SmallBizGyrl

This is YOUR life...

2011-07-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

A visual reminder of what's important in life - the Holstee Manifesto. Buy it here, if you like.

Follow: Top Management and Leadership Blogs

2011-07-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

As an avid reader, I'm always looking for quality material that's interesting, informative and relevant.

On Rajesh Setty's site I found a post on the Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs that was originally created by Jurgen Appelo. While I'm familiar with the many of the names on the list, there were a number that were new to me.

I love the way the world is connected online. I love discovering and learning new things. And I love, love reading.

The next time you have a few minutes to spare, or are looking for inspiration, check out the list. Maybe you'll discover a few treasures to add to your reading list or Twitter feed.

Build-A-Business Contest 2011

2011-07-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Lifestyle blogger Tim Ferriss is again teaming up with Shopify (along with Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk) for a new, and improved Build-A-Business contest for 2011:

The Shopify Build-a-Business competition is back, bigger and better than ever. There are more than $500,000 in prizes, including:
$100,000 Grand Prize
VIP trip for two to New York City, where Seth Godin will cook you dinner
One-hour power session with Gary Vaynerchuk
VIP trip to San Francisco, where you’ll visit the Googleplex and have dinner (and wine, of course) with yours truly at one of my favorite restaurants in the world…
This time, it’s also international!

The contest runs until December 31st, 2011; you can sign up any time as long as you're selling on Shopify for at least 2 months.
Check out the details here, and get going! Now is the time to make your dreams come true.

Oh the drama: MonoTouch and Mono Android developers left high and dry

2011-05-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

Last night I heard a shriek from my husband, as he wheeled his chair back and forth between his Dell workstation and his Mac. Then he started pulling his hair, as I’m sure every other smartphone app developer that uses MonoTouch was doing. “You’re not going to believe this!” he says, “They just let the entire Mono team go!”

MonoTouch is an SDK for the iPhone that allows developers to build native iPhone apps with .NET code. Mono Android, or Monodroid, is the same for Android but is still in debugging and not yet released.

Many .NET/C# developers, such as Peter van Ooijen, agree that MonoTouch is a useful tool that allows developers to quickly write iPhone apps that take advantage of the features of .NET and C#. MonoTouch apps are currently accepted by the Apple app store, although you will need the latest iOS SDK and MonoTouch versions.

Mono is owned by Novell, which just merged with Attachmate last month. As a result of that merger, the Mono team was let go. According to the lead developer behind Mono, Miguel de Icaza, the Mono group has been trying to orchestrate a spin off from Novell for more than a year. However, instead of a spin off, all MonoTouch and MonoDroid engineers and developers in Canada, America, Europe, Japan, and Brazil were all laid off on May 2nd.

According to MonoTouch expert Wally McClure:

I think that this is a poor move by Attachmate. They have left their customers swinging in the wind. Specifically, Jeff Hawn, CEO of The Attachmate Group, made the following statement:
'We have re-established Nuremburg as the headquarters of our SUSE business unit and the prioritization and resourcing of certain development efforts - including Mono - will now be determined by the business unit leaders there,' said Jeff Hawn, Chairman and CEO of The Attachmate Group in a statement sent to InternetNews.com. 'This change led to the release of some US based employees today. As previously stated, all technology roadmaps remain intact with resources being added to those in a manner commensurate with customer demand.'

Now, I don't know what he means by 'all technology roadmaps remain intact', but it looks to me like they have gutted Mono. How you can fire all US and Canada Mono developers and keep all technology roadmaps intact, I have no idea? Does Attachmate have their own set of mono developers ready to go on this? The above just seems to be a very misleading statement. Attachmate seems to have nothing, nada, zilch.

So now what? The laid off Mono guys have gotten together with some angel investors and formed a new company, Xamarin, and are working on a new toolset for iOS and Android. According to Miguel, Xamarin’s immediate plans include:

Build a new commercial .NET offering for iOS
Build a new commercial .NET offering for Android
Continue to contribute, maintain and develop the open source Mono and Moonlight components.
Explore the Moonlight opportunities in the mobile space and the Mac appstore.

Which still leaves many questions:

What will Attachmate do with MonoTouch and Mono for Android? Keep it? Trash it? Sell the IP to Xamarin?
How long will it take Xamarin to come out with a new toolset? Will they even be able to find sufficient funding? Will there be non-compete issues?
What about the current licenses for MonoTouch?

Options for mobile development have just gotten more complicated. Like many other .NET/C# developers, we love MonoTouch. It looks like we’re going to have to commit to learning objective C, while we wait for Xamarin’s new tool set.

Still, Attachmate has left many developers high and dry. As Steve on the Mono Android listserv says:

“We are from Oklahoma, where a deal is a deal...If you want out of the deal then let us know why, when and (at the very least) what we should expect since we invested time and money in you...If I did this to a customer, I'd have a pissed off 6' 5" cowboy at my door the next morning...”

Photo by Jb Evain

Insured Americans putting off medical care (Surprised? Not me.)

2011-05-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Today I read something in The New York Times that really got my goat. It was an article about how health insurers are reaping huge profits as Americans are putting off health care.

