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by orthecreedence 3309 days ago
I run an open source project (turtlapp.com). I want to monetize. I have people who tell me fairly often they want to pay for it.

There are two things that hold me back. First is never quite feeling like it's ready to charge for (perfect being the enemy of good). Second is I don't know how much time I can devote to supporting it.

Both are stupid reasons. I know this. I'm hoping to launch a premium service soon, and we'll see where it goes. If I spend 5 hours a day supporting it, I'll probably just shut it all off and prioritize my Turtl emails a bit lower like I do now. If I end up spending an hour or two a day on it and make some money, I'll kick myself for not doing it earlier.
2 comments
iamwil 3309 days ago
Just start charging. You'll want to know earlier rather than later which one it is. Life is short. If it turns out this is not the thing you should be working on, knowing which one it is will free your mind up to do something else you should be doing.
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orthecreedence 3308 days ago
Great advice. It's funny because I already know this, it's logical and the decision makes sense in every way, but I still have trouble doing it. I've got a nice chunk of nights/weekends in July, maybe I'll make the final push then.
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iamwil 3308 days ago
Yeah, I know the feeling. It's usually some mental block, or erroneous belief you have that's held by those in your circle, or something you identify with. Sometimes it's a fear. But either way, it's usually a bug in the way you're seeing the world.

Once you can identify the bug, it'll be easier to know what's making you hesitate. What's the basic belief you have about money and business that's held in your social circle, or attached to your identity?

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iamwil 3306 days ago
#3 was what helped me.

https://www.inc.com/magazine/20110301/making-money-small-bus...

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stevekemp 3308 days ago
Taking that first leap is pretty scary, and it gets weird when you realize sometimes you get more sales when you raise your prices.

It's been ten years or so, but once I had an application I charged £5 for. There were so few users that support costs were always too high. Raising the price to £50 actually resulted in more sales, and fewer "Your application sucks" support-requests.

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orthecreedence 3307 days ago
That's great to know, thank you. Maybe if things get too annoying I'll just raise prices. I didn't even think of that.
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