I wanted to write a rant, but I guess we are going to be wholesome for this one.
Firstly, I'm grateful for all the users that decided to try out https://ping.tinytown.studio and also to all the devs that use goblin.run.
The side effect of building things for your niche use cases is that in most cases no one other than you might use it. I used to build with that mentality when I first started, and that has changed a tiny bit since then. I'm at a stage in life where I really wish I was able to leave the financial part of my life to be automatic, but I'm not someone with enough knowledge of what people would like to use.
Fortunately, because I've grown as a person, I now don't jump into code every second of the day to build something that I might not end up using, and instead, things have become more intentional. I now build because I see a use case and I see myself using that tool/app at least once a week. There you go, there's at least one user for each product now.
Another side effect is that my own standard of privacy ends up reflecting in the way I plan how the app works, which also doesn't scale well in terms of business.
You can't really run email campaigns with your users if you don't know who they are...
I mean, I can go to resend.com (the transactional email service I use) and check who's signed up for Ping, but that's not something I do.
I've built a decent simulator to make sure the app works, the scope of the app is small enough for me to do that, and I know that if emails are failing to deliver, it's not the app but resend.com, and so I don't have to go check it at all.
The low traction that these kinds of products get makes it easier to keep them running off my own pockets, and while it would be nice if people could support it if it was helping them in any way, it's not mandatory and that makes it less sustainable.
The conflict is that I need to set up multiple streams of passive income, and I suck at asking for money when I build stuff.
I'll try in the next few months to make something that I can muster up the courage to ask money for and see if it works. Don't worry, Ping is both free and complete and that won't be changing.