Somebody I follow on Twitter recently launched a new product. Within 2 months he had tweeted about hitting $10,000 MRR. Wow. I’m 1.5 years into building With Jack and nowhere near that figure.

Last week was challenging. Personally and professionally I felt worn down and tested. It was one of those moments where I question why I’m doing this. Those times don’t happen often, but when they strike they’re debilitating.

I’ve built (and shipped!) various projects over the years. These have ranged from online courses to SaaS apps and podcasts. Some of these projects have failed. Others did OK. And With Jack—the business I’m building now—made money before it even launched.

As of December 2016, 26% of people who got a quote with Jack became customers. Over the past 12 months we’ve been tweaking key parts of the customer journey. The conversion rate is now at 40%—a 14% improvement from 2016.

At some point this year I started considering investment. The initial build of With Jack was funded with my own money (money I’d earned photographing weddings at the weekend).