Turned an article idea into a small project. Small income, meaningful impact!

About a year ago, a group of friends asked for the best alternatives to Zoom. Originally, I planned to showcase my collection in an article. Since my list contains more than 60 tools, I dropped the article in the middle. That was too long!

Therefore, I thought of a better way to help people find the right tool for virtual events, remote work, and online communities.

A quick comparison revealed that Notion + Fruition could be a good combination for an interactive directory. Within a week, I made Virtual Mojito.

That's just the beginning. This is how I turned a not-so-exciting side project into 4000+ unique visitors monthly, 120 new friends, and a regular newsletter.

1/ Find my niche

My audience often looks for informative and actionable insights, so I don't want to be just another list. A bunch of links is not enough.

I started this project during a time when people are looking for ways to stay connected virtually. While Zoom offers no unique value, a lot of creative entrepreneurs do.

As a result, I started looking for the right tools with a lot of flexibility to run interesting virtual events, efficient remote teams and engaging online communities.

2/ Build connections

There are many directories and databases that use a number of items to attract visitors. However, I found it to be unsustainable.

So, I attempted to talk to founders of products included in Virtual Mojito. By doing so, I made new friends; I saw new opportunities; and I knew their needs.

3/ Showcase Virtual Mojito regularly

For updates, I heavily utilize social media. I also talk about my numbers in public.

It's helpful because people tend to engage and give useful feedback. I used to tweet about this project every week, send a newsletter every two weeks, and update my product every three days.

I will leverage as much marketing effort as possible whenever there's a major update.

I just wanted to share some thoughts here since I noticed a lot of entrepreneurs-to-be keep making excuses. They wanted the perfect product, but were afraid to launch and made things difficult.

Just do it.