[Jounrey] Comp Service Company

Hello BHW,

I have been a member of this website for a couple of months now and I am amazed. So many stories of people taking action and becoming successful. The community is truly helpful and I'm glad to be apart of it.

This journey will entail the portions of my digital services business, starting with App creation. I will be starting with no money and using nothing but brains and my mouth I will be generating clients and getting apps created. Apps are only one department of my digital services business and I will be using other methods to make money as well. I am also a full time student taking 20 hours at university, my time is very limited but I will be staying up late and waking up early to achieve my goals. My goal for this journey is to generate enough cash and cash flows that I can move out of my parents home. I also hope to inspire other young entrepreneurs to take action and make big moves.

Day 1: 2:13AM
I have already spoken to people about my app creation business. I'm not surprised that many people want Apps done and I have accepted the challenge to get apps done for a couple of friends. I know a little about android programming but I don't think that I can learn enough to get these apps done quickly. I will be relying on freelancing websites and forums like BHW to find app coders.

I am drawing up project outlines so that I can get quotes from developers quickly.
Day1: 4:56AM

Finished Project outline and created a NDA for anyone that I work with. Got some good downloads from BHW tonight for other portions of my business. I'm sending the NDA to my first potential freelancer and calling it a night. I'll be back at it tomorrow with action lists.

-Day 1 : 6:23 AM

Thought I would get to sleep, but right before it a pm about affiliate success came from skype. Talked with the guy for a while and we exchanged methods. Right after that I delivered the NDA to the first contractor. Still haven't gotten an action list up. Gotta sleep though. List when I get up.

Day 1: 8:31 PM

Woke up early today but I did not get to work until around midday.

I showed my project details to a few freelancers, still need to find some more and draw up a few more project details
I also started going through local businesses in my town for Website Redesign and Mobile Site design. I plan on specializing in Mobile Website & App design.

Here is my Action List it has 2 sections speed cash and long term jobs.

Speed
Doing local searches for businesses that need website redesign. I am using a certain method to find those that REALLY need redesign. If they have a decent site then I check the site on my phone for mobile optimization so I can offer that instead. I want to have anywhere from 150-200 before I divide and conquer. This is to earn a quick profit. I'm thinking of buying a hosting re-seller account to offer hosting to them as well.

I'm going to post some affiliate products to craigslist using a BHW method and maybe create a quick landing page for them that I can direct traffic to.
I'm going to resell some Fiverr gigs on other random websites.
I'm going to apply for some scholarships. Hopefully 5 different ones per week. I want to turn this into a system because good grades = cash kiddos.


Long Term
I still have 4 App projects to draw up details for. I am writing up detailed overviews and also planning on getting some wireframe mock up creators. IF you have any good wire frame creators for Apps please let me know.

I need to work on 2 Apps for school so I have to keep playing with those. One is for a campus map the other is for a real estate searching algorithm I developed.

I need to finish designing 1 website for a supplement business, 1 other one for my home inventory business and 1 for my digital services business. I've been designing them in wordpress bit by bit. I also have a good idea for a video website so I want to wireframe that out.

I need to post jobs on all major freelance websites so that I can get more proposals for my app projects. If you have WebApp or Native App design skills let me know.

As you can see I have a full list to attack and also school in the morning.

Sidenote: I have not made my first $$$ online yet, so this journey will entail that as well.

Best,
Vas

Hey guys,

An update on the journey.

Interesting the way life works. Ever since I have declared the 2 main sides of my business everything has been working in this direction. I have come across the multiple people interested in getting big time apps done. I've been getting in contact with top developers and wrote up one more project detail for my apps. All of this while reading more about the mobile website business.

I still have to finish some project details and solidify my relationship with these top end coders. Big projects are in the works so I need a solid business plan and model that I can execute like a machine. I'm also realizing that as a CEO of your own company you have to do EVERYTHING, help and time are both at a premium so I'm trying to cut down on laziness anyway that I can. Homework also still needs to get down. The ball is rolling and its a balancing act staying on top but I continue to take action.

Thanks for reading more solid updates on the way.

Good luck on your journey, it is an interesting one compared to alot of others, due to the fact you are promoting apps or mobile redesigns for sites. Where do you source trustworthy developers from, may I ask?

Good luck!

Thanks for reading. I have checked all the major freelancing sites ( Elance, Guru etc ) and may still use them for smaller jobs (7k and under). But for the major jobs I have decided to use TopTal since they do extensive testing and pre-qualify their developers. I tried Odesk but they seemed unnecessarily high.

