First Dollar is a technology company that builds healthcare benefits infrastructure. Our Health Wallet platform gives benefit providers the tools they need to launch tax-advantaged accounts, supplemental benefits, or whatever they dream up next. First Dollar is based in Austin, with teammates all over the Western Hemisphere. For more information, visit www.FirstDollar.com

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The Noonification: Just Made my First Dollar With My SaaS After Quitting my Job (4/19/2024)

At 24, I’m holding to my aspiration of becoming a founder, but the path has been anything but smooth — I quit my job in Feb, yet already started building my product for months with my friends Private Beta launch in last November, lots of grinding and got first early users. Public Beta launch in Feb, was a blast, number of users spiked exponentially. But amidst the euphoria I faced the brutal fact, still made 0 dollars effectively. This is because we offered free version to test the market first. We are fully bootstrapped, not having millions to burn. Quickly implemented the pricing system and started to accept payment. 2 days after that, a glimmer of hope appeared, we got the 1st monthly subscription user! But alas, it was a false alert, the user made a mistake, he wanted to pay for an add-on in our product, not the core service. Got the money, but not the validation for the product. Self-doubt crept in like a relentless shadow. Considered pivot, discussed how to get new users. 4 days later - today - made a big update, fixed all the bugs early users complained, released the most-wanted features. Sent email to all users about the big updates 6 hours ago. Went for a walk. Came back home and... 1st yearly subscription user!!! Cannot believe my eyes! Yearly!? This feels good. Super, super good! Self-doubt is disappearing I know we still have a lot to go but this small step matters. It's a boost of confidence to our vision: To x10 human productivity and creativity. ✅ Big learning: Before trying to target new users, listen to current ones, do the things they need, then communicate it to them, show them you care. Go for your tribe. With that, I wish you all the best my fellow founders 🙂 And I would love to hear feedback/thoughts from you about how to leverage this momentum :) the product is Saner.ai At 24, I’m holding to my aspiration of becoming a founder, but the path has been anything but smooth — I quit my job in Feb, yet already started building my product for months with my friends Private Beta launch in last November, lots of grinding and got first early users. Public Beta launch in Feb, was a blast, number of users spiked exponentially. But amidst the euphoria I faced the brutal fact, still made 0 dollars effectively. This is because we offered free version to test the market first. We are fully bootstrapped, not having millions to burn. Quickly implemented the pricing system and started to accept payment. 2 days after that, a glimmer of hope appeared, we got the 1st monthly subscription user! But alas, it was a false alert, the user made a mistake, he wanted to pay for an add-on in our product, not the core service. Got the money, but not the validation for the product. Self-doubt crept in like a relentless shadow. Considered pivot, discussed how to get new users. 4 days later - today - made a big update, fixed all the bugs early users complained, released the most-wanted features. Sent email to all users about the big updates 6 hours ago. Went for a walk. Came back home and... 1st yearly subscription user!!! Cannot believe my eyes! Yearly!? This feels good. Super, super good! Self-doubt is disappearing I know we still have a lot to go but this small step matters. It's a boost of confidence to our vision: To x10 human productivity and creativity. ✅ Big learning: Before trying to target new users, listen to current ones, do the things they need, then communicate it to them, show them you care. Go for your tribe. With that, I wish you all the best my fellow founders 🙂 And I would love to hear feedback/thoughts from you about how to leverage this momentum :) the product is Saner.ai Saner.ai

Just Made my First Dollar With My SaaS After Quitting my Job

আমার চাকরি ছেড়ে দেওয়ার পর আমার সাস দিয়ে আমার প্রথম ডলার তৈরি করেছি

Habe gerade meinen ersten Dollar mit meinem SaaS verdient, nachdem ich meinen Job gekündigt habe

Acabo de ganar mi primer dólar con mi SaaS después de dejar mi trabajo

Je viens de gagner mon premier dollar avec mon SaaS après avoir quitté mon emploi

नौकरी छोड़ने के बाद SaaS से अपना पहला डॉलर कमाया

仕事を辞めてSaaSで初めて1ドル稼いだ

직장을 그만둔 후 SaaS로 처음으로 1달러를 벌었습니다.

Acabei de ganhar meu primeiro dólar com meu SaaS depois de largar meu emprego

Только что заработал свой первый доллар с помощью SaaS после ухода с работы

İşimi Bıraktıktan Sonra SaaS'ımla İlk Dolarımı Kazandım

Vừa kiếm được đô la đầu tiên với SaaS của tôi sau khi nghỉ việc

辞职后，我通过 SaaS 赚到了第一笔钱

I just made my first dollar on my SaaS app and it only took 200 Hours and $110 This morning, I woke up to something very surprising in my inbox: Mixed in with the standard “Someone’s getting placecards!” emails that I get pretty regularly was an email I had only ever seen before in testing. Holy smokes, someone paid! Literally — like the cliche — as I was sleeping. I just made my first $1 of SaaS revenue. If you read you’ll understand why I was surprised. Place Card Me, my , had not generated a single sale until last night. some of my other writing printable place card site As this is a major milestone for me I thought it was a good time to take a deep dive into what it took it took to achieve it. I’m hoping this will help others looking to start SaaS products get a sense of what they might go through. That said, you’ll be smarter and more successful than I was. That probably won’t be too hard. hopefully So what went into making $1? Mostly, time. How much time exactly? As of this writing, just under , or about 5 working weeks and a day, spread out over just about five months. 210 hours If you’re doing math at home that comes out to an hourly wage of just under . It’s a good thing I’ve been enjoying this process! Not exactly something I’ll be able to give up my day job for at this rate. half a cent per hour Here’s how that time broke down week by week: All time reports courtesy of the wonderful app Toggl You can see a big ramp up after I validate the idea and build out the MVP. Then it drops for a few weeks while I ran some experiments with ads, ramps back up as I built out the ability to buy templates on the site and did a second marketing push, and then finally winds down into a pretty steady maintenance period where I’m spending an average of about 4 hours a week keeping the lights on and making little adjustments. I imagine this last phase will continue indefinitely. Product versus Traction Another interesting thing to look at is the split between work — building the site and making it better — versus work — trying to get it out into the world. product traction I read in that a typical business should be splitting its time about 50/50 between product and traction, and since then I’ve tried to keep that approximate ratio. Traction Here’s the current breakdown of those 210 hours: Product (111 hours) vs Traction (98 hours) We can also look at the efforts on these two things individually over time. Efforts on Product Efforts on Traction You can see things start with traction efforts during the idea validation phase, followed by a big product push as I build out the landing page and MVP, traction taking over as I try to market it, and again, finally landing on a pretty even 50/50 distribution in maintenance mode. The 50/50 split in the maintenance phase has been pretty deliberate (and hard, sometimes, since it’s so much more fun to work on the product). What about Money? Of course the other input besides time is money. Here’s what I’ve spent on this project so far. It’s actually quite simple: The bad news is that I’ve still got quite a long way to go before I recoup my financial investment made. The good news is that most of that money was on , and ads used as validation tests I haven’t spent a single dollar on this project in the month leading up to my first sale. And I’m now the proud owner of a brand new paper cutter! So there’s that. You might be wondering where my server costs are, and I’ll admit that I’m cheating a bit on that one. I host all of my projects on the same server — one that I’ve been paying for for more than five years — so I’m not including that in the budget for this project specifically. In reality I should probably include a portion of those costs here. SaaS Ain’t Easy When I set out to try and a lot of people warned me that it would be harder than I expected. Boy were they right. make money by building something on the internet If I knew then that I would go on to spend 200 hours on this project in order to lose $110, would I still do it? Absolutely. Let’s be clear — I’d probably pick a totally different product to work on. Hopefully one that had more of a chance of generating real revenue. I’d also probably target an industry that I understood better instead of weddings. I’ve never been the type of person who learns well by being told things — much better to figure these things out for myself — and thankfully I had the time, skills, and support system to make that happen. But I don’t think I would have truly been able to know those things without having gone through this effort. Now I know infinitely more about what it looks like to build a revenue-generating SaaS product from scratch (spoiler alert: it’s a lot of work!). And therefore I should be able to say with confidence that if I ever have to do this again I’ll be able to be much smarter about it, which hopefully also means more successful. In theory I also now have a sustainable engine with Place Card Me that will — fingers crossed — generate more revenue with much less investment required on my part moving forwards, and may even one day turn profitable. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have 1/6th of a meatball sub to buy with my hard-earned SaaS cash. 💰💰💰 Originally published August 24, 2017 at www.coryzue.com .

