Category Archives: Marketing

Need to write more, better

Posted on by Daniel Silva

It’s hard to keep up with a blog. And I have two blogs at that. Not making excuses though. It’s my fault.

My second blog is my Waist 38 project. This is a project where I work hard to lose weight and get in shape. I started the project over a year ago, but took a 10 month break, so I’m at it again (have been for a few weeks) and been spending my writing energy there. But I shouldn’t lose sight of my original lovely blog.

I wrote a post about a particular problem (and solution) I was having with Mac OS X and its Firewall subsystem back in January and it’s easily my most popular post. It drives about 30% of all visits to my site. And most people stick around after that. It’s fun to meet people through that post. People write comments. I help them with their questions. It’s fun. If only the rest of my posts could get that level attention.

The solution is simple. Write useful stuff. I get it; the stuff I write isn’t that interesting. I’m not that interesting. I can’t just write stories and hope to garner a following that way. I have to offer something. Like I do in that post. Or this one. Posts that help people. I need to be more helpful.

I also need to write more. I don’t write nearly enough. I need to publish my ideas. Importing Appelstroop from the Netherlands. Revolutionize the time keeping business. Buy flowers for your spouse once a week BUT a random day each week. TextMate bundles that annotate my Java class files for me, given a purpose input statement. WRITE A RULES ENGINE FOR ANALYZING AND TRIGGERING PUTS AND CALLS ON THE STOCK MARKET. Really, so many ideas. Most may be terrible. Some may be brilliant. But I’ll never get to the brilliant without sifting through the crap in my brain first.

And I need to link more of my site to my readers. Did you know I was married? Did you know RedBull almost got me killed? Did you know I almost beat-up a man in London because I was above the law for a season? Did you know I failed at importing and exporting material goods? I’m a mess, man. It should be fun reading. I would read it. I actually read my stuff a lot. I’m entertained by it. I can amuse myself. Is this the definition of insanity?

I love my blog. It’s a great place to just write stuff and not worry. I have one left up already: I’m brutally honest. I can only go up from here.

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Pretty things

Posted on by Daniel Silva

I like things that are attractive. I like things that are loud. I like things that are outrageous.

When given a choice between bland or bright, I always navigate to the bright. I like colors. I like living in a world where there is variety at every corner. Indeed, one of the charms of living in South Florida is the wide variety of ethnicities and rich culture that abound. Doing business in South Florida cannot escape the flavor and emotion of the people here.

In all I do, I try to not only make useful but also beautiful software. Actually, useful and beautiful are not really separate concepts. For something to be truly useful it cannot just be functional from a theoretical engineering perspective. It must be useful in practice. It must affect the users. Touch them. Make them more efficient.

Whether the mission is looking up an OFAC list, computing an insurance policy, sizing up an eBay market or managing a staffing company, there is room for aesthetic and design.

This is who I am. I care about these things. I work hard to make sure the stuff I do is functionally sound and aesthetically beautiful.

What can I say? I like pretty things.

Social networking is changing our world

Posted on by Daniel Silva

When Michael Jackson passed away, I was working for a large media business in London (UK) who was struggling with their business model, struggling with how it would be possible to bring their consumers the highest quality news and information while still being profitable. Thus, it was of interest for to ask the question: “How did you first hear of Michael Jackson’s death?” This business I was serving was working through its business model and trying to figure out how to migrate from a mostly-print business to a full on multichannel news distributor, so this question was important from a user research perspective.

I asked friends, colleagues and strangers alike. Even posted a poll for friends on social networking sites to chime in. The result was very interesting: most people found out through “social” means, such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs or simply their taxi driver that morning. Second highest form of hearing the news was through television, and then newspaper or magazine third; but tops for spreading the word were through social networking of one form or another. Continue reading →

How I am marketing my business

Posted on by Daniel Silva

Starting a business requires a lot of hard work in many areas. In my case, the greater challenge has been found in marketing. The premise for my business has always been to seek those that are not taking advantage of everything today’s technologies are offering and show them how intelligent use of technology can help their bottom line. But the “those” and “them” in that last statement is very broad. It can be any industry, and even any “budget.” Because of this, there is an inherent difficulty with marketing, particularly with even knowing my market. Continue reading →

Working on my brand today

Posted on by Daniel Silva

Today is a big day for me because it will make one of the first that I dedicate solely to “investment time.” Investment time is a phrase I coined from my previous full-time employer that I liked very much. At the time, it was meant to represent time spent that couldn’t be directly invoiced to a client but still had some measurable value because the time spent was instead of some benefit to the company itself. The time was an investment into the company because it was paid by the company (in salary) even though it would not be later billed, thus termed “investment time.” I liked it a lot, and will keep it for my own time-keeping purposes.

Today I will spend my time as almost exclusively investment time. So what will I do? I will work on my brand and marketing today, that’s what I’ll do! Continue reading →

Apple Advertising and Table Computing

Posted on by Daniel Silva

I was walking in a mall the other day, a few weeks back, when some iPhone ads up on a wall in the Apple Store caught my eye. (I did a quick search on Google Images but turned up blank; if I can find them I’ll update this post with a link.) I found it fascinating that at first glance the devices don’t look like iPhones at all, but instead like Tablet computers.

It got me thinking if this was intentional. It may not be, and I haven’t seen anybody else correlate recent iPhone advertising with Tablet computing, but it’s not impossible or unbelievable. Lots of media outlets are reporting that market experts are expecting a release of such a product early next year. It would make sense, on some level, that Apple is doing very subtle market analysis by measuring response to specific advertising. Continue reading →

Business Plan

Posted on by Daniel Silva

I’m in the thick of it now: I’m in the process of turning my three-page head-scratcher into something most would call a business plan. The process is both enlightening and challenging. Considering the many angles that any serious business should consider it is very important to start off on the right path. To answer the tough questions that come up when you dig deep and are honest with yourself is equally challenging.

When I started, I decided to not do a formal business plan. It was only me (it is still only me) and I had a partner to help me gather my first clientele. Getting started didn’t require a bunch of up front effort, it just required a bit of planning and a lot of action. I decided to do something quick, against the grain (not follow any business plan outline) and jot down very basic points, like what my business model, market and short-term goals are. Continue reading →