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Shipping is awesome, and if you don't ship you've got nothing. But to think your first product/site/whatever is going to give you creative freedom...I think th

by 100k 17y ago

Shipping is awesome, and if you don't ship you've got nothing. But to think your first product/site/whatever is going to give you creative freedom...I think that's selection bias. I've shipped a lot of mini-sites (mostly for my own amusement) and the traffic is very low and has not brought me any sort of fame. Sure, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I would say 9 out of 10 projects you create are not going to become popular or get you renowned. That doesn't make it not worth doing. I've learned something new from every new project I've built and every person I've worked with. But it also hasn't benefited me financially.

ahoyhere 17y ago
Twistori didn't give me creative freedom and, as I said, it earned me no money directly. (Despite the fact that, nearly 3 years after launch, in the last 90 days people spent an accumulated 57 years on the site.) I describe what it really did for me, which LED to the creative freedom. If you want your projects to do something for you financially, and they're not, then you should tackle that as a project in and of itself.
- 100k 17y ago
  "I describe what it really did for me, which LED to the creative freedom." That is, selection bias. I think you're understating the amount of work it took you to get to the point where you could launch Twistori and have it be a success. You put in years of effort as a blogger, speaker, and "thought leader". I really admire how you've built and audience and leveraged it to build a viable lifestyle, but you can't teach that in a 12 week class.
  - ahoyhere 17y ago
    Twistori's success had pretty much nothing to do with it. It was just that I did it. It didn't need to have the response it did. I didn't start getting the consulting work til >9 mos later, which was well after I realized what a fundamental change I'd just made. I did calculatedly create something that would capture the zeitgeist, and that is certainly a skill you can teach. Tho that's not what the course is about. What you can teach in a 12-week course is how to identify and/or create a money-making opportunity, begin to build an audience before you launch, the skills to self-manage a project and get it out there to earn money. Which is, coincidentally, what it's about. If you want to read it as being about "Twistori was successful and that changed my life," I can't stop you. But what it's actually about was "I shipped something on my very own and THAT changed my life."
    - wallflower 17y ago
      Congratulations on making the leap from consulting to products to a dynamic combo (products + consulting)! The story of Twistori is amazing. Eureka moment in the bathtub and design/code immediately thereafter. http://slash7.com/2008/04/29/twistori-i/ http://slash7.com/2008/04/29/twistori-i/ Her personal experience with Twistori being an attractor for consulting projects jibes with the iPhone developers I know who don't make a lot of money from their well-crafted iPhone apps but make the bulk of their revenue from consulting on iPhone app development for companies.

by 100k 17y ago

ahoyhere 17y ago

Twistori didn't give me creative freedom and, as I said, it earned me no money directly. (Despite the fact that, nearly 3 years after launch, in the last 90 days people spent an accumulated 57 years on the site.) I describe what it really did for me, which LED to the creative freedom. If you want your projects to do something for you financially, and they're not, then you should tackle that as a project in and of itself.

100k 17y ago
"I describe what it really did for me, which LED to the creative freedom." That is, selection bias. I think you're understating the amount of work it took you to get to the point where you could launch Twistori and have it be a success. You put in years of effort as a blogger, speaker, and "thought leader". I really admire how you've built and audience and leveraged it to build a viable lifestyle, but you can't teach that in a 12 week class.
- ahoyhere 17y ago
  Twistori's success had pretty much nothing to do with it. It was just that I did it. It didn't need to have the response it did. I didn't start getting the consulting work til >9 mos later, which was well after I realized what a fundamental change I'd just made. I did calculatedly create something that would capture the zeitgeist, and that is certainly a skill you can teach. Tho that's not what the course is about. What you can teach in a 12-week course is how to identify and/or create a money-making opportunity, begin to build an audience before you launch, the skills to self-manage a project and get it out there to earn money. Which is, coincidentally, what it's about. If you want to read it as being about "Twistori was successful and that changed my life," I can't stop you. But what it's actually about was "I shipped something on my very own and THAT changed my life."
  - wallflower 17y ago
    Congratulations on making the leap from consulting to products to a dynamic combo (products + consulting)! The story of Twistori is amazing. Eureka moment in the bathtub and design/code immediately thereafter. http://slash7.com/2008/04/29/twistori-i/ http://slash7.com/2008/04/29/twistori-i/ Her personal experience with Twistori being an attractor for consulting projects jibes with the iPhone developers I know who don't make a lot of money from their well-crafted iPhone apps but make the bulk of their revenue from consulting on iPhone app development for companies.