Weekly follow along - Starting a manufacturing business - my journey

[Andrew 1177]

So after having a pretty profound FTE earlier this year, I've been sifting through business ideas over the past few months while also trying to juggle a promotion and work and an insanely busy period at work.

Anyway, I've identified what could be a good first business idea and am hilt deep in the business plan. This will be my place to share my journey with the community and also an accountability mechanism.

• I'll post every week on Sunday
• Irrespective of whether I hit the gutter or the moon I'll be posting every week
• Posts will be some nuts and bolts stuff, my headspace and journey and questions as they come up.

Thanks to anyone who follows along. The road may be long and winding but goddammit I'll get there in the end.

 

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[Spenny]

Looking forward to it

 

[_Master_Shake]

Following!

I have over a decade of professional manufacturing experience, looking forward to your updates!

 

[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 1 -- November 27, 2022

So my weekly update.

It should have been sent on Sunday but between a time-sensitive house renovation, new job and state election I've been run ragged. I won't make that a habit though as losing focus is always a game on inches and little compromises.

WHY THIS

So first a bit about the business. After going back and forth with business ideas I've settled on selling and manufacturing polyresin garden figurines. There were a whole range of ideas from software/app ideas to monetising writing in some form to e-commerce but I settled on this idea for the following reasons (in order of importance):

• The feedback loop between doing the work and seeing a direct financial reward/cashflow is shorter than other ideas I evaluated (e.g. app development with no experience or writing a book). This will keep me motivated and engaged. My biggest weakness in the past has been fizzling out/lack of follow-through -- I tend to burn hot and bright not long.
• It satisfied CENTS -- two caveats here are that it doesn't seem to satisfy need and Time. At first glance nobody 'needs' polyresin figurines but that said it's a deceptively large market with no dominant retailer/manufacturer, also everybody has 'one' item they'd buy if it resonates. Re time, while initially I'll be making some of the prototypes which doesn't satisfy the principle, ultimately, I'm going to hand off manufacturing to AU/CH employees.
• The polyresin figurine market is deceptively large. More than enough TAM here to get me into the Fastlane or acquired at even a modest multiple of sales.
• I just need to get started on something. I haven't flaked out on it yet and enjoy working on it. It's not perfect but it's something.
• I want to work on something that can be re-tooled in 3-7 years to sell products to the government/army if a war in the pacific eventuates. A lot of 'sexy' businesses/ideas will go 'poof' in seconds if a regional/global conflict between China/the West eventuates.

THE BUSINESS

• I currently sell this unique figurine. It was something I designed and got made years ago as a brain fart/side hustle. I sell/have sold it on multiple e-commerce channels over the years. So I have a supplier network and know the industry moderately well.
• It's never been hard to sell, I just haven't been in a position to focus/invest money into a company and most importantly marketing funnel. The right designs sell themselves -- think a crypto polyresin logo or figurine that resonated in the crypto boom, you'd easily sell tens of thousands of a viral design.
• FB ads/customer feedback has been excellent and went viral (with a small v) at times. Success here is all about two things:
  • Investing money into enough ads/marketing to make sales self-sustaining and profitable.
  • This was a flash in the pan design that worked. Success in the polyresin game is testing new designs and bringing them to market quickly.
  • You need to make onshore manufacturing scalable/cost effective (seems possible)
• Lead times for creating any type of unique polyresin figurines or designs are in excess of 60 days from design to landed items ready to sell. There are also significant opportunity and financial costs due to the lead time and high overseas manufacturer MOQ's.
• I'm seeking to solve these problems by onshore small batch manufacturing to validate winning designs and once I'm onto proven winners then keep production/sales going during the 60-day gap between placing an order and receiving it. Like 'fast fashion' it'd be 'fast manufacturing'. You can think of a potentially hot design and have it in front of consumers within 3-4 days.
• As things progress I'm going to look at leveraging 3D printing/scanning and more efficient (injection molding?) manufacturing. Creating a modern/automated polyresin manufacturing business more broadly could be huge.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• It's been all about working on a business plan to present to my partner 'the family'. I won't be able to use our funds unless I present something she approves/makes sense. It's both a respect and sense check thing we both do when we want to take a decent chunk of change to invest into anything (we've done this before with investments but not business ideas).
• The business plan went well. I hit the tipping point where it's all downhill from work-wise.
• I set a goal of an hour of focused work on it a day (harder than you might think with a full-time professional schedule/job). I know I need to ramp this up.
• I'm currently in the 'desert of desertion' between 0 and 1 (my first sale). It's a dangerous place for me because a lot of my motivation/ideas have died here before.
• Positives this week were the fact I hit a tipping point and it's all coming together.
• Negatives were getting drunk on Friday and going out every night including Sunday. While there's a place for drinking/celebration it funks with my precious weekend productivity and weekday motivation until I'm fully recovered. I need to get a handle on this if I'm going to get results with a business. I've been a weekend F*ckboi for too long.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• I need to finish my business plan this week so I can get the first $5k of funding in December to start experimenting with replicating the model I currently sell to see if small batch manufacturing is possible.

