🗞 What's New: Burnout vs. a mental block

Are you experiencing burnout, or is it just a mental block?

• A mental block means you're not sure what to do next. Burnout usually means you're doing too little of what lights you up.
• How does Google rank websites in search results? User behavior metrics, site update frequency, and content quality are all factors.
• $40K sunk into a defunct startup. Farzad Khosravi shut down, moved back to his mom's, and built again with a dream team.

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by Dan Marzullo

Each week, the Indie Hackers editorial team tackles a reader's question about the challenges of entrepreneurship. This week's question comes from Frederick L.:

I'm not sure to do with my side project. I think I'm burnt out. But how do I determine whether it's true burnout, or just a mental block?

The difference

A mental block happens when you're not sure what to do next. The key to getting clarity is to gather more data to make a decision.

What is burnout? Every article on Forbes or Entrepreneur echoes the same advice: More self-care, better balance, more breaks.

This overplayed, generic advice only addresses the symptoms of burnout, not the root cause, which often gets sidelined in the conversation.

The real issue is that, somewhere along the line, you stopped doing work that energizes you. Burnout doesn't always happen because you're doing too much, but because you're doing too little of what lights you up.

You might find that too many tasks on your plate are draining. That's the real problem. It happens to all of us at some point or another. We get so caught up in the grind that we don't stop to realize we've fallen off course somewhere along the way.

If that's the case, recalibrate your day to play to your natural strengths and the activities that energize you.

Don't get me wrong, taking breaks and practicing self-care is essential; but it's not the cure for burnout.

The way out

Next time you catch yourself procrastinating in front of your computer, ask yourself: What am I gearing up to do? Which specific tasks am I avoiding?

Write them all down. Start a running list of your tasks, and take notes on each one. Does it energize you or does it drain you? Can you delegate, automate, or eliminate it if it's draining?

When you force yourself to spend time on tasks that drain you and leave you uninspired, it's like pushing a boulder uphill. This could be stunting your business growth, and might be the real reason your side project has plateaued. The most successful founders learn what they do best, then leverage capital, labor, or code to handle the rest.

I'm terrible at creating systems and processes. If I tried to write an SOP for my team, it would take me all day, and the end result would be awful. Luckily, I have an admin who loves this stuff. She can whip up an SOP in about an hour, because it comes naturally to her.

During your perfect workday, what would you spend your time doing? Which tasks in your business would be a dream to spend all day working on?

Start there. Identify those tasks, then outsource the rest, so you can spend more time operating in your zone of genius. Watch your business blossom as a result.

And, if nothing in your business aligns with your strengths or values, you might just be building the wrong business for you.

Discuss this story.

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by Smoteria

Want to make sure your website shows up in Google's search results? It's all about understanding what Google looks for when ranking websites. Here are the key factors Google considers, and some tips to make sure your site gets noticed!

Content quality

High-quality, relevant content is central to achieving a good ranking. Using tools like SEO AI can help you identify the best keywords, and optimize your content for better search performance. Your content should:

• Be unique and valuable: Provide information that users truly need, and avoid copying content from other sites.
• Have long-tail keywords: Use keywords that are relevant to your target audience's search habits.
• Have a clear structure: Use headings, paragraphs, and lists to make content easy to read and understand.

User experience (UX)

UX directly affects rankings. Key measures to improve user experience include:

• Mobile friendliness: Ensure that your website displays well on mobile devices.
• Load speed: Optimize your site to improve page loading speed.
• Usability: Design a clean layout with clear navigation, making it easy for users to find what they need.

Website structure and technical optimization

Technical optimization is crucial to ensure that search engines can effectively crawl and index your site. Focus on:

• URL structure: Use simple, descriptive URLs.
• Sitemap: Submit an XML sitemap to Google so the search engine understands your site's structure.
• Encryption: Use an SSL certificate to ensure your site's security.

Backlinks

High-quality backlinks can significantly boost your site's ranking in search results. Here's how to get quality backlinks:

• Content marketing: Create compelling content that attracts links from other sites.
• Social media promotion: Share your content on social platforms to increase exposure and link opportunities.
• Partnerships and guest posts: Collaborate with industry sites, and write guest posts.

User behavior metrics

Google adjusts rankings based on user behavior in search results, including:

• Clickthrough rate (CTR): Create engaging titles and descriptions to encourage clicks.
• Dwell time: Provide high-quality content to increase the time that users spend on your pages.
• Bounce rate: Optimize content and user experience to reduce the number of users who leave your page immediately.

Site update frequency

Regularly update your website content to keep information fresh.

Google favors active sites, and regular content updates can help improve your rankings.

Other tips

To ensure that your website is included in Google's search results, follow these additional steps:

• Submit your site: Use Google Search Console to submit your site, and regularly check crawl status and performance reports.
• Fix errors: Promptly address crawl errors and other issues reported in Google Search Console.

Discuss this story.

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by Farzad Khosravi

Back in February, I shut down Cicero.ly after three years of on-and-off work.

Our mission was to curate content from the world's leading thinkers. But here's the harsh truth: We ran out of money, and the product was too hard to build. It was all completely self-funded. I could never raise, despite talking to dozens of investors.

I spent almost $40K building it, moved back into my mom's house for two years, and gave up on multiple years of a six figure salary in NYC to work on Cicero. I was completely broke.

Also, it didn't help that we built something people didn't want enough. I eventually figured out what people wanted, but just ran out of money before finishing it.

Saving and reflecting

After shutting down Cicero, I took a few months to save money and reflect. I continued my startup coaching and business consulting work, lived frugally at my mom's house, and most importantly, thought deeply about what went wrong.

This period was crucial. It allowed me to approach my next venture with a clearer mind and a fuller wallet.

Enter Dediro

During this reflection, I realized that the core problem I wanted to solve was still valid, but our approach was off. That's when the idea for Dediro was born.

Dediro aims to change the way we all take in information, using AI to create a new kind of encyclopedia. Instead of just gathering content, we're making it easier to understand complex topics, and giving it to our users in whatever format they like best.

Building the dream team

With this vision in mind, I knew that I needed a stellar team. I hired two full stack engineers, both of whom I found on r/forhire. I also hired an AI engineer. I'd found him on Upwork, and he previously worked on Cicero. I asked him to come back.

Payroll is $3.5K per month. It's lean, but we're all invested in the vision. All of them are young, energetic, and ambitious. Many founders may be suspicious of hiring inexperienced people. However, I've worked with over 300 founders and executives at this point, and one thing is always clear: Passion, motivation, and loyalty always outweigh experience.

My interview process

1. A personality assessment from principlesyou.com.
2. A 30 minute behavioral-driven interview. Use Claude or ChatGPT to come up with these questions, and create a rubric for them.
3. A paid work assessment, where they do code review on existing code.

What's next

We're now in the process of building our MVP, but this time, we're doing things differently. We're validating more, and building less. It'll be all about quick shipping, and keeping things as lean as possible!

Discuss this story.

by Tweetmaster Flex

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Dan Marzullo, Darko, Smoteria, and Farzad Khosravi for contributing posts. —Channing