I’m currently doing all three of these things and it’s not easy. If you’re unaware, my original launch date for the AIUX Course was August 1, 2015. I managed to finish 99% of the course videos by that date, but along the way I decided to build my own web app to go with it. Needless to say this made things a little more complicated.
Over two weeks have come and gone with no launch, but I’ve made incredible progress nonetheless. The app is built and functioning well and will serve as a great platform to publish this first course as well as potential future courses.
You may be thinking,
“It would have been easier to put together a Wordpress build with some modified plugins etc.”
and yes, you’re probably right, but a friend of mine, who also happens to be a great Ruby developer, was willing to take on some risk with a small amount of cash upfront and help me build a small Ruby app, so that’s what we’ve done. I feel really good about this as a future investment too, which is another big factor for me.
The designs for the app are pretty much finished at this point minus a Log In screen and a few other odds and ends. I believe I would’ve been able to finish everything by now, but over the last few weeks I needed to pick up a client project to keep the cash flowing.
Bootstrapped
I’ve bootstrapped every little project I’ve ever had and couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. The number one thing I value with my work is freedom. Sometimes it’s more of a perceived freedom, but it’s all very cut and dry. Don’t have the money? Take on more client work to get more money. Store up cash to buy more time.
Because I’m funding everything myself, so that means money is finite. I’ve got a family of four to provide for and cashflow is a very important piece of bootstrapping puzzle. Perhaps the most important.
I took two months off from client work during June and July to work on AIUX, but didn’t quite get it all finished. When I started running low on cash, I needed to pick up some client work and that’s what I did.
"...cashflow is a very important piece of bootstrapping puzzle. Perhaps the most important." Tweet
The first project I picked up is very timely as I’m utilizing the EXACT same techniques that I teach in the AIUX Responsive Web Design course that’s in the works. For this particular project I negotiated a fixed rate of $15,000 and a fixed timeline of 3 weeks—in which I only need to dedicate 7-8 full days of solid work.
I wouldn’t normally just randomly throw out numbers like this, but I want to start showing how beneficial this type of UX design work can be, especially when you sell the value of your work, rather than only hours. More on that later.
What's Next
I plan to code up the front-end for the new designs and start integrating the course videos and lesson plans over the next few weeks. So now I’m setting another faux launch date of September 1st.
If you want to hear more about how you can use your UX design skills to drum up 5-figure projects like the one I’m finishing now, hop on the AIUX list. I’ll be sharing lots of personal stories and techniques for how I land projects like that and the techniques I use to knock out the work.
Update
The private beta was a smashing success.
Get notified the next time the course goes live.
