Have a Business Plan

Since August I’ve come up with or have launched a number of side projects in hopes of increasing revenue streams so I’m not as busy during the school year. Unfortunately, I’ve left out one “minor” detail with these- a business plan. This doesn’t have to be in the form of an official, written plan that you’d submit for funding (but I’m sure that helps). It’s more about making a plan and giving your side project some direction as opposed to just slapping together something and releasing it to the world.

I’m currently working on a presentation for one of my SE classes about Trade-off Analysis in Web Development. It mentions that a lot of web apps are rushed to the market with not quite perfect but present features, and that’s what’s more important. However, I’m the lone developer on most of these projects and that’s not necessarily the best course of action for me. For one, I don’t have a huge user base of people ready and willing to test for me. Second, while I usually come up with an idea, I don’t have foresight as to where the project would and could go. This is something I need to think about. And third, something I am going to elaborate on in another post, I don’t have the capital for marketing. So what do I do?

Well, I do have the advantage of being in an academic environment. I know a lot of people who are willing to connect me with the people I need to talk to. However, when I meet with those people I need to be ready and tell them what my idea is, how it will start, how it will make money, and where I want it to go 6 months, 1 year, 3 years down the road. It shows not only that I’m serious about pursuing the idea (as in I’m willing to invest that kind of time into it), but that I’ve taken the idea past the whimsical, “Hey, I wonder if this would work” phase.

So right now, some of my projects are in limbo until I can get them on an actual track. It’s a minor set back, but it’s something I’m glad I learned now, as opposed to when I am out of school and have so much more to lose.