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SaaS Startup Thread, 2nd Time Entrepeneur

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Young-Gun

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Basically it was always I want Facebook/any bigname site with a twist.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

:rofl::rofl: somehow I knew that's exactly what it would be!! :happy::happy:

No worries, I'm not planning to build the next social network ;)

My main goal is discovery of simple but pervasive small problems that could be solved in many businesses with a little bit of software.
I'm digging in to un-sexy but extremely common industries that are everywhere in the world.
And, just looking for some small, simple problems that suit my talents :)

I think... if I listen hard enough... and work hard enough... they will appear with clarity.
 
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Young-Gun

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Alright! I've made more progress from Friday night to (today) Saturday evening.

I had a lot of tutoring biz to attend to, but I've made good use of my free time.

Reviewing where I am with the SaaS Startup:
My SaaS business will be built as it evolves successfully through these 4 stages:
  1. Conceiving the Problem.
  2. Building the Solution.
  3. Mass-Marketing the Solution cost-effectively.
  4. Ongoing Support and improvement.
Right now I'm squarely in Phase 1... searching for a desperate NEED that's shared by many, many small businesses.

At the same time, there's a bit of Phase 2... since I'm teaching myself to code as fast as possible. I need to be ready to build my SaaS solution, once I identify the problem.

So here's what we got done in the past 24 hours to move forward on Phase 1 and Phase 2:

Customer Development: Added 65 Local Business Prospects and Decision-Makers to my Customer Development spreadsheet.

Today I've continued to dig through the internet for Small-Business Decision Makers and Contact Info, and enter into my spreadsheet to contact them in the very near future.

In the past 24 hours I've been able to add 65 more businesses to my database.

I need to contact hundreds and hundreds of businesses to actually get 10-20x Customer Development phone interviews. So, my Prospect Database needs to keep growing by the hundreds. Otherwise I won't have enough new Contact Info to keep sending out Interview Requests at a reasonable speed, and my Customer Development plans will suffer.

To find Businesses and Decision-Maker Contact Info, I'm using a combination of:
  • Yelp
  • Google
  • Company Websites
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
In this phase I'm focusing "Deep" on ONE specific local niche industry until I've done outreach to every local business within that niche industry.

When I've exhausted this Deep niche, I'll shift back into "Broad" mode and send batches of emails to many different niche industries.

If any of those niches respond, I'll shift back into "Deep" mode and email hundreds more businesses in that niche.

So, a continual mix of "Going Deep" and "Going Broad."

Eventually, I'll start making important discoveries about Pain Points within local niche industries.

This also gets faster and easier with practice:

With all these hours of searching, I'm getting really good at sleuthing out Contact Info by tying together the different online networks.

For example, lots of Yelp Reviewers will leave the name of the Owner in their review of the business!

So, even when I can't find a name anywhere else, the Yelp Reviewers will often tell me who is the Decision-Maker.

This is a classic example of how action is the best way to solve all problems.

Instead of wondering how you'll find Prospects for your business, just start looking - and figure out the details as you go.

Building the Product: Completed 3 more lessons in Learn Python the Hard Way.

After ending yesterday's Coding studies on a high point, I was really excited to leap back into the Coding practice after tutoring.

So, after tutoring today, I got right back into my independent study of Learn Python the Hard Way.

Remember - my purpose is to be ready to code when the Product Idea becomes clear through my Customer Development conversations.

All I have to do is build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
If I keep learning and practicing a little bit every day, I know I'll be ready.

This is all stuff that anyone can learn. Just gotta apply constant elbow grease.

Balance and Personal Life: Found some time to hang out with my girlfriend.


I got to have some fun as well, hanging out with my girlfriend for a bit of downtime.
She also runs a small biz (I'm basically her business mentor), and we love to talk about business together.

Never forget how important it is to spend time with loved ones!
Sure, you can throw everything away for your financial success.
Maybe you'll get there a few months sooner.
But it won't be any fun! At least in my book!
I want to take my friends and family out on my yacht!!!!

Phryne%20Photo%20Credit%20Perini%20Navi.jpg


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Perini Navi "Phryne"

So, even though I'm driven to keep working on my SaaS business and plow forward so I can go SAILING, I still make sure to set aside time for the PEOPLE in my life.

But, there are ways to get the best of both worlds, the Social AND the Productive sides of life....
Quick story. Last night, my GF was late, as girlfriends so often are.
Instead of doing nothing or watching TV while I waited for her, I jumped into my Customer Development spreadsheet.
I was able to add almost 20 new Prospects in the 15 minutes before she showed up.
Instead of twiddling my thumbs or watching TV, I made progress towards my yacht.

Use every moment for action.

It all adds up, but so does laziness.

---------

Loooooong day coming up tomorrow (Sunday).
I already know I'll be very very busy with tutoring biz most of the day.

I will do what I can on the SaaS, but if I need to rest up, I won't begrudge myself the need to regain energy.

No matter what, Monday has a TON of free time that I can use.

ONWARDS!!!!!
 
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johnwmintz

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Another place to look for local business contacts is the public record newspaper. I know at least in my town, they public all the new business incorporation and the ones that go away each week. Then user that information to cross reference with secretary of state office corporation look up.
 

Young-Gun

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Another place to look for local business contacts is the public record newspaper. I know at least in my town, they public all the new business incorporation and the ones that go away each week. Then user that information to cross reference with secretary of state office corporation look up.

Great advice, thanks. I laughed at myself when I read it, because I suddenly realized I'm probably doing things in SUCH a roundabout way.

Like, how would a GENIUS do this?

Probably code something to "scrape" the internet for Business Owner info.
Or, outsource to a free intern, or something.

There are definitely better ways to find these business contacts - but at least I can still add about 20-30 per hour, which feels like a pretty good speed.

What I might do is, after I've exhausted the Yelp / Google combo, start looking for new ways to find even more people to talk to.

Also, I bet your idea would help me find the names of the business owners that I can't easily find by other means on the internet. (And there are MANY businesses that I can't find the owner's name yet).

Thanks so much for the idea, never would have thought of it in a million years!
 
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johnwmintz

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I have toyed with some scraping tools like that. It should be able to be done in Python or such. Some sites offer APIs to scrape their site for specific pieces of information. This is is the area I have been considering.

After a data breach, certain info sometimes shows up on these sites in addition to the dark web.
 

Young-Gun

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just got another INTERVIEW CONFIRMATION!!!

