If you’re a developer reading this blog, you likely have an idea (or a dozen) for something you can create, using your skills, that could be an extra source of income for you. Maybe you even dream of replacing or exceeding your current income entirely.
Now as soon as you read that, if you’re like I have been in the past, your brain probably flooded with 1) one or more of your ideas and then immediately was followed up by 2) reasons why your ideas won’t work.
So we all have ideas. And we have reasons we think they won’t work, that nobody would pay us for “that”. To be fair those reasons are usually nothing of the sort. They are more than likely excuses. Ah excuses for not doing something with your ideas. The list can be long.
Excuses We All Make
So you’re great at making code, cranking out the methods and functions. Something else you’re likely great at cranking out is reasons why NOT to try your own idea. I can relate. I really can. Heck I’m actively WORKING on my idea and I still battle things from the following list.
- I’m not smart enough.
- Nobody knows me.
- I’m not an expert.
- I need more ideas/better ideas/a unique idea.
- It takes too much of my time to work “extra” on this idea.
- I don’t want to risk my money.
- It’s too late (in life, in my career, or all the good ideas are done)
Nathan Barry in his book Authority, mentions the follows reasons people give for not moving forward on a project.
“What is your biggest obstacle keeping you from writing a book? The answers came pouring in: “discipline,” “time,” “self-confidence,” “an audience,” “insecurity,” “fear of not making sales,” and “not enough time.”
So while Nathan was talking about writing a book as a product, the same reasons can ring true with creating a software product as well.
And maybe you have more things you can add to these lists.
There are a LOT of excuses you can make for not “making your shiny thing”. But far fewer reasons. One reason that might come to mind is perhaps you have no internet or computer (in which case you’re awesome for being able to read this blog post and should consider joining the X-Men)
Stop the Excuses, Start the Work
I’m outing myself here in that I’ve put off making, what my friends have told me, is a great idea for years. Yeah you heard me.
Years.
My wife has told me to pursue this, my developer friends have told me to pursue this, other IT folks (which would be my potential customers) have told me, “yes Rob this is a good idea, you should make this”.
But I’ve only recently begun. Why? See above list of reasons. I’m mostly normal, just like you dear reader.
So now, I’m feverishly working on the product I will release and loving every line of code I write. What changed?
Let’s start with what didn’t change.
- The complexity did not change.
- The goal did not change.
- The desire did not increase (which would have be a change)
- I didn’t get outside help.
- I didn’t come into any money to hire folks either.
- My days didn’t turn into 48 hours, I still get 24 just like everybody else.
So what did change?
- I stopped Collecting Underpants. You’ll have to just click on that link to read the article over at Nerd Fitness. I’ll wait.
- I gave myself a challenge, created a mantra for self-accountability, and I’m putting myself out there as of this blog post.
Basically I just determined that enough is enough. I have to try this. I had to have my “F#*! This” moment which changes everything. To sum it up and be honest, I was just tired of “not trying” my idea.
What do I have to lose? TV time?
So let’s be all business-ey for a minute. What’s my ROI on TV time? Zip. What’s my ROI on this software product? At the very least, I will learn a lot.
Done.
I can catch up on Gotham on Netflix in April.
The Mantra
“Make anything, except excuses”
Sure that sounds trite. But I was writing back and forth with Noah Kagan from AppSumo some time ago (oops I dropped that name there) and was asking him about how to stay moving on an idea. How to just not lose steam. His reply?
“Do small %$#! everyday”
The “make anything, except excuses” mantra is the expression of that for me. It’s on my whiteboard next to my desk at home.
- If I write 3 lines of code, then I’ve moved the ball forward that day.
- If I update my Trello board for my project with the Very Next Thing I need to work on, then I’ve made progress.
- If I find a framework that might help me do something with my project, then at least that’s something.
But each day, I do something for my project. I don’t make excuses. I make something.
The Challenge
So here is me, Putting It All Out There
In challenging myself with this blog post, if you’re reading along here, I’m challenging you too. My challenge is that I will write weekly this year about my project, what I’m doing, what I’m learning, what’s working, what’s not, etc.
I’m going to do it as out-in-the-open as I can.
My deadline is April 4th, 2016 to be out there and doing business with this project. I think I can beat that date but after “Breaking it down into component parts” and “Working backwards” like my friends over at Unicornfree say in their awesome product JFS, that’s the date I have worked out.
In the spirit of doing this all out in the open though, I could be off on that date – I don’t know. Time will tell and I’ll document it all here.
In the next post, I’ll write about what I’m building and share the landing page for it.
Well crud, now I gotta go build a landing page huh? 🙂 I’m off!
Last Thought
What are you building? If you’re not building yet, why not? What’s the hold up?
You can write me in the comments or at robhorton@outlook.com
All the best!