18 episodes

This Indie Life follows the journey of two indie hackers, James McKinven and Dagobert Renouf, as we navigate the good, the bad and the ugly, attempting to turn our indie hacker dreams into reality.

This Indie Life James McKinven and Dagobert Renouf

    • Business

This Indie Life follows the journey of two indie hackers, James McKinven and Dagobert Renouf, as we navigate the good, the bad and the ugly, attempting to turn our indie hacker dreams into reality.

    17: Where is the finish line?

    17: Where is the finish line?

    In this episode, Dago is still sick so records from bed and tries to find out his customer’s deepest darkest fears. Meanwhile, I’ve had a positive week having discussions about selling indie bites, or maybe finding an alternative solution to my short term money problems, but I do have to tackle a little bit of rejection along the way.
    D**o updates

    Went to doctors
    Brain fog is clearing
    Debating how to record next course segment
    James updates

    Enjoying momentum
    Wary of burnout
    Working towards a goal
    About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.

    Dagobert's Twitter
    Dago's Twitter Course

    Logology - high quality logos and brands

    Memelogy - the best startup memes
    About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it. 

    James' Twitter

    Indie Bites - indie founder chats

    2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course

    Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets

    PodPanda - podcast editing

    • 24 min
    16: Finding joy in work

    16: Finding joy in work

    In this episode, Dago is coming to terms with working less and making the most of it. I’m not talking sipping mamosas, I’m talking optimizing his Twitter time. I share more details about my long term indie bites partnership, although there might be a stumbling block in the way in my quest for being debt-free.


    Watch us on YouTube 📹

    Dago's course 🐦

    Buy a leather wallet from James 💳

    Podcast website 🎙️
    Dago updates/reflections

    being forced to optimize my twitter time is cool
    a.i is cool but takes the joy of creating away
    James updates/reflections

    Indie Bites sponsorship deal
    My big client might fall through
    More wallet sales
    About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.

    Dagobert's Twitter
    D**o's Twitter Course

    Logology - high quality logos and brands

    Memelogy - the best startup memes
    About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it. 

    James' Twitter

    Indie Bites - indie founder chats

    2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course

    Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets

    PodPanda - podcast editing

    • 22 min
    15: Staying positive and one-year deal for Indie Bites

    15: Staying positive and one-year deal for Indie Bites

    In this episode, Dago is still sick so records from bed and tries to find out his customer’s deepest darkest fears. Meanwhile, I’ve had a positive week having discussions about selling indie bites, or maybe finding an alternative solution to my short term money problems, but I do have to tackle a little bit of rejection along the way.


    Watch us on YouTube 📹

    Dago's course 🐦

    Buy a leather wallet from James 💳

    Podcast website 🎙️
    Dago updates/reflections
    Still sickJames updates/reflections

    Indie Bites sponsorship deal
    Started tracking my time
    Lemon Squeezy
    About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.

    Dagobert's Twitter
    Dago's Twitter Course

    Logology - high quality logos and brands

    Memelogy - the best startup memes
    About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it. 

    James' Twitter

    Indie Bites - indie founder chats

    2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course

    Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets

    PodPanda - podcast editing

    • 23 min
    14: Uncovering fears and getting rejected

    14: Uncovering fears and getting rejected

    In this episode, Dago is still sick so records from bed and tries to find out his customer’s deepest darkest fears. Meanwhile, I’ve had a positive week having discussions about selling indie bites, or maybe finding an alternative solution to my short term money problems, but I do have to tackle a little bit of rejection along the way.


    Watch us on YouTube 📹

    Dago's course 🐦

    Buy a leather wallet from James 💳

    Podcast website 🎙️
    Dago updates/reflections

    Still sick
    Working on landing page fears / problems
    Bought twitter blue check for conversion rates
    James updates/reflections

    Conversations around selling indie bites
    Finally got new wheels again
    Guest rejections :(
    About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.

    Dagobert's Twitter
    Dago's Twitter Course

    Logology - high quality logos and brands

    Memelogy - the best startup memes
    About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it. 

    James' Twitter

    Indie Bites - indie founder chats

    2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course

    Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets

    PodPanda - podcast editing

    • 26 min
    13: Getting sick and should James sell his podcast?

    13: Getting sick and should James sell his podcast?

    In this episode, Dago talks about reinventing himself on Twitter, dealing with sickness as a founder and he attempts to find 50 shades of grey to wear. I meanwhile ponder just a single thing, is it worth selling my baby? (aka my podcast).


    Watch us on YouTube 📹

    Dago's course 🐦

    Buy a leather wallet from James 💳

    Podcast website 🎙️
    Dago updates/reflections

    Wrote tweets for 3 weeks instead of 1
    Got sick so can’t do logology 2 this week
    Finally found my “lifetime” outfit
    James updates/reflections

    Did Skiing Trip, got ill, now back to work
    Considering selling Indie Bites
    Figuring out a cash injection and regular income
    Wallet sales seem to directly linked to how much I work
    About DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of our savings just to survive. They launched it and got almost no sales, pushing him to learn marketing. Last year, after some experiments, he found a marketing channel that worked by using Twitter. Now he has 45k followers and the business is finally going. As of the start of this pod, his business is on $3k p/m, with a goal to reach $5k p/m to avoid dwindling savings and to pay themselves a salary.

    Dagobert's Twitter
    D**o's Twitter Course

    Logology - high quality logos and brands

    Memelogy - the best startup memes
    About JamesJames left his cushty full-time job marketing job in April 2021. Since then, he's been hacking together income from his other podcast, Indie Bites, and podcast editing service, Pod Panda. The podcast does around $1k p/m in sponsor revenue and Pod Panda makes $2k p/m. But with a $4-5k burn every month, he's digging a very deep hole. James' goal is to get to around $10k per month across his products, get myself out of that hole and have fun while doing it. 

    James' Twitter

    Indie Bites - indie founder chats

    2 Hour Podcast - podcasting course

    Whitstable Craft Co - handmade leather wallets

    PodPanda - podcast editing

    • 23 min
    12: Dago gets into debt

    12: Dago gets into debt

    D**o has been so inspired by my debt experience, he wanted some for himself.

    • 25 min

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