This one is for a new niche! Expanding the pool of "business types" that have responded to my outreach!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

This never gets old... brings me almost to tears of joy and excitement.
Feeling the world affected by your actions in a positive way... or at least, the feeling of "potential" being stirred,
deep within the bowels of the earth!
and in my soul!!!!!

:happy::p:smile::rofl::somber::clench::clench::clench:

edit: btw this came almost 72 hours after I first contacted the business owner.
It came as a result *exactly* of the plan I've been following.
Work your process... don't lose hope if results aren't immediate.

GET OUT THERE AND MOVE THE EARTH!!!

MJNOV11Boatbuild-Future-Stevie.jpg


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One the most game-changing sailing yachts of all time... and a personal favorite...
Perini Navi's "Maltese Falcon"
To grasp the truly mind-boggling size of this boat, be sure to click the top or bottom picture to zoom in and play "spot the people!"
 
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ReubenA

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Just gunna throw it out there.. but if you have or can find any other options to build your product and you aren't starting with a base coding knowledge, don't learn to do it yourself. Your time is better spent on learning to market.

You don't see it yet, but there's a whole lot more to building good software than what you'll find in "Learn Python the Hard Way" -- especially when it comes to building high quality apps that won't require a complete re-write.

Learning Python is only 3% of it. Then you need to learn to architect software that doesn't suck - that's the hard part.
 
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Young-Gun

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Just gunna throw it out there.. but if you have or can find any other options to build your product and you aren't starting with a base coding knowledge, don't learn to do it yourself. Your time is better spent on learning to market.

You don't see it yet, but there's a whole lot more to building good software than what you'll find in "Learn Python the Hard Way" -- especially when it comes to building high quality apps that won't require a complete re-write.

Learning Python is only 3% of it. Then you need to learn to architect software that doesn't suck - that's the hard part.

Thanks for throwing it out there, but I'm going to learn to code, and I will be learning to code fluently.

If you actually read the thread, you'll understand why.

I am fully aware there is more to coding than completing "Learn Python the Hard Way."
 
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ReubenA

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Sorry, I didn't mean to come off confrontational. I did read your thread - and you mentioned:

"I don't know how deep the rabbit hole goes"
"I think that with a few more weeks of hardcore study, I should be able to know "just enough" to create basic software mockups, Alpha versions, or at least instruct other developers in what to build for me."

You won't. The most useful direction you'll be able to give them will be "it should have this feature". That's totally fine if you pick the right people to build it.

Not saying you can't be good at it - anyone can. I'm just saying it takes longer than you're thinking it will, and that time might be better spent elsewhere if you have another choice. You seem to have unrealistic expectations of the time it takes to get good, so I thought I'd give you a dose of reality. There's a reason really good devs get paid $100+ an hour to do it.

I'm 18 months ahead on the path you're walking. Coded my first SaaS myself after 700+ hours study. The codebase is terrible, which makes it incredibly hard to add new features and extend it.

Think hard before you learn to code to start a business (especially when you're not yet sure of the business idea) - in the end it isn't what makes the money and takes a F*ckload of time to learn. And then in the end, it's still marketing / business / sales skills that bring in the cash. If you're smart you can hire $20/hr coders that are better than you can be within <12 months.
 

Eric10x10

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In the end, it's still marketing / business / sales skills that bring in the cash.

Excellent point, ReubenA.

This has undoubtedly been the biggest thing I have struggled with on my personal entrepreneurial journey.

Finally, I have come to learn - the hard way, sadly - that regardless of how good (or average) your idea is, marketing and making sales determine whether or not you make it in the business world.

I am trying to learn new things everyday by reading relevant books and talking to people who have made it in sales. Hopefully, I will have improved significantly by the time my new venture gets to the execution stage. If not, I will have absolutely no problem delegating the sales/marketing tasks to other people who know what they are doing.

I think the same concept applies to SaaS businesses as well. Man, you gotta know how to sell the product to your customers. If you can't do that, pretty much nothing else matters.
 
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Young-Gun

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Hey ya'll! As expected, today was 90% devoted to my tutoring business. Still, made some SaaS progress too :)

Here's today's progress report:

Ran my tutoring biz to keep my (current) life afloat:
- Kicked a$$ in my tutoring biz. I love teaching, it's so fun for me! Been doing it for years, but I still get a kick out of it.

Today's lessons touched on everything from Algebra and Grammar skills to Batman, Korean Pop music and Dragonball Z. As an introvert, I do have to spend a LOT of personal energy for teaching, though. Luckily it comes back once I get some sleep.

I also got a couple decent sales from the tutoring biz today. This always encourages me in other pursuits as well. Tutoring sales, especially the passive kind, are proof I've successfully "done entrepreneurship" before, and I can / will do it again - only bigger, better, and faster!

Prepped for Customer Development phone interviews, happening tomorrow.
I've been working on my Customer Development interview scripts for about a week, but tomorrow will be the first day they're actually tested "in the field" with the upcoming Phone Calls.

There are 3 Customer Development Calls scheduled for tomorrow, so I'll get my first hands-on taste of talking to small business owners and listening to their problems.

Remember the goal: LISTEN more than you talk... draw out their PROBLEMS and pains.
Ask about the daily pains. Also, ask about consistent small pains vs occasional huge pains in their business.
Then, run my ideas past them for feedback.
Take notes the whole time!!
Be very, very nice and respectful... these people may (hopefully) become your customers down the line.
Enjoy the process! It's fun to talk about business with other founders / owners, I love it!

Added to my Prospect Development spreadsheet:
With how busy my Sundays are, today was mostly about the "mental game", but I also made concrete progress on the "grind" aspect of Customer Development.

Specifically, I fought to make time and find energy to keep building my Prospect Development spreadsheet.

This required going hard after my full work day at the tutoring business. I got home, made dinner, took a brief break, then boiled up some coffee and sat back down at the computer.

But, I did also invite my GF to hang out at my house while I worked. So I felt a sense of companionship and wasn't completely isolated by my work.

Anyway, today I added 42 more Decision-Makers and Contact Info to my Prospect Development spreadsheet.

In fact, today I finished adding an entire local niche to my Prospect spreadsheet - totaling over 150 local businesses, all in this single niche industry, in just one city!

When successful people talk about "grinding it out," I think this is the kind of stuff they mean.
Nothing fancy - just me, my computer, and my spreadsheet... and a lot of hours.

Planned a rough outline of upcoming week's goals:
I'm still solidly in the "Find the problem" phase. And, next comes the "Build the solution" phase.

Nothing else matters before I find the widespread problem my SaaS will solve.

Finding and solving the right problem will make marketing, growth, scaling, and sales 10,000 times easier.

