How to succeed as a hamster November 28, 2009
Posted by Mike in : Mike, Productivity , 1 comment so farI once had two hamsters. Had them in a box in the garage. They had their own wheel, bowl, lots of cedar chips and fuzzies to play in.
I’d go out everyday and see them, pick them up and play.
One day, one of them stayed in the corner. Just hunkered down and tucked his head in. The other would jump and play and stand on his little feet sniffing the air when I came over saying..”play with me! play with me!”.
I tried to engage the other one, but he just looked up at me in an I’m busy yet sad type of way, like he was left out of the fun and no one wanted to play with him.
I’d see him eat occasionally so I knew he wasn’t sick, but he’d just go back to his sad little corner and bury himself and his head back down into the cedar chips and kinda shiver.
Everytime I’d go to scoop him up, the other would rush over and jump on my hand, and snuggle in, and wanted all the attention, so I’d play with him. I felt so sorry for the other little guy.
Then one day I come home and go into the garage, and they are gone.
No one was home and there were no cats around and I could not figure out what happened.
I fished around and it turned out that little frail scared hamster was digging a hole in the box while the other kept me busy. The fuckers.
Moral: Just keep working even if you feel like a caged dying animal, for that’s the way out.
Can love stimulate creativity in business? November 28, 2009
Posted by Mike in : Mike, Motivation , add a commentIt seems most poets and artists have a muse. Is it that object of their affection that inspires them to create masterpieces or is it something else?
The answer is: both, but mostly something else.
Love can inspire you to create beautiful things, however the act of producing something you are passionate about makes you a creative and loving person. This will attract others of like minds and that will re-inspire you.
I have found that if you neglect that latter part and are waiting for love to inspire you, you will never create anything.
I lost sight of that recently and was focused on money, wanting a vacation and being a whiny bitch.
I left town in a huff last night and here I sit on a public computer in a lobby in Chicago realizing just how far off track I’ve been.
You have to love yourself first. And those you really love, that have actually inspired you, deserve to have that favor returned in a productive way.
Yes, love can give you creative energy, but just do the production as mundane as it may be. Starting will give you the fire you need.
Smile! You’re in Business. November 27, 2009
Posted by Rio in : Business, Entrepreneurship, Rio , add a commentPeople’s default attitude when I tell them I’m “in business” is that they assume I’m a boring, heartless corporate drone. Or something like that. I was taking pictures for one of my websites and I asked my subject to smile, or at least pretend to look happy. His goes: “Smile? I thought this was a serious company.” I think I died a little inside.
Business gets a bad rap for being boring and corporate. But that’s not what business is about. Business is about fun.
Watch this video on fun. It’s lovely:
Get focused, it says. Stop hiding who you really are. Break the rules. It’s about what you can do, not what you can’t do. Be creative, start scaring yourself. Take action. Start something. Sounds like business to me.
The most successful business owners out there today are the icons, the characters, the Steve Jobs and Richard Bransons of the world. In order to get publicity for Virgin, Richard Branson started doing all sorts of stunts and taking risks and doing balloon rides around the world. This got him some cheap publicity. It’s the characters that get all the attention. Good thing, because marketing can be expensive.
Have passion, make your own choices, and have fun doing it.
In the words of Hugh MacLoed: Don’t try to stand out from the crowd: avoid crowds altogether.
I’d have to add: Don’t take yourself so fucking seriously. Smile sometimes. People like that.
How to Overcome Fear November 22, 2009
Posted by Mike in : Mike, Motivation , 1 comment so farHow do you overcome fear? Fear of meetings. Fear of failure. Fear of what your friends and family will think. Fear of anything that does not actually harm you, like public speaking. Some people fear that more than death.
There are two ways to overcoming fear:
The first is by brute force. You vomit in the bathroom, pop a mint, then walk into that boardroom. It’s best to start slow however. The idea is, it becomes like resistance training with weights. You start off light and work up gradually increasing the weights. Each new situation will always hurt, but the light weights you lifted when you started don’t hurt at all anymore.
Fear is like that. Things that scared you as a child no longer do…except for clowns of course. However, overcoming fear by brute force is inefficient. Takes time and a lot of pain.
There is a second approach. Eliminating fear altogether.
Sounds crazy. How do you eliminate fear? Isn’t fear helpful? Yes it is but only in the fight or flight response that comes from a life-threatening situation. It is in the non-threatening situations like public speaking where fear is detrimental to the success of that meeting. As we all say to ourselves, “If I can just relax, be myself, sound professional, don’t mess up, then I will be successful”. That is true to some extent and that knowledge increases the tension, compounding the problem.
The truth is that fear shows that you have made a fundamental error in your perception of reality.
Take for example an overheard work conversation. You hear your boss around a corner speaking to someone else saying “I’m going to have to fire Mike tomorrow, he does not know it yet so don’t tell anyone”. The rest of the day you see people looking at you odd, your gut hurts, you go home and go over all you did and think about what can you change. It’s only the next day at 8am you find out he was talking about Mike in accounting, not you.
All that fear you felt was wrong. Fear is just telling you that you need to change your reality. It’s a warning sign that you’ve got something wrong. You had an illusion about what reality was when it was not.
Now this is going to get a little trippy here, so bear with me.
Have you ever been in a dream and you wake fully frightened and say “I thought for sure it was real!”. You had a fundamental flaw in your perception of reality while you were coming out of a dream state. If you had known that it was a dream, you would have no fear. If you dreamt you were on stage, but knew you were dreaming, you would not care if the audience laughed at you or not, you’d just walk off stage, perhaps flip them off, but you would not have any fear.
All fear is just a perception. And in actuality, all reality is just your perception using your ears, touch, smell, sight, etc. If you could view all reality as if it were a dream, a dream that you own, then you would have no fear.
Usually the cause of the fear is something pretty basic, such as: you don’t want to make people unhappy, and if they’re unhappy, they think less of you and you start to feel unhappy about yourself.
I tried this technique in a board room where I was selling software I had created. I envisioned about an hour before the meeting that it was a dream. I put the people in their spots and saw them all sitting there, talking.
I said, if I’m in a dream, and I don’t get this gig, I’d just shrug, shake their hands and move on.
I go into the meeting, and I’m still breathing heavy. But I look around and keep saying to myself “I’m in a dream. I’m in a dream.”
As we go around and talk, I’m selling my product and the main guy in the room leans back, smiles and says in a condescending voice to the group, “Well, you know what they say about something that sounds too good to be true.” Now normally, I would have laughed and gone: “Haha, well that’s true but…blah blah blah”.
Instead, something clicked in me and I responded like it was a dream. I leaned forward, looked him right in the eye and go in a slow, firm voice, “Then don’t buy it.”
He leans back quick and goes “NO! I just never heard anyone say anything like that before. Please tell me more”. It was surreal…and fun.
Now this technique can take time, try it in a cafe or while walking down a street. Look at everything around you and view it as if it’s a dream. When you can effectively do that, you will get an overwhelming feeling of peace. Do that in a board meeting, on stage, talking to anyone who’s threatening you, and you will be yourself and answer honestly.
View your life as if in a dream and all fear will fade away. If I had some fancy Budda thing to say I’d insert it here…but all of you reading this are a dream anyway so I’m done.
Do not Multitask while Operating Heavy Machinery. November 22, 2009
Posted by Rio in : Entrepreneurship, People, Productivity, Rio , add a commentThe number of things I have on my To Do list is probably unhealthy. I’ve never been good at that thing called focus. My mind more or less resembles a file cabinet being tossed through a hurricane. I’ve gotten a lot better, though. I’ve moved “learn how to swordfight” to next year’s list and removed “hunt antelope with a bow and arrow” and “look like Salma Hayek” entirely. Prioritization, here I come.
So when I asked myself exactly what it is I wanted to do, I decided to rid myself of all distractions, hunker down, and focus on the one thing that would allow all my other goals to follow. For me, it was starting a business. And eventually not being dependent on a paycheck, which is a catalyst for most of the other things I’d love to do.
Starting a business is the one thing that I’ve chosen to focus on right now. There are tons of other things I would love to be learning and doing right now, but I’ve found that most of them are simply distractions and slow me down. Because multitasking is the art of screwing up several things at once. Multitasking isn’t just about putting the email away, it’s about learning how not to be overwhelmed and knowing where to start.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my social life and its current non-existence lately. Right now going out feels like a kind of multitasking to me, and that absolutely destroys productivity. It takes your focus away. When I get going on something, it’s better when I don’t stop till it’s done. I’ve never been good at “balance”. But focus is what’s more effective than balance when it comes to getting things going. Focus is what moves you forward. Balance keeps you in the same place.
Don’t get me wrong, (going out and) meeting people is very important to me. Talking to people who are important to you keeps you grounded, and meeting new people often inspires you and takes you in new directions. But if you’re not in a position to take advantage of these new opportunities, if you’re just going out boozing because you had a bad week at work as usual, then you’re not in a position to capitalize on any of this. You’re not in the right place. There’s a time for everything.
And hey, I’m not saying you shouldn’t talk to people. Teamwork is essential. It allows you to blame someone else when something goes wrong…
I’m out of bed and dressed, what more do you want? …Or, 90% of success is just showing up. November 21, 2009
Posted by Rio in : Motivation, Rio , add a commentYesterday one of my companies officially submitted its first iPhone app! A small step, maybe, but our first product is now (almost) official, out there for the world to judge and, of course, buy. It’s been a long road. Took far longer than I wanted it to. It’s been over a year since my partner and I first started our company, and we still have so much that we want to do. Being on the phone for an hour at 9 pm on a Friday night with our coder in order to get the app submitted meant that I missed a show I really wanted to go to, and that my friend was starring in. My partner was supposed to be driving to his cousin’s wedding. We were both kind of irritated. Yet it feels really nice to finally have something almost official on the map. There’s a lot to be said for just sticking with it.
The cartoonist and blogger Hugh MacLeod writes that what people say they want and what they are willing to work their ass off to get are two different things. And there is a lot of working your ass off involved when it comes to starting your own business (or becoming an artist, or whatever your passion is). You have to put in the hours, plain and simple. Half of the pain involved is in figuring out what direction those hours should take. I graduated from Michigan in May, and our progress has seemed very slow. To me and my parents and our friends. Yet if I look at where I was 6 months ago, we’ve made substantial progress, on many fronts.
Maybe its seemed slow because I can’t think of any flashy, glamorous, big leaps of progress. It’s been more like a series of small boring steps, with some going entirely in the wrong direction. It’s an obvious and unfortunately painful fact: The way you get things done is simply by doing the work that’s required, step by step. And learning how to work smart instead of simply working hard. This often means that entrepreneurship is lonely and frustrating. It means that you need a ton of focus. It means you need to hunker down and rid yourself of all distractions, and most of the time it means your social life will take a hit. You will have 16 hour days, 7 days a week, because you are the only force behind getting your project going. And if you don’t have the necessary experience, you’re going to educate yourself. But all of this won’t feel like work if you’re on the right path. It’ll pay off, if you’ve planned it right, by allowing you live to the life you want.
Hugh MacLeod also claims that if someone in your field is more successful than you, it’s probably because they work harder at it than you do. He writes: “The bars of West Hollywood, London, and New York are awash with people throwing their lives away in the desperate hope of finding a shortcut, any shortcut. Meanwhile the competition is at home, working their asses off.” Everyone’s looking for the quick fix.
But it’s not always about the big idea. If you have an idea that’s yours alone, and have the passion for it, things will come to fruition. Maybe it’s simply about not quitting. You have the freedom to do something really amazing when you sing in your own voice.
Why accountants aren’t any fun and why I hate all this talk about “corporate image” November 9, 2009
Posted by Rio in : Entrepreneurship, People, Rio , add a commentI read a lot. Right now the topics are mostly related to business. Sometimes it’s hard to separate the worthless information from the helpful, especially for something that changes as quickly as the world of business does. A lot of the stuff out there is full of rambling platitudes, pointless personal experience, and no specifics about how the author accomplished what they did. I want specific techniques, details, not general ideas about working hard and the web being a game changer.
Something completely useless I read recently was from a “handbook” on starting your own business. Apparently this book was a bestseller. I kept having to check the date it was published (2007), because it sounded like it was written 15 years ago. The author talks about websites as an afterthought, seeming to think that the only function they have is to list information about your company. No mention of social networking or all of the great marketing techniques cash-strapped startups can use. The problem this book had (and many others like it) was that it was trying to cater to everyone and no one, and it ends up just recommending the “safe” or standard path of starting a business.
