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- Jun 17, 2013
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I wasn't sure where to post this. I figured this is as good as a place as any.
Before I ask you what I am hoping to get out of this post, let me tell you a little about what I've done up to this point.
First, my life is comfortable. That's a big deal to me because it hasn't always been that way. I was a runaway and homeless for a brief period in my teens, and have been living on my own since I was 15 years old. I spent a good deal of my adult life living well below the poverty level. And as recently as 2--6 I was evicted from my apartment and almost ended up homeless again. So being comfortable means a lot to me. I currently live an upper middle-class life. I have a bueatiful wife, two awesome kids, a nice house, a car, etc. etc. But that being said, I still work 40 hours a week. The job is cushy and pays well, but I know I am capable of more.
I've always been entrepreneurial, I've just never been a very good entrepreneur. My most successful business to date made me about $24k a year and I had to close it down for reasons far more complicated than is worth getting into back in 2004.
In 2012 while I was unemployed I created a financial education card game. If you read my post history you can see where I got stuck. In short, I wasn't very good at design or marketing. I'm more educated in those areas now, but I still have a lot to learn.
In October 2013 (right after I read the Millionaire Fastlane ) a buddy that I met at work had what I felt was a great idea. We went into business together and we both spent a year and a lot of money really trying to make it work. It was an app based business, but neither of us knew how to code. Because we were not making revenue yet and the costs for revisions were skyrocketing, we decided to throw in the towel. It had simply become a money suck. In hindsight, even if the coding were free I don't think it would have worked very well. The demand wasn't as high as I'd like and the revenue model was weak at best. Additionally, the most valuable lesson I learned during this venture was to build your market first. It is a lot easier to sell products to people who are already interested in what you are doing.
So I taught myself how to code. In the last 8 months I've learned Java, C#, and Swift. I'm not the best but I'm good enough that I've created another app (almost... I probably have a month to go). Essentially, I created an app based on the financial card game I built in 2012. Though I plan to release this app I'm working on, releasing an app is not the plan. The world doesn't need another financial education app. It was just a way to teach myself how to code. It also gave me some time to think about what the world does need.
I've concluded that the next two big things coming down the pipeline in the next 10 years are Virtual Reality and Consumer Robotics. And although I'm very familiar with both technologies and what they are capable of, I am not educated in either. The one that interest me the most is Consumer Robotics.
So, what I'm looking for is feedback on my plan.
1) Build an audience using a blog, twitter, and Facebook, and possible Reddit (I don't have a game plan for Reddit yet). Through consistent interaction and by providing good content, I will slowly grow an audience.
2) Teach myself how to build robots. I have a near genius IQ. I have no doubt I am capable and have already started to learn the basics.
3) Monitor developments in the field and look for a specific need to fill. For example, I already have an idea for something that would blow the pants off the recent winner in the DARPA competition. I'm just not capable of building it quite yet.
I'm guessing the above will take around 3-5 years. But in 3 - 5 years I see the following things happening (if I stick to this plan)
1) Consumer Robotics will really start to become mainstream and become an everyday part of life.
2) Because I know the field so well I'll be able to spot needs ahead of others.
3) Because I will have been building an audience over this time, I will have an easier time launching a product. I can also build a product around their needs.
Thoughts?
Before I ask you what I am hoping to get out of this post, let me tell you a little about what I've done up to this point.
First, my life is comfortable. That's a big deal to me because it hasn't always been that way. I was a runaway and homeless for a brief period in my teens, and have been living on my own since I was 15 years old. I spent a good deal of my adult life living well below the poverty level. And as recently as 2--6 I was evicted from my apartment and almost ended up homeless again. So being comfortable means a lot to me. I currently live an upper middle-class life. I have a bueatiful wife, two awesome kids, a nice house, a car, etc. etc. But that being said, I still work 40 hours a week. The job is cushy and pays well, but I know I am capable of more.
I've always been entrepreneurial, I've just never been a very good entrepreneur. My most successful business to date made me about $24k a year and I had to close it down for reasons far more complicated than is worth getting into back in 2004.
In 2012 while I was unemployed I created a financial education card game. If you read my post history you can see where I got stuck. In short, I wasn't very good at design or marketing. I'm more educated in those areas now, but I still have a lot to learn.
In October 2013 (right after I read the Millionaire Fastlane ) a buddy that I met at work had what I felt was a great idea. We went into business together and we both spent a year and a lot of money really trying to make it work. It was an app based business, but neither of us knew how to code. Because we were not making revenue yet and the costs for revisions were skyrocketing, we decided to throw in the towel. It had simply become a money suck. In hindsight, even if the coding were free I don't think it would have worked very well. The demand wasn't as high as I'd like and the revenue model was weak at best. Additionally, the most valuable lesson I learned during this venture was to build your market first. It is a lot easier to sell products to people who are already interested in what you are doing.
So I taught myself how to code. In the last 8 months I've learned Java, C#, and Swift. I'm not the best but I'm good enough that I've created another app (almost... I probably have a month to go). Essentially, I created an app based on the financial card game I built in 2012. Though I plan to release this app I'm working on, releasing an app is not the plan. The world doesn't need another financial education app. It was just a way to teach myself how to code. It also gave me some time to think about what the world does need.
I've concluded that the next two big things coming down the pipeline in the next 10 years are Virtual Reality and Consumer Robotics. And although I'm very familiar with both technologies and what they are capable of, I am not educated in either. The one that interest me the most is Consumer Robotics.
So, what I'm looking for is feedback on my plan.
1) Build an audience using a blog, twitter, and Facebook, and possible Reddit (I don't have a game plan for Reddit yet). Through consistent interaction and by providing good content, I will slowly grow an audience.
2) Teach myself how to build robots. I have a near genius IQ. I have no doubt I am capable and have already started to learn the basics.
3) Monitor developments in the field and look for a specific need to fill. For example, I already have an idea for something that would blow the pants off the recent winner in the DARPA competition. I'm just not capable of building it quite yet.
I'm guessing the above will take around 3-5 years. But in 3 - 5 years I see the following things happening (if I stick to this plan)
1) Consumer Robotics will really start to become mainstream and become an everyday part of life.
2) Because I know the field so well I'll be able to spot needs ahead of others.
3) Because I will have been building an audience over this time, I will have an easier time launching a product. I can also build a product around their needs.
Thoughts?
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