I am talking to Michele Hansen, the co-founder of Geocodio, an indie SaaS business in the world of mapping and geolocation. I’ve been a fan of her work, both as a founder and as an active member of the Indie Hacker community for years now.
I followed her journey with the business just as much as her foray into writing her first book, Deploy Empathy. Michelle really gets the founder community, and she’s a respected teacher of all things customer development.
In this episode, we chat about finding the right time to commit to a business, learning when to say no, finding your niche, and learning languages. Enjoy!
You can find Michele on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mjwhansen/. Also, check out her book Deploy Empathy.
Topics
How do you set boundaries with a podcast? 3:08
How do you judge what you say against what someone else would perceive as useful for themselves? 9:23
How do you make sure you serve the right customers? 13:06
Focus on what you already have instead of where you can go. 19:47
Work in progress vs. goals. 23:13
The journey is the interesting part, not the destination. 28:54
The challenge of self-actualization after a big transition. 31:58
What was the sign that it was time to go full-time? 39:14
The financial hurdle of being an entrepreneur in the US. 42:35
Where the fear of losing everything comes from. 48:09
The mean voice in your head speaking. 51:43
Being able to recognize your own growth is a big part of entrepreneurship. 57:38
Low expectations allow you to surprise yourself, which leads to a better result. 1:00:47
Congrats on this podcast, Arvid! To be honest, I was really exited to listening to it until I seen it was 1 hour long, it was kinda too much and I didn’t have the time, so I left it until after dinner, I must say I enjoyed every single minute of it. It helps a lot to hearing people on the same boat than you, and even more to Michele that has a family and used to have a regular job at the same time.
Of course you play your part, you are a great host mate, keep them coming 😀
Oh, thanks so much! What a kind comment, and full of ups and downs 😀 A story unto itself!
I really like the long-form talks. And I know not everyone has the time. The Friday episodes will stay short, and the Wednesday ones will be 1h or so. Mix and match 🙂