As a small business, one of the biggest expenses for our family has been health insurance. We’ve paid around $1,500 a month for health and dental – the highest monthly bill we pay, more than our mortgage payment and more than our monthly groceries and gas combined. Crazy, but necessary.

The really crazy thing is how you get screwed if you don’t have health insurance. For example, I recently received a radiology bill for $290, for a test my husband had. After submitting to insurance, I received a new bill for $9.90. Out of the original $290, insurance paid $81.85 and the radiologist’s office wrote off the difference of $199.06. This happens because insurance companies negotiate with certain medical offices for predefined rates that they agree to pay for certain services. But,if we didn’t have insurance, we would have had to pay the entire $290, not the $90.94 net that ended up being paid.

Now, the other side of the stick is my dental office, which never writes off the portion not paid by the insurance company, but bills it to us. I recently had 3 cavities filled, which ended up costing over $600. Insurance paid $120, which leaves me on the hook to pay the remaining$480+. Yikes. That was so not in our budget. (And I haven’t had a cavity since I was 15. So it’s doubly frustrating…)

According to the NY Times article, even though health insurers are seeing record profits, they are still increasing their premiums: “first-quarter earnings that beat analysts expectations by an average of 30 percent...Many defend proposed double-digit increases in the rates they charge, citing a need for protection against any sudden uptick in demand once people have more money to spend on their health, as well as the rising price of care.” Seriously? Like we haven’t been gouged enough by 10%+ annual increases for the last 5 years?

Health insurers raise their premiums. Employers raise deductibles, co-payments, and the employee-paid portion of the premiums. Gas is over $4 a gallon. Mayonnaise is now over $5 a jar. The job market is stuttering along, with high unemployment rates and many people either out of work or underemployed. Money is tight, and people just can’t afford the copayments required to get needed medical care even if they have insurance. The NY Times quotes one example:

For someone like Shannon Hardin of California, whose hours at a grocery store have been erratic, there is simply no spare cash to see the doctor when she isn't feeling well or to get the $350 dental crowns she has been putting off since last year. Even with insurance, she said, "I can't afford to use it."

It’s sad, and infuriating. And unlikely to change as health insurers will most likely continue raising premiums until 2014 in anticipation of the new health care law.

Where the heck have I been?!

2011-03-31T13:50:00.001-07:00

Still loving my iPad while on my treadmill. Have switched from reading online content to watching YouTube videos – mostly music vids – and now I can’t wait to exercise. I actually look forward to it! Which shocks me, as I haven’t felt that way in a long time.

2008 was painful. 2009 was phenomenal, but our debt (and cash flow) was crushing. 2010 was transitionary; we had some serious health issues to deal with. Cashed out a small 401k, and we were able to completely retire all our business debt – SBA loan, line of credit, and credit card. Which felt amazingly good. Just had our 2010 taxes done, for $1,600. Ouch.

Released 2 mobile phone apps in 2010 on Blackberry and Windows 6.5. Bleah. Spent time and money for coding, graphics, testing, submitting, only to see low revenue – such weak markets. Released a Facebook app in December, and we’re working on an iPad game and an Android game. We’re keeping an ear to the ground on Windows Phone 7.

Custom software development is proving interesting, as in this ubiquitously web-connected world, we can’t compete rate-wise with programmers in India, China, or Ukraine who work for less than $10/hour. Also, we’re finding clients now tend to prefer either a W2 relationship or hiring the programmer directly, and not going through a third party company. The last 3 projects we’ve done have all been direct to us (1099). My husband has taken on a W2 direct employment job, which has been an adjustment. It's nice to have health insurance paid for and 401k contributions again.

I’m in the process of starting up my own social media company - training in analytics, SEO, creating content, social media platforms and monitoring, marketing, copywriting, keyword research, forums, Photoshop, YouTube, WordPress, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and much more. More to come on that soon.

As a result of the health issues and being stuck at home more than normal, we’ve discovered watching videos on our hdtv works amazingly better by connecting an iPad instead of a netbook. Yes, I *heart* my iPad.

3 tips for startups in a down economy

2010-10-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Times are still tough, but don’t let that deter you. Now’s a great time to create your startup company. VC investments in Q1 2009 were down 50% from Q4 2008, but still added up to $3.5B. Early stage companies are at an advantage when getting financing, over middle or late stage companies, as they aren’t expected to have revenue yet, and are mostly focused on product development and getting ready for market launch.

An interesting soundbite from Zach Shulman, entrepreneurship expert and venture capitalist at Cornell’s Johnson School, offers Advice for Start-Ups in a Down Economy:

1.) Create value. Best measure of value is – do you have any customers yet? Is your product valuable? Only if someone else wants it.

2) Stay lean and focused. Startup resources are limited. Focus only on products that can produce the most revenue, short term; cut all else.

3) Be realistic. Especially for a tech company, which is high growth and VC backable. Series A / early stage are still getting financing. Valuations are down. Face that you might have to sell 40-50% right out of the gate.

