Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas

Google decimated my SEO content sites, now bootstrapping tiny apps while nomading

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

Not even a month has passed since this tweet and my life looks completely different today:

→ Micro Saas Ideas sold $4,8k on its 1st month (launch is today)
→ @celiaripoll_ just received the payment from her 1st design recurring client at $2,1k/mo
→ Got a tiny SEO gig for $1,7k
→ @celiaripoll_ got another small design project for $1,7k
→ I started an eye treatment that's helping restore my vision

This adds up to +$10k in one month which is our biggest month together (previous was around $8k)

Sometimes when you hit rock bottom it's just to bounce back higher

And we're not stopping

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

The moment every indie hacker fears has come...

I have less than $80 left in my bank account and I'm stuck in Brazil (far from home)

I'm going to share how I got here so you can avoid it...
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I'm a 27 years old Spaniard who loves creating and shares life with a wonderful girlfriend/business partner

Since I was a child, I dreamed of traveling the world while working from a laptop on my own terms (digital nomad as a term didn't exist yet)

So I started researching about ways to make money online. After skipping forex and other scams, I discovered SEO around 10 years ago

There were people making a bunch of money ranking content websites and selling display ads inventory or reviewing products from Amazon with affiliate links. So I wanted the same

During my time in college I created around 10 websites but I was thinking more about having fun than business so only a couple of them ended up giving some money (didn't get to ramen profitability at this time)

In 2022 I finished my MBA studies and got a job as an expat in Turkey, so I left my parents house

At that time my relationship with @celiaripoll_ was strong and we both wanted to live together. To make that possible, we had to start a business so she could move with me while working remotely

Her passion was design, so we launched https://t.co/XeuPQEdsSB to offer one-off brand/web design services to Spanish clients. I got her leads with local SEO and she operated the business

After 1 year working as an employee, I realized that lifestyle wasn't for me

The design studio had already gained some traction. So I left the job and secured 1 SEO client that was paying me 600€/month, not much but enough to give me some stability

Since I was already handling SEO for https://t.co/XeuPQEdsSB and Celia was getting leads automatically, I could focus on what I loved most: creating money-making websites

In 2023 we decided to move to South East Asia to afford living together while exploring new countries

At that time, we had no more than 5k in our bank accounts combined, but we were fearless and excited to keep growing together

With the expenses of constantly moving, we were living paycheck to paycheck but I was working hard to grow my websites (with $0 to invest in links, SEO is painfully slow)

Around summer 2023 my websites were about to pass $1k/month mark so I left my one SEO client who was very time consuming to focus on my content sites

But the worst was about to come...

Just one month later after saying goodbye to my only stable income (around September last year) Google decided to change its algorithm and all my websites went to 0 overnight

We were moving to Buenos Aires at the time

Luckily, Google didn't kill https://t.co/XeuPQEdsSB traffic so we had enough cash-flow from that business to pay for food and next month rent in a low cost of living country like Argentina

Despite the setback, my motivation was intact, with my SEO skills I was confident I could make something work again

I realized that building a "real startup" was more sustainable long-term than relying solely on content websites that rank on Google. So, I began working on creating more useful B2B SaaS tools and iterating quickly until something clicked, inspired by @levelsio

In 2024 I started learning to code while building my first SaaS but a series of misfortunes began to unfold:

1. I got dengue in Buenos Aires (March)
2. Due to low defenses during dengue, I contracted herpes + adenovirus in one eye
3. I've been fighting with an eye ulcer for 4 months since then

To add to the stress, our visas in Argentina expired, forcing us to buy new flight tickets and move to Florianopolis, Brazil, in June

At this point, we had less than $3k in our bank accounts. I can't even call them savings because it was simply Lalola Studio cash flow

Summer arrived in Spain, which meant leads stopped coming to the agency, and Celia couldn't close new contracts. A critical situation for one-off service agencies

It was a vicious circle, the less money we had, the more pressure I felt, the less my eye could heal, and the less I could work

And here we are, I have less than $100 in my bank account and Celia has around $400

I want to be fair: we're not panicking (just yet) because we still have some payments coming in from brand designs made by @celiaripoll_ that add up to a couple of thousand €

And if everything goes tremendously wrong, we have parents who would welcome us into their homes, and I still have a high-value skill (SEO) that I can desperately sell

But still, I don't want to see myself in this situation again, checking the bank account and skip eating out to ensure we can pay the next rent in a couple of weeks

And the pressure of not being able to get sick because I need to make money to pay my bills. That’s ridiculous and not why I started this life

...

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining

Both Celia and I still feel incredibly lucky, and I'm deeply grateful for my life and all the experiences we've had. We've had the opportunity to live in amazing places like:

🇹🇷 Turkey
🇵🇭 The Philippines
🇹🇭 Thailand
🇦🇷 Argentina
🇧🇷 Brazil (now)

We don't have money but we love each other and we still can enjoy nature which is mostly free

Everything has been worth it, and the freedom we've experienced is what I value the most. I wouldn't change any of my decisions

Just wanted to share this as a public announcement that I'm committed to fix this situation

I had a minor surgery last week that seems to have resolved my eye problem (for now at least)

I'm still super positive and I deeply believe that we'll eventually make it if we keep up the hard work

The knowledge I've gained during this time about business and marketing makes me feel more confident than ever that I'm moving in the right direction

And I really want to look back at this tweet a few years from now and see how everything has changed

Take care and keep building

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@ericsmith1302 @nictheunready Love ur content Eric, it's extremely valuable. Please keep it up

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

I read everywhere online that this is a bad idea. We've been doing it for 6 years and so far so good. It works as long as you set clear distinct roles, don't step into each other's field unless opinion is asked and of course both know love is above business. Best part is sharing the excitement and celebrations over small achievements

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@tdinh_me OMG it looks sick and I live really close. Could I join only for the coworking time?

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@efvaleev94 congrats on the launch man. You made it!

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@jackfriks does your tool convert the text posts to images to publish on instagram?

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@dayonefoundry @0xlazar Sheeeit I missed the photo

It was great! See u guys next week

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@ky__zo oh man now I want it so bad

don't walk away without telling us where

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@iannuttall this is awesome man

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@iannuttall I guess it's just our lifetime partner

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@KilianEkamp I don't have moat, it's easily replicable

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

Wild to think that 3 months ago I had no idea what to even make a YT channel about

Already building an app for this channel's audience 👾

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@iannuttall didn't know this was a thing, super useful

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@iannuttall I'm super tempted to add filament to my stack but wonder if it'll complicate things further cause AI coding tools don't seem to be moving in that direction

It seems unbeatable to build and mantain sites manually though

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@marclou judging by the outfits if success only takes 3 days, count me in!

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@jorgebonizen @MrDigitalBeast Can't report yet, we booked 3 meeting so far

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

I've recently discovered cold email and I'm only wondering why I didn't try this earlier

Leads delivered to your door every day in a predictable and scalable manner

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@MrDigitalBeast Smartlead and workspace for inboxes

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@PiticVic you are crashing it man!

can't imagine what you'll do with 25

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

@leonagano thanks mate! Yes, I'm doing great! Currently in Da Nang and the nomads community is huge here

what about you?

[Alfredo | Micro Saas Ideas @codemarketer]

ok I’m back

Taking some time off X helped me refocus and prioritize

Even though I wasn’t tweeting much just being here still took up mental energy and affected my productivity

Now I’ll be more active but with clear schedules, limited time and no pressure to tweet daily

I’ve realized this isn’t a sustainable marketing channel unless you’re planning to be an influencer so I'll use it only to meet like-minded people

Feel free to say 👋 if you read this!