Andy Le
624 posts
For the first time in my life, I crossed $1,000 in internet money today. And it feels surreal. This was a distant dream a year ago, and somehow I’m living it now. It’s tiny next to the numbers people post here, but it’s the hardest money I’ve ever made. You see the big MRR screenshots everywhere, like it’s so easy. But for me, it was so hard just to reach the first dollars. I still remember so vividly the excitement when seeing my first sale to someone across the world. It’s been a little over a year of building alongside a full-time job, with a young kid at home. Honestly it has been quite overwhelming doing everything by myself: finding an idea worth building, making the product actually good, trying to get users, support, fixing bugs late at night. Building the right thing was hard. Getting anyone to find and use it was even harder. I tried to grow an audience here on X and failed pretty badly. But along the way I learned a ton just reading @levelsio, @marclou, @tibo_maker and others who shared so openly. I tried posting to Reddit too, but mostly flopped, even a couple of bans. The deepest inspiration came from home: the fellow Vietnamese indie makers I’ve looked up to for years: @tdinh_me @daniel_nguyenx @_nghiatran @alexcooldev Tony especially. I knew him in person even before he started this path. I watched him grow from the very beginning. I bought his early product. I read his book. It planted something in me I couldn’t shake. Even so, I thought about giving up so many times. Not just on the whole thing, but on this exact product too, the one that’s working now. There were stretches where I was sure it was all going nowhere. But I kept showing up. And after a lot of failures, a few people finally started paying for what I built. I feel like I’m just starting to “get it.” And at the same time also feeling this is all luck, and not sure at all if it’ll keep going. To everyone who has shared their journey honestly, the wins and the hard parts: Thank you! You made it feel possible for someone like me to begin. And if you’re still on the edge, scared to start. I was too. The first dollar is the hardest one you’ll ever make. Start anyway. 🙏