Advice that is short, sweet, and spot on. Photo by irwebreport.

First day of school

2010-09-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

It’s the first day of school, and a few things have made me happy today:

My kids are open to the possibilities
I always spend time every night talking with each of our kids. We have a bunch, so that can take a long time. For some reason, kids are always willing to chat and open up right at bedtime. Maybe it’s so they can just avoid having to go to sleep and they’re buying time, or maybe they’re feeling relaxed, and more open.

Last night the kids and I were talking about the first day of school today. They were feeling sad that summer vacation was ending, but were looking forward to seeing their friends and what the new year would bring (some more than others). Even though the first day of school could totally suck, they were still open to the possibility it could be fun and enjoyable.

I always I miss the kids terribly the first day, and so I spend a block of time and write a letter to each of my precious kids, describing what they are like at this moment in their life – what they look like, what foods they like to eat, what they like to play, who their friends are – and also what I hope the future will hold for them, and how much their dad and I love them. I haven’t always gotten a chance to do this, but the kids are older now, and there’s no more baby/toddler craziness. Although, I do have to wonder who arranged for it to be thunderstorming ALL night long, the night before the first day of school.

iPad +treadmill = reading solution
I don’t love my treadmill, but it is necessary. I don’t usually run on it, just brisk walking, for long periods of time. I try to listen to my iPod, but honestly, I feel like I’m wasting my time. I don’t mind listening to music when I’m cleaning house like a madwoman, but I’ve been searching for a way to be more productive on the treadmill for over a year. I looked at treadmill desks to be able to use my laptop while I’m walking, but no go (too expensive or bulky). I tried reading magazines, but I’m not that coordinated that I can hold one and walk fast. I can’t see the magazine on the treadmill shelf as it’s too far away, and really, I do most of my reading and researching online, not in magazines. (And don’t even think about books. I have a problem. I’m a reading addict, and if I get started on a good book, it’s not pretty. My husband understands.)

Today I was inspired, and stole my husband’s iPad. He foolishly left it home. I placed it on the treadmill shelf (it has an Apple black neoprene-y case, and I let the flap hand over the back) and started walking. I navigated to penelopetrunk.com, reverse-pinched the screen to enlarge the text, and started reading. I just have to slide my finger to scroll, and I’m able to easily tap links. Before I knew it, 10 minutes had gone by. I upped the speed a bit. The next time I checked, 30 minutes had gone by. This was it. Hallelujah!

Penelope Trunk gets it
I love Penelope Trunk’s blog. I discovered her blog through a Twitter link, and I’ve been stuck there for the last 3 days. Finally, someone who gets it. Someone who’s been there. Someone who is blunt, direct, real, honest, open, inspiring, and a kick in the pants. Someone who makes you think. Someone who knows the struggle – what it’s like to be a woman, with kids and a business that’s running out of money. Just what I needed.

Because I’m feeling a bit lost myself lately. Having your own small business means allocating time for marketing and constantly keeping new clients in the pipeline. The Great Recession really knocked us around – we’re not out of the ring yet, though. Last year we were able to find a full time contract that paid very well. We were able to stop the downward fall, and climb out of the financial abyss. We’ve still got a way to go, though, and have been working obsessively on eliminating and reducing debt. The less you spend, the less you need to make, the less pressure you’re under.

We had to make some hard choices this summer. One of them was to have my husband hired on as an employee, not outsourced through our small business. That was hard. To not feel like we’re failing. But, I think it was a good choice – it’s a limited time contract and has its advantages, allowing us to:

1. Expand our network of contacts
2. Learn new things, and gain new skills
3. Save $1,200 cash a month on health insurance
4. Do challenging work, for a big name company, thus good on the resume
5. Still have a few small, select projects on the side

I’m excited about the possibilities, and about being more productive between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. And I can’t wait to get back on the treadmill, and read more. Welcome back, school.

Small businesses are still struggling

2010-08-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

According to today’s Wall Street Journal, the majority of job losses at the end of 2009 were in small businesses.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees accounted for 61.8% of all job cuts in the private sector in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, while the same sized businesses created 54.1% of new jobs. Companies of this size employ roughly 29% of all workers. The numbers are a reverse from the same time a year ago, when small businesses made up a larger share of jobs that were added as opposed to lost.

Economists believe small businesses are lagging in any economic recovery due tight access to credit.

Is your business still struggling? Would it improve if you had better access to credit?

GetJar - absolutely everything? Not.

2010-08-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, talk about disappointing. GetJar is billed as the "world's largest independent app store". What a scam. Doesn't money have to change hands for it to be called a store?

GetJar may be getting 3 million downloads a day, but every app on their site is either free, demo, or adware. If you have an iPhone app, they will link you through to iTunes. But, as a developer, you are not able to list a commercial, priced app on GetJar.

It's misleading, too. As part of the app upload process, the instructions say "If you set "Type" to Demo/Shareware or Adware, you will be able to add commercial versions of your application for sale. If you set "Type" to Freeware, you will not be able to sell this application." Which is a load of hoo-haa, as you CAN'T sell apps on GetJar. There's nowhere to put in a price.

