The Square36 yoga mat earns $10,000-$25,000 per month for Bob Maydonik.

One common challenge for readers of The 4-Hour Workweek is the creation of a “muse”: a low-maintenance business that generates significant income. Such a muse is leveraged to finance your ideal lifestyle, which we calculate precisely based on Target Monthly Income (TMI).

I’ve received hundreds of successful case studies via e-mail, and more than 1,000 new businesses were created during last year’s Shopify competition (If you haven’t already, sign up for this year’s contest here), but I’ve presented only a handful of them.

In this installment, I’ll showcase three diverse muses, including lessons learned, what worked, and what didn’t. Income ranges from $1,000 – $25,000 per month…

“Square 36″ by Bob Maydonik

Describe your muse in 1-3 sentences.
Oversize yoga mat.

What is the website for your muse?
http://www.square36.com

How much revenue is your muse currently generating per month (on average)?
$10,000 – $25,000 per month

To get to this monthly revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck?
1.5 years

How did you decide on this muse?
I was doing P90X and was annoyed by how inadequate my typical yoga mat was. My good friend, who is also an entrepreneur, convinced me that we should give Tim’s formula a try. So we plugged our big yoga mat concept into the 4HWW business model, and that’s how everything got started.

What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?
We thought about doing a free-standing pull-up bar (and we’re actually still considering this). We also considered rings that could be attached in a door way frame for doing pull-ups, like gymnastic rings for home-based workouts. We rejected the rings for a few reasons: (1) RingTraining.com was already doing it, and (2) we were going to have to deal with a few different manufacturers to have one product made. It was too complicated and wasn’t worth the hassle. More importantly, the market for ring trainers is much smaller than the market for yoga mats.

What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or “A-ha!” moments? How did they come about?
Sorry, no major tipping point moments for us. We’re both entrepreneurs and were already part of the New Rich!

What resources or tools did you find most helpful when you were getting started?
Alibaba.com to source our manufacturer. We also really lucked out with Google Adwords. Google built our Adwords campaign for us, then they gave us seed money credit to launch it… all for free.

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?
Our biggest mistake occurred when we ordered our first 20 prototypes. We bought a large roll of PVC mat and asked the yoga supply wholesaler who we bought it from to cut them into 6′ x 6′ mats. If you look on this yoga wholesaler’s website now, you’ll see they totally ripped off our idea (they took a picture of our mat) and took credit for it. We dealt with this by changing the color of our mat to black, amping up the density and thickness, then de-bossing it with our logo. Luckily, the wholesaler has done a crappy job marketing his product. I don’t think he’s affected our sales too much, but it’s still a piss-off.

What have been your key marketing and/or manufacturing lessons learned?
Key manufacturing lesson: Guangxhi (Mandarin for ‘connection’). This is how the Chinese do business. When you meet, you talk about your family for two hours, then discuss pricing/terms for the last 10 minutes. If you go out for beers with the factory manager, you will get way better pricing/terms.

Marketing lesson: it matters what time of day your ads appear. Most people aren’t shopping online during their workday. Ads that appear on weekday nights are best.

Also, incorporating the cost of shipping into our price and advertising “FREE SHIPPING” has been pretty effective for our Google Adwords campaign.

If you used a manufacturer, how did you find them? What are your suggestions for first-timers?
We found our manufacturer using Alibaba. My suggestion is to find a minimum of three manufacturers who can make what you want. If you’re dealing in China, there’s a good chance all of your manufacturers will be in the same town (different towns seem to specialize in manufacturing one type of product). Go and visit with them all personally. Chinese manufacturers will almost always tell you that they can do what you want, but when you actually meet with them in-person and show them what you want, 2/3 of them will not be capable of producing your product. We visited five factories for our mat, all of which assured us through e-mail that they could produce our product. Only one of the five factories actually could.

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?
“The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott is a killer book on PR/media. However, we haven’t really done a lot of PR/media stuff for Square36. We focused a lot of energy on retail after reading “This Business has Legs” about the ThighMaster. We will be testing in 10 Costco stores across Canada, and are also in negotiations with another large Canadian retailer.

Where did you register your domain (URL)?
http://netfirms.com

Where did you decide to host your domain?
http://bluehost.com

If you used a web designer, where did you find them?
I was lucky: my web designer was my former next-door neighbor.

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
I’d probably pick a product that’s easier to ship. A 6′ x 6′ yoga mat that weighs ten pounds is not as easy to ship as a pair of shoes or a DVD. Plus, you can fit a much smaller product in a Sea-Can, which would be a nice savings.

What’s next?!
Counting dollars and sending Tim a mat :) Thanks for the inspiration.

[NOTE: Readers of this blog get a discount on Bob's yoga mats with the coupon code 'tferriss']

“iFlip Wallet” by Vincent Ko

Describe your muse in 1-3 sentences.
The iFlip is a niche product that combines the style of a leather iPhone case with the functionality of a flip wallet. Our product is for minimalist iPhone owners who are looking to carry everything in one package.

What is the website for your muse?
http://iFlipWallet.com

How much revenue is your muse currently generating per month (on average)?
$1,000 – $2,500 per month

To get to this monthly revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck?
3 months

How did you decide on this muse?
Right before returning for my senior year of college, I received an iPhone as a birthday present. Form-fitting jeans were the style around campus and having pockets bulging with an iPhone and thick wallet looked pretty stupid. I evaluated whether I needed all the items in my wallet, and came to the realization that the only things I really needed to carry around on a daily basis were my ID, credit card, a $20 bill, and my iPhone. That’s when I envisioned an iPhone case that also acted as a wallet. When I went online and couldn’t find that type of product, I decided to create it myself.

What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?
Prior to reading the 4HWW, I was actually selling fold-up beer pong tables online. It was a fun product to sell as a college student. However, beer pong tables are huge and heavy. Logistics and shipping from a rented out warehouse soon became too much of a hassle. Along with growing competitors, import tariffs, and shrinking margins, I knew I had to call it quits on a profitable business. The time spent was not equal to the financial output. I traded-in 30 pound beer pong tables for 3 oz. iPhone wallets.

What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or “A-ha!” moments? How did they come about?
My A-ha moment was the first time I went online searching for an iPhone wallet. When I found the only product out there was an iPhone case that looked like a mini-purse, a light bulb went off: create an iPhone wallet case that guys would want to buy.

What resources or tools did you find most helpful when you were getting started?
The best resource was learning directly from other muse owners and entrepreneurs. For instance, Mixergy.com does a great job of putting out interviews with entrepreneurs who have been successful. Taking those nuggets of wisdom and implementing them into my business has been extremely helpful. This includes everything from tactics for increasing conversion, tracking statistics, sales language, and more.

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?
The biggest marketing lesson I learned was: you have to get your product in front of people searching for it. Initially, I was advertising on iPhone-related sites. It was only after I invested money into getting my site in front of people specifically searching for “iPhone Wallet” was I successful. This naturally led to me working on SEO for particular keywords.

If you used a manufacturer, how did you find them? What are your suggestions for first-timers?
I found my manufacturer on Alibaba. My suggestion for first-timers is to find the supplier that currently manufactures a product as close to the product you are envisioning, then tweak that product to fit your specifications. I found that creating a custom product from scratch was not only hard to communicate but very expensive. The iFlip was actually a modification of an iPhone case that my manufacturer was already producing.

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?
I was able to get my product featured on some iPhone accessory blogs by creating a template e-mail and sending out custom messages to sites I thought would be interested. I told all of them that I was a college student who had created a unique product that solved a simple problem.

Where did you register your domain (URL)?
http://www.netfirms.com

Where did you decide to host your domain?
http://www.netfirms.com

If you used a web designer, where did you find them?
I actually designed the site myself. I took a template I purchased at ThemeForest.net for $15 and tweaked the text and images in Dreamweaver. However, I did hire help for SEO. I found two people on oDesk to create backlinks and submit the site to directories.

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
I have a short video that demonstrates my product. After putting it on my site, sales increased by 25%. I believe that potential customers who see your product in-action not only understand it better but are also more inclined to purchase. If I were to do it again, I would have implemented the video sooner.

What’s next?!
Creating more muses! The iFlip was developed by creating a product I wanted for myself but currently was not on the market. I have teamed up with a college buddy to create several new muses. The key is that we only create products we would use, then we strategically think about the best way to market the product to ourselves. It is a fun process :)

“Keynotopia” by Amir Khella

Describe your muse in 1-3 sentences.
User interface libraries for turning Apple Keynote and Microsoft Powerpoint into interactive prototyping tools.

