How Sharing Progress and Small Bets Led to Big Wins

Musli's journey from a skeptical Twitter user to a successful digital entrepreneur is a testament to the power of social media and a willingness to take risks. With a background in web development and API work, Musli felt burnt out by the monotony of a 9-5 job. Inspired by figures like Daniel Vassallo, Naval Ravikant, and Dan Koe, he embraced the "Portfolio of Small Bets" approach, which focuses on creating multiple small ventures rather than one large project. Twitter played a crucial role in his transition, introducing him to influential figures and the potential of the Notion platform. His initial product, a simple Notion template, quickly validated his new path, earning $5 in the first week and proving the viability of his business model.

Despite facing challenges such as balancing his job and battling procrastination, Musli managed to grow his business by leveraging tools like Notion, Framer, and Gumroad, and actively engaging on social media. He emphasizes the importance of deep work, continuous learning, and the principle of "building in public" to share progress and gain feedback. Musli's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to avoid overthinking, set clear deadlines, and focus on taking actionable steps. His story highlights the importance of adapting to new platforms, leveraging personal strengths, and maintaining a growth mindset in the entrepreneurial journey.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how it led you to where you are now?

Funnily enough, I once said, "It seems like in my whole life, I will never use Twitter." I didn't understand Twitter. I found it funny when someone tweeted but no one replied.

But when I created a Twitter account, Twitter randomly brought me to this circle.

I have a background as a web developer and have worked as an API developer for over 3 years at a small company. However, I feel a sense of burnout in this profession.

What inspired you to start your business?

Of course, it's due to the monotony of working 9–5. But what influenced me the most was Twitter. Twitter introduced me to a figure named Daniel Vassallo. He introduced the concept of "The Portfolio of Small Bets," I fell in love with this approach. Essentially, I want to try applying "The Portfolio of Small Bets" to myself. This shifted my perspective from previously following the 'indie hacker' ideology.

I am not only influenced by Daniel Vassallo's thoughts. I am also influenced by the ideas of Naval Ravikant and Dan Koe. I consider these three figures as my Mental Models.

How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Once again, I am grateful to Twitter. Twitter introduced me to Easlo. Coincidentally, I also like Notion and use it every day. I felt this was a business idea I could execute immediately.

Without overthinking, I assigned myself the task of creating one template and selling it. All of this had to be done within a week as a form of validation. And boom, I made my first $5 in the first week.

Were there any particular market trends or gaps you noticed that influenced your decision to start this business?

Coincidentally, I didn't even think about this.

What were the initial steps you took to launch your business?

Product in the form of a template that I used every day, it didn't take much effort—I just improved the template I was already using daily. Then I packaged it, used ChatGPT as a brainstorming partner for template features, and generated a product description. Finally, I submitted the product to Gumroad.

Beyond that, I learned from other creators about the tricks of launching, where to sell, how to set prices, and pricing strategies.

Additionally, I improved my social media bio and decided to make Notion my niche and the topic of my content.

How did you fund your Digital Business initially?

I started with zero dollars. When I began, I hadn't even thought about funding. I only considered it after deciding I wanted to buy a domain for my landing page. However, that cost was covered by the sales of my digital products. So far, I haven't spent a single dollar.

But I believe that in the future, I will need to allocate funds for this business. This can serve as leverage to grow the business. Simple things like buying a blue checkmark for my account, purchasing courses, running ads like Facebook Ads, and subscribing to AI services to generate images for my digital products.

Did you face any challenges or obstacles during the early stages, and how did you overcome them?

My biggest challenge is balancing my time with my 9–5 job. However, last month I resigned and decided to return to my hometown because I got married and chose to live there while building this business. I only have two months of savings—will I succeed in getting through this? We’ll see.

Another challenge lies within myself. I have a habit of procrastinating and reading too much. I lack focus, while my mind is constantly filled with ideas. These ideas need to be expressed to prevent my head from becoming overwhelmed. I addressed this by making my ideas clear. I wrote all my ideas down in Notion. I organized them into flows and schedules. Then, I followed that schedule.

Recently, I also started practicing deep work everyday.

What strategies did you use to grow your business?

Coincidentally, I haven't created a paid product yet. But the lesson is, we can still generate income even if our products are free. I have proven this. Creating premium products might become one of my strategies. Being more active on Twitter has also proven to increase traffic for my product sales.

What tools do you use for your business?

Notion for the product, Framer for the landing page, Gumroad to sell the product, PayPal to receive payments, Zaap for the bio link, Canva and Figma for design, and ChatGPT for writing and brainstorming.

How did you acquire your first customers?

I posted on X, then I didn't expect this product to get a review on redgregory.com, one of the famous creators and YouTubers discussing Notion. My traffic increased from there. I also got my first dollar from redgregory.com.

Is there anything you would do differently if you could go back and start over?

If I could do it again, I shouldn't have overthought so much. Worrying whether this was saturated, thinking about the best tools. I should have just done deep work every day.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out as an entrepreneur?

As I did, maybe you need to give yourself a certain deadline, say a week, two weeks or even a month to test for your first dollar. After that, please close your room and do deep work every day according to your schedule. And see the results.

And one more thing that should not be forgotten. I assume you are already on X and in the same community. Don't forget to update your work every day, this is called building in public. So you don't need to think about content ideas again, just write your story.

Closing yourself in the room doesn't mean closing yourself off from the outside world. You must continue to connect by sharing your project and journey through your content on X.

What are some common misconceptions about starting a business that you’d like to address?

Too much thinking. I was once asked by someone who said they had wanted to sell Notion templates for a long time. The question was "Should we sell one page or should the product have multiple pages?" I think he hasn't tried what Notion is yet. That's why he asked that question.

Another thinking mistake is that we overconsume. I'm not saying consuming knowledge is unimportant, but our actions should be visible. Start now by using the 1x read, 2x create principle.

Also distinguish between 'moving' and 'doing'. When you're too busy researching products and end up without building any products, that means you're just 'moving'. You have to complete one product to be considered taking action. Sometimes we get trapped just in motion and don't produce anything.

Is there any particular mindset or approach that you believe is crucial for entrepreneurial success?

Here are the key mindsets you outlined as your principles:

1. You previously mentioned the portfolio of small bets approach, which essentially means we don't have to build something big in business. Big projects often require huge efforts, high costs, and sometimes we have to lose our lives. You think the digital product business aligns with this small bets concept. We just need to make bets by spending a few hours to create a product, then we validate it with the community and get sales.

2. Another mindset you like is the concept of "leftover work". You found this when reading the book "Rework". Where it analogizes a carpenter who has leftover "sawdust" that can be made into another form. We are the same, years of experience, tools, workflows we find while working can become products that may be needed out there. The challenge is how we can take that leftover work-shaped knowledge trapped in our brains and turn it into a visible product form.

3. Related to authenticity. One of your favorite philosophers, Russell, said authenticity means relating to someone's deepest feelings. Meaning we have to make ourselves part of our product. Dan Koe further said to make ourselves our niche. You think this thought is validated when we look at products from Easlo or Solt. They have different senses in designing their products.