ย #Entrepreneurship #SaaS #StartUp #Business #Challenges
Hey fellow entrepreneurs ๐! So, I’ve been working on this SaaS project to help people find jobs, and I hit a bit of a roadblock. I’m kinda stuck at the point of actually charging for my service ๐ฌ. Does anyone else struggle with this part of the process, or am I truly the worst entrepreneur ever? ๐ค
Here’s what’s been going on:
– Built a few beta versions โ
– Got excited about the project ๐
– Froze when it came to implementing billing ๐ธ
– Spending money to keep it running without making any revenue ๐ธ
I loved the building phase but am struggling with the money-making part. Any tips or advice on how to push past this hurdle and start charging users? Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences! Let’s help each other out ๐ช #SupportEntrepreneurs #Collaboration #Motivation
It’s very common to be satisfied by the creative part of business ideation. The next level is building and shipping. Taking people’s money is the third level. By going there, you will graduate as an entrepreneur.
Why don’t you look into 3 payment systems and choose one TODAY?
Thoughts:
* **Yes, it’s common -** I had the same problem myself.
* **Build the payment system** – Even if you get zero customers, it will be a good learning experience. And you can use it for your next SaaS as well.
* **Manual payment** – You also don’t have to build the full payment system. Just set up a Stripe subscription URL link. Say, after you pay, your account will be set up in 24 hours. Then manually set their user account in the database to “active subscriber” or however you want to do it.
* **Consider your goals** – it sounds like you don’t care about the money and only want to build things. I’m guessing you already have a full time job and don’t need the money. Or maybe your passion comes from building and you need to find a marketing co-founder. Or maybe this is something you need to push through and learn so you can be a solo founder who can both build and market. It all depends on what you want to do.
* Other SaaS advice – [https://x.com/adamdenverco/highlights](https://x.com/adamdenverco/highlights)
Donโt make it spammy, donโt make the main product cost $. Make side products for $, at-least start somewhere.
Then go from there
For the love of god don’t make your own payment system… Use someone else’s, even if you want to do that work, just the fact you’d need to be dealing with people’s banking data for a worse user experience – just no. At least from my POV, I never want to be near that stuff – same reason I’d always recommend something like firebase for authentication. Of course if that’s what you meant, just ignore me haha
If you can’t find the energy to get it done, have you thought about hiring? I mean absolutely if you’ve got the skills I’d personally push through to get something like stripe working as others have said. But put out a post in a discord server or Upwork (that’s where I tend to find my clients for the freelance work I do), see some freelancers who respond and see if their prices are worth it to you? If it’s just implementing something like stripe into an existing codebase it probably won’t take very long at all.
Partner with someone who wants the cash. Do the building of the projects, let them handle the monetization.
It’s completely normal to feel the way you do, and you’re definitely not alone in experiencing these challenges. Building a SaaS product from scratch is a significant accomplishment, and the excitement during the MVP phase is understandableโit’s the phase where you’re creating and innovating without the pressure of monetization.
Here are a few thoughts that might resonate with your situation:
1. **Passion vs. Monetization:** Many entrepreneurs thrive on the creative process of building something new. When it comes to implementing a billing system and monetizing, it can feel like a shift away from that initial excitement. However, monetization is crucial for sustainability and growth.
2. **Fear of Charging:** Charging users can be daunting, especially when you’re targeting a demographic that may be financially strained. There might be a fear of rejection or concerns about whether the market will accept your pricing.
3. **Common Challenges:** Many entrepreneurs face challenges transitioning from product development to revenue generation. It’s a different skill set and mindset, often requiring marketing, sales, and operational strategies that differ from product creation.
4. **Seeking Support:** Consider seeking advice from mentors or peers who have experience in SaaS and monetization strategies. They can offer valuable insights and help you navigate this phase.
5. **Reassess and Pivot:** It’s okay to reassess your approach. Maybe there’s a different pricing model or target audience that could make monetization more feasible and aligned with your values.
Remember, entrepreneurship is a journey with ups and downs. The fact that you’ve built a SaaS product and gained initial traction is a significant achievement. It’s about learning from setbacks and adjusting your strategy as you move forward. You have the ability to overcome this phase and find a balance between passion and profitability
It’s common, you’re not alone in this.
95% is a hobby. A creative project.
Getting it to 100% is simple, but you have to move from creating to selling and making it a real business. That’s where the hard part it.
