About James

Ok, time to indulge myself.

I’ve always had the dream of working for myself. In 2021, that accidentally happened. After years of trying to build side projects without success, I decided to leave my job and try and make it happen anyway.

It’s been a turbulent few years since then but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the flexibility and autonomy being a solopreneur gives me and I even have a supportive community of likeminded “indie hackers” who are all taking an alternate path in life.

What do I spend most of my time on now? Well, I’ve realised in order to pay the bills I need trade my time and skills for money. I’m a really good podcast editor so I do that for a select group of clients, and even tried to turn it into a productised service. Client work takes up most of my time.

I’m non technical, so I don’t run a SaaS, but I do have two side projects showing promising signs of growth.

The first is my podcast, Indie Bites, a 15 minute show where I speak to indie entrepreneurs about their journey to building a better life for themselves. This podcast has changed my life. I’ve met people I now consider to be good friends, that I’d would have had an opportunity to speak to without the show. I’ve always felt a little lost in the world but I’ve now finally found *my people*, indie hackers.

The second is something I’ve taken a lot of joy out of over the past few years; my leather wallet business, Whitstable Craft Co. Started in my mum’s garage back in Whitstable, I was trying to find something to do away from my screen, so I started handcrafting leather wallets. I whipped up a Shopify store and kept chipping away for years. The wallets became incredibly high quality as I learned more about the materials and the craft. Now I’m making $500-$1,000 every month making these wallets. It’s a true joy.

As with and indie entrepreneurs, I often start tiny side projects for fun on weekends. I’ve made a podcasting course, I run another podcast with my friend Dagobert, I blog occasionally and even made a viral website to stop people buying the ghastly Blue Yeti microphone.

Oh, I can’t write an about me page without mentioning my cats. I live with two little fluffy legends, Alfie and Eddie, who are a constant source of joy and happiness for me.

So that’s me, I make podcasts to pay the bills, make some others not to pay the bills and one day I wish to spend my days in an old workshop handcrafting leather wallets with my cats.

©2023 Striqo

©2023 Striqo

©2023 Striqo