What actually goes into making your first dollar from a SaaS project

We all know the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun with wings made of feathers and wax. His story is a cautionary tale of hubris, or overconfidence, leading to downfall. With COVID-19 still looming over us, growing and sustaining a business has become more difficult than ever. Many have been forced to close their doors for good, and those that are still hanging on are doing so by the skin of their teeth. In times like these, it’s easy to get caught up in your ego and forget about the importance of grounding yourself and learning what to do to accomplish your goals. When I think about this, I reflect on a recent chat I had with for the Success Story Podcast about the hardships he’s faced in business and how he’s overcome them. We also discussed the importance of ego and humility within business and entrepreneurship. Grant Cardone, CEO of Cardone Capital COVID To address the largest elephant in the room, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a true test of character for entrepreneurs. Many have had to face the harsh reality of having to shut down their businesses due to a lack of demand or resources. Some have adapted and pivoted their business models, while others have persevered through difficult times by making tough decisions like layoffs or pay cuts. Recent studies highlight the significant changes to businesses, from to as a result. how it’s affected various U.S sectors the business closures The pandemic has also been a time of reflection for many entrepreneurs. It has forced them to take a step back and reassess their priorities in life. For some, this has meant making the tough decision to sell their business or close it down permanently. Ultimately, what the pandemic has shown us is that entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It takes a tremendous amount of grit, determination, and resilience to weather the storms that life throws our way. How then, is it possible to start a business, much less maintain one? Starting somewhere Grant was kind enough to highlight his previous jobs and experience before reaching his current success. From his humble roots in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Grant worked various sales jobs at McDonald’s and furniture stores until launching his consulting business at 29. We all start somewhere, and for many of us, getting a business off the ground is the hardest thing we will ever do. It’s a challenge that can push us to our limits and force us to grow in ways we never thought possible. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this difficulty The first, and perhaps most important, is that businesses require vulnerability. We have to lay bare our ambition and open ourselves up to criticism and failure. This can be a terrifying prospect, especially if we’re not used to it. Another factor that makes starting a business so difficult is the amount of work that goes into it. I don’t mean just the physical work of putting together a website or product, but also the mental and emotional labor of constantly promoting and selling ourselves. This can be exhausting, and it’s easy to burn out quickly if we’re not careful. Lastly, businesses require us to be humble. We have to be willing to put in the hours, learn from our mistakes, and accept that things will often go wrong. It’s not always glamorous, but it’s necessary if we want to succeed. Starting a business is tough, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. It’s an opportunity to test ourselves, push our boundaries, and learn new things. If we can embrace the hardships that come with entrepreneurship, we’ll be one step closer to success. Seeing green Whether it’s a paper route when you are a kid, or your first entrepreneurial escapade out of college, earning that first dollar is a huge step. But don’t get too excited. Profit is good, but it’s not always a measure of success. Some of the most popular and valuable companies in the world weren’t able to turn a profit for years. The key is to focus on the long-term goal and not get too caught up in the short-term gains. It’s easy to be distracted by monthly revenue projections and forget about the people you’re trying to help. Remember, your business is about more than just money. Money is important, but it’s not the only thing when you’re factoring in your overall success. If you’re focused on squeezing every dollar out of every day, your customers will be able to tell — and they’ll be less likely to do business with you. Think about it from their perspective. They’re coming to you because they need help with something — whether it’s a product or service. And if they can tell that you’re only interested in taking their money, they’ll be turned off. It’s about solving the problem that sent them searching for answers. By taking the time to understand their hardships, you’ll be able to build trust and establish yourself as an authority figure in your industry. That’s what it takes to be successful in business — understanding your customer and providing them with value. So, don’t get too caught up in making money. Instead, focus on helping others and adding value to their lives. Me or everything: Addressing ego It may be your business, your goals, and your vision, but that doesn’t mean you can do it alone. Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that ego can be one of the biggest hurdles to success. It can get in the way of making smart decisions, listening to others, and being open to new ideas. It can also lead to impulsive decisions, rash actions, and a general sense of entitlement. All of this can be incredibly destructive to a business. The ego can blind you to your weaknesses and make you resistant to change. It can also alienate employees, customers, and partners. How, then, do you keep your ego in check? If you’re constantly putting your interests ahead of your company’s, it’s time to check yourself. Be aware of the dangers ego poses to your business. A strong team will keep you honest and help you stay focused on your goals. Surround yourself with people who will challenge you and help you grow. Humility is a sign of strength, not weakness, and it will help build trust with those around you. Don’t be afraid to admit when you’re wrong. Ego can be a tough enemy to overcome, but it’s essential to the success of your business. By keeping it in check, you can create a more collaborative, innovative, and successful company. The 10X rule As the author of , Grant explained that to be successful, you must take massive, determined action and develop an unshakable belief that your success is inevitable. You have to go all in — 10 times what someone else would do to achieve the same result. The 10X Rule Work smart, not hard This isn’t about working harder, it’s about working smarter. It’s not about putting in more hours, it’s about using your time more efficiently to achieve greater results. To 10x your business, you have to get out of your comfort zone and take risks. You have to be willing to put in the extra work required to see results. And you can’t let your ego get in the way of your success. Develop a clear vision Most businesses fail because they don’t know what they’re trying to achieve. They might have a vague idea, but they don’t have a specific goal that they’re working towards. Have thick skin One of the most important things for entrepreneurs is to be able to take criticism. It’s easy to get defensive when someone points out flaws in your business, but it’s important to listen to what they have to say and learn from your mistakes. Be persistent Most successful businesses are built on years of hard work and dedication. It’s easy to give up when things get tough, but those who persevere are usually the ones who end up succeeding. So if you want to 10x your business, start by getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks, and putting your ego aside. Be humble, and be willing to learn from your mistakes. If you do these things, success is inevitable. Wrapping up Though it may be difficult at first, starting and maintaining your own business is possible with the right mindset. Be prepared for hardships and have faith in your abilities to overcome them. At the same time, be humble and always remember that you are not alone in this journey. There will always be people willing to help you along the way. As Icarus learned (too late), ego and a lack of humility can lead to disaster. Business is hard, there’s no doubt about it. But those who can maintain a healthy balance are usually the ones who find the most success. Also published here.

