Topics in ‘Bootstrapping’

A Lesson from the $120m Juicero Disaster

So… I’ve been laid up with the flu. Then pneumonia. Then bronchitis. FUN TIMES. If anyone has a line on a mecha body replacement app, hit me up. But now I’m back! Anyway, because I’ve been under the weather but not under a rock, I wanted to talk to you about one of the OMG… Read more »

Why a late lunch = a smart investment

Weird question, but… did you know that today isn’t Monday? Haha. I ask because a couple months ago I set out to email you every Monday, like a real live grown-up with a newsletter for adults. (This is what The Professionals™ do, apparently.) Then for the next 7 weeks, I did! Yay!! Now, I’d like… Read more »

How do you create a product people want to buy?

Newsflash: Lean Startup and Customer Development are inherently broken. If you ask me, the whole process is functionally bankrupt. Why? Let me answer your question with a pair of questions: Why do you create good things… but nobody buys? Worse: Why do you feel the thrill of a great idea, then get stuck before you… Read more »

Your Marketing Can Suck If You Get This Right

You ever hear the phrase, “Ideas are worthless, execution is everything”? You must have, because when I went to search for the most common formulation of this idea (ha!), Google gave me not only a bunch of pertinent suggestions but 700,000 results: Considering we’re literally soaking in this particular cliché, you’d be forgiven for believing… Read more »

The Best Career for a Maker is…

If you’re like me, your history of work is a history of defaulting forward: You loved doing a thing. So naturally, when it came time to adult, you took a gig that paid for doing-a-thing. And when that gig — be it a client or a j-o-b job — ran its course or became too… Read more »

Why is “work” so freakin complicated?

I’ve been struggling to figure out how to start this essay on the best at work. Work seems like such a mechanistic thing; you perform some kind of labor for some kind of reward. End of story. Right? Work is something we all have in common. You’d think it’d be easy to write about. Or… Read more »

A Third of Your Life

…is spent in bed. And that third sets you up for success — or misery — in the other two thirds, work and personal. I’ve already told you about how I’ve begun to apply “Why not the best?” to my personal time. But there are still those other two thirds to think about… That’s how… Read more »

Dead-heading

Are you a gardener? I’m an occasional (and very irritable) gardener. Don’t get me wrong, I love nature, love plants and above all, I love a good challenge. But the sheer cussedness of doing work that UNDOES ITSELF… well, it offends my very soul. “Er, Amy,” I hear you saying, “Didn’t you just write last… Read more »

“But I’m not an expert.”

Even an apex predator only succeeds in bringing down prey just once out of every 9 attempts. “I’m not an expert. Nobody would listen to me! And no WAY would they buy my book/workshop/video course/SaaS app…” The world is a funny thing. You can think — no, know — that The World Works This Way…. Read more »

When should you start a SaaS?

I always, ALWAYS, tell my students (and anyone else who will listen): DON’T START WITH A SAAS. Do a tiny product first. Start your business with a lil itty bitty product that is easy to start, finish, easy to ship, and easy to keep selling. Something that doesn’t require server maintenance and security updates. A… Read more »

Hey, why not get a shiny
Freckle Time Tracking
account?