AI tools for web development and lead generation: What do the successful fastlaners think?

[cakimusacan]

Hello the greatest forum that ever exists (that I know of).

I hope all you fastlaners are doing great.

Since this is my first threat in this platform and first public writing ever, please be forgiving of my potential mistakes. I will try to be very precise.

I am in the early stages of my entrepreneurial journey, and it really inspires me to read about the journeys of the successful people that have passed these stages and made it to the top.

Although reading about the journeys of any successful people can be beneficial for many reasons, I am trying to find the people that have done it in my own niche and done it in recent times.

My understanding so far is that any business that was started more than 5 or 10 years ago had to use very primitive versions of the technologies we have available in our hands for right now and I think this changes the trajectory of the business plan.

For example if I were to start @MJ DeMarco 's limo website business today, the steps that needs to be taken today would be very different right now in my opinion. Please let me know what you guys think about this (I don't want to spend your time explaining my reasoning here but I can discuss it in the comments).

So my question would be is there anyone who documented the steps they took in the current environment to start an online business and succeeded. The specific type of business I'm in is developing a website I own that connects producers to customers.

I thank you dearly if you read this far and bothered to care about my question.

I am also open to any comment that may lead me to find the stories of the specific people that I mentioned.

 

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[Subsonic]

Hello the greatest forum that ever exists (that I know of).

I hope all you fastlaners are doing great.

Since this is my first threat in this platform and first public writing ever, please be forgiving of my potential mistakes. I will try to be very precise.

I am in the early stages of my entrepreneurial journey, and it really inspires me to read about the journeys of the successful people that have passed these stages and made it to the top.

Although reading about the journeys of any successful people can be beneficial for many reasons, I am trying to find the people that have done it in my own niche and done it in recent times.

My understanding so far is that any business that was started more than 5 or 10 years ago had to use very primitive versions of the technologies we have available in our hands for right now and I think this changes the trajectory of the business plan.

For example if I were to start @MJ DeMarco 's limo website business today, the steps that needs to be taken today would be very different right now in my opinion. Please let me know what you guys think about this (I don't want to spend your time explaining my reasoning here but I can discuss it in the comments).

So my question would be is there anyone who documented the steps they took in the current environment to start an online business and succeeded. The specific type of business I'm in is developing a website I own that connects producers to customers.

I thank you dearly if you read this far and bothered to care about my question.

I am also open to any comment that may lead me to find the stories of the specific people that I mentioned.

If there is a step by step guide then it's a bad business.

Go and find your own way to solve problems.

 

[cakimusacan]

If there is a step by step guide then it's a bad business.

Go and find your own way to solve problems.

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it.

To be clear, I already have my own way to solve problems, also I am aware that those ways evolve as my journey continues.

My goal right now is eliminating any unnecessarry strugles with the guidance of people that have done it before me.

Also I think the steps they took are valuable and should be considered since today even using a specific web development tech and not the other one can make a worlds difference.

I am not asking anyone to solve my problem, I am just curious as to what obsticles they faced and how did they solve them in web development field in the past couple of years.

I truly believe everyones story may contain some crucial information that can cure my ignorance to certain topics.

It truly opens a new portal to human experience in my eyes.

 

[Andy Black]

developing a website I own that connects producers to customers

I presume you're doing lead gen. Step 1 is to figure out how to generate a steady trickle of leads.

 

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[cakimusacan]

I presume you're doing lead gen. Step 1 is to figure out how to generate a steady trickle of leads.

It's an honor to get feedback from you @Andy Black.

If I may I'd like to give you more insight on my business.

It can definitely be specified as a lead generation business. Although I am the one that is providing the producers with marketing tools and creating their profile on the platform.

To put simply, these people did not create anything before joining my platform, and did not have access to any marketing.

Upon having the presence in my platform, they start generating value and servicing it to their close neighborhood (my target producers are housewives who have plenty of time and the target customer is working women who do not have enough time).

So I see the value of steady lead generation. My biggest leverage is word of mouth at this stage since people will aim for their local neighborhood to provide their service.

To any other feedback regarding the important actions that need specific attention, I am open.

