Making the first £1

[Imgal]

Love your action taking!

My advice to you (if you're not doing it already) then I'd really consider jumping into the entrepreneur groups on Facebook. Definitely, don't go in pitching, but do a bit of searching to find the posts around the pain points you're solving and then start conversing and helping out with advice. You're not only likely to get people checking you out (it's worth looking at the people who get a lot of engagement on their posts and offering them free trials etc), but also get a real feeling for the language they're using which can really help with copy.

You might also want to consider adding a Facebook retargeting pixel on your website so you can then start to build up an audience to not only advertise to but also to analyse once it's grown big enough. Just putting out some pretty basic ads that do nothing more than develop brand awareness can help with conversions.

For example, we're done some campaigns in the past that weren't much more than just displaying the logo and basic text. There was nothing to encourage a click and that was never the point... when we did move to more aggressive ads / emailing people were saying they were already aware of us because they'd "seen us around".

 

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[Sam Kennedy]

I've just finished reading unSCRIPTED and thoroughly enjoyed reading it, I also received the necessary kick up the backside to stop making excuses and get executing!

The purpose of this thread is to show anyone who reads it that it's possible to get into the fastlane/unscripted route through good work ethic and ensuring you're providing true value (not perceived value!).

A very brief background about me: 24 year old Computer Science student in the UK, married, in process of getting a mortgage, exams to study for, about to be working full time.

Here is what I've done so far:

• Developed a SaaS using Laravel
• Split test some ads on various platforms, found a way to acquire new users using Adwords at £0.40 per user (on average)
• Built a small mailing list at very low cost of 8 users
• Applied for a grant (£150) to cover web hosting fees and initial advertising costs

Here is what I need to do:

• Re-write the front end
• Get Laravel working on my web hosting platform
• Program auto-responder for new sign-ups
• Make my first £1, this equates to one user using my service once
• Create a feedback form to begin hearing market echos

Today I have a lot of studying to do for an exam in two days time, however I'm uploading my files to my webserver while I study, so that when I finish studying I can begin configuring my website to work properly. Upload time is about one hour so I can kill two birds with one stone.

Feel free to hold me accountable if I'm slacking or making excuses!

 

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[Sam Kennedy]

Okay my last exam is out of the way, I can put some serious time into this now.

I'm lighting a fire under me, I just received a grant from my university to pursue this, and I've told the person who gave me the grant we can meet in 2-3 weeks time. This means I can't slack off, I need to show results in that time frame.

These are the major steps needed:
-Rebrand and rewrite the front end
-Set up SSL certificate
-Code autoresponder
-Start A/B testing on Adwords again
-Work through the Cashvertising book to improve my copywriting skills

Today I'm going to test and fix the AWS setup, configure the DNS server and set up the autoresponder.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I thought I would bump this, a lot has happened since I posted almost two years ago, time flies!

So shortly after that last post, I was asked if I could solve a particular problem involving PLC diagnostics. I actually thought I wouldn't be able to get very far, but I did what I could. I ended up automating something that takes experienced people several hours to diagnose, and made it possible for somebody who has no technical expertise be able to diagnose in a fraction of the time, without any need for specialist hardware or software.

I created a proof of concept SaaS and from there was able to form a three way partnership between myself, the company I worked for at the time and another company. I then spent a year in industry as part of my university degree, from that experience I went back and completely re-wrote the service. What used to take 6 hours for the server to process could now be done in less than 30 seconds. We then went through the process of forming a company, getting the necessary insurances and further refining the service.

This week we are finally ready to begin selling to customers. Today we got our first feedback from an experienced engineer, his reaction was more or less: "I want to start using this NOW".

I'm really excited, almost two years of work and we could have our first customers within the next few weeks!

I'm sorry I can't explain in detail exactly what it is I've developed, all I can say is that there is nothing out there that does what it does, and it solves a very important problem.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Yesterday I finally managed to get the files uploaded to my shared host after having the internet connection drop, and then having to reflash the BIOS on my laptop after it got corrupted. I realised that shared hosting isn't the best way of working with Laravel so I looked into setting up an AWS server and I'm going to do that today. This will save on the costs of web hosting, so a bit more can go towards advertising.