Thanks for reading, would love to hear your thoughts on any of the above if you have any.

 

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[raj163622o]

WEEK 1 -- December 27, 2022

So my weekly update.

It should have been sent on Sunday but between a time-sensitive house renovation, new job and state election I've been run ragged. I won't make that a habit though as losing focus is always a game on inches and little compromises.

WHY THIS

So first a bit about the business. After going back and forth with business ideas I've settled on selling and manufacturing polyresin garden figurines. There were a whole range of ideas from software/app ideas to monetising writing in some form to e-commerce but I settled on this idea for the following reasons (in order of importance):

• The feedback loop between doing the work and seeing a direct financial reward/cashflow is shorter than other ideas I evaluated (e.g. app development with no experience or writing a book). This will keep me motivated and engaged. My biggest weakness in the past has been fizzling out/lack of follow-through -- I tend to burn hot and bright not long.
• It satisfied CENTS -- two caveats here are that it doesn't seem to satisfy need and Time. At first glance nobody 'needs' polyresin figurines but that said it's a deceptively large market with no dominant retailer/manufacturer, also everybody has 'one' item they'd buy if it resonates. Re time, while initially I'll be making some of the prototypes which doesn't satisfy the principle, ultimately, I'm going to hand off manufacturing to AU/CH employees.
• The polyresin figurine market is deceptively large. More than enough TAM here to get me into the Fastlane or acquired at even a modest multiple of sales.
• I just need to get started on something. I haven't flaked out on it yet and enjoy working on it. It's not perfect but it's something.
• I want to work on something that can be re-tooled in 3-7 years to sell products to the government/army if a war in the pacific eventuates. A lot of 'sexy' businesses/ideas will go 'poof' in seconds if a regional/global conflict between China/the West eventuates.

