Vetting App Ideas – Are You Doing it Right?

4 comments

Posted on 10th February 2010 by shaun in business

“I have a great idea for an app…”

Unfortunately, that’s actually the wrong way to get started.

We’re taught in life that there is such a thing as “a million dollar idea”.  We’re told that the if we just build the right thing and put it out there, people will immediately recognize the value of it and buy it.  It seems reasonable, but it is just simply wrong.  Let’s put this through a rational filter for a moment… (more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Blog Reboot

1 comment

Posted on 10th February 2010 by shaun in General

This blog started out as a way for me to connect with a small group of online business coaching customers.  Through 2008 and 2009, I had some great experiences mentoring newly-minted online business solopreneurs.  I advised them through the process of niche selection & vetting, starting up, getting their products developed, polished and released to the world.  It was a lot of fun and I met some great people in the process.

While it was great, it is time for a new direction for me in general and this blog specifically.  Over the past 6 months, I’ve stopped taking on new clients and worked with existing ones through to closure.  Now that I’ve taken on the role of CTO at Memory Deck and advisory positions at other ventures, my plate runneth over.  It’s time to focus on my own companies and share this perspective for those that are interested.

So, this blog will now reflect that new direction. I’ll be talking about things from the developer’s perspective and dive deep into topics such as the use of real analytics to solve real business problems for solo and small online / mobile business owners.  It’s going to be an interesting year and I am looking forward to writing about it.  Enjoy!

  • Share/Bookmark

Credit Card Logos and Paypal Buttons Cheet Sheet

0 comments

Posted on 22nd July 2009 by shaun in General

Credit Card Logos, PayPal buttons and acceptance marks and other order page images are incredibly important for helping improve customer conversion. Here’s a quick page I put together after being frustrated trying to collect valid images for a new product order page. I dug into my bookmarks and aggregated them here for folks that might have the same problem.
(more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Check Out a New Podcast, The Niche Show.

5 comments

Posted on 14th May 2009 by shaun in General

Nick Calder and I recently launched the niche show to address a very specific need in the online business community…
(more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Why We All Need Help. The Online Business Training Gap

4 comments

Posted on 13th May 2009 by shaun in mentoring

gnomes_plan

Why you’re at risk of failing in your online business

Chances are you’ve consumed a lot of blogs, podcasts, ebooks, video courses, seminars, calls and lots of other Guru-to-Student materials.  Chances are also pretty good that you’ve implemented everything exactly you heard exactly as you understood it and gotten almost nowhere.  What’s missing? Why is it that all of these fool-proof systems out there seem to leave almost everyone behind earning almost nothing?  Why do 98% of people fail to make any money?

(more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Don’t Mind the Sawdust

2 comments

Posted on 3rd May 2008 by admin in General

I’ve actually just launched this site this week (May 3rd 2009, actually), so don’t mind the newness of things…

You’re actually probably here because I referred this you directly.  I’ll soon be adding posts related to my own personal experience with online business, new media, etc.  I expect probably 5 blog readers in the first month.  It’s a testament to the difference between a hugely successful site with loads of traffic and devoted followers.. and… well.. a personal blog with no such plan.

Thanks for stopping by!

  • Share/Bookmark