Roddypod

Wow, I haven’t posted in a while. Nothing has really changed in the last month or so. Jess and I continue to check things off of our wedding TO DO list. Our “Save the date” cards are ready to go out to our guests and we are going to meet with two photographers early next month. We are also going to look at wedding bands the same day. We chose the design for our wedding cake last month and wedding cakes are damn expensive! Next, we need to get an idea of how many rooms to reserve at the resort where our reception is going to be. I think we are making great progress with our wedding plans so I don’t think we’ll be stressing about last minute details. Jess has already tried on several wedding gowns but I don’t know if she’s decided on one. As if she would tell me.

Tomorrow, Jess and I are going to her mom’s and step-dad’s new house to help them move in. In two weeks, Jess’ sister is flying in for a few days and Jess’ dad, step-mom, and half-sister are coming down from Maine to visit for a few days. We’ve been in our house almost eight months and her dad hasn’t been here yet. Oh well…

On a technical note, I have thought of another product idea that I am currently working on. Because I tend to put myself under Non-Disclosure Agreements, I can’t risk giving out too many details. I’m afraid of leaking too much information and someone else copying my idea and releasing it before I can. When I get close to releasing it, I’ll share more details.

I have no idea how I came up with the idea for CiteScribe. I think it was when I was in the MBA program and had to make a bibliography for a book I used for research in one of my classes. I think it’s safe to say that making bibliographies can be a real pain in the neck. There are so many ways to format a bibliography and I thought there could be a much easier way of making them. I started writing some ideas down and I basically came up with a website where people can enter an ISBN number, title of a book, or author and be presented with a formatted citation for that item. Where does this information come from? For now, Amazon.

Amazon has had an open system for several years now where developers could make their own web store and obtain item information in XML and show that information on their own site. People can purchase items from them and the website makes a commission through Amazon’s Affiliate program.

I’m not really interested in starting a store though. I am however interested in the Affiliate program to monetize the site in some way and perhaps adding Google AdWords later. After choosing the format of their bibliography (MLA or ABA) and they submit their request, the request then gets the required information from Amazon to make a bibliography (i.e. Author, Title, Publisher, etc.). The information for that book is then returned to CiteScribe and formated in the selected format and displayed to the user according. I plan on displaying any cover art that is available and making it an Affiliate link to Amazon. If the user follows through and buys it, I get a 4% commission.

For a while, I thought how I would accomplish getting the XML requests from Amazon and displaying the data to the user. I though I’d make all of this from scratch but it turns out there are several developers who have already done most of the work for me. I can do it using boto written in Python, Amazon Products Feed - Associates Script written in Perl, or Project TinA written in PHP which is derived from the Perl scripts. I’m mostly leaning towards Perl because it’s the most complete solution for what I want to do. I can wrap the Perl scripts into my own site design and create the code that would return a bibliography in MLA or APA format. This is just to get started.

Later on, I’d like to incorporate user accounts where users can store their references that they’ve created and then enable them to share this information with other users. It would also be handy for users to look up others based on the types of research they are doing and collaborate that way and share information. I would also like to enable users to reference all other kinds of media that is used today. Making references for digital media, music, PubMed, journals, newspapers, magazines, etc. This site, however, is not my baby. More of a pet project for fun. I have something else in the works that should be very lucrative if I can pull it off. More on that later…

After months of thinking of a name for my independent Mac development and consulting business, I have finally come up with something I like. Say hello to Kinetic Code, LLC. I thought of this name the other night and it took me about an hour. I registered the domain with (mt) Media Temple which also hosts this blog. The process was quick, easy, and cheap. I own two domains now and will cost $30 a year for both. I got email up an running quickly also. Now, I need to get a website.

I want to do the website myself to save money but I am a terrible designer. I’ve been looking at products such as RapidWeaver and Sandvox. These applications are template-based website generators which have CSS and the graphics already built in. You can customize the pages as much as you want to suit your needs. I’ve been using the demos of both and I’m not too thrilled with the standard templates that come with them. However, there are a lot of 3rd party templates out there that I have looked at and really like. So, I may use one of these apps to make my site and when I start making some money, I can pay a professional to design a site for me later down the road.

