This Indie Life: Recent Episodes
James McKinven and Dagobert Renouf
This Indie Life follows the journey of two indie hackers, James McKinven and Dagobert Renouf, as we navigate the good, the bad and the ugly, attempting to turn our indie hacker dreams into reality.
In this episode, Dago has started his new job and gives an update on what it’s like now he’s joined the dark side. Is he happy? Does he regret the decision? All will be revealed in this update conversation. I, meanwhile, travel to Dago’s country, avoid him completely and drive to the furthest point away from him to do some work.
Dago updates:
- How he's finding his new job
- Does he regret it?
- Pros / cons
James updates:
- Driving 1,600 miles to the South of France
- Moving the flat around
- Wallet biz update
About Dagobert (to be updated soon...)Previously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Dago's Twitter Course
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
In this episode, Dago’s got a big announcement. You might have seen on Twitter, he’s closing down his startup Logology and getting a job. I’ll read his whole tweet and then we’ll discuss why he’s making such a big decision.
Read Dago's tweet.
About Dagobert (to be updated soon...)Previously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Dago's Twitter Course
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
James has had a massive week making £1,600 in a day selling leather wallets, Dago has success with black friday sales and we finally get to the bottom of how you pronounce niche.
Get Dago's course here 👈
What we covered in this episode:
- Dago took some time off
- How to pronounce Niche
- Black friday sales
- Meme of the week
- James’ £1,600 in one day in wallet sales
- How to capitalise on growth
- James' newspaper ad
- New Indie Bites art
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About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
This episode, Dago talks about how he feels one week on from his course launch and some of the new ideas he has for keeping the momentum. I on the other hand was not having a good day when we recorded this, I was feeling a little down in the dumps and wasn’t even sure if we should record.
But we want to be honest and truthful with this show, to give a real idea of what it’s like to be an indie founder, so decided to record and publish never the less. So you hear me confused talking about doubt, imposter syndrome and what to do when you’re not feeling at your best. I’m grateful to Dago here for being such a supportive co-host and friend.
Get Dago's course here 👈
What we covered in this episode:
- Why Dago is feeling better after the launch
- Dago’s splashing the cash on new tech
- Why he started enjoying more success?
- Setting up for future success and consistent sales
- Sending physical packages to clients
- Twitter being a perfect marketing channel for a Twitter course
- Why Dago is hungry for more success now
- v2 of Logology
- Learning more marketing channels
- James being stuck as “The Podcast Guy”
- Having doubts and imposter syndrome
- James’ ideas for growing Indie Bites
- Why to think long term
- meme: big bird going back to a job
- Dago’s insomnia gone
- Update on James’ work 40 hours challenge
About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
This episode Dago talks about how he made $16,000 launching his course and why he’s not feeling amazing about it, I go viral on Twitter and then make a promise I might not be able to keep.
Get Dago's course here 👈
What we covered in this episode:
- Dago's course launch
- Post launch-depression
- Is Dago burnt out?
- Why James is in debt
- How he can get out of it
- Dago has NEVER been in debt
- James' viral tweet
- Why James deleted his viral tweet
- How James can work more than 20 hours a week
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About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
This episode Dago talks about why he had to delay the launch of his course, we both discuss some of the disagreements we’ve had in the past few weeks and I think about how I can grow Indie Bites.
Dago's Twitter course is launched! 🎉 Grab your copy here.
What we covered in this episode:
- Dago updates:
- Struggling to launch his course
- Perfectionism and all-nighters
- Why you can’t launch on the same day as going viral
- Are deadlines pointless? “Deadlines are not absolute”
- Meme of the week
- Disagreeing with a co-founder
- James updates:
- Sold his motorbike
- Indie Bites with Michele Hansen published
- Put a stop to the slippery slope
- Pondering finding "bigger" guests for Indie Bites
Links
- Pieter Levels AI Tool
- Art of Product Adam Wathan episode
- Dense Discovery
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About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
This episode Dago is in full-prep mode for his Twitter course launch and talks about how the early access has helped them. Both of us are no stranger to burnout, so we discuss both our approaches to avoiding it, including revealing how many hours we both work each week. I think you’ll be surprised by our answers here.
👉 Follow the pod on Twitter 💸 Sponsor the show
What we covered in this episode:
- What we think about AI tools
- James updates
- Cars dying, frustrated with life problems
- James' thoughts on New York
- Slippery slope of falling behind on work
- Dago’s updates
- Dago prepping for the course launch
- Working when movitvated from positive feedback
- How doing early access has helped Dago
- Doing "busy" work
- Dealing with burnout
- Meme of the Week
- Does he like being known as "the meme guy"?
About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
This episode is a little meta, because Dago and I discuss the launch of the show and if we should accept sponsors. So I said we’d be open and honest and sometimes we may even disagree, but I thought it might take longer than the second episode. We both have kinda different approaches to monetizing the show so we hash out our thoughts in this episode We do then go into our updates, where I talk about some exciting new client developments and Dago has a rollercoaster of a beta-launch for his course.
Follow the pod on Twitter
What we covered in this episode:
- The podcast launch
- Should we take sponsors?
- Why Dago isn’t too keen on sponsors
- Why James believes in having sponsorship
- James updates
- He’s going to New York
- Thinking of video for clients
- Getting more income stability
- Founder dinner in person
- Dago’s updates
- A hit to his confidence with the course
- Pre-sales update
- Validation when it’s not there
- Will Dago be annoyed if the launch goes well?
About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
In this episode, both Dago and I introduce ourselves, from there we head into our usual updates as Dago’s talks about his new Twitter course, why his most viral meme of all time is to keep him in check and we both had some deep realisations about our physical health might be more closely related to our startups than we think.
Follow the pod on Twitter
Talking points:
- Intro to the founders
- James construction podcasting mishap
- Dagobert updates
- progress on twitter course and impostor syndrome
- feeling like i’m in danger building my startup and not sleeping / random panic attacks
- meme about shitting on gumroad
- long COVID killing my energy levels
- James updates
- Getting up early
- Changing the Indie Feast membership
- Raising Indie Bites sponsor price / converting to $
- Stagnating clients / positioning
About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing
This Indie Life follows the journey of two indie hackers as we navigate the good, the bad and the ugly, attempting to turn our indie hacker dreams into reality. Each week, you can tune in to see what progress we’ve made to achieve those dreams. Sometimes it will be good news, other times things won’t be going so well, but we promise to be open and honest with you.
About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.
- Dagobert's Twitter
- Logology - high quality logos and brands
- Memelogy - the best startup memes
About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it.
- James' Twitter
- Indie Bites - indie founder chats
- 2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course
- Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets
- PodPanda - podcast editing