I also had a niggling doubt about something which I decided to research into, it turns out a small change in my code would have made me personally responsible for any chargebacks/refunds on my website, rather than the person selling through the site. I'm really glad I noticed this, it could have ended in disaster.

I hope that can be helpful to someone, the lesson is: No matter how small or insignificant a doubt you have seems, you thought of it for a reason, don't stop researching until you're confident you can dismiss it.

 

[ColbyG]

Best of luck mate. Great to see how hard you worked to get it up and running so quickly. Keep it up.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Sam your execution is so precise I'd invest real money into your, a$$ (comma's are important) if you have a paypal let me know. Otherwise I wish you luck my friend! Keep the grind going.​

Haha that comma does make an important distinction! I've read your execution thread, it's impressive how fast you hustle, six days to land your first sale, then two more the next day! Are you going door to door? If so massive props to you for determination. I knocked doors for two years and don't have it in me to do it ever again. The best advice I can give you is that even though it gets repetitive, try not to become robotic with your pitch. Also best times are evenings after 5pm and weekends, people tend to be home from work then. (One time I knocked doors for two hours from 10am - 12pm and not a single person was in).

So an update from yesterday:
I experimented a lot with creating a GUI using python. It's a bit of a learning curve, and to be honest the resulting interface is ugly. I'm going to finish it anyway because it's still more user friendly than a command line tool. However, I'm looking into creating an online tool and then charging users for access.

Today I'm going to finish creating the GUI, then start looking for a good web library for visualising graphs and nodes, and then start learning how to use the django framework, then I may have to leave it at that because the house sale completed today and I'm having to organise deliveries and order blinds and all sorts of fun stuff. Also I put off washing dishes for three days, and literally every pan, piece of cutlery, plate and bowl we own needs washed.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Just the GUI alone took way more time than I expected, but I finally cracked it!

 

[Sam Kennedy]

The gui actually slowed things down initially to 18 minutes, I made some tweaks and got that time down to 12 minutes. Compared to the 1.5 - 2 hours it's a massive improvement. I'm going to start looking into turning this into a web service now.

 

[PureA]

Keep at it bud.

 

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[Tyrone Pinnoy]

Awesome to seem the progress ...
Keep in going!

 

[dimraj]

Good luck man, keep it up

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I've got 2 pages finished, just 3 to go!

I've decided to spend some time thinking about the value array of PayPal vs my service, then I'm going to run a split test on AdWords to see if I can figure out which attribute(s) are the deciding factor in people deciding to sign up.

So far I've got: Convenience, Security, Design, Fees, Copy, Professionalism.

To anybody reading this thread: If you were looking for a way to receive payments online, which factors would affect your decision on the service you decide to use?

 

[JCQ]

I've got 2 pages finished, just 3 to go!

I've decided to spend some time thinking about the value array of PayPal vs my service, then I'm going to run a split test on AdWords to see if I can figure out which attribute(s) are the deciding factor in people deciding to sign up.

So far I've got: Convenience, Security, Design, Fees, Copy, Professionalism.

To anybody reading this thread: If you were looking for a way to receive payments online, which factors would affect your decision on the service you decide to use?

Hey I can help you beta test your website if you would like and offer feedback. I want to add value to everyone I can on the forum especially when they are first starting out.

To answer your questions I would say arbitrary holds on the money in the account or just arbitrary holds in general. If there is going to be a hold it should be communicated upfront why and when the hold will be released. This has been an issue for me when looking at merchant accounts and payment processors bank accounts and receiving funds and just being able to move money around in general. As a suggestion maybe work in a way to be able to receive payment in cryptocurrency like bitcoin or ethereum? Receiving money should be as painless as possible. Also having a nice little animation graphic when logging in creates a dopamine in the brain that gets people to keep on wanting to use the site.

Like on all those apps in the smartphones. Try to find ways to gamify it? I don't think it has to be too complicated just adding subtle animations to various repetitive actions that a user would likely do consistently while on the site can rewire the brain to become "addicted" to wanting to use your site at a subconscious level.