THE BUSINESS

• I currently sell this unique figurine. It was something I designed and got made years ago as a brain fart/side hustle. I sell/have sold it on multiple e-commerce channels over the years. So I have a supplier network and know the industry moderately well.
• It's never been hard to sell, I just haven't been in a position to focus/invest money into a company and most importantly marketing funnel. The right designs sell themselves -- think a crypto polyresin logo or figurine that resonated in the crypto boom, you'd easily sell tens of thousands of a viral design.
• FB ads/customer feedback has been excellent and went viral (with a small v) at times. Success here is all about two things:
  • Investing money into enough ads/marketing to make sales self-sustaining and profitable.
  • This was a flash in the pan design that worked. Success in the polyresin game is testing new designs and bringing them to market quickly.
  • You need to make onshore manufacturing scalable/cost effective (seems possible)
• Lead times for creating any type of unique polyresin figurines or designs are in excess of 60 days from design to landed items ready to sell. There are also significant opportunity and financial costs due to the lead time and high overseas manufacturer MOQ's.
• I'm seeking to solve these problems by onshore small batch manufacturing to validate winning designs and once I'm onto proven winners then keep production/sales going during the 60-day gap between placing an order and receiving it. Like 'fast fashion' it'd be 'fast manufacturing'. You can think of a potentially hot design and have it in front of consumers within 3-4 days.
• As things progress I'm going to look at leveraging 3D printing/scanning and more efficient (injection molding?) manufacturing. Creating a modern/automated polyresin manufacturing business more broadly could be huge.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• It's been all about working on a business plan to present to my partner 'the family'. I won't be able to use our funds unless I present something she approves/makes sense. It's both a respect and sense check thing we both do when we want to take a decent chunk of change to invest into anything (we've done this before with investments but not business ideas).
• The business plan went well. I hit the tipping point where it's all downhill from work-wise.
• I set a goal of an hour of focused work on it a day (harder than you might think with a full-time professional schedule/job). I know I need to ramp this up.
• I'm currently in the 'desert of desertion' between 0 and 1 (my first sale). It's a dangerous place for me because a lot of my motivation/ideas have died here before.
• Positives this week were the fact I hit a tipping point and it's all coming together.
• Negatives were getting drunk on Friday and going out every night including Sunday. While there's a place for drinking/celebration it funks with my precious weekend productivity and weekday motivation until I'm fully recovered. I need to get a handle on this if I'm going to get results with a business. I've been a weekend F*ckboi for too long.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• I need to finish my business plan this week so I can get the first $5k of funding in December to start experimenting with replicating the model I currently sell to see if small batch manufacturing is possible.

Thanks for reading, would love to hear your thoughts on any of the above if you have any.

Get some money , and than showcasing it vis advertising digital, That should work right. If it would be worth buying people will buy it

 

[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 2 -- December 4, 2022

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• I'm hilt deep in a hellacious renovation and move from one apartment to another to a new apartment I purchased. Stayed the course though and kept chipping away at my business plan/funding request document. It's practically done as I write this, will give it one more read and submit it to my partner at the next family meeting (which will be next Thursday 15 December. I'm proud I actually wrote this. It's helped me work through a lot of questions and and planning/research issues. Even though it is a grind to put together I'd highly recommend it. I feel like it's also made me more invested in my business and I'm treating it like a legitimate concern as opposed to another brain fart. It feels like the beginning of something. I even did a risks analysis in the BP with my flakiness listed as one of the biggest risks along with mitigation strategies.
• Work has been a grind this week, we're going through some changes. Witnessing the callousness and ways organisations treat their employees has been really eye opening. Everyone is expendable, loyalty is for fools. The only way out is to become the master of your own destiny. I think it has to be like this to motivate me into action and taking charge of my life. I've had a pretty easy ride in life thus far and so I'm the sum of that lack of effort - mediocre and average.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• I need to finish my business plan today or tomorrow.
• I need to move my work desk to my new apartment so I'm ready to set up my workshop as soon as the renovation is over.
• I need to post my next update on an actual Sunday.
• Everything needs to be ready this week so I can get the first $1k - $2k at the family meeting next week.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 3 -- December 11, 2022

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• Renovation hell continues, both of my apartments are like crack dens. I've been so busy just surviving at work and getting the moving process going and doing renovations that I haven't had time to do much on my exit from the slowlane.
• I did fully complete and send my manufacturing business plan to my partner although she's been to busy to read it. She said she'll read it once this phase is over which will be the week starting the 18th.
• I hate this phase of my life and am raring to go with this idea but I guess in some ways getting my move and renovation sorted means I'll have the spare room as a workshop sooner meaning I can get about executing sooner.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Keep my job.
• Move house and complete the renovation.

Thanks for reading.

 

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[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 4 -- December 18, 2022

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• Horrific move and renovation. I thought I'd save $700 bucks and move myself. I'm glad it's all over but never again. On top of this the renovation isn't 100% finished so we were moving and still renovating. FML
• I've learned a few things here. The first and most important being I want to one day be somebody who can pay other people to spend their time on this stuff as opposed to doing it myself. Don't renovate with family. Don't move yourself if you can help it. In this case I couldn't justify $700 for a few blokes to move our stuff 200m down the road.
• Anyway, a terrible and grindy week. I'm glad it's over. I didn't move the needle at all but getting everything set up asap means I can start my business idea asap.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Need to get my partner to read and approve my business plan so I can take a chunk of the first $5000 I'm asking for.
• I want to try my first 1:1 copy. I've bought most of the materials except for a mold release agent but hope to have that by Saturday. I want to do my mix on Saturday morning.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 5 -- December 25, 2022

Weekly update.

