Slow, but moving forward...

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog since the 15th! Terrible. I have been consumed with work for my employer, our existing biz and one of the new businesses discussed in this blog. I have also made minimal progress on the original business idea that started this whole thing.

I think it is time to go back and re-read the 4HWW. My time is less and less and I really need more and more! :-)

It's amazing to me how quickly things can get started and then, as the details hit, start to slow down. Simple things, like getting corporate ID kits can take a while to get right. To this end, I no longer will support my positive endorsement of LogoDesignPro's. To be fair, I wish to expand.

We hired them to create a logo and corporate ID kit for my existing company about 2.5 years ago. Things went very smoothly and timely. The quality of work was impeccable. So I recommeneded them to my partners for our current startup. The result? We got a very beautiful logo - high quality, great design work. But when it came time to start the corp ID kit, well, they simply got lazy. Getting revisions was time consuming and the revised efforts were just as sloppy as the original presentation.

In an effort to save time, we went elsewhere. The design and turn-around time from the other company we selected was fantastic. After three revisions, mostly text related, we received the original graphic files. Now, for the fun!

Thank goodness one of our partners works in the graphics industry. Turns out, what we see on screen isn't necessarily what will be reflective of what ends up on the stationary, envelopes and business cards. This is because the design color selection was for presentation over the computer. The printers use a different color scheme. Can you imagine the frustration we would have felt after paying for and receiving 5,000 pieces of stationary, 5,000 envelopes and 5,000 business cards - just to see that they don't look the way we expected? This is possibly avoided if you use a local printer, but we are bargain shoppers and found one online. That introduces some risk.

How did we avoid this frustration? Thanks to a little research and pre-existing knowledge, we submitted our graphics to Costco for very limited prints. This allowed us to see what the end result should look like. Can you believe it took 3 trial runs and changes to the graphics before we got it right? This easy and relatively inexpensive step saved us a great deal of expense and frustration. We have now submitted everything to the actual printing company and cross your fingers that what we get back matches up with what Costco produced.

On another front, I'm growing impatient with some of my Rent-A-Coders! One very trivial task was assigned over two weeks ago. I still don't have my code and need it for part of this project. I check in every two or three days, and each time I check in, I'm told I'll have something in two days time. Bug here, downed internet there; oh, the excuses amaze me. On my first few projects I got very timely and proper results - as previously posted on this blog. My last few projects don't share the same excitement. But, alas, I have time and am not too worried. If anything, my own lack of time is going to cause bigger delays and the launch then these little efforts.

All the groundwork is in place. Now, it's about launching this thing. I have significant work yet to achieve on our website, but most other aspects are near completion. Bank Accounts, Corp Creation, Marketing Material, trademarking, phone system, fax system, email, etc... - all in place or very near completion. But....can't do much without a website, huh? I better start burning the midnight oil for a week or two so that I don't upset my partners who are eager and excited to get moving forward.

It will be interesting to see what happens after we actually launch. It took me about 3 months to get our first business up and running, but that was with me working nearly full-time on it. Once we launched, we started making money from day one. The nature of that business is a little different from this one, so we'll see if the same holds true. Time will tell - stay tuned!

Updates...

Ouch - no posts since last Thursday! That's not good. I have been very busy on my little vacation, which ends today.

It actually takes quite a lot of effort getting a new business up and running! :-) Can you believe that? Even with partners - there are steps that just take time.

I can say that we are about 70% of the way there with one of the biz ideas. Most of my time, recently, has been spent on approving graphics and doing web development for the actual functionality behind the site. It's coming along nicely.

I have severely violated the twice a day checking email rule! To be honest, I have never commited to it except to not check my email more than once an hour. However, I have sadly failed at even that. I have to get down to at least a few times a day because this is definitely a distraction. Especially when you have a few different projects going on with eLance or Rent-a-coder AND when you are communicating with your partners about various ideas AND when you are trying to do software development. Software development takes a great amount of focus, so when I check my emails so frequently then it really ruins my ability to be a productive programmer.

Which leads me to my next point: Email is a pain to begin with. Imagine having five or six different email accounts - some of which support POP clients and some don't. So I find myself regularly checking email not in just one place, but in multiple places. This makes a time consuming task even more time consuming.

Therefore, I need to eliminate a few of these email accounts. I can't get down to one - that's just not realistic. Let's tally these up:

1. I'm employed by someone. Can't get rid of that account until I quit.
2. I still help support a company that we started over two years ago. Can't get rid of that one.
3. I just acquired ANOTHER email address as a result of this next venture that's 70% foundation complete.
4. I'm getting ready to start ANOTHER company with one of my new buddies.
5. I have a personal email account that I won't let go of no matter what.

There: 5 email accounts that I kind of HAVE to keep (4 existing, one to be soon).

6. Then, I have an email for this blog - which is to allow me to stay anonymous until I wish to no longer be anonymous.
7. I have a general purpose email account that I use for various programming forums. I only check it when I make inquiries and anticipate responses.
8. I have a total junk email account that I use when registering on sites with whom I'm not familiar. I don't want 20million spam mails coming into any of my valuable accounts.

Shoot...It doesn't look like I can get rid of too many of these, huh? What I can do, however, is get everything consolidated into accounts that support a POP client (like Thunderbird) and get away from accessing web-only mail clients.

Contract Manufacturer: I have a few updates but still trying to nail down a specific cost. We are making progress though.

VA: Very happy with ALL of the work we have had done to date. However, my opinion of LogoDesignPro's has been downgraded. 2.5 years ago - they gave a great product with great service. Now, they have given a great product, but the service aspect has been less than adequate. If I were in a huge hurry then I wouldn't be happy at all. However, we do have time still on our side.

That's it for now. I'll continue to keep you updated on progress and any obstacles that come about.

What can be done in a week?

If you recall from my post of 12/29/07 - I had another Biz idea presented to me. I liked it and I got some passion brewing inside me and ... oh my... what can be done in a week. Granted, I'm on vacation, but check this out:

1) Logo Created
2) Graphic Designer selected and first draft by Monday
3) Trademark/Service Mark registration started
4) Marketing Material drafts created
5) 800 Number Reserved and PBX account created
6) New Corp process started
7) Mailing List of nearly 30k targeted prospects generated
8) Professional Voice person selected and script created. First version presented
9) Print Product company selected (biz cards, mailers, stationary, etc...)
10) A fair amount of research into company specifics and costs achieved
11) Programming started for web site
12) Marketing plans started across multiple aspects of marketing

That little list of 12 items probably seems easy, but it takes quite a bit of coordination and is the foundation that had to be started. I didn't do it alone, mind you. A combination of partners, VA's and myself got this process in motion. I've probably missed a few items too, but wanted to get this quick post out since I missed one yesterday! :-)

Enjoy,

-M

First Half of January

I'm taking TWO WEEKS of vacation from my employer so that I can focus on a few things:

1. I have managed to fall behind on some critical paperwork that needs to be addressed. I have to go through past records in order to be able to complete these tasks. Man, I sure wish I had that virtual assistant! I am terrible at doing administrative type of junk that bores the hell out of me. It isn't that I'm not capable, it's just that with so many other, more interesting things on my plate, I PROCRASTINATE on some of the important things that must be done in life. PAPERWORK - YUCK! This two weeks will give me some time to get these done. I'll follow the 4HWW principals of FOCUS to achieve these tasks as quickly as possible. With no business meetings, email, etc... then I should be able to sit down and knock one or two of these tasks out each day until they are done.
2. My Project: The real intention of me takng this vacation is to work and focus on my project for which this blog is designed to report progress about. That's one of the reasons I had hoped to have more info from my Contract Manufacturer by now. I remain positive that he'll have me the info I need by early next week. I'm going to focus really hard on getting my business plan done. I will need help with this from people who are more experienced than myself, but I at least want to get a draft version of it together that I can take to some people I know with money and hope they think it's as great as I do so that I can get some initial investment money to cover some up-front costs.
3. My Project: Prototype - I need to work on the web aspects (software design) of my little project. It need not be perfect, but I would like to have some raw functionality so that I can demo it when I present my business plan to potential investors. I tend to be a perfectionist with software development and will have to be very disciplined so that I don't get stuck on little tasks that take a lot of time with little value. This goes back to the 80/20 rule. In software development, you can get 80% of the work done in 20% of the time (or less). It's that final 20% that kicks everyone's ass. It's important, but not for purposes of developing a prototype. I'm not a graphic designer - so my prototype may look a bit rough in the begininning. I can outsource that aspect but my goal for the coming weeks is to have a semi-functional prototype that can be demo'd to the right people. Wish me success!

Contract Manufacturing Update

As you can see, I already messed up on my objective to make a post every day - even if minimal. I won't let this deter me and will attempt to get back on track.

Yesterday, I was supposed to get an update from the contract manufacturer that I have solicited for input on costs associated with getting my device to market. He did give me an update, but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for! Strike One!

I actually am pretty tolerant of people and businesses, to some degree. More than anything, I want communication on progress and I did receive this. He has ordered a sample that he wants to re-engineer for my device and is waiting for it to get into his hands. I suppose I can't complain too much about this. I'll trust that once this device makes it to him then he'll be able to give me an accurate quote. I prefer accuracy over haste - so no worries.

On another note, I was presented with YABI (Yet Another Business Idea) yesterday. It's a great idea too. Time Management will become key for me in the coming months. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS...

Stay tuned!

Contract Manufacturing Meeting and...

Today turned out to be rather informative! I had the conference call with the Contract Manufacturer and they actually gave me an idea regarding my physical device that I was not aware of! Turns out, they have decent experience in this field and really opened my eyes to some possibilities.

They are going to have information to me by this coming Friday with respect to a quote. I should know my initial startup costs associated with getting this thing built, along with per item fees for orders in various quantities.

I like the fact that this company opened my eyes to a device that will actually make my product BETTER! How I missed it in my various levels of research is beyond me, but I did. Since the device already exists and since they have familiarity with it then it looks like a slam dunk. The "off the top of my head" number was very reasonable and I anxiously await seeing it in writing. I trust their past experience will allow that number to be pretty close to accurate.

I'm so excited!!! Can you tell? Action, Action, Action. I am so proud of myself (brag) for taking the first step and actually contacting someone for additional information. It makes this task seem so realistic and possible! My spirits are high right now and I can't wait for Friday when I get some numbers to plug into a business plan and start figuring out the pricing model.

Did I say I was excited? Oh yeah...I did! Keep coming back - this is going to get good...soon!

Today was a great day!

Product Idea

While Anonymous in nature, I will review a few details for those who have an interest in knowing about my product:

• It has to do with food. However, it isn't a food product.


• There are two major aspects to this: A website that will require a heck of a lot of content (yes, I will unquestionably outsource the content aspect of the site) and two, a physical device. This device, to some degree, already exists. However, for sake of my marketing, I need to repurpose it slightly. Because the device already exists, I'm hoping a contract manufacturer will be able to replicate it without any engineering junk from me. I am not going to modify the core product - I'm just going to change the way it looks and give it a new purpose in life. I need this because my customers will need to get setup as easily as possible. I want a complete "packaged" solution. Failure for me to deliver this device would mean that I leave my potential customers to have to acquire this on their own. That would make things too hard for them. One stop shopping is what I'm after.


• I expect to partner with other websites that already offer content that will be of value for my product.


• I expect to sell A LOT OF THIS!!! I'm not talking hundreds. I'm talking TENS or HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS! In fact, I might be selling myself short with that estimate.


• I expect to make money from the initial sale of my product, plus from web site content (ads/content/etc...) and from Affiliates that offer complimentary products to mine.


• My product will be easy to sell at fairs, online, door-to-door and on QVC or other type of infomercial system! Hey, doesn't that sound exciting??? Perhaps one day you will even see my product in stores you visit! Are you wishing me success?
• My goal is to have it ready by May, 2008. If I can do it quicker then great, but that's my "no later than" target date.

That's it for now! Check back often for updates!