Today was okay.
Mar. 16th, 2004 03:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swestrupI have been afraid to post much today, since the day has actually gone quite well. Not that I did much of anything today though.
I slept in until 3:00 pm because I didn't really fall asleep till something like 7:00 am. I got up, read my LJ, comics and e-mail. Then I had a shower, checked out slashdot and cooked![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taxlady and I some 'breakfast' with lotso-extra-double-bacon (okay, technically only 5/3 extra bacon) because we were both in that sort of mood.
Then I pulled the last working CD reader out of the firewall machine in prep for getting my wife's machine up and running. The firewall still works, as evidenced by the fact that I can post this. I was getting ready to put it into my wife's machine when she told me not to bother. She's decided that there is a reasonable business case for buying hersefl a new fast burner. (At the rate she charges for her time it will have paid for itself in saved time after she's burned only 8 CD's).
So, since I had some time on my hands, and the wife wanted to do LJ and read her email and stuff, I took down the christmas tree and ornaments and packed them all away. (Yeah, I know its taken forever to get around to, but it looked festive and I've had stuff on my mind that seemed much more important at the time.)
So now the plan for tomorow is thattaxlady will go and buy a new CD burner and I'll install it for her. Then I'll haul her machine downstairs into her office and then put together the server using the CD drive from the firewall and haul it upstairs to my office. Providing nothing else goes wrong, the upgrade hassle will be finished with tomorrow, and we can both try to get back to some kind of routine.
My part of the routine will be to get a business started, and see if I can't make some money. I've been going though this sort of backwards bootstrap descent, which I hope to someday climb out the other side of. Hmm. That last sentence is none to clear. Let me put it this way:
1) NWO Project -- Next generation replacement for the Web, with secure mobile code, semantic systems, collaborative filtering, first class users, roaming connections, structural representation and re-presentation, anonymity, encryption, tracking, e-contracts, legal warrants, microcash and incremental global upgrades.
Requires: $20M and roughly 300 man-years work. Generates: Revenue projections are in the billions to trillions.
2) Pooq Projects -- Pooq is a High tech multidisciplinary think tank that can actually design and implement the project above. Pooq also has designs for at least a dozen sub-projects of the NWO project that could be profitable as stand-alone implementations.
Requires: (min) 8 man-years work, 1 year time and up to $1M. Generates: $1M to $50M
3) Pooq -- Pooq can also hire itself out for consultancy work.
Requires: Investors. That or $15K - $20K to find them. Generates: $500K - 1M per year, if we can find the work.
4) Portal Project -- Specific opportunity for a vertically integrated merchant agglomeration service that has been identified for the montreal area.
Requires: $2K - $5K and 4 or 5 months work. Generates: $50K - $500K per year.
5) Paper Doll Project -- Low overhead high return idea to generate enough income to live off of while setting up idea #4.
Requires: A domain, a server, a good artist and 2-3 months coding time. Generates: $0 to $100K per year.
6) Geek Hazards -- Very low overhead idea to keep me alive while implementing project #5.
Requires: A domain, a server, $300-$500 in artwork. Generates: $0 to $30K per year.
I started out trying to get project #1 off of the ground, because it is desperately needed by society and because it has the greatest potential, but the problem is that the idea just doesn't seem to fit in most folks heads. Thus, Pooq may have to generate the start-up money itself.
Well, idea #2 could potentially produce enough income to do that, but it needs investors as well, and although I've had nibbles at some of the ideas in that group, no ones bitten yet.
One way to fund the ideas in project #2 was if Pooq were to get a reputation and a few major consultancy contracts under its belt. I'm confident enough of our abilities that should be get just one customer I think word of us will spread. So far getting that first customer has been difficult. Thus, I came up with idea #4 to survive while doing things like builidng a new version of the Pooq website.
Idea #4 is a great idea and has the advantage that once running it has almost no overhead or maintenance, but growing the system is labor intensive and requires skill sets that I'm having trouble finding. There are also certain technical difficulties that are hard to solve in a sufficiently economic fashion. Still I'm actively working on this.
Idea #5 is essentially a far simpler project than #4 in than it would be entirely web-based and have no component involved with local manufacturers. It also has a smaller profit margin and may require $3000 - $6000 in artist fees if I cannot find an artist willing to do it in exchange for advertising and/or a percentage of the take.
Finally idea #6 is the most simple idea yet. It has virtually no overhead or expenses and has only moderate artwork and web design work. So moderate, in fact, that I can produce a prototype myself and it would probably only cost around $500 in fees to get it spiffed up if the prototype isn't polished enough. I'll be working on this idea the hardest for now, and should have a prototype of the website working by the end of next week.
So, I've been striving for simplicty, low starting costs and immediacy as I've been inventing these business ideas. With any luck at all, I'll be able to segue from 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 as time goes by. That could easily take as much as 10 years or as few as 3, depending on a great many things.
Anyway, the important thing is that I currently have a plan that I think will keep me alive while working on other plans, so I'm going to go with it. We'll see where it takes us. I'm starting to realize that I'm sufficiently resourceful when pushed that I may yet come up with another bunch of ideas to run in parallel with these. That way no one failure will be my doom.
So, on that note I'm heading off to bed. I'm not even feeling too stressed so I expect to sleep. How nice it is to have a day without a crisis for a change.
