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This is pretty cool.
After 9 months of working toward this goal, we have given birth to a software business. Both the partners and the software are doing fine.
I've been working more and harder than ever, but have been enjoying it more. I don't mean to be any more cynical than usual, but it is much easier to work hard when you are working on something that may have a future. And when your efforts are not shackled by an outdated and unmotivated bureaucracy. And...And...And... But that's another story for another day.
It is also conducive to productive work to be doing it at home. Currently, I wake up and get right to it. Oh all right, I turn on the coffee, turn on the fireplace, turn on the heating pad for my back (it's the lumbago, Whippersnapper...you'll find out soon enough), and then bang away on the laptop to go through the work-related emails. In my jammies and bunny slippers. Incredibly energizing! Absolutely amazing how much you can get done.It is much better than showering and dressing and fighting the traffic and needing a rest by the time I get to a desk where I don't want to sit. The only thing I miss is the camaraderie of the nice people I used to work with. And yeah, the paycheck wasn't bad, but I have learned it was not completely essential, either.
We buzz through a cornucopia, myriad and plethora of issues on a daily basis. What workflow is best for the software? What operating systems can we support? How do we track customers through the website? What is the meaning of life?
We're still working on some of them. But last Thursday, my partner Rick and I paused momentarily to have a long distance beer over the phone. He chose a Spaten Oktoberfest, while I toasted with the nitrogenated contents of a can of Boddington's Pub Ale. The reason? We had just "gone live" for selling software via our website. And we'd even made our first sale in the few minutes the site was open to the world during testing prior to the grand unveiling.The adventure has started a new phase. While Rick gears up to make sure that there are two copies of our wares in every pool, I scratch my head and consult our programmers trying to answer the questions and solve the issues our customers hare having.
But we certainly did not get to this point with only our own efforts. I'll leave the superlatives out, since they apply to all, but we are riding the crest of a wave built with the efforts of our programmers, Steve and Michael, web masters Kelly and Chris, graphic artist Bonnie, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. The internet is a wonderful thing for building a great team of capable people from all over the world.
We've also been blessed with numerous supporters and advisors such as Kaptain Leatherback, protector of not only endangered turtles, but also fledgeling software companies, Cathy Church and Marty Snyderman, underwater photography experts, and my vast stable of image scientists, some of whom are also divers (Thanks, Tony, Pat and José), and all of whom have provided insight for making a good thing even better.
We are currently working out a few kinks (maybe a heating pad will help) and preparing to open the floodgates for our retail partners to start selling. There is always something more to do, so I find I need to be vigilant in protecting my private and family time. But I would like to impinge upon a few more seconds of yours.
Click on the link below and go to Facebook (what you're not on Facebook? It's a requirement for citizenship, isn't it?) to see our page. Please click on "Love" or "Like" or some other icon of affection to show just how cool you think our little business is. I'm told that if we reach some magic number of "Likes", we get a personal visit from Mark Zuckerberg so he can personally tell us that he is happy that we are his underlings, and that we are not as smart as he is. Or options to buy his stock at the initial offering price. Either way, what a thrill !
(to our Facebook page)
