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#025 -James Perkins (@james_r_perkins) - Youtube Creator, Blogger, and Indie Maker

Maker of Habit
Hey there!
I want to share something with you! I put together a Twitter list of all 25 makers who have been featured on Maker of Habit so far and it’s awesome. I’ve been checking it everyday because it helps me feel more connected to the maker community than my normal timeline. I highly recommend giving it a follow.
Alright, now let’s get into it!

James Perkins (@james_r_perkins) - Youtube Creator, Blogger, and Indie Maker
WHY HE’S FEATURED:
  • Launched XPoster.io and reached $139 MRR in 2 days
  • Has a growing Youtube channel, Learn to Code with James, with 5.5K subscribers
  • Also working on TinaCMS, an open source CMS, and Roll Your Tweet a tool to help you turn tweets into blog posts and other content
  • Awesome member of the indie maker and build in public community on Twitter!
Lately James and I have been running in the same Twitter circles and supporting each others work. I thought what he was doing with TinaCMS and Roll Your Tweet looked really cool. But what REALLY caught my eye was when he said he had already reached $139 MRR in just 2 days since launching his product XPoster.
When I checked out the product, I also loved how simple and clear the value proposition is. It wasn’t a bloated product with a ton of features. It just did one thing well–cross posting your content to multiple channels.
It resonated too. Every time I write a Maker of Habit article, I think about cross posting it to Indie Hackers, but sometimes I forget or run out of time.
I’m not sure if he supports posting to IndieHackers yet, but if he does, I’m in.
James also has amazingly consistent output of content for his Youtube channel and blog.
It’s clear he’s on to something. So what can we learn from him?
3 Strategies that James leverages in his work:
  • đź’ł Charging Right Away - James has launches his products with a monetization strategy right away so he can immediately judge it’s business potential
  • 🔍 Simple, Focused Products - With XPoster and Roll Your Tweet, James could have easily gotten carried away with features. Instead, James rapidly ships new products by keeping them focused on one core feature
  • 🛳 Consistent Content - James has a schedule of streaming once a week, producing a content video once a week, and writing blog posts. I’m not sure how he does it!
In terms of habits, I asked James what 3 habits changed his trajectory as a maker. He said he’s “a simple man but here are the habits that really changed my output and keeps me going everyday”.
3 Habits that Changed James’ trajectory:
  • 🏋️‍♂️ Powerlifting / No Phone - I wake up everyday between 4-4.30am and head to the gym where I spend about 1hr to 1hr 30 minutes. My phone sits on Do not disturb until I get home.
  • 📵 Removing Distractions - I use Session and AppleScripting to remove distractions from my day to day. I set my Macbook to do not disturb, close Basecamp, slack, chrome etc. I also block sites like (Twitter, news sites etc) in 30 min blocks
  • đź“ş Turn the TV on - Finally one of the most controversial things I do. This has been relatively new as of the last 2ish years, but I have movies and tv shows playing constantly from the minute I enter my office. Unlike a lot of people, I need the noise to concentrate on tasks. I watched the office about 20 or so times at this point.
Thanks for sharing with us, James! Keep crushing it on your projects and don’t forget us little people when you’re a big Youtube star
Follow James on Twitter here 👉 @james_r_perkins to stay updated on his projects and check out his Youtube for some awesome educational content about web development
And be sure to follow the Maker of Habit Twitter list to stay updated on all the cool work of our past makers too.
Build new habits + stick with them
Looking to build some new habits? Harold is a quirky text-messaging bot that helps you build new habits with one text message a day. 
You can use Harold to build habits like Trecia for example:
  • Did you learn something new today?
  • Did you tweet a thoughtful question that interests your target audience?
You’ll be surprised what can happen with just 1 text message each day.
Psst. I’m writing a book.
The Honest Guide to Indie Making is everything I learned when I went full-time on my side project.
Launch is on April 19th.
You can check it out and pre-order here.
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Kyleigh from Maker of Habit
Kyleigh from Maker of Habit @bagelsangranola

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