On image, the author writes:
“Fortunately, just because you are a startup company does not mean you have to look like one. Your logo, business card, signage, and style are all part of a cohesive image program known as corporate identity. And with the right corporate identity, your company can appear highly professional and give the impression of having been in business for years.”
Something is really wrong with this statement. I’m not talking about the phrase “cohesive image program”, which sounds like something out of a Cold War Spy novel. I’m talking about the idea that you’re required to look like you’ve “been in business for years”. It seems to be saying that if you give the impression that you know what you’re doing, you can sucker people into sales, or that you can get your foot in the door without paying your dues. I don’t dispute the fact that image is vital, perhaps one of the most important things. Life is a selling job. I also firmly believe in good manners and the like. What I don’t believe in is pretending to be something you’re not. Your business will be successful because you’ve sought out new solutions, not because you pretend like you’ve been in the business for 15 years.
Of course image is important, but it comes as a byproduct of doing what you’re supposed to be doing, developing a viable business. Focusing on “corporate image” and pretty brochures is a filler, distracts you and makes you feel like you’re accomplishing something when you really should be focusing on coming up with a kick-ass new idea that will change the world. Pretty brochures and firm handshakes have their place, but if that’s the sole basis of your business strategy, you’re in trouble. By focusing on “corporate image”, you’re also becoming a lemming, which is exactly what starting a business is NOT about. You’re so focused on following formulas that you can miss opportunities right in front of you. These days, starting a business is about so much more than just “corporations”, doing an mba, or the sole goal of making money.
The author continues:
“Any events or causes you participate in should be in keeping with your business image. If your company is in a fun, creative industry…you can get zany and silly with events like balloon popping or pot-bellied pig races. On the other hand, if you’re in a serious industry like medical transcription or accounting, it makes more sense to take part in more serious events like a 10k walk.”
I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. Again, there’s something seriously wrong with this statement. It’s funny (what, accountants aren’t allowed to attend balloon popping parties?), but more to the point, the businesses of doctors and accountants certainly wouldn’t be harmed by trying to be more fun. I’m guessing that the doctor who manages to make root canals fun will be a very rich man. Point is, business is about being creative and original. By asking “does my industry allow for creative flair?”, you’re missing the point. Business is supposed to be about creative flair. You’re creating something new and setting yourself apart. THAT’S how you get sales, not because of your polished image. Of course a polished image helps and is necessary, but that’s like saying you should bathe if you want to have friends. If you didn’t know that, you really need more help than a book on “business” can give you.
Learn how to program iphone apps: HOW-TO GUIDE – First steps November 7, 2009
Posted by Mike in : Mike, Programming , 2commentsThat was my Google question. Here are the steps to get started doing that:
Step 1: Get a hold of a MAC. Download the newest Operating System, if you can’t that is fine, Apple has different SDK’s (Software Development Kit) for whatever version of MAC OS you have. You do not need an iPhone nor a iTouch to create an application for they have a built in emulator that looks and works just like the iPhone, however you will need one eventually to see it live…clever clever Apple. Gotta buy the computer and the device.
Step 2: Go to Apples iPhone Development Center and sign up. Sign up for the SDK at the bottom left, you have to create a userid and password, they ask for a physical address also, but once you do this you can download the 1.3 gig SDK for free. That’s all you need to get started. When you go to distribute your product, it will cost you $100 dollars to get a license, you can then post it on the Apple site for free, however they will take 1/3 of any charge you apply to your product…again…clever clever Apple.
Step 3: Pick a product you want to create. Don’t do anything with Graphics (animation, etc) or Audio unless you have a very specific product in mind. Those are much harder to learn to start. I picked something that was a list, as you start to create your product, the need for graphics or storing data on the iPhone will present itself and you will then learn how to do it. So start easy, its what I have learned is the best way. You can always go back an edit it for additional things.
