Advice on my idea

[Feare]

Hello,
I am new to the forums but I have wanted to create a business off what I love to do for a while now. I'll tell you a little about myself as it may be relevant to any advice given. I am a 16 year and I have always been interested in electronics and how they work; that eventually evolved into how programs work and how operating systems work. Over the years I have self taught over HTML5, CSS which I am still learning, C++, some C, and NASM which is a form of assembly although I'm not very good at C and NASM but I have taught myself C and assembly to create an operating system and boot loader so i could find out how they work all the way. Next year in high school i am actually taking a computer science class which I will learn Java and I am taking web design which they will go over HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. My passion is programming and I am so into it that last year in my classes (more so in biology when we talked about genetics) I started visualizing what it would look like in C++ code. My ideas were to either create a business where the buyers pay and they provide what they want their program to be and I would create it (a personalized program), create programs and sell them individually, or create games. I did have a name "Crypt" but sadly the URL which was crypt.com was already taken along with the .net and .org counterparts so I do not have a name. I haven't created a business plan yet as I wanted to have a name before I create the plan. I would much appreciate your advice, ideas, criticism, or whatever you have to say!
Thanks, Austin aka Feare

[Freelancier]

I was 16 once :)

Seriously, I started programming when I was 14, had my first paying job at it when I was 16, and now I've been doing it for over 35 years. So... my recommendation is to start by finding local jobs (likely at low pay) getting people to let you do what you like to do anyway and gaining the experience you'll need to raise your rates.

The hardest thing I had to learn over the years is that there's a big difference between "programming" and "providing a working program for a client". Once I got my mind around that it's not about the language or the constructs, but all about the end result satisfying the customer completely, then things opened up for me and I started to do much better at this series of random activities I get to call a "career".

[Wozcreative]

I too started at 14 when it came to web development. I took what I learned for 14 years (drawing/colour) and translated that into html/css. At that age I also got my hands on photoshop and did some tutorials. From 18 - 21 I went to college to graphic design (it made a huge difference), and then I went on to workign in agencies for 4 years before starting on my own business (I'm on my 4th year now).

I agree with Freelancier when he says the hardest thing is programming and actually doing it for a client. What you'd be doing is a business, and not just programming. The business aspect is something you need to learn/experience and it takes a lot of time. You'll need to deal with contracts, limitations, timelines, budgets, requirements/expectations.

When I was young, I did take on freelance jobs when I was 18.. but I didn't know design that well and I didn't know how to deal with contracts.. I remember starting all these projects taht my mother referred me to... in the end they clients never took me seriously. I didn't look/speak and present my stuff like an adult. I didn't take deposits from them and I didn't demand quick enough feedback from them. I didn't know how to collect all the right information or manage the project properly. Clients don't know either. You are supposed to be there to teach them.. but how could I when I was learning myself? In the end the projects turned into half approved designs with no content. One years later the client ended up paying a professional developer to create their website.

Anyway this is not to deter you from starting a business though. It would probably be easier if you created something for yourself that offered some type of service. IE facebook was started as soemthing for themselves and turned into something for everyone to use. Amazon was also started for themselves etc. The benefit of a programmer is that they can create their own idea and learn along the way.

[Feare]

I have done a lot of research on starting a business and research on businesses. Right now I have to get a job in town and where I live there isn't a single job that I could program (at least none that are hiring). I know the risks and that the only way to truly learn and understand business is to be in business, but my thoughts on starting a business were not spontaneous and I have put in a lot of thought. I understand that a lot of businesses fail within the first 5 years mostly because they have failed to write a business plan which is one thing I have done a lot of research on. If I did find a job for programming the language would most likely be Java or C# which I don't know yet. I have also taken Business essentials this last year in high school and we went over the design process, creating a business plan for a business of our choice, all the different terms, and creating and naming products; so I'm not going in totally blind. I am also helping a couple friends start their business with a website for them but they don't have a business plan, model, goals, or actually making it a business when they have a name for it and a prototype of their product so I have also learned from their mistakes. So I am ready to start my own but the problem I face is that I don't know if there is a demand for personalized programs, I searched on google and I couldn't find a single thing related to someone taking a request and coding it for you, but on the other hand if I go with finding a market (which is what I should do first instead of an idea) and create a program for that market and repeat but with a different market and program.

[raulferrer]

Feare

Is nice to see young people with the desire as yours to start their business.

First of all keep that desire up and never let anyone draw yourself from your dreams and goals.

Second, if you have developed any programs that may be of some use by a small business or anything that solves a problem for others, create a portfolio with all your creations. Today many of the websites are created with Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and other platforms that uses many plugins and there is still need of additional ones. This is an alternative or...

Third, you can join elance.com or guru.com. There might be others, but these are the ones I know. From there you can have the opportunity to expose yourself to the world and not only to your local area where you live. But still you need to build your portfolio. That is your greatest presentation card to any possible prospect you will provide service or sell a product.

To start a business the only thing you need is a customer and the desire to meet their needs.

I started as a programmer when I was 23 I did not had the knowledge you have now, today I am a consultant and I am still learning. With all the social media and opportunities out there, we need to constantly be aware of what the public needs and want at the same time be willing to change.

[Feare]

Thank you! I will give one of those a try when my business plan is a little more detailed (as it is only 5 pages total). What would you think if you heard of ApplOne? How would you personally pronounce it, what comes to your head when you hear it, and your overall opinion? I came up with it by thinking that another name for a program is an Application "Appl" and "One" because there is no one else offering a personal programs service so it is one of a kind. I already have a domain for ApplOne and I am pretty sure that is what I am going to go with but I want your opinions!

[raulferrer]

You Welcome!

Before I answer your question, please take into consideration what Freelancier and Wozcreative had mentioned, those are great valued experiences and recommendations:

1. Learning the customer language, what they need or want.
2. Business aspects vs technical and operational aspects.
3. Experience… For you the portfolio would be your presentation card.
4. Create something that can bring value to others

Now, back to your question regarding ApplOne. I think is a great name!

The name of a business can be directly related to the services provided or to a concept and many other possibilities; all depends on the strategy you are planning to use.

The pronunciation of the name comes out like “Apple One” to me. That doesn’t mean that you should not use it. Take for instance the Apple company name, Steve Jobs said he was "on one of my fruitarian diets" and had just come back from an apple farm, and thought the name sounded "fun, spirited and not intimidating."

I hope this helps.

Only determined people reach their success. Do not stop… Keep going.

[DeniseTaylor]

The beauty with programming is you can do it anyway you wish. In fact, you could probably do projects in each of the categories you described. What you need is experience and exposure, developing a portfolio of work as you go. You'll likely learn something new with each project you take on. I say, unless you have an actual preference, I'd just start something and take each opportunity as it arises on an individual basis. See where it leads. I don't think you can go wrong as long as you learn from your mistakes as you go along.

Good luck!

[Feare]

Thanks for all of your input!


Only determined people reach their success. Do not stop… Keep going. I am going to quote you on that if that's all right with you! That is very motivational to me.

DeniseTaylor, that's what I was thinking! See something that there is demand for and take my spin on it. The only exception's I have is quality, performance, and security. I will update my programs to fix security holes even though the program may not connect to the internet. How do I ensure people that the programs are secure? We live in a time that privacy is important and with gray and black hat hackers they put a negative name on the word hacker. I'm a white hat hacker which is for security purposes but I can't say that because not everyone knows what the different tiers are and see hacker and assume malware.