So it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to pursue this as a business idea. I did my first pour and it’s a dirty, space and time-consuming and low ROI/time process. I feel a bit stupid. So much effort and prep for something that you can’t properly scale without significant investment and expertise.

The videos I was watching of the Chinese factories make these figurines made it look so simple. It really isn’t. I’ve realised I'm watching thousands of hours of repetition, and trial and error here.

While I still like the idea on paper, there are a few things I realised while my first pour was still curing:

• One, I don’t have the space to actually flesh this out and commit to a workshop or mini-factory, I know it seems stupid now but you really do need space and equipment for this. I thought I could start making batches of up to 50 in my second bedroom, you can’t.
• Two, the process is way more involved than I thought. What I'm watching from China is likely extensively iterated upon, proprietary and thought out at every step. It may seem like a cottage industry but mass manufacturing even of polyresin statues is more sophisticated than I thought.
• Finally, it’ll cost thousands to manufacture at scale and going into a recession these aren’t ‘must haves’. This year my sales of my existing stock were low. This could be a general lack of maintaining the platform listings but last year and the year before I didn’t and sales were booming.

I feel quite stupid truth be told. If there’s one thing I’ve learned here it’s don’t spend 8 weeks or whatever it was writing a business plan. Go do it, fail or succeed and then decide. I’ll need to create some kind of plan to get my partner to agree to use our joint salaries on an idea but I think the idea should at least be further along before I put it to paper. When I do next time it’ll be quick, pointed and dirty.

I guess I’ll go back to the drawing board and evaluate some other ideas that maybe align with skills I already have and take it from there.

 

[FastlaneJonah]

WEEK 5 -- December 25, 2022

Weekly update.

So it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to pursue this as a business idea. I did my first pour and it’s a dirty, space and time-consuming and low ROI/time process. I feel a bit stupid. So much effort and prep for something that you can’t properly scale without significant investment and expertise.

The videos I was watching of the Chinese factories make these figurines made it look so simple. It really isn’t. I’ve realised I'm watching thousands of hours of repetition, and trial and error here.

While I still like the idea on paper, there are a few things I realised while my first pour was still curing:

• One, I don’t have the space to actually flesh this out and commit to a workshop or mini-factory, I know it seems stupid now but you really do need space and equipment for this. I thought I could start making batches of up to 50 in my second bedroom, you can’t.
• Two, the process is way more involved than I thought. What I'm watching from China is likely extensively iterated upon, proprietary and thought out at every step. It may seem like a cottage industry but mass manufacturing even of polyresin statues is more sophisticated than I thought.
• Finally, it’ll cost thousands to manufacture at scale and going into a recession these aren’t ‘must haves’. This year my sales of my existing stock were low. This could be a general lack of maintaining the platform listings but last year and the year before I didn’t and sales were booming.

I feel quite stupid truth be told. If there’s one thing I’ve learned here it’s don’t spend 8 weeks or whatever it was writing a business plan. Go do it, fail or succeed and then decide. I’ll need to create some kind of plan to get my partner to agree to use our joint salaries on an idea but I think the idea should at least be further along before I put it to paper. When I do next time it’ll be quick, pointed and dirty.

I guess I’ll go back to the drawing board and evaluate some other ideas that maybe align with skills I already have and take it from there.

Don't feel stupid, you learned many things simply by trying.
As you've identified before your business violated need. In my view, this is the most critical component for any business. Remember what is written in the book; passions keep you poor.

Reflect, identify, continue

 

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[Andrew 1177]

Don't feel stupid, you learned many things simply by trying.
As you've identified before your business violated need. In my view, this is the most critical component for any business. Remember what is written in the book; passions keep you poor.

Reflect, identify, continue

Thanks mate, those words of encouragement mean a lot. It's a constant process and I guess I can only fail if I stop kicking.