There is *absolutely no rush* to build a useless, un-needed SaaS product.
I mean, I want to hustle and move fast, but I am not going to rush.

I'll be taking my time and VALIDATING my best ideas before building a single block of code.

I expect to spend another 4-6 weeks on Customer Development and Validation at a minimum.
And as our negative-commenting friend reminded us above, I have a long way to go before I'm a solid coder.

So, here's what we'll do in the coming 5-7 days:
- Send dozens and dozens of cold emails.
- Get more Customer Development interviews on the books.
- Add hundreds more Prospects to my Prospect Development spreadsheet.
- Switch back to Coding studies as the work-week ends

-----------------------------------------------

Tomorrow's going to be a BIG day - first contact with my prospects.
I'm a bit nervous, but mostly just excited.
Since I'm not committed to any one idea, there's no tension of "I sure hope they love my idea!!"
Since I haven't built anything yet, there's no risk of "Dammit, no one wants my product."
I gotta say, this freedom and flexibility feels great.
I'm just doing research. No pressure whatsoever.

These interviews are a HUGE step closer to my yacht. Updates tomorrow, for sure.

0athena4.jpg


00000929_25.jpg

Royal Huisman "Athena"
For scale, check out the guy riding the bowsprit in the bottom picture! Crazy!


-----------------------------------------------------

By the way, if you're reading this - PLEASE comment and send your encouragement!
A few kind words help me WAY more than you might guess.
I read every single word in this thread and take it all to heart.
Waking up and reading positive comments makes my day!!

So, if you want to be part of this project's success, join in the thread!! :)
 
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Young-Gun

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Excellent point, ReubenA.

This has undoubtedly been the biggest thing I have struggled with on my personal entrepreneurial journey.

Finally, I have come to learn - the hard way, sadly - that regardless of how good (or average) your idea is, marketing and making sales determine whether or not you make it in the business world.

I am trying to learn new things everyday by reading relevant books and talking to people who have made it in sales. Hopefully, I will have improved significantly by the time my new venture gets to the execution stage. If not, I will have absolutely no problem delegating the sales/marketing tasks to other people who know what they are doing.

I think the same concept applies to SaaS businesses as well. Man, you gotta know how to sell the product to your customers. If you can't do that, pretty much nothing else matters.

Execution matters more than everything.
Marketing and Sales are incredibly "execution-focused."
It's not about ideas, it's about action.

You should stop reading books about Sales.
Stop waiting for "the execution stage" to begin in the future.
The execution stage started 15 minutes ago.
What is it *specifically* that stops you from beginning your enterprise today, this minute?
Whatever objection you think you have... there's a way around it, if you take ACTION.

Yes - Delegation is good, especially for your weaknesses.
However, *many* business founders learn to do EVERYTHING in their business before anyone else does.
Just the nature of bootstrapping.
Disregard if you're venture funded, but I doubt anyone reading this is venture funded.

I agree that Sales / Marketing vastly more important than your "Big Idea," (which is why I'm HAPPY I don't have a specific idea locked down yet... it's an advantage not to commit to my "BIG IDEA" yet, not a disadvantage as some thread-readers seem to think.)

Here's a tip:
Much better than figuring out "how to sell the product to customers"
is figuring out the following:
How to create something absolutely essential, that is desperately needed and wanted by a large community of people.

It's much easier when you don't have to convince anyone to buy.
 

Young-Gun

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Despite best attempts, I didn't sleep much last night.

I was nervous before my calls so I listened to some psych-up music to build my energy (song was Invidia Boss Battle for you Final Fantasy 15 nerds).

Let's get into the nitty-gritty of the Customer Development calls today...

WOW, first Customer Development conversations were productive:

"Prospect #1" in "Industry C" - a middle-aged-sounding lady with 15+ years of business ownership, she was SO sweet to me, and easy to talk to. I was scared she had hung up on me, but she was just calling back from another line.

FIRST THING I DID WAS ESTABLISH THAT I WAS NOT TRYING TO SELL HER ANYTHING.
Then I introduced myself as quickly as possible using a pre-written script with about 3 key points.

After introducing myself, I opened with "So NAME, how's business?"
From here she opened up like a fire hydrant and I was just trying to balance LISTENING with NOTE-TAKING.
Very rarely did I need to prompt her for anything... she just kept talking (in a good way).
I always feel a little awkward over the phone, but this was a pretty easy conversation.

I discovered one MAJOR technical problem she faces in business - one that I would not have thought of on my own.

Solving this one would be on the "Uber"-level of challenge and scale. It's a common problem faced by many, many local businesses.
When she described the problem, I instantly had a few ideas about how software and tech in 2017 could make it better.
My gut tells me it's quite a complex software problem, but it's one I'm going to keep in mind going forward.

Then I ran my own "Idea" past her, which is based on my personal small-business problems.

She instantly knew what problem I was talking about. She had previously spend 24 months paying upwards of $200 a month for a disappointing SaaS solution to this exact same problem. This is something that I have also spent $80/mo on SaaS for over a year, before giving up in disappointment.

Although she herself may be jaded to the idea of trying SaaS again to solve this problem, nevertheless, it's clear that she AND I have paid a combined $300+/mo to solve this specific business challenge, and we both were very disappointed with the existing market offerings.

I also think this software problem is much simpler to solve than the other challenge that she brought up.

An interesting idea is a combination of Ideas 1 and 2, but that would be quite a large-scope project.
If achieved, it could be enormously profitable and successful and result in a medium-sized software company. But it would probably take a team to build it in a reasonable span of time.

Prospect #1 ended up inviting me to a weekly meeting group of local entrepreneurs, which I will make sure to attend!

At the end of conversation, I thanked her profusely and awkwardly asked if I could call her again in the future to learn more about her problems.

She said absolutely, she would love to talk in the future and will be happy to give me all the business problems she can think of!

----------------------------------------

Prospect #2 in "Industry T" was a younger lady and also VERY easy and fun to talk to!

In fact, the problem with this 2nd conversation was, I got sidetracked by how interesting our conversation was, and I forgot to keep it focused.

So, when I let her off the phone, I realized I had sort of wasted the opportunity to ASK some better questions.

Nevertheless, I learned that:
- This small business had experienced some trouble scaling and was currently focused on downsizing.
- They didn't want to be wasting 4 hours a month on "X" problem in 2017 when this should be a "push button" software solution at this point.

The problem of Prospect #2 was entirely different than the two problems raised in my last conversation with Prospect #1.

I also completely forgot to ask about "MY idea" during this conversation. LOL!

