One-Man Company Practice & Non-Developer Developer - Week 6

MRR Goal: $1000.00 Income this Week: $0

Things Done This Week

1. The first MVP version of the second app, core functionality is mostly done but still unstable. Can release a TestFlight beta version next week.
2. Basically kept up daily on the WeChat public account, Xiaohongshu, and X.com. One article on the WeChat public account got over 2000 reads and more than 130 shares: ‘How I Use AI to Assist Writing’.
3. Demoed the second product to two friends.
4. Helped a friend move.

Reflections

1. The first confusion is the tension between so-called principles and actual user needs. I think all developers and designers have their own original ideas, concepts, or pursuits. But for most users, they want faster, better, easier, cheaper, and more worry-free solutions. It’s human nature. I’m curious: when Zhang Xiaolong talks about ‘restraint’, how does he maintain the sense of order and long-term consistency in the product’s overall experience amid growing user demands, commercial pressures, and feature expansion? And when Steve Jobs insisted on Apple’s integrated ecosystem, how did he balance openness, freedom, and overall experience while enduring pressure from more open platforms and market competition over the long term? The confusion is: when to stick to so-called principles, and when to discern actual user needs and make improvements accordingly?

2. The second product has two important use cases in this field, and their correlation is very strong. But limited by industry technology, it can currently only meet one of them. From a product design perspective, this is obviously unacceptable because it can’t complete the entire experience loop. I realized this problem during design, but after showing the product to a friend, I found the issue became more severe. So, for the second product, although it’s not online yet, there’s already strong uncertainty about its prospects. This is also the interesting part of design and creation: you always encounter many constraints and need to dance with shackles.

3. I plan to read the book ‘Mindset’. I heard a friend share about it at an internal book club: when facing tough problems, different mindsets lead to different responses. Some people get discouraged when encountering issues, but others with a growth mindset become more excited and see them as opportunities for growth. Clearly, I currently (or in the past) belong to the former. I hope reading this book will change some of my ways of thinking.

4. I think choosing to do independent development is the right choice. Maybe I’ll succeed, maybe I’ll fail, but having a period to jump out of pure design to improve my overall abilities is worthwhile. On one hand, I feel challenged, pushing out of my comfort zone; on the other hand, after struggling, frustrations, and unwillingness, this way of working is starting to become interesting.

5. About the WeChat public account. I’ve been writing on it for ten years and have only about 1500 followers. There are reasons for such low numbers. First, the content leans towards personal feelings. Most of my articles record personal feelings and don’t have much value for others to share. Second, interaction with followers is weak. When someone leaves a comment, I rarely reply, or reply briefly, not building a deeper interactive relationship with followers. And there’s a lack of operational awareness. I haven’t done much to promote it, like asking friends to help share when an article fits. These all need improvement.

6. Need to pray and entrust. My wife suggested I pray for what I’m currently doing; I jokingly asked her why I need to pray. But now I think it’s very important. Because for me, it’s too easy to get prideful when there’s some progress, taking credit for myself; and when I face setbacks, I get extremely down, filled with anxiety. From a personal benefit perspective, I need to entrust and pray. I also hope to glorify the Most High in this process.