AlanBarber.Org
Entrepreneurship
Friday, April 08, 2005
Getting back to what I like... Coding!
I’ve been in sort of a rut lately. Well honestly, I’m in ruts a lot. I must have a rut personality or something but anyways.
For a while now I’ve been doing some deep contemplating about myself. Trying to figure out what I want out of life, well as far as work and employment goes. My personal life is another story and I’m happy as a lark right now.
I have a Computer Science degree but I’m currently working at UPS as a truck loader. It is steady pay and at the end of the day that’s what really matters. Well as steady as 20 hours a week is. However, let’s be honest here folks! This type of work is beneath me. I could be doing so much more.
I guess the main thing is I need to start looking for a better job, one that’s actually in my field.
Besides that, well duh, aspect I realize that I need to do something more for myself. I decided I should start my own part-time business.
The problem was decided what part-time business to start. Basically, I came up with four options. Well really three and one my mother keeps telling me I should do. Here are the pros and cons to each.
Option 1: Build and sell custom computers on the side.
Pros:
- I like building systems
- I’m good at building systems
- It’s fun to play with the parts
Cons:
- My systems wouldn’t be cheap
- I couldn’t compete with the likes of Dell or even high end game system makers like Alienware or Falcon Northwest or the gaggle of popups in the last year.
- I don’t like to do tech support!
- Margins are low so not much money in it
Option 2: Do in home tech support / computer installing / etc (this is my mothers often suggested idea)
Pros:
- I’m pretty good at general technical support
- Get to play with lots of computers
- Get to help people which I like to do
Cons:
- Lots of traveling
- Dealing with morons
- Having to work around other peoples schedules
- Did I mention that I don’t like to do tech support?
Option 3: Web hosting / Web design
Pros:
- I’m pretty knowledgeable about server administration
- I know internet technology very well
- Hosting is a pretty low effort job long as everything works right
Cons:
- I’m really not that good at web design (I can do basic html/css layouts and php/perl web programming but don’t bother asking for graphics, flash, etc)
- Low margins because of the large competition
- People demand 24/7 tech support which I can’t provide
Option 4: Write my own software and sell it
Pros:
- I love coding!
- I’m good at coding
- Freedom to do what I want, when I want to
- Get to be creative
Cons:
- Doing what I want and making what will sell are two different things
- Writing software takes a lot of time
Well anyways that was what I came up with. Out of those 4 options I feel writing my own software and selling it is the best option. It provided the freedom to work on my own schedule which is a major requirement for a part time business. Plus the freedom to do what I want which is a major, major plus for me.
I’ve already come up with a few ideas for things to create. I’m sort of all over the chart on what I want to do but I might try to focus on certain core customers like say system admins or developers. I don’t really know yet but that’s ok. I’m just getting going on the idea. The main thing is finding something I like to do and doing it.
on 04/08/2005 at 11:11 AM
Computers & Technology • Work • Entrepreneurship • (2) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
We are finally live!
Well after a lot of hard work and some slacking I’m happy to announce that my girlfriends new and improved website is up and running.
I present you with Ninkybink Boutique!
Rebuilt from the ground up this is a full e-commerce website. We are running Zen-Cart for our shop and payments are being managed with Paypal.
Now the shop is shut off right now because I still have to run a test order to make sure everything is configured properly but I wanted to get the word out that the site is up and running because after a month of work I’m excited to show it off.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Yet another update on the website
Most of the stuff is done… unfortunetly the domain transfer is in limbo someplace. Man do I hate Network Solutions! First we had to transfer control from bigstep’s special Network Solutions reseller system to a standard Network Solutions account. That went through so then I sent the transfer request to have the domain moved from Network Solutions to 000Domains.com, my registar of choice.
Why do I use 000Domains.com? Simply becuase they just do what I want to do, manage my domain names. They don’t throw tons of crap at you trying to get you to use other services that are pointless. Sure they’re not the cheapest place to register domains names but $13.50 a year isn’t that bad. Betters than NS at 35 or whatever they charge.
So I sit here waiting for NS to do something. Everything is authorized on my end. The domain is listed in my 000Domains account but says it’s waiting for a response from the loosing registar. I’ll doublecheck with my GF tonight to make sure she didn’t miss an email from NS verifying the transfer request but I’m pretty sure she hasn’t.
This is just rediculous that hoops I’m having to jump thru to take back control of something that belongs to my GF in the first place.
Honestly, I’ll be so glad when I never have to mess with Bigstep or Network Solutions again! Blah!
