3 ms·

is http://letsfreckle.com http://letsfreckle.com your full time career now?

by pclark 16y ago

ahoyhere 16y ago
No, but I did quit consulting in January to focus exclusively on products. I am all about doing multiple things and having multiple revenue streams. That said, Freckle will be earning enough to live on comfortably in the next 2-3 mos though, based on my forecasts. :) We are rolling a significant amount of that money back into promotion, and hiring help.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  So, that makes me wonder: Since January, what have you been doing to earn money? How are you funding yourself? Paying for rent, food, internet connectivity? Did you save money? Borrow? Family? Have other means of incoming rolling in? You mention doing multiple things. What are these other things? It conflicts with the message you send when you say "focus exclusively on products." I think those are the questions some people would like answered. Not because we are challenging you, but to understand the reality.
  - ahoyhere 16y ago
    None of what I said conflicts with "focusing exclusively on products," but since you want more background information, here it is. How did we keep a roof over our heads? The old fashioned way: working our asses off, saving, and with the cultivation of multiple income streams, as I mentioned above. 1. We did some consulting projects that we wouldn't have otherwise taken on, and saved the money. We raised our rates for a couple of these clients dramatically, because they absolutely required us, and the projects had tremendous time pressure. 2. My husband and I wrote and sell an ebook: http://jsrocks.com http://jsrocks.com 3. We also developed a 1-day and 2-day variant of a JavaScript workshop, with a different angle than all others, and have given it twice times to individuals (selling tickets) and twice to corporations in 2010. We originally developed this course in Sept 09, and we've heavily revised and expanded it, but it's the same "product" we're taking around the world. Just like with the consulting, we saved the money. http://jsmasterclass.com http://jsmasterclass.com 4. I'm teaching a course on how to bootstrap your first product to earn your first $1000 - http://yearofhustle.com http://yearofhustle.com. It's a 12-week course and the first round is just about over now. I tested the idea by doing a 3-hour teleconference call and selling tickets for $100 to start with, and the main feedback customers gave me was "MORE!" Then I... you guessed it... saved the money. (This one is just me and a friend, not with my husband.) If things got bad, I would take on more consulting work, bust ass, and save again. Although I don't think I'll ever have to do that again, given the success of my or our various infoproducts/classes/training courses. It's simple: I refuse to do anything but bootstrap. I will never take a penny in venture capital. I will never let the outside demands of another person screw with my career again. I am also fully committed to doing whatever it takes to succeed, and that means being my own angel. So when I decided those things, I sat my ass down and did my best to figure out how I could get money, fast, and with the least amount of effort. I certainly won't fail because I believe, on some level, that there is something so special about me that I deserve to be able to work on just one thing and have my bills taken care of. Enough information for you? EDIT: By the way -- yes, I'm not doing it alone (and my husband is no slacker in the code department), but it's my grand plan. And, more importantly, this process is accelerating, because we're using the money earned/saved to pay a freelancer to help us develop our 2nd SaaS product, which will launch in September. EDIT AGAIN: We launched Freckle in Dec 2008, by the way. We/I wrote the book in 2008/2009 (started selling as a beta in Jan 2009). We developed the course in Sept 09. All while heavily consulting.
    - jasonlotito 16y ago
      > None of what I said conflicts with "focusing exclusively on products," Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. What I meant to say is that it seems to conflict, or wasn't clear. I wasn't questioning what you were saying, I was just curious and wanted you to expand. Sorry if it came off as confrontational. > Enough information for you? I assumed, correctly, that what you did was a bit more than just what your short post made it out to be. You hustled, and you work hard. It's interesting to see how some people do it. And yes. All this information is actually useful. It's encouraging to hear success stories. Honestly, information like this is incredibly useful and at the very least, encouraging. =) Edit: I get the sense that I might have offended you in some way. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I'd rather just say that wasn't my intent. Again, I wasn't questioning you. I was just asking honest questions. Being curious. No offense was intended.
      - ahoyhere 16y ago
        No need to backpedal quite so much. You didn't offend me. I am angry, but not at you. I'm sure it's not The Done Thing to admit you're pissed at your audience on the internet, but here goes: I'm pissed at my audience! I am so freakin tired of people who whine about how it's tiring to work after their work, or that it's rough to work on two or more things at once, or that all they really wanna do is just work on their little pet project and not have to worry about bills. It just smacks of entitlement. And, worse, avoidable failure. Look, here's the thing. My story? Not remarkable. Not special. Not new. I'm happy if you read it and feel encouraged. That's why I keep writing about it. But the fact is, I'm just doing what successful people have done forever -- hustlin the shit out of everything I got, and then some. Not sitting on their butt, not complaining, not waiting for an invitation, not waiting for somebody to map out the territory before they start walking. If you really want to be inspired, look to biographies. Try one about Ben Franklin to start with. I guarantee you that if you* read about what he did and where he came from, you will be knocked on your ass with humility when you look at the amount of effort you are expending and what you expect to happen in return. * you being anyone, not just jasonlotito
        16y ago

is http://letsfreckle.com http://letsfreckle.com your full time career now?

by pclark 16y ago

is http://letsfreckle.com http://letsfreckle.com your full time career now?

