In February, I decided to start my largest website project yet. So far I have
- Written a business plan for it
- Hired 3 independent contractors
- Had the website designed
I’ve written three updates so far
Following are the latest updates:
I announced the start of my latest project on February 14th, and posted an update on finding the right team on Feb 21st. Project has been going forward and now (while about 2 weeks behind schedule) the graphic design is completed.
I still can’t release the information on what the business/website is yet. The anticipated launch date at this time is May 1st after which I will talk about the business and our strategy in detail.
Team Members (Updated)
At the time of the last update I posted here I only had one team member and was looking for a few more. We’re one step closer to having all needed members on board. Here is a list of current team members:
- Rob (Programmer): Have been working with him for years. The fact that he is on our team is a peace of mind. He is so good that I am confident that the only thing limiting the features on the website is our imagination and not technical issues.
- Jason (Designer): I was lucky to find Jason through a Craigslist ad that I posted. I wanted to find someone that is a good designer, lives in Dallas area so we can meet often, and is trust worthy. Jason is all of that and more.
- Anonymous (Marketing Guru): I think I’ve found the marketing guru that I’ve been looking for. Her projects at her current job are very similar to the type of project that we are working on. I’ve met with her twice already and she seems interested in working with us. I’ll introduce her once I know for sure she will be part of our team.
- Babak (Advisor): Babak is my cousin. His work makes him precisely our customer target market. That make him extremely valuable to have on our board of advisors. I am lucky and grateful that he accepted this position at no cost to us.
- Myself: I (try to) coordinate the works of all team members, constantly improve the business plan, make sure we are on budget, and do most of market research and advertising management. I’m hoping I can pass on the marketing & advertising responsibilities to our new team member (that I will announce in the next business update post).
Design Completed
Today, April 15th, we finished the graphic design of the website after about three weeks of improvements. Our goal were to create a website that
- is (very) clean, simple, and inviting
- will NOT win any unique design awards
- non of its elements would take attention away from the main content
- its features and functionalities are idiot proof. In other words anyone can use the website right away.
I think we’ve accomplished all of the above. Our design is very clean, easy to navigate, and yet a lot of attention has been given to details.
Next Step
The next step is to get the design and all the features programmed into the website which will be Rob’s responsibility. Our original deadline for completion of the website was end of April. Given the fact that we are two weeks behind on the design part we might being a little late on coding as well.
I just finished listening to “The E-Myth Revisited, Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” by Michael E. Gerber. This book is one of the most recommended business books out there and for good reason.
Many businesses are started by owners who used to do the job for someone else and decide to go into business for themselves. More often than not these business owners are great at what they do too. However they don’t realize that once they are a business owner their responsibilities change dramatically. They don’t realize that they are not the plumber, chef, or carpenter anymore. They are now business owners. While they were great at being the technician in their previous position they don’t know how to run and expand a business. This will inevitably cause them to have to work twice as much and their business is doomed to fail sooner or later.
Gerber believes all business owners have three personalities in them:
- The Technician
- The Manager
- The Entrepreneur
These personalities fight to take over each other at all times. The myth to running a successful business is to find a balance among all three. This doesn’t mean equal responsibilities should be allocated to all three personalities. In fact the new business owner should focus less and less on the Technician personality as the business evolves.
One of the most interesting parts of the book (for me) was the part where Gerber discusses the necessity to run your business as if it is a franchise. This
- Eliminates the need for the business owner to be there at all time.
- Allows for almost all tasks to be allocated to employees with clear instructions.
- Reduces the amount of training needed for each new employee.
- Provides the organization needed to grow the business.
- Makes the business appealing to be bought out since its the business that works not the owner and therefore the owner can be replaced.
- (most importantly) Allows the owner to enjoy a less stressful job which was the reason he/she started the business in the beginning.
I’ve been looking into Iranian websites lately and couldn’t find a good list of Persian forums and communities online so here it is:
Persian Hub
PersianHub is home to the largest community of Iranians online. They have over 200,000 members. Most of their members sign up for an account to download Iranian music and movies (for free) but the forums are very active too.
Iran Proud
Similar to PersianHub, Iran Proud has a large database of Iranian music and movies to download as well as an active forum community.
Bia 2
Bia2 is one of the most popular Iranian websites online for their Farsi radio, jokes, pictures, and now their forums. With more than 8000 members and over 300,000 posts you can always be sure to get a reply to your threads.
New Persia
New Persia is an online community website where users have their own very customizable profile. They can chat with each other and communicate through the forums. New Persia has been online since 1999. New Persia is in some sense the MySpace of Iran.
Today, on our hookah blog I noticed that the blog homepage was being redirected to one of the recent posts. After a little digging I found out that a redirect plugin that I had installed (Redirection) was doing that on its own.
I hadn’t changed any settings on it either so I don’t know what was causing it. I deactivated it and installed a new one called Simple 301 Redirect.
