James Morris was a participant in our first Small Product Lab. Throughout the challenge, he was open about his process and how things were going, most notably in posts on Medium. Sharing your work leading up to the release of a project is a great way to rally the troops and build a buzz, especially if you don’t happen to be a genius marketer with a huge budget. It’s also helpful for keeping your audience engaged in stints where you’re not sure what your next project is yet.
I talked to James about balancing personal projects with a full-time career, the idea and benefits of sharing your work, and his experience with the Small Product Lab, which starts again on Monday, July 27th.
In your post titled Launching my first product, you wrote, “Ten days is not a long time to create, ship and sell a product completely from scratch, especially when you work full time — but it is doable.” Do you think the pressure and time crunch worked in your favor? Do you see yourself doing a sprint like this in the future?
Setting a deadline is an excellent way to push yourself that extra mile. It’s common to think that there is not enough time in the day to do personal projects, but if you set yourself a deadline and tell others publicly, you just kinda make the time. With any project, the first 90% is relatively easy, it’s the last 10% that is hard to overcome. Overall, I enjoyed the process and I’m interested in doing more sprints like this in the future. Nothing makes you more productive than having a tight deadline!
Along side the bleeps and bloops of sound making, I’ve been working on the product’s website landing page. I’ve never been the best at drawing, but the beauty of wireframes is that you don’t have to be good. It’s all about getting that idea out of your head and on to paper as soon as possible. I always draw, scribble and take notes before I even touch the computer. It’s easy to lose yourself with technology, so going in with a plan does help.
Digging deeper into the time stuff, you also wrote, “When it comes to side projects, the biggest enemy is time.” You’ve got a full-time job at SoundCloud. When do you actually work on your personal projects?
I want to write another blog post on this topic. I use my own version of the Pomodoro technique. On personal projects I split them up into 45 minute chunks, separated with a 15 minute break. When I dive in, I’ll set a timer for 45 minutes and that time is solely focused on work. When the timer goes off, I give myself a 15 minute break. That break could be used to check Facebook, Twitter, make a cup of tea, go for a walk—whatever I like. What’s nice about 45 minute chunks is that you can easily fit one in before work, during lunch time or in the evening. Even if you’re distracted, you know it’s only 45 minutes and that the timer will go off. It’s amazing what you can get done in a 45 minute sprint.
Is finding the balance hard?
Of course. But I think it’s less about time and more about being realistic with your goal. Time should be spent to chip away at your idea to get it down to it’s core. Create an MVP (Minimal Viable Product), if you will. Get that idea to it’s essence, and knowing that it still has value, means it’s much more realistic to get it done.
One of our designers told me that he takes the occasional freelance gig or personal project to keep his skills sharp. Have your personal projects informed your day job?
For sure. I think side projects are very important. They let you scratch those itches you have. Doing side projects keeps you happy and balanced—just make sure that your side projects are realistic to do. Creators need to create and having a constant flow of creation just makes for happy creators.
Any other techniques for productivity?
I’m a huge fan of the apps Evernote and Wunderlist. Any thoughts, ideas or inspiration I have I will throw them in Evernote so I never forget. Any tasks (no matter how small) are thrown in Wunderlist. Couple these apps with the 45 minute mini-sprints, I find I can really burn through what needs to get done. As I put so much in Evernote and Wunderlist before I approach a project, I spend less time scouring the internet or worrying about micro tasks as I already have all that stuff collected and tagged. It’s easy to leave and come back to projects too, as everything is captured digitally.
When it comes to sharing your work, there’s a degree of accountability. Was there a point where you thought I know I said I’d make 99 sound effects, but what if I dropped it to 50? I mean, you could change what you wrote in your post, and you could delete any tweets or mentions anywhere.
There were definitely moments where creating so many sounds was a tall order. Creating the sounds was relatively easy, but editing them took the most time. Going through 99 sounds, making sure they start just right, aren’t too long, are all around the same volume, etc. That was tough (and I had a few late nights with that), but I also knew it was possible—that was definitely my last 10%. I had to cut some corners for launch, though. I wanted to give each sound file a name and logically group them into their respective “families". There are sounds in my pack that have a similar tonal quality and were naturally meant to be used together, but I ended up naming my sound files with a simple 001, 002, 003, etc.
And you still launched, corners-be-darned. So how did your launch go, and how have things been since?
Yes, I was still happy to launch, but that decision did echo on feedback I received. App makers were unsure what sound to use where and were mentioning that some sounds sounded the same. If I gave myself enough time to name them descriptively and grouped them logically, I think that would have helped. I plan to update the pack very soon though to help with that. The great thing about digital products is that they can be changed and updated any time after launch.
Another concern was the pricing. In my first blog post, Embrace constraints, I told readers I was selling my sound pack for $1. I knew that was way too cheap, but I wanted the experience of launching a product, not to make money. The overwhelming feedback I received was that the pricing wasn’t right and it actually harmed the perceived value of my product. I didn’t want that perception, so I raised the price soon after launch. Again, it’s fine to do this, as long as you communicate clearly what you’re doing.
Gutsy to not go back and edit the Medium post! Anything you’ll do differently for your next product launch?
I’d simply share more. I’d share my process in finer detail. I’d also want to get more feedback from my potential users, before committing to a product, to ensure what I’m making is what people want. Soon after my launch of the sound pack, I created a survey with Typeform and shared that on my mailing list and on Twitter. I received really valuable information which will shape my future sound packs.
When it comes to sharing, I think you summed it all up here:
There is something organic and natural about sharing your progress and, in return, having people genuinely interested and showing support by buying your product. I’ve always believed in a more grassroots approach to selling yourself … and it’s an ethos I will continue on with as I make and release more of my side projects. It’s good to share!
So what’s next for you?
The Gumroad Small Product Lab challenge was a fantastic experience. I’ve always dreamt of releasing my own products, but the Gumroad challenge forced me to just get it done. Within just ten days I had something tangible that I was actually selling to the public. It’s great, and it’s more than I ever had with years of dreaming. I’m now looking at creating more mini products, applying the same restrictions. I’m looking into doing an e-book on the prototyping tool Framer, another e-book helping designers learn the command line tool and, of course, many more sound packs!
We’d love to hear how you balance personal projects with your day job. As we say in the intro to the Small Product Lab, it’s incredibly hard to build a platform, a reputation, and a living from scratch. Add a full-time job on top of that, and you might feel like you’re in a Mission: Impossible situation. But whether you’re thinking about your first product or your hundredth, perhaps the pressure, speed, and oversight of a 10-day sprint is just what you need.