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I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

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Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#261

Post by hermitcrab »

commodoreboxer wrote: post #86
gizmo wrote: post #33

Not all B2C is the same. If you make a product for professionals you won't get random chargebacks, incoherent emails, or general rudeness. One great way to filter for professionalism is by simply charging more. Another strategy is making it harder to purchase the product. For example by disabling the checkout process until people have completed the tutorial, or only allowing purchases after the free trial has expired…

> You can optimize for revenue/agony instead. That's a great way to put it. I'm going to start using that one. Tangent: I'm a programmer at a small company, which has three programmers total. I make a decent wage, but one that's significantly smaller than I could make at a larger company. I often get questions from people who can't believe that I'm not jumping at these other opportunities, but I make nearly six figur…

Sounds great. Also, if you went to work for BigCo and got a big pay rise, you would probably very soon get use to it and it wouldn't make you much happier. I wrote a bit more about this topic at: https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programm...

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#262

Post by dghlsakjg »

Marsymars wrote: post #249
dghlsakjg wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having run my own tourism business (so dealing with consumers directly, rather than b2b), and having spoken to many other business owners, this is counterintuitively true. My worst customers were the ones that ask for discounts, or are otherwise looking for a deal. My theory is that people that happily fork out for an expensive product have already seen the value. There are exceptions, but a lot of business owners se…

> My worst customers were the ones that ask for discounts, or are otherwise looking for a deal. I get where you're coming from, but it's hardly surprising that a business's favourite customers are those who are happy to get fleeced. And as a customer, if you're not already a subject-matter expert, you have no idea which business is trying to fleece you or not unless you price compare and try for discounts everywhere.

If you think getting charged asking price is getting fleeced, then you are kind of illustrating my point. I don't want a customer that thinks they are getting fleeced by doing business with me.

I don't want a customer who thinks that paying asking price for a product is me taking advantage of them.

I don't want a customer that thinks I am starting the relationship as an adversary rather than a partner in a mutually beneficial transaction.

I want customers that are happy. I can't make you happy if you already think what I am selling is not worth what I'm charging. We will both be happier if you find a different supplier.

The kind of people that look for an angle on every transaction are the ones that will be the biggest pain in your ass while asking for more than everyone else. That's the generally held wisdom for a reason. It isn't always true, but its true often enough that it normally doesn't pay to play the game.

> And as a customer, if you're not already a subject-matter expert, you have no idea which business is trying to fleece you or not unless you price compare and try for discounts everywhere.

Yes, be a savvy consumer. But also realize that if you go around looking for the lowest price and asking for discounts, you will end up with the cheapest product or service, not necessarily the best value.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#263

Post by myfavoritedog »

eps wrote: post #250
philsnow wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need to develop a polite but curt tone of voice for customer support If this makes you uneasy, it can be easier if you sign initial support replies under another name. Hey, this is John, I'll be happy to help you with that. Let me know if that helps. --John

- Hey, this is John, I'll be happy to help you with that. + Hello Xxx, No need to fake being happy (or sorry). Just provide an actual answer.

[dead]

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#264

Post by hermitcrab »

kebman wrote: post #64

I think in terms of official correspondence, I don't think it's a good idea to ask criminals why they did a certain thing, ref the reply to the scammer about his access being revoked. Yes, it might feel good to berate him and ask "Why did you do that?" But what if he answers? Would you really entertain valuable business time arguing with a fraudster? In general, I also think it's a bad idea to entertain feature reque…

>In general, I also think it's a bad idea to entertain feature requests

A lot of the best features in my products originate with feature requests from customers.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#265

Post by hermitcrab »

withinrafael wrote: post #225

Great write up and relatable. Just wanted to warn you that PayPal will eventually get annoyed and lock up your account for reason `$($RANDOM)`. I would prioritize draining the account very regularly, if you're not already.

PayPal used to be famous for this, years ago. But I haven't heard any stories recently. Is it still a thing?

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#266

Post by amerkhalid »

eps wrote: post #250
philsnow wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need to develop a polite but curt tone of voice for customer support If this makes you uneasy, it can be easier if you sign initial support replies under another name. Hey, this is John, I'll be happy to help you with that. Let me know if that helps. --John

- Hey, this is John, I'll be happy to help you with that. + Hello Xxx, No need to fake being happy (or sorry). Just provide an actual answer.

Recently, I canceled a subscription for a newspaper, they make you go through chat to cancel. The agent was so nice that it was annoying.

I don’t mind waiting in silence, but when they keep asking about weather, vacation plans, etc, I find it hard to not respond. This might part retention technique though.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#268

Post by ipaddr »

LoganDark wrote: post #215
ecnahc515 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I almost never see bots close issues that are less than 30 days old. Many projects can change a lot in 30-90 days and the bug may no longer exist, keeping issues open when they may no longer be relevant isn't helping anyone either. If it is still relevant, it can simply be re-opened. I don't see any downside to semi-aggressively closing stale issues. If it's easily reproduced then most good projects will mark it so t…

Usually it can't be reopened because you can't even really get someone to look at it, because issues are wrongfully closed so frequently that they don't pay attention to complaints about the closures. Take a look at this issue to see what it takes to keep something open: https://github.com/oobabooga/text-generation-webui/issues/41... (not especially proud of my reactions there, but I hate being abused, even by robots…

When I see some bug like this I do wonder why don't more people fix the issue themselves or think that it might be specific to their setup or accept a little random lag.

If I received a bug like that I would immediately think why are you telling me this... just fix it yourself and share your fix if you want. I probably have higher expectations from my users. You give the software away now they want you to fix it for them.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#269

Post by nsokolsky »

siliconc0w wrote: post #140

One suggestion is simply increase the price. Price is strongly correlated with quality of customer. Price also acts as signaling that this is a tool for professionals who make actual money and so shouldn't be bothered coughing up something trivial like $100 for a subscription. You end up making more with far less customer support.

Or just give yourself permission to not reply to people. Make a big visible unsubscribe button and relax knowing that anyone can just quit if they don't like it.

Re: I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it

#270

Post by hermitcrab »

jimbokun wrote: post #152

This reminds me of the book 4 Hour Workweek. That book is really about Tim Ferriss figuring out how to automate and delegate everything in his business, until he only has to put in 4 hours a week to keep it going. Until you reach a similar point, as this article shows, you don't really have any "passive" income. You just have another job.

Does anyone really believe that Tim Ferris only works 4 hours a week?
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