Just goes to show, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Women in tech - a lonely place to be

2010-08-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

In college, I double majored in Physics and Art, took a year off, then finished with a degree in Economics. After graduation, I cold-applied to the company I most wanted to work for, and was hired to clean up a Thailand sub-contracted project that had gotten messy. For years of school and work, I was the only female in the room, or 1 of just a few. Countless times I've been approached as administrative help, and asked to fetch coffee or take minutes or run a copy. While I'm perfectly capable of doing those things - excuse me, but aren't the guys in the room just as capable? I always politely decline and defer. I guess I'm just a little sensitive about it.

The NY Times addresses the heavily male skewed VC world in an excellent article called Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley, which flows nicely into Linda Abraham's blog post The Time is Now for Women to Stand Up and Start Up.

For the record, I'm not saying women are better than men, or that admins don't deserve respect. I appreciate true talent and skill, regardless of gender. I enjoy being impressed; I only wish it happened more often.

Update: Women 2.0 Labs has graduated its first class of founders:

The teams were Freezefare, a site to help travellers lock in flight prices;
Geosquish, a social media analytics and consulting program for small businesses;
Tripku, a site to connect travel agencies and customers; Cake Health, a site to
help people better understand, manage, and utilize their health insurance
benefits; and House of Mikko, a recommendation engine to help "like-featured"
women find appropriate and quality beauty products.

GetJar - mobile app store heaven?

2010-07-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

According to Mobile Crunch, independent mobile app store GetJar is now seeing 3 million downloads a day, with 1 billion downloads to date (second only to Apple iTunes). We signed up as developers today. Site says no sign up costs, no maximum file uploads or costs for uploading new files, free distribution of your app and/or mobile site, 48 hour approval time, global distribution, and free Beta testing. Went through the Terms of Use and the Developer Wiki and it looks like they don't even take a cut. Sounds too good to be true?

I'll be uploading both of our apps later today, and let you know how it goes. If all is as it seems, there's no wonder GetJar is getting that volume of downloads and developer participation.

Decision, decisions - choosing a platform for mobile app development

2010-07-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

Thinking about mobile app development? How do you choose between the various mobile platforms? In a previous post, I mentioned this debate and some of the factors we were considering.

According to a recent Vision Mobile study, most developers work on multiple platforms - an average of 2.8 platforms/developer - with the deciding factors being greatest market penetration and revenue potential. Another consideration is the relation between device installed base and the number of apps available for that device, which shows proportional potential opportunity.

I’m not convinced that the mobile app market is a “goldrush” for developers. Not anymore, at least. I’ve read about a few people making tons of sales in a short period of time, but I’ve also read that in reality it’s not even the 80/20 rule, but more like the 95/5 rule – 5% of the developers make 95% of the money. And don’t forget, many of the apps sell for a low price, for example $.99, so it takes a while to recoup development costs.

We’ve released a couple low priced mobile phone apps, for Blackberry and Windows, and while we’ve made a respectable amount on the Blackberry app, we haven’t had one sale of the Windows app.

We’ve also been surprised by a few things. If you want to get your app into an app store, be prepared to not only have your code and graphics ready, but there are many long, multi-page legal agreements you will have to agree to, different for each site of course. And there are other fees, especially testing. Some even charge if you don’t have your own insurance.

A quick look at the app stores:
Blackberry App World - $200 to upload your app, inclusive. Includes 10 uploads. Split is 70/30 (used to be 80/20).

Windows Marketplace for Mobile - $99 to join Windows Marketplace/year. Another $99 for EACH submission through “the hopper” (their automated test system) until approval. Split is 70/30. (Also, I’ve been working with them since May, to get our app up, and they keep telling me there’s been an error. Apparently our account is so badly screwed up on their end, now we’re working on canceling our account, getting our money refunded, and setting up a new account. Not kidding!)

iTunes – $100 to submit an unlimited number of apps. Split is 70/30. Apple is known for their “closed garden” approach and long delays before granting approvals.

MobiHand and Handango – free to list your app; if they decide to test, they will ask you if you want to pay a testing fee – if no, you must remove your app. Split for MobiHand is 80/20, unless channel then 60/40 (everything we’ve sold so far has been through channel). Split for Handango is 60/40; once above $50K it’s 50/50. No sales for us through Handango yet.

Droid – Currently looking into, for app development this coming fall. $25 registration fee. Split is 70/30.

Lastly, we’ll be checking into AppStoreHQ, which is an iPhone and Droid portal. Not sure if you can actually sell apps through them, or if they’re more of an information/search tool.

Since we have a high level of expertise in .NET, we’re also currently using MonoTouch platform for our iPhone and iPad apps in development. MonoTouch, by Novell, allows developers to create C# and .NET based applications that run on Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices. A Droid version is anticipated to be available in Q3 2010.

If you are in the mobile app market, the Vision Mobile study is required reading – a fabulous series of blog articles on Mobile Developer Economics 2010 and Beyond, from TeleFonica: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. You can also download the entire research report (for free) here.

