Is your business fun?
You can always go back to your day job and be miserable.
Going through the grind of starting a business is a crap ton of work.
Why on earth would you subject yourself to all of that and still be miserable?
I’ll tell you why you’re unhappy…
Because you’ve focused on making money instead of helping people and having fun.
If all you’re looking to do is maximize revenue, you need to do two things:
Thing #1: Start a porn site.
Thing #2: Put gambling ads in the sidebar of that site.
Seriously.
The two things that convert the best online are porn and gambling.
It’s a proven business model that’s worked for millennia. And it would work a whole lot faster than your business model.
But you’re not about to shut down your mom blog to start a porn site, and I’m not either.
So, I have a challenge for you…something that will help you stay on track and have more fun.
Every day for the next 30 days, wake up and ask yourself this question:
My friend Mike challenged me to do this 30 days ago and it’s refreshed my outlook on this business.
Every day for 30 days, I woke up and asked myself how I could make what I do more fun.
My answer? Software.
When I started my first online business in May 2012, I wasn’t blogging or talking about marketing. I made software.
Seeing something you dreamed up and scribbled on a piece of paper become a full-blown useable thing is really cool.
Here is one of my first sketches.
Then over time I figured out how to make software that people actually wanted.
Now over 5,000 people use my products every day.
Do I enjoy it? Check!
Does it help people? Check!
Do I make money from it? Triple check!
So…after 30 days of asking myself, “How can I make Videofruit more fun?” I’ve decided to start making software again.
But there’s a twist. I want you to help me.
Here’s how it will work:
• Everything will be done in public on this blog.
• You will see behind the scenes of the entire process.
• You will see all of my initial sketches and mockups.
• I’ll share my entire development and project management process.
• You will have direct input into the features and development cycle.
• Once it’s finished, you can have a copy (more on that later).
• I’ll be updating you on the product’s progress every week.
Sound cool?
I’m really excited about it.
Note: I’ll still be writing about cool marketing strategies every week. This will just be another great thing to add to the mix.
A few points of clarity before we get started:
• My #1 goal is to have fun.
• My #2 goal is to solve my own personal pain points.
• My #3 goal is to teach you and help you learn how to do the same thing.
• My #4 goal is to create products that need to exist.
• My #5 goal is to make money.
All decisions about the product will be filtered through those lenses. Money is not my #1 motivator but it is a validation of the product’s long-term viability.
There is a high likelihood that some of the products we create together will suck and no one will ever purchase them. I’m cool with that: in fact, I’m looking forward to it.
How will we judge success?
Success = Us having fun.
Our first project together
In true cart before-the-horse fashion, last weekend I started working on the first project.
The initial mockups are done and a little bit of coding work has started.
Next week I’m going to share those with you, give you a video walkthrough of the software and get your opinion on a few “high-level” questions I’ve been having.
Here’s a little teaser…
Are you excited about this project?
If so, leave a comment below and let me know.