Step 4: Pick a place to teach you how to program the iPhone. Try the Apple iPhone Tutorials (There are also videos available once you sign up), however I found they are NOT tutorials. They are instructions. When I went to learn it I was all excited at what seemed like an amazing array of information on their site. The problem is they do not show you the complete picture for what they are trying to teach you. Like me saying “Okay, to change your oil, just take off the old filter and remove the drain plug” and I show you a picture of a filter and a drain plug. But then I don’t show you were they are on the car and how to get to them. That’s the feeling that kept coming through on Apple so I had to find others sources.
- Lynda.com online iPhone Development tutorials. This was the best choice for me. It costs about $25 a month to get access, but it is well worth it. Unlike a book, you can see the development as it goes along, huge difference. Even though I’m a book guy, the visual tutorials blew away learning with books for the beginning steps because for each new item to learn, the person teaching started a brand new app and you saw the WHOLE thing, not just snippets like the iPhone developer center gives you. A bonus is Lynda.com has other great tutorials on such things as web development languages, using Photoshop, etc. For those of you on a budget, there is a fee alternative below which in many ways is superior to Lynda, though for me I liked the speed of which I could learn at Lynda. Lynda has 6 hours worth of video there broken up into 14 chapters and 4-11 minute segments.
- Stanford University iPhone Development online course for FREE is taught by professionals that have worked at apple. It is an extensive course with 23 hours of video taught in a classroom setting. For now it was too long for me, however after reviewing the first few classes, it WILL be something I will do next for they seem to discuss everything Apple and books give you but with real life screw ups and best practices. To get the videos, go to iTunes STORE on your iTunes and search by “Stanford iPhone Application Programming” or the link on iTunes is “Stanford > Science and Technology > iPhone Application Programming – Video”. Each video is about 500 meg a piece, so quite large to get them all but its nice to have them available offline. You can also download the sample code from the link above which is great for just jumping right in and seeing what they do.
- Here is a good book if your a book person.
iPhone in Action
iPhone in Action: Introduction to Web and SDK Development. Turns out you can develop Apps for the iPhone in 3 ways. True apps that reside on the iPhone or iTouch. A web site that is designed to be viewed on the iPhone or iTouch. And a hybrid where some of the functionality is on the iPhone/iTouch and the data can reside on the server. “YouTube” or “Google Maps”.
Step 5: Review the Apple iPhone Human Interface Guidelines. This is important because if you don’t follow some of the basic items, like NOT making buttons so small users can’t press them, they will reject your application. But don’t freak on this, the tutorials above will help you keep it within the guidelines. I recommend downloading the PDF version of the iPhone Human Interface Guideline (look at the top right corner for PDF on the link I just provided). It’s easier to read and you don’t have to worry about the internet tanking at your local cafe. Again, this is a LOOONG document, you don’t have to read it, but it would be wise to skim it after you do the tutorials for it has references on branding your product, design, creating custom icons for your product, etc.
Step 6: Get sample code and cannibalize the shit out of it. That is the best way, don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. Apple Sample Code is a great place to start. The biggest problem with this stuff is its sophistication level. And take it from me, if you open the perfect sample code that does just what you want, but there is so much foreign stuff in there, you’ll end up spending a month banging your head against a wall just to take the MAC and throw it across the room. So, word of caution, try the above tutorials first, then step into these.
Step 7: Steal $100 dollars to get your product live on Apple store. There is a waiting period for Apple to review the app so be prepared for 2 weeks + to get approval. Go to the Apple iPhone Developer program to pay your $100 dollars and your on your way.
Lastly, I will add additional posts on iPhone development “How to guides” as I learn new things that were a pain in the ass to find out.
If your curious to why I am doing the iPhone applications, you can read the post on Found a way to make money in 45 days!
Money Management 101 November 5, 2009
Posted by Rio in : Money, Resources, Rio , add a commentOk, kids. It’s time to learn how to manage your money! Besides not buying stuff, what can you do to save money?
Some of the more interesting things I’ve done to make myself spend less include cutting up my credit cards only to realize I had no way to pay for groceries, and then paying for my $10 pizza entirely in pennies (the ones I had in my change jar). Other things include never carrying cash or credit cards, and then going to the bank and asking the teller to withdraw $3 from my account so that I could pay for this event I really needed to go to.
