Hey all - wanted to start taking some time to create some content that reveals:

1. Health of the business

2. Course updates

3. Bug fixes + features

4. Monthly Goals

The amount of income I make through this site is completely open for public viewing—I think revealing this data provides tremendous inspiration to those looking to someday quit their day job in pursuit of their own business. It also keeps me motivated to do the same as all of my work here on chriscourses.com has been independent from my main job as a freelance full-stack developer. it's not that I don't like full-stack development, I'd just rather be investing in my own product daily rather than others'.

💰 March in Review

• $421 total revenue (+250%)

• $166.5 MRR (+47%)

• 13 new customers (+333%)

• 5 churns (+66.6%)

So coming around to health of the business, March has proved to be Chris Courses most successful month yet, bringing in a total of $421, with $166.5 of that being monthly recurring revenue (MRR).

What resulted in the drastic increase? Well, based off the data available to me, it's sufficient to say that it came from:

1. Releasing a full premium course that many YouTube viewers were excited about

2. Posting a new free course on YouTube that viewers were interested in

3. Releasing premium content for that video consistently on Chris Courses

4. Posting more frequently on Twitter

Although there is no direct, definite correlation just yet, it seems that posting content that your viewer base is interested in (for free [attracting strangers]), then posting premium content consistently (presenting an incentive), is a recipe for success (what a surprise).

The boost in sales is a huge incentive for me to keep going, so needless to say, consistent content is a priority for me going forward in the upcoming months.

⏯ Course Updates

With the release of Intro to Three.js (https://chriscourses.com/courses/threejs/videos/crash-course), it has come to my attention that many developers are indeed interested in learning how to add 3D and interact with environments on their very own website.

With four premium lessons released already in April, I'd like to continue that trend and release 2-3 more premium videos for that intro Three.js course, teaching you how to create a seamless single-page website that allows you to navigate your 3D environment while transitioning to different page URLs without an actual page refresh.

A JavaScript Game Course (https://chriscourses.com/courses/javascript-games/videos/javascript-games-for-beginners) buyer also asked how to make the game more performant on mobile devices, so I think 2-4 additional premium videos there will do the series well on how to make the best JS game possible.

Finally, I had a Twitter user request more advanced Three.js content. For the intermediate Three.js course, I'd like to show you how to make the 3D globe that is spinning around on the homepage of https://github.com/. This course will show you how to use textures on your materials, and how to map real-life data to different points on a 3D object. Obviously there will be a lot more that goes into it, but whether you're subscribed or not, you'll still get access to tons of learning material as the first portion of the course will be completely free. As we continue down developing this globe, developing the intricate details will be presented in the form of premium tutorials here on Chris Courses.

🐛  Bug Fixes + Features

I've squashed quite a few annoying bugs the past month and have added a few new features, here they are:

• Comments

  • Fixed bug where "liking" a comment would show the wrong comment being liked

  • Fixed delay between liking a comment and having the heart actually fill in

• Forum

  • Expanded forum drawer to take up full height of the screen so you can see more of your post while writing it without having to scroll up and down

  • Added fail-safe to the drawer so if you have content written and you accidentally click out of it, you'll be asked to confirm if you'd like to exit since your post data would be lost

🏆 April Monthly Goals

• Release 2-4 premium Intro to Three.js lessons

• Release 2-4 premium JavaScript Game Course Lessons

• Release 1 long-format Intermediate Three.js course

• Fix dark-mode styling for mobile forum

• Fix overflow mobile bug on video comments section

• Reach $300 MRR (6 additional subscribers by end of month)

I think this is all totally feasible as long as I keep the end goal in mind, and I keep my mental health intact as much as possible (very important for me).

I'm excited to get going on this all, and as something that's definitely motivated me quite a bit, here's an concluding, inspirational quote for you all:

“Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it.”

— John Carmack