Success or Flying into the Sun: Discussing Emotions and Modern Business

There are three ways to go. The third one is the quickest and most fruitful. You’ve probably reached some Jedi level at crypto trading and now want to jump onto the next level — from a trader to a cryptocurrency broker. So you might wonder: Where to start and how to get there? If this is precisely what’s on your mind, stick with me. Today I’m going to cover three (3) alternative ways to become a cryptocurrency broker and dissect the PROS and CONS of each. : one of them is the best from the effort/revenue ratio perspective. Spoiler Let’s dive in! What is a crypto broker, and how is it different from a stockbroker? Let’s start with a stockbroker. A is a securities market professional who executes orders in the market on behalf of clients (retail or institutional ones). Stockbroker functions are usually carried out by brokerage firms that are regulated, insured, and subject to regulatory body scrutiny. stockbroker A stockbroker is a between buyers and sellers. The latter simply can not transact with each other otherwise than through a broker. To access markets, a trader must first set up an account with a broker and deposit some bucks in it. When a trader wants to do some shopping, he has to instruct the broker on what orders should be placed on his behalf. mandatory middleman Now, for a . crypto broker The idea behind crypto brokerage is the same — intermediation in trades. But with crypto, however, unlike traditional stock brokerage, . As we know, crypto exchanges allow users to transact directly. All you need to do is open an exchange account (no broker required), make a deposit, and there you go! using a broker is optional Here comes a question: Since crypto enables kinda DIY trading, what’s the point of crypto brokerage then??! Let’s make some “crypto exchange vs. broker” comparisons to answer this. Cryptocurrency exchange vs. Broker Spoiler: Both are brokers but solve different tasks. Here is the thing: Most existing crypto exchanges are basically brokers. Look at the key range of services they offer: matching buyers and sellers having custody of clients’ funds (save for decentralized crypto exchanges), and transactions clearing The similarities to brokerage are undeniable, don’t you agree? Of course, there are some examples that operate differently. By those, I mean a few “blue chips”, major crypto exchanges that align themselves more closely with the conventional stock exchange model. In particular, they segregate brokerage, custody, and clearing functions and outsource them to strategic partners. However, in today’s crypto market, such a “classical” exchange set-up is more an exception than a rule. Now let’s get back to our favorite “standard” g̶r̶e̶y̶-̶t̶y̶p̶e̶ crypto exchanges. Those are exchanges and brokers all-in-one package. And usually, they operate under a broker or a broker-dealer license, save for the exchanges registered somewhere in a free-trade offshore paradise. Those don’t bother with any licensing. What’s the sense of having two brokers at a time? Short answer: for better liquidity and convenience of trading. I bet you’ve already noticed that the crypto industry has a siloed structure. On the one hand, we have multiple stand-alone trading venues: CEXs, DEXs, hybrid exchanges, and semi-exchanges (those that aggregate liquidity but do not execute orders on their sides). All live according to their unique rules and act like independent sovereign states. On the other hand, by now, there currently exist more than 18k cryptocurrencies and hundreds of blockchain protocols, most of which are (i.e., different in design and not interoperable). To get better exposure to global crypto liquidity, a trader must open several accounts on different exchanges, deposit them with funds, and manage them all simultaneously. heterogeneous It’s extremely inconvenient. In today’s crypto finance paradigm, this problem, known as , is the biggest challenge and bottleneck, preventing crypto from mass adoption. crypto liquidity fragmentation I detailed this in my article “ ” — highly recommended to check out. What is Web3 Liquidity Aggregation So, a crypto broker’s job here is to help clients overcome this problem and give them one-gate access to deep and diverse crypto liquidity consolidated from multiple exchanges and providers. It is essential for professional and institutional traders. Another killer feature of brokerage could be providing clients with the possibility of getting into crypto trading using their fiat funds only and without bothering with fiat/crypto conversion on their own. Institutions highly demand it. Who can become a crypto broker? Apparently, not anyone. Only high-powered professionals in this industry can, as brokerage implies responsibility for other people’s money. So here is the basic MUST-have package: prominent expertise/qualifications/good years of experience in trading top-notch fast and secure infrastructure sophisticated team impressive trading capital high-ROI network: established and trust-based relationships with clients, exchanges, liquidity providers, payment gates, and the like killer marketing and business development capabilities. What about a cryptocurrency broker license? Is it required? Non-trivial and pretty nuanced question. If you plan to play in some white-glove jurisdictions, chances are that you will be required to get authorized or licensed. For example, in the US, as a “ ” or as a (crypto asset secondary services provider) in Australia. money transmitter CASSP However, it’s worth noting that even in those jurisdictions, there are also no clear, holistic policies that directly regulate crypto brokerage and licensing. Whether you need a license for your crypto brokerage business or not — shall be determined individually by your lawyer. And, of course, obtaining a license is not a fast-paced process. You must be patient for a year or two before getting there. How to become a cryptocurrency broker? Finally, we got there! 🎉 So far, there are three actionable ways to do it: To kickstart a regulated stand-alone crypto broker To get a crypto broker franchise, and To become a liquidity network broker. Let’s dissect each briefly. 1. Launching a regulated crypto broker It’s the toughest way. Especially if you plan to target users from “first-world” countries. As with any professional intermediation dealing with 3rd parties money, you will be obliged to comply with multiple regulatory, technical, financial, HR, and reporting requirements to keep your business going. I’ve briefly outlined some of those above. The path to obtaining the license will depend on the types of products you want to offer (spots or derivatives) and the geographics you plan to serve. As you might have guessed, there are no universal guidelines for that. In an overgeneralized way, here are the boxes you will have to check: capital sufficiency (usually a large amount of capital c is required) office presence, i.e., you will need to relocate some of your team members to the country issuing the license the core team having relevant professional qualifications (especially applies to CEO, Head of Trading, Assistant to Head of Trading, etc.) insurance reliable and secure infrastructure sufficient AML/KYC/financial monitoring policies implemented, etc. Now let’s assume you’ve successfully passed all that — what’s next? I bet it won’t be mind-blowing for you that the license is just a part of the deal. It won’t automatically bring you clients and generate revenue. Along with being authorized, you also have to be a killer marketer and seller to bring high-dollar clients on board. Actually, it’s not easy to convince them that it’s safe to entrust you with their money. Additionally, you will need to be a kickass business developer to get profitable, sustainable partnerships with exchanges (for 0 fees, preferably), liquidity providers, banks, payment gates, and the like. You have to have the ability to persuade clients. Sounds like a hell of a job, doesn’t it?