The independent entrepreneurial journey of the founder of AI German tutor - from 0.01 euros to 10000 euros per month

Do you know the feeling when you stand on the edge of a cliff and stare at the ocean below? Your heart beats faster, and you fall between "This is crazy!" and "How cool it will be to jump!".

I thought about whether to write this article for a long time, but I never did.

up to now.

It's time“ Just Do It! ”Has.

So, what's the big deal? Why am I so excited?

It's simple: I decided to become a Independent entrepreneur 。 It is no longer a daydream. It is no longer "one day I will...". It is happening, and I invite you to join this journey.

This is not just another blog post, but the first in a series of articles about this journey. It will be a diary, recording the way to a job where I can do what I love, no matter where I want to work, there is no Financial constraints Of life 。

It sounds like a Dreams ... but we will make it a reality!

I will write these articles in this way as a way for me to record this adventure, but I hope they will also be helpful and enlightening to other people who want to start this adventure.

introduce

First, "What is an independent entrepreneur?"

An independent entrepreneur is an independent creator, basically a company of one person, who undertakes the work of the whole team: developers, designers, marketing personnel, sales personnel, etc.

Independent entrepreneurs create products and services that people want to use and try to make a living.

There are some similar words, such as independent hackers, independent founders or self entrepreneurs.

Personally, I prefer the term "independent entrepreneur" because it is easier for people who are not familiar with this field to understand its meaning (at least in my opinion).

I told a friend that I wanted to be an independent hacker, and his response was "What? You want to hack into the computer?" So yes, I prefer independent entrepreneurs.

If you want to know more about this concept, you can read this 。

reason

Let's start from scratch.

In September 2020, I published my first blog article on Medium: JavaScript: How does it work?

In order to seek support, I sent it to some friends (as can be seen from the number of external views).

Statistics of the first article I published on Medium in September 2020

Honestly, when I saw that on the dashboard 0.01 USD I am very excited.

Although the amount was insignificant, it was the first penny I made online, and I was very proud of it.

Magic Internet currency! 😁🤑

At this moment, I realized that I want to know more about Internet business and its potential. In the process of my exploration, I encountered many online scams, such as a variety of "online money making" courses. But after filtering the noise, I found true insights about SaaS creators and self entrepreneurs, which eventually led me into the world of independent entrepreneurs.

X (Twitter) played an important role in this discovery. I began to pay attention to some great independent entrepreneurs, such as Pieter Levels He is one of the most famous independent entrepreneurs.

Not only Pieter , and like Tony ， Luca ， Dan ， Danielle Other people have inspired me to start this journey.

Entrepreneurship desire

Since I was a student, I have been fascinated by the idea of creating my own startup company. I learned business knowledge, spent two years in Italy and Mexico, and always knew that I wanted to do something entrepreneurial.

In 2021, I made a major career change. I taught myself programming and focused on JavaScript, which opened a new world.

It's exciting to be able to create something from scratch and see an idea become a tangible product on the screen. After several months of self-study, I found a front-end development internship in Milan. This internship has become a full-time job. Since then, I have been working in this field, now in Germany.

Later that year, I decided to try to start a business and co founded it with two friends Flate , a long-term leasing platform, aims to eliminate real estate intermediaries, digitize the entire leasing process, and simplify the search and management of ideal housing.

I plan to write a separate article detailing my Flate The entrepreneurial journey, but now, let's just say that it is a stepping stone for me to achieve my ultimate goal.

strategy

For this journey of independent entrepreneurship, I plan to adopt Agile method , divide my work into Two week sprint 。 A sprint will focus on developing, building functions and improving products. The next sprint will focus on marketing and sales. I will use SEO and social media strategies to promote.

I will use the agile "system" as the guiding framework to organize my tasks, prioritize my to-do list, and maintain motivation. However, it should be noted that traditional agile rituals, such as combing, reviewing and daily standing meetings, may be too cumbersome (meaningless) for an independent journey or a small team composed of two or three people.

