Getting by on $100 MRR: A peek at an indie hacker's finances.

When your living expenses are low and you're earning USD at a solid exchange rate, a little bit of revenue can go a long way.

I caught up with Mikro (Tarik) Yazılımcı to find out how he's living on his product's $100 MRR without any additional income.

Let's take a peek at his finances. 👇

Follow the problem; not the money

Like most of us, Tarik hopes to live comfortably, which means money is important to him. It's just not that important. And he doesn't think it should be a focus; even when building a business.

💰 "Money always follows problems, focus on the problem — and solving the problem — not the money. The money will follow." —Tarik

That was his approach with ytbe.one. He never even thought it would make any money. He just noticed a problem and started coding to solve it. He built a crazy simple MVP and it attracted attention. Then he collected feedback and it evolved into what it is today.

Growth hack: Live with your parents

Tarik is a 21-year-old indie hacker living in his parent's house while he builds a business. He's been at it for a year now and already makes more than enough money to get by — at least while he stays with mom and dad.

It's a pretty cushy deal. He's got his rent, utilities, and food covered. And living with the 'rents is pretty common in Turkey at his age, so he's in no hurry to move out. Especially since rent prices in the area are pretty high.

So that leaves Tarik with three personal expenses, totaling a whopping $15-20/mo, while he's bringing in about $100/mo.

Here's what he's bringing in:

• Revenue: $100/mo
• Founder pay: $20/mo
• Other income: N/A
• Business account: N/A
• Personal account: $150

Tarik doesn't do any other work, so there's no other income.

He only monetized ytbe.one a few months ago, so $100/mo is pretty solid — especially considering how low his expenses are.

Here are his business expenses:

• Total: $29.25/mo
• Hosting: $20/mo
• Domain name: $15/yr / 12 = 1.25$
• IP API $8/mo

And his personal expenses are even less:

• Total: $20/mo
• Books: $10/mo
• Mineral water: $5/mo
• Transportation: $5/mo

Anything left over after he pays his bills (and himself) gets set aside for future projects.

Living cheap

It isn't just living at home that keeps his expenses so low, though. He lives cheaply.

His "splurges" are books and mineral water.

He sees the books as a must, both for enjoyment and to grow as a person. He mostly buys books on history, literature, marketing, and personal development.

If you're curious about what he's reading to better his indie hacking skills, he's big on The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. He says every indie hacker should read it.

💰 "Books. I read a lot of books and I think they help me learn new things and grow personally." —Tarik

As for mineral water, he says it's his energy store.

That's it. Those are his expenses.

He only has a few pieces of clothing and he gets by with those. He doesn't do much in the way of entertainment — there aren't any big cities near him so he says going out for fun is pretty much out the window.

So when he isn't indie hacking, he mostly reads, watches movies, sees friends, and tries to better himself by reading books and blogs and watching educational content on Youtube. All of which are cheap.

Living in Turkey

It also doesn't hurt to live in Turkey. In fact, he sees it as an advantage for indie hackers.

The USD exchange rate is high. So while paying himself $20/mo USD may seem low, he says it's actually good money where he lives. Particularly if your expenses are next to nothing.

💰 "There is a lot of inflation in Turkey. If you live in Turkey and earn USD, it quickly becomes a significant amount of money." —Tarik

He does, however, note that some payment systems like PayPal aren't available in Turkey, which can make things difficult. And when they are available, they take a pretty high cut of the transaction. The money gradually disappears until it's safe in Turkey.

Bigger expenses on the horizon

Keeping expenses low and accelerating his revenue growth are essential if he ever wants to leave his parents' house.

He says he can't even think about moving out until he has enough money to buy a house. He's not sure when that'll be, so for the time being, he's staying put.

While he's there, he wants to start paying his way with bills, so that's step one. After that, he's eager to travel. Then comes the house.

💰 "I'm thinking about traveling in the future. You get inspired when you see new things and new places. You discover and learn." —Tarik

Building cheap

As for his business expenses, he keeps costs low by doing everything himself. Designs, videos, marketing, you name it.

💰 "If I can do something, I will do it. This applies to everything." — Tarik

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Invest in yourself

Tarik doesn't have any debts, and he's not interested in taking out any loans.

He isn't against debt, per se. In fact, he noted that he's seen it work for a lot of people — they get loans, invest it into their companies, and then get super motivated and work harder in order to pay it off.

It's just not his personal preference. He says he'll stay away from debt as long as possible.

He does invest, but not in stocks — yet.

💰 "I am constantly investing in myself by improving myself." —Tarik

He invests in himself. But part of that is investing in learning how to invest. He doesn't feel like he knows enough about it, so he's eagerly consuming content on the topic.

Start early

At 21, it's fair to say that Tarik started early. And he's vehement that others should do the same. The earlier you start, the more time you have to accumulate wealth.

💰 "Start early. Every time you procrastinate, someone else is getting ahead of you. So start now. Right now. Take action!" —Tarik

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Tarik builds ytbe.one in public on X. Here are his personal and business. You can also find him on his personal website or Product Hunt. His product is also on Instagram and LinkedIn

Please note that the above are opinions. It is meant for information purposes only. It is not intended to be financial advice.

And if you'd like to be featured as a guest in a future interview for this series, let me know in the comments!