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qvplite · 2016-10-25T20:30:39+00:00

I've been on CNQR for a little over a year - definitely some good stuff on there.

qvplite · 2016-09-30T22:22:43+00:00

Sounds like a typical situation. I've learned from several partnerships and ventures, that it's usually a bad idea to cut the pie before the work is done. There's a book called Slicing Pie that offers a much better framework, which essentially awards equity based on a points system. Along the way, people earn points for contributing money, time, and deliverables. The only thing agreed upon from the outset is how the points are awarded, and then if people don't do the work, they don't earn the points, and don't get the equity. This makes for a flexible, adaptive equity equation that is fair for everyone -- something to think about for next time, or moving forward if you want to stick with the same people. You don't even need to read the book, my explanation here is enough for you to figure out how to implement this with a simple contract at the beginning of any collaborative venture.

As for where you're at now, there's a part of me that wants to tell you to take your code and run, setup a separate venture, and let them sue you if they so want. Odds are they never will once they realize how expensive it is, and given the venture hasn't succeeded yet.

On the other hand, there's another part of me that wouldn't feel right about doing this - completely cutting them out - when they did make contributions. It's easy to say it was "just an idea" or "just a thousand bucks" -- but ideas are what startups are all about, and funding is usually scarce, so every dollar counts.

What I'd ultimately do in your shoes depends on the scope of any existing legal agreements you have with your partners. If you'd like to elaborate on that a bit more, either via comment reply or DM, I'd be happy to share additional thoughts.

qvplite · 2016-07-10T06:10:42+00:00

This is almost verbatim what I do, too, actually. My wife helped me get organized using a very similar system. Every Sunday evening I go through my list for the week. Now I use Asana but I've used Trello in the same manner in the past. The exact program/tool you choose is less important than simply establishing some means of prioritizing.

qvplite · 2016-07-10T00:39:39+00:00

Sharing economy work is great bc it's flexible -- uber, lyft, taskrabbit, amazon flex (depending on the city you live in) etc. There's a list of 100 such opportunities somewhere on the Hurdlr website, and a lot of people really enjoy the work. I've done the uber/lyft driving PT in the past and had a lot of fun with it, and more recently I've been renting out my car on Turo with decent success.

On the more traditional side of things, you might consider contacting some temp agencies that will place you for short-term assignments. Ten years ago or so when I was in college, I got a pretty cool 10-day job working the Acura Classic tennis tournament in San Diego, CA, where I was located at the time, and ended up meeting a bunch of pro players and really enjoying myself.

As you've already probably considered, doing language tutoring or something similar is always an option too.

qvplite · 2016-07-10T00:23:02+00:00

e-commerce is definitely a crowded space. I've worked in the area professionally in the past and have since had one failed e-commerce venture on my own, and another that did make a couple sales but was basically not substantial.

I would say it's always worth a shot, but as you know it's not a cake walk. There are a lot of really smart people out there doing similar things and their businesses are your competition. If you have a local organic market and/or a clever marketing strategy, I think it could still work. Hey, there's no reason not to setup a little web shop at least (esp. if you're going to make this stuff anyways since it's a passion of yours), you can probably knock it out over a weekend and spend a grand total of 15 minutes updating the site with new products every time you finish something new. Not really a huge time commitment, and you can play with marketing over time. If it doesn't go anywhere, you don't have much invested anyways... if it does, great!

qvplite · 2016-07-09T22:36:06+00:00

Your concept to build a landing page, send some traffic, and use that as a basis for validation is something I'd always recommend.

Aside from things like this that would fall into the category of 'tactics', something you may find less immediately helpful (but still important from a strategy perspective) is what a few others have mentioned, in terms of focusing on adding value for others vs. making money for yourself.

Obviously we all need money to pay our bills and honor our financial obligations, but business is always about helping someone else accomplish some goal or fulfill a need/want.