Yes, I mentioned a small team, because my independent entrepreneurship trip will be a combination of independent projects and cooperative entrepreneurship. For some projects, I will be one of several founders, working with a small team composed of two or three people (for example, in Flate).

Now, you may have another question:

Are you going to quit your job?

Of course not!: D

Tim Ferris once said, "The best time to start a business is when you have a job." I agree very much. I am currently working as a software engineer in Germany. Although this is a substantial job, I don't think it is my end. I plan to use evenings and weekends to carry out my independent projects. The work from 9:00 to 5:00 provides financial security and psychological peace, enabling me to take risks as an independent entrepreneur.

Technology stack

In terms of construction, I learned that the best way is to choose a technology stack that can move, iterate and transform quickly.

As a front-end developer, I often feel that the complexity of the back-end slows down my progress. This is why choosing the right technology stack is critical.

These will be my weapons:

• Next.js : This is a React framework that provides many out of the box functions, such as server-side rendering and static site generation.
• Tailwind or Chakra UI : Both are CSS frameworks. They can quickly develop user interfaces. This accelerates the development process and ensures a consistent design system.
• Clerk : Handling authentication may be a nightmare. Clerk provides a good solution for user management and authentication, and it is easy to integrate.
• PlanetScale and Prisma : Prisma provides an easy-to-use ORM (object relational mapping) for the database, which makes data management easier. PlanetScale ensures the smooth expansion of the database. It is like having an extensible MySQL database without operating overhead.

This technology stack, combined with some third-party tools and APIs, will become a toolkit for me to turn my ideas into reality.

I believe in the concept of "fast build, faster release". I don't want to wait for the product to be perfect immediately. I want my idea to come out as soon as possible, collect feedback and iterate. All this is to quickly verify an idea, learn from real users, and improve in the process.

First item

Having said so much

Let me introduce Deutsch Mentor , my first independent project.

After moving to Germany, I realized how difficult it was to learn German. I already knew it would be difficult, but at first it felt like a cold bath.

When I looked around for tools and platforms to help, I only found either expensive courses or no personalized platform. It feels like there is a gap that needs more customized and personalized things.

This is it. Deutsch Mentor The reason for its birth.

It is not just another language learning tool. It is a reflection of my own struggle and learning. It is an AI German tutor, providing a conversational learning method rather than mechanical memory. Imagine how cool it would be to chat with an AI who understands and guides you, discuss German grammar or practice daily conversation.

Deutsch Mentor's vision is ambitious. I imagine a platform where users can:

• Choose the tone of the dialogue to make it casual and formal.
• Listen to the dialogue to help auditory learning.
• Review past conversations to ensure continuous learning.
• Customize the chat experience, from the length of the conversation to the personality of the person you are talking to.
• Learn grammar in depth through tools such as a special German verb positioner.
• Build your vocabulary by saving unfamiliar words and practicing with flashcards.

As we all know, it is very important to understand users' ideas from the beginning, which is why I set a Google Forms , let users vote to choose the next function they want to see.

This is just one of the platforms I intend to build... (By the way, if you have feedback on Deutsch Mentor, please leave a comment!).

My vision is very clear: I want to build a SaaS product portfolio and generate 10000 euros of revenue per month (MRR). This will not only enable me to achieve financial independence, but also enable me to live and work freely anywhere - ideally in a warm place close to the sea 😁。

(End of full text)

Long press the QR code below to follow the geek study and learn more about AI's wealth creation and one-man enterprise story:

Geek study subscription number

The article content is automatically generated by GeekAI web page translation service. Original address: https://medium.com/the-indie-maker/from-0-01-to-10-000-mrr-my-indie-maker-journey-57bef2bde4a5

If you are also an AI independent entrepreneur and want to share your story, or you want to form an AI entrepreneurial team, please feel free to contact me. My personal WeChat is: