I like the way that this article itself is an example of its own main subject (using articles like this to drive SEO for instapainting).
Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
171–180 of 277 posts
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi! Thanks for the comment! All I can say is that the reason I don't charge more is it'd just be lining my pockets since the artists set their prices at a pretty consistent rate. I don't get lower rates from the artists than my competitors, so I just undercut them in final retail price instead.
Can you pay the artists more?
That is one strategy, but i have chosen to undercut the competition instead since I don't think paying them more would increase quality.
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#173> micro-services, which is crucial in allowing me (the > only developer) to migrate the site to new technologies. I know it's 5 years old, but I still don't see why it's been so crucial to have kept migrating to "new technologies"?
It lets me upgrade the application piecewise. For example I have pages that are just PHP/HTML, and some that are rendered with Node/React, and the site works seamlessly together (seamless sessions and everything).
Are there any perspectives you can share with respect to SEO and client-side React?
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
They ordered under the promise that I would deliver the product, somehow, and I did. I hired my friends who were artists in San Francisco to do them—at a loss too. That being said, worse case scenario would have been a refund, and most people paid via credit card which is interest free for 30 days anyways.
I guess it's just me then. :^) For me it's the difference between purchasing a product and investing in your business. If presented as an investment, where my money is going to enable you to produce the item for me, then I'd be fine with it, because I would know the current state of your business. Now, if I knew you had no artists and were just floating an idea I would most likely refrain. The worst case scenario als…
Worst case scenario, he'd have returned the money for any specific painting that couldn't be done, right?
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#175"The hardest part was actually conveying that it wasn't just some print or photo filter, and this is something I still have difficulty with today."
I can see how you'd have that problem with the name "Instapainting". If someone didn't describe to me exactly how this works, I would think it was just another photo filter app.
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you pay the artists more?
That is one strategy, but i have chosen to undercut the competition instead since I don't think paying them more would increase quality.
Unless you tie it into their feedback ratings. Presumably your system drops or deprioritizes artists with fewer than 2.5 out of 5 stars, for example. So you could set something like: 3+ stars as the default 1.0 multiplier, 4+ stars gets a 1.1 multiplier, and 4.75+ stars gets a 1.2 multiplier. This may create an incentive for the artist to put in more time and produce better quality, unless the artists are already putting in their absolute best effort rather than cranking out paintings as quickly as possible.
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reminds me of one of my favorite "jokes" about scale. If you're a one in a million, there are 1357 of you in china.
Also similar to a line from the song Up Against The Wall by The Whitlams: She was one in a million, yeah So there's five more, just in New South Wales
In NYC former Mayor Bloomberg used to say that about all the entrepreneurs trying to make it with original ideas and gusto
"there's eight of you here"
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#178I was pretty close to ordering a gift for the holidays until I saw the charge of $3.00 to NOT appear as a sample on your website. [1] Why are you making people pay $3.00 to NOT appear in your gallery of samples? Sorry, but that seems absolutely ridiculous and is a deal breaker for me. [1] http://imgur.com/a/RMcvV
Would you have agreed if it were a discount instead of an added charge? i.e. Yes is -$3?
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Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#179I wonder why many of the sites on indiehackers have that chat box popup.
Re: Instapainting – From $4k in debt to $32k/mo in passive revenue with no employees
#180I can answer any questions, whether about how to get a great Christmas present, or questions about the article!
Could you elaborate on the marketplace backing Instapainting? You've mentioned sellers and painters - if I understood correctly, does that mean Instapainting immediately delegates to 3rd party sellers once a sale is done through the website, and it's the sellers who handle hiring the painters, shipping and (some of) customer service? If so, that's amazing and quite surprising. It really is a marketplace/bidding portal wholly abstracted for the end user.
Congrats on the website and success, very inspiring story!