My mistake in this convo was: midway through, Prospect #2 asked me about my story and I gave into temptation to talk about myself.

From there I failed to recover, as she was just stroking my ego about what a good entrepreneur I was, lol.

It became a "feel good" conversation instead of a "productive" conversation.

Now I'm actually pretty pissed at myself for falling into the honeytrap.

I wasted a perfectly good 2nd-half of a conversation with a business owner, and spent it talking about myself.

This just goes to show how easily you can get biz owners to open up.
Just ask about their business and/or life story, and they can't even HELP talking.

Luckily, I should be able to easily followup with Prospect #2, just like Prospect #1.
Both are VERY generous with their time and spirit, and seemed to really enjoy talking to me.

"So [Name], How's Business?" is the most boss opening question ever.
I bet every business owner in the world loves the crap out of this question; I know I do.
idea stolen from @Andy Black I believe.

I'm also trying to figure out the pacing and length of these conversations.. It's hard to tell if THEY are getting tired of talking, or if I AM getting tired of being on the phone.

Like I've said more than once, phone is really NOT my strong point. So, I'm kind of just pushing through because it's necessary.

Luckily, these first two conversations have been VERY educational, fun, and insightful.

I can't wait to have more Customer Development interviews.
This is extremely satisfying and fun.
I think I'll get much better at the process of this as I do it more and more.

Next time, I'll remember to stay focused, ask key questions, and not talk about myself.
By putting the focus on the outside world, other people, and their problems - I will earn my yacht.

6170-picchiotti-launch-superyacht-galileo-g-for-the-2011-mys.jpg

6553-perini-navi-deliver-superyacht-galileo-g.jpg

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Picchiotti + Perini Navi "Galileo" Motoryacht
Ice-Class World Explorer
 
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Young-Gun

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Fell asleep very early last night (Monday) after finishing up with tutoring biz work.
Weekend was very busy, followed by the excitement of first phone conversations with real prospects.
So, I just passed out as soon as it got dark.

It's very early on Tuesday morning (I was up around 5 AM today).
Just made some coffee and put my life in order, so I have space to work on the SaaS business.
The tutoring biz shouldn't need me again until later this evening, so I have all day to work.

Today's goals:
  • Send Thank-You's to yesterday's 2 interviewers, and followup steps to get more information from them.
  • Tweak my Interview Request email script. Less sales-y, and more clear what I'm asking for.
  • Send out lots of Interview Request emails... Goal is 3 more interviews, so probably send 75 Interview Request emails at 4% response rate.
  • Study programming... goal is complete 4 chapters in Learn Python the Hard Way.
  • Add more prospects to my spreadsheet. This is the most "brain dead" on the list, so I'll leave it for last today.

Lots to do today!
If I stay focused, I think I can finish even more than I've set out to do.
Bringing everything one whopping day closer.

embed-riva-76-perseo.jpg


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Riva 76 Perseo
 

Young-Gun

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Tweaking the Interview Request email was easy and took way less time than I thought it would.

Two small changes make it "feel" a lot different and I think it's ready to test in its new, tweaked form.

I changed the Subject Line to be MUCH more clear about what I wanted from the recipient.
They may refuse the interview, but at least they won't misunderstand what I'm asking.
Subject Line is still customized to their individual name and business.

And..

I put the same "Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you anything" statement right at the front of the email.

The updated script should be good to customize and send out to the next 75 local small businesses today and see what happens.

If we get better than a 4% Response Rate (in other words, if we get more than 3 respondents), then the changes are probably an improvement!
 
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Young-Gun

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Thank-You's sent to the Business Owners who interviewed with me yesterday. It took about ten minutes and I also created a re-usable, customizable script to save time on this in the future.

The emails were short, maybe 5 lines long, with tons of thanks for their time yesterday.
Gave them a preview of where I'm going: I'll be interviewing other biz owners around the country, and looking for common shared problems.
And, reminded them I'll want to ask more questions in the future, if that's ok.

I decided NOT to ask for much followup info at this moment - just confirming that this was the best email address to reach them directly in the future.

It's not even 7:30 AM and I feel like I'm gonna crush it today ;)
 
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Majorly adjusted plans mid-day and focused on Learning to Code instead. Here's what I'm thinking now.

Customer Development plan works, but it can wait a bit:
I know that I can always get more Customer Development interviews. It's easy, just takes time.
At a 4-5% response rate I can easily get 20 interviews if I contact around 500 small businesses, which is easy.
Actually, now I want more like 50 interviews (contact 1,250 small businesses nationally) would be much more info about my MARKET NEEDS.

My point is - contacting 500 - 1,250 businesses is EASY, but also TIME-CONSUMING.
It can easily wait. Those businesses aren't going anywhere.
And, I know my approach to getting more interviews basically works.
This all relates to Phase 1: Find the Need.
I know my approach, and I know it works.

Instead, I need to learn more about Coding for Phase 2: Building the Solution ... ASAP:
Because of the guy who said that Coding was harder than I thought...
I've been spending extra time reading about the challenges of coding. Good articles online.

I'm 110% sure I can overcome each challenge of learning to code on a serious level.
Again, I have prior experience as a calculator programmer, back in 6th-8th grade.
It's distant, but I've always liked coding and had an aptitude for it.
The way I think and learn is well-suited to programming.

Learning the Python language has not been hard, just takes patience and time.
Also, twelve year olds can code apps. I know that I can, too.

The real trick is to learn to do it in a short period of time.

Here is where I simply will NOT LISTEN to nay-sayers.
I believe the essentials of coding a Business Application CAN be learned relatively quickly.

Perhaps not in the "few weeks" I originally mentioned, but I didn't mean that literally.

Basically I meant, it should NOT take a year for me to learn to build my Business SaaS app.

I'm not saying I'll code FACEBOOK or GOOGLE.

What I'm saying is - it's completely realistic to succeed at coding a simple Business SaaS, as long as I:
  • Research the Market NEED very clearly before building..
  • Pick the simplest major Need that I find during Customer Development...
  • and Focus on delivering only one killer feature before anything else.
If all my Coding studies are focused around building one specific thing, then I won't be wasting time.

For example, what do you study in 4 years of Computer Science at college?
A lot of great stuff, but a lot of useless theoretical stuff as well.
Plus, I don't have to deal with bad professors, or slow classmates.
I can JUST focus on learning the essentials I need to build my SaaS.
And, by keeping that goal foremost in my mind, I have a passionate need of my own driving me forward.
The internet + practice have everything I need.
(And better yet, my friends are joining in... see below)

Yes, it will be hard as hell, but check out what I did today.. it will help:

- Started coding a simple Text Adventure project (my book Learn Python the Hard Way is on a chapter that just says 'spend a week building a text adventure game' so, that's basically what I'm doing... except I will only continue as long as I feel like the project is teaching me something. Right now, it's teaching me a lot, and it's fun - so I'll keep going.)

