Enterprenuer
Holger Sindbaek, a Danish designer and developer, is from Copenhagen.
He is the creator of Online Solitaire, which allows people to play Klondike Solitaire and Spider Solitaire online.
Although he started the website as a side-business, he has increased his monthly income to $10.000.
What is the story of Online Solitaire?
The annual reports of Patrick McKenzies on his Bingo Card Creator side hustle, which later became a legitimate business, inspired me to create something that I could sleep through.
I was impressed by his ability to take an essential (and not very original) product and make it a passive income stream.
Because I did not want to create something new, I chose to do something similar.
I wanted to create a better version of a product already in existence.
I was familiar with Mac apps and had created a basic calculator.
I knew the Mac App Store would be an excellent place to start.
I wrote a script that pulled games from App Annie. It ranked apps according to their popularity, income, and rating.
I was looking for popular apps that had low reviews but high revenue.
I calculated how much each app would make and how hard it would create.
There were also several Solitaire programs, including Spider Solitaire and FreeCell.
It seemed like solitaire had the best combination of all features.
How do you stay productive?
It can be challenging to do many different tasks in my day. I write, code, design, and so on.
My work is best viewed as a blue-collar occupation. It’s a conscious decision to sit down at my computer every day from 9 to 5 (or so) and do whatever is necessary.
Although it may not seem like much, it helps me avoid working late at night, which can disrupt my daily rhythm.
A daily rhythm is essential if you want to sleep well at night.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I know that validation is the most important thing for whatever project I begin.
Too many projects have I done that I didn’t spend enough time, in the beginning, to validate whether the product was desired.
I get excited when I begin a new project and want to go for it.
But, I have learned through bitter experience that I need validation before starting.
If I feel a need for a project, I make sure to have a minimum viable product (MVP) ready to go as soon as possible.
This will allow me to encourage people to use it right away.
It is vital to get feedback from users when you are developing a product.
To get people to use it, an MVP is essential.
What’s your favorite trend?
It seems that AI is finally starting to prove useful. It’s both fascinating and scary.
Some of the AI writers are amazing. They’re great for writing blog posts.
They aren’t quite there yet, but they are very close.
What habits make you productive?
My younger years were spent working late at night on projects.
This would cause me to fall asleep and become unproductive the next day.
I am now in my thirties, and I have realized that projects are more like marathons than sprints.
If you start running in a marathon, you will not finish it.
Although it might seem tedious, getting a good night of sleep and not thinking about work at the end of the day has helped me be productive.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
Although your first product or startup will not make you a millionaire, it is a good start.
However, if you don’t give everything you have, there’s no way people will love what you do.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
It is impossible to work 8 hours per day. It’s impossible to deliver eight productive hours per day. I don’t know if anyone will agree, but employers might. Society seems to be set up in this way.
I estimate that I work 4-6 hours per day. The rest of my time I spend doing things that require less focus.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Get active! You can run, exercise, or play a team sport.
A few runs or long walks a week can make a big difference.
It calms me and stabilizes my entire system.
If you don’t take good care of your body, your brain will not work at its best.
What’s your rich strategy?
I don’t know of any specific strategy that has helped me grow my business.
In my case, it was a combination of many small things that helped develop the site.
Since Google is such a critical traffic driver, I focus on SEO (search engine optimization).
Before focusing on SEO, it was a time-consuming process of listening to users and improving my site.
This has made it easier to retain people who visit my site.
How do you overcome Failure?
My friend and I co-founded a startup in New York.
We worked on it for three years until we were out-competed. It was hard.
It was a tough three years, and it took me a while to get back on my feet.
Although I am not regretful of that experience, starting another startup will never do again.
After that experience, I returned to the solitaire game I played as a side-hustle for three years.
I decided to create a website and program the rounds again to clear my head. It was a good decision.
Can you share a business idea?
When I tell people how Online Solitaire has become a profitable site-hustle, they are genuinely interested.
Many programmers and designers would love to have a side hustle that makes them money, maybe just a few hundred dollars.
There would be a market in a newsletter for programmers looking for side-hustle opportunities.
SoftwareIdeas is a newsletter that analyzes and sends you business ideas.
To make these ideas come to fruition, you’ll need to leave your job and work full-time.
What’s your recent best buy?
Lumbar support for my office chair. It is much cheaper than $100, and it would still be worth every cent.
When it comes to work, where I spend most of my waking time, I don’t compromise on these days. It is simply not worth it!
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
Things is a to-do list app for Mac that I love.
Although it isn’t free, it’s so great that it doesn’t matter how much it costs.
A good to-do checklist saves me the most time and gives me the best overview.
Which book would you recommend?
Scott Adams’ How To Fail at Almost Everything but Still Win Big left an impression.
Scott is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. In it, he tells how he created the comic and how it was a success.
It was a great example of how doing multiple things could create something genuinely unique if they can be combined.
He seems like a generalist who is good at combining different skills. That’s what I want to be.
What’s your favorite quote?
“Vision without execution, it is just hallucination.”
Henry Ford
TL;DR by Holger Sindbaek
- It is not a sprint to run a business. Do not work yourself to the ground.
- Choose carefully what ideas you choose to pursue. Before you start, validate that your idea is being pursued and consider the revenue model.
- Think about whether you are the right person for the job. Are you able to combine your skills with insights to make you a better candidate for this particular idea?
