Coding for fun and profit
I am a code tinkerer. I like to write code that does interesting and wonderful things and sometimes less practical things (but no less wonderful). And I code to fill time, boost my knowledge and to learn more about what is going on in the web programming world.
Occasionally I'll get an idea or be inspired to create something that has practical use as well as intrinsic interest for me and I'll share it with other people. Sometimes it is a goofy trinket like the Wheatoncalc and other times it is something more substantial. But my initial idea is always to say, "Here" and get the reaction, "This is cool". And I feel as if I've been paid in full for my time and effort.
My latest "fun" project is something that is desperately needed by the twitter community. Basically it is a way to manage your followers and friends more like an address book than the tools Twitter provides. It is still in testing so I'll not link to it here.
I shared this tool with some friends from Twitter and one of them had me call her. She is a network/social marketer with a lot of savvy and she uses Twitter as one of many tools in her arsenal and I approached her looking for some feed back from a more "professional" angle.
She immediately hit on an application I had not considered and pitched it as a product to be sold. She cautioned me about sharing her idea (and implied a threat as if I needed it) and I tentatively agreed.
So, suddenly one of these toys may make some money. I'm not sure how I feel about that since it has never happened before. I wonder what sort of money it might bring in?
I've registered a name and am looking into hosting but I am hesitant to invest a lot of cash into something that may not pay for itself over time (that's how I wound up with an Internet Kiosk aka the White Elephant).
I may have to plan to work small ($100 or less) and have a rapid expansion plan in place if it becomes necessary. It has been a while since I did the "entrepreneur thing". My skills are rusty.