 

[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 6 -- Sunday 1 January, 2023

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• I always get reflective around the end of the year, this year was no different. I went through my journal for the first time, reading every entry (most days), what an eye opener. These are the learnings I took from 2022.
  • 1. I drink too much. There I said it. I've always been a social guy and a weekend warrior but that lifestyle and weekend benders are stopping me from achieving my goals, most notably from reaching (or even moving towards) the fastlane. I've got a great life and drinking has been fun at times, but I'm at a crossroads. I can keep on the path I'm on and be your average slowlane office grunt, or sacrifice the bottle to reach the fastlane. I'm not going to drink for a year and see where it takes me. My last drink was on Monday 26 December 2022.
  • 2. I flip-flopped on methods to reach the fastlane all year had I just stuck with one I'd be further along than I am now I also never gained traction or momentum, I'm very inconsistent. All year it was 'I'll write a book', then 'I'll learn how to trade', then 'I'll start an e-commerce business with onshore manufacturing'. I have horrific shiny object syndrome. I think it's an offshoot of always being addled and hungover (mentally at least) until Wednesday, I then get a bit of momentum and feel so good by Friday that I celebrate by going out. Rinse and repeat all year.
  • 3. I did achieve a few good life goals and I'm proud of that. I bought and renovated my first apartment and it's a beauty. Learned the market well and got it for a steal seeing what it could be and then we made that happen and it's phenomenal. Smack bang in an inner city suburb, great views, good building, huge floor-plan. Now that the sawdust has settled it was definitely a win. I also achieved my goal of snagging another promotion, to go from what I was to what I am now in twoish years isn't common. I also went for a month to Europe to see old friends and family, it was hard on the old rig but was probably the best holiday of my life.
  • 4. While I didn't ostensibly move the fastlane needle I'm now set up in a stable and secure environment, I have my own office at home and I'm ready to go physically and financially, so in some ways I did move the needle because I now have the tools and resources to give a good idea a red hot go.
  • 5. I need to be kind to myself. COVID lockdowns in Australia was beyond horrific. The mental health toll was immense. Maybe I needed a year to piss it all up against the wall and shake it off. Am I where I want to be? No. But I'm set and settled now for my push towards the fastlane.
• So apart from Christmas and the madness of that week, that was my unvarnished year. 2023 is the year I start to make it happen or I collapse inwards like a black hole and give in to a slowlane life. I'm not going to let that happen. My goals for 2023 are.
  • Not drink in 2023.
  • Post here once a week.
  • Find a business idea and have a tangible product made/being marketed by the end of the year.
  • Move to Europe to live for a year later this year -- so my idea needs to be one I can work on from anywhere.
  • Pivot my job into an area I'm more interested in for no or a little pay reduction.
  • No more shiny object bullshit. I need to see my idea through to success or failure.
• After the reality bat to the face of trying to make polyresin statues in my office, I've realised I should build something that can be manufactured and marketed online. Whether that's offering a service like web-design or building an app or website.
• The thing that's been holding me back is the thought that 'I'm not good at maths and I'm not a coder' but who was when they started? I'm also not here to be the world's best coder, I just need to build things that the market can validate or not. Also when I was working at the startup I was doing it all from salesforce flow low-level coding, to creating basic apps, to setting up an e-commerce store from scratch, I can do this!
• This approach also jives with me working and travelling with my partner in Europe and means I don't have a pissy missus upset that I've spilt polyresin on her hardwood floors. All I need is a computer and a table. I've had tons of seemingly good ideas too, I've just been hesitant to try building them because I'm 'not good at math'. Oh well, nobody's going to die, I can only fail.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• I'm starting off with a pain point in my life. I haven't really analysed it from a CENTS perspective but it's a great place to start. I'm going to create a script in python to automate and randomise our meals for the week which I hate picking by hand.
• I was going to do it in Zapier but why not learn to do it properly in python? The plan is to write a script that lets me take the recipes we currently use from a .csv spreadsheet and then select x number randomly and then email them to my girlfriend on a weekly schedule in python. It's not quite facebook but I figure a lot of the skills I'll learn here will be useful for future projects.
• The goal for the week is to work my a$$ of on the project, let's see where it goes.

