Business Busyness

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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  And when your efforts are not shackled by an outdated and unmotivated bureaucracy.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 !

THE LINK BELOW

(to our Facebook page)

I've been busy

I've been working on a few things since I parted ways with the company which will not be named.  Last week, one of them took a big step forward.

... PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE WARNING...

THE FOLLOWING IS AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE 

OF BLATANT SELF PROMOTION

But you wanted to know what I've been up to, right?  And besides, it's not a bad thing to blow your own horn if you you're making great music. 

NO, WE DON'T SELL DIVING MASKS!

My partner, Rick, and I introduced our software at DEMA, the Diving Equipment Manufacturers Association Show in Las Vegas from November 13-16.  The show is full of people who are passionate about experiencing the underwater world.  Most of them have gotten into the business of diving because they want to share their passion with others.  Every single one who learned that I was not a diver immediately described at least one solution to my problem.  This included my partner, Rick, who described several solutions at several different locations.  All serious business trips in support of our new business associates, of course.

DEMA show, filling the Sand Expo

Vivid-Pix, our product, is a $50 software application that very quickly and easily improves images taken underwater.  Brightness, contrast, color balance, and sharpness are improved in a single click.  It also enables some tweaking so that the user can make the improved image even more to his or her liking.  This has been a well known need for many years, since most snap-shooter divers capture pictures that only a diver could love.  The washed-out blue-green images prove you were there, but really aren't a good representation of the incredible world you saw below the surface.  We provide an inexpensive and easy-to-use solution.

4 by 10 feet is plenty if you have the right message...

The reception we received was extremely gratifying.  We went to Las Vegas with hopes that we could sign up a few dive shops and resorts so that we could begin to sell Vivid-Pix on the first of January.  We were very pleased to not only exceed that goal, but to get genuine interest from the media in several parts of the world, from skilled trainers and photographers who see the need, from manufacturers and sellers of cameras and accessories, and also from websites hosting underwater images.  In the words of one influential attendee after pulling Rick aside, "I think you may be onto something here."

We learned a great deal about how our product can improve, and also what we need to do to facilitate getting Vivid-Pix into the hands of divers.  Our feeling, which was shared by many other attendees at the show, is that not only will our software make diver's images look much better, it will enhance the entire diving experience and encourage non-divers who see what the experience really looks like to join in on the fun!  (Increasing underwater divers-ity!)  Even I may need to give it a try.

Kaptain
Leatherback

We couldn't have been anywhere near ready to go to the show without a great deal of help from a far-flung team of great people.  We have to call out the supportive patience of our wives, the fabulous software wizardry of Steve Rogers, the photographic guidance of Cathy Church, and the inspiring graphics from Bonnie Toth, the enabling presence of Kaptain Leatherback and his merry band, and the last minute heroics of our web designer, Kelly Jablonski.

And I mustn't forget our Las Vegas logistics coordinator, Ann Young, who single-handedly upgraded from a VW bug to a very slightly larger car so that Rick and Randy could perform an amazing feat of post-show car-stuffing not seen since the heyday of the Keystone Cops.

Now I suggest you visit our fabulous website.  Quick like a sailfish, go view our site and see the drab original images that have been magnificently rejuvenated with our software.  

www.vivid-pix.com