haven't put any more effort or time into it since launch except reply to 3-4 doubt emails a month.
This year, I'm putting in a little more effort (equivalent of 4-6 hrs/month) in order to double earnings to $1000/mo by end of 2022.
I'm really curious to know what happened between $10k MRR and $1mn ARR. That growth happened in a span of 1 year which is just amazing.
Any pointers for others who are at a similar phase of their business looking to grow from 10k->83k MRR in a short span?
I'm going to try building a similar discipline with my side projects. Not much would get done in 1 day obviously, but the amount of things that can get done over a longer timeframe like 6-12 months is huge!
Thank you and wish you the best!
1- An extremely simple habit tracker spreadsheet template that I also use myself - https://www.preetamnath.com/habit-tracker-template
Makes ~$100/mo but this month it's on track to make $200, probably due to new year's enthusiasm?
2- Learn Programmatic SEO, a straightforward course to help people identify repeatable keyword patterns and use that to drive traffic to their business, website, projects etc. SEO beginner-friendly - https://www.preetamnath.com/programmatic-seo
The course makes between $300-$500/mo.
I don't have any costs other than website hosting and Gumroad fees. I do think these projects have scope to improve and grow. Would love feedback from anyone who finds them interesting!
1) I created a course called Learn Programmatic SEO. It's an excellent intro to SEO for someone new to the field, and it teaches the SEO approach through which companies like Canva, Zapier, Veed/Kapwing and others grew their search traffic to become $10-$100mn+ ARR generating companies.
https://preetamnath.com/programmatic-seo
The course was made in Feb 2021, I spent a week crafting and editing the content but the learnings came from before it. I've done almost no marketing for many months now and I still average $500-$600/month, completely passive income. Lifetime income from the course is ~$20,000.
2) I created a habit tracker spreadsheet which earns $50-$60/month, again completely passive.
https://www.preetamnath.com/habit-tracker-template
The template is really simple and easy to use, and I believe it can make more. I built another site called https://www.dailyhabits.xyz and I'm planning to drive some traffic from it to the habit tracker spreadsheet to grow revenue to $200-$300/month. Let's see how that goes!
Having said that, building a business with the aim to make money is perfectly fine. One person's goal is no lesser than the other. And the ultimate goal of a Business? To make money anyway.
Here's the one thing you need to get right - no matter why you build a business.
- what is the problem that your target customers are facing, that's painful enough that they seek a solution, but their problem is not being solved well through existing options.
Find this, serve it, and you'll build a profitable business.
To summarize:
1. You'll find users for product feedback the same way you'll find customers to pay for your product.
2. Look for manual, non-scalable ways to get your first set of users and feedback. Don't do anything passive like joining an email list etc. Direct message, because you want conversations at this stage.
3. Where do your customers hang out? It could be on LinkedIn with a certain designation to their profile, Facebook groups, Slack communities, on Twitter, the specific subreddit where people might have the problem you're solving. Or any other internet community, it could be that they search for "specific phrases" on Google when they face the problem you're trying to solve.
Go to these avenues, write comments, be helpful to the community, look for people who are talking about your problem, or write a descriptive post explaining the problem you're trying to solve and that you're looking for beta testers, ask them to DM you.
In the case of Google, throw together a simple landing page, pay for the keywords via Google AdWords and try to get people to message you with messaging buttons or a live chat on the site. Or have a link or calendar embed for people to book a 1:1 demo with you.
4. Make sure you make an offer to make it worth others. Tell them they'll get 90 days of free beta access in exchange for providing feedback.
Keep focusing on having as many 1:1 conversations as possible. When you try various methods, one of them will work better than the rest.
Double down on what's working and get more people. Eventually that'll become your marketing channel.
[1] https://www.preetamnath.com/micro-saas/validate-saas-idea
Congrats on the launch and traction Pranav!