What is the website for your muse?
http://www.keynotopia.com

How much revenue is your muse currently generating per month (on average)?
$5,000 – $10,000 per month

To get to this monthly revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck?
3 hours

How did you decide on this muse?
I’d been creating and using these libraries for awhile in my consulting gigs, but wasn’t sure they would be useful to anyone else. One day, I was playing around with my iPad and challenged myself to prototype something in 30 minutes. I did, and it worked on the iPad almost flawlessly.

I wanted to do a quick test to see if this would be useful to anyone else, so I wrote a step-by-step blog post and created a video showing the end result. I also included a downloadable zip file containing the iPad interface library with the blog post. Three weeks later, I had over 10,000 views on the post and over 500 downloads of the archive file. One evening, I thought about prototyping a quick website to see if anyone would buy the libraries if I charged for them. Three hours later, I had a premium WordPress theme linked with an e-junkie shopping cart and I posted a link at the bottom of the original blog post.

The website made its first sale after roughly 10 minutes of being online (The original version of the site looked too ugly – at least for me, as a designer – that I thought about pulling it down, but that first sale told me otherwise).

The full story behind this experiment can be found here.

What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?
Developing plug-ins for Keynote and Powerpoint. I wanted a product with a very low barrier-to-entry so I could quickly test it, and these templates were the fastest. Now I can confidently develop these plug-ins, knowing that I already have hundreds of paying customers who can use them.

What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or “A-ha!” moments? How did they come about?
The biggest tipping point was waking up one day to find more money in my bank account. That was a paradigm shift, as my income was no longer coupled with my time. Instead of consulting/freelancing (trading time for money), I had invested some upfront time to create a system that worked hard for me.

Here are a few other “A-ha!” moments:

- Realizing the first prototype doesn’t need to look pretty, it just needs to work. Instead of spending days (potentially weeks) reinventing the wheel and creating my own e-commerce site, I just bought something that was good enough and tried it out. Total cost: $47.50 ($5 hosting, $7.50 domain, and $35 WordPress theme).

- People buy benefits: if it weren’t for the original blog post, I doubt that I’d have 1/100 of the sales I have now. The blog post continues to be the highest traffic generator for the site, because it shows people what they get out of the product (not just how they can use it).

- Aggressive testing: For Keynotopia’s landing page, I tested over 29 iterations for the copy and layout, reducing the bounce rate from 59% to 12% in less than 30 days.

- Byproducts can be profitable: The UI libraries had been sitting on my hard drive for months before I’d decided to share them. I didn’t consciously sit down to create a business by making the libraries and selling them; they came as a byproduct of working with clients, and all I needed to do was to create a system that delivered them.

What resources or tools did you find most helpful when you were getting started?
- WordPress + Premium themes
- Google website optimizer
- e-Junkie
- TextMate (Mac)

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?
Banner ads. They don’t generate much traffic (compared with AdWords) because they are placed in websites/blogs where people are already distracted by other information, and may not be actively looking for a solution.

What have been your key marketing and/or manufacturing lessons learned?
Great free content (blog posts + videos) converts better than $1000′s in advertising.

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?
The libraries have been mentioned by some of the top UI designers (including a blog mention from Adaptive Path). I basically reached out to bloggers who had written similar content, left them thoughtful comments, and sometimes shared a free copy of the libraries with them. In the beginning, almost nothing happened, but then the mentions started to snowball.

Giving away a freebie on a well-known blog has helped tremendously with building a strong rank on Google. I gave away a simplified version of the libraries on SmashingMagazine (one of the top design blogs in the world), they wrote a post about it, and it literally brought down the server.

Finally, sharing the story behind the product helps too. I wrote a blog post on how I prototyped the product and it was on the homepage of Hacker News for more than 24 hours. Again, lots of traffic and good back-links.

Where did you register your domain (URL)?
http://godaddy.com

Where did you decide to host your domain?
http://1and1.com

If you used a web designer, where did you find them?
Nope. Just a premium WordPress template.

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
Do it much earlier. I waited too long to build up enough confidence and discover that what I had built was useful enough to sell.

What’s next?!
Having paying customers is great because they send all kinds of questions and requests. I have great customer service (I personally reply to all emails and tweets), and I have a long wish-list of what they’d like me to build next!

