I’ve been selling products quietly for a while now. A book, a component library, a paid newsletter… Little pieces of what I’ve been building, slowly taking shape. They’ve been out there doing their thing: selling passively and helping people when they happened to stumble across them.
But this Black Friday changed something for me.
For the first time, the products were the main event. Not the consulting. Not the client work. Not the inbox.
I actually treated my business like a product business for a week, not a services business. Here’s what I learned.
For years, consulting has been the default. Helping businesses build iOS and Android apps has been reliable enough to support me for more than five years.
Products were something I worked on in the gaps: between helping clients, during nap time, or late at night after the boys went down.
But this year, for Black Friday, I discounted everything:
It was the first time I ever showcased them as a suite of things I’ve built. Not scattered experiments, but a collection of tools and resources that all have the same goal:
to make it easier for Rails developers to build iOS and Android apps.
And that simple shift, treating everything like it belonged together, made the whole thing feel real.
I’ve done discounts or sales in the past but never a legit campaign like this.
I discounted everything, promoted everything, and bundled the messaging into a single narrative. It was the closest I’ve come to acting like a product owner instead of “Joe who builds apps for clients.”
And within hours, I started learning things I should have learned months ago:
The landing page for Bridge Components PRO needs work
Promotion for my book is scattered and unfocused
The CTA for my paid newsletter is weak
I have absolutely zero analytics on the sales funnels
… which is kind of hilarious if you think about it 😆
It wasn’t stressful. It was fun. Because it was the first time I could see the patterns clearly enough to know what to fix next.
But the part I didn’t expect? The power of Stripe notifications.
Consulting invoices feel nothing like Stripe notifications.
Invoices are predictable. Money hits my bank account because I signed a contract and delivered something. They’re logical.
Stripe notifications are the opposite. They’re like tiny fireworks! They’re spontaneous, energizing, and weirdly emotional.
I enabled push notifications on my phone just for the weekend. Every few hours: buzz. Another person choosing to buy something I built weeks or months ago.
Another little nudge saying, “Hey, this thing you made? It matters.”
And the timing of them made it even better:
While I was making breakfast
While dropping the boys off at daycare
While out for a walk
Even while (trying to) ignore my phone 🫠
They kept coming in while I was just… living my normal life. And that’s when the realization hit:
This scales. This is mine. This works even when I’m offline.
That overlap (dad-life, indie-life, author-life) is exactly where my business feels the most natural. And this was the first time I actually felt it.
This week didn’t just move some products. It gave me clarity. Those Stripe notifications weren’t about the money. They were a signal that the stuff I’m making is working.
They reminded me of the direction I want to lean into next year: a better mix of consulting and products, doubling down on tools people love, and keeping family time at the center.
And I’m more energized than I’ve been in a long time. ⚡️
What’s your focus for 2026? Are you building something new?
Comment below with what you’re working on, I’d love to check it out!