 

[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 7 -- Sunday 8 January, 2023

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• Fantastic week. Goddamnit I'm productive when I'm not always hungover from the weekend.
• Finished my first python/power automate automation for family meals, it's rough and ready but works great. I learned a ton and realised that I'm really interested in building a product either software or in that sphere. Other ideas I've had in the past I've had to drag myself to do them but building something like this little script pulled me towards it. I probably sunk 30 hours into it during this week and enjoyed every second of it.
• My cousin from London who exited his cybersecurity business came to stay with me on the weekend. He exited for a high seven-figure amount. He was a non-technical founder (the sales ra ra guy). I talked a lot with him about the experience previously and talked with him again last weekend. Here's what I've learned:
  • If you aren't around anyone 'successful' find people who are and get close enough to them to see/experience their lives. It's one thing to read posts and books and watch videos but seeing/experiencing the reality of a life you actually want to live is about as big a motivation as you can get. Since I've seen how profoundly his life has changed for the better, I've got a rocket up me.
  • Just jump in. My cousin did this and it paid off. He quit his cushy job and took the risk and it paid off. He's always been a little mad but fortune favours the brave. There's nothing wrong with taking calculated risks if the ultimate aim is the fastlane.
  • He had a bunch of ideas that didn't work out before he found this one. All of those failures helped him find and build a winner.
  • Luck can play a part. But hard work makes you more lucky more often. My cousin readily acknowledged that he got suuuper lucky, the exit deal settled a few weeks before the markets turned and a lot of VC money dried up. Even the business that acquired them said they probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger if the deal happened a few months later. But if it hadn't gone through he says he would've just kept trucking. I watched him work so so so hard. He had a bunch of very high highs and very low lows but he kept moving.
  • Your first successful exit seems to be the hardest. The doors that have opened up to him as a successful founder now are very interesting. I dunno if he's exaggerating but he said he's had people say they'll write a check sight unseen for his next idea, seems like they're backing him and not the nuts and bolts of the business. Again, he can exaggerate sometimes so I'm taking that with a grain of salt. But he seems genuinely confident his next idea could get funded easily.
  • Most importantly. Don't piss your exit money away unless it's an obscene amount the money can go. Have fun sure, smell the roses, but know when to pull the plug. Since his cheque cleared he's done the following:
    • Paid everything for everyone all of the time. His tastes and those of his social circle are expensive, if a rather vanilla night out with him is anything to go by he's pissed away a staggering amount of money on shouting people in the last six months.
    • Taken way too many drugs and partied waay too hard. He's well on his way to a budding addiction if he isn't careful.
    • He sunk big chunks of his check into some very risky business ventures and big purchases right off the bat while his 'blood was up'. He's purchased a gigantic share in some random mining tenement, has funded several friends' startup ideas, has purchased a shitload of bonds because 'they're safe' since then bonds have plummeted, is buying some crazy expensive cars, has made a very extravagant property purchase and is now doing an even more significant renovation. It might all come good, but none of these investments and purchases seem to have been made in an orderly and well-though out manner.
    • The government takes a giant chunk of capital gains, he's got a big tax bill coming due. I don't know the ins and outs of how he's planning for it but it's not something you immediately think about when you see the exit amount but the government will always get their cut.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Based on how much I've enjoyed creating something in the last few weeks and in my previous startup stint (where I was creating a lot of the backend automation and CRM infrastructure) as opposed to just re-selling/branding products manufactured offshore) I'm going to do some brainstorming apps/software/products I can build and market, it should adhere to CENTS ideally too of course.
• My cousin was also saying that cybersecurity is and will continue to get bigger and bigger. He also reckons that humans aren't going anywhere in the industry and that managed services are going from strength to strength. I'm going to do some research on this this week.

