You know when they say "They had almost nothing and they made it from scratch"? They are most likely talking about people like me (and you). Funding your dream with whatever you have (or have left..). No Serie A, B, etc. Just choosing to invest in your dream instead of buying that new suit.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. I've got my shares of failures before this and will probably still have failures in the future. That's part of the risk you take when you try to make it happen on your own.
I know it's still way too early to declare victory.
ThinkTutorial.com's growth is for now only numbers and traffic volume increases. I however know that if I was able to help someone out there answering a question they had through our tutorials, then I am fully satisfied, and thus: Successful. It's sometimes just a matter of perspective.
Thank you all for spreading the word around. It's much appreciated!
UPDATE: We removed the most recent post from the front page and currently the page are loaded by rand() every time you reload the page, to show a more diverse set of tutorials.
a) Thanks! b) Ok we will think of something more efficient. c) Ok noted. d) No the tutorials at the front are the most recently posted. May be we can add a "Most Popular" Tab? e) It's free, you meant users comments right?
bwh2: Great idea. My question is: Would it be kosher to pre-cache? ;)
There is a powerful caching module for the sites you access from your mobile phone though. I will have to ask my developers how to implement this in the preview.
2) That is our challenge. We are working on this currently and will be releasing a newer version of the preview (emulator) very soon!
The main items we will be addressing in our next release are the following:
2.a) Preview Speed (It currently convert all data on page)
2.b) Preview Quality (Better engineering of pages previewed)
2.c) "Build your Mobile Site from Scratch" Module (for users that wants to)
2.d) Internationalization: Website will be translated and accessible in more languages.
2.e) "Self-taught"/AI Conversion Engine (Not all websites are build the same, therefore our ultimate goal is to have an engine that convert better everytime it converts based on aggregations on sites structures)
5) Thank you! I will work on that right away starting today and update you here as soon as it is implemented.
Google has absolutely nothing to do with this. Google is actually the way you could resolve this.
To turn this into action, probably the most efficient way to work on this is to provide your current happy customers with a testimonials page on your current corporate blog.
To collect feedbacks from your current clients, do a survey by email (ex: surveymonkey.com) and provide a discount on your service or a special offer for all clients that fill in the survey (even the angry ones). No matter what, this survey will give you analytic data on how your clients percieve your services. Listen to your clients, there might be something you're missing out on too.
Focus on facts! You said that 80% of what was said is untrue, then you clearly need to demonstrate on your website that your not only provide great service to "counter argue" the 80%, but you also need to show that the 20% that was true is something of the past and that you resolved (with facts) the issue. Do it in a professional manner. It's all about making the first good impression for new potential clients.
Also you said you have 90 employees, try to give them a way to express their great experience working in your firm. Provide your employee the possibily to write a blog a week, or even better create a subdomain per department and provide public news (press release).
Google any firm name, if you really look hard for it, you will probably find unhappy customers saying how much company x or y sucks. This is not uncommon.
You can -in conjuction- always have your lawfirm work on this, but dont forget to Focus your resources on providing a voice to the happy customers of yours (and employees).
As a message of hope from what I learned, I just wanted to put it out there for any entrepreneurs that went through a divorce or any major unexpected event (bankrupcy or failure). I heard this once: In order to fully appreciate a beautiful morning sunrise you have to go through the cold and the darkness of the night..
To add to your comment, In my situation, I lost the bigger picture. Hard work almost always paid off in a way or in another, whether it's experience gained on field or a better financial situation.
The side I never really considered before is the cost of the lack of balance: my relationship, an (almost) ulcer, etc.
Retrospectively, I should have asked myself before starting: how much and who am I willing to lose in order to gain.
Agree. Look even if you share the same vision of long term growth when you just get married, the reality of the short term responsibilities mobilize all your time and focus. So I learned that there is no such things as tacite mutual agreement in marriage. You've got to remind your partner your long term common objective almost constantly. I thought it's a given, it's not. To take a programming analogy, setting the variables at the beginning of your code is not enough, you've got to use 'global $variablename' within functions (like function workinglate($longtermvision, $values, $love)) to make sure your variables are set and passed on to each function/decision.
Btw, the programming analogy seems to apply that on all types of relationships: couple, work, business partnerships. For some mysterious reasons, short terms challenges (bills, rent, mortgage, loans, etc.) keep blinding our long term objectives.
To be perfectly honest, you got to ask my ex-wife about this..
I learned this the hard way unfortunately. Before starting a venture, make sure the foundation of your couple and family are strong. It takes a LOT of commitment, patience, energy just to get yourself started. Imagine that you have to invest as much on the personal level too (if not more). If you don't, your partner/wife will resent you. I know it's hard, but always try to balance things out. Time management is a key.
Edit: I am now where I wanted to be professionally, it took me more than a year of hard work, sleepless night juggling between a fulltime job, my ventures, and divorce documents.. I am 'successful', but no one to share it with :(
This post really came at the right time for me. Such a moral boost.
I created and is currently operating a startup in orange county, ca. I am also in the middle of a divorce. So to sum it up: Though times. Personal advise: If you believe your idea can provide value to clients, end-users, or to the community as a whole: Never ever give up. It will eventually pay off.