And that is absolutely, totally fine. 30x500 has worked successfully for lots of people. And it's definitely one way to build an audience and sell a product.
Just remember that it's not the only way. The material put out by 30x500 students is good, but the way they go about selling it seems to follow a formula that really turns me away. There are a few instances where I would've purchased someone's e-book, but the almost-but-not-quite-useful e-bombs and the smarmy long form sales copy turned made me decide against purchasing. This isn't meant as a scathing indictment of 30x500; just as a note that no marketing method will endear you to every potential customer.
So as you get the year of hustle e-mails, keep in mind that a lot of the lessons are the same ones you'll learn in a college Marketing 101 course. I finished a business degree before I came to my senses and became a developer, and the one thing I remember most strongly from the marketing courses I took is that market research might just be the most important part of marketing, because you do it before you start working on your product to determine whether the product is viable (or you do it to survey the market to find ideas for viable products).
To sum it up: I think Year of Hustle provides valuable advice, but you might find it useful to pick up a used marketing textbook as well. The bits of advice in YoH are specific instances of more general concepts. As you read through YoH, try to identify the general concepts it is applying. You might just come up with some creative marketing that hits your target market more effectively than the specific advice in YoH.
I realize that marketing is a huge topic, though. It might be easier to try to just apply the advice in YoH before trying to generalize it. And that's a completely valid approach. Just keep in mind that it attracts some members of your target market while potentially alienating others. But the same is probably true for any marketing technique you choose.
Best of luck in your marketing and product endeavours! :)
I'm not from a business background but have done some online sales stuff before.
I am finding the most value is in the general concept of spending a decent amount of time identifying problems and getting to know your customer.
Even though I am a developer for example there was a question about losing patches. So what that's code not in source control?! To me this is unfathomable! But that might be a common problem out there. Something I'd never have guessed from introspection.
So I'm going to generally flow the course but add my own flair to it. I'll probably do some phone calls for a deeper dive rather than just relying on forums for example.
Thanks again.
I am interested in it mainly to pick up tips and tricks