Programmers Need to Become Salespeople

This morning, I came across a blog post that struck a chord with me.

Whether you're a programmer hoping to make a living from your coding skills or a solo entrepreneur trying to build your dream business, there's a harsh reality you need to face:

You have to become the kind of salesperson you used to dislike.

3 products. $0 revenue. I think I finally understand the problem.

But getting people to actually find it, care about it, and pay for it?

That's where I'm stuck.

I think I've been hiding behind building.

Building feels productive.

Distribution doesn't.

You have to talk to people.
Post when nobody cares.
Hear "no".
Figure out where your users actually hang out.
Do it again tomorrow.

That's uncomfortable.

So that's what I'm trying to work on now.

Not another product.

Distribution.

— Bhavy Shekhaliya

The message is straightforward. It hardly needs any explanation, but a few points are worth emphasizing.

1. Building feels productive. But building isn't enough.

Writing code gives us a sense of progress and accomplishment. Yet if nobody uses what we build, it ultimately creates no real value for anyone.

2. Facing customers is uncomfortable for programmers. But there's no way around it.

For many programmers, the ideal situation is to be a small cog in a larger machine: focus on your work, solve technical problems, and leave everything else to someone else.

If you have a stable job, appreciate it. In today's environment, you have good reason to be grateful to your employer.

But if you're unemployed, or determined to pursue your own dream, you'll have to do things you once preferred to avoid.

There's no alternative.

3. Start by earning your first dollar from a customer.

Don't worry about scaling to thousands of users just yet.

Focus on getting someone to pay for something you've built. Once that happens, the next steps may start to feel more natural.

4. Selling is just as important as building.

Ultimately, the purpose of our work is to create value for other people.

Building makes something possible. Selling connects it with the people who actually need it.

We dream of building products used by thousands. For now, earning a few thousand dollars would be a good start.

Here's to all of us trying to make that happen.