The main thing today, was I learned / researched how to build Rooms from a system of dictionaries within dictionaries.
I'll be extended the game with more Rooms and Features as long as I feel that the project is teaching me something.

- Based on that Text Adventure, I connected with 3 coding friends (my two best friends and my little brother)
I told them about the Text Adventure game and all of them have expressed interest in helping me learn to code better.

I'm following their advice and setting up a GitHub account so they can look at my code and "tear me a new one" in my friend's words (yes daddy)

And... the Text Adventure game, which I'll keep working on tomorrow?
It's called... Escape to Freedom.
And, it's about escaping from a stone prison to a beautiful blue and white yacht sitting in the bay.

3b0623af6cc13dbf6c6aaaf1762a047c.jpg



--------------------------------------
Probably makes sense to keep building my Prospect Database when I'm feeling "brain dead" at the end of the day.
After all, I want to contact 1,000+ small businesses for my interviews.
And it just takes searching online and typing into a spreadsheet.

I'll post again soon!
 
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Young-Gun

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Just was doing some back of the envelope calculating with my friend for my financial goals and exit scenarios.

My BARE minimum goal from this business is life-changing wealth: $1.6 million after taxes.
$1.6 million in capital for diversified, basic, safe investments....
At 5% interest that's $80k income per year, more than enough to live off.
I wouldn't have much surplus "fun" money, or business seed money left, but it would allow me to retire comfortably, travel, and work on new things.

My TARGET minimum goal from this business is $3 million after taxes.
Secure an excellent lifestyle: $2 million in capital, at 5% interest, for $100k investment income per year
Buy my own home + rental property in cash: $500k
'Fun money': $250k for a sailboat, motorcycle, RV, a piano, recording equipment, and travel money (not all at once!)
Next business seed capital: $250k

My DREAM goal for this business is $8 million after taxes.
Secure an extraordinary lifestyle: $6 million in investment capital for $300k investment income per year.
Buy my own property: $500k
'Fun money': $500k. Same, but even nicer.
Next business seed capital: $1 mil

Anything beyond this point is just gravy... I'd buy a bigger yacht and start a family.

Now, the BEFORE-tax exit numbers look something like this:
Bare Minimum: $2.7 million sale before taxes
Target Minimum: $5 million sale before taxes
Dream Goal: $13.4 million sale before taxes, or more.

Usually a successful small/medium SaaS could sell for 5 - 10x yearly earnings.
Let's be conservative and say 5x yearly revenue is our sale price.
This assumes we keep expenses to a bare minimum... but of course that's the goal anyway.

The 5x sale multiplier means our yearly revenue targets are:
Bare Minimum: $540k revenue / year
Target Minimum: $1 mil revenue / year
Dream Goal: $2.7 mil revenue / year

If we work backwards, we can calculate the monthly revenue target:
Bare Minimum: $45k revenue / month
Target Minimum: $84k revenue / month
Dream Goal: $225k revenue / month

Assuming our service costs $50 / month, calculate how many paying subscribers we need:
Bare Minimum: 900 theoretical users
Target Minimum: 1,680 theoretical users
Dream Goal: 4,500 theoretical users

And, assuming 10% of our users churn out every month, a ROUGH calculation for the "real" targets:
Bare Minimum: 1,000 real-world users
Target Minimum: 2,000 real-world users
Dream Goal: 5,000 real-world users

Just to tie this all together:
Getting 1,000 users on my $50/mo SaaS platform would produce an Exit Value of approximately $1.6 million after taxes.
This is an 'acceptable' outcome for my efforts.

Getting 2,000 users would produce an Exit Value of approximately $3 million after taxes.
This is my target goal - I want to reach this as quickly as possible.

Getting 5,000 users would produce an Exit Value of approximately $8 million after taxes.
This is my dream goal for this business and would represent an extremely successful outcome.

Anything beyond that would be mindblowingly successful, but not necessary to my goals. I'd love to get as big as possible, but I'm not holding my breath.

Does the market of Industry-Targeted Small-Business Software seem to support the 2,000-5,000 user range?
YES. I know it does.
There are thousands and thousands of small businesses in every major city in America... and in the world!

If I'm selling to businesses in 40 cities, and my SaaS solves a NEED shared by 5 different small-business industries...
Then I only need to get 10 users, per city, per industry.
That's 2000 users, my Target Goal.

The Dream Goal could be 50 cities and 10 industries.
Then, 10 users per city per industry is 5000 users, my Dream Goal.

What if I could make my software useful to 15 different industries?
50 cities, 15 industries, with 10 users per city per industry?
That becomes 7500 users, and a 10-digit net worth of $20 million or more.

These numbers are NOT impossible.
They aren't even all that big.

This is absolutely doable.

------

Let's take this one step farther and use a MRR (monthly recurring revenue) calculation spreadsheet made by a SaaS investment professional.

We can estimate, once our SaaS product is built, how many new Paying Users we need to acquire per month.

My objective is to hit target goal after *18 months* after I start to sell the finished SaaS.

Bare Minimum Goal: Add 87 users per month (2.9 new users per day)
Target Goal: Add 167 users per month (5.6 new users per day)
Dream Goal: Add 500 users per month (17 new users per day)

Let's say we were closing 2% of the businesses we talked to.
That's 50 Prospects per sale.

Bare Minimum Goal: Reach 4350 Prospects per month (145 Prospects per day)
Target Goal: Reach 8350 Prospects per month (275 Prospects per day)
Dream Goal: Reach 25,000 Prospects per month (833 Prospects per day)

These numbers are big, but not impossible.
A great nation-wide prospect list and some automation could make it work.
Or, last resort is to hire someone to do sales, once things are rolling.

Good website, SEO, inbound marketing, and some highly-targeted Adwords / Facebook Ads will also be very important to hit the numbers at that scale.

But it's all doable.
As long as the NEED is there, and I build a good product...
Then I just have to get it in front of less than 1,000 prospects per day.
It's not that hard.
Just gotta think big

------

One last thought along these lines.
I would never purchase a boat that was worth more than 5% of my net worth.

So based on the outcomes above, we can estimate the type of boat I could get.
Sailboat or power boat.
Small, mid-size, or large.
Basic or luxury.
Lake-bound or Ocean-Going.

