Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
alumLINK – Our First Product!!!
Written by Sam Bishop | September 29th, 2009 | Business, Web Design | Comments
I am very proud to announce that we released our first official product on Monday this week. alumLINK is an alumni networking and management app aimed at affinity groups. I am in no way trying to compete with the big boys (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc) but trying to provide a way for alumni from a specific group to network easily without all that social network “noise” you see with them. I know you can create Facebook or LinkedIn groups but I feel like this is overkill for the niche I am trying to reach. Each instance of alumLINK is secure to its own group or team (unless customized otherwise upon installation).
3 years ago when starting the company I saw the need for this kind of product. We had no good way of communicating with all the soccer alumni that went through my school. We always thought it would be …
Setting and Achieving Goals
Written by Sam Bishop | August 13th, 2009 | Business | 3 Comments »
This isn’t so much a technical post but more about how important it is to set goals and the amazing payoff there is in achieving them. For the first year or so running the business I was perfectly happy coasting through and picking up clients here and there and watching the revenue slowly increase. I did no active new business development. Pretty soon I realized that my numbers were kind of hovering and not really getting up to where I would need them to be to do this as a full time job. After reading a ton of books and business blogs, it was apparent that I needed a business plan and to set some goals within it. So in 2007 I decided to write down my business, and well as personal, goals in my business/life plan. I didn’t go the route of the traditional business plan but created more …
Finding Inspiration – Twitter, blogs, conferences (without attendance fees!)
Written by Sam Bishop | May 27th, 2009 | Business, Tech | Comments
As always this post is long overdue but it would be quite relevant to a lot of people out there in need of inspiration in this tough time. I have been fortunate enough to attend a few conferences and listen to a LOT of great speakers. From designers to developers and freelancers to entrepreneurs I have picked up a wealth of knowledge just listening to them speak for an hour or so.
A couple weeks ago Gary Vaynerchuk (Host of Wine Library TV and super inspirational young speaker, @garyvee on Twitter) posted a link to his talk at the Big Omaha conference on his Twitter stream. It was about an hour and the majority of it Q&A but after listening to it during my lunch break I felt refreshed and that I could take on any project and was itching to get back to work. This is not the first …
From Freelance to Startup – 6 Simple Tips
Written by Sam Bishop | April 7th, 2009 | Business, Web Design | 2 Comments »It’s been too long since my last post but I was struggling to find a good topic for a post. I have since realized that in the last 3 years I have been able to successfully freelance and bootstrap my business into a successful web design agency. I thought that I would pass on what I have learned over these last 3 years.
- Do your homework
I was fortunate that I had someone to ask a handful of questions (the former GM at my pro soccer club) about starting a business before I took the plunge but that is not the case for all of you. Learn about the appropriate paperwork to fill out in your state. Figure out what kind of business entity you want (LLC, Corporation, Nonprofit). Learn about registered trademarks and copyrights if they apply. There are tons of books out there but I recommend contacting
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Tools to Run Your Business Remotely – CWS from Costa Rica
Written by Sam Bishop | February 4th, 2009 | Business, Tech | 6 Comments »After reading the 4 Hour Work Week, I wanted to experience a mini-retirement. This was obviously going to be impossible with the way Connected Web Solutions functions but I thought why can’t I have a mini-retirement where I can still get work accomplished? And so, here I am living in Costa Rica for 3 weeks running the business as though I were at home. This is not the easiest thing in the world in terms of meeting with clients and potential clients but in terms of development and maintenance it has been perfect. Communication has been fine thanks to some tools I would like to mention.
- Skype
- Syncplicity
- Google Chat
- Blackberry (As a modem)
- Thunderbird
- WordPress
Skype – Since before CWS was founded in 2006 we were using Skype. Skype is a free VOIP solution to speak to other Skype users for free. Skype also has a multitude of services …