When I started Indie Hackers, I was doing one thing and one thing only: interviewing startup founders. The scope was tiny.
As a result, I could do a really good job, because that's where 100% of my energy went. I had no other distractions or responsibilities. I had all the time in the world to improve on my questions, the guests, the design. Other startup interview websites couldn't compete, because their creators were spread thin.
Nowadays, the scope of Indie Hackers has expanded massively. It's harder to keep up. If I'm focusing on the podcast, it means I'm neglecting coding the website. If I'm posting on the forum, I'm neglecting to iterate on the interviews or the newsletter. If I'm responding to emails, then I'm not tweeting. I like to think I do a decent job, but it's impossible for me to do the best job anymore.
There will always be the temptation to expand your scope. The universe of things you could do is much larger than the set of things you should do. Thus you'll be constantly exposed to people who are doing things you aren't. You'll be told that you need to be on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and everything else. That if you're not doing SEO, you're toast. That you need this bell, and that whistle. You'll hear from every video, every book, every guru about things you could be doing that you're not.
Ignore them. Going broad is almost always the wrong choice, especially in the earliest of days. You're already doing too many things.
Creating something great requires focus. Focus means saying no to good things, because they get in the way of doing great things. You have to be ruthless. It has to hurt to say no.
The world is already full of billions of videos, books, apps, websites, stores, and products. It's more than anyone has time to consume, and most of it is mediocre. People aren't craving more mediocre things. What they want is a small number of amazing things.
If it's worth making, make it great. And if you can't make it great, make it smaller and simpler until you can make it great.
Said another way: Do less, so you can do better.