Send me an PM if you would like to talk more by email.

Let me know if you would like an on call beta tester to help you out. Hope you succeed.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

D'oh!
I didn't realise that when I moved from x10hosting to AWS, that email to my domain had stopped working. Completely my mistake, should have caught it earlier, it's fixed now. If anyone responded with feedback in the last few days I wouldn't have received it... debating whether to send out another email, or just leave it and introduce an optional feedback form for new users.

I've registered to become a private limited company, I'm glad I noticed the email problem in time, or I wouldn't have received any of the documents I need!

Up to 15 users now, hopefully I'll be able to make the site go live tomorrow.

 

[Claude Roy]

Wow you're on fire, that's very nice to see and hear. I'm a software developer as well and it's very inspiring to see you on fire like that. Keep at it and rocking it, I'm sure you are going to crush it

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Wow you're on fire, that's very nice to see and hear. I'm a software developer as well and it's very inspiring to see you on fire like that. Keep at it and rocking it, I'm sure you are going to crush it

Thank you, these types of posts really help keep the motivation going
I tested the system with real money, a whopping £2.50, and it worked. Just a few minor tweaks before I add the 'login' button then I need to start researching some PPC strategies.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Woke up at 6:30am, didn't start working until 8am. I worked 8am-12pm, updated my adwords campaign, and fixed a lot of minor UI features. I created a survey that users can fill out when registering, a contact page and I'm currently writing up some help documentation.

I have to admit a bit of fear hit me last night when I made the site go live. What I've created is now out there for people to use and abuse. It handles real money, if anything goes wrong I'm responsible for it.

Out of the 15 people who signed up to the mailing list, only 2 registered full accounts, and nobody has linked their account with Stripe yet. Hopefully now that I've upped my ad campaign budget to £10 per day I'll be able to gather some useful data on targeting the right audience.

 

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[Sam Kennedy]

So I woke up this morning and checked my adwords campaign, setting it back to the 'standard' ad delivery option has made a difference, four new registrations. However people aren't following through with registering an account, I'm thinking the process is too long: Enter Email -> Click Link -> Fill Out Registration Form -> Connect Stripe Account. I could just shorten it to: Enter Email -> Connect Stripe Account. I'm also considering sending people to the demo page first, so they can actually experience what their clients will see, then if they like it, they will want to sign up.

I've also gone through the last 30 days of posts on the freelance subreddit, and contacted people directly who have questions about payment options, I'll see if that brings about any results. From being there I've learned that Upwork, which is one of the biggest freelancing websites REALLY sucks. I knew it was bad, but reading some of the experiences people have had there, I'm surprised the website is still allowed to operate. This is a real story: Freelancer finishes work, client pays, client requests refund and bails. Upwork contacts freelancer and says their account is now in negative balance (due to the transaction fees) and wants them to pay. So lets get this straight, you need to pay for getting ripped off? I think I've found a much larger pain point, I just need to figure out a clever solution.

 

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[Sam Kennedy]

It's been a while since I updated this thread. To be honest I stopped prioritising this, the house completion is getting closer and I've started working full time. Neither are valid excuses for stopping, I just decided to.

I hit my goal of getting 50 people signed up, under budget as well. I also got some useful ideas from a group on Facebook. The problem I'm having is nobody is using the site, I need to figure out why. Is the interface too confusing? Is the effort required to sign up not worth it? (Stripe has a long registration process).

At the same time at my job, I have an idea for some software which would be useful. I work in industrial automation and I can create some software to simplify and speed up the process of programming industrial systems. It will be a large time commitment though.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I guess this thread can become a great example of why not to violate the commandment of control. I received an email from Stripe saying I have 14 days to stop using their platform, because the service I'm offering violates their terms of service. Their terms of service are partly determined by their banking partners, which they have no control over. So it's resulted in a cascade which means I can no longer pursue this.

