The Happy Bootstrapper Is Here!

I'm proudly presenting my new blog, The Happy Bootstrapper.

Grow Your SaaS Customer Profitability will be my first 30x500-style product. I'm pretty excited about it, but there's a lot to do before it's out.

I'll be using Happy Bootstrapper to publish nice educational material that runs traffic to the Grow Your SaaS Customer Profitability pitch page. When the book is finally ready, I'll transform the pitch page into a full-fledged sales page.


How will this affect Passive Income Stream Creator?

From now on The Happy Bootstrapper will take priority to this blog. The Happy Bootstrapper is all about finances and profitability of a SaaS & online product business. Stuff that you need when your business is up and running and you have customers.

However, I'm not closing down Passive Income Stream Creator. I'll keep on writing every now and then, just as I have previously. I'll keep my reviews and how-to articles here. They are more suitable for beginner passive income learners and would not fit in the Happy Bootstrapper theme.

I'm probably going to manage the new project separately so you won't be seeing it in the status reports.   I'm not planning to stop being transparent, but there's nothing but costs at the moment. As I want this project to pay back both 30x500 and my new MacBook Air, the costs are running over $4,000 already. I'll publish my stats when there's something on the plus side too!

In the meantime, check out The Happy Bootstrapper!

Feb 2013 - I've Got Money And I've Got Business Ideas

Passive Income In February 2013: $45 
Costs: $30

Another great month is behind. My course investments are starting to pay off.

Both SBI! and 30x500 have been winner's choices for me. If you don't know these courses, there's more info in my Resources Page.

Site-Build-It!

Most of the money in February came from my SBI! site. The one I've neglected since 30x500 started.

The SBI! does say that it takes about half a year to make any money with it. Even though I've completed only 8/10 of this course, it has still kept its promises.

My site has only 16 articles and I've done no link-building for a long time.

For some reason unknown to me, I jumped up in Google ranks 2 weeks ago. I now have 1500 unique visitors per month and several of my long tail keywords rank in the first page.

The best thing is that these new visitors don't bother mailing me before they buy. So I'm concentrating on 30x500 and just watching the money flow in.

Admittedly, this stream is small and it's potential is not very big. But I'm proud of every penny I make online and SBI! was a good learning experience that prepared me for 30x500.

30x500

Business ideas are flowing in, thanks to 30x500 process. During the last couple of weeks, I've had several good business ideas. The best thing about these ideas is that there is a high probability people want these products and they are willing to pay for them.

I have not yet selected the final business idea, but I've selected my audience and my business "theme":

I'm going to help bootstrapped micro-businesses with their financial and accounting problems.

I had "forgotten" that I have BBA and several years of experience in small biz accounting. Truth to be told, I didn't think those skills would be of much use - except for taking care of my own finances. Fortunately, 30x500 dig them up and pointed out that small businesses often need help in that area.

I have to refresh my old skills so I'll not be able to start by creating a SaaS as a hoped. But I'll be happy to start by creating info-products for this awesome audience. That will also show me what the demand for extra services really is.

I'm looking forward to what happens in next month. I hope you had a good biz month too!

Why I Don't Fear That My Product Idea Gets Stolen

After seeing how much leverage the 30x500 online community has given me, I though it would be fun to meet great people also offline. So I visited the local startup accelerator called Protomo with hopes to meet like-minded people from other startups.

Protomo is not only for applying to accelerator programs. You can connect with other startups, share resources and get free (government supported) help and instructions. The personnel is super-friendly too.

But I soon found out I think differently than most of the people I met there. Thanks to Amy, my teacher in 30x500, I'm free of several common startup fears.

Grateful for that, I thought I'd share how I learned not to fear that someone steals my product idea.

Yeah.

Startups Fear That Someone Steals Their Idea

Being around 30x500 guys I'd forgotten how idea-driven the startup scene is.

You'll put on your thinker hat and you come up with a novel product idea. Then it's just a matter of building that never-before-seen product and becoming a multimillionaire.

But right after you come up with your product idea, new fears follow.

You'll need feedback and you'd really like to talk about your business and your idea. At the same time you fear to talk about it. If you tell your idea to people they might steal if from you.

You also fear that someone comes up with the same idea, and that puts extra pressure on you. You need to be stealthy and you need to be fast. You need to beat your competitors with a similar idea.

So you work on your own and avoid talking about your business and your ideas.

Sadly, that's how many people think product creation must be. Doing so they take extra risks and give away lots of their power. But there are other options, other product creation processes.

30x500 teaches a fear-free approach to product creation

I can honestly say 30x500 was the best thing I bought last year. It makes my little bootstrapper life so much easier. I can now concentrate on building my business without high risks, high stress and emotional roller coasters. Working towards my new business is still exciting, but there's no extra hassle.

It's like my brain is re-wired now. I have a completely new approach to product ideas.

Ideas are not a rare commodity

With 30x500 process I can now generate new product ideas when I need them. Seeing the vast ocean of ideas, I'm not helpless if someone copies my idea. There's more where it came from.

