From 9-to-5 to entrepreneur (journal)

[ProblemSolving]

Week 1:

I went on Upwork, and sending proposals.
I would have a phone interview next week.
It would be a $3 an hour sales job with commission.
While it's a crap job, it's slow lane, it serves a few purpose:
- I have to start somewhere.
- I'll learn the sales skill, which will be crucial to become an entrepreneur.

My long term plan is to have a product that I can sell. So I have a website, solve a specific problem.
How can I know if my product will work?
Test it.
So next week I'll go out, cold approaching people and seek feedback for my product.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

Phone interview:
Interviewer: "What value you add to the company?"
Me: "I used to sell tickets at the parking lot."
Interviewer: "Any other experience?"
Me: "I also do computer"
Interviewer: "Do you know any other language?"
Me: "Yeah, Vietnamese is my first language."
Interviewer: "Good. We have a few Vietnamese customers, they're more familiar if you speak their language."
Me: "Pretty good."
Interviewer: "Any other value you can add to the company?"
Me: "..." (couldn't think of anything)
Interviewer: "Any other question?"
Me: "You guys sell real estate?" (wanted to find out if this company helps customers or not)
Interviewer: "We're helping homeowners reduce the tax on their houses. Any other question?"
Me: "That's it."
Interviewer: "We'll make a decision within 24 hours."

I did a split testing on Upwork. I sent a few proposals for software engineering works, no result so far.
However, when I sent proposals for sale jobs, there was interview invitations.
So the need was in sales.

 

[ProblemSolving]

Pretty good. About to get the first client on Upwork.
It was a sale job, commission only, for the first 90 days.

This thread: Notable! - How to ACTUALLY Get Freelance Work: What I learned after 3 months of beating my head against a wall
I also tried Craiglist as well, the need is stronger there.

I still keep my day job, as a software engineer. Basically I have to solve hard problems everyday.
So far so good.

 

[ProblemSolving]

Ok, now how can I get more clients?
There's a way.
So on Upwork, I searched only for jobs with low number of proposals and at least one day old.
Less competition, better chance.

And I found out why these jobs had less competition. Fell into two categories:
- Clients offer too little for too much work (e.g. $40 for 100 pages ebook)
- Clients need a very specialized skill that few people have (e.g. cryptography)
The latter was good. So I narrowed down by searching for only "Expert" level, and now I had a bunch of clients needing some outlandish skills.

There you go. Another guy replied to my proposal (but he hadn't accept yet).
Okay. How can I do even better?
This thread: Notable! - SinisterLex's - I Deleted My Upwork Account...
Make the proposal personal.
"you you you" proposal.
So tomorrow I'll send "you you you" proposals. Tailor to each client.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

I only have 15 proposals left this month on Upwork.

Fiverr seems good.
I published an ad for math homework service.
Let see if there's any need for it.

 

[ProblemSolving]

Hmm, so my Fiverr ad is deleted.
Maybe it's a sign that I'm doing something correctly.
I want to do a Google Ad, but I'm in a tight budget now.
A small website will help.

On Upwork, I couldn't go forward with that first client.
I was clueless about the marketplace.
Probably I'll survey my competition by posting a job as client, and see how the competitor responds.

 

[ProblemSolving]

On the way home, I saw working people playing phone game.
So I created a video game.
I tested it early.
The idea is okay, the important thing is execution:
- Customer's experience: Right now, not that good in testing.
- Graphic: Can't skimp over it. Better to be something unique to prevent me-toos.
- Market that game.
- Gain more visibility in game dev community
It's a good thing to do, because it's a legacy.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

For the video game, I posted it on the gaming forum. It turned out to be an okay idea, but it's possible to make good use with good execution.
For good execution, I tested it with live person, and tailoring the game based on their feedback. So from now I'll just adjust the game based on people's feedback until it hit the market.

For the homework service, it turned out that the market was crowded. Weak entry, anyone can offer doing homework for money. My competitors seem to execute well. They have good websites, testimonials, and guarantees.
So how can I deal with it? Niche it down. Programming homework. My competitors' website barely have testimonial and no guarantee.
As for traffic, probably I'll buy ad, and see how my offer performs.