No more Windows apps for us, at least until Windows 7 - going to focus on Droid and iPhone, which offer the greatest potential ROI. We’re a small development house, with limited resources, and we’re in this to make money. Our mobile development is in the queue right now, as most of our resources are currently directed toward our new FaceBook app (using Silverlight) which will be going into Beta in the very near future.

Build a Business contest winner is...

2010-07-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

DODOCase has won the Shopify/4HWW Build a Business competition. Details here, and here. Good stuff here for lessons learned on starting your own online business.

Catching up

2010-06-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry. I’ve missed you. Been a busy couple of months.

Got Droid Incredible – and truly, it’s incredible.
Set up an Intex Easy Set pool for the kids – and this year, it’s level.
Volunteered at the dance recital.
Volunteered at our community playground build – used a humungus saw, and a router for the first time. I feel so tuff.
Volunteered on field trips.
Went to a band recital.
Helped with baseball, and softball – God bless those coaches.
Celebrated kid #1 birthday.
Celebrated our anniversary – time is flying by. Big celebration is postponed until financial situation improves.
Brother is still alive – cancer is unpredictable, and maximum stress.
Sold our hot rod – had to do it.
Sold motorcycle – was a sweet ride.
Clearing out, cleaning up, simplify our lives – unbelievable spam from craigslist.
Job hunting – the economy Sucks. Heck of a lot of people out of work. Finding out not so easy to go from small biz back to big biz.
House hunting – funny thing about owning your own business. Banks do NOT like to lend you money for a mortgage. At all.
Mini-vacation to Washington DC – kids favorite thing? Riding the Metro.
Released our first BlackBerry app.
Released our first Windows app.
A/C died in car – oh well. Not doing a car payment. So, windows down.
Hiking – we call it exploring. Discovering new places. Cheap and fun.
Joined oDesk – future post coming.
Started a WordPress blog – to see how WordPress works.
Studying for upcoming Regents exams with my highschooler – thank god it’s not Me taking the exams; are you as smart as a 9th grader?

More to come soon.

The edge of a knife

2010-04-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

"The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail." (from Lord of The Rings)

Sometimes in the consulting business you feel like you're on the edge of a knife. We started out with a staff of 2, grew to 5, lost a number of contracts in the economic freefall at the end of 2008, and shrank back to a staff of 2. The last year and a half has been spent recovering and rebuilding.

The nature of a consulting business is contract jobs and intermittent income. Sometimes the money pours in, and then there are the long dry stretches. The key is to watch your cash flow, always have contingency plans, balance your current workflow, and keep some clients in the pipeline.

Sometimes, regardless of how well you plan, things fall apart, beyond your control. And then it's time to quickly react. As a slow reaction means death by cash flow.

p.s. we decided to go forward with iPhone and Android, release our current BlackBerry and Windows Mobile apps, then pick up Windows 7 in the fall.

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo, grab the smartphone by the toe

2010-03-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

As a software development company, we’ve aligned ourselves with Microsoft. We believe doing so provides our clients with the most stable, robust systems. We specialize in .NET, VB, SQL, C/C++, and Windows Mobile.

We were programming in Microsoft PocketPC back when there were PDAs. Smartphones were just beginning to be a category when we started with Windows Mobile. There was no app store – your apps had to be downloaded from your web site, or from Handango or Handmark. Blackberries had a cult-like following, primarily because of their email service, but were mostly for road warriors. Then came the iPhone, and the Apple app store. Suddenly, smartphones were “cool” – not just for business anymore, but for consumers. Cell phone carriers realized they could increase their revenue by pushing smartphones, as they required not only a voice plan, but a data plan. In late 2007, the smartphone market exploded. Everyone, it seemed, wanted an iPhone, or an iPod Touch. And everyone, it seemed, started developing Apple apps. RIM pulled together the BlackBerry App World store. Then came Android, and Android Market. Finally, Microsoft followed with the Windows Mobile App store, which as of yesterday, is now the Windows Phone App store.

There's a lot of buzz right now about MIX10 and Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has been running far behind the pack in the race of smartphone development. They started off in the lead, were passed like they were standing still, and now are trailing behind. Will Windows Phone 7, and the new Marketplace give Microsoft the power to catch up?

We are at a crossroads.

We’ve got a couple of fun, little game apps ready for release in the next week, one for Windows, and one for BlackBerry. Our goals are to make a little money, and become familiar with the various app stores. But where to dedicate our future efforts? As a small business, we can’t afford to spread ourselves too thin – we need to pick a smartphone platform, or two, and focus. And it’s complicated.

Apple? It’s easy and quick development, a rapidly growing market, and a huge user base of over 75 million iPhone OS users. But, with over 180,000 apps out there, you are a very small fish in a very big pond, unless you can get noticed easily – rank in the Top 25 lists or get some publicity, either through blogs or advertising. Interesting to note: sales growth for the iPod Touch is now higher than the iPhone, not to mention the impending arrival of the iPad.

Android? The development tools are a little more complicated, but over 8 million devices have been sold, and market share is growing. Its app store is less crowded, with over 20,000 apps available, but over 3,000 new apps are added monthly, and 57% of Android Market apps are free (not paid).

