I started my first business 7 months ago. It was the first thing I did after I turned 18.

I shared some progress updates in the past and people told me to share more!

Long story short, I worked on the wrong thing for 3 months. After not giving up followed a pivot (service-based -> product-based), and things started going well. I then got my first 100 users and made my first few dollars.

Now I hit the next milestone: launching my product. This is what happened.

I monetized in September and started working on a paid product. This is where I made my first 100$. After working on it for two months I finally launched it. The results were mind-blowing!

I’ve shared my journey and X since starting out and built an audience of around 1.5k people. On launch day I started posting about it. It resulted in 200k+ impressions and 2k link clicks. This got me 4th place on Product Hunt.

What took me 3 months to achieve, I gained in just 3 days. It was incredible!

I worked a ton without seeing any results at all. It was discouraging but I never thought about giving up. Now it looks like it is finally starting to pay off.

All that resulted in making my first $500 in sales and gaining around 2k users. But it was never about the money (although the Stripe notifications feel just surreal). From the beginning, I prioritized learning over making money. I realized that I knew nothing and had lots to learn. So rather than chasing sales, I focused on things that taught me some fundamental business skills.

And I learned a ton over the last 6 months.

  • Marketing
  • Product Design
  • Content Creation
  • Community Building
  • Creating a landing page

I met amazing people and I am really grateful for all the support and encouraging words I have received on my journey!

I am only doing this part-time (2-3 hours/day) and it’s in no way interfering with me enjoying my youth. Business is a ton of fun, even if it’s discouraging sometimes. It’s just an unreal feeling when people appreciate what you are doing and are actually using the things you create. I am excited for what’s coming!

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed my journey update.

Check it out for yourself, I would love some advice: usevisuals.com

  • SaltMaker23@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Damn your website is sliiick.

    Good job on the journey already.

    From what I’m seeing from you, you are on your way to achieve great things.

  • ControlledRisk@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Celebrating your success. I am very happy to see such a nice start for someone. This gives hope to others.

  • User1542x@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Impressive, especially for an 18yo these days! Be proud and keep going!!

    Did you document your journey? What tools, etc you used? Would love to share with my 16yo

  • Silent_Fig3687@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I appreciate you linking the product, others were reluctant as they don’t want to garner the wrong impression (that they’re trying to advertise). I love looking at creations, especially ones as clean and premium as this, well done! You’re on to amazing things.

  • DelaySerious6967@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    This looks fantastic. From what I gather, it’s basically selling your own templates, created in Figma, that the customer can then customize within figma?

  • Silent_Fig3687@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I appreciate you linking the product, others were reluctant as they don’t want to garner the wrong impression (that they’re trying to advertise). I love looking at creations, especially ones as clean and premium as this, well done! You’re on to amazing things.

  • DelaySerious6967@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    This looks fantastic. From what I gather, it’s basically selling your own templates, created in Figma, that the customer can then customize within figma?

  • mohith_allu@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I am a bit new to this. Could you please tell me what are the products you are selling( Is it a website template ?).