Merge branch 'add-550mrr-blogpost' into coverletter-making-550

opensaas-sh/blog/src/components/Tweet.astro

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+---
+interface Props {
+    id: string;
+}
+
+const { id } = Astro.props;
+---
+
+<style>
+    .tweet-wrapper {
+        transform: scale(0.85);
+        margin-bottom: 0rem;
+    }
+    /* Target the Twitter iframe to reduce padding */
+    :global(.twitter-tweet-rendered) {
+        margin: 0 !important;
+        padding: 0 !important;
+    }
+</style>
+
+<div class="tweet-wrapper">
+    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
+        <a href={`https://twitter.com/x/status/${id}`}></a>
+    </blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<script>
+    declare global {
+        interface Window {
+            twttr: any;
+        }
+    }
+
+    window.twttr = (function(d, s, id) {
+        var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
+            t = window.twttr || {};
+        if (d.getElementById(id)) return t;
+        js = d.createElement(s) as HTMLScriptElement;
+        js.id = id;
+        js.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";
+        fjs.parentNode?.insertBefore(js, fjs);
+        t._e = [];
+        t.ready = function(f: () => void) {
+            t._e.push(f);
+        };
+        return t;
+    }(document, "script", "twitter-wjs"));
+</script> 

opensaas-sh/blog/src/content/docs/blog/2024-12-03-coverlettergpt-550-mrr-amazing.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+---
+title: My SaaS only makes $550 a month and I think that’s amazing
+date: 2024-12-03
+tags: ["indiehacker", "saas", "sideproject", "webdev", "marketing"] 
+---
+import Tweet from '../../../components/Tweet.astro';
+import { Image } from 'astro:assets';
+import coverlettergpt from '../../../assets/coverlettergpt/coverlettergpt.webp';
+
+Yesterday I posted a video on [Twitter](https://x.com/hot_town/status/1863553258586820976) and on [Reddit’s r/sideproject](https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/1h4t8vk/my_saas_only_makes_550_a_month_and_i_think_thats/) expressing my opinion that I think super simple SaaS apps that only make a small amount of side income should be your goal when starting out.
+
+And the response was overwhelmingly positive.
+
+<Tweet id="1863553258586820976" />
+
+Let me explain what I mean in more detail: 
+
+**I often think that developers trying their shot at building a side project take it too seriously**. Yep, you read that right.
+
+They should think of their side project as an experiment, not a business.
+
+Because in the early stages, that’s what it is. It’s just a test to see if people are willing to pay for a (software) product that you offer them.
+
+So instead of following all the “rules” around building a profitable SaaS, you should be breaking some of them. 
+
+Here are some examples of what I mean:
+
+- Forget a shiny landing page, just take your user straight to your product and let them try it out, if possible.
+- Keep your initial product as simple as possible. Make it easy for the user to comprehend and get started with.
+- Don’t spend more than a month building it.
+- It doesn’t matter if it’s ugly, you can improve it later.
+- Use the tools that help you build the fastest, not the ones that others tell you you should be using.
+
+<a href="https://coverlettergpt.xyz" target="_blank">
+<Image src={coverlettergpt} alt="CoverLetterGPT" loading="lazy" width={700} height={700} style="padding: 1rem;" />
+</a>
+
+These tactics are exactly what I used to build and launch [CoverLetterGPT](https://coverlettergpt.xyz) and get it to ~$550 monthly recurring revenue (MRR) after a year.
+
+It doesn’t have a landing page.
+
+It’s not optimized for SEO.
+
+I built it in about a week.
+
+The UI is… not the prettiest.
+
+It’s a .xyz domain (not .com or .ai).
+
+And I do little to no maintenance on the app, nor do I have to deal with customer service.
+
+And I love it and will probably be keeping it that way.
+
+By the way, here’s my favorite tech stack that I used to build it, but you should use whatever helps you build & launch fast:
+
+- Framework: [https://wasp-lang.dev](https://wasp-lang.dev/)
+  - TIP! Use their [free, open-source SaaS template](https://opensaas.sh) to build even faster
+- UI Components: https://www.chakra-ui.com/
+- Deployed to Railway: https://railway.app/ & Netlify: https://netlify.com/
+- Costs ~$15/month to run including OpenAI API fees
+
+In my opinion, it’s all about tradeoffs. 
+
+Personally, I’m lazy, so I want maximum reward for minimal effort. That means I don’t want to spend a lot of my free time maintaining apps I’ve already built (to be honest, I’m a lot like most developers and I like to try out and work on lots of new ideas, rather than focus a lot of energy on stale ones).
+
+So, for me, $550 MRR is amazing! It’s enough side income for me because It’s an app that basically runs on auto-pilot next to my full-time job, that I don’t have to worry about.
+
+If you’ve been thinking about building a SaaS app for a while, but haven’t taken the plunge, remember this: it’s just an experiment.