Other great psychological tricks include asking a friend to hide my credit cards. He then leaves for a week and is out of touch, during which time I really needed to pay for something or other. My $2.75 stash of laundry quarters wasn’t going to cut it, so I resorted to one of my other favorite tricks: becoming a guinea pig for science! Thinking that donating my eggs was probably too drastic, I decided to volunteer for a research study that would involve, among other things, not brushing my teeth for three weeks. What happened to my social life, you might wonder? To hell with that, they were giving me $500! Besides, think of all the time I could save by not spending those 3.5 minutes brushing my teeth twice a day! I’m a busy entrepreneur, after all. I have things to do!
Instead of cutting up my credit cards, I had the better idea of simply never carrying cash or credit cards when I go places. I know, I know, what a crude method. But hey, it kind of works. I end up not making all those dicky little purchases like tea and books (I love tea, and I’ve probably single-handedly kept Borders Bookstore here in Ann Arbor from closing).
Sometimes the whole “not carrying any money” things has its problems. Like when I do actually have to pay for stuff. At the post office for example, where I went last to send off 15 packages containing things I had sold on ebay (more on that later). Only after I made the lady ring through and attach stickers to my 15 boxes did I reveal to her that I wanted to pay by check. She informed me that they couldn’t accept my check because I didn’t have my address on them (hey, identity theft, you know). I tell her I would write my address on the check for her. She goes: “um, No.” I point out the 15 boxes she had already stickered and put through the system, and would have to painfully remove if she didn’t accept my check. She caved. Sometimes you have to be cruel. The moral? I have no idea.
Not bringing your credit card does help, sort of. All those little purchases really do add up. Especially when you don’t always have time to cook. Now I love cooking good, healthy, homemade food, but….well, I’m slow. It takes me like an hour to make oatmeal (granted, my oatmeal is really fucking good.) Anyway, housewives get my respect. Cooking three meals a day from scratch is hard work. But anyway, there are times when I’ve managed to eat only home cooked meals for months on end, but that involved significant luggage. Meaning, if you don’t have a car and don’t live 5 minutes away from town, you have to haul all three meals with you for the day. Now that’s fun. Not only do you get your requisite workout in from hauling 50 lbs of stuff everywhere you go (really, I weighed it), but you end up being skinnier by eating less overall! (Damn you, rocky mountain chocolate factory, for being on my way to town).
Back to being a guinea pig. After prodding my teeth and cruelly stabbing me with various sharp metal instruments, my graduate student dentist friend tells me that I qualify for the $500 study. I would have thanked her, but my mouth was spewing blood. I wasn’t complaining though. You have to be tough in this world. Another favorite research study of mine was a series of “decision-making” studies that I participated in through the University of Michigan. Basically, they put you through a series of prisoner’s dilemmas to see how everyone interacts. I love this kind of stuff, being an economics major and all, but the real upshot was that we got to keep whatever money we made during the game! I once walked away with $57 after 5 minutes. (By defecting, of course). But the truly greatest study I took part in was one where I watched an episode of Sex and the City and then answered a questionnaire grilling me on my body image. I told them all about how skinny I felt, of course. Especially since I’ve been eating all these home-cooked meals!
Eventually I quit doing $15 an hour research studies because…well, let’s face it, we’re never gonna make a million dollars that way. Hopefully we’ll have bigger fish to fry, and better ways to spend our time (like being self-employed and all that fun stuff). I am going to add the $500 to our “money made so far” icon up there on the right, though. So that leaves us with our last idea: selling shit on ebay. Being a neat freak and all, I like to cleanse my room occasionally and get rid of the stuff I don’t need/use. The thing is, it turns out you can actually make money doing this. Old textbooks I’ve never used or wanted to, weird electrical appliances from the 80s, and those shoes I never should have bought because they are really fucking uncomfortable. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a lot of work selling stuff on ebay, and like getting a job, the opportunity cost is too high (I’ve talked about that already). Time is my most valuable asset right now.
So, besides being made fun of by your friends and having no social life whatsoever, my methods should put you on the right path towards dominating your finances! I’m Here To Serve You, America’s next generation, and to help this great country get out of debt. Remember that the next time you wait in line for 30 minutes at the bank only to have the person in front of you withdraw a total of $3 from their account. That person is probably one of my disciples. World domination, here I come.