I love the serenity I get from knowing this. And yes, that sea is not bottomless, but there's room for little o' me and my humble product.

My product will be superior to copycat's product

In the "normal" product creation process, ideas come at the beginning. They come when you are alone and vulnerable, weak against competition. At start, your idea is all you have.

Now, that does not happen with 30x500. In the 30x500 process ideas are just one of the results. They appear later in the process. In addition to an idea, I'll have a ton of research behind me and a plan for carrying my idea into final product that customers will love. I'll have deep understanding about my customers - something a person just copying my idea does not have.

To really steal from me and benefit, one would need to get all my material, my conclusions, my product plans plus my vision. Not so easily done. Equipped to build the best possible product for eagerly awaiting customers - and with a head start, I just don't need to worry.

My product will have unique personality

Last month I have been data mining the same resources with 50 other people. We all wrote articles based on that data and they were all different. Some people did share the same topic, but the articles were all different. They had different viewpoints, appealing to different types of customers.

People don't buy ideas. They buy products that bring them value. And they prefer to buy products that fit their personality.

If you base your business on an idea, anyone can copy you. Just implement an idea and you have a product that is faceless, tasteless and odorless. But what makes a successful business is not the idea. The core of your business is what makes people come to you, the softly spoken promise that you'll give them exactly what they desire. You kill their pains and you make them feel special, like your product was tailored for them.

From my current perspective only identical products compete from the same customers. As long as product differentiates somehow, there is room for it. There is a sea of customers, all slightly different, reacting to different triggers.

My idea is not one-in-a-kind unique, so copycats are not interested

I do admire people coming up with unique ideas. But if I'd had such an idea now, I'd file a patent application and forget it for a while. Or maybe I'd try to sell the idea.

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm green in business. Starting up with an unique idea with no business experience is a huge risk. What if the idea is not yet commercialized because there is some showstopper implementing it? What if dozens of people have already tried and failed? What if there just isn't audience for the idea?

Picking up that kind of idea would take me back into situation where I'd have extra worries. I'd have no knowledge of my future customers, I would not know how to appeal to them. I'd lose my best advantage, my product would have no edge and anyone with more resources could take me out.

With 30x500 process I can infiltrate into saturated-looking markets and do fine there. I don't have to come with something only masterminds of the human kinds can invent.

Doing something extraordinary or brand new might be fun. But it's not something I'd pick as my first project now.

I choose co-operation over competition any day

The fun thing about my change of attitude is that I don't feel the urge to compete with people now. We have a great community in 30x500 and we can openly share our ideas, thoughts and fears because we don't have to wall up. I can trust that my fellow students will not steal my ideas or otherwise harm my business. It's a refreshing change and I don't want to go back to the secretive "I don't trust you enough to tell you my ideas"-mode.

In my visits to Protomo I saw a lot of people who had a great urge to network and discuss things, yet they were unable to do that. They were holding back. I had some great discussions, but they were not the type of discussions that would have brought value to my business or take me forward.

It really leverages learning when we can openly speak about everything. I'm so sorry to see how lots of people throw away that advantage.

Disclaimer

As I'm writing this we are in the mid-point of 30x500. We have gone through the process once in test mode and we are gathering strength and momentum to run it all again - but now for real. It is exciting, but I have already seen what this powerful process is capable of. I can't wait to get started!

After seeing how much leverage the 30x500 online community has given me, I feel that some kind of community or mentor is essential in speeding up lone entrepreneurs at the start. I'm so glad to be part of 30x500 community and have Amy, Brennan and Alex as my teachers!

There are no affiliate links in this post. Enjoy!

Lessons From Mr. Perfect Habits

photo by austinevan

30x500 officially starts in November, but we are already getting homework. Last week, we registered into free Tiny Habits program by BJ Fogg. If you don't know what 30x500 is, please take a look at my brand new Resources page!

Tiny Habits is a method for installing new habits. New group start every week and you get to pick 3 new tiny habits you want to install - on any area of life you want to improve.

I chose the following tiny habits last week:

• After I switch on PC, I'll draw one quick sketch
• After I start email app, I'll stretch one part of my body briefly
• After I put my head to the pillow, I will say one thing I'm grateful of

Why Should You Be Interested?

As Amy explained it, studies tell that 40% of the things we do daily are habits. We do what we have always done, like little rats. Do what you have always done and you'll get what you have always got. To create a new income stream or a product, you'll need to install a habit of working on it.

Installing new habits is fun and benefits you on many levels. Better yet, changes can be applied to all areas of life.

However, I was super excited about tiny habits for another reason. It seems that tiny habits formalizes one of the organizing methods my husband uses.


How I Learned To Be Organized

I grew up in an entrepreneur family with chaotic habits. While it was an inspiring environment for a kid, it had downsides. Everything revolved around work and anything personal would come second, often a distant second. When I moved away to live on my own, my apartment was a mess - I had no habits to keep it organized. Bigger problem is that as long as your home is a mess, it takes away from your energy to learn other good habits. My disorganization stretched to almost all areas of life - except getting my work and studies done.

