🚀 MakerList #19: Stop focusing on competitors
👋 Hey there! You might have noticed there was no issue last week. I’ve been busy working on Letterbase, my new startup.
MakerList will likely transition to a more bi-weekly-ish schedule from now on. This’ll give me more time to work on each issue and ensure that I only include the most helpful articles.
As always, if you have any feedback or comments, or you’d like to suggest articles to be featured, just reply to this email!
1. I Just Hit $100k/yr On GitHub Sponsors! 🎉❤️ (How I Did It)
A fascinating look at how Caleb Porzio makes over $100K a year off of GitHub Sponsors. His secret? Good-hearted folks, sponsorware, and sponsored screencasts.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F291292b6-41ba-466a-b613-e110d160221b_2048x1250.png)
2. How to email a busy person & get a reply
Sometimes it’s hard getting busy people to reply back to you. The #1 tip? Make your email concise and readable.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9ac1427b-9809-4c6a-8efb-94dc8316d132_1200x630.jpeg)
3. How one blog post changed the traction for my startup
An interesting look at how Plausible gained a lot of traffic after they relaunched their website. Their most influential activity seems to be content marketing—publishing a blog post drove over 50K visitors to their website!
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3ce28396-d561-45dc-a920-fe26c157c3f0_1727x863.png)
4. Alternatives, Not Competitors
Stop focusing so much on competitors. Instead, focus on making your product better than the alternative—which may or may not be an actual competitor.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2cc63e2-d71b-4a11-ab17-9ee1b6acf12e_290x290.png)
5. Your Competition is Smaller than you Think
You may think you have a lot of competitors, but once you narrow it down to your specific niche and goals, there are often fewer people there than you think.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F94f0befd-faea-4c6d-9e91-b2c6dd8ded97_2000x1401.jpeg)
Hope you enjoyed this issue!
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Now go make something ✌