Archive for the ‘business’ tag
Business is not about money
I’ve been self-employed for a year now. Last year, I left my 9-5 job with a big company to pursue my own web projects. Along the way, I learned more about business than any four-year-$40k university program could teach me. Although I’m still new to business, I’m compelled to share some of my ideas on the subject - ideas that seasoned entrepreneurs may ridicule as naïve. But hey, here goes…
Business is not about money. It most definitely is not.
I grew up a Trekkie. I dreamed of living in a laissez-faire communist society where humanity’s only wish was to better itself through compassion and understanding. Money was the root of all evil and was abolished in the 21st century shortly after First Contact. So for much of my life, I resented capitalism. I wanted to work for free because it would be for the good of man kind. Naturally, overtime, I realized that my philosophy was naive and misguided because people would always take advantage of free. I needed a compromise between charity and exploitation, and hence, my new found appreciation for business. Business, by my definition, is about making people happy without killing myself to do it.
How to Grow a Web Business
I’m sure every developer who’s ever wanted to start a business had trouble coming up with that one really awesome idea to make him millions. Personally, I feel that approach is too overrated. Here are two other approaches to consider:
Approach 1: Build for Niche Market
David from 37signals explains this one:
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Basically, don’t obsess over coming up with that one big application to change the world. You have a better chance at winning the lottery. Instead, take an already existing idea and just make it [slightly] better. Then rely on marketing power to take it the rest of the way. Have several of these apps, and you will do quite well.
Approach 2: Focus on Creating Assets
Instead of focusing on which business idea has the most potential for profit, I focus on which business idea allows me to build multi-purpose/re-useable technology. The advantage here is that regardless of whether the immediate business succeeds or fails, I will have created an asset of value that I can re-sale or re-use in the future. There will always be at least one other person who will find my technology useful, and will pay me to use it. This is what I call the “no-loss” scenario.