Thread: awjt's diary of achieving financial independence.

Originally Posted by awjt

Drupal is a fargin disaster.

Very powerful CMS, but yes, the hardest of all of them. Enjoy reading your progress!

Two days to go for my first deadline. I'll be there, although I will have a new deadline in 1 month for the next round of features. I think the next deadline will be much more realistic, now that I know the software fairly well, and have my development process down pat.

In the meantime, some musings...

As we have all had drilled into our heads, success is about EXECUTION. But what is execution made out of? Execution boils down to PRACTICE. As in "doing." What do you consider your "practice"?

Is it slamming your hand on the alarm clock at 5:45, stumbling downstairs to make coffee, putting on a shirt and tie halfway, stumbling out the door to barely catch the train, sit there like a zombie, read the paper and then ride an elevator 30 floors up and finally plop yourself in the chair in your cubicle to do somebody else's work? Is that your daily meditation? The Matrix? Sounds peaceful and heart-healthy.

Or is it sensing first light and eyes popping open automatically at 5:45 with no alarm clock because you are rarin' to go, so much to do, lots of new work ahead today! Make coffee, get the kids ready, kiss the wife, then plunk down and hop to it, excited, excited, excited to see what happens today. Is that your daily meditation?

I still have a corporate job. I happen to like my day job doing other people's work. It allows me some flexibility to at least think about my entrepreneurial ideas, if not work on them a bit during breaks, and my day job expands my programming skills. It's epidemiology work that I enjoy and it directly contributes back to society. Plus my office mates and bosses are decent human beings whom I enjoy working with.

But, I never lose sight of the reality of that job. It's a job. Just a job. I worked hard to get it, but it's a job. The pay will NEVER exponentiate. I will NEVER become the boss, since I don't have a PhD, and I will NEVER rise up above a certain level in it. Them's the breaks. So, I have no illusions or issues about that job. It's a good job. If I am laying the groundwork correctly, I will be leaving it in a few years to pursue my entrepreneurship full-time. It'll be hard to leave, like cutting the umbilical cord, but I will, as soon as entrepreneurship is providing the correct level of returns. It's all math.

But back to the main topic: practice.

What is the difference between Tiger Woods 2002 and Tiger Woods 2012? Practice. In my opinion, Tiger 2002 didn't have a major knee injury or destroy his great family life or face personal tragedy. Tiger 2012 has turned into Britney Spears and made his entire life toxic. Now, he is back from a few years of intermittent practice and suffering in tournaments now because he cannot practice hard every single day like he used to for years back-to-back.

Tiger went soft. Just listen to him in his love-in press conferences. No more fighting spirit. It's all Zen peaceful crap now. That doesn't win tournaments.

It might be heart-healthy, but it's not Tiger food. It's kitten food. I'm gonna start calling him Kitty until he gets his cannibalistic eat-em-alive Incredible Hulk attitude back. Tigers eat meat, and now he eats mush-meal. Destroyed his family by being an ass, and now he's struggling.

Tiger 2002 was fresh off a LIFETIME of practice, like 20 years of it, because his dad stuck a putter in his hand before his 1st birthday, and a driver as soon as he could swing. Tiger 2012 COULD be like Tiger 2002 again, but, to my point, it will take consistent PRACTICE.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

And he's barely started doing that again last year. So the jury is still out. I won't hold my breath. Don't you be like that. Learn from Tiger Woods both what to do and what not to do.

So, what is my practice? Every day, besides the basics, I do two things without fail. It's so ingrained in me that I cannot deviate and I will feel less-than-whole if I skip them.

1. I code.
If I'm on vacation and don't have my computer, I have a book and I'm reading about code, thinking about techniques, thinking about stuff, learning new functions.

2. I cook.
Every day, I think about food and cooking it and sharing it. I love to cook. My challenge lately has been to cook great food, but reduce the fat content and eliminate processed materials. To cook as well as possible while being as healthful as possible. I am always looking at new recipes, thinking about new sauces, new presentations, new ways to do great things in the kitchen.

I do other stuff too, like work outside, build things, etc etc. But as for my PRACTICE, those two things are it.
EVERY DAY.

I practice that stuff every single day without fail. They have become entwined with my spinal cord: coding and food. That's why I'm doing this particular website, because it's both of those things put together. Not just a passion, but a daily practice.

If you don't have a practice, but you want one, I have a little advice. Time to go sit on a rock. Really appreciate yourself. Be thankful that you have a brain and an able body. Be thankful to God or the Universe or Jesus Christ or Buddha, whatever you believe in, that you were given the gift of this life.

Then appreciate what your true talents are. Things that you are known for. Or if you're not known, then things that you know about yourself. They could be small things, like, for example, that you have great balance. Or you know baseball stats like a robot spitting facts. Or you can bench 400. Or you love collecting stamps. It doesn't matter WHAT, just that you know what it is.

Then, ask yourself if it's something that already is or can directly contribute to a daily practice. For example, great balance might not directly contribute to something that you want to turn into a daily practice, but Tai Chi might be, and that requires balance. Dancing. Gymnastics. Or circus work on a tightrope. Any of those things could become a daily practice.

Or baseball stats: a website devoted to your peculiar understandings about the sport, with articles you write and post up. Your perspective is unique, so put new teams together, like in Moneyball, and explain why. Or look for never-before-seen patterns in the stats and explain your theories in humorous articles. Your column might get picked up by SI... but regardless, it could be your daily practice to write the stuff.

Or fitness. If you can bench 400, you probably know a few things that could help other guys learn how to bench that much. And you probably know a thing or two about fitness. I can think of a million ways to turn that into a daily practice.

Or stamps - you could make yourself into the world's leading authority on rare stamps and start a blog and store buying & selling them. If you know a lot about stamps, then you probably are a bit of a history buff. So you could write some interesting articles on the meaning behind a stamp, and little-known stories about all kinds of related history. Stuff that goes beyond the basic "upside down airplane" story, and delves deep into the history of these mysterious artifacts and the lives of the people behind them. That could be new and fresh every single day, as a practice.

Then the last step, as you are still sitting on your rock, is to get creative and think about ways to monetize it. HOW would you turn great balance/Tai Chi/Tightrope-walking into something with a mass-audience? HOW would you turn your personal style of baseball facts/fitness/stamps/[insert-your-talent-here] into something with a mass-audience? What OTHER skills would you need to incorporate into your daily practice in order to make some money with your God-given talents? How would you take your talents and IMPACT MILLIONS?

Think about what I wrote up top. For me it's not just cooking. It's also coding. It's not just cooking: it's also programming. It's a fun combination of skill-building that I do every day.

You might not need a combination. You might be a fantastic singer, and that's all you ever need. You are so good at singing that you just get gig after gig and the thing snowballs into a multimillion-dollar career. GREAT!

I'm talking about for the people still casting around looking for a magical life. Life is the magic you make it. Often, these things come in combinations. And often you have to create your own luck. Often by taking one innate talent and combining it with something else that you have to work at. But you PRACTICE IT EVERY DAY.

Maybe you're a decent singer, but haven't been lucky to hit it big. But you know that you can get the business skills and smarts to market yourself. Or hook yourself up with a band and work the publicity, and snowball it up into something big that way. And continue your daily practice of singing and learning the biz.

So, to recap, these are the things to do if you are still looking for a daily practice. Go "sit on a rock" and
1. Be thankful for the opportunity.
2. Appreciate what your true innate talents are.
3. Think about ways to monetize it, and if you need other skills towards that end. Make a plan for what your daily practice is going to be. Keep it simple, but you might need to employ a combination. And finally, most importantly,
4. Do it every day, without fail.

Every day practice. Every day practice.

For me, that's: get up and code. Code for breakfast. Code for lunch. Code the afternoon away, and code all evening. Take a break, cook dinner, hang out with the wife and kids. Then code some more. I eat this shit up. I LOVE IT. LOVE TO CODE. Some people like Soduku. I love to program. I love to cook.

Whatever you love to do, jump on it. Do it! And if you don't know what that is yet, your responsibility as a human being is to find out what it is. And then to do it every single day without fail. I hope my plan for sitting on a rock is helpful to you.

Best wishes! And here's to our success! *raises coffee mug*

OK, here it is. Thanks for being patient. Take a look, let me know what you think.

I'M STILL WORKING ON FUNCTIONALITY… so don't be surprised if nothing really works. But the basic structure is coming together.

MY SINCERE THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

cooks4.us

Next goal: March 31st. Full functionality.

I know you're still working on it, so I won't comment on functionality, but design-wise, you will want to work on making the site less wide - my monitor is 1680px wide, and I have to scroll right to see everything. Avoid left-right scrolling if at all possible. I'd also change the colors - black text on dark red is hard to see. I think the same off-white color in your menu text would be good to use in the body.