1000 Paying Users: $80,000 Boat (small basic ocean-going sailboat // small basic lake powerboat)
2000 Paying Users: $150,000 Boat (mid-size luxury ocean-going sail yacht // small luxury lake powerboat)
5000 Paying Users: $400,000 Boat (large luxury ocean-going sail yacht // mid-size luxury lake powerboat // small luxury ocean-going powerboat)

Just curious for my own purposes, what that looked like... now I know!

Guess having a million-dollar sailboat requires $20 mil or more, by my standards.

Some of the biggest yachts I've shown in this thread are worth $50 mil+.
That would mean a $1 Billion+ net worth.
LOL! Well, we all know it's possible...
 
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Young-Gun

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Probably gonna take a cheat day today.
Something hit my stomach last night, got sick and didn't sleep well.
I feel better this afternoon, but I need to recover, and the Tutoring biz also needs my attention for most of the rest of the day.

If I'm able to, I may be able to add some new SaaS Prospects to my spreadsheet today.
But, I don't think I'll be studying code, even though I want to.
It just feels like I need some hot soup and rest, and I'm afraid nothing will stick in my head.

Can't wait to get back to serious work tomorrow... right now I have *all* of Thursday and Friday off, so i can make progress on the SaaS.

If I manage to get anything done today, I'll update!
 
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So far you are the first person (on this forum) who is obsessed with having a yacht more than having a car*. I have a similar goal so I decided to write you to show my support. Some day (preferably in 5 years) I hope to brag to you about my own yacht :D or at least be happy for you and your progress. Good luck!

*I'm sure there are more and I will find them as well.
 

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So far you are the first person (on this forum) who is obsessed with having a yacht more than having a car*. I have a similar goal so I decided to write you to show my support. Some day (preferably in 5 years) I hope to brag to you about my own yacht :D or at least be happy for you and your progress. Good luck!

*I'm sure there are more and I will find them as well.

Boats and motorcycles ;)
lets race boats together in a few years!! or just go for a day on the ocean! Let's make it 2-3 years!!
sail or power? or both, why choose ^_^

thanks so much for checking in, gave me a burst of extra energy.

I love support and knowing other people are working towards similar goals and making it happen!!

01-wally-110-barong-d-sailing-yacht.jpg

Wally Barong D
 

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A small event happened today to make me REALLY not want to be in a Service-based, human-based business model any more (tutoring).
Basically just something one of my employees did that really annoyed me.

I *was* feeling sick last night and today, but I decided NOT to use that as an excuse for inaction.
There's always something I can do, even if I don't feel 100%.

I'm using my 'rage' as fuel to do more prospecting for the SaaS business.
When this business is built, it can run with much less need for human attention.
So, I want to get there as soon as possible.

Therefore I returned to the "braindead" work of Prospecting today.
I didn't have to "feel good," or talk to people... I just had to DO IT.

Today I found a local industry / niche with over two thousand of these small businesses in just my city alone.
Rough math is that's an audience of 80,000 or more businesses in the USA.
So, I've decided this niche will be my next "go deep" target.

This niche is hilarious.
Owners and Managing Directors just leave their direct emails and phone numbers all over the web.

Even with sickness, today I added 36 more prospects and Decision-Makers from this niche to my SaaS Prospect Database.

Onwards! I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow and set my schedule based on that.

As long as I'm either:
A) Finding New Prospects
B) Interviewing My Prospects
C) Learning to Code

...then I'm making progress and not wasting time.

-------------------------------------------

A quick thought on C) Learning to Code for anyone on a similar path.
It may be that I end up outsourcing parts of the software.
Maybe I'll build some parts, and have the really tricky bits built by other people.
Or maybe my friends can help me build it.

But, it still stands to reason that EVERY little ounce of Coding knowledge and experience I acquire will help.
For this software product, future expansions of it.. and new products / companies in the future.

The more I learn about Coding....
- the better project leader I can be
- the less chance of being ripped off by outsourcers
- the less chance of underestimating or overestimating the difficulty of a project
- the better chance of hitting a home run in the small-biz SaaS Software industry

If anyone is wondering... I do have a clear "Idea" what I might like to build, and Who my Audience would be.
And I think it's a pretty good idea, because it's been sticking in my head for a long time.
But, I'm in no rush, and I'm not committed to this one Idea.

Instead of committing to one Idea, I want to stay Lean and Customer-Focused.
I will do MUCH more research as I learn more about Coding.
Goal is still 50 Prospect Interviews before I build (or pay for) a single line of code.

I'm also considering some quick landing pages + small Facebook ad campaign to see if my Product Idea resonates on a National scale.

This is also Customer Development so I can get more Sales at launch (or before it)

And, this helps me build a LIST of NEEDS for future projects.
Right now I'm looking for a SIMPLE, widespread need.
Something that I can solve with a Single Feature SaaS.
But in the future, my Company may want to expand.
Or, I may need to make a case to a potential buyer: "there is much more you could expand this into"
Basically, the LIST OF NEEDS generated by this process is GOLD for future Software projects.

At the same time as I'm researching Market NEED, I'm also learning to CONNECT and SELL to these same people.
It all ties together in a big connected circle.

Hope this all makes sense, and is useful if you're actually reading it.
It still helps me every day to think about this Forum and to post what I'm doing.. and what's going through my head.
Makes me feel less alone as I go through the challenges of the PROCESS.

We're all in this together.
Goodnight and good luck everyone! ;)
 

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Today's a busy day juggling LIFE and tutoring business.
Still, I'm itching to work on the SaaS project.

Update on today's SaaS progress:

Came up with a new approach to Idea Validation: Quick Landing Page + Facebook Ads
Using systems that I already have for my tutoring business..
I've built a Landing Page + Thank-You Page for my "Idea #1" for "Niche R".
Hooked it up to my email-list service, so now I can collect subscribers.
So far so good...

But then when trying to "turn on the faucet" by spending $20 on Facebook Ads, I'm experiencing some issues.
Facebook is not approving my ad.
So, I have to figure out what needs to be changed.

Glad I got the process started.
For just $20 I'll be able to promote my Landing Page and "Idea #1" to my test audience.
This should quickly tell me if the Idea is any good or not.

I don't know how long Facebook will take to respond, so I'm going to move on for now.
This felt like significant progress on my Idea Validation process.
Even if the Idea flops, that's progress. I'll stop wasting time thinking about it.

Now I also know how to quickly build Landing Page + Subscribe + Facebook Ad + Facebook Audience combo for more ideas in the future.

