sdotsen

Launched in 2012 I believe it was.

Thinking of selling https://www.ikeepm.com.

- 6000+ registered users - 26,000+ items entered - 3000+ documents saved - 500+ visits per month (Someone good in marketing can boost this)

It's an online home inventory software. It was featured on Lifehacker among other sites related to home organization. My wife and I had a baby last year so I never had time to market it properly. A lot of folks want an iPhone/Andoird app but I'm not the right person for that.

Someone good at marketing can probably have this take off. No other competitors are as easy to use as iKeepm.

Note, I'm not an expert, I just run a free SaaS application (http://www.ikeepm.com). When I first started I tried 2-3 designs. There were certain words I was using that didn't yield good results. Ultimately, I tried copying what seemed to work for other SaaS companies. I tried to be original but I'm not a CSS/HTML expert.

Two things I learned, people like photos. So I added large photos showcasing some of the features. I also added larger buttons but the most important factor was not requiring the user to confirm their email addresses. Sure I get fake accounts, but I'll take that over losing customers who get frustrated over "lost" emails or not being able to get started within minutes.

I changed my signup process by requiring just their email address and a password. Once they signup/login, they can immediately use the service. I plan on rewriting the app soon and putting out a new design. It can definitely be better, but I just havent found the time to do it. So far it has worked well for me.

Having recently done this a few weeks ago, I can say it was the best thing to have happened to me in the last couple of years. Every job I've gone to was a step up from where I was (responsibility wise). I have never taken a job as a lateral move. I've only jumped ship when the opportunity was better for my career.

I knew I needed a change when I found myself installing RPMs all day. Not many people are fortunate to be in an environment where they can make recommendation or changes within an organization. When I asked if I could automate some tasks, I was greeted with a roundabout explanation on why we don't automate things. That's when I knew I had to get out. Other sysadmins were "happy" with their job. I guess for some folks, a 9-5 job is all they care for.

Me? I worry about what will happen years from now. If I'm 50 and need to find a job, can I market myself against someone who is younger? If I don't build my skillset now, I'm at a disadvantage many years from now. So to answer your question, when my job becomes so easy that I don't learn anything new or I'm not afraid of an upcoming task, that's when I know I need to question myself. If I'm not challenged, then what's the point of staying?

For some, it's a paycheck and a means to pay bills and raise their family. I'm in the same boat, but I also have to look at it in terms of how can i grow as a person both professional and personally. Nothing worse than waking up in the mornig and dreading to go into work. I can happily say I dont have that feeling anymore.

So how do you handle SSL for custom domain names?

A couple of Linode instances would've been way cheaper IMO.

I created an app which competes against a ton of others. I'm sort of late to the game but I did one thing better than MOST of them. I made it dead simple to use. My customers love using it and it feels great since I was able to turn a simple idea and made it very easy to use. I went from being on page 6 to being on page 1 (number 3 in Google results).

Yea, looks like they want to push out their own version after I make small modifications to it.

who do you use?

Thanks, I did come across earthclassmail.com during my research, I was looking for something a little cheaper. :-)

I found these guys ... http://www.virtualpostmail.com

My first solo project is called iKeepm. It's a service that allows you to track your personal assets for insurance purposes.

http://www.ikeepm.com

When I was doing my research and came across a bunch of "Why not to use MongoDB" articles, I looked at alternatives solution to see if there was anything "better." Granted NoSQL is the new kid on the block but I wanted to see what my options were. Guess what I'm using, MongoDB. Why? Their documentation is fan-f'n-tastic. Their newsgroup support is just as good, lots of folks who help troubleshoot issue, including the developers themselves.

I have, hwo does it work? Do you need to install something on the client's website?

Yup! That was the first thing I thought of, how to make the process easy for the clients.

Correct, this wouldnt be for anyone who works in a large team or corporation. I have a couple of friends who work exclusively with ordinary folks and small businesses. Everything is communicated via email when it comes to feature requests and bug tracking.

EDIT: Keeping it simple is the key. A ticket to me is either "urgent" or "normal." Why should there be 4 priority levels, it never made sense to me.

Screenshot: http://www.echoio.com/issuebox.png

Thanks! I've modified it.

Thanks! I need to talk to some folks in finance that handle this stuff. What exactly do they look for, I assume the finance department are the ones who request such a list.

I got feedback from a couple of folks who had the unfortunate task of going through an insurance claim process. As long as they have receipts, they're fine. Obviously this could pose a problem for some of your items that you purchased years ago but he told me lots of photos that show your item inside the house goes a long way. e.g. This won't work ... Photo of your 47" LCD in a room that doesn't look like anything inside your home.

Generic photos won't work, I know many folks keep a video recording of their home.

I'm debating whether I should focus more on businesses. At my current job, we're in the middle of inventorying everything from IT to furniture. We're using spreadsheets of all things but I can't push my product since it would be a conflict of interest.

Totally understand what you're saying and it's on my to-do list. I'm going to spend the next two months on getting the message across. Thanks for your input!

Link: http://www.ikeepm.com

I'm sure by me saying "dumbing it down," will alienate some folks but I think I got my point across. I've worked with designers and developers who swear by their code. If you try to explain to them that a button was hard to find, they'll tell you it was designed that way for a reason. I used to work for an e-commerce company and every design decision we made for the site was based on one of two ppl's opinion. We would often use A/B testing, but I would say 80% of the things we put into production was because the VP of Marketing wanted things his way.

You're right, poor choice of words. :-) Proof read damnit ...

Good point, haha ... I find bugs each time I dig into my code, nothing major but enough to warrant a quick fix.

Thank you.

For me it was fear of failure but I decided to take the plunge. I didn't want to look back 5 years from now questioning myself. What if? At least I can say i tried.