Introductory Post & Questions

[Helo]

Hi, my name is Peter. I’m 38yo. Here’s my introductory post and maybe some of you can help spark some ideas in me and help me get the process moving (I feel kind of stuck right now in finding viable muses). But first, if you will indulge me a mini-rant…

I found Tim’s book back in July, and could not put it down. I was fired from a 6-figure software engineering job in late August. Don’t worry, the book wasn’t the direct cause (I was getting sick of the rat race long before I found Tim’s book), and getting fired was actually a really good thing for me (I really hated that job).

It’s not that I don’t want to work…I actually love the feeling of sinking my teeth into an interesting problem and making the effort to devise a solution…what I disdain is the typical corporate environment nowadays where they want you to sit in front of a terminal for 40 to 60 hours a week while feeding you soda and pizza, in return for 3 weeks vacation a year (including sick days)! I guess it might be tolerable if I was given interesting projects to work on, in which I could utilize my creativity and skills, but lately that has rarely been the case. Ah, the horror! I can’t go back to corporate America…I need to make a living on my own!

OK, my mini-rant is over. As mentioned above, I’m a software engineer by education and experience. The relevance of that here is that I have excellent problem-solving skills. As far as other things I enjoy, there are many. I’ll include a list below and rate my skill/knowledge on a scale of 1-5 to give some idea of where I’m at. I wrote this a few weeks ago in order to try to cross-reference my interests and skills and find a niche or two which I could then turn into a muse.

Looking at the list, I get the impression that except for a few things, I am basically a “jack of all trades, master of none”, which puts me at a bit of a disadvantage (although I do realize that I can focus on some things that are 2s and bring them up to 4). One major thing holding me back, however, is that whenever I think of a possible muse, I worry that he market is already saturated. One example would be language learning tools…I truly love learning new languages, and I have some good ideas for novel ways to do so (especially Japanese), but it just seems there is so much already out there it would be difficult to break into it. I know this goes against the spirit of Tim’s book…I should be looking for niche markets, but it’s hard for me to break out of this kind of “negative” thinking (I like to think of it as a healthy skepticism, but maybe I should just tuck that filter away for a while?).

Here is my personal “skill & interest” list –

My scale:
5 - Master/Expert/Guru, etc.
4 - Advanced
3 - Intermediate
2 - Advanced Beginner
1 – Beginner

Peter’s Skills & Interests
4 - Japanese Language (lived in Japan 2 years early 90s)
4 - Math
4 - Physics (my undergrad major)
4 - Programming/Computers (my career, 10+ years experience)
3 - Guitar (taking lessons on/off for 3 years)
3 - Writing
2 - Voice/Singing (taking lessons for about 1 year)
2 - Salsa Dancing (taking lessons for about 1 year)
2 - Soccer (started playing age 30, organized teams for local rec league)
2 - Teaching English as a foreign language (JET program, taught in Japan)
2 - Surfing (not great, but I’ve surfed in WA, OR, CA, Mexico, and Costa Rica)
2 - Travel
2 - ProTools (currently taking a class)
1 - Windsurfing (a few lessons)
1 - Chinese (currently learning via self-study)
1 - Martial Arts (aikido in Japan, some karate)

I have a few things working in my favor right now:

• I’m not working, thus have a lot of free time to devote to building my own business (between salsa and guitar lessons, that is).
• I have enough savings to last me 6 months. I do not, of course, want to burn through all of this! Realistically, I give myself 2 to 3 months before I get scared and start looking for work to shore up my savings.
• I’m unmarried and have no kids…so I can take some calculated risks if necessary.

I feel like this is an ideal time for me to make this happen.

On the other hand, my disadvantage is that I have high monthly expenses (ie, a mortage), and I get queasy thinking about digging into my savings, even for a few months.

Some practical questions:

1) I have 2 possible ideas I can test now. How many should I have before I begin testing markets via google adwords (or other tools mentioned in Tim’s book)?

2) Information-based products seem like the easiest to pull off. I do, however, have a pretty good idea that would involve maintaining an inventory of hard goods. I like the idea itself but I’m a bit daunted by the amount of work that could be involved in keeping inventory and shipping a tangible object (as opposed to an e-book or DVD, for example). Any thoughts on this?

3) I have good technical and problem-solving skills, but I'm probably below-average when it comes to "people skills", networking, and marketing instinct.

Any feedback or insights would be appreciated!

Peter

[Chris26]

Just wanted to let you know I liked that idea of listing out your skills/interests and scoring them. Reminded me of my role-playing days (yep, that was the first thing that came to mind. I'm just that big of a geek. ) I'm interested to see what I see, when I write myself up. Thanks for the idea.

Originally Posted by Helo

Looking at the list, I get the impression that except for a few things, I am basically a “jack of all trades, master of none”, which puts me at a bit of a disadvantage...

Not at all, as per Tim's blog.

Some practical questions:
1) I have 2 possible ideas I can test now. How many should I have before I begin testing markets via google adwords (or other tools mentioned in Tim’s book)?

I'd start ASAP. You've got an idea, now run with it. You've got two ideas? You're a lucky sonofagun, now run with them.

2) Information-based products seem like the easiest to pull off. I do, however, have a pretty good idea that would involve maintaining an inventory of hard goods. I like the idea itself but I’m a bit daunted by the amount of work that could be involved in keeping inventory and shipping a tangible object (as opposed to an e-book or DVD, for example). Any thoughts on this?

The more you can keep online, I believe the less hard inventory you'd need to deal with. When in doubt, look for a reliable outsourcing solution. Drop shipping, outside providers to handle delivery, etc. If anything, look to hiring an inventory manager, or someone who's sole responsibility it is to maintain the "warehouse" and product.

But I don't think there's an information product that requires a hard copy. Electronic media (e-books, video, mp3s) should be able to get across whatever message you're looking to deliver.

3) I have good technical and problem-solving skills, but I'm probably below-average when it comes to "people skills", networking, and marketing instinct.

I'd look to develop a team (or at least another person) you can lean on to balance out attributes that need balancing. I guess a well-qualified VA with customer service skills could fit the bill.

[Leigh Anne]

Originally Posted by Helo

... I have 2 possible ideas I can test now. How many should I have before I begin testing markets via google adwords (or other tools mentioned in Tim’s book)...

Hello Peter, you can do your initial niche marketing tests for free and also set up an international team to help with marketing, inlieu of google adwords, if you participate in The Thirty Day Challenge.
http://www.thirtydaychallenge.com/blog/

I suggest you go over all the material BEFORE you set up a site. Use Mike Mendel's summaries as you go along.
http://www.webventurer.com/blog/thir...-in-one-place/
Note: You can install tools from this page, but you don't have to buy anything to use this material. The how-to information is free, free, free.

Leigh Anne