I fly kites, make video games and do other fun things
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. This article is part of a series. A slump. A rut. Downtime. Low productivity. Writer’s block. Regardless of what you prefer to call it, we all experience these low periods where our energy wanes and our motivation weakens. We look at the work before us and …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. This article is part of a series. It’s true that you don’t need to create a formal business plan in order to start a business. You can kickstart a business very quickly without having to plan out every detail in advance. That said, there can be tremendous value in …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. Part of a series. Only 3% of people ever achieve the dream of starting their own business. A common statistic is that 80% of new businesses fail in their first five years, and of those that succeed, 80% of them fail in their next five years. …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. Part of a series. In the Association of Shareware Professionals newsgroups, we often discuss whether or not it’s worthwhile to create a business plan for one’s shareware business. There is often much confusion about what level of planning is appropriate for small companies in our rapidly …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. Part of a series. Many independent developers are skilled at networking a home office, but they’re often lacking in the area of human networking. In early 1999, I knew my lack of networking was going to hold me back if I didn’t do something about it. …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. Several months ago I decided to conduct an informal but lengthy study of successful shareware businesses. The primary question I asked was this: Why are some shareware developers more successful than others? I looked at dozens of shareware businesses with sales ranging from only a few …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. Part of a series. Given all the responsibilities that shareware authors face, it isn’t surprising that they seldom take the time to conduct project postmortems. A postmortem is a procedure whereby you summarize a project’s history and analyze its positive and negative aspects. The goal of …
by Steve Pavlina, founder of Dexterity Software. Reproduced with permission. Part of a series. Many independent developers eventually find themselves in a situation where they must negotiate a contract for the first time, such as for a publishing deal. And many developers are taken advantage of on their first deal because of a lack of basic …