For now I need to do some more "REAL LIFE" stuff.
Then, I will probably turn back to Coding Practice since I want to put my Text Adventure game online for my friends to critique.

ONWARDS!

----------------

Edit: I got a very quick response from Facebook and it was an easy fix to get my ad running. Now I'm just waiting on them to confirm.

In the meantime I touched up and tested the Facebook Ad + Landing Page + Subscribe + Thank You experience from the customer's end... tweaked a few things to improve.

Moments later... Test Ad is active on a National scale!

I'm going to go run some errands and see if anyone bites in the meantime.

--------------

Edit 2: Also should say, I was able to set up Google Analytics and Facebook Conversion Tracking *very* quickly on this page.

It's trippy, I can currently see someone in Lancaster, California... another in Tallahassee, Florida... looking at my landing page that I set up not 2 hours ago.

All a result of my previous experience building these type of systems for my Tutoring business!

Trust the process.. believe that all the dots will connect.
Wasn't it Steve Jobs who said something like that?

---------

Edit 3: What I've done to get the most bang for my $20 is lowered the Facebook Ads bid for my Ad, and then I extended the days the Ad will run.

I really do NOT want to have a high CPC (cost per click) to get people to view my Test Landing Page.

So, I'm comfortable waiting a few more days for results and data to trickle in. Right now I'd rather have slow, cheap data than fast, expensive data.


---------

Edit 4: I'm messing with Facebook bids in 10-cent increments.

I was getting some traffic before I cut bids much lower.
However, that dried up the traffic completely, so I've been edging up the bid by 10 cents.
When I start seeing a bit of traffic again, I'll keep that bid.

Right now it seems like Facebook wants to charge me about $1.40 per click, I'm trying to keep that to $1 or less.
 
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Quick update, didn't get much more done today, but a little:

- coded a bit more of my Text Adventure
Nothing crazy, just added a few more rooms and worked on a new minor feature
Also got feedback about a confusing error/bug I was getting

- Fiddled with Facebook ads for the Test Landing Page.
It's not a hit (yet) but this idea is getting clickthroughs.
I may fiddle with the details a bit and try again tomorrow.
I DO like the system though: quick Test Landing Page design + simple targeted Facebook Ads.
It's a little expensive to test with, but I'll see what I can do to improve results.

- Talked with a friend about business ideas.
We both believe in the process I'm following:
- Interview deep in a small-business niche
- Listen for NEED and propose solutions
- Test proposed solutions with quick Landing Page + Targeted Facebook Ads
- Test about 10 different ideas and build the one with the best response.

Good night for now!
My friend wanted me to take him on the yacht! :D


-------

EDIT: Plans for tomorrow

There's a lot of Life and Tutoring stuff I need to take care of.
  • Family stuff
  • 2016 Taxes / Expenses
  • Tutoring Biz errand I need to do
So, my ONLY SaaS goal for tomorrow is to work on PROGRAMMING:
  • Add 10 more rooms to the Text Adventure
  • Finish bug-fixing the newest feature (a "die" command to kill yourself mid-game, lol)
  • Start adding second new feature (combat system, inventory, or something)
 
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Young-Gun

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Today's Morning Reading: Everything I can get my hands on about SaaS startups:
  • Fastest growing SaaS companies and industries
  • Common challenges faced by SaaS founders and companies
  • Startup phases of successful SaaS companies
One thing that caught my eye:
Many successful SaaS companies put a large emphasis on Customer Development before they built a product.
I think that's a good sign. It makes perfect sense to me.

In other words, I believe the early phase is on the right track.
But, I do have to learn more about coding... faster. Have to practice more, learn what I'm capable of building in the reasonably near future.

Gotta clean up some "life" stuff today as planned... but I will MAKE time to practice coding today.

---------

Other stuff I'm paying special attention to in the articles:
  • Approaches of bootstrapped founders who don't WANT investors (like me!)
  • Marketing approaches. How did they get customers 1-25? And customers 26-250? And customers 251-2500?
Also thinking ahead and plotting out my own marketing channels for the 3 growth stages.

Graphed out a picture/timeline of "scalable" vs "non scalable" marketing methods I can use in the future (of course, 80% of this will be AFTER I've found Need and build Minimum Viable Product)

----------

Still messing with the Facebook Ads for the Test Landing Page of Idea #1.

Budgeting is hard - it seems either Facebook Ad CPC is higher than I want, or I simply don't get any traffic from my target audience.

Once I get traffic, there is obviously SOME interest... because I *can* get clicks on my ads. The Ads are very clear about what they're offering, so it's not like I'm tricking people into clicking something.

But, the CPC is about 3x more than I hoped (About $2.25 rather than $.75 CPC)

In other words, traffic is more expensive than I want... and response has not been good ENOUGH to get excited yet.

Anyway, that might mean it's time to look for Idea #2.

Either way, it's a useful data point for the future :)

--------

Added 5 rooms to my Text Adventure so far this morning.
I'm staying on top of life stuff as much as I can to not waste time today.

Definitely can feel myself getting faster with the basic process of this simple coding exercise.
It's also helping me memorize the format of certain key Coding commands.
And generally get more comfortable with the environment.

Also, working completely on my own with NO outside project direction is excellent practice for building the SaaS itself.

Though, it is nice to think my friends want to take a look at my code and tell me how I can improve it. So, I'm not completely isolated.

------

EDIT - Up to 11 more rooms added to my text adventure ;)
(Total is now 21 rooms)
I feel VERY fluid now, adding new rooms only takes me a few minutes
And I understand how to link them, etc.
It's almost to the point of this technique being 'boring', even though it was quite confusing to me when I first started it several days ago.
Luckily, I only need a few more rooms to finish the story of the game.
I'll probably move on from this at about 25 total rooms, so I'll finish soon.
It's been fun "architecting" a little environment!

The text adventure isn't some 'dungeon' - the environment is actually based on the mansion I want to build for myself some day (by mansion I mean super-awesome quality and location, not sheer size), and of course a beautiful yacht makes an appearance in the game hehe...

90dad002f129cd9d01d80572cc4ccf7f.jpg

Sail%20yacht%20TANGO%20-%20Salon.jpg


3a81fa2d511cd3d71a2b2d8a909b04f3.jpg

Wally Yachts "Tango"

So, it's quite enjoyable to add more to the game environment, since I'm basically adding more rooms, windows, secret passageways etc to my dream home.

With only a few more rooms to add to the game, this means I can finish building the 'environment' and then move to adding new 'features', which will present a whole new challenge as I extend what the game can do.

