Hello everyone, I'm Juan, and today I want to share some of the things I've learned over the last two months about building a project and creating something that can generate income. Without further ado, let's start.

Some Background

I'm a software developer who has been actively trying to create something that produces money for the past two years. I'll be honest with you, none of my ideas have amounted to anything. I've created various applications on my own, but none have earned me a penny. Here’s a list of some of the things I've tried:

1. Smart Restaurant - An application to make restaurants more efficient; not a single client.
2. Administration Application for the Medical Field - Not finished; clients wouldn't pay enough.
3. Administration System for Headquarters - Not finished; I couldn't organize with my team.
4. Start-Up to Preserve the Life of People Who Have Passed - My team became rebellious.
5. React-Library - Ended up being free, hoping for donations, but no one ever donated.

And so on. I could continue because I've tried almost everything that came to my mind. However, a couple of months ago, something changed. I was working full-time as a Team Leader and was tired of working like crazy for almost 9/10 hours per day. So, I decided to change everything for good. I went out looking for a new job, and just after a month, a big company contacted me and offered me the opportunity to work fewer hours. I accepted and decided to dedicate most of my free time to creating something worthwhile. Then, all of a sudden, the following video appeared in my YouTube feed: My Advice for Someone Who Wants Financial Freedom. I watched it, and at some point in the video, Ali Abdaal recommended a list of books to read if you want to learn, and I obviously wanted to. So here are some of the things I've learned and applied so far.

48 Hours is Key

If you're anything like me, you probably have hundreds, maybe thousands, or maybe just one idea, but let me tell you, all of them are worth trying, at least that's what I think. But how can we try all of those ideas when we have so little time in our lives? Here's where the 48-hour rule comes into play.

To create Smart Restaurant, I spent almost a year working on it. It's worth mentioning that I was just starting in software development and had no idea how to develop something like that. When I finished it, I thought to myself, "This is going to be awesome; I'm gonna make a bunch of money." Surprise, surprise, after knocking on every door of every restaurant and coffee shop in my city, I got zero sales and more rejection than I could tolerate. So, I gave up on that idea and threw it into the deepest place I could on my GitHub repos. Since then, this story has repeated itself with small variations. I've learned, but even then, the problem kept happening until...

Last Week

I started reading The Million Dollar Weekend. At first, the title threw me off; I don't usually read books with titles like that, but I gave it a chance, and it was worth it. The book has a ton of useful information, so I highly recommend it. Probably the most interesting thing of all is the 48-hour rule. It goes something like this:

1. Find a problem.
2. Think about a solution.
3. Create the simplest implementation of that solution.
4. Find 10 people to sell it to.
5. Sell it. If you can, the idea is worth developing; if not, don't waste your time.

This simple 5-step rule worked wonders for me in just one week, and I’m not violating it ever again. I managed to create a project in only three days (you don't have to literally do it in 48 hours), and after a couple of days, I validated the idea by getting some paying users. If that's not amazing for you, I don't know what is. I felt as if I had broken a curse.

Being Simple is More Complex Than You Think

When I was developing this idea, the patterns I had been following so far started to repeat once more. I'm a developer who is obsessed with the quality of the code; I want it to be as perfect as it can be: organized, readable, understandable, performant, and all those things we developers love. But here, we are not trying to be perfect; we are trying to be FAST and SIMPLE—just good enough to make a sale. And believe me, that's probably less complex than the solution you're thinking of. Let me give you an example: I was thinking of creating a component that would let the customer interact with it and customize the colors, buttons, and tools, and create a custom example for each one of my potential customers. But then I said to myself, "Juan, you need to be fast." So instead, I created just one component, one page, with the simplest backend possible. I took advantage of all the libraries I could. And about the code, almost everything was in the same file: logic, TSX, types, and interfaces all in one place. I was going to implement a payment method and a "contact me" form. Instead, for both things, I used the WhatsApp API with a button to get the customer's message, and then I continued directly with them.

Here are a bunch of ideas to make your project faster:

1. Take advantage of every library you can. That feature is probably already developed, tested, and encapsulated in a library.
2. Make it even simpler. Instead of a component, use an image; instead of an animation, use a GIF. It doesn't have to be perfect or the prettiest thing in the world. Neither should you be trying to show off your development skills; just get it done, and later you can do it better.
3. Think about problems, not what you want or what can make money. Solve a problem, and probably someone out there will be interested.
4. Know when to show. Don't be afraid to present your work. If it's not worth it, people will tell you, not yourself. Leave that to your customers.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, with this article, I hope to help those developers and any entrepreneur who haven't been able to bring any idea to life. We are all facing the same struggles, so don't worry. Keep working and try to do it as FAST and SIMPLE as you can. Don't waste your time.

Thank you for reading. I'll be sharing my experiences and all the things I'm doing and learning, so if you are interested, follow me here and on Twitter/X to get an insight into what I'm thinking.

HEY!!! Before You Go

If you enjoyed this article, please help me stay out of the diabolic "9-5," so I can keep learning and sharing my experiences with all of you:

Among Friends

Now that we are among friends, let me tell you that even a small help is really helpful. I'm twenty years old and I've been coding since I was fourteen. Now I'm trying to do something slightly different, and maybe it's hard to imagine, but that little donation helps me a lot.