I got into an interesting conversation with Jamie last night about the issue of financial cushions and day jobs. It seems like everybody has a number in their head of how much money they need to quit their job. I would say the median number I hear is around $30,000. (It should be noted here that I started with $400, and I had to borrow it.)

What I find is interesting about this is that often, they have absolutely no idea how they came up with the figure.

There’s a kind of logic, I guess, if by “logic” we mean “linear but not particularly logical.” It’s like, “Well, I make $40,000 now. I probably don’t need all of that because I’m pretty sure some of that is work related costs. And I could cut down some. Plus there’s probably get some tax write offs by having a home office. So I’d need maybe $30,000 a year. I guess I’d need about half a year’s salary to be comfortable getting started, so that’s $15,000. And I’ll have business start up costs, so let’s double that and call it thirty grand.” Read More

I talk to a lot of people in a lot of different lines of work. One of the most consistent problems I see in would-be ittybiz owners — whether they’re selling ebooks online, plumbing services from their basement, hats in a bricks and mortar store or gloves in an Etsy shop — is the total lack of consideration for what their customers actually want.

The “should we make and sell this?” question is answered — if you can call it an answer — by saying, “You know what would be AWESOME?!?!”

Awesome for you, or awesome for them?

A good friend of mine was about to make their first ebook. It was on Obscure And Academic But Still Fairly Interesting Topic X. It didn’t have much to do with what was going on in his existing business, but he knew a lot about the topic and was passionately convinced that it would seriously help those who read it. Read More

According to Wikipedia (Unrelentingly Boring And Grammatically Incorrect Since 2001!), a business niche is described thusly:

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing on; Therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact.

(Unrelated side note: Around here, niche business is pronounced neesh business. Neesh. Not nitch. Neesh neesh neesh neesh neesh. Look at me, drunk on my own publishing power.)

One of the most frequent questions we get here is some variant of “How big a niche is too big?” or “How small a niche is too small?” We’ll try to tackle them all at once, quickly, before my cold medication sets in and I’m done for the day. Read More

I am so mad I could spit.

I haven’t been this mad since I read Seth Godin say in Linchpin that there is no map. (Of course there’s a fucking map. It might be a stupid map and you might realize, having followed the map, that it would have been more fulfilling to figure out the way on your own. But don’t tell me there’s no map.)

I have a client who has amassed a fairly impressive Twitter and Facebook following, despite having not used either service in over eight months. Somehow, thousands of people have decided to follow her or become her fans. She doesn’t know why, she doesn’t know what to do now, but she knows she’s sitting on a substantial resource.

It occurred to me that I know of absolutely NOTHING out there that can help someone with this problem. Read More

I don’t have writer’s block, per se. I’m writing just fine, thankyouverymuch. The problem is, ever since I started work on the greatest copywriting class in the history of the English language, I’ve been writing. About writing. And I’m momentarily fresh out of words.

While I allow the writing nodes of my brain to refresh themselves — and research podcasting how-tos — I will tell you a tiny story I’ve been meaning to tell for ages.

As described in many places — most vividly in the how to love your customers story — I don’t cook. This means many of my lessons come from restaurant marketing. (If I had any sense, I’d write a series on marketing ideas for restaurants. Then again, I would also quit smoking and floss more. Je ne regret riens, my ass.) Read More