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.

A transparent look at how I generated $10,352 in revenue from my indie projects in August 2021.

Highlights

• A redesign of TinyPilot’s website seems to have increased sales.
• TinyPilot now has a European distributor.
• After three years, I’ve earned back my investment in Zestful (and I might sell it).
• I’m still ruthlessly delegating every task I can.

Goal grades

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

Help TinyPilot’s EU distributor achieve his first sale

• Result: The distributor made his first sale on September 6th
• Grade: B

I was hoping we’d earn the first sale within August, which unfortunately didn’t happen. Still, we got a sale within 10 days of launching the EU site.

As a big fan of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, I was interested in this book. 70 years after it was published, I still see people recommending it, so I had high hopes.

Sadly, the book fell short of my expectations. When I read How to Win Friends and Influence People, every chapter felt relevant and useful. In contrast, only about 20% of How to Stop Worrying and Start Living felt useful. Most of the book is personal anecdotes that failed to connect with me and mental exercises that didn’t appeal to me.