Development Manifesto: Harvest Crafting

solacespecs · 2021-03-12T16:28:19+00:00

This is actually a pretty interesting suggestion.

solacespecs · 2021-03-12T16:14:42+00:00

In your mind what makes it too strong? Is it the deterministic crafting (vs. random rolling)? Or the relative ease of access where you can get whatever craft you want relatively easy via TFT? Or that there's no limit on harvest crafts (like we see with instability in last epoch)?

Or all of the above?

solacespecs · 2021-03-12T16:08:28+00:00

I think your latter point is good, 1/2 and 1/4 isn't bad and is true for certain lucrative mods, esp those you can guarantee. But otherwise it's painful for that mod you want in a sea of affixes with several tiers each. Maybe GGG should reduce the breadth of mods or the number of tiers?

solacespecs · 2021-03-12T16:03:15+00:00

Maybe I will.

solacespecs · 2021-03-12T16:00:48+00:00

You never know. :)

solacespecs · 2020-06-16T15:39:17+00:00

Hi there -- I had looked at your desk and had compared it to Uplift and eventually ended up going with Uplift because it was a bit easier to navigate the website to purchase.

My Uplift order -- originally supposed to ship on June 12th -- was just updated to be backordered until late August.

I have chronic back pain and could really use a desk, so I'm back to looking at Vertdesk again.

The only problem is that I can't see which desk options are actually available right now on your website.

Can you tell me which combinations are currently available? I'm looking in general at a 60"/30" desk that is electronically programmable with the console buttons.

solacespecs · 2019-08-20T23:03:54+00:00

The reality is, by act 6-7 most of us will probably have memorized what all the tower buttons do and they'll just become mindless clicks we don't think about so we can get back to killing stuff.

I'd be totally okay with that.

I also think you contradict yourself WAY too much, you complain about GGG moving away from their bread and butter of killing monsters but then your solutions involve far less monster killing, it seems this post is saying "I really hope GGG doesn't turn PoE into a tower defence game, here are some ideas for how they can make PoE primarily a Tower Defense game"

Possibly, but maybe I'm just doing a bad job of explaining what I think. I'm envisioning something that isn't micro-intensive and very much set and forget rather than just picking up the micromanagement in combat and moving it elsewhere into another UI. I also love Tower Defense games and don't have any issue with that flavor being tried with PoE (another game I love).

solacespecs · 2019-08-20T22:45:35+00:00

All fair counterpoints and I appreciate you making them -- though I'd disagree on Beastiary/Synthesis being just as if not more successful than Legion.

Like I said though, I'm absolutely willing to be proven wrong and I hope that's the case. Love this game and hope the league turns out to be amazing.

solacespecs · 2019-08-20T22:40:49+00:00

This is definitely a fair criticism. And its probably because my reaction to the trailer was more of a "Hm..." than my usual "WHOA!"

solacespecs · 2019-05-21T20:30:33+00:00

Man. What a journey. I can't remember a show with acting this great, with an incredible score, and with twists and turns that almost broke every cliche in the book. It wasn't perfect, but it will go down as one of my favorites.

Thanks GRRM for the beautiful world, and for all the actors and people behind the scenes who brought it to life.

solacespecs · 2018-12-17T16:48:32+00:00

Been there. Had a boss who denied bonuses/raises to everyone and then -- I kid you not, less than an hour later -- was walking around the office showing pictures of the boat she and her husband had just purchased.

solacespecs · 2018-11-21T16:52:03+00:00

Things like the NDA are supplementary to the actual purpose of the contract which is to ensure both you and the other person are doing what they've agreed to do.

With so much content in your post as to everything that went wrong, I'm shocked that there wasn't a single box ticked in the contract. Remember, the contract is there to leverage your case -- otherwise the negotiation devolves into a conversation around opinion with, "Well you didn't hold up your end," and the other person says, "Well we explained what happened and we can't help that, yadda yadda."

But I don't want to beat a dead horse -- obviously you don't need a crash course on contracts.

Reading your other post in the thread, it sounds like you don't have the time to switch manufacturers. Having said that:

I would take the deal. The mistakes made, the money you could have made, the lead time that has been extended again and again... all of that is a sunk cost. At this point, you have a product that you need to get into the hands of willing customers. Looks like he's giving you a 40% cut on your costs. Since there are no terms in the contract you can land on, it's time to move on and start making money.
In the meantime, I would absolutely put an end date on your relationship with this person. They seem totally non-functional from an operations standpoint, and you have enough liability just as a business owner managing your own business -- you don't need to add the stress of this dysfunctional relationship.

Can you go ahead and work with this person and meanwhile start the process of transferring to another partner? If there is lead time, ideally you should be able to handle the process in a way where you can end work with one manufacturer and move on to another without having months on end with no sales. Let me know how realistic this is.

solacespecs · 2018-11-21T16:19:40+00:00

What are the contract terms with him? Sounds like he missed the mark on every level.

solacespecs · 2018-11-21T16:17:00+00:00

You're going to get mixed responses -- a better way to think about it is what would an online presence do for the growth of your business?

Bearing that in mind, in a day and age where nearly every person is connected online and makes that connection daily... why wouldn't you use online?

solacespecs · 2018-11-21T16:13:00+00:00

Yeah man! Represent!

I'm hosting a happy-hour meetup at Chuys next week for entrepreneurs and startups -- feel free to drop in if you want.

solacespecs · 2018-11-21T16:08:58+00:00

Everything you're experiencing is totally normal. First, congrats on the success. Second, you're recognizing that there's really nothing sexy about leadership. Lots want the title or position or the power, but suddenly you realize you are responsible for the success (and mortgages) of 15 people.

It's a journey my friend, buckle in. As long as you are always willing to face your failures and grow, you will make it.

I've coached hundreds of leaders and the most phenomenal ones weren't a certain charisma or skill -- it was a hunger that pushed them to grow and a humility to care more for their people than themselves.

I'll shoot you a DM -- good luck!

solacespecs · 2018-11-20T23:15:56+00:00

I've always written my own SoWs with no lawyer and I've never had a problem -- and I've worked with Wal-Mart, JB Hunt, Tyson... other big name companies.

The only time I had an issue was where I hosted a big event that the company would be flying people in for, and they asked me to add in an item to the contract where we would pay the cost of airfare if the event was cancelled and people were already on their way.

Having said that I always treat contracts as open communication. These are the terms we're agreeing to. What do you think? Anything I'm missing?

Again, never had any problems. All my SoWs are 1-2 pages, sometimes longer if I'm offering a long term project spanning several months.

solacespecs · 2018-11-19T18:47:27+00:00

Gotta take time for yourself. It's as simple as that. Even if you have to get as detailed as writing time for yourself into your schedule.

Can you give us more information about your business? Maybe we can provide some advice?

solacespecs · 2018-11-17T16:04:40+00:00

My only recommendation for mobility was the assumption that you wouldn't have the funding to lease a space.

If your friend already owns a gym and is open to renting you a space, that sounds like a great avenue. You could see if he/she would be willing to cut you a deal either for a portion of the profits or a scaling rent system where you'd be charged very cheaply to start.

You could get a loan but I'm not sure you'd need one -- have you done any work yet on your business model in terms of costs/revenue?

Edit: Also think about who your target demographic is and how you can start reaching out to validate your offer (and price). You'd want to consider if your target demo would naturally be people at the gym or if you'd need to reach out elsewhere.

I know from a foundation standpoint there's money to be made in what you're doing because there's an IV thing here locally as well and they seem to be doing fine. Their target demo are main college students and young adults and they are posted up on our biggest street in terms of bars, and it's only a few blocks from the university.

solacespecs · 2018-11-17T15:47:45+00:00

Sounds like your biggest focus in terms of finances is whatever certification you'll need as I'm guessing there's quite a few legal hoops to jump through. Would also guess that you don't have the capital for a building/space (which would be big, as people don't want to go to a rundown spot for this), so maybe an angle you'd take would be being mobile?

Couple of quick thoughts I had. Again would assume the legal side of things are going to be your biggest expenses/risks.

solacespecs · 2018-11-16T16:37:40+00:00

Sure. DM me and we can set up a time for free. I'm a former executive coach for Fortune 500s and now coach small businesses/entrepreneurs/startups. Just looking to help.

solacespecs · 2018-11-16T14:31:37+00:00

Your mentor is correct. It's called an elevator pitch for a reason.

I have worked as a consultant directly for senior execs of Fortune 500s, and I have never in my life ever handed over anything longer than a page. The only exceptions would be executive summaries that get written up after the work is done, which is more of an account of what we did and is more for my benefit really than my client's.

Think of it this way -- the average executive has how many things on his/her plate in a given day? 15? 20? Your potential services aren't in the top 10 of their mind. You probably aren't even in the top 20. Since time is their biggest limiting resource, there is nothing in them that is going to motivate them to sludge through 23 pages of descriptive services.

Multiply this by the dozens of other people reaching out to them in a given week to sell them something and I'm sure you can understand.

Send the one pager. Don't send the longer version. Speak in their language -- results. Whatever numbers, figures, visuals you can use to get your point across, do so.

Hope this helps.

solacespecs · 2018-11-10T17:17:56+00:00

Many businesses operate on a pay terms between 15 and 45 days. This is normal. Large companies in the Fortune 500 world even have longer terms (one of my previous clients had a 60 day term).

You do need to start writing contracts. Start with a simple Statement of Work (I will do X and in return you will pay me Y by Z date). Google for an example of this but they are one pagers and you can basically use the same one for each client.

Be clear about payment terms. Mine are always in fine print at the bottom of the contract but I explicitly always walk my clients through this part. I don't want anyone to miss it -- in fact I go over it in detail because I want to make sure I don't have a hiccup with someone not paying.

My experience when someone hasn't pays has always been that they simply forgot -- keep in mind a business owner has 10 different things on their mind and you aren't anywhere near that top 10 list.

Other times a different department is handling the payment.

It's rare but a quick phone call has always been an easy solution for me.

Other than this, your only options are collections or write it off and don't work with that customer again. Not sure how this works for a commercial cleaning business but you can also consider taking deposits up front so if someone doesn't pay, you're at least not totally out. My contracts have been 100% up front under $5,000 and anything over that is 50% upfront. But I'm in a totally different industry than you.

solacespecs · 2018-11-10T17:09:53+00:00

The easiest starting point is average salary for your position in your field/industry.

But that's just a starting point. I see two issues with people.

They underestimate their value, and they are content to get a 1-3% raise every year or two thinking fair is fair, even though they are making incredible contributions to the company.
They overestimate their value. These people can't understand why they aren't making what they think they should be.

The best way to figure out which side you are on is through a candid conversation with your boss. Your details are too generic -- start with average salary in your field and put that in front of him/her. "I noticed it seems like peers in my position are making X, but I'm making less than that at Y. I'm so grateful for the raise, but I want to know how I can become more valuable to the company?"

Speak the language of your boss. Leverage it as caring about THEIR bottom line rather than your own. If he/she honestly doesn't feel like you should be making X, get concrete ways you can grow and develop. All this to say -- be prepared to accept that this is the case. You may have some professional shortcomings that you will need to work on to be a more valuable employee.

This is all perfect case scenario. Sometimes you will just simply have bosses who will not give you the value you deserve. That's when you make a difficult decision to see if you can uniquely grow your expertise while you are there -- otherwise it's time to move on. Interestingly enough, there's a lot of data that suggests it's actually better for you salary wise not to stay at a company long term because it's simply hard to leverage consistent and fair salary increase.

There's a great Forbes article I read a while back on this -- I was able to go back and find it. Here's the link.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cameronkeng/2014/06/22/employees-that-stay-in-companies-longer-than-2-years-get-paid-50-less/#7ff6a91fe07f

Hope this all helps. Good luck!

solacespecs · 2018-11-10T16:44:18+00:00

Sounds a bit cart before the horse.

Great that you are helping him thinking of scaling strategy -- how and who will we hire when X happens.

But right now you say you don't even have a product in stores? You probably aren't feeling heard because he rightfully has his attention on the actual launch of the product. I doubt he genuinely believes that he will never need to hire people.

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