BlackBerry? Development tools are unwieldy and difficult to use, but RIM is 2nd in worldwide market with over 30 million users, with less than 5,000 apps available. With a huge user base, and a limited number of apps, the demand for Blackberry apps should be huge. According to Rimarkable.com, “BlackBerry market share is 400% more than Androids. For every Android device sold, 5 BlackBerry devices are sold, yet, new Android applications arrive in Android Market at 6 times the clip that they appear in BlackBerry App World.”

Windows? Dead last. Outdated development tools, and less than 700 apps. Currently 4th in global market, with Windows devices still outselling Android 2:1, but lost 26% of their market share this year. Will Windows Phone 7 reverse this trend? Or is this a case of following Law #10 (of the 48 Laws of Power) Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky? Even though we have years of Windows Mobile development under our belts, should we flee?

Another consideration with BlackBerry and Windows Mobile/Phone is the hardware is fragmented. Unlike Apple, where you develop once, for the iPhone OS, and it works on iPhone, iPod Touch, and (soon) the iPad, there are a wide variety of BlackBerry and Windows devices which developers need to customize their apps to “fit” each one.

Also to consider, is we’d like to make some money, so we are looking at paid apps, not just free. According to CrowdScience, “Users of all types of smartphones had downloaded more free applications than paid ones during the preceding seven days, with iPhone users significantly more likely to pay for apps, Android users leading in free apps, and BlackBerry users far behind on both fronts.”

The global smartphone market numbers, according to Gartner:

Nokia -- 46.9% (- 5.5%), 80.9 million devices sold in 2009
RIM -- 19.9% (slight increase), 34.3 million
Apple -- 14.4% (+ 6.2%), 24.9 million
Windows -- 8.7% (- 3.1%), 15 million
Linux -- 4.7% (-2.9%), 8.1 million
Android -- 3.9% (+3.5%), 6.8 million

Here's some app store facts from Distimo, and Rimarkable.com.

Total number of apps:

Apple -- 150,998

BlackBerry -- 4,756

Android -- 19,897

Nokia -- 6,118

Palm -- 1,452

Windows -- 693

New apps per month:

Apple -- 13,865

BlackBerry -- 501

Android -- 3,005

Nokia -- 734

Free vs. Paid apps available:

Apple -- 25% free/75% paid

BlackBerry -- 24% free/76% paid

Android -- 57% free/43% paid

Nokia -- 15% free/85% paid

Palm -- 32% free/68% paid

Windows -- 22% free/78% paid

What should we choose? As smartphone software developers what has the best likelihood of success, meaning downloads and revenue? Do we stay with Microsoft, and focus on Windows Phone 7?

Time to jab the stake into the ground and lay our claim. We’ll let you know what we decide. What would you do?

The hand of fate

2010-01-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes in business, and in life, your future can seem to hang by a thread. Completely in the hands of someone else's decision, or fate.

For example, you're waiting to hear back whether you will be offered a job. And maybe have to move your whole family across the country. Or you're waiting to hear if your bid was the winning bid. And now you'll have to hire 20 people, along with finding space and equipment for them, to immediately gear up.

The waiting is the killer.

Today, I'm waiting to hear on a number of things. How my father-in-law is doing, after being admitted to the hospital last night. Whether we will be selected for the next phase of a development project, or they will hire it out to another vendor. Whether my brother's chemo treatments have been stopped because he is cured, or there is no longer any hope.

Hope for the best. Plan for the worst.

Sounds trite, but it's the best I have right now. Now, time for a good distraction, like working on the cash flow charts, and a chunk of time on the exercise bike, listening to "Fireflies".

Taxes! Fun, Fun, Fun!

2010-01-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

It's the start of a new year, and if you're in a small business it means you will be filing a whole lot of tax forms.

The taxes your small business will pay depends on many things, including:
• the state your business is based out of
• your business structure (sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, subchapter S corp, or corporation)
• whether you sell products (sales tax) or provide a service
• whether you have employees (payroll taxes)

Good places to get started include: federal, www.irs.gov/businesses/small/; state, check your state’s website, NY for example, www.tax.state.ny.us/sbc/, and http://www.labor.state.ny.us/.

Talk to an accountant to find out what taxes you have to pay, and when you will need to pay them. Then, take some time, and put them all on your calendar for the next year, giving yourself at least a week of prep time. The best way to find an accountant is to ask around; taxes can be complicated, and you want a good one, so get some recommendations. Ideally, they should be located within an hour away, and you should meet with them before you give them any business (they really shouldn’t charge you for the initial meeting – try to keep it under an hour).

