Documenting My Winter Arc
22.- 25.10.2024 (Tuesday - Friday)
To be honest, I haven’t really been on top of things the last few days. I had a meeting on Tuesday with a new potential customer for my time tracking system for agriculture. I was able to close that one too. Then I started with short-form content on TikTok to promote my mobile app. So far, I’ve gained 3 new users from it, which is pretty nice considering the videos are really trash (I still have a lot to learn in that regard). Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten much else done besides that. I put off my workout habit until today. But at least today I got it done and worked on my system and did my workout etc. The last few days I was so exhausted after my 9-5. But as I said, today I made solid progress.
Monday - 21.10.2024
Today I started marketing my app DAZE with organic marketing through SEO and blog posts. I wrote a blog post and will see how it ranks in the next 3-4 weeks. Depending on that, I will adjust my strategy or write more posts like it. Since this is my first time doing something like this, I felt really insecure today and overthought things like I haven’t in a long time. But then I reminded myself that the first time is never perfect and just went for it. I also worked out today, which is extremely awesome, and I started creating a landing page for DAZE.
Saturday + Sunday - 19. + 20.10.2024
On October 19th, 2024, my girlfriend and I got up at 9 a.m. and drove to the hardware store to rent a circular saw so we could cut our countertop to size to accommodate the new appliances. The sawing itself went well, but other problems arose with the sink drain and mold behind the stove. It took us until 5 p.m., we had to change our plan several times and we’re still not completely done. Afterwards, I met up with friends because I had no more motivation to keep going. It’s really unlucky that I haven’t made any progress again.
On October 20th, 2024, I got up around 10 a.m. and got straight to work. I got a lot done for the time system for agriculture. There is a release next week for a company that uses the app. I was able to prepare everything for this. I also wrote a blog post that shows how to set up a CI/CD pipeline for your .NET MAUI app using GitHub Actions: https://maxmannstein.com/index.php/2024/10/20/publish-your-maui-app-with-github-actions/. I also did my reading today. Only the training has unfortunately been neglected this week. I definitely have to get back on track next week. Now I’m planning my next week so that nothing stands in the way of the grind. I definitely want to start with short-form content and SEO for my app to get organic reach.
Friday - 18.10.2024
Today I unfortunately didn’t have the time to really get things done. I was at work until 3:30 PM. After that, my girlfriend and I tried to set up new appliances for our kitchen. We got a dishwasher and a stove + oven for free. Unfortunately, there was no time left to hustle. I didn’t manage to work out today either, which really disappoints me. Things don’t always go perfectly. The important thing is that I don’t give up now and keep going tomorrow. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do everything for the kitchen yet and have to continue tomorrow.
01.09.2024 - 17.10.2024
Winter Arc Update – Catching Up!
Unfortunately, I only just now had the idea to publicly document my Winter Arc to track my progress. My plan is to give daily updates from now on, both to document my progress and to have something to be proud of later. I’ll try to summarize the past month and a half as best I can.
At the beginning of September, I finished two side projects that I had been dragging along all summer. I made a time-consuming mistake by focusing on one app, AbiSax, which will probably never make any money. On the other hand, it took me a long time to develop my second mobile app, DAZE, which I think still has potential but, as I said, took far too long to finish. I also neglected the only project that was already making me money at the time: a time recording system for agricultural businesses.
So my focus was clear: Focus on what makes money. I finished the two apps and focused on marketing the other project (also DAZE). For the first time, I started using email marketing and began sending weekly emails to agricultural businesses. After about three emails, so in mid-September, I had my first lead and a meeting on September 18th. This went well, and due to delays caused by illness, I received confirmation of the partnership on October 15th, 2024. One day later, another client who had postponed things from spring 2024 to autumn also got back to me. Another confirmation!
Until the end of September, I was busy getting the system up to speed, and so I coded on it almost every day until I met my deadline on September 30th, 2024. During the two-week waiting period, I concentrated again on my mobile app, DAZE, which generated its first in-app purchase on September 28th, 2024. On October 16th, 2024, I released a major update where people can submit their ideas directly in the app.
I also started posting on LinkedIn about the framework I used to develop the mobile apps and the other system. Since I had been using this for three years at this point and had taught myself to program, I had the expertise to create a roadmap and give it away for free on LinkedIn in exchange for an email address. As of October 17th, 2024, I have generated 115 sign-ups for my newsletter this way.
In addition, I came up with another business idea during this time that I’m still excited about. I mentioned the in-app feature request system from DAZE. I would standardize this and offer it to everyone. You would only have to put a few lines of code into your own app and you would have a feature request system implemented, which would give you valuable insights from users. This is a project that I could also imagine for the Winter Arc in the future.
That summarizes the time so far quite well. From now on, as I said, daily updates!
First of all if you don’t know what Winter Arc is, I wrote a blogpost you can read here.
Why Am I participating?
At the beginning of 2024, I started my self-improvement journey and have achieved a lot by my standards since then. I programmed and released 2 apps and developed a time recording system for farmers, with which I currently support 3 companies. However, I had the feeling that my progress stagnated over the summer. So I decided to use the winter months from September (in my case, I started a little earlier) to March as productively as possible to advance myself and my current side projects alongside my studies as far as I can. The Winter Arc is perfect for this. I want to achieve that my environment also sees that the decisions I have made over the last year have compounded. I also want to start documenting my progress so that I have an idea later on where I started and whether I am on the right track or need to adjust something. This Winter Arc I will focus on 2 main goals.
My two Main Goals
- I will focus on my body, which means that I want to weigh 74kg by the end of March and be visibly muscular.
- I want to have earned a total of 5k with my side projects by the end of March.
Smaller "Sidequests"
- I want 500 subscribers on YouTube.
- I want to read 12 books during this time.
- I want to have 10k in my portfolio by the end of March.
Rules and Habits
Winter Arc Guidelines
- Deep Focus Mode: 50 hours of Deep Work per month (~11 hours/week) 몰입
- Progress Tracking: Daily reflection – How am I doing in relation to my goals?
- Strength & Conditioning: 3-4 workouts per week
- Project Prioritization: A maximum of 2 projects at the same time, no matter what
- Digital Minimalism: Less than 11 hours per week (~1.5 hours/day)
- Knowledge Acquisition: At least 30 minutes of reading per day
- Evening Relaxation: YouTube, Twitch, etc. only after 7:30 PM
- Focus & Discipline: No playing League of Legends
Habits
- Workout Habit: Work out every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. 💪
- Reading Habit: 12:00 PM notification every day to read. 📖
- Deep Work Habit: Do Deep Work every day. 몰입