I’m a Public Failure

Hello reader.

I’m writing this from my phone, sitting under the Phoenix sun.

Today, I have a question for you.

Have you failed recently?

Because I have - a lot.

And in front of everyone I’ve ever known.

So make sure to read to the end so you can learn from my mistakes.

It all started on May 9th 2024, almost two weeks ago.

It was a regular morning, and I had no special plans for the day.

When I decided to ask a simple question to my instagram followers…

You see… I constantly text or email myself random things, either to save - or do something with later.

So I asked in the form of a poll “do you ever text or email yourself?”.

Within a couple hours I had over 50 people respond “yes”.

And this is where the trouble in my life really began.

I decided…

“You know what?”

“I have all the digital marketing skills…

AND I’ve worked with starts ups & founders since 2017…”

“I know I can quickly make something simple and effective to solve the problem.”

“First for myself, then, once I’m happy with how it works, I can share it with the people who said they text and email themselves also!”

My only problem was, I didn’t know how to code…

So I decided I would teach myself using ChatGPT to build an initial Minimal Viable Product (MVP) as quick as I could.

And now, I’m proud to announce, and OFFICIALLY say…

That got nowhere.

Programming is hard and for me to expect to pick it up that fast was delusional (props to all you hackers out there).

“Oh well, let’s keep moving forward.”

My next move was to use glide, a no code app builder.

Glide makes it easy for someone with no programming experience to make a simple app and push it out to a lot of people fast.

But not easy enough for me apparently.

At least not if I wanted to get a usable MVP out within weeks, so I (and the founding members) could start testing it out.

You see, my philosophy (and it’s not unique) is that you should aim to build quickly AND alongside your customers.

The goal?

To get feedback from your customers as you build so you can make something people actually like, use… and this is key - something that simply just does what the users want it to do.

Ok back to the story.

My next plan was to use bubble, a more complicated but way more flexible and powerful no code builder.

But this time I would hire someone to teach and work along side with me to do it so I could learn through osmosis and get it done quick.

So I went to freelancer(.)com, posted a job for a bubble developer with a well thought out, step-by-step plan for a simple mvp, and started getting bids almost instantly.

I met with a few programmers who had applied, and quickly decided to go with a guy who seemed to be a nice guy after a brief talk - he also said he could get it done quick.

I paid him, and happily got on with my life and work.

Time went on and I checked in a few times, always got responses saying things were progressing.

Then one day, I checked, and the freelancers account was closed down.

He had taken my money and ran.

damn.

“Oh well, let’s keep moving forward.”

That brings us to yesterday…

And today, I’m cleaning out my closet and showcasing my failures publicly, to you, my dear reader who has actually made it this far (a rare breed you are)… just to show you that it does not matter in the slightest.

So now that I’ve “failed” my way to this point…

You might be asking “What’s my next step?”.

I’ve decided i’m bringing in the big guns.

And by big guns, I mean I convinced my friend to spilt the cost with me (in exchange for equity) to find and hire a programmer who’s more than qualified for the job - a real professional.

And we’re still aiming for an end of May/ early June launch for the initial MVP of NoteHero - subscribe to this newsletter to follow along.

Time to play doctor phill on myself.

How has all this “failure” made me feel?

I don’t know, I just kinda laugh.

I’m immune to it at this point.

Doesn’t feel like failure, or make me feel any type of way at all.

I actually feel closer to where I’m trying to get.

Because I see failure as stepping stones to success.

Do I want this to work and start acquiring hundreds of users who love it?

Of course, that sounds fun as hell…

Am I terrified, angry, embarrassed, or anxious because it might not? No shot.

I’m happy, healthy, and fine.

And I’m not special. If I can do it, so can you.

And It doesn’t matter how I feel anyways.

It only matters how YOU feel after reading this.

If you feel I should be embarrassed, ashamed, disappointed, angry or whatever other wasteful emotion for “failing”… good, you’re probably right maybe I should be all of those things.

But my question to you is… What are you accomplishing in life by not trying and failing?

Because everyone I know that dedicates themselves to a craft or passion - whether that’s being the best at work, starting a business, building a strong body, helping others, raising a family, or just being the best version of themselves in whatever way that means to them - those people will never hate on you for trying to learn, grow, and better yourself.

The entire purpose of why i’m building this publicly is to get people to try in their own lives, and be ok with “failure” because it means nothing - course correct and keep moving. Just don’t hide from your potential.

The most important thing you can do in life is pursue living up to your highest ideal version of yourself - whatever that means for you personally.

And If you ARE happy lying to yourself, letting fear hold you back, or drifting through life living off cheap dopamine - that’s good also - I’m happy for you, and this letter probably seems crazy to you.

But that’s okay. Because I’m not talking to you.

I’m talking to anyone who wants to do something in their life that’s meaningful to them, but isn’t - for whatever reason they’re telling themselves.

It doesn’t matter what the “thing” it is that they want to do… what matters is the fact that they aren’t living a life true to themselves. And that can’t end well because the little voice in your head will wonder “what if” forever).

All of this can be overcome by trying, failing, learning, recalibrating, and trying again. Forever. (Now you have the secret key to success in any area of life.)

It’s worth repeating…

“Fail”, learn, try again, and enjoy life all the while.

I hate even saying “fail” - that’s just life - learning and moving forward.

If you think there will ever come a day when you don’t have “problems”, then you’re delusional. Period.

Learn to use your creativity to solve any and every problem in your life, instead of trying to brute force your way through everything, and then problem solving becomes a fun game in itself.

Anyways I’m digressing… my eyes and fingers hurt, and I want to go for a walk to end the day.

So I’ll leave you with this:

As a wiseman once said… “just do it”.

Whatever that “it” is for you.

Just (start) doing it.

Cheers,

Hunter

p.s. read the original NoteHero founders letter here

p.p.s if you want to grow your business by 33.3% in 3 steps, read this

www.hunterjschneider.com