🤯 Now I anticipate a Quora-type question here: Can I set up a non-regulated crypto broker without bothering with all this license thing? Well, there is always a workaround. ̶I̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶y̶p̶t̶o̶,̶ ̶b̶a̶b̶y̶!̶ For example, you can register your broker somewhere in a free-trade zone like Seychelles or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and cut off the US and other markets with powerful securities watchdogs. However, this approach is far from being wise and sustainable. First, you are always at risk of legal punishment for such experiments. Second — which is IMHO even more important — you will have a hard time attracting clients and strategic partners. No license — no trust. That’s it. Reasonably saying, even a pseudo-license obtained somewhere in Mauritius will make a difference. Summing it up, here are the pros and cons of this way. Let’s start with the . CONS It’s a long, sweaty, and expensive way — while you’re dealing with all this legal complexity, you can easily miss out on the market opportunities. It’s really easy to end up “ideally compliant” but unable to earn. Because while you’re putting all your efforts into the paperwork, your potential clients are already with your competitors. After everything is done with the license, only heaven knows how long it will take you to pass the break-even. It is a cash-burning business — especially at the beginning — most of your spending will go to marketing and sales and meeting license “continuing” obligations. Make sure you are resilient and funded enough to take such a brutal challenge. PROS With time, it can turn into a . Because a white-glove regulated brokerage is precisely what professional big guys need in trading. If you are diligent in sales, marketing, business development, and fortune, you have all the chances. Everything just needs to click. cash-generating machine Summing it up, the complexity of kickstarting a regulated crypto broker is pretty similar to launching a regulated crypto exchange. That means it’s BRUTALLY HARD. Think twice to make sure you can handle it. 2. Crypto Broker Franchise (Crypto Sub-Brokerage) Compared with the regulated crypto broker, a broker franchise is a much easier and quicker way to get into the crypto brokerage business. However, it’s not quite a brokerage in its classical sense. In the conventional market, a broker franchisee, also called a sub-broker, is someone who enters into a partnership with a broker (a franchisor) to bring them new clients. Essentially, a sub-broker is an of a broker, selling their products and services to clients. agent In other words, while a broker is a middleman between buyers/sellers and exchange, a sub-broker is the middleman between a broker and an investor. Why is it easier to get started as a sub-broker? less legal complexity and qualification requirements. You just need to have some certificates on hand (each time depends on the jurisdiction). no extensive investment is needed no requirement on being registered as a trading member of an exchange, etc. While being a broker requires extensive permissions and certifications, being a sub-broker allows you to carry out similar functions much smoother and without worry. What about the crypto broker franchise? In crypto, the concept of a sub-broker has not been widely introduced so far. In most existing examples (PayBito, PCEX, etc.), franchises are offered by crypto exchanges, not brokers. Though we remember that crypto exchanges are, in fact, brokers, do we? So the same logic here: a crypto sub-broker brings new leads to a franchisor crypto broker for a cut. it’s a relatively easy way to enroll in this business — see above why. PROS: : it’s hard to find clients. Most crypto traders prefer to buy-sell crypto on their own or through brokers rather than seek the assistance of a sub-broker franchise. CONS 3. Crypto Trading Network Broker (or a Network Broker) It’s the most optimal way of doing crypto brokerage, implying the best effort/outcome ratio. To be clear, a network broker is not an established term. I just crafted it for the convenience of explanation. Hope you like it. So, here is what it means. Remember, we earlier touched upon the problem of — the biggest bottleneck of the current crypto finance paradigm? crypto liquidity fragmentation Nice if you do. As we know, where there is a challenge, progress occurs. A few prominent and well-funded projects are currently working on solving the crypto liquidity fragmentation problem. Instead of launching yet another killer crypto exchange with siloed trading, the best minds look towards creating trading networks that aggregate crypto liquidity from various desynchronized sources and enable instant, safe, and cheap cross-blockchain transactions. Each of those projects offers its unique solution for different types of users. In general, the concept of a crypto liquidity network implies: one-account access to crypto liquidity consolidated from exchanges and other liquidity providers participating in the network aggregated price feeds instant and low-fee cross-chain transactions, suitable even for HFTs interconnection between all types of participants, and interoperability between heterogeneous blockchains. If it sounds too nerdy or boring, here is the end benefit of a trading network in simple words: fast, diverse, and cheap global crypto trading from one account. How can a trading network be beneficial for crypto brokers? I’ll explain it, taking as an example. Yellow Network Yellow is a decentralized Layer-3 peer-to-peer trading network that enables: global cross-chain trading with real-time settlement communication and financial information exchange between crypto exchanges, brokers, trading firms, and other types of network participants. Have you ever heard about (electronic communication network)? If not, it’s a computerized system that automatically matches buy and sell orders for securities in the classical stock market. So think of Yellow as a decentralized ECN for digital assets. ECN With a trading network like Yellow Network, a broker can: start brokerage without the need to fit extensive qualifications — all you need is to pass through some KYC verification and integrate with Yellow Protocol. Quickly to global aggregated crypto liquidity. Get one-gate access from other brokers through B2B (Broker to Broker) liquidity channels. A broker peering with another broker on the market will display orders from the other broker in his order book. It will allow a broker to extend his offer and increase the overall liquidity available for his users. Peer liquidity or operate in a non-custodial manner. Choose a custodian Comparing network crypto brokerage with other types previously covered above, it turns out that: network brokerage is easier to kickstart than a regulated stand-alone brokerage business, and unlike crypto sub-brokerage, network brokerage is scalable, independent, and has unlimited revenue-generating potential. For more detailed information on how to jump into the brokerage business with Yellow and what perks you will get — check out Yellow Network Whitepaper. And traditionally pros and cons here. easy, profitable, and scalable. PROS: honestly, I see no cons here. But if you spot some, please let me know about them in the comments. CONS: Final thoughts There are three alternative ways to become a cryptocurrency broker, including a non-conventional one that is purely “crypto native” — i.e., liquidity network brokerage. The last seems to be the most time-/cost-effective shortcut to this activity. One important fact here: crypto brokerage is not crowded yet. You will definitely find your perfect spot in this market if you act fast. Choose the best way for you, and see you in crypto trading!👋 If you want to learn more about brokerage with Yellow Network, don’t be shy to ask your questions in . P.S. Yellow Telegram By for Yellow Network. Julie Plavnik

How To Become a Cryptocurrency Broker [Compliantly and Profitably]

What Is Being a FinTech CEO like?

