Thoughts, opinions, transcripts, etc.
I can encapsulate my 2017 in three quick topics. Fatherhood This year began with a very high high and a very low low. The high was Norah, born just a month before the new year. I was excited to be a new dad again and go into it seasoned this time. I wanted to soak… Continue reading The 3 things that mattered to me in 2017
Welp, it was a mostly rough month last month but December is already pointing in a much better direction. I think Q4 in general has been a transition from big customers to smaller ones. Although I've lost MRR again, the total number of customers has held steady. There's much to improve but I'm optimistic that… Continue reading Toofr LLC monthly report: Nov 2017
I’m surprised that I want to write this. I’ve written more in the last two days than I’ve probably written in the last year. And yet here I am, sitting across from the wood-burning fire in my fancy room at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, itching to write more. The last two days were my… Continue reading I wrote 17K words in just two days
A few months ago I wrote this piece about three things I wish I did more often to be and feel better. One of the things on my list was another list of three things. For personal enrichment, I want to always have something that I’m reading, something that I’m writing, and something that I’m… Continue reading Read Write Play: Q4 2017
One of the many hiking trails Fall in Briones Regional Park, about 20 miles east of San Francisco. I grew up going on hikes but it wasn’t until this year, at age 35, that I learned how to hike. I have a confession to make. My relatives may be shocked. For the last 35 years… Continue reading Learning to hike
The dream is 100 customers paying you $100 per month. That’s the software-as-a-service (SaaS) solopreneur’s mecca. A hundred customers paying $100 per month adds up to $120,000 per year of revenue. Since we’re building software, you’ll have about 85% gross margins, so your gross profit is at least $100,000. Your operating expenses are business-related assets… Continue reading Why SaaS is a solo founder’s dream come true
This month saw a net MRR loss but I have reasons to be optimistic. I'm including some charts that I didn't show last time in addition to updating the same charts from last month. Here we go! Referral traffic update Referral traffic is up 10% again month-over-month. This is good progress and a really important… Continue reading Toofr LLC monthly report: Oct 2017
Last week I started hiring again for the first time in almost a year. It felt different this time because I’m now hiring for my own bootstrapped business. It was also different because I was the sole decision-maker. Here’s a recap on how it went down and what I learned. It’s been nearly seven months… Continue reading A few more thoughts about hiring
I recently posted a part-time marketing job description to help me with a bunch of tactical stuff for Toofr. I need help writing, SEO position tracking, supporting customers, and generally moving the ball downfield on all of my websites. I posted on Craigslist, HireClub, and Remoteok.io. Over the last few days I received about 50… Continue reading Hiring feels a lot different when it’s your own money
Here’s the concept. You don’t quit your day job and then build a startup. You build a startup and then quit your day job. There’s no reason anymore to go full-time into any one thing. If you have the itch to try your hand at starting a business, then you should do it while your… Continue reading The definition of parallel entrepreneurship