I'm now working on creating some industrial automation software, it's a completely different venture from my first, however it obeys the 5 commandments of the fast lane:

Need - I actually need to create this software myself, it will save hours of time once it's created, I've also asked other PLC engineers on reddit and got a positive response
Entry - Programming knowledge required, PLC programming knowledge required, access to PLC programming software required (expensive)
Control - There are no dependencies, everything I create I have full control over
Scale - It's software so it can be distributed at a large scale easily. Also magnitude has to be considered here, this can take a 4+ hour project and have it finished within an hour. Also, PLC software and equipment is very expensive, the markup is huge, and factories expect to pay a lot.
Time - I will have to maintain the software, offer patches, updates etc. However it isn't bound to my time, it could still bring in money even if I'm not actively working on it.

I'm in the middle of working on it now, it's getting complicated, hopefully I can post some sort of demo of a very early version within the week.

 

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[Nikkiahmet]

All the best to you. you will get there!

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Today I have the very first working version of my program. I timed how long it took to use:
21 minutes to draw a diagram on paper
14.5 minutes to enter the diagram into the program
8 minutes to get the generated program uploaded to a PLC

Drawing the diagram and uploading the program are things which need to be done anyway, it's the middle part that's important, that took me almost two hours for the same project, it has now been cut down to less than fifteen minutes! I'll get some screen recording software and show the resulting system running in a simulation.

Today I need to:
-Program the feature to automatically start the program running instead of having to add it by hand
-Learn how to create a GUI in python
-Create the option of editing and deleting states and transitions in the program

 

[Spicymemer45]

Today I have the very first working version of my program. I timed how long it took to use:
21 minutes to draw a diagram on paper
14.5 minutes to enter the diagram into the program
8 minutes to get the generated program uploaded to a PLC

Drawing the diagram and uploading the program are things which need to be done anyway, it's the middle part that's important, that took me almost two hours for the same project, it has now been cut down to less than fifteen minutes! I'll get some screen recording software and show the resulting system running in a simulation.

Today I need to:
-Program the feature to automatically start the program running instead of having to add it by hand
-Learn how to create a GUI in python
-Create the option of editing and deleting states and transitions in the program

Sam your execution is so precise I'd invest real money into your, a$$ (comma's are important) if you have a paypal let me know. Otherwise I wish you luck my friend! Keep the grind going.​

 

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[Sam Kennedy]

I have the GUI functioning, and better than I was expecting (You don't lose your place when adding a new state or transition, I was expecting the view to snap back to the top left, but it didn't!)

I'm excited now, this will have cut down the time by a fair amount!

 

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[Ika]

You are really putting in the daily hours, great job!
I can't put my finger on one specific post in this thread that is extraordinary good - the overall process is good. Post by post.
Congratulations on doing the work, keep on going.

I'm really interested to where you are heading!

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Added more features to the program, worked on it for ~8 hours. Demonstrated it and got an estimated valuation. I can't post numbers (I signed a profit sharing & confidentiality agreement today).

I'm likely to exceed my goal of £1.

 

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[Sam Kennedy]

Keep at it bud.

Thank you for the encouragement
I'm still working on this, I'm surprised how much I've managed to get done in the last 4 hours. There was a lot more to the AWS configuration than I originally thought, but it's *almost* up and running again. On to the DNS configuration now!

 

[Sam Kennedy]

It's 1:10am, I can't sleep despite going to bed at 11pm. I've managed to get an SSL certificate set up for free using Let's Encrypt. I tried setting up a fancy payments page using an animated credit card, but it appears the work required to value added ratio is a bit imbalanced, I'll leave that for later as there are more important things to work on.
I'm trying to get my sleep schedule sorted out, every time I try and go to bed at 10:30pm - 11pm for the last week or so, I feel like my brain is on fire, not painful, just like it's really active. I might be tired enough to sleep now, going to give it another try.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I got up at 6:30am despite only having ~5 hours sleep, I've had a lot harder days on fewer hours than that. I need to work on my morning routine though, it's taken me a while to get ready (about 30 minutes longer than it should).
Today I'm going to sort out the fancy animated credit card form, I already sorted the autoresponder out, forgot to post about that, and then start on the rebranding, hopefully by tonight/tomorrow the site will be ready.

 

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