THE DRAWING BOARD - Daily updates
May 19th , 2009
Sketch Cards
The latest set of cards drying on the stove, before they go out into the world.
I was listening to a podcast ( I know, I’m a podcast addict) with a guy named Derek Sivers. He’s the guy that started a site called CDBaby.com His story is basically, he started selling his own CDs on the net and then started selling his friends CDs and eventually it grew into CD Baby and in 2006 he ended up selling his company for $22 Million dollars. (That’s probably the worst, readers digest version of the guy every wrote, but you get the just of it)
Anyway during this interview he talked about how he gets a lot of euntrepenure types asking his advice about starting there own web businesses and he said, Quote: “ Just give yourself a ten day deadline, and launch it. Just whip it up in ten days and do it with almost no features. Don’t do a coming soon that sits there for a year while you try to perfect this thing. Just whip up something quick and ugly in a week or two, with no money and just start doing it even if you have one client and one customer and then just improve on it from there. Because, I see too many people that get paralyzed into thinking, oh God we’re going to need ten million dollars in venture capital and make this thing perfect. We’re going to have to get a team of twenty engineer to make the most amazing software ever and then (they) sit in development for a year and while they spent that year in hiding the world has changed around them. The idea they had a year ago might not be so happening a year later. There’s a huge advantage if slapping something up quickly and getting feedback from the world and improving it from there. Also if the world is not into your idea you’ll know it a lot earlier before you spent ten million dollars.”
I really agree with that and I think it pertains to a lot of artists in a big way. So many artists spend years and years ‘getting ready’ for there careers. They paint and practice forever, but never take the step of publishing a book, or making prints, getting in a gallery, doing a mini-comic, webcomic, whatever. Basically doing anything that will give themselves a chance to make a living at it.
The internet is full of incredible, mind-blowing artists and the vast majority of them are basically doing nothing with any of it. You hit there websites, there’s nothing for sale, no books, no prints, you couldn’t even give them ten bucks if I wanted to. What’s the point of having a site at all.
Your always better off with the good plan today, rather than waiting the perfect plan next year. It sounds funny, but it true.
See you tommorrow
Jeff
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