I totally agree about changing the colors. I like the look but not being able to see colors very well when they are close it is very hard to read. Left/Right scrolling is annoying too but I can deal with that if I can read it. Like anything it needs some tweaking but I like what you have done so far. Is your site going to be available everywhere or just in specific locations? I like how you have it set up for people to create their own accounts too.

Excellent feedback, guys, thank you!

I'm using a liquid layout, which is different than most websites because it's supposed to adjust its layout to the screen, but not supposed to cause left-right scrolling. So that is really interesting feedback. I'm on a Mac, using Safari and Chrome and it behaves. What platforms are you using? I definitely need to spend lots of time testing.

Second issue on the black font: very good point. I'll switch to the cream color. You are 100% correct.

The site is intended to be everywhere, but naturally since I'm starting out, I will have to be in specific locations first. I am in New England and am working on lining up chefs in my area. I already have one chef in California, and I'm working with him to get his stuff up there as my Guinea pig bold explorer.

All great feedback. I gave myself until March 31st for completing full basic functionality. Then, you'll be able to move around more in the site, look at what's on the menu, order some food. Soon, and thanks. I will incorporate those suggestions.

Great Progress so far. One Suggestion though. Before you go any further, read a book called "Ca$hvertising" by Drew Eric Whitman. It will help you pick the right color schemes, fonts, etc... Right now it's not too appealing to the eye and not the easiest to read. The books a fairly short book but it could help you out big time.

Thanks - 200 pages, no big deal and it looks like a good book. As you can see, I am a nerd, not an ad designer! Thanks!

The concept seems like a good idea to me. How do you work out pricing for people buying meals and what you and the chefs get paid?

Originally Posted by awjt

What platforms are you using?

I was using Firefox on Win 7 yesterday. Today I tried out FF, Chrome, and IE on Win XP Pro, and they all had the same issue. There's no content off to the right, just background, but the dark red box expands with the window size and has a constant background offset to the right. I.e. if my browser window is half the screen, the dark red box goes to the edge and there are a couple inches of background off to the right, and when I maximize the browser, the dark red box expands to the edge and there are still a couple inches of background off to the right. Also, in IE 8 the text in the red box ("Cook4.us is your local source...") doesn't wrap - it goes off the edge of the page. An unfortunate aspect of web design - IE doesn't work like most other browsers, but a majority or plurality of your users will be using it.

One good source for web design is Jakob Nielsen's useit.com. Despite that his site's design is rather...basic...he has good ideas and lots of free articles. I've also been wanting to buy this SitePoint Web Design book ($19 on AppSumo vs. $30 on SitePoint), but I can't vouch for it.

Let me know if your CA chef is in LA - I'll hit him up the next time my better half is out of town!

Thanks, this may force me to stop using the liquid layout. I will test the fixed width, in Win and with IE. THANKS. There is supposed to be a thin bar of background always present on the sides, but the red middle expands to fill the window. So if this is failing, I need to work it out, you are dead right on that.

Cooks4.us is supposed to have a French Bistro feel. That's because the target market is a step or two above take-out. Takeout for two people is typically around $25 if you don't order an insane amount of food. Cooks4.us is aiming at more of a personal chef type market, with meals for two in the $50 to $100 range. Not Shi-Shi like going to an actual upscale bistro. But not grubhub or Chinese takeout or pizza. Not that there is anything wrong with takeout. It is what it is, but my site is different. It's aimed at a different need: NICE food at home, that you didn't cook for yourself.

I don't know how many times I've said, damn, I wish I could order takeout that isn't pizza/Chinese/Indian and absolutely LOADED with salt and fat. I wish I could order something healthy... I'd even pay more for it. I'd even pay TWICE as much for it... if I could get it... That's the thought that gave birth to this idea.

As far as how it is intended to make money, the website will take payments from the customer and I take a cut, then send the rest on to the chef. The prices will be set as a collaboration between me and the chef. Chefs that are established with me will need less attention on their pricing and will have freedom to do whatever. But chefs starting out will need to speak with me at length and work with me to get their stuff set up. (I'll scale this into a process for later on and hire help for it.) Restaurants are welcome to sign up too... as long as they hit that target market of mid- to upscale food delivery.

What you're specifically not seeing yet are the meal selectors that I've designed in CSS/HTML and Jscript. They are NICE, and they are coming as soon as I can figure out how to integrate them with Drupal. I've already made them, and they are sitting ready to be worked in. That's why I really appreciated that suggestion to read Ca$hvertising, because from the beginning I had an inkling that what I'm after has this sexy food appeal, and I aim to maximize that appeal.

Anyways, I could go on and on... Thanks for the feedback guys. I will work it in and post up a note in a few days.

Yeah, unfortunately sometimes the slicker way to do things isn't very cross-browser compatible. I hope it doesn't give you too many problems. If you want a Windows IE/Chrome/FF check in the future, let me know.

BTW, I got this in my email today - looks like there is enough demand for chef service in LA that you already have competition: Running With Forks | Gilt City Los Angeles. Gilt started as a designer clothing closeout place, but has expanded into a sort of higher-end Groupon.

Interesting on the Gilt people... seems kinda intrusive to have the chef in your house, etc. Although, there IS a market for that. Just seems rather limited. My place is for delivery of already-prepared stuff. A different feel about it. Middle-class normal people don't hire chefs. But middle-class normal people DO eat nice food... on occasion ~ ~ ~LOL

I'll jump on the mods this weekend and post up when done

BTW, CA$HVERTISING is great. It's a MUST-READ for anyone else attempting this insanity.

Thanks

Things are going... wish I had more time to spend on the rest of the forum, chatting... I unfortunately don't.

Some new developments are that I have another two chefs ready to sign up. And I'm working on a few more... and developing developing developing... I'm gaining a more solid footing in the various Drupal APIs, and squaring away my dev/production environments, w/ version control. Some seriously geeky fun going on here... LOL

This website is going to fly, one way or another! Soon as I turn my first dollar, I will think about contracting out some parts for improvements. All in all, the landscape for my listing service is very promising and it is still very exciting to be working on this project. People are genuinely interested when I talk about it and I am learning so much. As MJ said in his book, it really is about the journey.

That's because even if this thing doesn't take off in a big way and stays small, I learned stuff that I can apply universally to ANY website idea that I might think up later on. I foresee a collection of different websites, all serving info and services that people want.

Anyways, I have a job to get back to... and more evening web work... (Things are going well with the wife and family, too, btw. I have achieved a balance of hard relentless work and time with them... also part of the learning curve here.)

I'll post up more stuff in about a week.

Thanks, kwerner. I thought about using Wordpress, but it didn't seem powerful enough to do what I want, or as extensible. I *have* complained a lot on this thread... well, as my wife will attest, I do complain a lot. But that's because complaining is fun! If I didn't get anything out of it, I wouldn't do it.

So thank you for the reference to Elance/Odesk. I'm doing the first part of my site solo, to get it up and running, then I'm going to think about farming out pieces for improvements after version 1.0 is complete. That way I'm never in the dark on how to fix something if it breaks. But yes, at some point I will no longer have the luxury of spending hours behind the screen if I want the biz to fly. I will HAVE to spend many hours doing CEO things, and a lot less coding. Good advice, thank you for it.

Some good news. Saturday and Sunday, I spent oh around 20 hours working on the site. I have gotten a key piece of the functionality in place: entering the zip, bringing up a list of the chefs that deliver to it, and then the click-thru to the chef's page of meals for sale. Right now, just in terms of a fancy database query and some text returned. No static pages. All dynamic content, so that later on it is scalable. Trying hard to do it right from the start.

If you want to try it, enter 03755 in the zip search box.

Already, I've noticed some places where Drupal really falls short... no db optimization is built in. Drupal makes separate tables for every entity. That's pretty dumb, and causes you to have to go on 5 different db queries to make the associations necessary for finding a piece of info based off a search string. So, I'll be writing some Perl and cron jobs to handle some important back-end DB flattening work, so that my Drupal queries can be kept simple. Complexity for complexity's sake is just plain stupid. Otherwise, I am loving Drupal... extremely powerful. This thing can do anything!

Stuff like that is where I am still at. Learning the trade, brick by brick. You should see my code. It looks like a cross between Frankenstein, the Three Stooges and Bozo. Just kidding. I've cleaned it up, commented and optimized it a lot. But sure does feel klugey compared to other stuff I've done in the past.

So the overall good news... I am feeling confident that I'll meet my goal of full functionality by the end of the month. And I bet I'll get the styling most of the way there too... excellent. HOPEFULLY TURNING COIN BY LATE SPRING!!!

Originally Posted by kwerner

Don't get caught in the trap of learning a skill instead of learning how to run a business.

I'm willing to take this at face value as good advice. At some point things must take flight and not stay in development. However, I do fail to see the value difference here that you're suggesting. Isn't learning to run a business a skill? Isn't building a business in a new market also developing a skill? I.e., the skill of building a business from the ground up vs. the skill of "running a business" that is based on outsourcing.

Also, do you have examples of sites that you've built/outsourced? I'd love to take a look.