Category: Business

Started a new Development Project – Getting Over the Hump

If you’re anything like me, sometime getting started is the hardest part of any new endeavor.  Right now, I’m ready to start converting my Service Dashboard to Web Dynpro.  I haven’t done a real project in Web Dynpro yet, so getting started can be tough for me.  I have a tendency to get stuck in my own head.  Like tonight, I’ve got things setup by moving the ERP code into my Web Dynpro system, but then I started waffling… where do I start?  what do I do first?  How did I start when I did the textbook exercises?

Ugh…  I tend do this from time to time…  Every time, this is one cure.  DO SOMETHING!!!  it doesn’t matter if it’s right, or if you need to re-do…  but for me, if I don’t do something, I end up never doing anything.

Learn from me…  just start doing something… when I finish this post, that’s exactly what I’m going to do =)

Now, if only I didn’t have 10 other things I was trying to accomplish at the same time =)  I covered that in another post though on time management.

Dropbox – Getting the most out of the cloud

I think I may have touched on this a while ago, but I’m constantly reminded of just how useful having a ropbox account is.  Originally I created a Dropbox account just so I could easily most large files from one computer to another.  Since that time, my appreciation has only grown.

The first great thing about Dropbox is that you can share folders.  This means it is incredibly easy to share pictures (even large file sizes) with any group of people you choose.  If you have Dropbox start automatically on your computer, you will get a quick notification that new files or changed files exist in your folder, so it’s easy to know if you have something new to look at.

Next up, the whole cloud concept.  I confess, I heard about the cloud for a long time and never really got the concept until recently.  Now I finally get that it’s just a virtual location for some or all of your files.  Why do you care?  Well, you never know when your HDD is gonna fail (if you read some of my earlier posts, you know that I’ve had major heartaches when my hard drive died).  The cloud lets you put those files somewhere else that is safe, and highly unlikely that those HDD will die at the same time as your own.

Collaboration is the next great thing.  While it’s not quite as cool as I’ve heard that Google docs is, sharing specifications and business documents with my partner has never been easier.  We have a shared folder, and we keep everything important in there.  If we make changes to something, we can instantly let the other know to take a look at the latest updates.  Otherwise, I’ve always had to deal with emailing file back and forth, and waiting for a new attachment, then making sure that you only keep the latest version, blah blah blah… you get the idea.

Anyway, I’m not getting paid for this, but I do highly encourage you to get a Dropbox account.  It’s a free cloud if nothing else (and you can share things even on your smartphone from your computer).

Mike

Idiot Proofing your Software

Today I just want to talk about something that is pretty obvious to most people, but I hope to give you a few new ideas on it anyway.  The topic today is idiot proofing your application.  Now, let me go on record by saying idiot proofing your software is pretty much impossible, however, you still need to you best.  I had a friend that used to tell me, “you can monkey proof your software all you want, but they just hiring better monkeys”.

So do you just run through it once, and call it good since you know it’ll be broken anyway?  of course not.  For me, this has always been a challenge.  I’m part of a small business, and I’m the lone developer.  That means, I’ve gotten really good at fixing the things I know will happen, but it also means that I tend to get tunnel vision.  I believe it a common thing among developers, but the key is to avoid that trap.  So here are some of the ways I’m trying to improve my own products…

1.  Get someone that knows nothing about product to play with it.  If I could get her interested, my wife would be a perfect test subject.  She doesn’t use SAP, she knows nothing about service, but she does understand IT and software.  By getting someone with no idea what is supposed to happen means that they will push all the buttons you never expected anyone to push.  They will also look at it from a purely aesthetic perspective, something that I don’t do as well.

2.  Next, if you can, get someone that isn’t good with software, but understands the business.  this will give you the true test if you got the right info.  If someone looks at the information generated, and says “this would help me run my business”, then you’re onto something.

