That's the one thing I am slowly learning from this venture. I need to have Patience. I sit and answer kids questions for free day after day, week after week, month after month.
Things will not happen overnight that I know. Yet I've also learnt that just because things are happening very slowly doesnt mean they wont happen at all. My first sale was a year AFTER I started doing this. I made 3 sales in a rush and nothing after that! Luck? I hope not.
Its taken me a year,three and a half grand and God alone knows how many hours to make a grand. A grand!!! That's all. And the best part is I still havent gotten that grand for the simple reason that my Payment Vendor says and I quote
"Due to the total balance being under 35, this amount will be carried-over and paid to you on the next payment cycle, if you have any questions regarding this, please contact your account manager."
My balance is $23.16.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Up to Speed!
I should give credit where its due-- in this case my Mom. She came home fm Mumbai,in Feb2005, carrying a paper clipping in her bag about how CL was tutoring kids online and she wondered why I couldnt do something similar. Well, I had always said I was fond of teaching, I had 24hrs Internet access and I was decently good at Math so I thought "why the hell not?"
And so I started.
I took it nice and slow at first. While I researched the competition, I also started posting at various sites, looking at the type of questions being asked, why particular posters were more enthusiastically received and what worked for the student.I also made a list of the things I would need to seriously take up this.Top on my list was a computer(though that didnt arrive) till Jan2006.
I researched hosting options, domain name registrations, compared competitors and drew rough drafts of what I wanted the site to look at.
However, my real piece of luck came when I met 64BitWhore via PagalGuy.com(India's largest MBA forum). He really kick-started everything.I hadnt yet registered a domain name so over 2 sleepless days and nights we thrashed over a domain name and I finally registered that. A little later I got my server as well. He really helped me a lot--fm Domain Name selection+registration to setting up the pages and the advertising and general advice and really a whole lot more that I can put down here.
I registered the domain on 13/8. 13/8!!! 6 whole months after I had started doing this. Sure I had a Tripod page up but that couldnt really be considered anything worthwhile. 6 months is a long time. Had I registered earlier, the search engines would have found me earlier, and perhaps I would be better off than I am today.
My mistakes?? Plenty!!
I waited too long to register a domain name.
I really didnt search thoroughly for the lowest prices. I found a hosting solution with Rediff that would have cost me 2.5k. Instead I got everything done for less that 1.5K.
I hadnt researched payment vendors enough. I was going to go with PayPal!!
I had no idea how I was going to advertise or make the site popular
Guess I've come a long way since then. Still there are plenty of things I could improve. But isnt that the best part on entrepreneurship? Learning and whatever mistake you make, is --well whatever... :-)
p.s. Though it may look like I make a post only when I make a sale, that's not true! Been working on this for a while but yeah sale count is now 3! :-)
And so I started.
I took it nice and slow at first. While I researched the competition, I also started posting at various sites, looking at the type of questions being asked, why particular posters were more enthusiastically received and what worked for the student.I also made a list of the things I would need to seriously take up this.Top on my list was a computer(though that didnt arrive) till Jan2006.
I researched hosting options, domain name registrations, compared competitors and drew rough drafts of what I wanted the site to look at.
However, my real piece of luck came when I met 64BitWhore via PagalGuy.com(India's largest MBA forum). He really kick-started everything.I hadnt yet registered a domain name so over 2 sleepless days and nights we thrashed over a domain name and I finally registered that. A little later I got my server as well. He really helped me a lot--fm Domain Name selection+registration to setting up the pages and the advertising and general advice and really a whole lot more that I can put down here.
I registered the domain on 13/8. 13/8!!! 6 whole months after I had started doing this. Sure I had a Tripod page up but that couldnt really be considered anything worthwhile. 6 months is a long time. Had I registered earlier, the search engines would have found me earlier, and perhaps I would be better off than I am today.
My mistakes?? Plenty!!
I waited too long to register a domain name.
I really didnt search thoroughly for the lowest prices. I found a hosting solution with Rediff that would have cost me 2.5k. Instead I got everything done for less that 1.5K.
I hadnt researched payment vendors enough. I was going to go with PayPal!!
I had no idea how I was going to advertise or make the site popular
Guess I've come a long way since then. Still there are plenty of things I could improve. But isnt that the best part on entrepreneurship? Learning and whatever mistake you make, is --well whatever... :-)
p.s. Though it may look like I make a post only when I make a sale, that's not true! Been working on this for a while but yeah sale count is now 3! :-)
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Why?
Why do people blog? I always thought Blogging was kinda egoistic(or is it egotistic--i forget which is the correct word). I mean, I know that some blogs are downright hilarious, for e.g. Sidin's blog, but the rest? What made them think that total strangers would be interested in reading their blog?
Why should you be reading even this in the first place? Apart from wasting atleast 2 mins of your time, what purpose does it serve? And what do you gain from it?
So why am I blogging? Show-Off obviously!!! Well, also the fact that I promised myself I would start a blog when I made my first sale.
Why?
Like I said--Ego. Leaving my marks for posterity. Someday when I become really famous somebody's gonna discover this blog and then you'll get a peek into my life from the time it started to get exciting!
Or perhaps I'll cringe at how idioticly naive I was. And Arrogant. And stupid.
Oh, and the count is now 2 sales!! :-)
Why should you be reading even this in the first place? Apart from wasting atleast 2 mins of your time, what purpose does it serve? And what do you gain from it?
So why am I blogging? Show-Off obviously!!! Well, also the fact that I promised myself I would start a blog when I made my first sale.
Why?
Like I said--Ego. Leaving my marks for posterity. Someday when I become really famous somebody's gonna discover this blog and then you'll get a peek into my life from the time it started to get exciting!
Or perhaps I'll cringe at how idioticly naive I was. And Arrogant. And stupid.
Oh, and the count is now 2 sales!! :-)
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