The problem with most payment processor is that they collect a fee when I refund. So at first I'll go with the "pay after I get the work done" model, which both eliminate risk on my part and the customer's part.

 

[ProblemSolving]

My ad was doing poorly. Rank #5.
My copy is weak.
Time to research competitors.
#1 guy: Okay copy. No guarantee. No testimonials.
Probably he's doing okay, so the need is there. I'll about to buy his service, to see how he works.
Better execution is completely possible.

 

[ProblemSolving]

Okay, it has been a month.
Zero result.
What's the problem?
I'm taking a lot of action.
BUT
I'm chasing too many ideas.
What am I doing now?
A day job, a blog, a homework service, a video game, Upwork, Fiverr.

I have to cut something.
First, cut the video game. Low priority. If I submit it could be the next Flappy Bird. Weak entry. Weak need. Right now, cut.
A homework service. Fairly strong entry. Weak need. Right now I should stop working on the copy. Work on the ad. Until people start clicking on it = need. Otherwise, it has weak need.
A blog. Weak entry, weak need.
Upwork/Fiverr. Fairly strong entry. Also strong need. Low control. However I had one client but things didn't go through. So I can make it work for some time.

Also, I was thinking of a niche. Fairly new niche.
Good control. Very strong entry. Strong need. Liberated from time. Okay scale.
There are only a few players in the niche, and out-compete them is possible.
It has a very strong entry. But I can overcome it. Also this niche is compatible with my current skill sets, so even if I can't overcome the entry now, within 1-2 years it's possible to overcome it.
Scale might also be a problem.
It's possible.

 

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[jon.a]

Bingo

It's possible.

 

[lowtek]

Here's a good article for you

The Epic Guide to Bootstrapping a SaaS Startup from Scratch — By Yourself (Part 1)

 

[ProblemSolving]

Thanks guys.
The blog post opened my eyes. I didn't actually build something people need.

So today I wrapped it up. The video game, I published it.
But there was a problem.
Apparently the advertisement was broken. So I planned to buy a plug-an-play solution for $15.
But then I thought about it.
Why did I want the ad?
Because I hope that if the game become a hit, I'd make millions by ad.
Does that solve any problem?
Nope. It's no different than a $15 lottery ticket.
But there's a better solution.
Advertising myself.
Put my name, website, email in the game.
It's free, and better influence.

 

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[ZCP]

You have done more in a month than most do in a lifetime. rep+

Keep working angles and ideas. You will get there. It will happen upon you and suddenly be clearer than anything you have ever seen.....

Infinite monkey theorem - Wikipedia

 

[ProblemSolving]

FIRST ORDER COMPLETE!
It's only $11, but a customer is a customer is a customer.

 

[ProblemSolving]

Okay, now how can I learn marketing / copy writing?
Fiverr.
I can write as much advertisement as I can, and learning from there.


BUT.
I saw a problem (opportunity).
When I posted the ad "Homework - Get A or You Don't Pay" Fiverr denied the gig.
Same thing happened with a gig recently. The customer asked me for it. In secret. I did it for him. Then when I added a gig, it got denied.
Highly effective ad, benefiting both me and the customer, was being denied.
If only I can solve this problem.

 

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[Eugen]

Good luck with your journey man. Sub'd

 

[ProblemSolving]

Business ideas: Let the market speak.
I emailed 100 business owners, asking for their problems.
Split test: 50 emails with a "big corporation like" email, 50 emails with a personal email.
The one with a personal email got a response right away.

Plus, another lesson.
Someone has invent a mass email plugin.
Free, but his tutorial video has a ad, plus an upsell.
Solving a problem = money.

 

[Evil_Jester]

What are things that you are good at or know a lot about?

 

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[ProblemSolving]

What are things that you are good at or know a lot about?

Java.
I'm the Java programmer at Amazon.
It's a good idea.
So I put an ad on Fiverr:

I'm an expert Java programmer. I work at Amazon.
I can:
- write a Java program that do anything you need
- fix any Java bug
- make a Java program more efficient.

