I've telecommuted on and off for years and I'm doing that right now. Here is what I learned:
1. Always "get ready" for work. Do the same routine as you would if you were going to an office: shower, dressed, etc. It puts you in the mindset that its time for work.
2. Make it a point to work in a coffee shop or something similar at least once per week. You need to be around people as a human being and it breaks up your week nicely.
3. Make lunch or meeting arrangements with people in your field on a regular basis. Its similar to point #2 but takes it a step further in forcing you to communicate and interact with another person and its work-related.
4. Set very clear expectations with your family. Have a space that is designated only for work. Let them know that you're "at work" or they will bother you and you'll start resenting them.
5. Set a timeframe when you'll be off work. Let them know that they can expect say, between 5 and 6 pm and at that time you're off work. Period.
6. Never, ever do household chores during work hours unless you set a specific time during the day. For me, I don't allow any chores but there are times when I will set aside an hour and complete a task. The joy of working from home is flexibility so use it but wisely. The same goes for work. Don't allow 'creep' to set in because it can be a slippery slope. When you're off work - be off work. When you're at work - work.
I do this as well after being hypoglycemic and requiring food every 2 hours. I used the Lean Gains method which is also called Intermittent Fasting (IF). http://www.leangains.com/ Don't let the dude in the picture put you off. Really cool dude. I also experience better mental clarity and focus when I IF.
What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to build the community and engage the existing users? I'm going to assume both is true. But the first thing you need to ask yourself is what are your goals with the community. Then ask yourself what tone do you want to set for it? Start by reviewing the communities of similar sites in your market. Some great examples would be the 37 Signals and Zappos communities. Balsamiq also has a great community too. All of them share a common trait: There is a personable approach in their writing and sharing.
A few things:
Instead of asking for PR at blogs, offer to guest blog at those places. It opens your company to a broader audience. Make sure to follow up on every single comment too. Then offer other companies' community managers to guest blog on your site. They will make sure to tweet/FB their posts to their audiences and it starts a reciprocal relationship.
Email is underrated. Yeah, I know people think its dead but we send out an email each week and highlight product developments, share articles relevant to our users, and highlight our blog posts. We have a very high open/click-through rate and see an increase in Twitter chatter for about 3 days post-mail.
Next, highlight your users: show the community how people are using your site/product/widget and ask your community to guest blog for you. Highlight your users in your weekly emails and tweet out their stories/contributions.
Have webinars or twitter chats that scheduled and have a unique hashtag. They don't have to be directly related to your product but a general discussion about the industry. Reach out to businesses in your field and ask them to co-host these with you in a roundtable fashion or Q&A setting.
The above should get you started and spark more ideas along the way. And the best part is you can do all of these at no cost except the time you spend. Good luck!
Everyone has great points here. I took up intermittent fasting where I eat within an 8 hour window. Normally, I only eat one huge meal per day. It saves me time too. I also use a kettlebell and keep it by my workspace (It basically taunts me to workout). In 15 minutes I can get a full body workout and I have left my work for that time and cleared my head which makes me way more productive for the rest of the day.
Not sure when you plan to start her on programming but I just started my girls on CodeAcademy (I'm not affiliated) because its super easy, teaches by doing, and there's gamification/rep system in place. I'm following along with them. Personally, I wouldn't want to choose a language for them to learn, rather, get the principles/fundamentals of coding and let them explore languages from there.
Not sure when you plan to start her on programming but I just started my girls on CodeAcademy (I'm not affiliated) because its super easy, teaches by doing, and there's gamification/rep system in place. I'm following along with them. Personally, I wouldn't want to choose a language for them to learn, rather, get the principles/fundamentals of coding and let them explore languages from there.
No, he's correct - it can be years longer than the UK for a PhD. avg is 7 years here (5 w/a MA) compared to 3 in the UK. But I agree that he should just go for both and try to make them intersect as much as possible. The data from my business is the backbone of my thesis research.
I'm curious about the statement you made that the UK uni's won't let you work on a startup during your course of study. I plan to apply for the PhD (as an American in the UK) in personal informatics. I have been very upfront when speaking to advisors in the uni's that it directly relates to my company and no one has mentioned that I can't work on my business and PhD.
Anyway - to answer your question: have you looked at the Eastern European schools? Slovakia, Czech - both countries have wonderful tech uni's.
I wish I had a recommendation for a doctor familiar with tech startups. It could be tough to find that. Have you considered looking at your diet too? Also, networking with other tech founders is helpful. As one myself, I started getting really isolated and it threw me into a depressed state. I started by making myself go to one event each week that was startup related. A lot of us experience what you're experiencing and knowing that its common (and that you're not alone) can really ease the intensity of the symptoms. I wish you a lot of luck. Also, if you wanted to connect, feel free to email me and I'm happy to chat. I hate to see someone go through depression alone.
