🗓️
Jun 11, 2025
My journey from $0 to $10K MRR
Hitting $10K in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) was never about the money - it was about proving I could build something real, from scratch. No outside funding, no shortcuts, just the slow, steady grind of creating something people actually wanted. Here’s how it happened, step by step.
When I started this journey, I had no roadmap—just a vague idea, a laptop, and a strong desire to stop trading hours for dollars. I’d seen people talk about passive income and “making money while you sleep,” but I wasn’t interested in gimmicks. I wanted to build something sustainable, valuable, and mine.
Phase 1: $0 – $100/month (The Idea Phase)
The hardest part was starting. I had a hundred ideas and no traction. I spent weeks stuck in research mode, looking for the “perfect” product-market fit. It didn’t exist. What broke the cycle was picking one small problem and solving it for someone real.
My first “product” was embarrassingly simple - a downloadable toolkit for freelancers, based on things I’d created for myself. I made $37 the first week. It felt like I’d struck gold.
Phase 2: $100 – $1,000/month (Finding Real Users)
With validation came motivation. I doubled down on feedback. I emailed every buyer. I asked what they liked, what was missing, and what they’d pay more for. From that, I refined the offer, redesigned the product, and added bonus templates and tutorials.
This phase was messy - some weeks I made $20, some weeks $200. I tested pricing, rewrote copy, built a small landing page, and started growing an email list. I also started showing up consistently online: posting value, sharing progress, being useful.
Phase 3: $1,000 – $5,000/month (Building Systems)
Here’s where things got real. I created a subscription version of the product with monthly updates, and introduced a members-only content library. Automations went in place—welcome sequences, upsells, feedback forms. I hired a designer to clean up the UI, and a VA to help with support.
The key in this phase wasn’t scale—it was repeatability. I stopped chasing every new idea and started doubling down on what already worked.
Phase 4: $5,000 – $10,000/month (Letting Go of Control)
Growth demanded one uncomfortable thing: delegation. I started treating this like a business, not a personal project. I documented everything. Hired a part-time developer. Invested in better hosting, analytics, and customer experience. Revenue jumped when I finally stopped trying to do it all myself.
What pushed me across the $10K mark wasn’t some big marketing hack—it was compounding consistency. I kept showing up. Kept improving. Kept serving the same niche with clarity and care.
Lessons Learned:
Start simple. Solve one problem well.
Talk to your users more than you talk to your followers.
You don’t need a big launch—you need a sustainable loop.
Growth feels slower than you want, until it doesn’t.
Every dollar should teach you something.
I’m not done. $10K/month is a milestone, not a finish line. But if you’re at $0 right now, staring up at the mountain—know this: it’s absolutely possible. You don’t need a perfect plan. You need motion, feedback, and time.
Build small. Build honest. Build daily.
