Like you, I was once in the same position. Extremely poor, I literally hand drew business cards and cut them out of cardboard and walked around the city to hand-deliver them. This helped as someone eventually gave me a chance, but I'm sure it's because he felt sorry for me. I had no experience and learnt how to code from making free photo copies of the pages in the visual basic 6 book at the local public library.
Where I'm from (South Africa), internet was expensive and not accessible to all at the time.
Some advice for your situation:
- You are at the bottom, your only way from there is up - this is something to be excited about.
- Fake it until you make it. When meeting potential clients, talk the talk and do the walk later.
- You'd be surprised at how many SME's need IT services and don't know it yet :) You can simply walk in the door and have a chat to them.
- Put your ego away and always be aware that in order to eat, you need to sell. Selling is actually pretty simple if have a bit of confidence.
- Look after your laptop with your life, it's your key to getting out of your situation.
- If you can write code, it most likely means that you can solve problems logically - this doesn't only apply to coding, figure out where you can use that and make a bit of money.
- Don't be afraid of charging for your time. Poverty is also a mindset, as soon as you realize that, you are one step closer to getting past it.
- Just ask for help. You are not alone and most people will be sympathetic when they are asked.
- You don't need to prove yourself to anyone in order to survive, simply do what you do best and the rest will follow.
We've spoken to quite a few people that sell digital products online through various channels - most of them were looking for something similar. We also have the need for it ourselves.
Definitely a valid point, we are currently working on a feature that allows you to sell outside of Twitter, like on your blog and website etc. Thanks for the comment, really appreciated!
I think all entrepreneurs and engineers go through this kind of phase at some point in their life.
The best solution I've found is get yourself a partner, someone that can keep you accountable and motivated.
Remember not to take your code too personally, most of it will inevitably need to be rewritten again anyways - it does not have to be perfect in the beginning.
If there are certain aspects of the project that are frightening to you and stopping you from starting (UI, DB design etc), then bite the bullet and outsource those parts... makes things much easier.
If you have the funds available, consider outsourcing the entire project - this will leave you with time to get the business end sorted.
I'm sorry about the situation you are in, but it is largely your fault.
Did you do any reference checks on previous work before you partnered with him? Did you meet up in person to validate his personality? Did you google him after speaking to him the first time?
The internet is rife with scammers, but in this case you DID actually receive two sites - albeit not extremely well built ones. Scammers would have generally taken your money and produced nothing at all.
One more piece of UI advice, the "Tour, Packages & Pricing Sign up!" menu is not visible enough. I find myself constantly looking over it while on pages other than the home page.
Where I'm from (South Africa), internet was expensive and not accessible to all at the time.
Some advice for your situation:
- You are at the bottom, your only way from there is up - this is something to be excited about.
- Fake it until you make it. When meeting potential clients, talk the talk and do the walk later.
- You'd be surprised at how many SME's need IT services and don't know it yet :) You can simply walk in the door and have a chat to them.
- Put your ego away and always be aware that in order to eat, you need to sell. Selling is actually pretty simple if have a bit of confidence.
- Look after your laptop with your life, it's your key to getting out of your situation.
- If you can write code, it most likely means that you can solve problems logically - this doesn't only apply to coding, figure out where you can use that and make a bit of money.
- Don't be afraid of charging for your time. Poverty is also a mindset, as soon as you realize that, you are one step closer to getting past it.
- Just ask for help. You are not alone and most people will be sympathetic when they are asked.
- You don't need to prove yourself to anyone in order to survive, simply do what you do best and the rest will follow.
Goodluck! S