 

[Dakoded1]

No tech stack is perfect and any one you choose will have its own drawbacks.

Using a modern framework may make you feel safer because it is new, but may also be harder to learn due to less documentation and less public knowledge available (can you get an answer on Stack Overflow?) and will be dated eventually.

Then you have that "old tech" that is established with all of the things above and can probably get you the same results, but may require more effort and manual processes to start with.

As long as the general architecture is solid (good data!), the tech used can be shifted around later.

But I think you said it all here...

To be clear, I already have my own way to solve problems,

That is your value and if it helps you then it can help others. Customers aren't interested in tech, just solutions.

 

[cakimusacan]

No tech stack is perfect and any one you choose will have its own drawbacks.

Using a modern framework may make you feel safer because it is new, but may also be harder to learn due to less documentation and less public knowledge available (can you get an answer on Stack Overflow?) and will be dated eventually.

Then you have that "old tech" that is established with all of the things above and can probably get you the same results, but may require more effort and manual processes to start with.

As long as the general architecture is solid (good data!), the tech used can be shifted around later.

But I think you said it all here...



That is your value and if it helps you then it can help others. Customers aren't interested in tech, just solutions.

I agree with you completely about the imperfections of tech stacks and the need to evolve as your needs change, and I thank you for sharing your valuable point of view.

Definitely the usual manual processes establish the strong foundation that is necessary, but they also cost you a lot of time to master.

I am one to acquire skills to build first, but when you still don't have enough skillset and are not able to delegate the work to other professionals yet, the great value that the "new tech" provides comes to play.

I think there is a fine line between having the skills to do the job yourself and implementing it yourself, and having some third party new tech as your producer.

And like you mentioned, these new tech producers are not found and used easily (they are fast but they are not easy).

This is the exact reason I am seeking information from people who have done it and succeeded. We are not hearing them right now as life changing start up company stories since these technologies have only been this advanced for just the last couple of years and people are not aware of them just yet.

I would like to reframe my original question to make sure I deliver my reasoning correctly.

What is the process looks like (I am literally curious about what your story is, how it started, how it is going, what struggles you faced, etc) when you are surrounded by the rich opportunities that is provided by the current "new tech" when you are building an online lead generation business from ground up.

I would also welcome any referrals to other people that you are aware of that have done it and shared it with the world.

 

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[Dakoded1]

Definitely the usual manual processes establish the strong foundation that is necessary, but they also cost you a lot of time to master.

I am one to acquire skills to build first, but when you still don't have enough skillset and are not able to delegate the work to other professionals yet, the great value that the "new tech" provides comes to play.

I think there is a fine line between having the skills to do the job yourself and implementing it yourself, and having some third party new tech as your producer.

You should check out this thread if you haven't already for some really good real world insight on this exact dilemma:

GOLD! - EXECUTION - What I learned spending $40k and one year launching my app.

Hi all, I'm am occassional browser, rare poster here. Earlier this year I posted about a music networking app I was building called Artyst. Well it finally launched just last week, so I thought I'd check in and share what I learned. Hopefully this will be useful to someone thinking about...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

The unique advantage of the internet is you can learn skills and document it at the same time (consume and produce simultaneously) so you can create a kind of meta-lead generation flow where the audience you build as you grow your skills can become your customers later down the road. This is a longer term strategy, but if you intend to learn the skills anyway, creating a content asset around it can help your own knowledge and business prospects down the line.

What is the process looks like (I am literally curious about what your story is, how it started, how it is going, what struggles you faced, etc) when you are surrounded by the rich opportunities that is provided by the current "new tech" when you are building an online lead generation business from ground up.

You have an interesting curiosity here and I think others (myself included) would be interested in the answers you find too. For any new tech to get adoption there has to be an awareness and a clear benefit over why the new way is better than the old, so I hope more people chime in or you find them and pull the information out for yourself.

I hope this is productive and on topic, I am learning to write on a public forum as well.

 

[cakimusacan]

You should check out this thread if you haven't already for some really good real world insight on this exact dilemma:

GOLD! - EXECUTION - What I learned spending $40k and one year launching my app.