3.  finally, get another developer to look at your stuff.  they’ll look at some of the ways you’ve done things and ask “why?”  Often, we know a way to do something, so we don’t look for better ways.  Often I’ll go to someplace like tech-ed or even a blog post and notice a strange piece of code.  I look at it closer, next thing you know, I’ve found a better way to do something 🙂  The problem is that I don’t have the time to reveiw everything, and I’m biased, so I don’t see anything wrong with my approach.  But…  if someone else asks why did I do this, instead of that? well, it forces me to look at my stuff and either explain why it had to be done this way, or I may say…  hmmmm, that’s a better way.  Now I know a new way to do it.  ha ha ha

The last point is to do this early and often in your development cycle.  Point #2 is really something you should get before you even start programming.  Sketch what you’re thinking, and show it to a business person.  Ask if it would help… if not, why bother?

Anyway, this has been on my mind lately, so if you have some other good ideas, or are interested in playing with anything I’ve done, I’m always interested in having another set of eyes look at my stuff.

thanks,

Mike

Getting Some Help – When is it the right time?

Being a small company, it’s a big deal whenever you start thinking about bringing in more help.  Right now, I’m the only developer for a small software company.  that means, I have a limitless amount of work that I can do, and since I’m still doing consulting, my time isn’t limitless 🙂  So, how do you fix this issue…

1.  Space the work out, and prioritize!!!
2.  Bring in some additional help

Recently, my partner found someone interested in working with us…  but are we ready for it?  Since I am admittedly a bit of a control freak when it comes the software, I’m naturally resistant to the idea.  Do we need it?  can we afford it? How do I know he’s any good? etc.

So this post is going to be about all the things to consider when you start to think about bringing in some help.

1.  Financial:  We’re small, so we can’t afford to pay someone by the hour, especially for something that “may” sell, but we don’t have any orders for it.  that pretty much leaves paying a percentage of sales on the product.  Even this is hard because our margins are still tight.  We’re offering big money for anyone that can get us a lead (FYI.  $10,000 is still out there if you connect us with a lead that brings in a sales.  No selling, just give us the lead).  On the flip side, 100% of 0, is still 0.  So it’s better to get a some of something, than get nothing…  you get the idea.  Plus, it may help open new markets/prospects.

2.  The application:  It must be designed as a standalone application, but still be easy to integrate with our existing offerings.  Sounds easy, but since I’ve done all the development, I haven’t really documented my standards.  So having someone new comes in would force me to figure out what I want.  While I am the CTO of this venture, I haven’t really acted like one up till now.  I’d still need to review the code, but this would give me a chance to learn some new techniques.  Never a bad thing. finally, is there a market for the new product?  Is it really important enough to bring in someone new?

3.  Legal:  This is the tough part.  We need Non disclosure agreements, as well as documents that give our company complete ownership of this stuff, and still provide the % to the developer.  We need to expressly state that no money changes hands until we get paid.  Plus, there is the whole issue of developer license.  We only have one currently, but I’ll talk more about that in section 4.

4.  Technical:  How will he develop?  I’d have to set up a system for him to create everything in and provide access to that system.  Not impossible, but certainly one more challenge to deal with.  The developer license is an issue.  We only have one, so do we need to buy another, or can we find an alternative?

Anyway, these are the angles to consider.  I think I’ve made my choice… but I’ll talk more about that in the future =)

thanks for reading,

Mike

Making a Sales is a Lot Like Dating

I heard this statement in one my marketing lessons, and it really struck me as an interesting analogy.  When I stopped to think about it, it really is more true than I imagined.  So let’s look at this, you’re looking to make a sale, what’s the first thing you need, you need a customer.  The customer is key to everything, without them, you have nothing.  I know what you’re thinking, duh!!!  But bear with me as I get to my point 🙂

A customer is a lot like looking for husband/wife.  You may go to a bar, or meet someone in a public place.  Do you see someone, and just walk up to a stranger and ask them to marry you???  Of course not.  But why?  because you don’t know if they are a fit for you, or vice versa.  Plus, what person in their right mind would say yes.  So how do you figure out if you’re “right” for each other.  You take small steps.  How about going out for coffee to talk?  Well, in the business world this is a lot like checking out your website or blog.  It gives your prospect the chance to get to know you slowly.  By putting out a blog, you let the prospect see that you know what you’re talking about and figure out if there’s any reason to go further.  So, you’ve gone for “coffee” and kinda like what you see.  So you move to the next level, how about a real date…  in the business world, this would be some form of opt-in, like an auto-responder, a mailing list, or a newsletter.  This says I’m interested enough to get free info from you…  but nothing more.  Ok…  now you’re dating…  but it’s still early stages.  It doesn’t mean you’re exclusive or invested…  just interested.  Now if you have enough qualities your customer likes, they may buy something small from you… a sort of trial thing.  This could be like meeting hte parents, or going on vacation together.  It’s still not marriage, but it’s pretty serious.  If the customer likes the small thing they bought, they may finally invest in your big offering…