Monday, February 28, 2005
The big push to the finish *update*
Unfortunately, due to a stupid headache while working I got less done that I would have liked…
My todo list:
[X] - Finish shopping cart layout
[X] - finalize cart configuration
[X] - setup paypal
[ ] - setup shipping options (in progress)
[ ] - write shipping and return policy (in progress)
[ ] - write privacy policy (in progress)
[X] - write contact page
[ ] - create product listings (in progress)
[ ] - customize email templates (not started)
[ ] - transfer domain name to my control (in progress)
[ ] - point domain to server (not started)
[ ] - go live with site
I’m off to my other job UPS but when I get home tonight I’ll press on and get as much done as I can. Most of the hard stuff is done. It’s really just writting policies and creating content.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
The big push to the finish
today is the big push… I’m going to try my hardest to get the website up and running today. I’m pretty close to finishing up the shopping cart layout. Then it’s just a few more steps and I’ll call it finished.
My todo list:
[ ] - Finish shopping cart layout
[ ] - finalize cart configuration
[ ] - setup paypal
[ ] - setup shipping options
[ ] - write shipping and return policy
[ ] - write privacy policy
[ ] - write contact page
[ ] - create product listings
[ ] - customize email templates
[ ] - transfer domain name to my control (in progress)
[ ] - point domain to server
[ ] - go live with site
the goal is to get the website up and running today. Then after I run a few test orders in the cart it’ll just be a matter of “flipping the switch” and pointing the domain to the server and we’re live.
We’re a little behind but I’m pretty confident I can get things done today.
I’ve started the domain transfer but there’s a bit of a hangup becuase the current domain was registered with my girlfriends hosting company and they have the domain locked. The transfer can’t proceed until the domain is unlocked. We’ve contact the hosting company and are trying to get that done right now.
This is why I always say register your domain name seperately from hosting. Web hosts are dime a dozen now days. Commpetion has driven hosting costs to the floor. If you keep control of your domain name you can always switch to new hosts to get better service, features, price, etc. It’s just a matter of updating your domain info to point to the new host. However if you have a host take care of it for you you can end up with big problems should you want to move.
Hopefully the hosting company she uses, bigstep.com, won’t be unethical bastards and hold the domain hostage becuase they don’t want to loose a customer. There are web hosting companies that do this! They register the domain for you acting like it’s just a service they do, but the reality of the situation is they’re scumbags that know that the domain is your identity. If they control the domain they control you. You become locked into using their service. It can be a real battle to regain control of your property.
Well off to get working…
Monday, February 21, 2005
Business Plan Part One
Well Sunday the GF came over and we got cracking on the Business Plan.
There are six main sections to a business plan according to the book “Business Plans for Dummies”. The sections are the Executive Summary, Company Overview, Business Environment, Company Description/Strategy, Action Plan and Financial Review.
Yesterday we did probably 90% of the Company Overview. There’s a small amount of cleanup work to do but we can leave that to a final draft probably. Our original goal was to try to push to do one section each day but after reading up a bit I think it’s pretty clear some sections are going to take several days of research.
I guess we’ll just push ourselves and get as much done each day as we can. I’d still like to get the site finished this week and go live this weekend if possible. We can manage to get by without a full business plan as we first start out but we really must get it finished at some point.
On the technical side I’m moving forward with getting the VDS setup. A major big thanks has to go to my friend Josetann at Arshost for setting me up with it. I’ll report on the full specs and such later but if you’re in need of any type of webhosting check Arshost out. Even if it’s something not listed on the site he will probably work something out for you personally. That’s the kind of guy he is!
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Working on The New E-Commerce Website
Well, things are going pretty good on the technology side of the new business.
I’ve made great progress in the website design and should be finishing up by tomorrow night. It’ll be just a matter of doing the shopping cart templates so it matches rest of the site. I should have a full working demo site up by the end of the weekend, hopefully.
Hosting is kind of in limbo right now. We have to get new hosting because the current web host she’s using doesn’t support the features we need. I’m working on getting a VDS account on a friend’s server but he’s been on vacation the last week and I haven’t had a chance to talk to him at all this week.
I’ll keep trying to work to get setup with him but if not I may go out searching for other options. We’ll just see.
On the merchandise side this are also going very well. My girlfriend has been a dynamo and sewing up a storm! We should have a good stock at launch.
The one lacking area is in the business plan. We really need to buckle down and get working on that. I think maybe this weekend I’ll have her come over and we’ll spend a whole day Saturday or Sunday and just plow through as much as we can. It’s really just a matter of getting the ball rolling. Right now the idea of basically writing a 20 page essay seems daunting but once it’s starting it’ll just flow really quickly I’m sure.