A recent discussion in the Micropreneur Academy surrounded the topic of starting an online business selling physical products as opposed to software. Since I’ve worked on both sides of the fence I have a lot to say on the subject.
A Micropreneur’s Perspective: Selling Physical Products vs. Digital Products
May 4th, 2009 — Micropreneurship
Front End Developer Resume, An 11-pound Notebook, A 2-pound Netbook, and Internet 1996
April 7th, 2009 — Cool News, Links & Reviews
“Front-End Developer” Resume - Awesome.
11 Pound, Two-Headed Laptop Rears Its Head(s) - Lenovo has released a massive laptop with two built-in screens (a 10.6-inch screen that slides out of a 17-inch screen). As a dual monitor user at home I have a tough time working at full capacity in coffee shops, but at 11 pounds I’d need to hit the weight room before I could lug this thing around town.
2.38 Pound, 10.2-inch Laptop - Netbooks had quite a year in 2008. Some say they’re a fad; other say they’re an alternative class of notebook and they have staying power. Bottom line: they’re cheap, light, and come with up to 6+ hours of battery life. Aside from the small screen and 95% keyboard, most of what I do these days when I’m on the road could be done on a Netbook. Imagine, a laptop you could open on an airplane and not hit the seatback in front of you.
A Look Back at the Internet ‘96 - A short walk through the Internet Archive. Check out the awesome background on Pepsi.com. Makes Fresno Web Design look like something out of 37Signals.
JournalSpace Crashes; Out of Business Due to Lack of Backups - Another sad story. If you haven’t setup no-touch backups for your personal system, check out Mozy.
8 Core CPUs on The Horizon - Even with 2.3 billion transistors and 8 cores, Intel says they “will be able to maintain the power envelope of its current Core 2 processors.”
The iPhone as Web Server - I’m racking my brain…trying to figure out a use for this.
How Third-Party Licensing Can Ruin Your Launch
March 12th, 2009 — Micropreneurship, Startups
We launched version 2.5 of DotNetInvoice (my asp.net billing product) about 2 weeks ago. This release is a milestone because for the first ever we have a C# version (in addition to our standard VB.NET version).
The programming language is important because we provide the source code with every purchase…which created one heck of a mess for us a few weeks back.
What is the Micropreneur Academy?
March 10th, 2009 — Micropreneurship
By now you’ve heard about the upcoming launch of the Micropreneur Academy from my report Ignore What You’ve Read About Launching a Product (And Actually Launch One) available here.
But you have to be wondering what the heck this thing is, right?
Here is My Glimpse of the Future
March 9th, 2009 — Micropreneurship
Last week I hinted that something big was coming. This something has evolved over the past nine years, but has moved especially fast over the past six to twelve months.
The hardest part has been keeping quiet. But I’ve had a good reason for doing so: I haven’t invested years of work into this blog only to endanger my reputation with a half-baked idea.
But the time has come…today I lay everything on the table.
A Glimpse of the Future
March 6th, 2009 — Micropreneurship
You’re likely aware of the changes that have taken place on this blog over the past eight months; the focus has shifted from corporate developers to a more independent line of thinking. And some great things have come with it.
My readership has grown faster than any similar period in this blog’s history. I realized I struck a nerve when I began receiving question after question about recent topics: one-person startups, the business of solo software, Micropreneurship, etc…
Until this point there have been many more questions than answers. But stick around; I’ll have some answers for you on Monday.
Something Big is Coming…
March 2nd, 2009 — Micropreneurship
For months I’ve been stewing on an idea.
No, it’s not an idea…it’s a concept. I’ve been churning on it for six months, maybe more.
I’ve had a number of conversations with exceptionally talented developers who’ve made gutsy decisions and come out on top.
And I’ve been immersed in a world of risk, reward, independence, and sheer brilliance (other peoples’, not mine).
I’m in the cusp of something new that’s coming together from a perfect storm of the economy, my internal search for independence, and an undercurrent I’m observing with developers who’ve made the decision to pursue something worth pursuing.
I’ll be talking more about this during the coming week…
Marketing is Design: Three Words that Increased My E-commerce Sales 1000% Overnight
February 10th, 2009 — Micropreneurship, Startups
Until a few weeks ago I owned one of the top ranking sites on Google for the search term “beach towels.” This meant I received around 2,000 visitors each month in the fall and winter, and up to 5,000 per month during in the peak summer months.
The problem was that when I’d purchased the site 18 months ago the conversion rate (the rate at which it converted visitors to buyers) was hovering right around 0%.
Correction…it was 0%.
Expenses You Don’t Think of When Starting a Business
January 7th, 2009 — Micropreneurship, Startups
I ruffled a few feathers with my recent post The Software Product Myth. The unrest surrounded my statement that making $2500/month from your software product wouldn’t allow you to quit your day job.
The comments here and on a few social bookmarking sites mentioned that you could quit your day job if you wanted to, and that you could live on $2500/month just fine in many cities in the world (although in my hypothetical situation I was speaking about a developer based in the hypothetical U.S.).
We could get into a discussion about how much developers make, and how many costs you will take on by quitting your day job, but it’s completely irrelevant.
MicroISVs, Software Products and Startups: Software by Rob’s Most Popular Posts of 2008
December 23rd, 2008 — About this Blog, Micropreneurship, Software Development, Startups
Consider this the Year in Review for Software by Rob. Here are my seven most popular posts from 2008:
The Software Product Myth
“A certain percentage of developers become unhappy with salaried development over time (typically it’s shortly after they’re asked to manage people, or maintain legacy code), and they dream of breaking out of the cube walls and running their own show. Some choose consulting, but many more inevitably decide to build a software product.
‘After all,’ they think ‘you code it up and sell it a thousand times - it’s like printing your own money! I build apps all the time, how hard could it be to launch a product?’”
Should You Build or Buy Your Micro-ISV?
“None of the products I’ve built or bought required skills beyond that of a mid-level developer. Let’s be honest, building an invoicing system does not involve insanely complex algorithms and coding chops. Most successful Micro-ISV products (and a lot of not-so-Micro-ISV products) could have been built by a few solid mid-level developers.”