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Stop Drowning in Side Project Advice — Just Do These 6 Steps Instead

Ever feel like the internet is trying to sell you 7 frameworks, 12 funnels, and 49 habits before you’ve even shipped your first side project?

Yeah, me too. 🙃

That’s why I built something stupidly simple for indie devs: TenK 6.

It’s not a book. It’s not a course. It’s literally six moves you repeat until your side project starts making money.


The Six Moves 🥋

  1. List 5

    Jot down five options, channels, or assumptions. (Don’t trust your gut yet — make it choose from a menu.)

  2. Pick 1

    Stop overthinking. Pick one. Delete the rest.

  3. Ship 1

    Publish something that leaves your laptop. Landing page, tweet, cold email, prototype. Doesn’t matter, just live.

  4. Ask 3

    DM, email, or call three humans. Not bots. Not surveys. Actual people.

  5. Measure 1

    Pick one signal that proves life: clicks, replies, signups, cash. Ignore the rest.

  6. Share 1

    Tell the internet what happened. Good, bad, ugly. Doesn’t matter — momentum loves exposure.


Why It Works

Because everything else is optional fluff.

You don’t need another productivity tool. You need motion.

TenK 6 is just a forcing function: if you can’t loop through six steps, you’re not really building.

And yes, it’s that simple. (The hard part is your brain screaming “but what about…” — ignore it.)


My Favorite Example

A dev told me they spent weeks trying to “find their target users.”

I asked: “Did you talk to three humans last week?”

They hadn’t.

We plugged them into TenK 6.

Next week: three DMs, one quick landing page, one Stripe payment.

Suddenly, “target users” weren’t theoretical anymore.


Side Project Math ✨

Run one loop = tiny insight.

Run ten loops = early traction.

Run a hundred loops = you’re probably paying rent off your side project.

It compounds. The trick is not getting stuck in “List 5” forever. (Looking at you, fellow idea hoarders 👀.)


Your Turn

Instead of reading another “Top 10 Growth Hacks” thread, try this:

  • Open a doc.
  • Write 5 ideas.
  • Pick one.
  • Ship it today.

That’s it. You just started your first TenK 6 loop. 🚀


What do you think — would you run TenK 6 for your side project, or are you still chasing the perfect framework?

👇 Drop your answer in the comments, I’m curious which step you’d get stuck on first.

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