To give you an idea, here’s the tax filing schedule for our small business, an s-corp based out of New York:

Federal:
• 941 – Employers Quarterly Federal Tax Return (file quarterly, by the 15th of the month; pay quarterly if less than $2,500/month, pay monthly if more than $2,500/month)
• 940 – Employers Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return (file annually by 1/15)
• 1120S – U.S. Corporation Annual Income Tax Return (file by 3/15)
• 1040ES – Federal Estimated Tax for Individuals (file by 4/15, 6/15, 9/15, 1/15)

State:
• NYS45 – NYS Quarterly Combined Withholding, Wage Reporting and Unemployment Insurance Return (file quarterly, by the 15th of the month; if more than $700, file NYS1, Return of Tax Withheld, instead)
• CT-3-S – NY S Corporation Franchise Tax Return (file by 3/15)
• IT2105 – NTY Estimated Income Tax Payment Voucher for Individuals (file by 4/15, 6/15, 9/15, 1/15)

Don’t forget:
• W2’s – Employee, Wage and Tax Statement (file by 1/31)
• W3 – Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements (file by 2/28)
• 1099 – Independent Contractor (file by 1/31 for each contractor that provided more than $600 in services to you)
• 1096 – Summary of 1099s (file by 2/28)

Note: for W2, W3 and 1099,1096 filings you will need to buy special forms – perforated for W2/W3, and preprinted red ink for 1099/1096. A bit of a pain, but you can pick up from an office supply store (I got mine at Staples this morning), or you can order online. A bit of a rip off, too, as the smallest quantity I could get was for 50 1099’s for $26.

Pay your taxes on time (or a little early), always keep copies (we keep paper and pdf), and if you send via mail, send certified (so you have proof of mailing and can track online).

We use Quickbooks, and purchased their Enhanced Payroll subscription ($269/year) which enables us to print our employees paychecks and file our payroll tax forms (941, 940, NYS45, W2/W3, 1099/1096). It really isn’t too hard – just follow the payroll center setup, and the various wizards.

You can also hire out a payroll service provider, like ADP or Paychex, to do your payroll for you, which includes paying your employees and filing the required tax forms on your behalf.

It’s January, and that means closing out the books for 2009, and setting up for 2010. Oh, and another thing, these are just the taxes we file for our business. Then, we also have to file our personal taxes…

Creating content for cash

2010-01-08T06:53:00.001-08:00

Lately I've been thinking about new revenue stream sources, and reading a lot of buzz about how you can Make Money by creating and posting content for the web.

The business model is to find the highest revenue generating, most searched for keywords, create content (copy, video, images) that incorporates those keywords, then post/publish to the web. You can do this on your own using SEO techniques, or for a company like Demand Media or Examiner. And the money just comes rolling in.

Excuse me for being skeptical, but reminds me of when eBay was the hot thing. All these books and websites came out saying Get Rich Now Selling on eBay! Except, it wasn't quite as it seems -- nothing ever is. Selling on eBay is time consuming, with slim profit margins. Some people make good money selling on eBay, and some make very good money selling you info on how to sell on eBay. Perfectly legal, but seems like a bit of a scam, really, that preys upon the get rich quick mentality.

Wired magazine's recent article on Demand Media initially opened my eyes. Demand publishs 4,000 videos and articles a day, and by next summer they anticipate publishing 1 million items a month. They are expected to bring in $200 million in revenue for 2009, and have paid out more than $17 million to its crowdsourced freelancers. Demand's goal is to "predict any question anyone might ask and generate an answer that will show up at the top of Google's search results".

Demand believes the Internet "has the supply part down but ignores demand", and has developed an algorithm to optimize content generation, based on traffic or high clickthrough rates. This algorithm looks at what keywords users are searching for, using data purchased from search engines, ISPs and marketing firms. Then it analyzes keyword rates to see how much advertisers will pay to appear on pages that include those terms. Note that Demand also makes money from Google, which allows advertisers to bid on phrases they would like to advertise against. Lastly it looks at the current supply of web pages with those terms. A second algorithm determines what exactly people want to know about the term, and revenue past performance of similar terms. And finally, a human turns the random keywords into more understandable phrases. The process is driven by logic; I'm sure Spock would approve.

The approved topics, or headlines, are then posted to Demand Studios, where crowdsourced freelancers can go online and pick a batch. (The article says on a recent day, almost 62,000 assignments were waiting to be filled.). Those freelancers, who are paid through PayPal, get paid very little -- average pay is: title proofing: $.08 per headline; articles: $15 to write, $2.50 to copyedit, $1 to fact check; videos: $20 to film, $.25-$.50 to approve quality, $1-$2 to transcribe. It's all about quantity, not quality -- fast, cheap, and churn them out.

But Demand makes very little per ad clicked, an estimated $.15-$.60, so a massive volume of content is essential. Google has a similar situation -- its revenue-sharing business model needs massive quantities of content to place ads next to, to generate revenue. And don't forget, Google also makes money as Demand purchases search data from them.

Serendipitously, while writing my last post, I viewed several video posts on Tim Ferriss's blog for another competition he was having to promote his new book. In one of the videos, an enterprising guy currently living in India, makes his livelihood by searching for high value keywords (using Google Adwords) to generate topics, then forwards those topics to his virtual assistants, who then create content and post on the web; the money just rolls into his PayPal account. In another video, a family man mentions how his home schooled teens are making money by posting content -- articles with Demand Media and videos with Pond5.

