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How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

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Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#191

Post by porker »

ahoyhere wrote: post #167
zenocon wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just raise your rate regardless of some book -- isn't that really the take away message? I've also been consulting as an independent for 7 years now. I have not raised my rate, but nor have I lowered it (ever). I have turned down plenty jobs, and some have walked away because they did not want to pay the rate, but I have been doing this 40+ hours / week for 7 years now. I do feel like it is time to raise my r…

Why go to a therapist, when you can talk to yourself? Why call a plumber when you can buy a wrench on Amazon? Why go to a doctor when you can look up symptoms on Medscape? Why pay for a gym membership, when you can do P90x at home… hell, why buy P90x tapes, you know what you ought to be doing, everybody knows that all you have to do is burn more calories than you eat, and you can use some heavy books or angry cats yo…

Is there a reason your writing comes across as agressive Amy? There's some jerks in other threads, but you're not being attacked and if you're secure in your success... then great!

As you're successful is there any gain by not being gracious?

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#192

Post by danielharan »

patio11 wrote: post #41

I had an experience very similar to Brennan's recently. Appointment Reminder, the SaaS which I wish was the center of gravity of my business at the moment, is profitable but not profitable enough to hire the folks and buy the things that I want to accelerate growth of it. So I have been supporting it by consulting, but when I'm consulting I'm not selling Appointment Reminder accounts, and consulting is always more di…

I'll say it again: I'm pretty sure several people here would finance your transition. With standard conditions, you should be able to raise in under a month. Think of what you could do with 100k, perhaps only diluting 5%.

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#193

Post by WA »

abootstrapper wrote: post #158
Evbn wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just write the book, changing the parts about losing money to making money, and start promoting it.

Don't get me wrong. My business makes decent money. At least as much as I'd make if I had a fulltime job instead. I'm just not sure that's enough success to qualify me as an educator and model on how to do business well. Hell, most of it boils down to luck. Yet, lots of people in the same boat as me write about their "success." Maybe it's lack of confidence on my part, or maybe it's Dunning–Kruger effect. On the othe…

I'm in the exact same position like you. My bootstrapped company pays a bit more than if I were employed somewhere (but with waaaay less time I need to spend on it), but I also don't feel entitled to write a book about making money.

It'd feel fake for me. I was also lucky with my business.

Anyways, since I've got some time now, I'll try to build another business by following a specific process I think is right. Maybe, once I'm done with this second business (or a 3rd) and I can claim that my process/experience helps other people to also start their businesses, I'll write a book about it.

One more aspect: If I talk to friends (being employeed somewhere) or people who try to get started in bootstrapping a business, I'm quite surprised that I know much more than I used to know and that my advice might even help a bit here and there.

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#195

Post by adrianhoward »

larrys wrote: post #57
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real problem with consulting right now is that it's so freaking lucrative that the opportunity costs for building long-term recurring revenue projects like AR are not insignificant. It's just much more of a gamble, and I too often fall prey to the allure of the large check in the next six weeks, rather than the hundreds of small checks over the next six years, even though the small checks may eventually add up to…

"The real problem with consulting right now is that it's so freaking lucrative" I suggest for anyone doing consulting or building an app that they build into the price a monthly maintenance fee as a residual. We have an app that was written for us about 6 years ago (+-$65000) and we pay $6000 per year just to have the developer make minor changes and answer emails quickly. Very little work on his part but it gives us…

I suggest for anyone doing consulting or building an app that they build into the price a monthly maintenance fee as a residual

I do this on many non-coding consulting gigs - and I know other folk do too. More because walking in then walking away means that clients often don't get the full benefit (since they fall back into old habits or have questions) so they need some ongoing support. Unless you get successful improvements you don't get the referrals - so it's not just about getting extra money on an ongoing basis ;-)

So, for example, an engagement might look like

* 5 days onsite

* four weeks of being available one day a week remotely/onsite during set hours

* N weeks of some number of remote hours / onsite visits depending on client/location.

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#196

Post by adrianhoward »

Evbn wrote: post #144
patio11 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amy certainly has a bit of hustle to her, but it should't be an imposing amount of it. She'd tell you that she doesn't even work 40 hours a week, partly out of lack of desire to and partly for medical reasons. I'm amazed by the "work equals money ergo lots of money equals lots of work" mental script. Do I have any credibility on this topic? I've said this for six years: you can make substantial amounts of money on pr…

Your last two sentences got interesting. Amy may be a great programmer with a great product, but her income was predicated from writing copy and marketing for that product (and I further note that some people, like the Rich Dad guy, skip the product stuff and just write copy to sell fluff). Maybe I could make a product like freckle, but as you famously constantly argue, I don't make money writing software, the money…

Maybe I could make a product like freckle, but as you famously constantly argue, I don't make money writing software, the money comes from selling it, and all "selling" entails.

