📰 Tony Dinh's solopreneur story: zero to $45K/mo in 2 years

Twitter drama, and my 4th product

Around February 2023, shortly after Elon Musk bought Twitter, they announced that Twitter API (which Black Magic is using) will no longer be free.

I didn’t think this would be a big deal. I was making good money from Black Magic and would be happy to pay.

Little did I know that, the price was announced $42K/month (per month, not per year). There was a smaller plan at $100/month, but the restrictions and limits are so low that you can’t even run a weather bot with it.

Black Magic was at $14K MRR at the time. That means there’s no way I could afford the API price.

I was “forced” to either shut down or sell.

Long story short, I sold Black Magic for $128K. You can read about the whole story here:

As of now, I no longer own Black Magic, but I still love the product and use it every day.

The funny thing is, a few months later, Twitter changed their mind about the pricing. They introduced a new plan at $5,000/month.

This plan comes with some restrictions and API limits, it may or may not work for Black Magic, but I didn’t even bothered to check, because it was no longer matter.

So that was my first product exit. Not the way I wanted, but there was nothing I could do.

Around the same time, I started working on a new product: Typing Mind.

Perception and presentation

How we perceive products affects how much we value them and in turn, whether we decide to buy them. Use these cognitive biases to enhance customers’ first impressions of your brand and product.

Space-to-product ratio: Give your product displays lots of space

Ever notice how minimalist Apple stores are? They carry less inventory than other major retailers and carefully space out their products on display for a light, airy feel—a design choice that actually contributes to our perceptions of Apple as a luxury brand.

This is because of the space-to-product ratio effect. Whenever we check out a new store, spacing subconsciously shapes our first impressions.

In fact, we tend to like and value products more when they’re spaced further apart. Close together, the same products somehow appear less prestigious or attractive.

Note: New brands benefit from this effect more than established brands that are already considered high-value. So if Apple decided to revamp its store design to display products closely together, it probably wouldn’t drastically change perceptions of its brand. For new companies, though, space-to-product ratio may make a bigger difference.

How to apply this to your company

If you run a brick-and-mortar shop, give your products on display some breathing room. Instead of setting items close together, space them apart. This might mean investing in larger display tables and shelves so that you can increase the space between products, or removing some items from display.

Brick-and-mortar stores should try to space display items apart with a high space-to-product ratio, like the diagram on the right.

While the original study behind this effect was done on physical retail stores, you can aim for a high space-to-product ratio in your site design as well.

A few tips:

Make use of negative space in your product images.

Don’t crowd your product pages with a lot of items or content.

Choose a minimalist aesthetic with fewer visual elements.

…

FOLLOW THE FUN There are several ways to design a game. One approach I like to use goes as follows:

Develop a quick and dirty prototype.

Immediately play it.

Keep what is fun and throw away what is not.

Rinse and repeat.

For the product of any company, this works the same:

Build an MVP.

Release it to users.

Keep what makes them happy and throw away the rest.

Rinse and repeat.

I like how the game version of this approach is focused on “fun”.

Your product is fun when it solves the problem of your customer and doesn't feel like work. — This is another hint at the 3rd lesson in this article. 😉

Going this extra step will pay off. Your product will iteratively build itself, and you'll surpass your user's expectations.

Now let's take this even one step further.

Apply this approach of following the fun to your work. What is fun to do for you and your team? What do you not like doing? Throw the latter out of the window and iterate on it.

As a result, you and your team will end up with a fun playground you love playing in every single day.

Confession: I collect viral story openers like rich people collect cars.

Here are the 10 best I’ve collected:

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1/ “On this day 2 years ago, I quit my job and moved to Madrid so my wife could get her MBA.”

📝 Template: On this day [X] years ago, I [Important life change].

——

2/ “In 2016, I made $50,000/year as a copywriter at an ad agency. 30 days later, I was making $20,000/month as a freelance writer.”

📝 Template: In X], I [Unimpressive stat]. [X] days later, I [Impressive stat].

——

3/ “I met my wife Kerry in 1996, her first ever words to me? “You’re a f p***k”

📝 Template: I met [person], in [x], her first ever words to me? [Dialogue].

——

4/ My life in 2018: Underpaid, overweight, overworked.

📝 Template: My life in [year]: [List]

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5/ CEO: “50,000 impressions isn’t bad”. Me: “Let me break down how that really looks…”

📝 Template: [Character]: “[Dialogue]” Me: “[Dialogue]"

——

6/ In 2021, my dad dragged me out of bed to take a walk. I was battling depression and couldn't get up.

📝 Template: In [X], [Movement]. I was [Context]. It was, [Scene].

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7/ 6 weeks partying cost me my contract at Spurs

📝 Template: [Mistake] cost me [Important thing].

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8/ 3 years ago I was single, 28lbs overweight and lived in a 6 bed house share in London.

📝 Template: [X] years ago, I was [Situation].

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9/ Wake up at 5 am. Sit in an hour of traffic. Call. Meeting. Intense work.

📝 Template: Explain a day in the life in short sentences.

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10/ My dog died. My father died of cancer. My mother is estranged.

📝 Template: My [Harrowing event].