I am a hustler. All (most) consultants are in one way or another. You have to be to find consistent work.
But, my mind is always thinking of other ways to make money and provide something valuable to others. What can I do or make to make things easier for others.
In my career, I have implemented or been involved in so many different software initiatives where the application or reporting was lacking features or reporting was non-existent. In those scenarios, my first inclination is to look to see if there are any solutions available for download or for purchase. This is typically not a successful venture.
So, I have written code, built reporting or enhanced these solutions myself. My first thoughts thereafter are
- How much time could I have saved if I was able to purchase something – even if it was to just get me started and I was able to enhance it? The cost to purchase would likely be much less than the hours put in to start from scratch.
- How valuable is that time to a business? The opportunity cost has to be considered. It is not just the developer time, it is the time to solution functionality or data analysis from the business. What is the cost of that delay in business processes?
- How can I provide these solutions to other people or businesses like me?
I have tried a few business ventures and have finally found a good platform to bring this idea to fruition. vizbp (short for visualization blueprints) was created as an eCommerce marketplace in the same vein as Etsy, Themeforest, or eBay. It is a digital marketplace where developers (and non-developers) can sell or provide their business intelligence, reporting, code, or applications to what I believe is a huge customer base.
Some code and solutions will be free. Other solutions will be for a cost but will again be much cheaper than if developed from scratch and will provide a head start to productivity or efficiency.
What I believe is the most beneficial feature of this business is the conglomeration of these solutions into a single marketplace/site. There are plenty of sites out there where developers or businesses are selling their individual solutions. Because they are individual sites, they are harder to find. Bringing those solutions together and making them easy to find will improve their sales and make it much easier for the consumer.
From a consultant perspective, placing content or solutions on this site will in turn drive consulting business. If a consumer purchases or downloads free code from the marketplace that you have designed, who will they turn to for support? Who will they contact for enhancements?
After you build those enhancements, what can you do with the enhanced product? Sell it or provide it to others on vizbp!
Bottom line – this site will drive revenue – from passive sales of your already developed products to the consulting revenue to enhance or support the product(s).
If you are interested – or know someone else who may be interested – and have developed code or designed solutions for software that is widely used, go set up a profile. Go let others know about the site. Let your customers know about the site.
The site will only be as good as the content you provide!
You can visit the site to see the features available to you as a customer or as a vendor. You can also contact me with any questions you may have regarding the site: