The Art Of Selling A Tiny IT Project
By: El Akioui Zouhaire
Tags: Online Marketing, Coding, Programming, Marketing, Business

Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash

Building tiny projects in your free time is something that you have to do as a programmer.

The main goal is to test out ideas that sometimes work and you can make a lot of money.

The process of selling a website or application had always been an art.

Therefore, in this post I’ll tell you what it is like to sell a tiny project, and how I think anyone can.

1. Building a Project

According to many successful small-business founders and serial entrepreneurs.

Your very best idea may not be quite what your customers want, for whatever reason.

If you’ve spent all your capital on this one product that doesn’t quite get customers to buy, your business may run out of money before it recovers from the misstep.

That’s a big risk to take, especially if you’re funding your new home-based business out of your own savings.

A more prudent plan is to start by offering a basic version of what you’ve heard your customers ask for and then ask for feedbacks.

One of the best books that I have read about how to make a successful startup is The Lean Startup for the author Eric Ries.

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

2. Meeting the Buyer

It can be a good idea to make your introductions in a relatively informal setting like a business lunch, where both parties can get to know each other a bit.

This will help break the ice and can help you feel more at ease.

It’s important to not let your emotions get in the way, as this could influence the buyer’s position.

Clearly state why you want to sell your business, and try to remain as objective as possible.

It’s possible that the buyer might say something that upsets you or makes you angry, but if this happens, do your best not to show it.

During the meeting, allow plenty of room for questions. If you don’t have the answer to a specific question, say that you’ll look into the matter and let hi, know by email.

Don’t shy away from speaking about challenges your business might be encountering. A buyer who’s really interested will find out anyway during due diligence, so you’re best advised to get everything out in the open.

I highly recommend the book : Get the Meeting!: An Illustrative Contact Marketing Playbook, it has a set of tools you need to get the meetings.

Get the Meeting!: An Illustrative Contact Marketing Playbook

3. Negotiating a Price

When negotiating, seek advantages that allow you to exploit your strength, but don’t disparage the other negotiator in your enthusiasm to obtain victory.

When a negotiation outcome is less than expected, learn from the experience. Commit to getting better. Increase your knowledge of how to use the right tactic, with the right strategy(s), aligned with the right situation.

Make sure you observe and control your biases when assessing the person with whom you’ll be negotiating.

I recommend the book: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It, it shows how to be effective when negotiating.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

4. Receive the payment

How do you securely exchange code for cash?

I think it would be better to use an escrow service.

Their are many platforms providing this service like: escrow.com

It works like this:

Buyer transfers to the escrow service.

you transfer the domain name, users, and Github repository to the buyer.

Brief video call explaining the code.

Buyer has some days to try everything out.

Escrow service transfers the money to you.

That’s it, the deal is done.

Conclusion:

I understand that to sell a projects you should at least having a small audience.

So, as a programmer, you have to be good technically and a good marketer in order to make money on the internet.

A good strategy could be :

Build things you enjoy Write about the process Attract a small audience Attract opportunities (buyers, customers, job offers)

It’s that simple. Code something for a few weeks, maybe publish it on your own blog.

1 people will probably read it, and that’s awesome. Next time it might be ten!

Keep building lots of little things that pique your interest, talk about it, and great things will start happening.

Bonus:

The working environment of an average programmer entails sitting around a desk for long hours surrounded by gadgets.

The reality here is that, there is a huge possibility of programmers developing certain health conditions and computer related injuries.

From my personal experience, I am suffering sometimes from back pain, caused by long hours sitting in front of my computer, sometime with a wrong position.

I recommend a Posture Corrector to regain proper posture which can help to prevent the onset of back, neck and shoulder pain. The Posture Corrector helps provide alignment while sitting, standing, lying down or during your other daily activities.

I write one article per week about programming, thanks for supporting me on patreon, by being my contributor :-)

Some related articles you might interest in :

1-Make The Code Better Than You Found It

2– 4 Practical Books for Software Architecture

3-The Design Cannot Be Taught

4– 6 Best Programmers of All Time

5-How To Make Your Code Reviewer Like You

6-Most Graduates Unable to Pass Coding Interviews

Source:selcote.com