PROGRESS THREAD (James F)

[Ironwill]

Outstanding job on the site and going live James! Looks like you really know what you're doing.

I wish you nothing but success!

[Hokoleskwa]

What an inspirational thread! I'm currently in the same place with my project as you were in your first post, so this was an especially great read for me. Thanks so much for sharing your journey!

[zendolphin]

Whoop hoop love launches

[Brander]

James,

I see you are requesting email addresses before people can try the demo. Smart to gather leads. I assume many abandon the demo - the less interested.

[CMCarlin]

James,

I am demo-ing the software. I am the main scheduler for the company I work for (90+ employees in my department alone). I'd love to be able to provide feedback based on our needs.

One small bug I noticed is that for a 24/hr "open for business", there is no 0am to 0am selection (as indicated by the help text). I just put it as 12am - 1130pm for now to move it forward. Still, I have over night agents that need to be scheduled.

Also, would love the ability to export. I talked to my superior, and she is looking for something that we could import an employee need and then it will automatically adjust the schedule.

look me up on skype and we can chat further: c_carlin

[JamesF]

Thanks everybody... it's crazy because a year and half ago, I was reading through all the threads getting motivation from others. Feels good to give back.

@CM - Yes, unfortunately, with making the scheduling part automatic; there had to be some constraints (the 24 hour operation). The only way around that right now is to do what you did, and then set up that particular over-night employee with two shifts. One up until 11:45pm and then 12:00am to shift's end.

I can say, that you are def smarter than the average sign up so far, because you figured out how to set up the 24 hour get around while most are shooting me angry emails!

[Rickson9]

If a product requires instruction, then it is not intuitive.

[JamesF]

SUBMITTED TO VARIOUS DIRECTORIES, DMOZ, & STARTUPS.COM

Since I have a finished product, I went ahead and submitted it to a few websites like Dmoz, coolsiteoftheday, makeuseof, etc. I am not really counting on getting in on these sites, but you can't win the lottery without playing.

Also, finished wrapping up the final touches for the Startups.com deal that will be posting soon. It's a daily coupon site (much like Groupon) but for tools/software to help your startup. I would suggest everyone to sign up, some cool stuff have come through so far in their 1 month of operation.

[JamesF]

Fendza Has Been Bought

I put Fendza up for sale to pursue a new idea, and a competitors have bought it out. Fendza.com will be redirecting to a new domain here soon.

I'm sure there a quite a few that think I am crazy, lol.. or ADD.. or whatever, but.. in the end; I had to choose what was best for me in this dilemma. And that was to pursue an idea that better fits me and my marketing style.

My Final Thoughts
Since I have started this Progress Thread, it's become of the most viewed ones here on the forum, and throughout the year of it's existence, I have received numerous compliments, PMs, complaints, etc. I thank each and every one of you for that. I really do. They say "if someone says something, it's cause they care; when someone doesn't say anything, it's because they quit on you"...

I have also received many PMs thanking me personally for documenting this progress thread and that I've inspired many to take action; that is a great feeling and happy it helped others in some way, somewhere; and that's what this forum is all about. Even if this whole Fendza ordeal wasn't a complete fastlane success to me, what matters most is that many people and I (and even those that have never said anything, lurkers, etc.) have learned stuff with me along the way.

It's not the destination, but the journey. and I can say that from this journey, I have learned sooo much about being a startup internet entrepreneur. That knowledge and skills obtained is priceless, and now it's my duty to apply what I learned from this journey to my next.

Again, I thank you all for letting me release out stuff on my mind throughout this journey and a personal thank you to MJ for this forum (because honestly, people in your position who have made it in the Fastlane mindset way before this forum ever came about; they know the fastlane forumula but wouldn't <selfishly> dare share it because this mindset would create more millionaires or take such a strong position against the "norm" of mediocre life because many would absolutely hate them).

I hope you all can follow me along on the new journey with me to make Freelanceful successful as well: PROGRESS THREAD (James F) Startup #2

Sincerely,
James F.

[CMCarlin]

Replying here, because I want to respect that you want to keep the threads separate, though it doesn't seem to be going that way. Replying to a lot of things said on your freelanceful thread....

Sad to see this go away, but if you were able to sell it for a nice chunk of change then cool!

I think you pointed out some of the problems with accuracy: i.e. every company and industry is going to have their own idea on what scheduling software should do. This is where it helps to go more vertical and meet the needs of just 1 or 2 industries and then expand from there. This is where being an insider truly helps.

As for your comment of the marketing aspect being scalable, I disagree. First, with regards to your comments about 40 hours of coldcalling being a 1 to 1 ratio of a return (my words, not yours, just my interpretation). I disagree. You've built a subscription model, so 1 hour of marketing could equal months of revenue from landing a customer. Also, you have affiliates, hire on a sales staff (that work on commission - same as affiliates but "in house"). There are PLENTY of ways to leverage and scale marketing efforts and they don't all have to take up YOUR time.

It's almost as if you want to be busy for the sake of being busy (i.e. starting a new project and not seeing the last one through). Now, ignore that last statement because 1) I don't know you and 2) because of 1, I cannot make any assumptions. It's just through written words that the above interpretation can be made, although there are no grounds for accuracy. So, no need to justify anything here I get the impression you are an incredibly intelligent person and really do your homework.

So I wish you the best of luck on freelanceful - this is a product I could use for sure and I would love to be a beta tester, if you will be doing anything of the sort. Even if it's making up some dummy projects etc etc.

[JamesF]

@CMCarlin - Thank you for your insight, I definitely took away many great points. The site sold for a bit; not nearly as much as I spent making it, but better than nothing. You raise a great point; marketing could of very well be scalable and I never really even thought about the 1 hour in, 1 hour out doesn't exactly apply since it was subscription model.

I think what happened with Fendza and why I ultimately decided to move on was 2 factors:
1) I had no passion for employee scheduling.
2) Marketing would involve more outbound methods (hitting the streets, sales team, etc.) than inbound (internet marketing: seo, blog, viral stuff, etc.) methods, and I think it goes back to passion. I have a love to meet inbound marketing challenges and can spend hours without realizing it, and outbound just seems like 'labor' to me, so didn't really fit my strengths.

I would love to be able to settle down on one idea and run with it and grow it, it's my ultimate vision. Unfortunately Fendza wasn't it for me; however I don't blame ya for getting the impression I just do things to stay 'busy' so I can feel like I'm making moves cause it would appear that way right now.

Thanks! I will def keep in touch with you about Freelanceful!

[domular]

As a wrap-up to this I'd love to hear a little about how you approached your competitors to sell and the negotiation process. My bet is there is some really valuable insights forum members could learn from.

[JamesF]

Hey, nothing too valuable; after I took the site down: I hit Google and emailed about 20 competitors that I am selling the web app code and also the domain; I also included traffic stats and how much they would save by having just the organic traffic over the next few years.

The day after I emailed out; I got about 5 emails back and they were ready to pounce.