Just the other day, a friend of mine invited me to attend an entrepreneur conference. I wrote back him to explain – I’m no entrepreneur. Yes, I make money off the internets, but I’m surprised everyday that I am still making money and that someone has not come to kick me off this thing. I make some money every month from selling software, which may not be very much in the global scale of things, but it’s fine for me.
You see, there are lots of entrepreneurs out there. They have glossy homepages with gradients, and they describe themselves are entrepreneurs and have a list of companies they have founded. They attend conferences, they IM with other entrepreneurs, they have a contact list that includes some VCs and Angel Investors. They have twitter accounts, they tweet about the latest entrepreneurial news and they know exactly when the iPad is coming out, because well, they read it on TechCrunch.
I would love to do this also, but I’m just a butchers son. My dad told me a long time ago when I was getting an advanced degree – Max, you will never be your titles, you will never be your friends, you will never be your car or your house. What you will be is a guy who knows how to use a cleaver, and when you stop knowing how to use it, all those things you have acquired will be held up by nothing, and will collapse into the nothing you have become.
I’m a hack, and my methods are hackish:
- I don’t have website because nobody knows me or cares
- I use PHP because indian programmers know PHP and they are cheap
- I don’t spend money on design, because a lot of customers don’t care about subtle shadows
- I don’t attend conferences because the amount I spend on them is always less than the benefit
- I only do marketing I can measure. If I cannot measure it, I don’t do it
- I don’t change working things
- I stay 2-3 years behind the trend. After the early adopters have left, there is this gap that can be filled by people who are willing to learn from the failures of the early adopters
- I don’t invent shit. Look at what is invented already and make it a bit easier to use
- I like romanian programmers for web work & design and russian programmers for algorithmical work
- I write all services I need, begging them for a discount because I cannot afford what they have
- I use the free version of dropbox and just keep deleting files to keep it under 3GB
- If code works, it is released
- If there is a bug that happens in 5% of the cases, and the users are unlikely to publicly complain, then release
- If there is some flickering or flashing or otherwise unsightly thing in the code, release anyways
- Test cheap. Release a really crappy version to see what the response is. No response, abandon. Complaints, improve
- I don’t know shit about this stuff. I email people and ask them how they do it. They tell me. I implement
I sure as hell would not quit my job to start a company.
If you're interested in technology & startups, then follow me on my low volume twitter account
Nice post. For me it’s about using forums/tutorials/walkthroughs more than buying books
^^^ Hey Oliver, I’m the guy you emailed. What a coincidence. Pretty much everything I learned about the internet and its technology was through forums/tutorials too. It’s like a searchable book.My methods used to be pretty hackish too. You’d probably shit yourself if you saw the source code to my earlier works.Inventing new things is overrated!
I like this. And I hate it when people list themselves as an entrepreneur. It’s like saying I eat food.
Good post, I tend to agree…no need to get all lofty about it. Just start building stuff and figure it out as you go.Btw, what is your business? I didn’t see anything on the about page etc. Thanks!Brian
(a) you can’t spell… it’s entrepreneur, not ENTERPRENEUR. Get a free spell checker at http://www.openoffice.org, and (b) dropbox charges for the first byte over 2GB, not 3GB.;-) Great article.
Oh yeah.. I make $141,000 per month on the web doing exactly the opposite of what you do. I quit my job in 2000.
***I make about $12k a month, which is not very much in the global scale of things, but it’s fine.***Fine? Not much? In the global scale of things you make more a year than the vast majority of people on the globe.
Nice one Max. $12k sounds pretty sweet to me. And you’re from Golders Green! If you are ever south of the river, we should meet up over a pint.
You have identified the optimal starting criteria. But how do you move forward Max? Great post, I’m still not anywhere near 12k/month (or a complaining customer). Solid early prioritization.
(a) waldo the commenter sounds like a douche, (b) good write up, I enjoyed the read. Don’t agree with everything, but I love the down to earth nature you’re endorsing. We could def use more of that and fewer of the waldo pompous schmucks.Cheers
you make huge for the likes of us..a dn you are an inspiration….
Although I get your argument about people who call themselves entrepreneurs, I really can’t stand people who call themselves “average”. Why would anybody put up with just being average? There’s so much great stuff that can still happen because of you, and you’re just limiting yourself with your own little screwed up “I’m just a butcher” logic. That doesn’t just hurt society or the world at large for that matter, it hurts my brain.
You make $12k/mo and you still have a job? Where in the hell do you live that $12k/mo isn’t enough to live comfortably on? You’re probably making more money than that per month for your employer and not seeing but a tiny fraction of a fraction of it, almost all of the value you create being swallowed by the structure of the company itself. That’s tremendously wasteful, I’d get out if you can.
Great Article, Changed my view on new technology and trends.
ok, but just dont forget that someone still has to invent and take risks for that you can benefit from what was established. and what would the world be without nonfunctional (impractical) things – somewhat poorer, culturally.
i liked how your post started but i have a few issues on the last few points you’ve made. striving for excellence (in code or wherever) makes for a better product, a stronger society and a rich culture. and while ur philosophy of not inventing might work for u individually, it doesn’t work for a people on the whole. so i don’t really see you making any contributions to the world technologically. not that it makes u a bad person, it just makes u ignorant and proud of it.
@Alpana, @frevd I wish I were a hero, but I’m not. I’m really just an average guy. I will always support innovation, but I’m not good enough to be an innovator myself. @otakucode I love my job. I get to spend time working on really expensive equipment I could not afford myself. @Robert I tried being exceptional, and it didn’t work out. I’m happy being average, reading tabloids, watching trash TV. Being all intellectual and trying to gain enough knowledge to be part of a crowd I don’t like made me unhappy. @Mark Essel I don’t know how to move forward. Each step is just a tiny optimisation on top of the last step. There is no real plan.@Hrishi Mittal Always ready for a London meetup, just drop me an email!
Great comments… more time working, less time “tweeting”, makes you money. Three simple rules in business and if applied to the “T” they work… “Give People what They Want, Make Money, Repeat”… I find it interesting that all the really successful people in life, even today, do not have facebook pages, twitter accounts or “home pages”… they have companies, employees, bank accounts and an office to go to, think about it!!
I find it pathetic you are taking pride in how shitty your work is.
what exactly is it that you do….making 12K a month??
Good write. I enjoyed it. There are a lot of companies that don’t invent but make a product better. There’s nothing wrong with that. Commenters, especially Alpana, calling the author ignorant for not inventing is clueless. Making a product better is just as beneficial and is an innovation in itself. Most people aren’t creative enough to be inventors, in fact most businesses are making one product or another better than what was meant by these product’s original inventor. There’s nothing wrong with making something better or putting a different spin on it.
Max, It was a nice read. People will have so many things to say. It does not matter, does it?
You think of yourself as a one big shot? yeah u r right.
You make 12$ a month by delegating work to cheap countries… I know thats globalism and capitalism and so on… but shame on you!
How many products do you posses, which are manufactured somewhere cheap?