Tuesday, January 30, 2007

My books 75% Done, and Back to Business

I have my big product a couple of you have heard about. Its purpose is to make it easier for a person to document and control their personal spending, while making it easy to budget and follow the budget.

While I work on the big project, I've became more enamored with small projects to get growth, some cashflow, and to "practice business".

You must be thinking: "Practice business? This guy is a joke!"

People who study expertise say that the #1 predictor of expertise and talent is deliberate practice of the skill towards the end of improving one's performance. "Common sense" has long dictated that some people have talent for things, and that others don't. Modern research has shown this to be bunk.

I'm not saying a 5 year old can be a CEO of a 10,000 person corporation. There are tons of skills that must be mastered via years of diligent practice before you can be a leader of that stature. As I'm probably closer to the 5 year old than a superstar CEO right now, it's time to start the deliberate practice.

Girl scouts sell cookies and child fundraisers sell candles. This method is called charitable direct sales. The basic model is a charitable organization, usually involving parents and children, agrees to use your sales brochures to sell a product. You take all the orders from the organization, after they've solicited from a large number of friends and family, then you supply the product to the organization, and you take a cut of the difference.

One of the nice attributes about it is that you don't have to buy the product until after you have all the orders. And it is something I can get going now, then work on the big project while waiting for the sales to roll in. It will also give me an education in marketing, which will be helpful for marketing the big thing.

I'll post a brochure when they're finished. My first foray will be something I know a lot about, although it is probably not the most profitable one, I think its one some parents will think is good for their kids and teens, and kids and teens will enjoy.


--Michael

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

A blog is like a dog.

You feel horrible if you neglect it.

I do keep much better care of Muffin (my Boston Terrier) than this blog.

I'm suffering from bookkeeping procrastination. I've told myself I can't do the interesting parts of the business until I get the books done, as that's needed for the taxes at year end. This bullet is going to be bitten this week. As books aren't that exciting (even thought the cartoon diagrams of Quickbooks are appreciated for someone visual like myself), you don't want to hear about this part.

--Michael