I agree with landing page optimization but a few more questions to consider: What are you doing to up-sell post-signup? Are you holding webinars, doing newsletter campaigns? The sign up process should also be so simple. The problem I see so often is trying to get too much info about the customer upfront. Are you sending emails to free users incentivizing them to upgrade? Are you giving away too much in the free version that there is no incentive to upgrade? Understand how your customers are using the free version and let them know how much more they can do in the paid. I agree that less than 1% converting to paid compared to the 18% is too large.
I went back to school at 27 and finally finished with a BA and MA at 32. I would totally do it again. However, I would do some things differently but at least I did it because that was one regret I had - not having that formal education. You could fulfill some of your longing formal edu by taking some courses online (and free) through the top unis. I'm taking an intro cs course through Stanford with 25 other women and we're connecting through a google group. You get the lectures, the books,the assignments just like a regular class. Doing this with others keeps you focused and you get study groups. The biggest benefit is that you don't incur a bunch of debt. Also, yes, there can be work experience credit but it is difficult to get. Talk to an admissions counselor and they can help you with that.
I use it to connect - exactly. I've been able to join valuable groups, find competitors, develop partnerships, and follow conferences that I couldn't attend. I get updates about new technologies to use, industry updates. Seems like pastonrod knows what I mean. FB gives me poop diaper updates from friends. Not biz friendly really.
I rarely see a VC or incubator read the entire statement or much less click through to a beta. They care about numbers. You could have the next Google or FB but if you can't show that people will (or are) using it then what's the point? For me, I had to do an alpha test w/75 users and I have hundreds in my private beta and have tons of articles and market research to show traction and I still get questions about "enough traction". Just think about it from the VC perspective: "How much am I going to get back on my return" That's ALL they care about. That's all they should care about. Plus, its not up to them to give you feedback. You need to get people on your product and ask them for feedback, iterate based on their feedback and then start shopping it around to people in your space and get their feedback. After that, you go to investors.
Dude, I totally get your rant. Hey, we've all been there. Please don't take anything personally or you're in for a huge depression. Just take it as constructive criticism and keep plugging away. I've had some harshness come to me and at first it sucked and I dwelled on it. Then I realized that hey, maybe I'm applying to the wrong programs or maybe I'm not focused on core competencies. Just keep the feedback as such - its feedback. The world doesn't suck if you don't let it.
I totally get what you're trying to do but boring is sometimes best. I just want to know (in order): Your skillset, level of skills, how long you've been doing what you're doing, and examples. The next would be where you've worked, how long, what you accomplished at each place. Showing a an upward progression is key. I just didn't get that from the timeline. I've been in tech startups since the 90s and have hired in marketing, biz dev, prod dev. Make the juicy components stand out. For instance, I'm hiring developers right now and I need skillsets in ruby, python, ui, and I want people who have tangible apps to show me. I want to see what they've done in practice. Hope this helps.
You were turned down by one program? You sound really bitter and I can see why they turned you down - you're not ready to be an entrepreneur. As a person running a start up, you're going to get turned down A LOT. So what if YC or TS or any incubator/fund is accepting 1%? You try. You try again. You keep trying. As a woman founder, I face much tougher numbers. I don't stop because the numbers are stacked against me! I keep trying. I figure out ways to monetize without funding. I get feedback on how to be better. When someone tells me an aspect of my product is crap I consider it and improve. I don't write out rants about how someone else was to blame. And yes - YOU NEED MARKET VALIDATION. If you can't prove that people will use your product, why would someone invest in you. This isn't 1998.
1. Always "get ready" for work. Do the same routine as you would if you were going to an office: shower, dressed, etc. It puts you in the mindset that its time for work.
2. Make it a point to work in a coffee shop or something similar at least once per week. You need to be around people as a human being and it breaks up your week nicely.
3. Make lunch or meeting arrangements with people in your field on a regular basis. Its similar to point #2 but takes it a step further in forcing you to communicate and interact with another person and its work-related.
4. Set very clear expectations with your family. Have a space that is designated only for work. Let them know that you're "at work" or they will bother you and you'll start resenting them.
5. Set a timeframe when you'll be off work. Let them know that they can expect say, between 5 and 6 pm and at that time you're off work. Period.
6. Never, ever do household chores during work hours unless you set a specific time during the day. For me, I don't allow any chores but there are times when I will set aside an hour and complete a task. The joy of working from home is flexibility so use it but wisely. The same goes for work. Don't allow 'creep' to set in because it can be a slippery slope. When you're off work - be off work. When you're at work - work.
Good luck!