My Company Journey

Time to start outsourcing some tasks

The economy must be getting better because I am running short on times these days. One of the projects that I wanted to do, was implement 100 websites using a my Porcupine eBay Affiliate script that I and a partner created.  Since I am short on time I have decided to find a resource to complete this for me. I have heard that the Phillipeans is a good place to find workers for this type of task. So I went Craigs-list and started searching for someone that can complete the tasks I am looking for. I have contacted a couple people. I will update the blog when I get a response.

This is a dramatic shift for me and my business mentally. Just a short couple of months ago I was worried about not having enough work. Now I have too much work and am having to send work out. As long as I can still make money while doing this it might be a good thing. The hope is I can build a reliable team because I have some other ideas that I would like to try.

Wierd Emails Are Starting To Arrive

Today I received a weird email in my inbox

we are a small start-up in LA and my websmaster is having issues with pixel/cookie tracking in explorer. Do you kinow of a good source of help?

Thanks

Rob

No I like to help people out but this email is just plain cryptic. If you are looking for help from people and you are in fact running a business you should take the time to explain your problem. If you explain your problem then you save yourself money because the consultant takes less time to understand what it is that you want him to do.

The Times They are A Changing.

It is interesting how certain things come together to help you out when you need it. Late in the year last year I was contacted by a local consulting company who was trying to fill a position at a local big company. The rate was decent and the contract was set for 6 months. The kicker is that I could work some time from my home office. This is perfect project for me. I will be working on open source projects get some expereince on how these applications can be used in an enterprise environment. I have less time for some personal projects but this should help fill the gap I was experiencing at the tail end of last year. I will be able to make some decent money and be able to get other projects lined up. It is still a busy time but I am thankful to have something that is a little bit stable.

IIf you need a Chicago PHP Developer, please feel free to contact me.

A New Year A New Start

It has been a while since I have written here. It seems like my days are full so that is a good thing, however I still need to bring in more money. The tricky part seems to be getting clients to complete their part of the projects on time. I hope to work with my clients to get them to a point where things happen a little quicker.

Yesterday I panic a little. I was taking some time off for the New Year and I guess I got a tad bit to comfortable. So I decided to make a list of all the things that I am committed to doing. Lets just say I have some long days ahead of me. I guess this is a good problem to have. If I can transform the possible project into definite projects I may even need some help. After analyzing the list I made I decided that I didn’t need to panic and just relax a little and get things done.

I decided that I am going to try and release one new self product a month. I will take the Google approach and spend 20 percent of my time on it. I have some smaller projects picked out that I think I can tackle. This first project will be to get content on the reverse geocoding site, and to get it linked up from some other pages. It will be interesting to see if I can get it going and get some clients on it.

Lastly, I am going to try and post on the blog everyday. I think that if I make a habit of  it things will come easier.

Getting Ready to Launch a product is hard

Next week I will be launching my first product. This is actually something that I have been using for the last year to make money online. This program uses the eBay Partner network and the eBay shopping api to build small sites to promote products. The more sites you have the better you can do. I am going to use ClickBank to sell the product. It seems like an interesting way to go. I hope that the affiliate network they have will help the product sell well. I have am planning on pricing it lower than the competition and I also have a free version of the product so that people can try it out. The free version replaced every 3rd link with my ePN id.

I am finding all the prep work to be hard. I have to get a landing page ready. Some documentation ready. Package the product for download. Finally I have to create some sales copy so people know what it is and why they want it. This is all great experience.

Funny I thought that hard part was writing code. Man I was wrong!

Starting My Own Micro ISV

A recent post on Software by Rob lists some survival techniques for freelance developers. Since I am trying to freelance to pay the bills while I get some of my ideas going this article was very apt for me. One of the ideas that I have been working on in my brain is creating a small service that people can pay to use. With the help of iMaptTools and LeadDog I now have such a service. Using the reverse for forward geocode data the iMaptools has built I have added on a front end that allows use to register users and bill for thier transactions. It was pretty fun to build, and I knocked it out pretty fast. We have to put the finishing touches on the service.  I know that I have the ability to build stuff, now I just have to figure out how to promote them.

Run Your Coffee House Like Panera Bread CO

Today I had a meeting for a new Meetup group that I am helping to start. At 9:30 am on a Wednesday this place was packed. There were several 2 and 3 person meetings going on and lots of people on their laptops. I was flabbergasted. All these remote workers just plugging away.  Here is what I think makes this a Panera successful.

1. Free Wifi – This is a must have if you run a coffee shop. Almost everyone has a laptop now and business people and road warriors needs a place to boot up and get the latest mail and files. Free open Wifi makes this possible. One improvement I would make is a power outlet at every table.

2. Meetings spaces – This is the second Panera that I have been to that has a meeting room that you can reserve. This is great when you are forming a meet-up group you need a place to meet with others. Panera delivers here. You can improve this idea by offering a projector and a screen or wall to project on. Think how much cofee and bagles you would sell to a group of people.

3. Good Food – The food at Panera is good and is Woman freindly. Women like fruits and salad. I don’t know why they just do. Guys can get a decent sandwich and some soup. Me I like the soup in a bread bowl.

4. Cookies and cakes – Panera has good sweet stuff. I like to get a cookie when I go. Again this will keep people in your coffee shop for that mid afternoon snack. Have good variety and make it on site so everyone can smell how good it is.

I don’t think this is a hard model to emulate or even beat.

BANS is For SALE

I just found out that BANS is for sale.  I have developed a competitor to BANS that I hope to launch soon. This is good news now it should be easier to promote my new program. I have to come up with a different name. From the auction site it looks like they were making decent money till last month. I am not sure who’s fault that is. Maybe the Quality Click pricing made bans not worth the price. I am not sure. Anyway the time is right to get this going.

My First Wordpress Plugin

Today I acomplished one of my goals, to produce a wordpress plugin. I have others that I want to build and this should help me get started. This first plugin publishes your current location (City Sate and Country) to your blog from your iPhone using the mobile me service. It is pretty cool. I am hoping that others will at least try it out and I can get some feedback on it. Try it out and let me know how it works for you.

Learning To Code For The Iphone

One of my goals is to develop for the a couple of applications for iPhone and ultimately to develop these for other people. To accomplish this goal I have downloaded all the CS193P course material from Stanford University. Aftwr a couple days of work I have finished the assignments throught assignment 3.  This is a good mile stone for me. I have my first working app and after a couple more assignments and lectures, I will have all the tools I need to build the app that I am thinking of.  What kind of iPhone app would you build?