2/5/2013 11:22 am

An update on my progress. I currently have 2 major Jobs and 1 minor job. I'm meeting with the design engineer in an hour to discuss what kind of developers I need. I have also written up a project detail for 2 of them, but I have not done any wire frames which will be useful and important for the developers. I am looking for a good free wire frame creator ( please pm if you know of any ).

I also have a meeting with a potential client tomorrow morning before I head out to a CS conference in VA to present a genetic algorithm. I should have a portfolio from the toptal guys to show by then.

Thanks for reading guys. I think writing this journey will help me stay organized since I'm doing a lot of things at one time. Hopefully I grow some inches for working so hard lol.

2/14/13

Happy Valentines day. Couple of girls want me, but I'm strapped for time. Plus my car is in the shop...

Either way.

I have divided my business into 3 parts: Mobile Web Design & Marketing Solutions, Application Design and Paperless Systems & Digital Services.

Everything I do (school or not) gets labeled under either Mobile or APP legs. I view Digital Services as more of a tail. In the DS I plan on simply reselling Fiverr Gigs that local companies may be able to use such as logo, flyer design etc.

Update on the Mobi Leg:
I have gotten all the information to set up my marketing materials. Now I only have to create a prospectus for customers and have a detailed list of services and prices. I made my first pitch while in Arlington for the Tapia conference I didn't have it down and missed a few points but it was good to pop that cherry. The second pitch I made in my home town and the guy seemed interested. Gotta get everything ready before I go back to him.
The main solutions offered are mobile websites, txt marketing, and google+ listing. ( more options offered for up sells.

Application development:

So I have drawn up the app details for 2 out of the 3 App projects. I have half way to go on the 3rd one. For the first one I am starting to draw up wireframes to send to our developers using a free wireframing tool. I have been given 2 developers to choose from so everything is moving.

For the second app I have sent emails to other developers who have created similar apps and I am waiting for their responses. I have a system of drawing up details then submitting them to the client and then after their satisfaction then I begin the process of getting developers and drawing wire frames.

-I'm still developing my apps for school, and one of my teachers wants me to start working on another one for a science initiative so more work for me i guess. I also want to make some quick prototypes of paperless systems.

Still need to do a bunch of web - redesign to get some quick bucks. As well as set up a fiverr reselling website. Kinda broke right now so I need to prioritize this stuff.

I have been trying to cut down on time wasting because I have so much stuff to do. Slowly getting better. I may need to be more specific in my time management.

Thats it for now. Thanks for reading.

Wow. Been a while since I've written.

I have been pushing the business pretty hard. Just saying I'm running my own business all the time basically. People ask what it is I tell them what I've been telling you folks for weeks. I'm also moving way to slow on the wireframes and app projects. It's like wading through mud... Stepping on the gas anyway.

--NOTED: I think i'm moving slow because I have homework to do. Gotta do more homework for sure. Cannot even let the grades slip and run the business. 20 hrs = Go hard or Go home.

What I've done:

Apps
Drawn a few more frames for project 1. Basically finished the detail for project 2. No updates on 3. Spoke with the developer for app 1 and he is waiting for the frames so he can give me a good time outlook for the client. If that all works out, we start the project.
Talked to client 2, he is waiting for the detail and frames which will have to be worked out with him.
Client 3 is waiting for a developer.

Mebsites
I've walk in presented to 2 random businesses and both were "interested" and took down my information. At that point in time the presentation was not legit though. Designed one site for a potential client, before I met with him. Went to the restaurant 2x and could not meet with the guy unprofessional on my part since he did tell me the time. The spot was nice though. I made an Ipad presentation to show this guy what services we could offer to his spot.

I answered an add for craigslist and some potential clients want mobile websites that stream videos and about security( PM me if you know about mobile website security or Streaming Video on mobile ). I only took pictures of a demo site and sent them to the guys. I went and sat down with them and asked them for a week for an outline.

Services
I've been procrastinating on finding Fiverr gigs to resell AND on emailing websites for redesign, but I have thought about the ones I really want. Just to get some quick cash, spring break is in a week and I'm sick of being broke. As I was applying for internships I accidentally applied for a non paid position. It was for social media management. I gave her my price and she offered back less than 50% of the original price and I said maybe then proceeded to check out what she was looking for. (Linked in for business listing pst me if you do this) I told her to give me a week to draw up a custom outline.