-----

EDIT 2: Facebook Ads

I'm basically running / tweaking Facebook Ads in the background while I work on Coding.

Trying to get some cheap 'test' traffic from a specific Niche audience to my Test Landing Page for "Idea #1."

I think I've found the 'bare minimum bid' for CPC that actually gets shown by Facebook.

So, I'm definitely getting some impressions now, and I'm reaching my intended test audience, but it's probably a little more expensive than I want... we'll have to find ways to improve that.
 
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Young-Gun

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Progress on CODING STUDIES made for sure:

- Completed Coding the basic rooms and map of my Text Adventure.
I think that's 21 rooms I finished today... 30 rooms in total!
The process of making a new room now feels completely natural and makes intuitive sense to me.
So, there's no need to continue practicing this part.

- Chose next Feature to add to Text Adventure: Inventory, Keys, Food, and Weapons.
This will challenge me to think creatively and apply what I've learned.
I need to plan a good 'architecture' for this before I just start typing lines of code.
But I don't think it will be too hard.

Anyway, I definitely DO NOT think it's too hard to learn to code.

One of the hardest parts is probably that new coders usually do NOT have a clear idea what they want to learn to do.
I DO have a very clear idea what I want to learn to do.
So, that might be one reason this doesn't actually seem too hard.
That, plus my social network of other guys who want to look at my work.

Just gotta keep practicing, studying, and putting in hours.
 

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Alright, I'm basically calling it for the night.

I outlined my first idea for an Inventory system with Gold and Keys.
Started programming the new feature, and made progress.
But, I hit a snag when part of the program isn't working as anticipated, and realized I need to rest up and eat something.

By the time I eat and clean up my house, it's going to be getting late, so I don't want to force myself to keep going tonight.
Marathon, not sprint.

Tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday will be very busy with Tutoring business, so I have an idea -
I'll use any downtime during Tutoring biz stuff to do SaaS Prospecting and add to my database.

Monday will be about Coding Practice again, and Tues-Thurs will be focused on getting more Customer Development interviews.

That's the plan! Update depending on what I get done tomorrow.
 
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Just wanted to let you know... if you're following this thread... I will be crushing it today.

I'm literally hungry today. I've been spending extra food money on marketing. I didn't have time to eat today before work.
The fire is super-hot today.
If you're fat, comfy, and lazy, I'm coming to take your stuff.

Already added 15 new Decision-Makers to my prospect database, even while I'm running my tutoring business.
The industry I'm doing Prospect Research for... I keep looking at their websites.
These ones are really nice. Advertising a lot of wealth. Stoking that healthy materialistic desire that's part (but not all) of why I want to succeed financially.

That thriving software business is mine. That yacht is mine. That private luxury custom home with a great view is mine.

No excuses. Using every spare minute.

OPA-Casa-Brutale-03.jpg

Till-House-by-WMR-Arquitectos.jpeg

cliffside-house.jpg


-------------------

EDIT: It's mid-afternoon and I've added a total of 45 new Prospects to my Customer Development spreadsheet.

This is WHILE I'm doing the daily tutoring-business work to keep my life running.

Never make excuses.

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EDIT 2: The funny thing is, having this clarity about my new life goal (which is NOT teaching) makes me a much better teacher.

Kids all day today recognizing how good my lessons are. Why? Because I'm not just talking about school subjects... I'm sharing the experiences that are opening my mind to HUMAN POTENTIAL, the Fastlane, getting what you want out of life.

Good grades are important not because grades matter, but because studying, getting smart, working hard... those ALL add up to a better life.

Really seeing the understanding in kids' eyes today as I share this with them.

One of them just told me as he was leaving the lesson, "I feel younger but wiser than when I came in today."

Told ya I'd crush it today ;)

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EDIT 3 - Made it to 59 new prospects added today before my tutoring business day drew to a close.

I may have to spend the rest of the day on life / errands, but if I have any free mental capacity I'll use it to work on my Coding Studies.

More updates soon!
 
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Young-Gun

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Wasn't able to do anything after Tutoring yesterday besides get groceries, make dinner and pick up my house.
Still, finding almost 60 new SaaS prospects WHILE doing my normal work day is still making me feel good.

Today I have *even more* Tutoring biz to work on. Sat/Sun are always busy for me.
But, that also means I can get *even more* SaaS prospects during work.

My goal for today is to add 100 more Prospects... which will be challenging, but possible.
This will put me in great shape to send Interview Request Emails all next week.

I refuse to accept mediocrity.
The most painful thing in this life (for me) would be to be old and aged, realizing I'd never tried hard enough, and now it's time for me to die, too late to try again.
NO! I'm going to LIVE by by pouring my life energy into my goals!
Save nothing! There's nothing to save it for!
Give my whole life to achieve my dreams!

What am I saving my energy for? To watch TV after work? To do my dishes and pick up my house?
Do I need to conserve my energy, so I can fully enjoy mediocrity? NO!
Hold nothing back. Give everything until there's nothing left at all.


4589a81070c30587aa10e874c5516dbc.jpg

abe851cb32de24e60d0a452844a44868.jpg

aiu_hemeroscopium_03x.jpg

hemeroscopium-house-madrid-spain-2008-by-ensamble-studio.jpg

Hemeroscopium House, Madrid, Spain


-------------

EDIT 1:
At the rate I'm going today, I should be able to surpass the goal of 100 new prospects added.
Have already hit 24 new prospects in a short time, because I have my method down.
I'm not going to change the goal of 100, but I do want to see how far I can exceed it today.

Also, something funny.
One of my tutoring employees wants to be a writer, but he never works at it.
He went and saw a writer speak at a bookstore, and the writer said to the crowd... "The secret to making it as an artist is formal discipline.'

And I'm in 100% agreement, watching my employee agree as well, but thinking... dude, I hardly see you exercise any serious work discipline.
He works when he's told, doing what he's told.
But I never really see him produce anything on his own.

It's good, because I'm not worried about him leaving for now (he'll just talk about his big goals, not work on them)
But, it's also kind of depressing.

Anyway, I'm gonna work my a$$ off today, to be like that writer, and not like this employee.

Casa+Brutale+exterior.jpg

Casa+Brutale+sea+view.jpg

Casa+Brutale+bedroom.jpg

Casa Brutale, Proposed Design by Open Platform for Architecture


----------------------

EDIT 2: I'm up to 64 new Prospects added to the database today.
Still have half the workday left for Tutoring Biz, shouldn't be hard to exceed new 100 prospects total.
 
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