You know that indie maker bit of wisdom about making products for yourself, which you yourself would want to use? I just came to a tiny epiphany today, about getting paying users (not just users in general, paying and non-paying): 

Make something that you yourself would want to pay for.

I don’t know why it took me this long to realise, and on hindsight, it sounds so plain obvious and silly that you might be wondering why it’s even an epiphany. But stay with me. 

For what felt like the longest time, I always followed that golden rule. Be your own user. Dogfood your product. Make something you’re also personally invested in. I kept to that, and always made something I would want to use myself. Actually useful stuff. As a designer involved in UX consulting and understanding user needs when designing products, I like to think of myself as someone who knows how to design something that users want. But since starting on my indie maker journey, I’d been okay in getting users for my products, but not so successful in getting paying customers. I could never understand what’s missing. If it addresses a need and they’re using it, why aren’t they paying? Or so I assumed.

There’s definitely a higher threshold to cross when it comes to getting someone to pay for your product, not just use it. Especially digital stuff on the internet, where the common expectation is to get for free. I was also probably designing stuff that’s more vitamins, not painkillers. Useful, good-to-have, but ultimately, not that critical. Designing for user needs is one thing, but having that business acumen to see whether what you’re designing translates to something a user would want to pay for, feels like another skill altogether.  That’s one muscle that, regrettably, I probably didn’t train that much in my work with governments and non-profits!

There’s also a bit of the universe mirroring back to me going on here: I tend not to pay for products online, unless it’s really mission-critical to my work/life. I prefer to use the free version if I can, testing things out, playing with it until I hit its limits. Only then will I consider paying. And so that unknowingly became my own subconscious narrative when I created my own products – make stuff that I can use for free, that I wouldn’t pay for. No wonder I couldn’t get paying customers!

So, don’t just make something that you yourself would want to use, especially if you’re serious about making a living off your product. Make something that you yourself will willingly pay for. Ask yourself: “Would I pay for this? Right now?” Be brutally honest with yourself, and if it’s no, then tweak it, iterate it to something fulfils that benchmark.

*crack fingers