EP22: Get some guts

This is the mid-week check-up: I had to do some hard stuff and actually call my customers, and hear what they thought of my product.

This week's project: Product People Club

Product People Club is a membership site for solopreneurs: people making their own stuff, by themselves.

Here’s the story: 2 years ago, I was fed up. I wanted to launch and validate something really quickly. So I put up a landing page  for a chat room for entrepreneurs. I capped it at 10 members, and decided I’d charge $10 a month.

When I posted about it in Hacker News, it sold out in 30 minutes. The next thing I knew I had a waiting list of 200-300 people wanting to get in.

By the 5th month, I was making about $1,100 a month with the community.

Even better, early members started launching things and becoming successful:

• Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt was one.
• Samuel Hulick of Useronboard.com was another.

But I always felt like ProductPeople.club wasn’t a “big enough” idea. But, I was talking with Adam Clark about this today. And I realized, that a big reason I haven't promoted it more, is that I'm scared.

So, I decided to call one of my customers, Josh Doody, and ask him why he joined. He gave me a complete timeline of when he joined, and what his initial impression was.

My job this week is to talk to as many customers as I can, and figure out what job they're hiring Product People Club to do.

Show notes

• Check out Josh Doody's book: Take Control of Your Career
• Check out Adam Clark's podcast: The Gently Mad
• Thanks to Josh Michael and My Coffee Pub for sending me the coffee package!
• Follow me on Twitter: @mijustin
• Rate and review the show
• Join the newsletter
• Cover image by Hey Paul Studios

Podcast hosting provided by Transistor.fm.

Update from 2021: A lot has happened since I recorded these episodes: I launched a podcast hosting company, Transistor.fm, with my friend Jon Buda! If you want to hear what I'm up to now go to transistor.fm/justin.