Found a way to make money!!! in 45 days…part 1 – iPhone app. November 5, 2009
Posted by Mike in : Mike, Products, Rio , 1 comment so farAfter spending how much time, I have no clue, on a multitude of projects in an attempt to make money. Two projects stood out from the rest. I’ll discuss the second one in a follow-up post.
First was an iPhone app. Now I know nothing about iPhone development so I had to start from scratch about 2 weeks ago. The idea came when I was sitting with a friend who has an online business. He was talking how he’d like to monetize (fyi I hate that word because it sounds contrived and corporate (ptewiee) even though I use all the time) his business into products. I went well how about this, he said how about that, and in 15 minutes we had a simple iPhone app designed and drawn in my Moleskine. (fyi I also hated Moleskines due to the “I am a writer and artist and am super cool” factor. Turns out I’m a moron, they are great.) So he knows I do web programming and have done PC programming…or I attempt it at least…so it was off and running. We are going to split the revenue from the applications (there are three, same design, different target markets). I will do the coding. He will supply the content and the distribution through his current networks. No clue on what the price will be yet.
So where to start? (Here is a post of the steps involved) Apple brilliantly requires you to have a MAC to write an iPhone app. I have none. Luckily the guy I’m writing these for lent me his spare. Yes I know…a spare MAC notebook!…money is great ain’t it. So here I am, downloaded the 1+ gig iPhone SDK (“Developers Kit”…I have no clue what the “S” stands for) and went to the University of Michigan’s “fishbowl” do use the school’s O’Reilly’s Safari Books online to find the perfect manual on how to use this convoluted software language. There are over 3,000 online books to choose from mostly related to technology. Turns out the best book was like reading the history of scatology from Neanderthal Cave Droppings to post-modern Medical scat testing for influenza…actually that would be a hell of a lot more interesting.
The solution to this head nodding self torture came from none other than a short email from Rio. “Lynda.com now offers iPhone Development Application courses”. She has a subscription for her photo shop skills, been telling me how amazing “seeing” the work is versus reading about it. I went “yea yea…I’m a book guy”. BUT NO MORE! What I did not realize is that iPhone development, actually all design, is visual. Also most books edit out the mistakes they make on the way to writing the books. These mistakes however are invaluable to know about for when you program you will make those mistakes yourself. So I’m about half way through the total 6 hours instructions. Each hour instruction is cut up into short 2-11 min vids (I like how Alex from Clockwork Orange always said “vids”).
So Lynda shows you how to make a simple app in a day or two. It still is very confusing since its based on this NS language from 20 years ago, basically the “C” language…that is soooo not my bag, but they explain it well and I’m getting it pretty quick, so it’s doable. If your interested in doing this, I tell everyone who wants to get into programming: If you can read that 10 page manual that comes with your pc without falling asleep, its one of the first things you do when you get your computer, and when your done you say “cool!”…you can program.
And why 45 days? Rio said “AGHHHH!!!! I can’t take this anymore. We need a definable goal. Let’s make December 15th a short term deadline for something! I want to get the hell out of here, move to New York, anything, let’s get something happening by then!”. She’s talking about getting out of Ann Arbor, she’s been here 4 years doing undergrad and did not expect to still be here. If you talk to anyone from Ann Arbor, we all say the same thing…it’s like some psycho trap from the Twilight Zone, right when you get ready to go, you end up staying. So I say fuck it, why not. Just have to cull out the extraneous shit. So in 45 days I plan on ripping through this iPhone stuff, I have tossed out all the other bullshit projects we have been working on independently and together (though she has a cool website that is generating a tiny bit of Advertising revenue. I helped create the site.) So iPhone it is for me, never thought I’d do it but here I am.
Also on iPhone development: there is a good classroom series from Stanford iPhone Develpment that total 28 hours from iTunes videos. Very informative and actually very in-depth, but too slow for me right now.
And one more side note: Rio has her own iPhone app coming out in a few weeks for her other business. Figure this might get her to blog about it since when one of us blogs, the other wants to. We’ve been lax for 2 weeks now and haven’t discussed our products at all. Her app is pretty cool app and should contribute to the Million…at least $4 bucks from the one I’m sure her mom will buy. I hope my mom buys my app, though an iPhone to her is a phone with an eyeball on it.