No, but I did quit consulting in January to focus exclusively on products. I am all about doing multiple things and having multiple revenue streams. That said, Freckle will be earning enough to live on comfortably in the next 2-3 mos though, based on my forecasts. :) We are rolling a significant amount of that money back into promotion, and hiring help.

jasonlotito 16y ago
So, that makes me wonder: Since January, what have you been doing to earn money? How are you funding yourself? Paying for rent, food, internet connectivity? Did you save money? Borrow? Family? Have other means of incoming rolling in? You mention doing multiple things. What are these other things? It conflicts with the message you send when you say "focus exclusively on products." I think those are the questions some people would like answered. Not because we are challenging you, but to understand the reality.
- ahoyhere 16y ago
  None of what I said conflicts with "focusing exclusively on products," but since you want more background information, here it is. How did we keep a roof over our heads? The old fashioned way: working our asses off, saving, and with the cultivation of multiple income streams, as I mentioned above. 1. We did some consulting projects that we wouldn't have otherwise taken on, and saved the money. We raised our rates for a couple of these clients dramatically, because they absolutely required us, and the projects had tremendous time pressure. 2. My husband and I wrote and sell an ebook: http://jsrocks.com http://jsrocks.com 3. We also developed a 1-day and 2-day variant of a JavaScript workshop, with a different angle than all others, and have given it twice times to individuals (selling tickets) and twice to corporations in 2010. We originally developed this course in Sept 09, and we've heavily revised and expanded it, but it's the same "product" we're taking around the world. Just like with the consulting, we saved the money. http://jsmasterclass.com http://jsmasterclass.com 4. I'm teaching a course on how to bootstrap your first product to earn your first $1000 - http://yearofhustle.com http://yearofhustle.com. It's a 12-week course and the first round is just about over now. I tested the idea by doing a 3-hour teleconference call and selling tickets for $100 to start with, and the main feedback customers gave me was "MORE!" Then I... you guessed it... saved the money. (This one is just me and a friend, not with my husband.) If things got bad, I would take on more consulting work, bust ass, and save again. Although I don't think I'll ever have to do that again, given the success of my or our various infoproducts/classes/training courses. It's simple: I refuse to do anything but bootstrap. I will never take a penny in venture capital. I will never let the outside demands of another person screw with my career again. I am also fully committed to doing whatever it takes to succeed, and that means being my own angel. So when I decided those things, I sat my ass down and did my best to figure out how I could get money, fast, and with the least amount of effort. I certainly won't fail because I believe, on some level, that there is something so special about me that I deserve to be able to work on just one thing and have my bills taken care of. Enough information for you? EDIT: By the way -- yes, I'm not doing it alone (and my husband is no slacker in the code department), but it's my grand plan. And, more importantly, this process is accelerating, because we're using the money earned/saved to pay a freelancer to help us develop our 2nd SaaS product, which will launch in September. EDIT AGAIN: We launched Freckle in Dec 2008, by the way. We/I wrote the book in 2008/2009 (started selling as a beta in Jan 2009). We developed the course in Sept 09. All while heavily consulting.
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    > None of what I said conflicts with "focusing exclusively on products," Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. What I meant to say is that it seems to conflict, or wasn't clear. I wasn't questioning what you were saying, I was just curious and wanted you to expand. Sorry if it came off as confrontational. > Enough information for you? I assumed, correctly, that what you did was a bit more than just what your short post made it out to be. You hustled, and you work hard. It's interesting to see how some people do it. And yes. All this information is actually useful. It's encouraging to hear success stories. Honestly, information like this is incredibly useful and at the very least, encouraging. =) Edit: I get the sense that I might have offended you in some way. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but I'd rather just say that wasn't my intent. Again, I wasn't questioning you. I was just asking honest questions. Being curious. No offense was intended.
    - ahoyhere 16y ago
      No need to backpedal quite so much. You didn't offend me. I am angry, but not at you. I'm sure it's not The Done Thing to admit you're pissed at your audience on the internet, but here goes: I'm pissed at my audience! I am so freakin tired of people who whine about how it's tiring to work after their work, or that it's rough to work on two or more things at once, or that all they really wanna do is just work on their little pet project and not have to worry about bills. It just smacks of entitlement. And, worse, avoidable failure. Look, here's the thing. My story? Not remarkable. Not special. Not new. I'm happy if you read it and feel encouraged. That's why I keep writing about it. But the fact is, I'm just doing what successful people have done forever -- hustlin the shit out of everything I got, and then some. Not sitting on their butt, not complaining, not waiting for an invitation, not waiting for somebody to map out the territory before they start walking. If you really want to be inspired, look to biographies. Try one about Ben Franklin to start with. I guarantee you that if you* read about what he did and where he came from, you will be knocked on your ass with humility when you look at the amount of effort you are expending and what you expect to happen in return. * you being anyone, not just jasonlotito
      - 16y ago