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Do you have a successful muse that’s generating more than $1,000 per month?

Please tell me about it! If it stands out (meaning you give specific details of lessons learned and what’s worked vs. what didn’t), I’m happy to promote you and help further increase your revenue. If you qualify and this sounds like fun, please fill out this form.

Both physical and digital goods are welcome, as are services, as long as they’re low-maintenance, income-generating “muses” as described in The 4-Hour Workweek.

Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this series can be found here.

(Photo: Royce Bair)

Hello lads and lasses. This post is intended as a morsel, a sugar high and respite. Life is serious enough, so this post will require zero calories of brain power.

Not to worry, of course, as we’ll be back to our regular content with the next how-to post.

In the meantime, some goodies: the “Kimono” winners and a $1,000 travel voucher giveaway.

KIMONO SPOTS

Congratulations, after much tallying and consideration, to the winners of the $10,000 spots to the “Opening the Kimono” event! Please keep an eye on your inbox for follow-up details:

- Sheila McCarthy (votes)
- Jacqueline Biggs (“wild card” views)

First, sincere thanks to all who submitted video case studies, even those who re-submitted old videos and therefore weren’t eligible. Second, HUGE thanks to Dustin “America’s Trainer to the Moms” Maher for making the “wild card” scholarship possible — you rock!

Three honorable mentions for the “wild card” seat are below (out of dozens of great videos), and one includes a pic of me drunk at my London book launch. Oh, Internet, you hurt so good T_T

Two of them highlight post-4-Hour Workweek (now 2,172 reviews!) travel adventures:

$1,000 TRAVELOCITY TRAVEL VOUCHER — GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Alright, moving on…

I wanted to have some fun and get people traveling. “But I can’t travel… it costs too much!” is a common refrain. Partnering with a new start-up called PunchTab, I wanted to remove this barrier.

Here’s how it will work, as PunchTab explains:

Entering the giveaway is simple and takes only 30 seconds. Register by connecting to the giveaway widget below using Facebook. For each step you complete, you’ll earn a giveaway entry:

1. Like this blog post by clicking on the Facebook Like button (+1 entry).
2. Become a fan of Tim Ferriss on Facebook (+1 entry).
3. Leave a comment telling me where you’ll go and what you’ll do there (+1 entry).
4. Tweet about the giveaway (+1 entry).
5. Unlimited bonus entries by pasting your invite link everywhere you can. For example:

- For every friend who clicks the invite link you Tweeted in step 4, you’ll earn +1 entries.
- For every friend who then joins the giveaway, you’ll earn +5 entries.

Giveaway ends June 30, 2011 at midnight PST. Open to residents of North America.

Enjoy! Attack! Discuss!

(Photo: Markal)

NOTE: VOTING HAS ENDED — THANKS!

Please find below the finalists for the scholarship spot to the $10,000 Opening The Kimono event (all semi-finalist videos here).

There are nine contenders, listed in no particular order. Please watch the videos and vote on your single favorite at the bottom of this post. Two important things to note — achtung!

1) Voting ends next Thursday, June 9, at 11pm PST.

2) Because there were so many outstanding videos, I’m offering a second “wild card” scholarship. That’s right — another $10,000 spot, though you’ll need to cover flights and hotel, just like the other scholarship. Here’s how it works…

- You cannot have a video that qualified for the semi-finals or finals.
- The YouTube video with the most views wins the “wild card” scholarship. The link and view count must be posted in the comments below by the same deadline of next Thursday at 11pm PST. No exceptions, so don’t wait until last minute.
- The video must have at least 2,500 views to be eligible. If no one reaches this number, no additional spot will be given away.

Enjoy the videos and best of luck to all!

NOTE: VOTING HAS ENDED — THANKS!

Dustin Patrick

Gonzalo Paternoster

Charles Phillips

Rachman Blake

Maneesh Sethi

Benedict Westenra

Sheila McCarthy

Michael-Scott Earle

Clark Weigand

NOTE: VOTING HAS ENDED — THANKS!

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Odds and Ends: More Book Notes on Amazon

If you’re interested, I’ve uploaded my Kindle highlights from several new books, ranging from hedgefund investing to Katie Couric’s new compendium of “the best advice I ever received” stories from notable public figures. Find them and all of my public notes here — be sure to follow me at the top left to see my new notes and highlights as I post them.