This is very common. Just force yourself to not touch anything else, dont improve the proudct until you do X. Talk to 20 potential customers. Spend $200 on FB ads. Make 1 YT video about it a day for a month. Then assess whether you have product market fit, make changes and do that again or, if you do not have an ounce of PMF, pivot.
Chances are, when you actually talk to people, make content etc, you will find what they are actually looking for, even if it may be a little bit different from what you are doing now. But just move…you are standing still and wont get anywhere like this
finish it and sell it.
Sounds like you need to partner up with a sales / business development person
I am in creative phase of building a SaaS platform. I have had a lot of resistance to asking for money, but I just heard a talk today about sales and it really helped me. I think you have to overcome your internal resistance and recognize that youโre not forcing anyone to spend money they donโt want to spend. Youโre exchanging value. Youโre connecting your valuable product with people who need it. Ideally, youโre still giving them more value than they paying (while not leaving too much money on the table). I think this is common. At the end of the day, if you really donโt want to, you could probably just make it free as a passion project, and then maybe monetize with some ads or something if it gets a lot of traffic.
I freeze up on implementing Stripe too, man. I’m planning to learn it this week. Any advice? Do I need a legal entity registered or anything? Can I just implement it for without any legal commitment? I kinda just wanna learn how it’s implemented.
On top of that, I feel you on being scared to “start charging” though. Now you have actual legal liability to deliver. You’re gonna have to deal with real, valuable data by yourself. It’s kind of overwhelming.
I recommend people looking to make money and have big ambitions to readย [Idolstories](https://idolstories.beehiiv.com/). Its a newsletter about succesfull founders and their stories. I get a lot of entreprenurial motivation from there and tips I use in my own business.
Free for customers but charge businesses for job posting.
It’s fine if you just enjoy problem solving and building things. But if you want to actually run a business, you have to start bringing in money/charging your clients
Can I see it?
Honestly?
I feel like it comes back down to money beliefs. If you have some belief in the past that those who “make money” are evil then you’re going to have to let go of that belief fast and quick.
It’s 100% possible to genuinely help people and make money in the process. Your local grocery store does this all the time as an example. If your business solves a need, you’re in the right business.
If you’re looking for a “baby step” to charging you could consider doing a “pay what you want” monthly recurring service. Or if you really want to go basic why not charge a $1/mo and see what happens, you could cap it at a certain number if you’d like to “test the waters”
I’m telling you it’s okay to make money and help people. Money just amplifies more of what you are.
If you were a shitty person to begin with money just gave you power.
The same concept applies to if you’re a good person, it gives you power & opportunity.
p.s. if you found this comment then you might find more helpful content in my newsletter (link in bio).
That is nothing new in business. Let me tell you my story:
I am a CEO of an outsourcing company based in Europe and we do good business stateside, I have minimum ownership in the company. This has been going great. Now we started to diversify in the stateside and in Europe. One business is failing like crazy, the other ones dropped the past year because of the market. Two years ago i started to build a social media app with my friend even though i have no idea how to program. We hired a dev trough fiver and wasted 2000$ at least plus the monthly fees for servers mailgun etc. We started to make a puzzle game but we did not finish.
Now i opened a lounge bar and after my usual work i go work in my lounge bar afterwards because i am trying to save costs. Maybe it will pick up maybe not.
I rent a property and at least that is bringing some monthly income in.
Now ideally i should have never diverted my attention elsewhere because my main business is failling. I became anxious and my personal life is suffering as well lol. But thinking about it if i manage to at least develop one of the businesses i should be able to get back on track. Hopefully i will stay sane and not quit my main job since i still have a big ass loan.
Having wrote all of this in reality every one of us wants to be rich, develop things but we do not follow up. Even if i am sucessful as a business man i still fail because i do not follow up, i do not write things down, i do not finish some tasks, i think too much etc.
The easy way out like the others have said is to take one task and finish it in a week. Later one take more tasks and increase it as you get more experienced.
I still struggle with the basics but somehow was lucky to become succesful.
Anyways if you ever want to chat i am free to give my advice on what i fail daily.
Itโs so hard to charge itโs a really challenging step. If your software actually solves a problem you need to think about the value of that solution.
Also if you make money and find success and you are a builder then you will keep building and the world needs builders and creators so keep doing it!
Agreed