What I need to do:
-A bunch of homework, time limit: 2 days.
-Finish the first set of frames, 1 day.
-Finish the detail (app 2), 1 day.
-Find developer ( app 3 ), 3 days.
*edit, forgot these*
Send out emails for website redesign
Find 5 fiverr gigs to resell offline
Make my company website
Set up doing business as at the bank so people can WRITE CHECKS.


-Outline project for Streaming Mebsites: 4 days left.
-Outline Social Media project: 5 days left.

I also just got into another personal offline venture, pm me if you drink a lot of energy drinks OR if you have a market for energy drinks.

--Apply for a couple of scholarships
--Apply for 3 more internships.

I think that is it...

PM if you have skills I may be able to use.

-VAS

Ok, made some good progress.I

I think I wasn't doing homework because I didn't really understand the concepts. I got some extra help from the teacher today and I feel much better about the material. Homework getting done tonight for sure.

APPS:
I finished the app detail for project 2 and sent it out. I also finished 2 more frames for App 1 and I don't have that many more to go. I still need to get looking for a developer for app 3.

Mebsite:
I still haven't met with this potential client. Slow and steady wins the race though in the mean time I have been picturing every website I see with a mobile design. I'm going to start creating mock ups for each one and emailing the companies, but I want to have a good hook before I send a random email. I am also training a padawan in the business hopefully he becomes powerful one day...

I have talked to some people about security but still no luck on streaming for mobile sites. Youtube may be one of my top options.

Services:
I have gotten in touch with potential contractors for my services offerings. A graphic design artist, a Social Media Marketer, a WP designer and security expert. The team is slowly building. I have to do more research so that I can get proper information to my clients about what needs to be done and a general time on how long it will take.

--I'm trying to start keeping in contact with more people now. Gotta keep a tight network.

All in all I think this JOURNEY will be more about building something that has a gravitational pull to it. "Build it and they will come" said the wise man.

Back again.

So in starting this business I have kinda become obsessive. I check every website now on my phone now to see if the company has a mobile website and if not they are a potential client.

I have also expanded my digital service offerings to include PR since I had a guy with a lot of connections.

So. I responded to a few craigslist ads and a lawyer called me in for a blog consultation ( its not mobile but what ever ) I gave him a professional meeting and we discussed his needs but he ended up going with a partners cousin. *Shakes fist* I also recently applied for a couple of internships. I got a response from someone and we spoke and she was looking for a *non profit* intern. After more correspondence she offered me good money to do her SMM on linkedIn, but she hit me with a price WAY below my minimum quote. I actually refused it. BAD IDEA and lesson learnt. Always make the business profitable as soon as possible kids. Either way I spoke to a guy who had people that handled SMM for super cheap so I hit the lady back up she says she may consider .

I also got a TINY contract with a non profit for web redesign. Its for fun and practice really.

I submitted the wireframes to my developer and the partners and basically they both want milestones and then to get started.
The app #3 is ready for development so I am going to start looking for developers for that tonight after I write a 3 page essay.

I still haven't gotten to do the first pitch for Mebsites, but I have been mentioning to everyone that I do websites. Today I did while I was getting a haircut and 2 of the guys in there exchanged numbers with me. I told them both we would speak next week.

-I think one of the biggest things bothering me was not having ALL the stuff I wanted to offer priced and ready. I made the website with all my products/services and it has definitely made it clearer for me so I can be more professional when I approach people. Nobody really cares about your portfolio and everything if you come by, make it professional and act like an expert. Which you are since you read BHW and they don't. My next step is writing a complete business plan so that I can get everything out of my head and onto paper. After that I'm going to use the web redesign method to make some quick money.

School is getting better I did a bunch of homework but I still have more to do. I have been trying a new system where I finish a section whatever I start before I move onto something else.

Thanks for reading.

lol i like this tread keep it coming

I'm not gone. Just been juggling things for a while. I've made minor progress on the business but I have learned that I gotta work smarter and not harder. Working hard just keeps me up all night and keeps me out of the gym ( which drives me crazy btw ).

On a good note I take my last finals tomorrow so i'll be in full business mode.

More updates on tuesday!

Thanks for reading.

Thanks a lot, knowing that people are reading keeps me motivated.

Start Time: 7:30 AM
Business day #1 (New start to recording the days/times)

Ugh. Still no generated income......... and the Knicks lost closeout game #2

Money likes speed. I have a procrastination problem and I know i'm not the only one. Combined with school and everything I just wasn't moving fast enough. Get a job? Start on it that day. THATS IT. I got chase this money down like it stole something from me. But freedom not money is my motivation.