Borrowing-to-lend for loan-to-buy customers Toyota Financial Services has to be one of the most fascinating, fraudulent entities operating in the world right now. Initially fuelled by cheap Japanese interest rates when it was first begun in the early 2000s, this “ within a factory” is one of the world’s most opaque, byzantine and powerful global financing organisations that you have never heard of. bank Today, TFS is the focus of Toyota’s operations, issuing billions in zero percent and cut-rate financing offers a year and guzzling a similarly sizeable chunk of money from the fixed income markets. Take, for instance, the company’s 50 billion euro note issuance last September. This was a collaboration between no less than 7 issuers spanning four continents all organised under the giant TFS banner. Not content with borrowing in just euros and yen, in July this earlier, Toyota issued its first dollar-denominated bonds: $2 billion of 3-, 5-, and 10-year commercial paper. That quick capital raise was shortly followed up with a further $3 billion issuance of USD-denominated retail notes aimed at American private investors — debt that your mother and father might put their savings into. The retail notes are “a way to expand and diversify TFS’ funding sources and provide a competitive investment alternative to investors,” Mike Groff, TFS’s new President, at the time. said in a press release That’s not all, though — there are the for environmentally-conscious lenders (a cool $5.5 billion), , another , and there was even a . Oh, not to mention lending the company solicits, too. Plus the standard fare of Japanese long bonds and other debt tranches the company issued this year via its myriad network of franchisors. By all accounts, it all adds up to a sizeable chunk of borrowing, representing more than 3 times the company’s steadily relaxing net income. green bonds the 2021 $750m 3.183% yield debt 300 million euros of 3-year debt $300 million 1-year tranche which redeems this month the $500 million of overnight The recent borrowing splurge is yet another unconventional policy play from Akio Toyoda, the current chief executive of Toyota since 2009. Toyoda is the third-generation heir to the family empire. It was his own grandfather Sakichi Toyoda, no less, the company’s founder, who once famously quipped, “it is more difficult to spend than to earn money.” That was back when the company used to stockpile cash and amortise loans before the year was up. How times have changed. , TFS launched a new office earlier this year, alongside a handful of other countries which saw the manufacturer’s finance empire expanding. However, investors might be forgiven for wondering where all this borrowing is going. After all, Koji Kobayashi, Toyota’s chief financial officer and an executive vice president, told Toyota’s November earnings conference attendees that he intended to cut costs by another full 50% over the coming year. In Ireland manufacturing “It would be good if our annual cost savings could reach 600 billion yen ($5.3 billion),” Koji-san , expressing concerns at what he forecast as “difficult” conditions for the company going ahead. That was despite having posted a record net profit on industry-wide record profit margins. (Toyota’s margins, at 8.9% trounce Honda’s, at around 6%, and Ford’s, which are as low as 3%.) said at the time , where Toyota Motor has a rather less well-respected reputation, may offer some insight into where all this debt is headed. The Japanese auto-maker laid off 50,000 factory workers in Altona a few years ago, many of them entire families. Needless to say, the effect on sales was felt across the 400-odd dealership franchises throughout the country, denting the company’s usually PR-self-conscious image badly. (Aussies tend not to forgive and forget too quickly if you fuck them.) The challenge has been — how to get sales back on track? A peek at Australia “At the moment, the (dealer) reputation may not be too great but I think we can turn that around and we think this is the way to do it. So we are pretty positive about this,” TFS president and CEO John Chandler told about the company’s latest sales-side innovation: an algorithm-based credit-matching engine. The algo, which is essentially nothing more complex or fancy than what a bank uses to credit score you for a loan, is, according to Mr. Chandler, the company’s best potential bet yet in getting sales back on track: GoAutoNews Premium “We are seeing some dealers talking of putting the finance decision earlier in the sales process,” he said. “When they can integrate that into the early discussion, particularly quoting the rates, that will become part of the whole process and we won’t necessarily have to hand the customer over to the finance guy at the end of the sales part. Affordability is a key part of the decision.” Of course, giving customers wads of cash to buy your products so that they end up paying you more on the back end is all very well, but when you are borrowing chunks of cash to do so that is rather a different proposition, surely? At that point, not only are you exposing the investor in the bond to the credit risk of the corporation and its technology systems, but you are actually exposing them to the credit risk of the borrower. More importantly still, to what extent does the manufacturer have an incentive to make sure that such loans are profitably issued? That will be the subject of our next post on this topic.

