Brian Forth started his company SiteCrafting.com while he was still an elementary school teacher. For the first few years, he worked both his "day job" and his nascent side job. He didn't give up when the financial returns didn't immediately happen. Instead, he took a long view, knowing that the delayed gratification would be worth it.
Forth's background in teaching comes through in an unexpected way: that of compassion. He said that the hardest time he had to fire someone was the first one -- and that the last one was just as bad. I think that is atypical of most managers, but it aligns with his Three Cs: core, company, and community. Employees are at his business' core. Not only recruiting and retaining them, but taking care of them once they are hired. Or, in some cases, once they are fired. That he would take the time to help an employee he let go find a new position speaks volumes.
His second pillar is company. He looks to the health of his company, always. It goes right along with making sure his employees are suited to their jobs and happy in them, but it goes even further. What makes his company strong, and what can make it stronger? Forth gave the example of a recent crisis with a manager after the company started implementing JIRA, a time management and project tracking tool. Although it seemed like a good idea in theory, in practice it overwhelmed the team and left them feeling micro-managed. The blame game followed, and Forth's carefully constructed sense of company cohesion suffered a cultural collapse. One of those dreaded firings followed, but it was necessary for the health of the company.
For the financial health, Forth talked about how he's found that separate billing structures worked for different projects. For some, an hourly rate made sense, while for others he charges by the project. It's quantity of time vs. quality of project, and each job is unique It's not only about money, though. He shared how he had taken a subcontracted job for an airline contractor that had his back to the wall. He probably could have pushed for a much larger payment, but instead chose to take a smaller piece of the pie and in exchange built goodwill and positive PR for future business. That attitude goes with his third pillar: community.
Forth shared that he has a sense of gratitude for his success: it's not taken for granted. He is aware that his past and his continued success depend upon more than his own strength. He is grateful for employees who feel more like family, and clients who get more than just a website.
Overall, my takeaway was that when people are treated well, the money follows. Both are important, but in the long run, if you take care of the first, the second will (likely) follow. The inverse is true as well. Neglect the first in favor of the second, and they may both disappear.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
A Reflection on Erik
While Erik's presentation was on my first day of class so I only caught the last 40 minutes, I enjoyed listening to what I was able to. What he had to say was practical, not just theoretical.
One of the things that stuck out to me was that Erik was humble. One example: he wrote the puzzle path for the escape and then passed it off to others. It is clear that his writing is something dear to him, so allowing others to modify it, tinker with it, and sometimes obliterate parts of it could not have been an easy thing to do. Yet he talked about his partners' revisions with humor and grace. He recognized the strengths of others and allowed them to complement, rather than to compete with, his own. I got the sense that when he was working alongside his wife he employed the same recognition. That family support is, I think, crucial to a successful entrepreneur. Erik's wife seems to have supported him regardless of the financial return.
Another takeaway was to seize the opportunities where they are present. His background is in writing, and he shared that he had been doing it seriously since 8th grade. Writing was likely where he thought his next big success would be. It is, but not in the way he anticipated. By working diligently on his writing, but not being closed to other ideas, he was able to turn that which he loves into something with additional financial profitability. The foray into the escape room doesn't take away his long-term goals of writing the next great American novel or continuing his current series, but instead provides him with additional strengths and tools with which to do so. It is a look to the future while working in the present.
Erik's continued passive income through book sales was interesting to me. Breaking into fiction writing and actually turning a decent profit is difficult, especially if you're not writing a series set in one specific genre. However collecting a lifetime of royalties for the work of a fixed amount of time seems like something worth the effort. A dollar here and there does not seem like a lot until you realize that almost 200,000,000 people per month hit Amazon's website. If only one in a million of those people buy one of his books, over a year that's a nice chunk of change -- for next to no additional effort.
Delayed gratification works. All the effort Erik has put forth is beginning to show in reward. It's clear that instead of simply reaping those rewards, he is reinvesting them, in himself and in his projects.
One of the things that stuck out to me was that Erik was humble. One example: he wrote the puzzle path for the escape and then passed it off to others. It is clear that his writing is something dear to him, so allowing others to modify it, tinker with it, and sometimes obliterate parts of it could not have been an easy thing to do. Yet he talked about his partners' revisions with humor and grace. He recognized the strengths of others and allowed them to complement, rather than to compete with, his own. I got the sense that when he was working alongside his wife he employed the same recognition. That family support is, I think, crucial to a successful entrepreneur. Erik's wife seems to have supported him regardless of the financial return.
