Sothefirsttip I haveforyouisthatfor a while I wasworkingonthiswebsite.
It's like a socialnetwork, and I charged a monthlymembership.
Itwaslikefivebucks a monthorsomethinglikethat, anditjustkeptoutatthatmuch.
Nomatterhowmuchmorepeoplewantedtopay, therewasnowayforpeopletopaymore, andotherthanthat, I wasmonetizingthroughadvertisementsanditwasdecent.
Itwasokay, right?
Anditwasevenpaymemorethanmydayjob.
So I wasprettyhappywiththat.
Buttheproblemwasthat I don't think I wasmonetizingitatthemaximumpotential, youknow, liketheywereprobablypeoplewillingtopayfarmorethanthat.
And I wasgettingthisvirtualeconomyallsaidthatwheretherewerevirtualingamecurrencyandpointsandthingsyoucouldmessaroundwith.
But I kindoffeelslimyif I weregoingtotrytomonetizethatandsellpointsandthingslikethat.
So I neverreallygotaroundtodoingthatuntilmonthslateron, right?
Andeventhen I hadthemfullydevelopedthatfeaturesetout.
Sothetiphereisthatyouneedtomonetize, andyouneedtobecharging a prettydecentamount, right?
Likeifyou'recappingtheamountthatyou'rechargingpeople, I say $5 a monthandthenyougivethemfullaccesstoeverythingthatyou'reoffering.
That's justnotgoingtobeenough.
Youknow, I don't thinkthat's enoughtogeneratesignificantrevenue.
A quickbackoftheenvelopecalculationcanfigurethatoutforyou.
YoucanthinkaboutHey, ifyouhad, say, 10,000 dailyactiveusersandmaybelike 1% ofthemisgoingtoactuallypurchase, andthat's a decentconversionrate.
You'vegotmaybe 100 peoplewhoarebuying.
Youtriedhimfivebucks a month.
That's 500 bucks a month.
It's okaybythesametime, consideringhowmuchworkyouputintothis, youmaywanttolookintowaysthatyoucanoffermoreandthenchargemoreforyourserviceIstipnumbertwo I haveforyouonthisjourneywasthere's a secondproject I wasworkingon, andthiswasafter I havebuiltthesocialnetwork.
I realizedthatall I hadtoactuallydowascloneanotherapp, anotherwebsiteorgamethathadprovensuccess.
Sointhisoriginalsocialnetworkappthat I hadbuilt, I hadspentabouttwoweekscomingupwiththeconcept, anditwasveryinnovativeandcrazyandunique.
Buttheideawasimproving, andpersonally, I feltbadabouttryingtojusttakeanotherperson's idea.
Includethat.
Nowyoudon't necessarilywanttoclone a completely, but I wouldsaythatyoucantakeanidea.
Take a lookatwhat's workingtheprovenpartsaboutit, studiedtheothercompetitorsandthentakethatportionandthencopythatandthenputtingyourownspinfromthere.
Thisisessentially a guaranteedpathtosuccess, and I rememberatthetimethereareotherlargecapcompaniesandtheirentirebusinessmotherwithbethattheywouldtake a lookatthetop, say 10 20 performingAPS, thenewAPSthatwe'recomingupontothemarketeachweek, andthentheywouldjusttakethoseandclonethem.
Justtake a lookatwhat's workingoutthereandthencopythatideaandthenputyourownspinonthatnottipnumberthree I haveforyouhereisthattherewasthisapp I wasbuilding, andthiswasatthetimewhentheFacebookwasbecoming a platform.
Twitterwasbecoming a platform.
Everyonewasmakingtheirwebsite a platformfordeveloperstobuildadditionalsideapse.
Okay, I rememberthatatthetime a lotofpeoplewouldsaythattheywantedtobuild a big, sustainablebusiness, somethinglikethenextMicrosoftorthenextExcelthenextuber.
Andthat's great.
That's allgood.
Butatthesametime, I wouldsaythatyoudon't necessarilyneedtobuild a sustainablebusinessaroundanyofthis, right.
But I wasabletoidentifythismarketofpeoplewhoareveryinterestedintimelapse, specificsoftwareandphotography, andthenbuilditatthemarketthatspecificallytothemon a verynicheforum.
Andovernight I wasstartingtogeneratehundredsofdollarsinsalesperday, notmyfifthandlastfinaltip.
I willconsiderhardlyessentialforyou, anditis a keyinsidehere, anditisthatyouneedtocontinuetolearn.
Thereisnothingworse, actually, thanbeingstuckrunning a $1,000,000 businessthatisslowlydying, say, orthatyou'renotthatexcitedabout.
You'veputintoomuchrisk, andyouhavetotake a lookattheopportunitycostsinwhichmaybetherewassomecareerthatyouleftontheothersideofthetablethatyoucouldbeworkingnow, andthatcareerhassomevalueaswell.
Thatway, thisisreallyaboutfreeingupyourtime, suchthatyoucandootherthingsthat, like a tasksusecomputerprograms, systemscriptstoautomatetestssuchthatyoucanspendyourtimedoingotherthingsandcontinuebiddingonotherareasofyourbusiness.