Financing The Factory Bank

Silicon Valley has transformed the world of and is regarded by many as the center of innovation. And while for consumer internet companies this may be true, the tech world is increasingly becoming diversified. venture capital In Q3 of 2017 New York City exceeded San Francisco in terms of total venture dollars invested (thanks in large part to ). Look for this trend to continue as more and more entrepreneurs and investors enter the fray. WeWork Source: CB Insights And while the world is responding and increasingly building (and funding) early stage startups, California is still quite dominant as a player with $7.95B in 2017 Q3 funding alone. Source: CB Insights We have all heard about the Valley. Today let’s look at the other ecosystems and investors to learn all there is to know about early stage ROI. Here is what some of the elite investors interviewed on had to say: The Syndicate on Angel Investing in Facebook and Square and Combatting America’s Healthcare Crisis Esther Dyson Esther Dyson is a down to earth super angel that practically invented the category. Her incredible portfolio includes the likes of Facebook, , , Flickr, and many more. Square 23andMe Evernote Esther now runs Way to Wellville, a non-profit focused on curing America health crisis with a focus on education and early, preventative care. She serves on the boards of Evernote, and 23andme and is also a trained cosmonaut! Meetup Listen and Learn: How Esther hit big wins in Russia investing Esther’s no bullshit investment criteria What is wrong with healthcare in America and how we can try to fix it Why this super angel won’t start a syndicate Why businesses Esther invests in must have a strong business model The reason blockchain is overhyped Why VCs Should be Industry Agnostic and Avoid Silicon Valley with of Forefront Venture Partners Phil Nadel Phil Nadel is a managing partner and syndicate lead at Forefront Venture Partners/Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners where he leads one of the largest and most active angel syndicates on . In addition to being an accomplished investor and being a featured investor on the Shark Tank style Pitch podcast, Phil is also a published author, frequent conference speaker and all around thought leader in the world of early stage startup investing. AngelList Listen and Learn: Why Forefront Ventures is industry agnostic The reason YC companies and SF in general are overhyped and overpriced How to prevent conflict of interest in syndicate venture The big problem with West Coast investors The way to get great deals on early stage deals When to be valuation sensitive and what to do when deals go south Offered 1/4 of Facebook for $5M on Israel, Social Media and Cryptocurrencies Lou Kerner Lou Kerner is the founder and managing partner of Flight.vc’s Israeli Founder fund and the Social Internet fund. Before that, Lou pioneered social media with Bolt, the largest social media company of its time before being conquered by Myspace. Since then Lou has invested in the likes of , Facebook, Meetup.com, Klout, and more. Palantir Plated Listen and Learn: The secret story of social media What VCs will never tell you about deal flow Why Israeli is the place to invest How Tel Aviv compares to SF Why cryptocurrencies are disrupting the world as we know it Ways to validate traction and market caps ICOs, Ethereum, Italian Mountains and being Dave McClure’s Shadow with Stefano Bernardi Stefano Bernardi’s sat at both ends of the table. A YC backed founder and startup hustler, Stefano got into venture and angel investing early and never looked back. Stefano enjoys long walks in the Alps, investing and blogging about crypto and blockchain and helping European founders find their groove and succeed. Listen and Learn: What angels need to know about ICOs Why Europe is seeing a startup revolution How to source startup deals on Twitter Why investors don’t need to live in startup hubs to succeed The future of cryptocurrencies and fintech on Why IoT is the #1 Startup Sector and the Midwest is the Best Place for Companies Nick Moran Nick Moran is a former M&A guy turned angel investor and venture capitalist. He started the 1st VC podcast (the Full Ratchet) over three years ago and used this platform to build one of the top syndicates on Angellist. Since starting investing, none of his companies have failed to date and he since raised a fund to focus on early stage IoT in the Midwest. Listen and Learn: Why the Midwest is the place to be for startups and investors The future of IoT and why it is the #1 industry to watch How to build consistent, vetted deal flow Why podcasting has transformed venture capital The differences and dynamics between syndicates and VC funds Why startups are leaving SF to go to Midwest China is Challenging the Status Quo and Taking Over the Startup Scene This week with who is a Partner at , the #1 global investor in early stage hardware startups with over 200 investments. Prior to HAX he worked mostly across Asia for the past 18 years (China, Japan, Korea) in various high-tech industries: aerospace, telecom, Internet, mobile, gaming. and ran his own cross-border research & advisory firm. Benjamin Joffe HAX Listen and Learn: How the Chinese and Asian startup ecosystems differ from the West What the future of consumer tech and hardware looks like worldwide Why China is the best place to build a hardware company How to evaluate hardware startups An unconventional approach to venture portfolio investing Why different ecosystems and markets evolve differently When China will pass the USA in terms of innovation About China’s innovative “anti-advertising” business models Why The Next Mega Tech Company is Probably Coming out of China with Sajid Rahman An investor in the likes of and , Sajid Rahman is an executive level leader with industry leading experience in emerging markets, helping companies expand internationally and the Asian startup landscape. He started the first tech accelerator program in Bangladesh, runs an AngelList syndicate, sits on the board and advises numerous startups and is an active angel investor himself. fitmob Shyp Listen and Learn: How angel investors should think about Asia Why emerging markets drive massive returns The new Silicon Valley’s worldwide What AngelList is doing to change early stage Why the next BIG tech company is coming from China How Detroit is Defining Future of Mobility & Transportation with of Ted Serbinski Techstars Ted Serbinski is an entrepreneur and early stage investor operating at the intersection of Detroit’s automotive dominance and its entrepreneurial resurgence. He is the Managing Director of Techstars Mobility, the first US startup accelerator program focused on next-generation mobility technologies. Previously, he was a Partner and founding team member of Detroit Venture Partners, a $55M seed-stage fund that has invested in 25 companies. Before moving to Detroit from San Francisco, Ted was a co-founder and CTO of ParentsClick. With the 4th largest social network and the largest blog network for moms, Lifetime Television acquired ParentsClick in 2008. Listen and Learn: How autonomy affects the future of mobility What is wrong with tranditional angel investors Why Detroit is actually a growing tech hub What blockchain means more the transportation industry What traveling can teach VCs about investing Why index investing is the best bet for startups Arlan Hamilton on Raising 1st VC Fund While Homeless to Attack Tech’s White Guy Diversity Problem Arlan Hamilton isn’t your typical VC. She’s a smart, scrappy founder and fighter and believes in inclusion and diversity to drive outsized rewards. Her firm Backstage Capital invests in underrepresented founders like herself: people of color, LGBT and anyone SF wouldn’t normally give a fair shake. She’s fiery, she attacks conventions and she’s changing the world of tech while focused on enormous ROIs. Enjoy. Listen and Learn: How to raise your 1st VC fund, while being homeless The power of connecting founders with investors What will happen to Silicon Valley’s big boy club Why under-represented founders deliver outsized returns The massive disparity in venture capital Why Silicon Valley doesn’t have a pipeline problem The Future of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Roundtable Our expert panelists include: , Andy Bromberg, Lou Kerner and Gil Penchina Joey Krug Gil Penchina’s one of the top super angels of all time, with investments in , Brave, , Paypal, Filecoin, Civic, Linkedin, Cruise Automation, Dollar Shave Club, , Discord, Fastly and a name as good as gold. Prior to that he worked at Ebay through the IPO process and now he runs 20+ syndicates on Angellist with millions in backing. And today he’s venturing to the other side of the table with Pryze, a decentralized sweepstakes system working on an ICO pre-sale. For more on Gil, check out his interview on The Syndicate podcast where we discuss How Gil Tried to Lose Money and Hit 5 Unicorns and the Future of Cryptocurrencies Ripple Polychain Wealthfront Joey Krug got involved in Bitcoin mining in 2011 before building Bitcoin point of sale system in 2013. In 2014, he dropped out of Pomona College to cofound one of the first projects on ethereum called , and in 2015 they did the first crowdsale on . Then this year he joined as Co-Chief Investment Officer managing their digital asset funds… oh, and he also run one of the top 10 (by backing) AngelList syndicates. To learn more about Joey, listen to our interview (the 1st of the podcast), on Cryptocurrencies, ICOs and the Future of Public Markets. Augur ethereum Pantera Capital Andy Bromberg is the CEO of , an innovative ICO launch platform and compliance company responsible for the Filecoin’s $205M ICO success. Spun out of Angellist, Coinlist is already a leader in the token space and has built the trust and success to fuel legitimate, world changing ICOs. Prior to Coinlist, Andy co-founded , a startup which raised ~ $5M to connect experts for thought provoking conversations on politics on more. CoinList Sidewire Lou Kerner is the founder and managing partner of Flight.vc’s Israeli Founder fund and the Social Internet fund. Before that, Lou pioneered social media with Bolt, the largest social media company of its time before being conquered by Myspace. Since then Lou has invested in the likes of Palantir, Facebook, Meetup, Klout, Plated and more. And if you missed Lou’s conversation on the podcast, it is a must. We will cover a wide range of topics from ICOs, the future of cryptocurrencies, the implications and disruptions of blockchain and much much more. Plus there will be a live Q&A session at the end with all our esteemed guests. Closing thoughts Every city wants to be the “next Silicon Valley.” Billions are poured in venture every year. Is it working? Is the center of innovation shifting? While arguably new hubs like NYC, Boston, London, Berlin and Singapore are cropping up, Silicon Valley seems to be where the money is at. If you had a choice, where would you live? Where would you invest? Where is the world going? Thoughts? Share your opinions, speculation and industry insight in the comments below. Learned something? Click the 👏 to say “thanks!” and help others find this article. Hold down the clap button if you liked the content! It helps me gain exposure . Clap 50 times!