From my perspective what selling entails is finding people who have the pain/need that your product alleviates/ fulfil - and letting them know that your product does that.

This is a bad thing? We should expect products to succeed without doing that?

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#197

Post by adrianhoward »

ahoyhere wrote: post #164
18pfsmt wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just in case you hadn't noticed, there are 3 throwaway accounts (apparently opened just for this) running around this thread attempting to discredit any of the ideas expressed by the OP because the OP had the audacity to charge for his time and efforts. It either set off their BS-alarm, which may be improperly calibrated due to their own views of the world which they then project; or, it might be simple jealousy. Eit…

I noticed. :) The arguments among the "green" accounts all have a similar incoherency. Looks like astroturfing to me. But I still can't bear to let them stand because if you aren't privy to underhanded "argument" techniques, they sound mildly persuasive. I'm not arguing trying to convince the "greens," but rather the silent majority reading. I don't say anybody ought to buy my products or Brennan's, but the unfounded…

I don't say anybody ought to buy my products or Brennan's, but the unfounded accusations flying around are hilarious

They're not amusing - because the silent majority might take them seriously. And I already have enough problems with developers and founders thinking that they just need to build it and people will come ;-)

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#198

Post by adrianhoward »

johnrob wrote: post #34

The depressing truth about the software business is that most of the success stories take the form "and then I started spending all my time on marketing, and my business took off!". I say depressing because most software developers didn't choose their profession out of a burning desire to become a marketer.

I say depressing because most software developers didn't choose their profession out of a burning desire to become a marketer.

I started development (age 10) coz - well - it was a computer! Getting it to do shit was fun. More than thirty years on I still find making the computer do shit is fun.

Along the way though I found I got a real buzz about seeing people use the stuff that I made the computer do. That was freaking cool.

So now I do both.

This involve being sure that I'm helping build something that folk will actually want to use (UX, Customer Development, Lean Startup, Lean UX, etc.), building stuff (UX & dev), and making sure that the people who will like using my stuff can find it and discover value there (UX and dev and marketing).

I don't acquire marketing skills because it's fun (although bits of it are - how could I not find the intersection of things like statistics, socal & cog psych, etc, etc. fascinating). I do it because I get a stupid amount of entertainment value from seeing people use and enjoy stuff that I help make - and I get a kick out of helping other folk achieve that too. And if you want that you need marketing skills (or need to work with people who do).

And I don't find it even the tiniest little bit depressing ;-)

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#199

Post by zenocon »

zenocon wrote: post #180
ahoyhere wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why go to a therapist, when you can talk to yourself? Why call a plumber when you can buy a wrench on Amazon? Why go to a doctor when you can look up symptoms on Medscape? Why pay for a gym membership, when you can do P90x at home… hell, why buy P90x tapes, you know what you ought to be doing, everybody knows that all you have to do is burn more calories than you eat, and you can use some heavy books or angry cats yo…

When the time comes to negotiate terms, it is a short conversation.

Thanks for the downvote. I felt the conversation was civil and fine until it seemed I struck a nerve with you. I still haven't really heard why just reading some advice here http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/10/10/kalzumeus-podcast-3-grow... is a sufficient substitute - as opposed to courses / books, etc.

I still posit that the thing that matters most is the rate - that's what affects your bottom line the most, garners more respect, etc. Negotiating that rate is a relatively quick exercise -- it takes some skill, and some experience, but it has nothing to do with weight loss or plumbing -- sorry, I'm not buying that either.

If the books / courses / etc. held different titles, e.g. "How to be a better consultant", "How to improve your consulting business", maybe it would be different, but the way all this stuff is being marketed is straight for the jugular: "How To Double Your Freelancing Rate In 14 Days"

Re: How I’m Making Five-Figures A Month Off Bootstrapped Products

#200

Post by bdunn »

zenocon wrote: post #199
zenocon wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the time comes to negotiate terms, it is a short conversation.

Thanks for the downvote. I felt the conversation was civil and fine until it seemed I struck a nerve with you. I still haven't really heard why just reading some advice here http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/10/10/kalzumeus-podcast-3-grow... is a sufficient substitute - as opposed to courses / books, etc. I still posit that the thing that matters most is the rate - that's what affects your bottom line the most, garners m…

Truthfully, the recording I did with Patrick is enough for some people. But the book goes much more in depth (i.e. how and what to change on your sales site, examples of qualifying emails, followup tactics, academic research re: pricing theory, how to assess your value to clients, and interviews with 7 freelancers who once charged very little and now charge much more, what they did to get there.)

Zenocon: You are not the customer I'm targeting. I can't stress this enough. People who value their time and don't have hours and hours to kill Googling around often times want someone else to present the research to them in a structured, easily consumable package and are willing to pay for that, because their time is a non-renewable asset. That's what I've done with the book, and considering I've had exactly 1 refund request and close to 400 sales, I think I'm doing a pretty good job.

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