Another takeaway was to seize the opportunities where they are present. His background is in writing, and he shared that he had been doing it seriously since 8th grade. Writing was likely where he thought his next big success would be. It is, but not in the way he anticipated. By working diligently on his writing, but not being closed to other ideas, he was able to turn that which he loves into something with additional financial profitability. The foray into the escape room doesn't take away his long-term goals of writing the next great American novel or continuing his current series, but instead provides him with additional strengths and tools with which to do so. It is a look to the future while working in the present.
Erik's continued passive income through book sales was interesting to me. Breaking into fiction writing and actually turning a decent profit is difficult, especially if you're not writing a series set in one specific genre. However collecting a lifetime of royalties for the work of a fixed amount of time seems like something worth the effort. A dollar here and there does not seem like a lot until you realize that almost 200,000,000 people per month hit Amazon's website. If only one in a million of those people buy one of his books, over a year that's a nice chunk of change -- for next to no additional effort.
Delayed gratification works. All the effort Erik has put forth is beginning to show in reward. It's clear that instead of simply reaping those rewards, he is reinvesting them, in himself and in his projects.
What's the Big Idea?
Business ideas have never really been my forte; I try to mainly see what's already been done and improve upon it, so coming up with at least three was a challenge. But I think in the end some of these have potential.
(1) Shut Eye.
Many people are concerned with privacy, and some are concerned about what their phones or webcams can pick up. For laptops, some use convoluted methods to turn the cams off and on, while others go old-school and cover them with a sticky note. I'd like to market a better way: an inexpensive clip that easily goes on and off the camera. While this product wouldn't likely appeal universally, a good number would probably think it's worth a dollar to feel a sense of security. Manufacturing costs would be minimal since it would be molded plastic, though it might be slightly more complicated than just a clip to make it sure it can fit over various webcam sizes and models. A simple prototype could even be made here in the FabLab. The major cost would be advertising and getting it into actual stores or online tech outlets.
(2) TV app to search through catalogs (yet to be named).
Streaming on-demand services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are changing the viewing habits across the nation: almost half of the US subscribes to at least one of these services. They tend to be much lower priced than traditional cable or satellite subscriptions, however this lower price sometimes comes at a different cost -- shows are not immediately available as they would be on broadcast tv, or specific shows are not included in the subscription and need to be paid for separately. Which shows fall into this category depend upon the servicer's contract. It might be $1.99 on Amazon and $4.99 on Netflix, or Hulu may have it a day behind Amazon, but for free.
This app would store a user's passwords for all their subscription services and then search though them by show name. The incentive of using this app is convenience to the customer. The ability to easily find whether or not a show is streamable in itself is alluring, but if they have multiple streaming subscriptions that can be accessed from the click of a button at the end of a search they'll start to use the app itself rather the websites. It could make money by charging a small fee to providers other than the big three: repeatedly seeing that shows are available on Sling or Vudu for free rather than paying a subscription to Netflix might drive new customers there instead. Or like most sites and apps -- by simply having ads.
(3) Affordable student housing.
UW-T's student housing for a studio for one person is ~$1,000/mo. While many of UW-T's students are commuters, not all of us are. One idea is to bring in domes and rent them out for a smaller monthly fee. The benefit is that they are small enough to fit into spaces that might otherwise lie dormant. They are low maintenance and low cost to build ($30,000 each + land). Investors would see a good and quick return rate, and the profit margin should be high after the first five years. This is the riskiest idea and hardest to implement; finding cheap land in Tacoma or close to it might stop it dead in its tracks. Students might also feel it's worth it to simply pay the larger rent so they don't have to live in this weird dome thing.
(4) Games database.
One last idea I've been working on independently for awhile is a website for keeping track of games in a similar fashion to IMDb. There is, as far as I know, no mainstream or well-known site that both keeps tracks of each video game released and any actors, directors,c composers, etc. involved with it and allow users to keep a personal catalog of which games they've owned or played. This is a site that I know people have questioned the lack of existence of, and capitalizing on that void quickly is the most important factor in this becoming successful. Other people have had this idea, but no one's done it. This is the idea that I think has the most potential for long-term profit, and it's also the most simple.
