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Tuesday Edition: What are your goals for May?

Last day to wrap up April epics!

To join in:

01 Share what you'd like to accomplish by the end of this year.

02 Share what your epic will for May?

03 Share whether you achieved your epic (a big chunk of work with a meaty objective) in April. Why or why not?

04 Comment on at least one fellow hacker's progress and give them an IH Point for their check in.

Optional:

05 Share your Work In Progress to underscore your accomplishments.

Then tune in the tomorrow to share how you did on your own tasks!

#daily-stand-up

  1. 2

    2019 EPIC

    • 5 paying customers for Automated API
    • (new addition) grow Threadbase.io by 25 paying users

    MAY EPIC

    • Get content trickling for Threadbase : 4 Medium Pieces and 4 Additions to the onboarding campaign
    • Launch DotNetNitro (more info to come but this is kinda nothing)
    • Finally Get AutomatedAPI working with Alpha users

    APRIL ACHIEVED?
    That's a hard negatory. School and the day job got in the way more than expected. But the semester is in the home stretch now so May should be better. I did manage to gain some good insight from freelance work that has led me to a decent method for dogfooding AutomatedAPI and generating real content to help potential customer actually make a decision about the product. Threadbase is also finally running, my goal there was always to just keep it running, so I'm trying to stay modest around that and mostly just to keep it alive and generating some traffic. I've done a lot of rethinking about how I schedule my time and commitments and I think I've got some good momentum going into May...even with a planned absence for the first few days of the month.

    KUDOS:
    I'm super excited to see all the action happening with @Harlem this month, and I'm glad to see @Davey making the time to let the internal devil's advocate have a voice in order to fully consider how to move forward.

    And Welcome to the threads @jakes, I hope you'll find this a useful one to be involved on. Never hesitate to reach out to your fellow IHers.

    WIP
    Threadbase.io (won't be mentioned much but its a high point for my Mar/Apr 2019)

    • One big development that came out of the threadbase acquisition and spinup has been a realization that I should spend more time working on audience building.
      AutomatedAPI.com
    1. 1

      Alright. You and I are on the content generation train.

      (Laughing!) Only an overachiever would consider launching a project "kinda nothing". Looking forward to the deets!

  2. 2

    2019 Goals
    Magnus Rush

    • 50 Interactive Podcasts Created by Podcast hosts: (5/50) 10%
    • 12k MAU for the App: (60/12k)

    April Goals
    Magnus Rush Milestone: Launch: 100% Complete
    Announcr Project Spinup: 100% Complete

    I got MR out into the world and started having more conversations with podcasters. Along the way I had a new idea that converged with the need to "make it worth my time" and began to investigate it once I saw the potential.

    May Goals
    [Magnus Rush]

    • Automate podcast outbound emails based on user activity to bring in 5 new podcasts
      [Announcr]
    • Validate market for businesses customer interest
    • Prototype App for live demos

    I made a decision to begin a new project late in April. It's a scary one because of the sheer size of it, but also far less risky from a technical perspective. I believe in the potential for MR to hit its goals and will work more on the sales/outreach/landing page/messaging to help it do so. This will also build some really weak skills of mine. I might decide to put the MR platform up for sale if Announcr takes off. It's a podcast app backed by incredible analytics with some truly innovative features, and should have long term legs of SOME kind.

    However, for me, a $400M+ Annual opportunity is far more interesting, even in failure, than one much smaller. The buildout will not be as nearly as complex as MR was, or take as long.

    Announcr makes use of a lot of different experiences I've had in customer success, analytics, data mining, ad tech, kiosk, interactive cinema, etc. There are a lot of pain points it solves for businesses, though I haven't isolated them yet in messaging. Initial user feedback for the solution itself is really good, and I think I can put the right value propositions in place for both sides (users AND businesses). It's complex in terms of messaging, as I need to keep 2 fronts going for the users AND the paying customers.
    In terms of getting to market, I have some excellent contacts to draw on thanks to my work in interactive cinema. I met owners/C-Level execs in the top 25 cinema chains in the country, and others globally. They represent only one segment of the target market but one I have great access to and which could scale. I also know some restaurant owners and store owners I can bounce the concept off of very quickly. Sales cycles will vary greatly due to the nature of the customer and whatever kind of purchasing processes they have.

    Did I Achieve April Goals?
    Yes! I stayed on target and worked to make up for lost time when the day gig and life got in the way

    KUDOS
    @jakes for jumping into the standup!

    WIPs
    Magnus Rush- Interactive Podcast app and Platform
    Announcr - 'Location-Based Messaging and Customer Experience' Landing Page
    Announcr - Screen Mockup Video
    Announcr - User Survey: Do you want to be treated like royalty?

    1. 1

      (Smiling) I guess if you're going to show yours, I should show mine. I haven't forgotten. Do you prefer I give feedback via IH or inbox. I'll definitely make time this weekend!

  3. 2

    EPIC

    By end of 2019

    • Make $1 from a product I launch

    By end of April

    • Finish MVP of Bookmark Drop

    I'm most of the way there. Had a really busy couple weeks at work so I wasn't able to put add some required features.

    ** By end of May**

    • Finish and launch Bookmark Drop

    I should finish the product in the first couple weeks of May and then launch by the end.

    ---
    I've seen this thread a few times but my first time participating. I'll try to comment on it more regularly!

    1. 1

      Welcome to the stand up party!

  4. 2

    EPIC

    By end of 2019

    5K MR ($2103.44 of $5,000 - $ 6.44 from Jeanius | $2097 from epiphany)

    BY END OF APRIL

    • Validate concept.

    Did I validate a concept? Maybe.

    Jeanius

    Jeanius performed quite well in the Google trials. My CTR was 11.04% and my conversion rate was 30.77%. But it ain't low hanging fruit. Jeanius will require a significant investment in time and VAs to build an audience organically. But the investment is not nearly as large as what Happy Endings requires.

    Epiphany

    The epiphany got me halfway to my end of year goal. But is it validated? I leveraged a community that I had already built --- nearly 7 years in the making. Is the community large enough for a monthly repeat performance? Would folks who don't know me buy this product? No idea. But I have sufficient sales to cover the cost of the product, so... what the hell.

    I'm also not sure how I feel about the epiphany. I learned how to program specifically to change contexts, learn new skills and shift my paradigm. Now I'm right back where I started. (Although I was able to code up a landing page hella fast.)

    But in seeing that it took me seven years to build a community, maybe it makes sense to start building the next, while leveraging the last.

    BY END OF MAY

    Hell, I don't know.

    • Continue generating content for Jeanius. See what else I can automate. Maybe a build a tool?
    • Build out 1/3 of the product for the epiphany?

    I gotta give this more thought.

    KUDOS: Pending.

    WIP: Jeanius

    1. 3

      Thanks for putting this thread together!

      1. 1

        Hope to see you around these parts more often!

    2. 2

      That number, she be goin' up!

  5. 1

    I have an app that's centered around locations. That's all I'll cover here until it becomes something more.

    2019 Goals

    • Production version of my current project (or a clear signal to abandon it) (with legal, design, coding all wrapped up).
    • Make a "side" project to be my main project.

    May Epic (working a few hours a week)

    • Codify the C/R/U/D for my project
    • Have a fully functioning page for a single "location"

    April?

    • I just started. But I've made progress.

    Kudos

    Cop Out. I'm kind of a lurker and am just figuring out my bearings in IH. It's super helpful to see people go through similar struggles that I go through... but then move past them.

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