Top Ten Interviews on Investing Outside Silicon Valley

How I’ve taken my SaaS app from $1 to $100/month in three months. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. “ — Lao Tzu Two months ago , my little place card making website and SaaS-building testbed made its very first dollar. Place Card Me Two months later, towards the end of October, it passed another major milestone: $100. With a few more sales it will pay back every dollar I’ve put into it so far! Moreover, if you ignore the Y-axis, the revenue growth looks great so far: I’m now convinced that barring any surprising unforeseen changes (like Google deciding to kill my search rankings or a new heavyweight competitor jumping in) it will be feasible — if not easy — for the site to become a steady source of passive income, maybe one or two hundred dollars a month. Pretty great, right? Honestly, I stoked. There were many times where I thought I was going to fail to earn a in six months. That would have been — among other things — super embarrassing for me. am single dollar At $100/month, I can cover all my hosting costs, many of my lunches, and maybe even the occasional night on the town! The rest of this post describes — in possibly more detail than necessary — exactly how that happened. And while a lot of what follows is specific to my own product, I hope the lessons and thinking can help guide and inspire others to continue to grow their SaaS businesses. From $1 to $100/month So it took me . By comparison getting to $100/month was a cakewalk. 5 months and 200+ hours to earn my first dollar These were the major contributing factors — in approximate order of importance: My organic reach and top-of-the-funnel continued to grow. I picked up a new distribution channel. I started charging more. That’s it! I’ll talk more a about each of these below. The Compounding Effects of Reproducible Organic Reach Many months ago — when I was first trying to figure out how to market my site — I read . Traction The book outlines 19 different channels you can use to get traction for a product, and provides a methodology — called “bullseye” — for picking which ones to focus on. I found it to be super helpful in coming up with my overall traction strategy and I’d highly recommend it to anyone that isn’t sure where to start with marketing and selling their product. The spreadsheet I used to evaluate the 19 different traction channels I could use When I did the “bullseye” exercise I selected SEO as as the number one channel to pursue. As a result, I set about . Through the techniques described in that article, I was able to slowly target certain keywords and phrases until my site started climbing the rankings in search. And as this happened, I started getting more and more organic traffic until eventually making that first joyous sale. learning SEO and adapting a strategy that worked pretty well However what’s important to realize is that that sale wasn’t a miraculous single-event. It was the eventual conclusion of very simple game of probabilities. One of out every N visitors to my site will eventually make a purchase. So if that first sale came after N visits, then the next sale should come after approximately 2N, and so forth. Therefore, if the rate of visits went up (which it did) then the rate of sales should also go up (which it also did). It’s just math! So far, I believe that the biggest factor in my app’s increase in revenue over the last two months is simply that it’s getting way more traffic. More traffic = more sales, plain and simple. Traffic to Place Card Me over time. The “home alone” face is when the first sale happened. (Chart courtesy of ) Tractionbeat As an aside, I now have enough data to know what my sales rate is and enough traffic to run A/B tests to try and move it — but that’s a subject for another time… New Distribution Channels The second increase in revenue came from a completely new distribution channel. That channel was . Etsy Etsy is where millions of people go to buy and sell creative products — especially for weddings Early on in my research of the wedding industry I learned that Etsy was an absolute behemoth in the space. In fact, a significant proportion of brides (and grooms) will search on Etsy when they’re looking for things for their wedding. only Realizing this made me want to figure out how to get in on some of that Etsy action. The simple way to do this — which you’ve probably guessed — was to create a shop on Etsy and sell my place card templates there. This did require building out some tech to support a workflow centered around someone purchasing something on Etsy, but turned out to not be too complicated. Those orange slices in the chart at the top — those are my Etsy sales. In September they were actually higher than my organic sales, though in October I toppled them with organic. Unfortunately, I don’t quite know how to improve my organic reach on Etsy so the numbers seem to stay much flatter over time — at least so far. If anyone figures out how to exponentially grow a shop’s Etsy reach, I suspect they could make a lot of money! Also please let me know if you know how to do this. :) Pricing Changes The last thing I did to increase revenue was raise prices. The way Place Card Me works is that you can use it for free, but certain templates on the site cost money. When I was — wondering whether I would ever make a single sale — I dropped the price of all templates to just $1. After several back-to-back weeks of regular sales I decided to start bringing them back up. deep in the trough of sorrow Specifically I did three things: I eliminated all free designs except the “blank” one. I raised prices on most designs from $1 to $1.95. I started charging people who uploaded their own designs. The combination of these changes actually sales rates. I believe that was mostly a result of removing the free designs — which I suspect created a psychological effect of making people think that they “should” have to pay for a design, and were therefore more willing to do so. increased We developers are often very hesitant to raise prices. This gentleman provides some helpful advice. One last funny anecdote: charging for custom uploads was actually an accident. When I introduced the change that made all designs paid, I changed the default behavior of the site in a way that inadvertently caused the upload workflow to also cost money. The way I found out I had changed it was getting notified that someone had paid for a custom design! Of course — once that happened — I decided to keep the change in place. Custom design sales are now the most popular single template/option on the site. What’s Next? I’m quite happy to be at $100/month in revenue at the moment, but it’s still a long ways away from anything that might meaningfully get me on a road to passive income. In the next installment of this series, I’ll talk about how I plan to try and grow that number by at least 10x to $1000/month. It should be fun! If you’d like to follow along you can subscribe below. Edit: Part 2 is now out! You can find it here . You can still subscribe if you want though. :) Originally published at www.coryzue.com .

