wow, love the honesty of some of these, killer compilation
really liked this --> "From the start, I was aware that I was taking on a huge project that other companies have devoted entire teams to, but I chose to look at it as more of a mental challenge than a technical one. I knew I had the skillset to pull it off, I just had to keep myself motivated and on track."
We're still learning how to use our email tool optimally, and we have some fixes to implement, which will help reduce/elimiate the confusion you're talking about.
Over time we can also integrate more of those emails directly into the app, in your settings, alongside the Cal invites and Performance reports. (Doing that requires more engineering work, so is a bit slower.)
As far as the duplicate stats email: I just removed it. Our bad!
Thank you again so much for the feedback. Keep it coming!
We have many users who use it in public or semi-public places. You are only interacting with your Focusmate at the start and end, and that for just 30 seconds or so to say hello and share what you're committing to work on. As compared to people having a loud conversation in a cafe, this is very, very minimal. We also have users who are in libraries or other quiet spaces, and they usually indicate that on their profiles and by logging in early and sending a chat to their partner.
As far as the "unusual nature" -- a few things. One, consider that it takes a fair bit of effort to set up and attend a Focusmate session. That screens out 99% of privacy concerns because people are truly motivated to be there to get work done. The fact that users have a profile and track record also mitigates this issue. Sure, we have new users joining, but once someone has 5-10 sessions under their belt, the community has had a chance to vet them. As far as new users with malicious intentions, that's certainly possible, and we have blocking and reporting functionality to stay on top of those issues. Last thing I'll add is that there isn't much someone can "do" to you over videoconference. If you were to feel uncomfortable, you can just close the tab.
How it works: you and another user video-conference for 50-minutes to hold each other accountable and keep each other company. Focusmate makes it easy to find a partner 24/7/365.
The experience on Focusmate is akin to working with a buddy at a library or cafe.
As far as pre-commitment: I think you've got your behavioral triggers mixed up.
Wikipedia has a good definition: "Precommitment refers to a strategy that an agent may use to restrict the number of choices available to him or her at a future time. The strategy may also involve the imposition of obstacles or additional costs to certain courses of action in advance."
I think you're thinking about telling someone what you'll do. That works when you tell someone what action you plan to take. It backfires when you share what result you'll get, because your brain visualizes some of the result, and experiences the reward prematurely.
Hi! Founder here. See my comment above on the reasons why we haven't published a pricing page yet. We just started charging, and will add a pricing page soon. BTW we could charge 10X what we do. The reason for the $5 price is that we're more interested in learning about who pays and why, than revenue-maximizing. That price also allows us to be inclusive of our student customers and international customers, for whom a US-centric price would be prohibitive. Note, we also have a scholarship program for those who cannot afford $5/month.
I'm sorry to hear the effect that not having a pricing page has had on you. Thanks for sharing your feedback.
A few thoughts:
1) Focusmate IS free to use 3 times per week. Most of our users are on the free plan. You can use it in perpetuity for free.
2) We don't have a pricing page yet because we started charging 29 days ago, and because we're shipping product incrementally. (We are a 3-person team with 1 engineer, FWIW.)
3) At this very nascent stage, there is value to being able to run pricing tests, which we can't do if we publish a pricing page. (The downside is we annoy some people, which is not a trivial downside. Knowing the negative effect on you is meaningful to us/me.)
Working solo can be liberating, but it is also hard. I’ve been working from home for 7 years, and let’s just say it’s been a long and winding journey
The big change for me happened when I started working with an accountability partner, remotely over video, to ensure I showed up, chose the right thing to work on, and stayed on task.
It may sound weird or extreme, but it worked insanely well.
The problem was, we needed more people!
So, I built Focusmate—-a community of solo workers who have committed to holding one another accountable for finishing their most important work.
With Focusmate, you can find an accountability buddy to work with at any time, anywhere, on demand.
I’d love for you to give it a try and share your feedback. Also:
How can we reduce the initial fear or hurdle of trying Focusmate?
Are there specific people/groups you’d like to work with on Focusmate?
The combo is a great idea. As a founder who has contemplated both paths, pure equity would be a potential deterrent because it could require a level of dilution that might make it harder to raise capital later on. But that could be tempered by the cash flow piece.
Agreed. In my experience, the core challenge with most tasks is just that we don't spend enough time working on them. I can easily ignore a bot nagging me, and eventually just turn it off.
The best solution for me is real-time accountability that forces me to sit down and commit to a real person what I'm about to do RIGHT NOW.
I made an app for this called Focusmate (https://www.focusmate.com). It's a bit like a study buddy, except for anyone and any task, and much more effective IMO.
PS. My quiz results: "Oops. Sorry, we can't seem to find what the problem is." (https://imgur.com/a/A2qhoGQ)
I think we also have to be willing to push back. Answering emails provides a nice dopamine hit (check something off + people-pleasing), so it's both cultural and internal.
One of the ways I've been most successful blocking out time for focused work is booking accountability appointments on Focusmate (https://www.focusmate.com).
That reduces the amount of space in my schedule for distractions and emails to absorb.
For me many of these techniques can be bundled by doing virtual coworking sessions with an accountability partner. I'm able to block off big chunks of time, I'm accountable to show up, I am forced to set meaningful intentions at frequent intervals, I work intensely when I have one and fully unplug when I don't. It is a little weird at first but insanely effective. You can do it with a friend, or colleague, or find partners via a (free) service like www.focusmate.com.
The core of the UX is the Focusmate session, a structured, 50-minute video interaction, where you and another user act as accountability partners for one another.
You'll find lots of solopreneurs as well as a handful of sole founders, but above all, you get human interaction without compromising productivity.
Disclaimer - I'm the founder. I was a sole founder for a lonnnng time and doing these sessions was my saving grace.
If you check it out I'd love to know what you think!