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I've been thinking about trying one of the mentioned courses because I am trying to transition from side projects just to scratch an itch to services that peopl

I've been thinking about trying one of the mentioned courses because I am trying to transition from side projects just to scratch an itch to services that people would actually use. So figured that learning from the experience of people who've done it before (Amy, Patrick, Brennan...) would cut down on the trial and error phase. But how would I shake the feeling that these exist as part of the marketing scheme that the entrepreneurs engage in. These courses are not exactly cheap, but you know... "How do you make $10,000 selling an ebook online? Write an ebook that promises to teach people how to make $10,000 selling an ebook online"

bdunn 14y ago
Let's look at a few examples: * Amy Hoy's 30x500: An alternative to the "pick an idea, build, then sell" mentality. She's poured a LOT of research (trust me on this one) into her course, along with what's obviously worked well for her. * Patrick McKenzie's latest course: A distillation of the stuff he usually advises his consulting clients to do. Read through his blog, it's knowledge he's accumulated over years of trial and error. * My book or workshop: I've consulted for a while, and bootstrapped a fairly successful consultancy ($1mm+/year), and I also spent months reading through ridiculously boring CXO-level books on pricing tactics and strategy. I've distilled this down into something easily consumable for a freelance consultant. You're buying our expertise (largely the result of our trial and error and the losses we incurred) and any ancillary research we did. If you value your time, and think - you know, that spending $49 on a book that in 2 hours covers strategies and tactics related to pricing freelance services is better than the alternative - namely, cobbling all that information together yourself - then you're a good candidate to be a customer.
- scorpioxy 14y ago
  I'm specifically looking at getting into product development. Any suggested reading material for me?
ahoyhere 14y ago
Brennan is the only student of mine who created a how to make money type product, but of course, that's a gross simplification of what his consultancy training/workshop is. Compare to… Jarrod Drysdale http://bootstrappingdesign.com http://bootstrappingdesign.com Jim Gay http://clean-ruby.com/ http://clean-ruby.com/ Martin Polley http://livetyping.capcloud.com/ http://livetyping.capcloud.com/ Noah Gibbs http://rebuilding-rails.com/ http://rebuilding-rails.com/? Jess Barkell http://www.ibooksauthortemplates.com/ http://www.ibooksauthortemplates.com/ Brad Pauly http://www.realviewapp.com/ http://www.realviewapp.com/ Dimitri van de Putte http://www.photocouch.org/public_site http://www.photocouch.org/public_site Adam Brault https://andbang.com/ https://andbang.com/ etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. Brennan is also the only one of us, AFAIK, who has run a $1 million/year consultancy, so it's wise of him to teach what he knows. He's also a BEAST at implementing.
edanm 14y ago
The thing is, I've been around HN for a few years. I've seen people like patio11 transform from what they were doing before, to selling these types of courses. I've also seen patio11 give out free, amazing material for the last 2 years. And a lot more before I was around. So when someone new to the "scene" is skeptical, I find it very funny. You have a right to be skeptical, of course, but really the best most of us can offer is to say: "These people know what they're talking about. And they're not just selling snake oil. We've known them for years". Maybe if enough people say it, it will help prove to you that it's not just a "marketing scheme". P.S. I don't know Brennan Dunn, and haven't (yet) read his book, but he is endorsed by patio11. So is Amy Hoy, if I'm not mistaken. And with Amy, I've also used her time-tracking software for some time.

bdunn 14y ago

Let's look at a few examples: * Amy Hoy's 30x500: An alternative to the "pick an idea, build, then sell" mentality. She's poured a LOT of research (trust me on this one) into her course, along with what's obviously worked well for her. * Patrick McKenzie's latest course: A distillation of the stuff he usually advises his consulting clients to do. Read through his blog, it's knowledge he's accumulated over years of trial and error. * My book or workshop: I've consulted for a while, and bootstrapped a fairly successful consultancy ($1mm+/year), and I also spent months reading through ridiculously boring CXO-level books on pricing tactics and strategy. I've distilled this down into something easily consumable for a freelance consultant. You're buying our expertise (largely the result of our trial and error and the losses we incurred) and any ancillary research we did. If you value your time, and think - you know, that spending $49 on a book that in 2 hours covers strategies and tactics related to pricing freelance services is better than the alternative - namely, cobbling all that information together yourself - then you're a good candidate to be a customer.

scorpioxy 14y ago
I'm specifically looking at getting into product development. Any suggested reading material for me?

ahoyhere 14y ago

Brennan is the only student of mine who created a how to make money type product, but of course, that's a gross simplification of what his consultancy training/workshop is. Compare to… Jarrod Drysdale http://bootstrappingdesign.com http://bootstrappingdesign.com Jim Gay http://clean-ruby.com/ http://clean-ruby.com/ Martin Polley http://livetyping.capcloud.com/ http://livetyping.capcloud.com/ Noah Gibbs http://rebuilding-rails.com/ http://rebuilding-rails.com/? Jess Barkell http://www.ibooksauthortemplates.com/ http://www.ibooksauthortemplates.com/ Brad Pauly http://www.realviewapp.com/ http://www.realviewapp.com/ Dimitri van de Putte http://www.photocouch.org/public_site http://www.photocouch.org/public_site Adam Brault https://andbang.com/ https://andbang.com/ etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. Brennan is also the only one of us, AFAIK, who has run a $1 million/year consultancy, so it's wise of him to teach what he knows. He's also a BEAST at implementing.

edanm 14y ago

The thing is, I've been around HN for a few years. I've seen people like patio11 transform from what they were doing before, to selling these types of courses. I've also seen patio11 give out free, amazing material for the last 2 years. And a lot more before I was around. So when someone new to the "scene" is skeptical, I find it very funny. You have a right to be skeptical, of course, but really the best most of us can offer is to say: "These people know what they're talking about. And they're not just selling snake oil. We've known them for years". Maybe if enough people say it, it will help prove to you that it's not just a "marketing scheme". P.S. I don't know Brennan Dunn, and haven't (yet) read his book, but he is endorsed by patio11. So is Amy Hoy, if I'm not mistaken. And with Amy, I've also used her time-tracking software for some time.