Then I married Mr. Perfect Habits. Step by step he started to teach me little methods to organize my life better. Today we have relatively organized home and lifestyle, yet we use very little effort maintaining it.

Today I'm going to share couple of organizing methods I have learned from him. These methods are stupidly simple, yet very effective! You'll read them and go: "Oh.. why didn't I think of that!"


Lessons From Mr. Perfect Habits

The main idea in all these methods is to make things easier in a way that is natural to yourself. Instead of learning someone else's process of organizing their lives, you'll be creating your own as you go.

If you know these methods already, you may laugh at this post - this is all so trivial. Feel free to laugh. After seeing the Tiny Habits program I realized there are plenty of people like me. People whose parents never taught them these things.


Trigger Habits (aka. Tiny Habits)

Trigger habits help you to install shiny good habits.

When you do something you already do by habit, you use it as a reminder to trigger your new habit.

Examples of trigger habits:

• After I finish eating, I'll wipe the kitchen table 
• After I switch on my computer, I'll check my TO-DO list

I really recommend you try out the Tiny Habits program. It explains the method well and it formulates a superb way to create triggers in a way that you'll really end up doing your new habits.


Trigger Items/Places

Trigger items remind you to perform tasks that are rarely needed.

Trigger items work on the premise that all household items have their "home location". Whenever you use anything, you'll return it where it belongs. When you leave something to a place other than its home location, it works as your trigger.

Example of trigger item:

• An empty toilet paper shell on the corridor chair means I need to buy more toilet paper
• A bill on the keyboard means I should pay that bill

When the trigger item has done it's duty, I'll trash it or take it back to its place, depending on the case.


Trigger Containers

Trigger Containers prevent things piling up.

Trigger container is a basket, shelf or some other container of a space equal to the size of the task to be performed. When you have items that need further processing, you use the container to hold them until you have enough of them to perform a task.

Example of trigger containers:
I have a small container for the unread magazines. When I get a new magazine, I'll put it in the unread magazines container. Whenever I read one, I'll move it to another container - the container for magazines to be trashed. Or when dealing with books, to the bookshelf. 

If the unread magazines container fills up, it is a sign you clearly don't have time to read them all! When the read magazines container fills up, it works as a trigger to take them away.

This works wonderfully for tasks like dishes and laundry. With laundry we have several containers, one for each washing program that we use. At first it took me some time to learn to empty the pockets and close the zippers already when putting the clothes to the laundry baskets. I was used to doing that when putting the clothes to the machine. But now when I am used to trigger containers, I just love them - they make the house so much more cleaner and tasks easier.


How To Make Triggers Work

In order for the triggers to work, you need to make things easy for yourself. Try to place items near to where they are used and make them easily available. Be smart. Organize triggers so that they make sense to you and support your existing habits.

Not all of the habits are going to stick. But that just means you have picked poor triggers or try to place new habits where they don't come naturally.

Couple of years ago I tried to install a new habit of doing chin-ups before going out the house. That didn't work, even though I placed the chin-up bar right next the front door. When I'm leaving the house, starting to exercise is the last thing I'm interested in. In a way, the trigger happened inside another action and I ended up not doing it.

I also have several habits I have installed successfully, but then dropped them after a vacation or some other break. That just means they were not a logical enough sequence of habits to continue.

When that happens, I often just change things a bit. Doing chin-ups is perfect match for switching on electric sauna, for example.

Just try it out and see how it works for you!

Yay! I'm In 30x500!

Yes, I'm one of the 75 students in the winter 2012 30x500 course.


What Is 30x500?

30x500 is a four-month "product creation" course by Amy Hoy, the creator of Freckle and Charm. "Product creation", because you don't exit the course with a ready made product.

Instead, you're going to learn (in addition to other things):

• how to have only profitable ideas
• how to secure customers for your product before you ever commit a line of code, or write a single page
• how to build a product by yourself, without making yourself miserable
• how to find your customers
• how to get your customers to come to you
• how to write sales copy so your customers will listen — with no previous copywriting experience
• how to launch your product to immediate sales

This course has propelled several success stories, including Bootstrapping Design and Planscope, actually, Planscope twice.


Why I Chose 30x500?

For 13 years I was a designer and developer in a large multinational company. I worked in research and development. That means we made brand new products. Most of those projects failed in a way or another.

At least two times in my career we worked for over two years to create a product that was discontinued almost immediately when it came out. I loved both of those products but they just didn't sell well enough.

Looking back, I can't name any telltale sign of a product that's going to fail. The failing products are not always bad products... And there are some awful products that just thrive.

The only common nominator to all failing products is that they don't sell well enough. I think this course offers an unique viewpoint to that program - getting the customers first.

I want to create my own SaaS-application. And I want to be successful. I don't want to bury another product.