Now of course marriage isn’t a perfect analogy, since you want as many customers as possible (well, unless you live in Utah).  But you get the idea.  You need to present enough value to get the customer interested in you.  They aren’t just gonna give you their money until they know you can provide the value you claim.  Plus, if you follow the idea of the “Ideal Customer”, you want to check out the customer too and see if they fit for you.  This is a two way street (of course, in my case, I’m early on, so my ideal customer is anyone that will buy from me.  ha ha ha).  but I look forward to becoming more exclusive in the coming year.

anyway, thanks for reading,

Mike

Happy Thanksgiving

This is a just a quick post to wish you and your family a great Thanksgiving.  I’ll be taking the next days off, so no new posts.  I hope you’ll be taking the next few days to enjoy time with the special people in your life.

For me, it’s a chance to reflect on how thankful I am for everything I have in my life.  I’m thankful my great friends, many of whom I just don’t see often enough anymore, my wonderful family, most of whom will actually be at our house starting today.  Wow, it’ll be crazy.

I’m thankful for my awesome son, who cracks me up on a daily basis.  I’m thankful our coming soon addition is healthy and I look forward to meeting him/her in just another 6 months (holy cow).  I’m thankful for my loving wife, who generously puts up with my obsession in this new business venture.  God bless her, because I doubt I’m easy to live with =)

I’m thankful for my new company and my new partner.  Together, we’re going places…  we just need to keep plugging away.  Thanks Mike…

And I’m very thankful to all of you.  Until recently, I didn’t think anyone was reading this stuff.  However, I’ve been comments from a lot of you, and I have to say, it makes me feel pretty good.  First, that I’m not doing this for nothing, and second that you spend your valuable time to read my ramblings =)

Anyway, have a great holiday, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Mike

Challenges of the First Sale

Hi again,

For those of you that follow me, you know that I’m trying to launch my SAP Add-on Applications business.  Well, if you remember, several months ago I announced that my first sale was pending.  Well, it is still pending, and I just wanted to relay some of the challenges I’ve encountered, and some lessons I’ve learned based on my experiences over the past few months (I know, crazy the amount of time it can take for customers to truly decide to buy).

Everything started a couple years ago when I worked at a client, and the need for a service dashboard first popped into my head.  As it turns out, one my clients that consulted for was interested in my dashboard.  Imagine my excitement.  Someone wants to buy what I’ve put nearly 6 months of work into (at that time, since it’s been even more.  lol).  Sweet…  so I scheduled a demo, everyone liked it…  then I waited…  I emailed to check in to see if there were questions I could answer.  I always tried to not pressure my prospect, so I’d just drop an email every 2 weeks or so to see if there were questions i could answer, or anything that would help them decide if my dashboard would be a fit.

Eventually, I get an email that says my prospect is interested…  Now I’m really excited.  So next begins the negotiations on price.  Well, my first piece of advise, set your bottom price you will accept, AND STICK TO IT.  I failed this first test.  When the prospect came back and gave me the price they thought was fair, it was $5000 less than my bottom line.  What did I say?  “OK”.  What should I have said…  “I’m sorry, but for we can’t possibly sell something for less than X”.  Ok…  so I dropped the first ball, but whatever, I got my first sale, and I just need them to sign my paperwork.  Oops.  I don’t have any paperwork.

So, next mission is come up with all of the terms and conditions.  Luckily for me, I at least had the legal portions of this that I got done a while ago.  But, I still needed the specific purchase agreement document.  Lucky for me, I’ve been a consultant for a while, so I know all about contracts.  I also had my SAP paperwork that had the agreement for my partnership.  This made a perfect starting point, so I quickly put it together, ran it past my partner.  We hashed out the details we could live with and quickly sent it over to my customer.  I’m giddy as a school girl.  I can see my first payday for all the effort that I’ve put into this venture.  I’m already planning my next product that I’m going to sell to this prospect…  it’s awesome.