Hi all, I'm am occassional browser, rare poster here. Earlier this year I posted about a music networking app I was building called Artyst. Well it finally launched just last week, so I thought I'd check in and share what I learned. Hopefully this will be useful to someone thinking about...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

The unique advantage of the internet is you can learn skills and document it at the same time (consume and produce simultaneously) so you can create a kind of meta-lead generation flow where the audience you build as you grow your skills can become your customers later down the road. This is a longer term strategy, but if you intend to learn the skills anyway, creating a content asset around it can help your own knowledge and business prospects down the line.


You have an interesting curiosity here and I think others (myself included) would be interested in the answers you find too. For any new tech to get adoption there has to be an awareness and a clear benefit over why the new way is better than the old, so I hope more people chime in or you find them and pull the information out for yourself.

I hope this is productive and on topic, I am learning to write on a public forum as well.

Thank you for directing me to this thread; there is definitely a goldmine in there.

You are definitely correct about developing as you go through; my first instinct was just that, but I wasn't very sure about whether I should advance my skills first or just outsource the advanced parts before advertising the platform further.

After reading the thread you mentioned, it is clear that I at least need to have an intermediate to advanced understanding of the groundwork before thinking about delegating the work or using any new tech products.

As it is always great to hear other people's experiences, I would further welcome anyone else to share their experiences, whether in web development or any other software business.

 

[Fox]

I don't get this thread.

The title is:
"AI Tools For Web Development And Lead Generation: What Do The Successful Fastlaners Think?"

The first post is then all about asking:
So my question would be is there anyone who documented the steps they took in the current environment to start an online business and succeeded. The specific type of business I'm in is developing a website I own that connects producers to customers.

Then another post is now asking:
What is the process looks like (I am literally curious about what your story is, how it started, how it is going, what struggles you faced, etc) when you are surrounded by the rich opportunities that is provided by the current "new tech" when you are building an online lead generation business from ground up.

These are super vague questions (to me anyway).

What specifically are you looking to know?

 

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[cakimusacan]

I don't get this thread.

The title is:
"AI Tools For Web Development And Lead Generation: What Do The Successful Fastlaners Think?"

The first post is then all about asking:
So my question would be is there anyone who documented the steps they took in the current environment to start an online business and succeeded. The specific type of business I'm in is developing a website I own that connects producers to customers.

Then another post is now asking:
What is the process looks like (I am literally curious about what your story is, how it started, how it is going, what struggles you faced, etc) when you are surrounded by the rich opportunities that is provided by the current "new tech" when you are building an online lead generation business from ground up.

These are super vague questions (to me anyway).

What specifically are you looking to know?

Thank you for your time trying to figure it out.

I sincerely apologize for not being clear from the start; things got into more clear shape in my head as I continued my research. Resulting in the first and last parts not being in coherence.

I could gladly summarize my reasoning from the start to let you know where I was coming from.

I am currently starting a website and learning about web design because I want to create at least the first end product myself to keep the costs low.

Although I have some coding experience, web design is completely new for me, and when I surf the internet, it seems AI tools are getting much better, so starting from scratch and doing all the labor manually might not be the best approach.

On the other hand, without the necessary knowledge about the basics, using only AI tools does not seem to solve the problem.

Then my question emerged: what would other successful people's approaches be? How do you navigate through these emerging technologies and the basics?

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate your effort.

 

[Fox]

Thank you for your time trying to figure it out.

I sincerely apologize for not being clear from the start; things got into more clear shape in my head as I continued my research. Resulting in the first and last parts not being in coherence.

I could gladly summarize my reasoning from the start to let you know where I was coming from.

I am currently starting a website and learning about web design because I want to create at least the first end product myself to keep the costs low.

Although I have some coding experience, web design is completely new for me, and when I surf the internet, it seems AI tools are getting much better, so starting from scratch and doing all the labor manually might not be the best approach.

On the other hand, without the necessary knowledge about the basics, using only AI tools does not seem to solve the problem.

Then my question emerged: what would other successful people's approaches be? How do you navigate through these emerging technologies and the basics?

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate your effort.

Start with your end goal in mind - who are you helping and what will you be providing.

The rest is just tools.