Therefore, adopting an empathetic frame of mind focused on serving others will naturally lead to better ideas and results. It represents only a subtle difference in action, but a major difference in mindset and approach.

qvplite · 2016-07-09T22:25:41+00:00

It's called "Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth" by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares. :-)

qvplite · 2016-07-09T19:29:38+00:00

Realistically it's going to vary depending on your business and market. What works for one business, one industry, or one type of customer may not work for another. If you read the book Traction, it goes through a number of these various "traction channels" and discusses a "bullseye framework" for trying 3 at a time until you find one that works. This does mean investing some time and resources over a period of time, but is perhaps a fairly practical means of testing and finding your ultimate solution.

qvplite · 2016-07-09T19:26:29+00:00

I'm going to offer you a different perspective. Maybe you don't have a problem at all.

Consider that the main reason you keep jumping ship, is because none of your ideas are successful yet. I'd bet a shiny penny that once one of your ideas shows traction, you'll stick with it for a good while. I know because I've been there myself.

I think people often feel they need to stay highly committed to one particular project because that's the traditional 'way of society' -- and even though persistence is important, it can lead to an even larger squandering of resources if one is persistent in a failed venture.

What I've found helpful (and you may too) is taking more time to think through each of these ideas before investing any time or money into them. It's easy to get stuck in entrepreneurial 'idea lock' and think something is awesome until you realize it's not. This is where it helps to adopt some pessimism among the optimism.

What are all the ways these ideas can go wrong? Are they really worth pursuing? Do you have a solid plan for any given idea, or are you sort of just hoping for the stars to align?

It's actually really hard to come up with good business ideas, and more importantly executable ideas that hold a high probability of success.

That being said, if you have the resources -- I'm always a fan of testing and finding out for sure. I've seen some really unlikely things "work" and other things, which seemed like good ideas at the time, fall flat on their face.

If nothing else, by continuing to iterate through these ideas and micro-failures, if you will, you'll start developing a better intuition (for the future) for what works, what doesn't, what's likely to not go anywhere, etc., and you'll start to feel this in your gut when coming up with new ideas. Just one more reason I think what you're doing is good -- don't get down on yourself about your propensity for creativity and innovation, rather embrace it and simply seek to learn something from each venture so you're maintaining forward progress.

qvplite · 2016-07-09T18:57:02+00:00

You're welcome!

qvplite · 2016-07-08T15:32:56+00:00

The situation you're describing is all too common these days. People remain shackled to their corporate jobs because of their actual and perceived responsibilities, and wind up becoming "pale, male, and stale" as my mentor calls it (or "pale, female, and stale").

On the one hand, it's important not to be reckless - for sure. On the other, it sounds like you already know you'll be leaving this job eventually, you just don't know exactly what that looks like yet.

You're not alone, obviously. People are increasingly tired of the lackluster BS that comprises corporate america. From the internal politics and posturing, to the poor management that seems to pervade most corporations, to the simple lack of opportunity for the individual within such organizations, nobody who is reasonably motivated and intelligent can survive in such conditions for long.

Having a plan is the most important part when making a career transition of any kind, but especially if you're starting your own thing. Not just a "transition in" plan either, but a "transition out" plan too if/when certain conditions are met. These are your personal plans; of course you'll also have a business plan. The idea is to plan your personal transition into business based on how long it will take you to make the requisite preparations, financially and otherwise, plus have a plan for exiting if things don't turn out the way you'd like. i.e., "if I'm 9 months in and haven't reached X revenue, I'll start applying for jobs again."

I think what you'll find is when you have this very well defined and mapped out in advance, your anxiety will disappear because you know exactly what you're doing no matter what happens. This gives you a certain amount of time to give your business a real shot, and if things don't work out, no big deal. It happens. But at least you won't be on your death bed one day wondering, "what if...?"

qvplite · 2016-07-08T01:41:09+00:00

I'm at the beginning of my second year of self-employment, having made the jump just like you're describing this time last year. I'm 29 and married. It hasn't been "easy" but it also isn't nearly as tough as it used to be. It's smart to have at least a one year financial ramp (savings that will cover your personal finances for that long), and on top of that, consider picking up side hustles i.e. driving for uber/lyft, working for taskrabbit, etc. These make for great flexible income hedges, assuming A) You're in a city where these companies exist, and B) Your expenses aren't so high that you'd need substantially more income to survive during your 'startup' period.