Well, more waiting…  roughly ever other week, I’d finally get some feedback from the prospect.  The first round was a lot of changes, to both the legal document and purchase document.  So, first order of business is getting my lawyer to look at it and make sure I’m still protected, and won’t lose my software based on the wording from the prospect.  Within a week, I hear back and have my answers.  So I do my markups.  Now the purchase agreement is where the trouble came in…

Now, keep in mind, I’m still excited, this is my first sale, and I can’t wait to make it happen.  But, I start reading the markups and I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I vent for a few minutes to my partner, and then calm down.  The prospect is now requiring free training.  Well, it’s a report…  who needs to be trained on a report???  anyway, we decide that training isn’t being given for free.  We’re already selling this at a 60% discount (a  lot lower than I wanted).  Then, the payment terms are suddenly 1/2 now, 1/2 after implementation.  the problem is that implementation from our side is a 1 day event.  But, suddenly 1/2 of the money would be withheld until the prospect decided to implement and receive their free training…  Ugh… Then to top it all off, our business model (and everyone that I’ve talked to who does similar software) charges a yearly software maintenance agreement or licensing for a number of users.  Either way, it’s residual income year after year.  The prospect said no… we don’t want that.

So, I start with my first round of compromises (all of which benefit the prospect).  I did hold firm on no free training.  But I gave in, and say 1/2 up front, 1/2 after 2 weeks…  I made the SMA optional, and I even discounted it… something we originally agreed we wouldn’t do.  And we gave in on most of the legal points…

Two more weeks go by, and we get the next revision…  pretty much asking for more.  Training is required.  and the payment schedule of 1/2 up front, 1/2 after 2 weeks wasn’t acceptable.  We compromised again.  We gave in the training, and said 1/2 up front, 1/2 after a month.  It’s a report, takes 5 minutes to install.  No configuration is required…  so anything more than a week…

Still not good enough…  at this point, I have stopped compromising.  I’ve already agreed to more than I should have, and the possibility of getting the 2nd half at some arbitrary date in the future, was more than I could accept.  So I sent the paperwork back one last time, nothing additional offered.

So, after all this… what did I learn above all else?  Be willing to walk away.  If you keep giving in, the customer is going to keep asking for more.  It’s no one’s fault but my own.  I don’t know if my prospect will sign or not.  And I’m ok with it.    Don’t get me wrong.  I really want the sale, but I’ve already got to a point where making this sale is no longer a financial win for me.  I know this was long winded… but I wanted to let you know that the sale isn’t everything.  Even if it isn’t a physical product, there is still a point where the sale isn’t worth what you’ve given up.  So, stay firm, and don’t get too attached to that sale.

As always, learning things the hard way so you don’t have to =)

thanks for reading,

Mike

 

Managing your Time – Avoid Getting Overwhelmed

Hi everyone,

Today I want to talk about something that is hitting me dead square in the nuts.  Time management.  For my friends, they know that I tend to be a little of a driven personality.  I see a goal, and do everything possible to meet that goal.  it’s a good trait…  as long as you can manage your goals 🙂  right now, I’m looking at all the things I have on my plate, and starting to realize that I just can’t keep up.  let me give you an example.  Currently, I’m a small company, so that means I wear MANY hats.  Right now, I’m working on doing a major overhaul to our new product Proximity, I’m trying to write 5 blog posts a week, I recently finished my first autoresponder class for SM, I have my “day” job that takes 40 – 50/hrs a week (a lot more hours than my previous couple of contracts).  On top of that, I have marketing materials for my current products that need to be created, web pages that need to be added, and I still need to maintain the day to day business paperwork.