The Long Road to Passive Income Part 1: Getting to $100 in Monthly Revenue

Just getting started on an idea or been slogging away for awhile, and now you’re left wondering: how long does it really take to get an idea off the ground? You’re not alone. I recently received an email from one of my readers Carla who wrote: Poornima, Well, it’s officially been a year since I started working on my idea, and I still haven’t shipped it… At first, I was just trying to get over the hump of thinking it was good enough. Then I debated on quitting my day job, but I really didn’t have the means to because I have a mortgage and day care expenses, so I started working on the idea on the side. Next, I went around in circles trying to figure out how to productize it and to figure out who the customers would be. After that it was finding teammates to help me out. Taking all this time to figure things out has caused the deadline to slip more than once. , and I do think my nerves are holding my creation hostage. I read your post last week Because every time I feel like I’m on the cusp of hitting my stride, I face a major setback, which makes me feel like it’s been 1 step forward and 2 steps back. I don’t know what to do. To make matters worse, I feel like I’m letting people around me down. My husband keeps asking me when I’m going to ship this thing and start making money. And my kids are wondering when mommy is going to have time to show up to their soccer games again. Between my day job and this side project, I feel like I’m just letting everyone else down. I’ve sunk so much of my time, energy, and money into this hoping that it would give me more creative and financial freedom. But to be honest, after a year of slogging, I just feel tired and all alone. It doesn’t help when I read that people came up with an idea, shipped it, and started making money within months. It makes me feel like I’m just behind, and will never be able to catch up. You’ve always been pretty upfront with your posts and into myth busting on FemgineerTV, so please tell me how long is this really supposed to take? Sincerely, Carla Sound familiar? First, I want to thank Carla for summoning the courage to reach out and share what she is going through. It takes strength to admit that things aren’t going well, especially when it seems like everyone around you is “killin’ it!” Carla’s brought up a number of concerns, and I’m going to tackle each one. Going all in vs start on the side Carla mentioned that she didn’t quit her day job because she needed the money. Reading between the lines, it seems like Carla is a little ashamed that she can’t go all in. Why? Probably because she and a number of us are constantly being fed the narrative of the twenty-something who either dropped out of college or quit their day job, worked out of their parent’s garage for 6 months to come up with an idea, shipped it, and it started growing like gangbusters. Kudos to them for killin’ it! We also start to believe that we’re somehow not as committed if we aren’t dedicating every waking hour to working on it. When you have personal and financial commitments like kids, a mortgage, and so on, there is no shame in working full time and starting something on the side. Frankly, it shows you are capable of managing your time and being financially responsible! You can choose to quit your day job once you hit a major recurring revenue milestone. I say recurring because a one-time lump sum doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have additional revenue coming in that will cover bills. When you start to see recurring revenue over the course of 3–6 months, that can be a good time to make the decision to quit. And once you quit, you’ll most likely be able to generate even more revenue, because your business will have your full attention. I know some folks out there maybe worried about what their employer will think or say. My recommendation, use your judgment. If your employer doesn’t appear supportive, then keep a tight lip about your side hustle. Is everyone actually killin’ it? Some are and some aren’t. However, admitting that things aren’t going well is a sign of weakness. It shows that they don’t have it all figured out yet. Here’s the thing: no one has it ALL figured out! Those who might have made their first dollar, need to figure out how to make their next dollar. Even those who have made hundreds or thousands, often find themselves stuck after a while, trying to figure out how to get to the next level. The other big myth is how long it took to get their idea off the ground. Some claim it took months, others will say a year, but here’s the thing, however long they tell you it took them might not be an accurate estimate, because again people don’t want to admit that it took them years to figure it out. If you dig a little deeper you’ll discover that they might have had a slew of ideas that didn’t go anywhere for awhile. In the course of experimenting, they happened to discover a breakthrough idea, which did take off. Instead of counting all the time it took to get to the breakthrough idea, they reset their clock, making them appear to be an overnight success. Building a support system We all have moments where we can’t seem to motivate ourselves, that’s when having a mentor, advisor, or friend whom we can trust to listen to us is important. They might not always have all the answers you need, but they can be counted on to offer you some perspective, so you don’t feel like you’re going at it alone. Your own timeline and needs Carla mentioned starting this idea for creative and financial freedom, which are great goals. In addition to those, I’d recommend that she explore additional ones like flexibility, so she has time in her schedule to spend with her family. There is no shame in taking breaks and setting time aside. It may mean going slower, or possibly even faster because you’re propelled by the energy and support you get from spending time with loved ones. In the end, it saves us from burning out. Each product requires a different amount of time, energy, and money Consider the type of product or business you’re building. Too often people go all in on building something like a software product, which requires tons of time and capital. And if they don’t have loads of experience, time, or the capital it can feel really slow going. So why not start with something small? Again I repeat there is no shame in starting small. Learn from shipping a small product like a blog, a book, or offering a service. Learn from shipping it, and then tackle something bigger. Those that climb Mount Everest, don’t start by climbing Mount Everest ;) A few years ago I was itching to ship another product, after having shipped 2 software products. I didn’t have the means to build another software product because it would mean hiring a team, managing them, and investing the time to build it. So I decided to work on shipping something smaller on the side: a book. It took far less time and capital than a software product, and I still received a ton of benefits from shipping it such as generating revenue and building an audience. After shipping the book, I received a lot of positive feedback, and eventually developed the book into a course. One product led to another. It was a natural progression over time. When to shut it down After putting in a lot of time and effort the last thing you want to hear is someone telling you to shut down your idea. However, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If you’ve run out of resources, become dispassionate about the idea, or want to pursue something else it is OK to shut it down. Earlier this month my co-founder and I shut down BizeeBee, a product and company we started back in 2010. Over the past 8 years, we’ve learned a lot from running it and enjoyed serving our customers. But in the last 2 years, each of started to focus more on other ideas. Building Femgineer became my priority, and my co-founder has his own. So we made the decision at the end of last year to shut BizeeBee down. It was a bittersweet ending for the both of us, but it also gave us the much-needed closure to move on and focus on what we really want to do. Hopefully, this post helped Carla get a little more clarity around a number of her concerns, and realized that she isn’t alone is pursuing a path that is contrary to the common narrative about how to pursue an idea. Have you been in similar situation? Share what you went through in the comments below, so Carla and others can learn from your experience. Enjoyed this post and want more? Help others enjoy it too by hitting the ♡ below! , and my book . Check out my video series to help you ship your idea here How To Transform Your Ideas into Software Products

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