PageFactory:

My Niche Site:

  • $76.55 revenue from ads and affiliates
  • 4,468 unique visitors

Fantasy Congress (maintenance only):

  • $874 revenue
  • $787 MRR

I've been absent from my projects for the past few months, and decided not to share updates since I wasn't actively working on them. I'm not sure if I have time to jump back into them just yet, but wanted to take a moment to assess the current state of things.

Over the past three months (July, August, and September) my projects have made a total of $5,982 gross revenue. Reflecting on these past months, and my absence, has made me really appreciate SaaS. If I pursued a service based business (like freelancing), there's no doubt I'd make more money up front, and faster. But taking time away from the business would mean revenue drops to zero.

I know, I know...you can work around this by negotiating maintenance contracts. But when the main source of revenue relies solely on you working in the business, you're always chained to it. You can never be completely "hands off".

Even after 5+ years, I'm far from shattering the "SaaS ceiling". Yet, moments like these affirm my pursuit. My main goal is freedom, and being able to step away without things falling apart is a big part of that.

Still, there are plenty of problems I can't ignore forever.

High churn means I'm slowly hemorrhaging cash. In the past, my projects have grown by acquiring enough new customers to offset churn. Stepping away at this time, without some kind of marketing flywheel in place, means acquisition slows down.

There's a key lesson I need to learn in order to take the next step in this journey. And I'm increasingly becoming obsessed with it: How to keep customers.

So far, I've learned how to build and launch projects, acquire users, and finally started to scratch the surface of successful marketing. But I've never had substantial success lowering churn.

Admittedly, I was too focused on acquisition to give this problem my full attention. But taking time off helped me re-prioritize. I don't want to run a business that feels like a hamster wheel. I want steady, reliable, consistent revenue. And that starts with customers who stick around.