How do you motivate yourself as solo founder, when things don't go according to plan?

I got screwed even before I launch my product. I am a nomad so I don't really have the luxury of going out for brunch with my best friends. Loneliness is my friends but I don't feel alone. Indie Hacker is a great oasis for me. Learning stories from many of you inspire me and make me feel like I belong and it motivates me to keep going. But the biggest motivation for me always books, not only the "inspiring" books or nonfiction but also all kinds of books, literature, poetry, etc. When things go backwards all the way to hell, I always ponder on Anton Chekov's The Seagull wrote, "That's it, I guess. Just go on living, whether you feel like it or not."

Is there a really great solo-founder community out there? I've been looking for one as a support system.

I find being a solo-founder as the ultimate mental challenge, I end up talking to myself trying to figure out which is the best decision to make on certain trivial issues. It's a seesaw of emotions seeing metrics and creating my own path, all while selling and marketing, for example, we've broken 260 users in 3 months (wahoo!) however now it's more of a challenge to keep them engaged and returning, particularly because of the low-touch product we have. It's great to see them return about once every 2-3 weeks, but not enough. Do all of this while deciding when to pivot or when not to, or when to scrap it all together. Other days it feels like the world is yours for the taking. It's just the nature of the game, it is what it is.

I'd really love to see solo-founder communities that are available to join, I'd be interested.

I’ve been going trough the same sorta things, I’ve launched my product last month and I was thinking we’d get 100s of customers in a month :))! But in reality we got 10 which I’m happy about, what I have been doing is talking to the people in the community who have gone trough this before. Ask for help feedback and you will get it! Get involved and you will get support! Write updates even tiny milestones! And most importantly keep having fun with it!

I take solace in the small wins, instead of moving past them quickly like I used to do.

Get 3 sign ups for the waiting list this week? Make myself a celebratory cocktail and just enjoy hanging out on my balcony watching the sunset for an hour friday evening.

Knocked out everything on my todo list for the week? Truly splurge on myself and go see John Wick 3. lol

stuff like that.

Sounds silly, but it really helps, because we're usually doing the reverse (focusing on the problems, as its part of our personalities).

Going through a trough now myself. Here are some things that work sometimes for me:

1. If I give up I'd have to get a job, for which I will need to put in the same hours of work as being a founder, except with much less fun and freedom
2. The market where I'm playing is big enough and I keep reminding myself that it's very achievable to capture even a small part of it to have a sustainable business. My goal now is to be able to pay myself a salary at least equal to what the job market would offer me. I'm not looking to become filthy rich, I'm looking for freedom and a good income.
3. There are tons of examples of startups that took years to take off (e.g airbnb), although I don't like to use these as references because they are one-hit wonders. Instead, I get inspiration from indie hackers who built small sustainable businesses.

Things never go according to plan, that is the first lesson. I always find a way to make it work, that is my inspiration and motivation. Always push forward, always find a way to make it work, and then do it!

Surround yourself with good community. I'm lucky that my partner is another entrepreneur and on my low days I have someone I can whine to who doesn't judge. It's so important to have people to talk to, rant, and share failures. Online communities are great (thanks Indie Hackers) but also important to find in-person communities.

To be honest, it's a struggle especially since you've put so much effort into your product and gotten your hopes up, just to realise that the journey has just started and that the hardest part is ahead. What Im doing right now is just implementing more features till I feel that the product is ready for a producthunt release, however, even then you have to accept and realise that the chance of your product actually reaching the top there is low. In conlusion, you just have to continue till you've reached your end point, regardless whether you're motivated or not.

I try not to have much expectations for things out of my control.

Usually we get demotivated if not enough users are signing up or if our PH launch is a bust etc. All of these things are out of our control and I try not to have expectations about them.

What I do have expectations about are what I can do today, how much code can I write, how much articles I can write, how much can I help my ideal customers in advance in communities like IH, all things that I can control.

Also I like to think that when things aren't going my way, that is the time when I have to actually earn the success I like to get. That's the way most people succeed, they keep pushing even though nothing around them seems to move and that is how it's supposed to be, you have to believe it first in order for others to believe it.

Plus all this startup thing we're doing, launching our own products out of nothing. We are in the business of the unknown so get used to it. We don't know if our product is the right one, we don't know if people will want it, we don't know the consequences of our moves, so all we can do is take the actions, complete our tasks, take the feedback (or lack thereof), then adjust and keep going.

A lot of people have said, If you never quit, there is no way to fail.

Tell myself every day “Begin Again”

Think about the alternatives. There aren’t any. It’s in our blood. We keep going when others would quit. We draw inspiration from other founders, hang out here to post things like this and just keep going.

I think one thing everyone struggling should consider is sharing their journey openly and constantly seeking feedback.