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James McKinven - indie maker & podcaster
Hi, I'm James π
I'm an indie hacker trying to figure out how to make a living online, doing what I love.
I run the Indie Bites podcast, where I speak to indie founders about how they've started their profitable internet businesses in 15-minute episodes. I've also been a podcast producer for a few cool freelance clients, which I then packaged up into my productised service. I recently dumped all of my podcasting knowledge into my course, 2 Hour Podcast, where I show you how you can make a top-notch pod in less than 2-hour commitment a week. I even get to do all my side projects on a Saturday with my Weekend Club friends - which I also happen to host every other week.
I've never considered myself much of a writer, but find great joy in sharing my progress, failures and musings on my blog. To that end, I publish a weekly newsletter summarising everything I've done that week, including a fan favourite "in other news".
If I'm not hacking away on side-projects, you'll find me hand-making leather wallets, at the local tennis courts or riding my motorbike. Oh, and I love my cat.
Projects
As with many indie hackers, I can't stop starting things. Here are a few of the projects that I've been working on recently.
Writing
I currently write my thoughts on my Ghost blogβthese are my musings from trying my make a living online as an indie hacker. I've never thought of myself as much of a good writer, so the more I write, the better I should get. Hopefully I'll help some people along the way. Here's 3 articles I enjoyed writing:
- 1 year of Indie Bites, 20k downloads, Β£2k revenue β
- Dealing with depression / burnout β
- Building a portfolio of products earning +$5k p/m β
Podcast Appearances
As someone with two podcasts of my own, Iβve started guest on other shows to talk about my indie hacking journey, side projects, podcasting and more. Drop me an email if youβd like me to guest on your show.
- No More Mondays: going freelance, going indie (The Quit Work Podcast)
- Interviewing James about hosting the Indie Bites podcast (Wannabe Entrepreneur)
- The Indie Hacker approach to making a living online (What is my brain?)
- Betting on multiple horses with Dan Rowden and James McKinven (Software Social)
What I'm consuming
I've made pages which will be updated constantly on what I'm reading, watching and listening to, but here's my favourites in each category:
I've only started reading properly in the past year, but there are 3 that stick out in my mind for having made a big impact on me:
- Shoe Dog - Phil Knight
- Company of One - Paul Jarvis
- Essentialism - Greg McKeown
What I'm listening to changes regularly so this may have to be updated. Here's the podcasts I regularly enjoy:
- My First Million
- The Vergecast
- Indie Hackers
I always forget the films I've watched and enjoyed, so I've now started adding them to my database so I can actually recall them. My top 3 (that I can remember):
- Parasite
- Gone Girl
- The Gentleman
I remember these more, and I have a hands down favourite (top one).
- Silicon Valley
- Peaky Blinders
- The Last Kingdom