We have all seen those tweets that are something along the lines:
Just hit $1000 MRR after leaving my $500K job!
And if you are someone like me, your first thought was probably, "Are you freaking insane?"
But here I am, finding myself in a similar situation. No, I did not have a cushy $500K job to leave in the first place, and I certainly have not hit that coveted $1000 MRR milestone yet.
But, I am starting from the bottom, similar to the rest of those wanting to go independent.
I would usually share this in my newsletter, but decided to make a post on it. I know I will refer back to this one a year from now, and I hope that the future me is proud.
Back to Square One
This month, my little apps generated the same amount of income as my first iOS internship back in 2018. I did factor in inflation too, ha. It is humbling.
It does feel like starting all over from scratch, but this time in an almost entirely new career.
Still an Apple Platforms developer but that role has taken a backseat compared to everything else I have to do: marketer, salesperson, and customer support representative, to name a few.
Doubting
I decided to burn the boats, too. Unless there is an exciting freelance project that comes my way, I plan to solely work on my apps and writing blog posts and books. This brings in another perspective that I was hesitant to tackle before: self-doubt.
As soon as I publish this post, a doubt will creep in: Rudrank, are you not talking too much? You are back to yapping instead of apping.
But now, I cannot afford to let the doubt creep in. You are going to read this post because I will publish it anyway.
If I think the post is not good enough, then I will make it good.
If I think nobody would use my app, then I will force my close friends to use them instead.
I must adopt a solution-oriented mindset in this new life, to ship more and earn the lifestyle that I want.
Last week, when I shipped the app, Meshing, as soon as I was hitting the publish button, the inner voice started screaming louder than ever: you are not providing enough value to charge for it.
So, I made it free and pay what you want. People still ended up paying $5 or $10 for it. When I added support for visionOS, iPadOS and iOS, I realised that I need to charge for it because it is providing value to those who want to make the most of their time.
Moving Forward
Every success story has to start somewhere. Today, I might be making the same as I did as an intern, but who knows where I will be in a year? I took a bet on myself to go all in for a year, and look back at the progress on 12, June, 2025.
One day, I will write a post on: Started from the bottom, Now we are here.
One day I will be the one posting those "crazy" tweets, and a new generation of developers will be wondering if I have lost my mind!
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