 

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[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 8 -- Sunday 15 January, 2023

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• Vastly more productive when I'm not hungover every weekend.
• I can work more, need to cut away the little distractions and procrastination.
• I researched cyber security, not sure if my current skills align with much in that space. I'm so out of my depth there.
• It did tangentially get me reading and researching about creating your own content site or blog. There's a lot of synergies between my skillsets of writing, editing, website mangement and creating and running websites which I've done in minor ways before.
• I've got a lot of ideas in this space, many which can be monetised and several which adhere to CENTS.
• The earning potential upside for popular sites/email lists is good and it can be done from any geographic location. I've always liked 'baby tech' like site management, automation flows, email markting and I also like to write. This might be an opportunity to blend both of these interests into something profitable.
• I started brainstorming ideas and signed up for SEM rush so I can use the keyword search tool. After 7 days it's $200 AUD a month which is a whack but I spend double that on crap without a second thought so I figure it's money well spent.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• l've got two short SEO courses to do to familiarise myself with the basics of SEO so I can do some proper keyword research with SEM rush
• Keep brainstorming ideas
• Find basic hosting provider and if I find my first topic get a wordpress site started.

 

[Lyinx]

WEEK 8 -- Sunday 15 January, 2023

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• Vastly more productive when I'm not hungover every weekend.
• I can work more, need to cut away the little distractions and procrastination.
• I researched cyber security, not sure if my current skills align with much in that space. I'm so out of my depth there.
• It did tangentially get me reading and researching about creating your own content site or blog. There's a lot of synergies between my skillsets of writing, editing, website mangement and creating and running websites which I've done in minor ways before.
• I've got a lot of ideas in this space, many which can be monetised and several which adhere to CENTS.
• The earning potential upside for popular sites/email lists is good and it can be done from any geographic location. I've always liked 'baby tech' like site management, automation flows, email markting and I also like to write. This might be an opportunity to blend both of these interests into something profitable.
• I started brainstorming ideas and signed up for SEM rush so I can use the keyword search tool. After 7 days it's $200 AUD a month which is a whack but I spend double that on crap without a second thought so I figure it's money well spent.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• l've got two short SEO courses to do to familiarise myself with the basics of SEO so I can do some proper keyword research with SEM rush
• Keep brainstorming ideas
• Find basic hosting provider and if I find my first topic get a wordpress site started.

Read your story, sounds like your trying things, that's a big start!
Poly resin pours, while I don't know anything about it, I do know that any process (when first started) is messy. With time, the process evolves, and within a year you would not even recognize the process anymore.
Python +power automate, any suggestions where to start? I'm looking at some of those solutions for my office, any pointers on where to start?

 

[Andrew 1177]

Read your story, sounds like your trying things, that's a big start!
Poly resin pours, while I don't know anything about it, I do know that any process (when first started) is messy. With time, the process evolves, and within a year you would not even recognize the process anymore.
Python +power automate, any suggestions where to start? I'm looking at some of those solutions for my office, any pointers on where to start?

Yeah pouring is super messy. I can have a business or a girlfriend but not both in my house...

Re power automate, sign up for it and do one of the Microsoft quick courses and jump right in! It'll be frustrating at first but you WILL figure it out and you feel so bloody good when you do. There's no learning like diving right in mate.

 

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[Andrew 1177]

WEEK 9 -- Sunday 22 January, 2023

Weekly update.

THE WEEK JUST GONE

• Productive week. I've honed in on a niche. It might not be the most profitable but I think there's a huge need for information on the topic and there will be one in the future for sure. The most important thing is that I start on something.
• Niche gives me lattitude to one day create my own info products, build a brand, use relevant affiliate links or use general display advertising. It's a great place to start.
• I got a domain, sorted out wordpress hosting (WP engine for now). I went with WP engine because I want to focus on content and SEO ranking not becoming a site admin. If I start a second site I'll go the self-managed route to compare the two. Does anyone have any thoughts on which is better initially?
• Got the pro version of generate press I've heard great things about it and it has a good site library.
• Got a trial version of SEM Rush.
• Did the short SEO courses and achieved all of last week's goals.

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Write my first article. I want 25 articles before I take my site out of production.
• Get a theme up and running in production.
• Fill out the 'about us' and contact page and any other pages
• Create a twitter and facebook account.