Come for the Ride…

I’ve read a multitude of blogs out there in the last day about how people were incredibly disappointed in what was actually shown at the 2008 WWDC yesterday. Whereas I can understand the disappointment for things like dual cameras for conferencing on the phone, I also understand that most wireless networks do not yet have the infrastructure to handle this sort of bandwidth. Let’s say you start selling 5-10MM more iPhones around the world and these people start to take advantage of this feature on a daily basis, whereas in the US we might be able to ramp up the necessary bandwidth, I hardly believe Denmark, Malta, Peru or Madagascar could handle this out of the box. Out of the box, everything works is Apple’s bread and butter. They understand that people will suffer with a few less features for a user experience not plagued with slow of buggy features (the Windows Mobile Task Manager is a perfect example of the sort of hack Apple has a knack for avoiding).

With all that said, what was shown was absolutely mind blowing. The developers who demoed their products simply blew me out of the water. I recall developing games in Microsoft’s MFC development environment in high school and simply being stonewalled at the obscurity and limiting nature of a development environment. I then look at a combination of what’s in the SDK (I downloaded it shortly after watching the Keynote video) and what was shown and I’m almost ready to delve into trying to create an iPhone app TODAY. The 3D game shown was nothing short of astonishing. The music app, Band, sold me when they got to the “Blues Music Keyboard” and seeing all the Modality Apps made me want to become a doctor. It may sound dumb to you, but this device is more than Apple’s next big money making scheme, this device really can enable the dreams of others (to quote Randy Pausch) by allowing greater flexibility in their day to day life. From presenting information never available to the public in such a rich manner (again, Modality apps) to keeping track of all your information in a centralized location with no fear of losing the data (MobileMe) to sharing your life  and everyday adventures with the easy of taking pictures and blogging through the iPhone 3G, I’m floored and almost ready to be one of the idiots in line on day one for these phones.

This phone is right now for the bleeding edge customer. The power user. We know what we’re doing and we use all features of the iPhone on a daily basis. However, the average user like my Mom, my Dad, my Fiancee and my Brother are simply going to be overwhelmed by a phone with many more features than it has. Apple is slowly allowing people to test and try the iPhone and get used to a PDA that works for the average person. Society as a whole is still getting used to the mobile enabled citizen and if they’re going to release a product that lives up to what we expect from Apple (ie. Perfection), they’re going to need more time to ensure that both the product works flawlessly and people are able to use this in such a way that their cited 90% satisfaction rate isn’t tarnished.

But that’s just my take on it, and though I always want more, I also want time to learn some of these features from a developer’s perspective before some more of these great jumps in mobile awesomeness.

I received an email from MarketingProfs today that I just had to repost.  I think it hits on some key points that defines whether you are an entrepreneur/business person vs. a technician that is self employed.

Delegation - the key to growth

There are plenty of reasons not to delegate. Maybe you can complete a project more quickly than those working beneath you,  or you’re convinced you’ll achieve better results than your subordinates.

But do you take work home on a regular basis? Or are deadlines an issue?  Jane Schulte, author of Work Smart, Not Hard!, says these are sure signs it’s time to delegate, whether you like it or not.

Here are some of her pointers for successful delegation:

• Start small, then increase delegation as skills develop.
• Define clear goals, deadlines and criteria for success.
• Provide all the needed resources and information.
• Give your subordinate full authority over the project.
• Offer guidance and advice without interfering.
• Focus on results, not the process.

If the project is successful, credit the person who got the job done; if there are problems, Schulte advises shielding the responsible subordinate from blame. “Learn from the experience so you can delegate more effectively, provide more training or delegate the next project to a different person,” she says.

The Point from MarketingProfs: “Work should always be done by the lowest competent level,” says Schulte. Go down the  chain of command,  find the right person for the job,  give them the tools they need to succeed and refocus on the high-level issues that demand your expertise.

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As someone who is known at my last job for never being too shy to share the work load and the credit, the above points are dead on if you want to be a good manager.  Why do people insist on doing everything themselves anyway - don’t they trust their team?

In my few years in the business world, I’ve found that most people I talk to about trendy businesses fall into one of two categories - the haters and the embracers.

It’s still unclear to me why someone would hate on successful people or businesses but I’m sure you’ve all met them since many of them utter phrases like:

“I hate M$ because of blah…” (following others like sheep)

“Apple sux! Vista rules!” (never touched a Mac)

“Facebook is overrated! I can come up with a better solution.” (what hasn’t already been done?)

“This (insert app here) sucks!” (and the hater has no clue what it does)

Perhaps there’s a little jealousy within the hater to see others be successful. Perhaps it’s the Napoleon complex at work. Whatever it is, the haters just seem to hate on everything that’s successful and refuses to have anything to do with it.

