a single source, nothing corroborates it

Sell something tiny before you sell something big

A three to ten dollar product proves that strangers will hand money to you and converts a mailing list into a list with payment history, which is the population that buys the expensive thing later. Build it in days, not months, and make sure the minimum version genuinely performs the job it advertises so charging from day one is honest. The second small bet also tells you whether the first success was luck.

The method

1. 01

   Sell a deliberately tiny first product at three to ten dollars: it proves to you that strangers will hand over money, and it converts your list into a list of people with a payment history.

2. 02

   Make your first paid product small and cheap - a single strong tutorial at $10 - rather than a months-long project.

3. 03

   Make something small, attach a price to it, and put it on sale publicly as your entry into selling.

4. 04

   Once you've located the spot where you can create measurable value, build the thing and start charging for it immediately.

5. 05

   Test whether your first success was luck by making a deliberately small second bet, such as charging for a tool you already built for friends.

What it returned

• $200

  The reasoning given: whoever paid you a dollar once is far likelier to pay you $200 later.

• $100

  Zue monetized a GroupMe analytics app he had made for friends and it still reached about $100 a month even though the market was tiny and the product itself frivolous, which convinced him the process was repeatable.

• Justin points to Gumroad's Small Product Lab as a programme built around exactly this.

• Dan Martell built Clarity's working prototype alone in two days, charged from the outset, and ran the company from Moncton rather than San Francisco.

Sources

• Adam Wathan's $100k product launchJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · What made you decide to write a book? · undated
• What Amy Hoy taught me about starting a businessJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Finally: Build it and charge for it as soon as possible · undated
• Self-Publishing Hangout highlightsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Pricing · undated
• Startups should make moneyJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Where to start · undated
• When you can't winJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Dan's success story · undated
• Micro-SaaS Ebook: from Idea to Shipping a Minimum Viable ProductTyler Tringas · tylertringas.com · What I mean by “MVP” · 2016-11-29
• A Five-Year Journey to Financial Freedom...and BeyondCory Zue · coryzue.com · Completing a five-year journey to sustainable passive income · 2022-01-25