It seems like an interesting premise. If you have free time, you can write keyword loaded content for a bit of money, although I'm not sure it's enough to be able to earn a living at.

But where does this leave me, the user? The one who's searching for useful, accurate content to answer my question? When I type something into a search engine, will I get the best answer, quickly and easily?

A recent post on SEOmozBlog titled Great Content Equals Great Rankings, Right? Wrong., talks about how the search engines may not return your query with the best quality content:

"Great content is easily missed by the web's link-heavy audience, while some pretty crummy content that's been marketed well (or made the right connections or comes from the right sources) will tend to overperform.
The web's link graph isn't a meritocracy -- like everything else in life it's a popularity contest. Those who find the best ways to distribute, promote and market their works to the audience most likely to link to it are going to succeed much more so than just the "great content" producers.
What those in the content world would call "better" does not always (nor even mostly) garner the links and rankings. Instead, those who have "better optimized" for attracting links tend to far out shine their peers with rankings and traffic.
This may seem like a tragedy, or even a travesty of the democratic structure the web is supposed to represent, but in fact, it's the way all marketing has worked for generations. Like many parts of life -- it's not about the quality, diligence or aptitude you bring to your field, but your ability to market it successfully."

With the search engines link-driven algorithms, along with massive amounts of content hitting the web daily (a large quantity of which may be sub par quality), will this lead to a better, more productive search experience for me? As more and more of this content is created, will I have to sift through pages of search results to find a helpful, accurate answer? For the search engines, is it more about making money, and less about delivering the best search result?

And as advertisers, how can I not be sure there isn't a company out there with a home based army typing preselected keywords in a search engine to skew search demand, or maybe clicking through ads to create artificial revenue? Or visiting a list of websites to drive traffic numbers up?

All this leaves me, the search engine user, with a bittersweet, uncomfortable feeling. I feel like I've been sold out. Just like everything else, search has come down to being driven by money.

A $100,000 kick in the pants

2010-01-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Would you like to work from home? Ever thought about starting your own home business? Do you have an idea, but just can't get around to making it happen? Do you need a kick in the pants?

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, and Shopify are running a 6 month Build Your Business competition, with a grand prize of $100,000.

Tim Ferriss is an advocate of lifestyle design, of working less (more efficiently) and living more. In a nutshell, his 4-Hour Workweek theories include defining your muse, eliminating distractions and inefficiencies, outsourcing tasks, and automating a passive income stream. All with the end goal of liberating yourself for total mobility (i.e. independent global location) and achieving dreamlines and mini-retirements -- enabling you to get what you really want out of life.

Shopify is a full service e-commerce platform, easy to use and quick to set up. Note: The contest is not entirely free, as you will need to join Shopify for the 6 month period, which for basic service is $24.00 per month (and I believe there is a 1% transaction fee).

Details are here, here, and here, with a summary:

$100,000 grand prize
$120,000 total prizes
6 months starting January 1, 2010
The best two consecutive months of sales count
Contest open to US residents only

For $144 you get a chance to win $100,000, free publicity if your site is featured, and as Tim says, "Even if you don't win the prizes, you should still end up with a viable business at the end of 6 months". So, what have you got to lose?

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

It's time to make 2010 be your most productive year yet.

The folks over at TechCrunch have posted their Fifth Annual List of the Tech Products I Love and Use Every Day, and it's worth checking out. I bet you'll find at least one tool, probably more, that will make your life, work or play, easier.

Also interesting is the NY Times Pogie Awards list, which celebrates the best tech ideas of 2009.

It's also time to close out the books for 2009, and examine where our revenue came from and what expenses can be trimmed. Essentially, what's working and what needs to be tweaked in our business.

Creativity, imagination, children, and the future

2009-12-14T09:26:00.000-08:00

Sir Ken Robinson speaking on how our current education system stifles creativity in children. Absolutely worth 20 minutes of your life to watch:

Have a Hunch?

2009-12-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting startup company that combines community and statistics. Per BusinessWeek: Launched by Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake, Hunch.com helps answer questions by matching responses from users who share similar preferences.

I love this concept. Many times when I'm buying a videogame, or toy, for one of my kids, I'll check the Amazon What's Hot lists and then check the customer reviews. With Hunch, you can ask a question "What the best wii game for kids?" and get answers from Hunch community members with preferences similar to yours. Ideally, this setup enables you to find out what the "crowd" is doing, and gives you qualified, applicable answers to help you make the best decision.

Hunch also releases interesting, quirky reports on their blog utilizing their topic and answer data, such as:

"Who's your most favorite Sesame Street Character?" (Cookie Monster by a 9% margin)
"Mac vs. PC People" (Mac people feel the need to be different and unique; PC people prefer "being in tune with those around them"), and
"Food Preferences by Political Ideology" (conservatives prefer pizza; liberals prefer Japanese or Thai).

Hunch is helpful, informative, and entertaining. And the best part is, over time, as Hunch grows, their data and statistics will become even more accurate and relevant.

No Good News

2009-11-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

How quickly things can change in a high tech startup. Take the CrunchPad for example. And just like that it's over.
Or is it?