What skill made you a better maker? And how did you acquire it?

I think procrastination is the biggest challenge for every maker. Still working hard to acquire focus and beat procrastination.

CSS made me a better maker. I acquired it by viewing source.

I'm a coder... so writing is something I would rarely do. I've started to write more. Post more. Comment more. Why did it make me better? I got to talk to customers, understand their needs, how they speak and words they use. How did I acquire it? writing every day.

Quit my executive career with 35 just to become an indiehackers. I learned to code frontend/backend/UI desing. Now building products to reach $50k in MRR in the next 12 months.

Curiosity. Always questioning how things work, why they're that way, what could be different, how people do things, why they do them, etc. I think the beauty is that we're all born with it naturally, some of us just forget how to use it over time. But it can always be developed/discovered again just by asking more questions and learning to listen.

- Showing up daily & learn/ship something daily if it's a small task. It really helps to build up the pace - Also, listen more to our customers when they talk. Then read that again. Almost every single time we learn a lot by doing it. Also gives customers more confidence to talk to us when we don't interrupt them or deviate from the topic they are talking about (both email, Twitter dm, and even on calls)

Self logging. Logged myself.

Empathy & Listening - just being able to really really pay attention to people's wants and needs and to turn that into product things. How did I acquire it? Sadly by failing to pay attention to detail in a past situation which forced me to understand what I was missing and making an active effort to correct it.

Taking a break. It is so easy to get sucked into long working hours when your are building something really interesting. Taking a break and tending to other hobbies or just chilling prevents burn out and actually increases the efficiency. At least in my experience.

Effective Communication and Emotional Intelligence

In general building projects. There are so many skills needed that I have only found after started doing projects. From support, to idea validation, various marketing channels. I consider all of them skills that make me a better maker. The two things that I had to catch up on to get started at all were design & talking to users.

Learning and persevering. Acquired it by believing that I can do it too.

Tidying up data. Obsessively organizing incoming data and research for fun. Sometimes, it isn't the best use of time. But when you get something big from it = huge win. It doesn't always work, especially at first. But when you are able to replicate wins, that's when you delve into "why" it works when it does. It's a broad topic for sure, would love to discuss it with you @5harath

Programming, designing, and the curiosity to learn and explore (not sure if you can call that a skill). How did I acquire it? by building products from scratch.

Hey we made an article about in-demand tech skills to get back on track and stay relevant this time of Pandemic :) Check it out here https://lessandra.com.ph/blog/20...

Listening skills!!

Slightly personal story of tackling & acquiring - For me, it’s the ability to take criticism. This is something I’ve been working on, getting better at, BUT I’m still not quite there yet. What caused me to get overly defensive is a micromanager combined with a slightly toxic workplace. There was no room for error in there, and lots and lots of finger pointing. Sometimes I had to bear the brunt of my manager’s mistakes, that she didn’t own up to because of her own personal issues. I didn’t realise how bad it was until I started building Ricotta. I am tackling it through regular therapy.

I'd say organization. I'd say it's often not talked about too much. I mostly hear advice on determination and coachability. Those are necessary as well, but I'd add organization. but I used to have a cluttered inbox and didn't really plan my day well. The difference in what you get done with proper organization is huge.

Humility, by far - I started my first company after leaving a high paying corporate job thinking I knew it all and that the journey would be easy. It took 6 months of hard lessons to realise I needed to change and to have any chance of building a successfuly business I needed to shake off all of my corporate ego and listen to the customer, build new connections and grow into my newly chosen path.