Another thing that I would like done is to have a logo designed for my site. I am aware of several graphic artists out there, especially those who specialize in making logos and application icons for other indy Mac developers. I’ve read several reviews for designers and two have really stood out. The first is Bryan Bell who has designed the icons for MarsEdit (which I use to post to this blog) and BBEdit 8.7. The other designer that I really like is Jordan Langille from OneToad Design. He has made the icons for Black Ink and Changes.

I will also need to set up a web store to sell my applications and a way for clients to pay me when I consult for them. I have been looking at Potion Store written by Andy Kim that will enable customers to purchase my apps and distribute serial numbers to them. I will be using PayPal Payments Pro to process credit cards. For now, I will be using Billable made by Clickable Bliss to make invoices for clients. I will implement the online store once my first application is ready for sale.

There are some other things I’d like to do. Setup up a business checking account, maybe a PO box at the post office. It may take a month for my business to be registered with the State of New Hampshire but there’s a lot of stuff I can do in the meantime. After it’s registered, I’ll need to get a tax ID and then buy QuickBooks or some other program to keep track of my expenses for tax purposes. So far, it’s been an amazing ride and I’ve barely gotten started. Stay tuned…

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UPDATE
I ended up purchasing RapidWeaver. Got it for $34 with a discount code.

Yes, you heard me. I’m dropping out of school. Why you might ask? I’ll tell you. Ever since I started the program back in late November, I would ask myself, “Why am I REALLY doing this?”. To be honest, I really couldn’t find an answer. I follow Guy Kawasaki on Twitter and on Friday, February 15, he said he was live on the Houston Business Show. I listened to the show and the question came up about the need for an MBA. To sum it up, Guy basically said and MBA is not needed for entrepreneurs and startups in general. It’s like he was speaking to me. I’m an entrepreneur and I want to start a startup! So for clarification, I sent Guy an email:

“I just listened to you on the Houston Business Show. I just started
my MBA program but I also want to start a web company. Am I wasting
my time with with an MBA? Should I drop out and take the plunge? I
think the reason for getting an MBA is to use it as an ‘insurance
policy’ in case my company fails. Wouldn’t having an MBA be
beneficial to run a business?”

About 20 minutes later, I got a reply. This is what guy said:

“This is why it’s dangerous to have a big mouth! :-) I don’t think an MBA is that useful for a startup. It’s more a way to get into a big company, bank, consulting firm, etc.

The two years you’d spend on a day program is a long time. If you can do
both, more power to you. But if it’s a day program, the world will really change in two years.”

This was the final nail in the coffin. Guy answered my question and with great finality, I made up my mind. I am dropping out of school to chase the dream of starting and running my own company. School was just getting in the way of that. I don’t think I would have regretted finishing the program. I don’t really see how it would have benefitted me anyway. As Guy said, having an MBA is fine if you want to work in a bank or for a consultant. I don’t want to do either. I don’t want to work for anyone but myself.

So, thank you very much Guy for opening my eyes and convincing me that I’m wasting my time with something that I don’t need. This move will save me not only money, but more importantly, this move will save me at least a year and a half of my time. With this much time, I think I can use that time to make something that will put me on track to a life of freedom.

So many things have happened over the past few days. Jess and I moved out of our apartment on Thursday with the help of my dad. We moved all of our stuff into the new house in about two hours and then waited for Sears to deliver our new stainless-steel GE appliances and LG washer and dryer.

After a long day, we were both exhausted and aching, I mustered up enough energy to distract Jess long enough from playing with the shiny new appliances to grab her hand, get down on one knee and ask her to marry me. After about a minute of disbelief, she said “Yes”. I put the ring on her finger, hugged/kissed, and then spent the next hour making phone calls.

So, here we are watching the Super Bowl with my parents. Comcast couldn’t finish installing our cable the other night so we have to wait for someone to come back on Thursday. This is screwing up my ability to do school work and know what’s going on in the world. Our house is still disorganized and my home office is a mess so it’ll be a week or two anyway until I can get everything the way I want it. After that, my venture begins!

How can someone be selectively obsessive-compulsive? For starters, I only freak out over things that I care about and that are important to me. That explains why I do the bare minimum on a daily basis at my day job. If I don’t care about it, it won’t get 100% of my attention and efforts. If you really like your job, it’ll get your undivided attention. I don’t like my job, therefore I won’t try as hard as I need to.