(1) Shut Eye.
Many people are concerned with privacy, and some are concerned about what their phones or webcams can pick up. For laptops, some use convoluted methods to turn the cams off and on, while others go old-school and cover them with a sticky note. I'd like to market a better way: an inexpensive clip that easily goes on and off the camera. While this product wouldn't likely appeal universally, a good number would probably think it's worth a dollar to feel a sense of security. Manufacturing costs would be minimal since it would be molded plastic, though it might be slightly more complicated than just a clip to make it sure it can fit over various webcam sizes and models. A simple prototype could even be made here in the FabLab. The major cost would be advertising and getting it into actual stores or online tech outlets.
(2) TV app to search through catalogs (yet to be named).
Streaming on-demand services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are changing the viewing habits across the nation: almost half of the US subscribes to at least one of these services. They tend to be much lower priced than traditional cable or satellite subscriptions, however this lower price sometimes comes at a different cost -- shows are not immediately available as they would be on broadcast tv, or specific shows are not included in the subscription and need to be paid for separately. Which shows fall into this category depend upon the servicer's contract. It might be $1.99 on Amazon and $4.99 on Netflix, or Hulu may have it a day behind Amazon, but for free.
This app would store a user's passwords for all their subscription services and then search though them by show name. The incentive of using this app is convenience to the customer. The ability to easily find whether or not a show is streamable in itself is alluring, but if they have multiple streaming subscriptions that can be accessed from the click of a button at the end of a search they'll start to use the app itself rather the websites. It could make money by charging a small fee to providers other than the big three: repeatedly seeing that shows are available on Sling or Vudu for free rather than paying a subscription to Netflix might drive new customers there instead. Or like most sites and apps -- by simply having ads.
(3) Affordable student housing.
UW-T's student housing for a studio for one person is ~$1,000/mo. While many of UW-T's students are commuters, not all of us are. One idea is to bring in domes and rent them out for a smaller monthly fee. The benefit is that they are small enough to fit into spaces that might otherwise lie dormant. They are low maintenance and low cost to build ($30,000 each + land). Investors would see a good and quick return rate, and the profit margin should be high after the first five years. This is the riskiest idea and hardest to implement; finding cheap land in Tacoma or close to it might stop it dead in its tracks. Students might also feel it's worth it to simply pay the larger rent so they don't have to live in this weird dome thing.
(4) Games database.
One last idea I've been working on independently for awhile is a website for keeping track of games in a similar fashion to IMDb. There is, as far as I know, no mainstream or well-known site that both keeps tracks of each video game released and any actors, directors,c composers, etc. involved with it and allow users to keep a personal catalog of which games they've owned or played. This is a site that I know people have questioned the lack of existence of, and capitalizing on that void quickly is the most important factor in this becoming successful. Other people have had this idea, but no one's done it. This is the idea that I think has the most potential for long-term profit, and it's also the most simple.
Teachable Moments
“Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again,” is a quote by Henry Ford from a book he co-authored.
I agree that a lot of lessons can be learned from failure, and I think that the best way to do that is to learn from the failures of others. What I want most out of this class is to learn what not to do. Being a successful entrepreneur is not about just trying over and over again until you get it right, but trying in a better way than you did before to get it right. In other words, if (or more likely when) it doesn't work the first time, don't just try again, but look at why it didn't work and then try again.
Computer scientists are people who by nature discover, create, and invent. They are natural entrepreneurs in a sense; continually looking for improvements from what they did last. Sometimes, though, there are just too many ideas to sort through and follow up on.
I am hoping this class will help me to narrow my focus to the achievable.
I agree that a lot of lessons can be learned from failure, and I think that the best way to do that is to learn from the failures of others. What I want most out of this class is to learn what not to do. Being a successful entrepreneur is not about just trying over and over again until you get it right, but trying in a better way than you did before to get it right. In other words, if (or more likely when) it doesn't work the first time, don't just try again, but look at why it didn't work and then try again.
Computer scientists are people who by nature discover, create, and invent. They are natural entrepreneurs in a sense; continually looking for improvements from what they did last. Sometimes, though, there are just too many ideas to sort through and follow up on.
I am hoping this class will help me to narrow my focus to the achievable.
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