Techies - Some Useful? Advice

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Updated 9 years ago

Here's a brief personal resume and then maybe some hopefully useful "old fart" advice mainly for the techies.

I'm almost 68 with a BA in Math and Applied Electrophysics/MS Computer Science, an x-programmer/technical writer/embedded software guy/systems analyst/senior large computer system development manager, small electronics company engineering vp, and other technical whatever. Sort of retired in my late 40s, traded stocks, options (my favorite) and some futures for about 10 years. Then in 2004, per a number of friends suggestions went into the "regular" world--real estate agent, judgment collection, home improvement sales (loved selling roofs), etc.

Tech is a good career path. It pays decently, but usually isn't only a 40-hour thing. Being somewhat addictive helps one tolerate the time demands. But, percentage-wise it itself doesn't make many rich. Most techies who get wealthy make their livings in tech and also do something else business/investment-wise (real estate, stocks, and now the internet) not related to their main career to build wealth. It is usually not fast, but time and compounding really work.

Focus on learning/mastering sales and marketing. They are senior to tech. If sales and marketing just aren't "your thing", get a partner

You don't have to be original! Originality is wonderful, but you can do well mimicking what others do successfully. Don't plagiarize or steal. Just study other successful actions, methods, websites and so forth and use your creativity to personally mimic that. Get it succeeding somewhat, then improve that to do better for yourself and possibly better than the original.

Also, learn to leverage. Money, time and talent can each be leveraged for anything you do--investments, work, or the internet.

A few additional guidelines very definitely not originated by me that may help are: (1) fail fast and cheap and (2) take massive imperfect action.

With respect to (1), many times things one tries just don't quite work, so you need to be able to keep learning/testing/adjusting/experimenting/trying. Each action/adjustment/attempt takes time and money, so ...

With respect to (2), most people simply do not take action. This can be do to any number of things including the fear that it isn't perfect or won't be good enough. Anything is better than zero. As a friend of mine says, "you can't multiply zeroes." Do something, see what happens, then either work to improve it or try something else. But, also beware of hopping too much--I can't quantify that however--so ask or look around for help. Engineering types in particular get hung-up on perfect. Good enough usually does it in the marketing/sales and anything is better than nothing. And, sometimes very small, simple changes can make a really, really big difference especially in marketing. That is why you hear a lot about split testing.

My inner techie still gets hung-up on perfect when starting something--too much research. Lately, I haven't been good at the "massive" aspect either, but I at least keep nudging ahead.

For example, I just launched my first PPV (pay per view, not PPC--pay per click) ad campaign.

RESULT: So far, I've got three things right:

(1) Its running! Action taken.

(2) I am getting all the traffic I wanted! The PPV Network seems ok.

(3) Its failing fast and cheaply! Exactly, ZERO clicks after 2 days , but total loss will likely be under $20 with just 3 days gone!

I'd spent a month hemming and hawing about which PPV network to go with, ad design, budget, ad display scheduling, target keywords, etc. I've got profit/loss projections for various click-thru percentages, various costs per view, corresponding costs per click (the key factor), and ad spend budgets. Yes, I had lots to learn before starting, but not that much! And now, obviously more to learn/adjust/try.

Hope this helps.

Best