Over the past month, Jess and I have been planning and coordinating our transition to our new house. This is a very big step for us so the attention to detail on this has been staggering. I obsess over every detail, down to the type of reflective numbers I want to put on the mailbox, the route I want to run ethernet cables in the basement for the home network, and where I want to install the cat door! I probably don’t need to freak out over these details but I do. Why? I don’t want to have unforeseen problems creeping up in the future. I plan incessantly for all possible scenarios so I know the possible outcomes and there won’t be any surprises.

As for my MBA, I don’t know if I’m making a mistake or not working towards it. I haven’t really put in a lot of effort into the program and that tells me that I probably shouldn’t be doing it. So many successful companies were founded by members without MBA’s. Some of them without any college degree. I don’t really want to drop out of graduate school because I’d be shooting myself in the foot if my business fails and I need to go back to working for “The Man”. If I do finish my MBA and I’m still in business, I know I can apply what I’ve learned to improve my business. If I drop out of school, it will be an uphill battle learning the ropes of marketing by trial and error. If I do stay in school, I should be on track to graduate this time next year. I probably won’t be able to start my business until after I graduate because I’ll actually have time to work on it. Once I graduate, the odds of me staying at my current job are slim and none.

I started thinking about working for myself for the past two years now. Why does this appeal to me? For starters, I’m very frustrated with where I am in my career. I don’t share the same vision and enthusiasm of my current employer. Right now, I’m just “paying the bills”. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss and work for myself. The thought of calling the shots excites me to no end. My dad was self-employed and has recently retired after running his successful business for 27 years. He didn’t have to answer to no one but himself! How cool is that?!?!

So, what am I going to do about it?. I want to start a software business where I will most likely be the only employee. I don’t want to be just any software developer, I want to be an indie Mac developer! I want to write programs for the Macintosh. I also want to write apps and services for the web. I have so many ideas in my head and on paper, I think that I can really make something that can sustain Jessica and I.

How am I going to do this? Where will I find the time? I have no time! Working full time and being in school leaves little for anything else. Getting an MBA is my “back up plan”. If all else fails, I can still find a management position where I can at least call some of the shots but still have to report to someone. So, I’m thinking of extending my studies to give me more time to work on my ventures. I was planning on taking two classes per term but I feel like I’m stretched too thin. So, I’m going to finish this term and next term and then take one class per term after that. It’ll take me about a year longer to get my MBA but it’ll still be worth it in the long run.

What do I want to start first? I would like to start my indie Mac software business first until it generates enough income to allow me to leave my current job. I have several ideas that I think can generate some income quickly. More on that later. As for my web business(es), I have a few ideas kicking around that are mostly based on ad revenue models. Subscription based models are a little tougher to sustain but I might investigate that later. What I plan on doing first is making a compliment to an existing service from another company and hopefully having them incorporate it into their site. I will put advertising on my pages and share any ad revenue. This will also be applied to other sites at later dates.

So there you have it. Sorry I didn’t go into too much detail but I want to develop the apps a little more before I let the cat out of the bag. I’ll definitely do some previews when it comes close to launching to hopefully drive interest and traffic. When that’ll be, I hope it’s soon. Stay tuned…

“Roddypod” is what my mother called me when I was a kid. She will occasionally let it slip now and then to this day. I didn’t mind her calling me that until she started doing it in public. I don’t even know how she came up with that name. My parents are weird in that way I guess. My sister Andrea also had a nickname. She was called “Andy-Panda” growing up. Don’t know where that came from either. For my oldest sister Amity, I don’t even think she had a nickname.

I feel like I’m getting a late start to this considering my age, almost 26. Why am I even bothering doing this? Well, I want to start a software/internet company and I feel that a blog can help promote my business as well as network with other people/businesses. I am also about to start graduate school at Plymouth State University for an MBA and I will talk about my studies and experience on this blog.

I have always had an interest in software development and running a company. I have been interested in making easy to use applications for the Mac as well as useful tools and services on the web. I already have a CS degree and programming experience, now I need the business knowledge to complete the puzzle and get my ventures started. You can read all about it here.