Contact me for a quote before placing an order.
​

With some tweaks, and if there's a need, order will roll in.

=========
More importantly, is that I had a reply email. There's a deep need.
I will help him.
Then see if I can scale the solution to the entire industry.

 

[ProblemSolving]

On the Upwork.
I was finding the job posts, with no proposals.

There was one.
I read it through. The job was difficult. No wonder why no one applied.
I applied.
Tailoring the proposal to the client.
My hunch was that I probably would make a sale.

But my expertise only covers about 70% of the job.
If I make a sale, I couldn't deliver it fully.
Solution: Hire another programmers.
The most important thing is to make a sale. After all, I can hire people to get the job done.

 

[ProblemSolving]

The Eclipse venture - $20 profit, could have been thousands if I executed well.

Saturday, I was browsing the web.
There is an eclipse coming up Monday.
I search online. All eclipse glasses vendor are sold out.
HUGE demand.
I can only get 2 pairs of eclipse glasses from my neighbors. $5 each.
I sold on Craigslist for $15.
20 people responded right away.
I sold it to 2 people.
$10 profit each.
$20 profit total.

If only I bought out bulk eclipse glasses a few month ago.
I could make tens of thousands.
But I learned a very important lesson: I can always profit on the latest trend.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

I invented a ridiculous trick to get customers on Fiverr.
I called it marketing for them.

Now, all I need to do is ONE customer.
And that customer left a 5-star review.
So it took me 6 weeks to land the first customer.
But after I served that customer, I immediately gained 3 more customers over the next 2 weeks.

How?

The first customer had a business, and I did something for them.
I did a great job.
He left a 5 star review.
Then it was my turn to review him.
I promoted his business in my review.
Meaning people seeing my gig also seeing my review, knowing what his business is about.
Meanwhile other potential business buyers see my gig, seeing that I promote their businesses.
Thus they are more inclined to work with me and leave a 5-star review.

 

[ProblemSolving]

"How can I find a need?"
Meet new people.
I admit that I don't meet new people that often. Job and freelancing (actually another job).
Mindlessly searching the net. That should be cut.
So I'll meet new people, making friends. And finding a need.

 

[ProblemSolving]

First bulk order, it will be on October.
I expected at least $200.
I'll get the job done.

I'll move to a new city, and selling stuffs there. See what the city needs.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

To be honest, the bulk order requires me to cold approach people.
That shit is scary.

Not scary because I'm scared to do it. But in the last order, I cold approached a few people, 4 to be exact, and failed to get the result. Actually the 3rd was close.
In the end I found another way to solve the client's problem.

But this time.
It's recruiting 20 people.
Meaning if I succeed 20% of the time, it's about 100 people.
Ok I can do it.

 

[ProblemSolving]

$128 first month on Fiverr.
I should optimize.

 

[ProblemSolving]

Couples of thing:
- Some customers are “value customers” who pay a lot, but usually want certain things like deadline / complete package / it must work / etc.
- Some customers are “cost customers” who want the cheap price.
At first you will need the “cost customers” to get the reviews, 5-stars.
After that stage the value customers start to come in. Then you can afford to raise the price.

As for now I had:
- One value customer, who wants the deadline.
- One potential value customer,
Generally my aim here is to make the customers repeat. Meaning they will come to me when they have a problem.

 

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[ProblemSolving]

Things I need to improve: Coding speed.
There was a customer needing an app. I promised him 3 days.
But I ended up extending it 7 more days.
He agree, because at least I delivered a prototype.
Why my coding speed is slow?
Because I insisted on structure. That wasn’t that important. More important is to get the feature out as soon as possible.

 

[ProblemSolving]

There's a neat tactics to use on Fiverr.
So for 2 orders in late night, I talked with the buyer a bit, then ended with "I'm going to sleep, will working on your order tomorrow."
Pretty much the buyer liked it, both orders ended up with 5 stars.
Why does that work? Because it makes me more human in buyer's eyes.