I turned a summer side project into $13,000 in pre-orders before the course even launched. Since starting in June 2025, I’ve sold 50 pre-orders for the Phlex on Rails video course, all before officially releasing it. Now that it’s live, I want to share progress and a few lessons from building and selling this course under Beautiful Ruby.
Validating the idea
When I started, I set a simple goal: 50 customers. That number came out to roughly $13,000 in sales, and I somehow hit it.
Most of the folks who bought the videos are either consultants or work at small businesses maintaining a Rails app. Seeing what people are building with Rails has been one of the most interesting parts. One customer runs a company that manages swimming pools and tracks everything through their Rails app.
I sold the first 50 videos by talking to people
I just asked people about it. Most conversations happened on Twitter, starting with a single question that kicked everything off.
People asked for an Enterprise Rails course, which is still on my radar, but Phlex felt like a good place to start. I made a short video about why I chose it.
Early adopters and pricing
One thing that helped was raising the price over time to thank early adopters. It let me test demand and kept me motivated. When I told people “prices go up next week,” I felt pressure to ship. It also gave them a reason to buy early.
Staying accountable with weekly updates
After pre-orders came in, I sent weekly updates to students by email and posted them publicly like the Week Seven Update. These updates helped me set expectations, stay on schedule, and keep people in the loop. They gave buyers a way to shape the course too.
In total, I published twelve updates, which you can find in the articles directory.
Getting the word out
The hardest part of launching anything is getting people to care. Everyone is bombarded by new ideas and products. The only way through is being real, patient, and consistent with information that legitimately helps people become better Ruby developers.
Mentions in technical newsletters & meetups don’t seem to convert
One surprising part of this journey was learning that pitching the Phlex on Rails course to a more technical audience, like a Ruby meetup or Ruby newsletter subscriber, doesn’t seem to convert that well.
I’m still trying to nail this down, but I suspect these folks lean more autodidactic and learn by reading source code and/or getting their hands dirty building.
People like reading useful articles
I write short, practical code articles and share them on social media. Most go nowhere, but a few do. My post on Service Objects has been the most popular so far.
My philosophy with content is that it should be immediately useful and relevant to the reader. The most shared posts usually help someone solve a real problem right away.
Open questions
How sustainable is Beautiful Ruby?
Pre-selling $13,000 is awesome for a summer project, but not enough for full-time work. I’d need to sell 10x more to make it sustainable. That could mean growing reach, improving conversion, launching more courses, and offering things of value to Ruby developers.
Do I want to do this full-time?
Yes, if I can get it to scale. Courses are great, but I’d probably need to pair them with software like Terminalwire or a pro version of Sitepress to make it work long-term.
How do I reach larger organizations?
So far I haven’t sold any “5 packs” or corporate bundles. Reasons why:
- I haven’t done much outreach yet.
- Twitter and Bluesky lean indie. CTOs and managers might be more active on LinkedIn.
- Companies have inertia and need time to adopt new tools.
- Summer is slow for corporate sales.
Are courses pointless because AI can code?
I don’t think so. People are still buying the course, and it helps them understand how to think and prompt better. Knowing how to code still matters even when AI helps you write it.
What’s next?
Now that Phlex on Rails is live, I’m starting to plan future courses:
- Big Rails: Organizing large and legacy Rails apps
- AI in Rails: Adding AI features to Rails apps
- Sitepress: Building ambitious content sites with Ruby and Rails
Beautiful Ruby started as an experiment. The goal now is to keep nurturing it with courses and tools that help Ruby developers build better software. Hopefully, it grows into something I can focus on full-time.
If you want to support it, grab Phlex on Rails and join the first group of students building with it.