On the flip side, we have people that embrace success and flock towards it. People are flocking to Facebook? Let me setup an account and see what it’s about. Social marketers are on Twitter? Let’s hop on that channel and get the inside scoop. Like Sylar, these people like to know what makes things tick so they can analyze the ingredients that make up the winning formula for themselves.

The funny thing is, entrepreneurs fall into both groups above. On one hand, we have people who create technology but are so sure of themselves they don’t care to learn from others’ mistakes. On the other hand, we have people studying from all businesses and through their passion, network and connect with the right people in the industry to enhance their careers.

Being that both groups are headstrong, it’s hard to tell who’s wrong and who’s right. However, from my observations, the ones who embrace success tend to be the ones that come out on top. Not only are these people migrating towards business/social hot spots, their positive attitude and their willingness to learn opens doors for them to meet other like-minded people. The ones who hate usually tend to be big talkers that don’t put their efforts into much else besides hating and burying their heads in the sand. Even if they did accomplish something huge; being grumpy never mesh well with others who like to network and learn.

So the question is… which group do you fall in?

As of Friday, I have joined the ranks of web entrepreneurs who have built, grew and sold a successful Internet company. As someone who’s currently doing “non-profit” work waiting for the next pay-day, this was very welcoming news.

So what was learned from this experience? Well, a few things… but the top three were:

1. Know your competitors - While I was chatting it up with my potential buyers / former competitors, I learned that the larger, more successful brands all communicated freely with each other. Yes, we were all competitors and all wanted to be the leader in the space, but sometimes, certain things strike the industry that need the collective help of all involved parties. Prior to the negotiations, I really should have tried to communicate with them to establish a relationship. Had I done that earlier, the sale process probably would have happened a lot sooner.

Ultimately if your company isn’t absorbed into an investment firm, your current competition would be your next best bet at selling off the assets. Let’s face it, a lot of times we see people who are looking to sell their site on ebay or various market places but when push comes to shove, you probably won’t get your money’s worth if the buyer has no clue about your business or industry. On the other hand, your competition will easily recognize the value of your assets.

2. Create assets and sell at your peak - Unless you’re the next Amazon or Google, chances are the only viable exit strategy for you in the next 3-10 years will be to sell off its assets to a bigger brand. If you’re in this for the large payoff, that’s pretty much the only way. Therefore, as a startup, not only should your business plan include ways to get real money, there should also be a detailed section on how to get users and repeat visits. Ultimately your domain name by itself will only be worth so much. Without new content or new services, all traffic to any domain will eventually die off. Therefore if you are considering selling your business, make sure you get your money’s worth by selling at the peak of your game. Once you lose focus or interest in a property and let the web traffic deteriorate, it will be very hard to build it up again.

3. Go out with a bang! - Selling your business or site means two parties have benefited from the transaction so make sure you let the world know by throwing a press release out there! Your buyer will walk away with more customers and awareness of their brand and you will walk away a successful entrepreneur ready for the next big challenge.

Oh yeah, also remember to reward yourself! You worked hard and did a great thing. Before you dive head first on to the next project, take a little time off and buy yourself something nice.

If any of you have tips or other lessons learned from selling a business, we’d love to hear it!

My father has this saying, “Never stop learning.” He’s in his mid-70s and he’s always trying to learn new things. Mind you, he has a B.S. in Chemistry, Masters of Public Health and a Ph.D in Toxiology, so he’s got no shortage on knowledge already stored up in his noggin. With this said, every challenge you take up in life should be a learning experience. You should be looking to expand your horizons and grown in your professional. Without going beyond what you normally do and what you already know, you tend to stagnate.

Early in our projects life, I felt like after the initial startup period and development, I stalled as a person. I was using all my acquired IT skills in a very comfortable manner. To a certain degree, we had the basic site and communications up in a timely manner. However, when the actual site development came into play, I’ve found my current system of site development is too slow and methodical for our purposes. My experience comes from projects that have high availability and mission critical reliability needs. We do testing to no end. We come up with programming plans, have code reviews and  reliability is job one. However, EasyAutoSales.com is a highly agile, web marketing company that needs to exeute quickly for maximum effectiveness.

In a few situations, my programming methods have had to be replaced with a small development team that can work more quickly. I’ve had to change my role and learn to be a manager. Wei has pushed me to contact developers via Guru, oDesk and any PHP forums and choose a team that reports to me, and in turn him. In this, I’ve had to admit to myself that I didn’t have an answer for every programming situation. I like to think I’m a pretty stout developer, but learning how to change my role is something I need to learn for this project and future projects.

My advice to anyone starting up a new business (online or otherwise), roll with the punches. You’re going to have to learn new skills and expand your horizons. Don’t fight it. You’re going to have to choose to pick your battles about doing things “your way” versus whatever it takes to get things done.