When I read the couple of sentences, it really doesn’t sound that bad.  But then I look at my to-do list (BTW, I still recommend Remember the Milk if you don’t already have a system), and it’s up over 20 items every day.  What does that mean?  it means i can’t keep up with the schedules I’ve set for myself.  It’s becoming a good day if I can get my list under 15…  and I’m ecstatic if I can get it under 10.  Accomplishing everything, just isn’t happening.  that means, I haven’t estimated very well, and I’m fall behind. there’s a very simple solution to this…  I need to re-evaluate everything I’m working.  Is it reasonable to do 5 blog posts a week?  is starting a new auto-responder course worth my effort right now?  What am I losing by not having my marketing materials up to date on my website?

Now, for me, I often have a hard time admitting that I can’t accomplish it all.  But I’ve been running at this rate for the past month, and I’m working till 1AM every night and then getting up at 6:30am every morning to start again.  No one can keep this up forever (at least I know that I can’t…  I’ve already noticed I’m cranky and have been getting more headaches).

So this post for anyone out there trying to get stuff done…  Focus on the most important tasks first…  but if you have too many tasks and you’re starting to notice you can’t get anything done…  it’s time to put some things on the back burner.  it doesn’t mean it won’t come back… but it’s important to hit the most vital tasks, and do them right.  then come back to the other tasks when you have the time to devote to them.

Hope this helps you out,

Mike

 

Putting together my first Autoresponder

For those of you that know me, you know that I am far from a sales/marketing type person.  I’m an engineer/computer programmer.  So this journey of sales and marketing has been a challenging.  My friend Justin and I have been doing this on-line program called the remarkable marketing blueprint.  All of the information is solid, and useful.  The hard part as been trying to apply it to what I do.  I’m not really a writer, or a hard-core blogger.  I don’t sell small products or services for the masses.  I do highly specialized service and applications for a LARGE computer program.  What I have found is that there is more in common than I ever expected.

Because of that course, I actually took the time to put together my first auto-responder course.  Sounds easy right?  just spew out stuff that know by heart, and drop it into mail program.  Well, for me, that was hardly the case.  In order to try to make the content worthwhile, I spent a lot of time coming up with the topics to talk about, getting screen shots and collecting all the relevant data to the subject.  In short, I spent about 10 times longer building this than I expected.  Don’t get me wrong, I would do it again.  Even sharpening my skills (and like so much of this blog) it’s a notebook to remind me how to do things if I forget =)

Well, I’ll touch a little on the technical side as well.  I chose to build a web page for each of my E-Course Lessons.  I then did a small email with the first paragraph or two from the auto-responder with a link to the page.  I did this for 2 reasons, and my thinking may have been flawed.  So if anyone reading this actually knows how to do this stuff, please feel free to give me some constructive criticism (go easy on me…  it’s my first time).  First, I wanted to get people to my website, so they could see everything I had to offer, including the blog, newsletters, and of course my products.  Second, Mailchimp has this really cool feature that tells me if anyone clicks on a link from my email.  This gives me a heads up if anyone is actually reading the stuff, or if just getting the emails.

So far, I have about 4 people that signed up.  You have to start somewhere 🙂  if you’re interested in learning how to improve your SAP SM, give it a read.  You might just learn something,

thanks for reading,

Mike

Finding a New Audience

Well, since I like to be diverse, I’m jumping back to some of my marketing efforts.  Once again, some of my best ideas come from talking to my good friend Justin.  We were recently chatting, and he put the idea in my head of the “guest” blog post.  this is a concept out of the Remarkable marketing Blueprint.  We both signed up for this, and it has been so helpful to have another perspective.  Well, the idea of the guest post I pretty much wrote off.  Who would I guest post on?  I’ve looked, and I can’t even find any other blogs talking about SAP Service Management.

Justin, in his great way of playing devil’s advocate with me brought up the idea that posting on SDN is just like a guest blog post.  it is a new audience, new readers and another place for me to try to jump start my readership.  So…  for that reason, you’ll notice that I’m only going to be posting 4 times a week.  I’m going to start moving one of those posts over to SDN.  If you’re one of my readers, I’d love it if you could follow me out there as well.

Michael Piehl on SDN

Anyway, thanks for reading, and please feel free to forward me onto your friends or colleagues that you think might benefits from some good SAP knowledge =)

Mike

Posts navigation

1 2 3 … 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
Scroll to top