Day 1: BPD Micro-ISV

Dot .Net Dilemmas

For a long time how I have been thinking about and working towards starting up my own online business which, I have found out is called a ‘Micro-ISV’ . I don't think that I have a particularly brilliant business brain but, I look around and see that there are a lot of people who are just like me (and some that don't have the same skills that I have) running very successful software business. I think that there comes a time for most people when they would just like to work for themselves. Give it your best shot and see how it goes.

The great thing about having a full-time job is that, within reason, if the company has a bad month or you get sick, you still get paid the same as you did last month. On the negative side, when the company does really well and you’ve worked really, really hard, you STILL get paid the same as last month. I don't think that it takes a genius to figure out that, I will ever get ‘rich’ working for ‘the man'…

Micro-ISV
I really don't like the term 'Micro-ISV' (Eric Sink is to 'blame'; he used it in an article for Chris Sells at Microsoft) but it does explain exactly what the business will be, a small Independent Software Vendor. And in my case a REALLY small Independent Software Vendor. To start with, it will be just me…. But that’s ok.

I have a number of ideas and products that I want to try and bring to market and I have settled on one as my first small footsteps into the world of online business. I won't go into what exactly it is that I hope to develop but, I have noticed a gap in the market in an industry that I have some background in and, I reckon I could help fill that gap (or at least make it a smaller gap).

Over the last few months I have been reading loads and loads of articles and listening to even more podcasts on how best to start an online business and what technologies I should use. However, except for that I honestly am at the very start of this journey and this is going to be my online journal of how I get on. The one thing that I keep hearing over and over is, 'Just get it out there', so that's what I plan to do. I hope to have version one of the product available in roughly 4 months.

This is day 1 – “Blank Page Day”. Hopefully, someday not too far into the future, I will be writing a blogs on how I have just made my first sale, my first year in business, version 2 of my product and hopefully (someday) being able to give up working full-time so that I can concentrate on my own million dollar business.

Although the aim of the business is (and should be) to make money (and lots of it), I hope that I learn a lot along the way. I plan to use a host of new ideas and technologies (new to me anyhow) and maybe some of the things that I learn and mistakes I make along the way will help others who are thinking along the same lines. If nothing else it will be an experience and it should be an exciting one.

Books
Ok, I am currently reading 3 books:

1. Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality by Bob Walsh (forwarded by the legend who is Joel Spolky)
2. Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? by Susan M Weinschenk
3. Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET by Jimmy Nilsson

So, my plan is, by the end of June 2009, I will read all of ‘Neuro Web Design’ which is a very short and easy to read book. I will move my ‘Elevator Pitch’from my head onto paper and finally, I will be reading 1 chapter a day from Jimmy Nilsson’s book, so in 12 days, I will have the book finished and notes on each chapter on here.. All this, and working full-time, meaning that it will be in the evenings and the weekends..

Wish me luck…