I slept in until 3:00 pm because I didn't really fall asleep till something like 7:00 am. I got up, read my LJ, comics and e-mail. Then I had a shower, checked out slashdot and cooked
taxlady and I some 'breakfast' with lotso-extra-double-bacon (okay, technically only 5/3 extra bacon) because we were both in that sort of mood.Then I pulled the last working CD reader out of the firewall machine in prep for getting my wife's machine up and running. The firewall still works, as evidenced by the fact that I can post this. I was getting ready to put it into my wife's machine when she told me not to bother. She's decided that there is a reasonable business case for buying hersefl a new fast burner. (At the rate she charges for her time it will have paid for itself in saved time after she's burned only 8 CD's).
So, since I had some time on my hands, and the wife wanted to do LJ and read her email and stuff, I took down the christmas tree and ornaments and packed them all away. (Yeah, I know its taken forever to get around to, but it looked festive and I've had stuff on my mind that seemed much more important at the time.)
So now the plan for tomorow is that
taxlady will go and buy a new CD burner and I'll install it for her. Then I'll haul her machine downstairs into her office and then put together the server using the CD drive from the firewall and haul it upstairs to my office. Providing nothing else goes wrong, the upgrade hassle will be finished with tomorrow, and we can both try to get back to some kind of routine.My part of the routine will be to get a business started, and see if I can't make some money. I've been going though this sort of backwards bootstrap descent, which I hope to someday climb out the other side of. Hmm. That last sentence is none to clear. Let me put it this way:
1) NWO Project -- Next generation replacement for the Web, with secure mobile code, semantic systems, collaborative filtering, first class users, roaming connections, structural representation and re-presentation, anonymity, encryption, tracking, e-contracts, legal warrants, microcash and incremental global upgrades.
Requires: $20M and roughly 300 man-years work. Generates: Revenue projections are in the billions to trillions.
2) Pooq Projects -- Pooq is a High tech multidisciplinary think tank that can actually design and implement the project above. Pooq also has designs for at least a dozen sub-projects of the NWO project that could be profitable as stand-alone implementations.
Requires: (min) 8 man-years work, 1 year time and up to $1M. Generates: $1M to $50M
3) Pooq -- Pooq can also hire itself out for consultancy work.
Requires: Investors. That or $15K - $20K to find them. Generates: $500K - 1M per year, if we can find the work.
4) Portal Project -- Specific opportunity for a vertically integrated merchant agglomeration service that has been identified for the montreal area.
Requires: $2K - $5K and 4 or 5 months work. Generates: $50K - $500K per year.
5) Paper Doll Project -- Low overhead high return idea to generate enough income to live off of while setting up idea #4.
Requires: A domain, a server, a good artist and 2-3 months coding time. Generates: $0 to $100K per year.
6) Geek Hazards -- Very low overhead idea to keep me alive while implementing project #5.
Requires: A domain, a server, $300-$500 in artwork. Generates: $0 to $30K per year.
I started out trying to get project #1 off of the ground, because it is desperately needed by society and because it has the greatest potential, but the problem is that the idea just doesn't seem to fit in most folks heads. Thus, Pooq may have to generate the start-up money itself.
Well, idea #2 could potentially produce enough income to do that, but it needs investors as well, and although I've had nibbles at some of the ideas in that group, no ones bitten yet.
One way to fund the ideas in project #2 was if Pooq were to get a reputation and a few major consultancy contracts under its belt. I'm confident enough of our abilities that should be get just one customer I think word of us will spread. So far getting that first customer has been difficult. Thus, I came up with idea #4 to survive while doing things like builidng a new version of the Pooq website.
Idea #4 is a great idea and has the advantage that once running it has almost no overhead or maintenance, but growing the system is labor intensive and requires skill sets that I'm having trouble finding. There are also certain technical difficulties that are hard to solve in a sufficiently economic fashion. Still I'm actively working on this.
Idea #5 is essentially a far simpler project than #4 in than it would be entirely web-based and have no component involved with local manufacturers. It also has a smaller profit margin and may require $3000 - $6000 in artist fees if I cannot find an artist willing to do it in exchange for advertising and/or a percentage of the take.
Finally idea #6 is the most simple idea yet. It has virtually no overhead or expenses and has only moderate artwork and web design work. So moderate, in fact, that I can produce a prototype myself and it would probably only cost around $500 in fees to get it spiffed up if the prototype isn't polished enough. I'll be working on this idea the hardest for now, and should have a prototype of the website working by the end of next week.
So, I've been striving for simplicty, low starting costs and immediacy as I've been inventing these business ideas. With any luck at all, I'll be able to segue from 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 as time goes by. That could easily take as much as 10 years or as few as 3, depending on a great many things.
Anyway, the important thing is that I currently have a plan that I think will keep me alive while working on other plans, so I'm going to go with it. We'll see where it takes us. I'm starting to realize that I'm sufficiently resourceful when pushed that I may yet come up with another bunch of ideas to run in parallel with these. That way no one failure will be my doom.
So, on that note I'm heading off to bed. I'm not even feeling too stressed so I expect to sleep. How nice it is to have a day without a crisis for a change.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-16 01:25 pm (UTC)And POOQ doesn't really stand for anything. Its just an easy-to-say short name and pooq.com wasn't taken. There aren't many 4-letter left that you can pronounce. If someone NEEDS an acronym we say its "Programamation Objet Oriente du Quebec" (Only spelled right) but thats mainly so the language police can't say we're not allowed to use it...