How can an Indie Hacker earn their first dollar

How can an Indie Hacker earn their first dollar?

The answer is simple:

Precisely identify a real user need, and offer a paid service or product that solves it.

How do you precisely identify user needs?

There are many channels — communities, social groups, even browsing Taobao. But the best channel is: using Google keywords to position the need.

I use the word position rather than search, because it hits closer to the essence.

The overall process looks like this:

Use keyword tools like Semrush, SimilarWeb, Ahrefs to fish for trending keywords or terms in your area of interest. Then find their long-tail variations to analyze what users are truly searching for. Once the search intent becomes clear, create a corresponding paid product or service that solves their pain point.

That’s essentially the full loop — though there are many details requiring deeper work.

How do you analyze search intent?

One of the fastest ways:

Take the keyword → search it on Google → observe competitor sites or relevant Reddit threads → review and analyze what users really want.

How do you “fish for keywords” effectively?

Find currently trending topics — e.g., nano banana, Baidu layoffs, etc. Then look for the related long-tail keywords, because long-tails reveal what users actually want.

You can also start from your areas of interest: sports, history, how to make money, etc. Since these are your domains, you are more sensitive to long-tails and can more easily identify real user intent.

How do you avoid the “monkey picking corn” problem?

(meaning: dropping what you have every time you find something new)

This process can easily lead to constantly switching topics. Even with the right method, getting the right conclusion requires time.

So when you believe you’ve discovered real user intent for a keyword:

build a simple MVP

do some SEO and promotion

give it time to ferment

Do not give up too quickly.

If you want fast validation, the best approach is still: start from new keywords.

How to find needs through new keywords?

I previously wrote about this: Best practices for uncovering real needs.” If you use that method and find a genuine need in your area of interest:

build the MVP

validate over a set time period

if validation passes, iterate continuously to retain users

At this stage, getting your first revenue becomes much easier.

Returning to the original question:

How can an Indie Hacker earn their first dollar? And with an additional requirement: How to earn it quickly?

The answer remains:

Accurately identify what users truly want — their real, internal desires.

Since you need fast discovery and fast validation, the best approach is to start with new keywords in your area of expertise or interest.

This has several advantages:

New keywords are easy to validate; competition is low, making Google traffic easier to obtain.

In your area of expertise, following Google’s EEAT principles, your product is more likely to be recommended.

Expertise helps you hit the user’s real pain point quickly — similar to how Zhu Di succeeded in the Jingnan Campaign: he knew his own goals clearly, and understood his opponent (the Jianwen Emperor) thoroughly. By analogy, this principle also applies here. (Even though first-principles thinking is often considered superior to analogy, analogy can still clarify useful truths.)

Based on the above analysis, we can derive two conclusions — one fast, one slow:

Fast: Preferably within your area of expertise:

Use new or low-competition keywords to position the user’s real need; or

Start from your own pain points and link them to low-competition Google keywords. Then validate with an MVP — this allows you to earn your first revenue quickly.

Slow: Similarly, in your area of expertise and interest, keep discovering your own needs and those around you. If these needs cannot be linked to low-competition Google keywords, continue building your product and let time compound your efforts — eventually achieving bigger outcomes.