instigatorblog.com — #2 Software - I’m not advocating the use of pirated software, but there are plenty of online tools that are inexpensive or free, and can be just as effective for starting up your business as more traditional software. Ex. Google Spreadsheets, Writely, Blinksale, StikiPad, Skype…
Oct 2, 2006 View in Crawl 4
astrophxOct 2, 2006
Dear Digg Developers.,Please give me the ability to digg down entire threads that suck so that it never ever appears at the top of the list of comments. For a good example, see this one.For Chrissakes, we know Digg has a funky mechanism for scoring. Deal with it.
sacrificeOct 2, 2006
@thebraI disagree. There are many excellent free software packages. OpenOffice may lack some advanced features, but it is great for the average user.
armbarOct 2, 2006
My bandwidth month, for example, starts on the 19th of every month.
sr_webOct 2, 2006
No I totally agree that there is good free software but I don't agree with ruling out commercial software. Theres lots of good free software out there, but *most* of the time you get what you pay for.
kf6bblOct 2, 2006
Honestly I think this guy's comments are worthless. You can't make a box of do's and don'ts and apply that to all startup businesses. In a nutshell he is saying don't do any real marketing, don't buy any tools to do your job, and don't get anyone to perform the work.1+3)marketing - brochures and fancy cards are obviously not required by all types of business, but if you are going to put yourself in front of a customer and not have anything at all, you're going to look like a fool. You can have fancy marketing materials, but you don't need a truckload of them. For $100 a Kinko's you can get glossy pamphlets for your product or service, and still look like a playa.And Google adwords are a good way to suck huge amounts of cash out of your hands without anything to show for it. $1000 can get an ad in a lot of print mags that will be effective for 60 days, where $1000 of adwords might get you a fleeting glimpse on the web. Experience is talking here, BTW.2)Software- look at this as one of the tools of your business. If a mechanic can buy $3K in Snap-On wrenches, I can justify a $3K CAD program because I can easily see the cost savings of having that tool and the support that comes with it. Certain software like quickbooks (no support bastards) are neccesary evils, but only a couple hundred $$. And for the rest, grow an eye patch, or use some FOSS.4)Office space - Maybe the closest to right this guy gets, but your city probably will take a dim view on this. Have to stay low key to get away with the home office thing in some areas.5)Staff - If you need help, you need help. Thanks to Starbucks there are now 80 hours in a workweek for the new business owner. If you still can't get it done in that time, for god sake, hire someone. Excessive use of outside services or outsourcing is wasteful, since you'll probably be spending too much. If your budget is tight you can bring in part-timers, students, no experience, etc, and train them. Chances are the tasks you would like to unload first are nothing technical or requiring advanced degrees. Here is an important concept someone much smarter than myself taught me - "Your job as a business owner is to put yourself out of a job". I see far too many business owners that are basically stuck in their role in their own business, and the entire value of the business is the skills and talents of the owner.
skaflocOct 4, 2006
Beer, alcohol, liquor, spirit and booze?