Learning to Say No

As an indie hacker, it can be easy to get distracted by new ideas and features to build. However, it’s important to focus your efforts on the essential parts of your business. Laura Elizabeth, founder of Client Portal, shared how learning to say no has helped her stay focused.

Build an Audience First

Before launching Client Portal, Elizabeth spent time building an audience. She created a simple landing page explaining the problem she wanted to solve and started promoting it by speaking at conferences and going on podcasts. Slowly, she built up her email list to over 5,000 people, giving her a built-in audience to sell to when she did launch.

##Have a Stable Income Source

Elizabeth recommends having a stable income source, like freelancing, so you can fund your business and stay calm. As she put it, “I think the hardest thing when you're trying to build a business as an indie hacker is being so desperate for it to go quickly because you need it.” A stable income gives you the freedom to make rational decisions and invest in your business.

Focus on SEO and Content

Currently, Elizabeth is focused on learning SEO and creating helpful content to boost traffic to her site. As she said, “SEO...could be the thing that really helps grow [Client Portal] really consistently.” By creating valuable content that ranks in search engines, you can build a consistent stream of organic traffic and customers.

Keep Things Simple

With Client Portal, Elizabeth has focused on keeping things simple. As she said, “Client portal is a very simple concept, but I've met other people who are doing something and they're trying to make maybe like a full-blown project management tool right with all the features there from the get-go that's going to take a lot more investment.” By starting simple, she was able to validate her idea quickly and build from there.

Learning to Say No

The key to staying focused, according to Elizabeth, is learning to say no. As tempting as new features or ideas may be, you have to avoid distraction and prioritize what really matters. For Client Portal, that meant keeping the product simple, focusing on content and SEO, and not getting pulled into building extra features before the core product was stable. Learning to say no is essential for indie hackers to stay on track.

Overall, the key takeaway from Elizabeth is to stay focused on what really matters for your business. Build an audience, have a stable income, focus on growth and keep things simple. By avoiding distraction and learning to say no, indie hackers can achieve their goals.