taprun

It seems like the best people that my employers have hired are not just "better" but "different" than most other employees. Unfortunately, the criteria and methods that most firms use are designed to reduce the risk of a bad hire, instead of maximizing the odds of hiring someone amazing.

Hoping for things without taking action. As pointed out by DC Comics' Blue Lantern corps, hope without the application of willpower isn't worth much.

Donation ware is a thing, but it rarely works well. Besides, hockey stick growth on a product that is free to obtain and use isn't a surefire means of proving future profitability. The easiest way to make money is the old fashioned way: charge for it.

It's hard to say without seeing the numbers, but I think you'd be better off finding a newsletter that is tangentially related and swapping links. Maybe a user experience or usability newsletter?

It can be when borrowing terms are artificially loose.

Imagine a world in which you can get a zero-ish percent interest-only loan. The "value" can keep going up even though the monthly cost remains low until the end of the term at which point you sell to someone else for even more money at a zero-ish percent rate.

Ask if the person who leads it can rotate. Lead by example and demonstrate that meetings can be well run and as short as needed.

Why do they have to be compensated at all? They can eat a vegan diet without starving. This will further reduce animal suffering (the very goal of the proposition).

Go to a fast food restaurant and look at the prices. They'll probably end in .99 because the owners are competing (at least partially) on price.

Now go to a fancy restaurant and look at the prices. They'll probably end in .00 because the owners don't want to look like they're competing on price.

What kind of brand are you trying to build?

Notification when someone replies to a comment I made.

I would suggest getting a new job in a bigger pond.

There's nothing to prevent you from networking while you have a job. Here's what I suggest:

1) Find a specialty. It's easier to get referrals when you're the "shopify guy" then when you're the "generalist programmer guy." You don't have to BE a specialist, so much as present yourself as one at the initial stages.

2) Let people know that you have that specialty. Introduce yourself as such, gives talks on the subject, build a blog about it, start a newsletter, offer to help people in related chat rooms / discussion boards.

3) Along the way, try to be helpful to other people, both in your field of expertise and not. Helping people strengthens bonds in a network and makes them more willing to recommend you.

4) Every once in a while ask if people you know might know of people who have problems you can help with (and get paid for)

Feel free to contact me, I'm happy to help...

I bet they do some complicated anti-fraud stuff though...

I'm finishing a book about what makes products "premium." It's cool because a) many people don't know b) if they did, they could make more money per sale.

Crunchbase will likely give you a clue, but the problem you're going to run into is that some rounds have private terms.

You could use something on the server side like AWStats.

Or you could even skip the beverage and join their slack group: https://writethedocs.slack.com

One possibility is to specialize to a smaller market or to a smaller function. If the big company is making a generalized CRM, make a CRM specifically designed for accountants or tutors or talent agents. You'll be able to tailor your messaging, design, and marketing to a level that the big company simply cannot follow. Your smaller size can be one of your greatest assets.

The trick is to productize it and then aggregate many tasks from others at once.

How come CTOs are "chief" technology officers, but no one else is referred to as a technology officer?

I've never heard of that. Are there any historical examples?

I would look to improve the pricing strategy. You wouldn't believe how a few changes to a pricing page can improve a business' bottom line.

In many cases, you're better off finding someone with a deep understanding of customer psychology then a traditional writer. It's not about writing beautiful copy, so much as copy that inspires action on the part of ideal customers.

Can you add a secondary source of value that will attract one of the parties first?

I would look for news articles / press releases talking about firms that received a lot of new funding, are planning to make a lot of new hires, or who just signed some big customers. If you're looking for small firms, you might also want to keep connected with management at co-working spaces.

One common approach is to sell a service that is performed manually (perhaps in a way that looks automated), and then automate it as the customer base grows.

1. Identify a skill that you have, and other people want. The more succinctly you can describe it, the better. Programmer == bad. C# developer == better.

2. Identify where people who need that skill spend time (meetups, clubs, slack groups, podcasts, discussion websites, mailing lists, etc).

3. Spend time at these places, delivering value, and pitching your wares. If you can get on stage to present, even better. A strong effort in a few places will usually beat a weak effort in many places.

4. Tell people you know that you are looking for gigs in your specific niche area.

5. Find agencies, others who do this work and let them know you're available if they get too much work, or get clients that aren't a great fit.

6. Most importantly, never be anonymous. This post is an example of a missed opportunity. Who knows, someone might have needed exactly what you're able to offer.

It depends upon how you write your blog. If you're focusing on helping your users, you're probably doing it wrong. Here's a detailed guide on how the pro bloggers do it: https://taprun.com/content/

Building a technical blog answers the question "How?" I think you want to focus on "Why?" What is it that you want to achieve? Do you want to become famous, become seen by a group as an expert, make money? Think about the "Why?" and the "What?" should become a bit more obvious.

Volunteered to help my company bid on projects and run them.

The motive is probably to save money.