Highlights

• I announced a new product and then discovered it was a mistake.
• I simplified the TinyPilot website to focus on a single device.
• I tried taking my first real vacation from TinyPilot with mixed results.

Goal grades

At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:

Train local staff members to assist with customer support

• Result: Local staff members are answering ~50% of support emails.
• Grade: A-

We now use HelpScout as a shared customer support queue. There are still plenty of cases where I’m the only one with the context or technical background to handle the request, but it’s great to have help with the rest.

A transparent look at how I generated $9,366 in revenue from my indie product portfolio in October 2021.

A transparent look at how I generated $8,949 in revenue from my indie product portfolio in September 2021.

Overall, this was an interesting read, but I found it hard to apply the lessons to my product. The book contains compelling case studies and ideas from the field of meta-learning, but most of the ideas were either too theoretical or too specific to large companies.

Highlights

• TinyPilot had its highest-revenue month ever.
• One of TinyPilot’s competitors raised $800k almost overnight.
• I’m working with a design firm to improve TinyPilot’s brand and website.

Goal grades

At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:

Publish a sample chapter of Refactoring English

• Result: Made progress but didn’t publish a chapter
• Grade: D

TinyPilot got busy enough again that I didn’t have much time to write this month. Sadly, I’m going to put the book on hold indefinitely since TinyPilot still needs my full attention.