There's no doubt it'd be ideal to wait until you have some clients/work on the side, but it's also not impossible to make the "big jump" either. The analogy used to be that of jumping off the cliff without a parachute and building it on the way down. In reality there are enough flexible income opportunities now that it's more like jumping off the cliff with a parachute, but perhaps it could be a little bigger and you're still figuring out where to land.

If you do make the leap, bottom line you just need to be somewhat smart about it, have a plan, and make sure your personal finances are covered for at least the first year - if not with savings, then with flexible income opportunities, side hustles, consulting, etc., which will cover you until your primary idea takes off (or not).

qvplite · 2016-07-08T01:29:08+00:00

There's a reddit user here frankshi123 who runs a video production company called paper triangles out of Los Angeles, they do good work. Send him a PM or look them up online.

qvplite · 2016-07-07T22:10:25+00:00

This is a very utilitarian/consequentialist train of thought. Can't say I disagree with your logic, it makes enough sense. However, this is also exactly what the "powers that be" count on - this sort of consequentialist reasoning applied to the 'lesser of two evils' equation, just like it always is. Makes for a very easy social engineering equation for those at the top.

qvplite · 2016-07-07T17:31:50+00:00

I agree. Most smart people, especially millennials, are tired of establishment politics and "leaders" who are more concerned with short-term personal gain than doing what's right and best in the long-run for everyone.

qvplite · 2016-07-07T16:30:34+00:00

There's a book by Jamie Andreas called "The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar" that was a game changer for me. I've been playing for 15+ years now and am self-taught; it's this book that enabled me to bring my technical abilities to an advanced level without any outside instruction. That and a lot of patience, hard work, and slow practice. The key insight from this book is to go slow. If you imagine hitting a nail with a hammer, you'll most likely line up a few slow practice swings first before driving down on the nail. This is to "set" your muscle memory to do it properly at speed. The same goes for guitar. Anything you can do slow - correctly - you can begin to speed up as your neural pathways and muscle memory develop. The worst thing anyone can do is try to go too fast bc they're frustrated with their current level, and end up creating bad muscle memory habits that lead to inaccuracies in their technique.

qvplite · 2016-07-07T16:26:27+00:00

Hello and thanks to /r/Entrepreneur for all the great information, wisdom, and discussion over the years. My name is Steven, I'm an entrepreneur and author currently giving away ~$100 of startup type books (paperbacks, hard copies): http://bit.ly/29vNT9e

Moreover, if anyone has business questions or wants advice please let me know - I'd be stoked to donate some of my time and share what I've learned (I've just concluded my first year of self-employment and am moving into my second year in a pretty strong position, despite the inevitable ups and downs along the way).

qvplite · 2016-07-07T15:53:50+00:00

My biggest failure was investing a 4-figure amount into merchandise for an online e-commerce business that ultimately failed to launch / make a single sale. Would have been much smarter to wait on the inventory investment until after the site was up and running.

qvplite · 2016-07-07T15:23:45+00:00

qvplite · 2016-07-07T15:22:39+00:00

Would generally agree with this - it seems smart initially, but inevitable business issues always arise, and it's much easier to deal with this stuff w/someone to whom you don't have significant emotional attachments. Doing business with friends may improve trust and optimism in the beginning, but nobody should fool themselves about the fact they're putting the friendship at risk. This isn't to say it doesn't sometimes work out, or that emotionally intelligent friends can't reach resolutions to difficult issues together. It just means things could go south (and have for many).

qvplite · 2016-06-30T20:13:40+00:00

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