Hi, guys. It has been a while since I've posted and a lot has happened since.
My introduction post - Introduction - Inspired and Doing It
Shortly after my intro post, I quit my job. It wasn't out of anger or frustration. I had kicked around the idea of quitting for weeks it was time to do it. When you do it it's just like you've probably heard - liberating and daunting at the same time.
Selling the House
This was more stressful than getting a new business off the ground. After almost seven months of showings, following up with realtors, sleepless nights, etc. the sale FINALLY closed the beginning of this month. I definitely didn't get rich off the sale. 6% of the sale split between the realtors, the repairs I had to pay for and the state's lovely excise tax left me with enough to get something off the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant. I exaggerate, but the seller really gets screwed at the end of the sale.
Moving Forward
I am writing this from a used fifth wheel I found on Craigslist. It's decent; nothing fancy. It did use a large chunk of my cash on hand but I didn't have to take out a loan to get it. It is a downgrade from the house I just sold, but my landlord and I worked out a deal that benefits us both. My spouse and I will renovate his 1940s house that is on the property; it's right next to my fifth wheel. He will buy all the materials and all we have to do is fix the place up. We see it as an opportunity to learn building codes, the ins and outs of permits and gain experience since we will build our own house in the future. In exchange, rent is $300 a month. I really can't complain.
The Business
I wrote a travel site that used the flight data from Google's QPX Express. This project was extremely fun and my core logic worked. I demo'd the site to friends and family - they thought it was neat. The revenue stream was going to be from affiliate marketing. Then I quickly learned that the requirements to be an affiliate are high. The site is still online but my focus shifted to something that I thought would actually turn a profit.
A college buddy of mine has his own business in the mortgage industry. He had me check out his website and it was in serious need of an update. We worked out an agreement were he has me on retainer of sorts. I built him a new site and manage it along with his online presence. He's happy with the results and gladly passes my info along to his colleagues in the industry.
Next, I decided to resell pet products. The LLC had a resellers permit so why not use it? I learned how to use Shopify and had a store up and running within a few weeks. This endeavor had a USP and a solid guarantee. I spent a few thousand on inventory and advertising/promotion using Adwords, Facebook, Craigslist and so on. The store received plenty of paid traffic as well as some organic traffic, but zero sales outside of a friend who made a purchase and wrote a testimonial. The store is still open but it's a failure to me.
Diesel and Coffee
Read as many threads that have posts from Andy Black and listen to his podcasts. Not only are they entertaining but there are always takeaways from each one.
I consider this an example of Andy's diesel and coffee effect - when you sell a home with a septic system you have to have it pumped and inspected prior to sale. When the technician showed up he was ecstatic that I was interested and knew a thing or two about the systems he works on. This lead to him telling me he liked to invent things and had a couple of ideas that he didn't know how to run with. One idea was a device that would attract elk during hunting season using heat and an irresistible scent
My spouse designed a prototype using a free 3D modeling program and we're ready to build it with the parts we have on hand and have it ready for the technician to test next hunting season.
Granted the technician was the one that burned the diesel and we watched stuff with the same color as coffee travel up a hose instead of having actual coffee, but without face to face interaction and simply talking I would not have learned about his ideas or exchanged our contact information.
What Now
I didn't expect business success overnight and I consider two ideas out of three a flop. Yes, I became discouraged and yes there were days I felt like doing nothing, though I haven't given up. I'll get another thread going that delves more into the business side of things, along with some questions I hope others will be able to help with.
Take care and stay hungry!
My introduction post - Introduction - Inspired and Doing It
Shortly after my intro post, I quit my job. It wasn't out of anger or frustration. I had kicked around the idea of quitting for weeks it was time to do it. When you do it it's just like you've probably heard - liberating and daunting at the same time.
Selling the House
This was more stressful than getting a new business off the ground. After almost seven months of showings, following up with realtors, sleepless nights, etc. the sale FINALLY closed the beginning of this month. I definitely didn't get rich off the sale. 6% of the sale split between the realtors, the repairs I had to pay for and the state's lovely excise tax left me with enough to get something off the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant. I exaggerate, but the seller really gets screwed at the end of the sale.
Moving Forward
I am writing this from a used fifth wheel I found on Craigslist. It's decent; nothing fancy. It did use a large chunk of my cash on hand but I didn't have to take out a loan to get it. It is a downgrade from the house I just sold, but my landlord and I worked out a deal that benefits us both. My spouse and I will renovate his 1940s house that is on the property; it's right next to my fifth wheel. He will buy all the materials and all we have to do is fix the place up. We see it as an opportunity to learn building codes, the ins and outs of permits and gain experience since we will build our own house in the future. In exchange, rent is $300 a month. I really can't complain.
The Business
I wrote a travel site that used the flight data from Google's QPX Express. This project was extremely fun and my core logic worked. I demo'd the site to friends and family - they thought it was neat. The revenue stream was going to be from affiliate marketing. Then I quickly learned that the requirements to be an affiliate are high. The site is still online but my focus shifted to something that I thought would actually turn a profit.
A college buddy of mine has his own business in the mortgage industry. He had me check out his website and it was in serious need of an update. We worked out an agreement were he has me on retainer of sorts. I built him a new site and manage it along with his online presence. He's happy with the results and gladly passes my info along to his colleagues in the industry.
Next, I decided to resell pet products. The LLC had a resellers permit so why not use it? I learned how to use Shopify and had a store up and running within a few weeks. This endeavor had a USP and a solid guarantee. I spent a few thousand on inventory and advertising/promotion using Adwords, Facebook, Craigslist and so on. The store received plenty of paid traffic as well as some organic traffic, but zero sales outside of a friend who made a purchase and wrote a testimonial. The store is still open but it's a failure to me.
Diesel and Coffee
Read as many threads that have posts from Andy Black and listen to his podcasts. Not only are they entertaining but there are always takeaways from each one.
I consider this an example of Andy's diesel and coffee effect - when you sell a home with a septic system you have to have it pumped and inspected prior to sale. When the technician showed up he was ecstatic that I was interested and knew a thing or two about the systems he works on. This lead to him telling me he liked to invent things and had a couple of ideas that he didn't know how to run with. One idea was a device that would attract elk during hunting season using heat and an irresistible scent
My spouse designed a prototype using a free 3D modeling program and we're ready to build it with the parts we have on hand and have it ready for the technician to test next hunting season.Granted the technician was the one that burned the diesel and we watched stuff with the same color as coffee travel up a hose instead of having actual coffee, but without face to face interaction and simply talking I would not have learned about his ideas or exchanged our contact information.
What Now
I didn't expect business success overnight and I consider two ideas out of three a flop. Yes, I became discouraged and yes there were days I felt like doing nothing, though I haven't given up. I'll get another thread going that delves more into the business side of things, along with some questions I hope others will be able to help with.
Take care and stay hungry!
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