I've been talking to my dad about the business and he thinks that I'm to all over the place. Which if I go back and read the journal I can see. I'm pretty sure I'm ADD in some way shape or form. He recommended I write a business plan to focus all my efforts and i'm doing that this morning.

I got an internship in California and living out there is expensive so I'm setting some cash goals for this month. Oh yea and I'm going to scrap my car.

To keep my hustle and motivation up I will try to write this journal at least 3x per week.

Monthly Goals:

Minimum Goal: $1500
Good Goal: $5000
Big Hairy Audacious Goal:$10000

Current money in bank account: $12

Goals for today:
Finish my business plan
Send out web-redesign emails using the "made with yahoo web-builder" method x20-30
Send out Mobile Website emails to specific niches x20-30
Finish my portfolio on WordPress

To anyone that has been reading this journal consider this a shower and fresh start for me and my business.

Stay tuned,
Vas

Hi, great journey and really inspiring. I agree with your Dad when he said you're a little too "all over the place." A lot of your methods are solid, but seems like you are trying too many at once. Good Luck to you!

Update: (that wasn't 3x per week...)

I did a bit more reading and saw a thread where someone was selling mobile apps for 1k. The apps and mobile website are very similar, both in what they offer to my clients and in what those clients customers can use.

The guy was using his facebook to find clients to offer a mobile too. I sent out 30x redesign emails thursday and 20 mobile facebook messages on friday. I followed up by phone for about 10/30 redesigns and I have gotten 3 replies from the facebook messages. Time to lock clients up.

Also: More Wireframes for more apps.

Wow.

Been a while aye?

I didn't want to update to much with no money flowing in. That is the problem though, starting the business is more about just cashing in and out clients, even though that is all it is. Its about understanding the needs of the clients. Its about making money with new friends in new ways. Its about being resourceful enough to delivery quality services and products quickly without breaking the budget, even when its zero.

I've got some things in the works. Updates soon.

Wow.

Been a while aye?

I didn't want to update to much with no money flowing in. That is the problem though, starting the business is more about just cashing in and out clients, even though that is all it is. Its about understanding the needs of the clients. Its about making money with new friends in new ways. Its about being resourceful enough to delivery quality services and products quickly without breaking the budget, even when its zero.

I've got some things in the works. Updates soon.

Update: The Mire

So since the last major update I have changed cities. I have an internship in LA so I found housing and moved out there.

Things done:
-Printed x250 Business cards
-Created a solid useable website for the business.
-Selected a solid web 2.0 Creator to use consistently
-Selected project management tools
-Found Invoicing tools

One of the app projects dropped. Maybe for good, maybe not.

The nutrition project is still going. I'm redoing the prototype with nicer colors and logos for presentation.

I showed an app mockup to my roommate ( entertainer ) and she liked the idea and wants one. So I'm using some cloud based services to create one for her to release for her fans.

I told a guy with a 69 Camaro I did websites and showed him a mockup. He liked it and we decided to do business. I dropped the price of $800 on him last night and he said cool. Today I will close the deal and get him started

When I got to LA I started talking to the people around me about my business and what I do. I went to some of the local restaurants with mobile site samples. One guy said he had work to start in a month so I gave him my card and ate a meal.

I also ran into 2 guys in a certain Niche who wanted pro bono work. I didn't really want to but I took the job anyway. I made them a website, mobile site, G+, FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. I still have to do some organic marketing for the business so they can get calls though.

All that is actual work with pay at the end of it. I have a couple other app ideas people have given me and want prototypes for. I'll get to those sooner than later

Lesson: First do your research on what you want to do. Then say you do it. Then build a portfolio for your own confidence. Then look for and find clients.

On to the work!

All right!

I talked the niche guys into paying money to get ranked. They agreed and I just hired my first outsourced local seo guy. Hoping to see good results and work with him on the future.


I'm drawing up Affiliate Agent Papers for my company as well so my friends and family can get me work.

Loaded Work:

Camaro Site: Site finished and ready to be moved to CMS for client 800 + 150/year hosting

Nutrition APP: wireframes deleted accidentally Redoing prototype this weekend (20k /license ?? Not sure on pricing yet)

Entertainer APP: Basics Setup, Still need to finish a few sections. ( 3k + 150/m hosting )

Still need a system for selling mobile sites.
Creating one now.

Through this journey I have learned that being organized is so important in business. It's almost like a base you can refer to in your head when negotiating with clients. I'm not done but i'm getting closer to complete organization

Thanks for reading!