(Photo: Josh Liba)

NOTE: VOTING HAS ENDED — THANKS!

Once again, I have been BLOWN AWAY by you all.

Please find below the semi-finalists for the scholarship spot to the $10,000 Opening The Kimono event.

There are 26, listed in no particular order, as we could not narrow it down further. The case studies range from parents to students, from snowboarding to software, from Berlin to British Columbia. Here’s the next step:

1) Each video is a combination of three video submissions. After watching each video, vote for your favorite of the three applicants. Voting ends this Thursday, May 12th, at 12 midnight PST.

2) Once tallied, this round of voting will decide the 8-10 finalists for the next round.

Much like the Cold Remedy video case studies, these videos remind me of how much I owe you all. This kind of feedback is the reason that I continue to write, despite how hard it is for me, and why I love this community so much.

Thank you.

I hope you love these as much as I did. If you need a little inspiration, these are exactly what the doctor ordered.

Enjoy!

NOTE: VOTING HAS ENDED — THANKS!

NOTE: VOTING HAS ENDED — THANKS!

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Odds and Ends: Tim in Germany

I’m leaving from SFO for Germany as I type this, where I’ll be for 1-2 weeks, mostly in Berlin.

Anyone want to throw a big party? Know any club owners so we can blow it out? Other recommendations for fun in Berlin? Can’t wait to rediscover it, as I haven’t been since 2004.

Danke!

One common challenge for readers of The 4-Hour Workweek is the creation of a “muse”: a low-maintenance business that generates significant income. Such a muse is leveraged to finance your ideal lifestyle, which we calculate precisely based on Target Monthly Income (TMI).

I’ve received hundreds of successful case studies via e-mail, and more than 1,000 new businesses were created during a recent Shopify competition, but I’ve presented only a handful of them.

In this installment, I’ll showcase three diverse muses, including lessons learned, what worked, and what didn’t. Income ranges from $2,500 – $25,000 per month…

”Datsusara MMA” by Christopher Odell

Describe your muse in 1-3 sentences

Datsusara MMA makes hemp bags and apparel for martial artists.

What is the website for your muse?

http://www.dsmma.com

How much revenue is your muse currently generating per month (on average)?

$5,000 – $10,000 per month

To get to this monthly revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck?

Three years.

How did you decide on this muse?

I was at a crisis point in my life when I realized I needed to do something I truly loved instead of what I was merely skilled at doing.

I thought deeply on things that I loved. One was Mixed Martial Arts, and another was hemp products. That’s when it clicked. I realized that making a high quality hemp bag for MMA enthusiasts would fill a gap in the market.

What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?

I thought of starting a small MMA fight promotion but decided it would be more trouble than I wanted to deal with.

What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or “A-ha!” moments? How did they come about?

It all started to sink in when we got our first prototype. Being able to see and touch the actual product really changes everything. It helped me realize that you truly could make your dreams appear by simply shifting your time and energy into the right places.

What resources or tools did you find most helpful when you were getting started?

A message board called Sherdog.net was our biggest source of early sales. This was due to a few gear review postings by our first customers (friends at my gym).

Having a decent looking website with good product descriptions and photos was critical, as well.

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?

Sending out free gear bags to pro fighters cost us thousands in revenue and was a huge waste, except for the one and only response we got. That one response was from Eddie Bravo, who is well known in the MMA scene and gave us our first pro endorsement. We should have targeted more carefully, because we knew that Eddie loved hemp products and MMA already.

What have been your key marketing and/or manufacturing lessons learned?

In manufacturing, we learned to never rush a product out when you think you are “close enough,” assuming the odds and ends will be taken care of on the final product run. Since we were not 100% specific on what we wanted, our manufacturer cut some corners and cost us quite a bit of money in product exchanges.

But we did learn that if you treat your customers with care, they will stick with you and sometimes become even more loyal despite your mistakes.

If you used a manufacturer, how did you find them? What are your suggestions for first-timers?

I used Alibaba.com to find manufacturers. It was fairly easy but also a bit terrifying since you don’t always know who or what you are really dealing with.

We looked for manufacturers that had experience with hemp and military gear (we wanted these bags to be very strong). We reached out to several companies, judged them by how good their responses were, then chose a few to make our first prototype. After that, we made our final decision based on quality of the prototype and ease of obtaining it.

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?

Our Facebook fan page probably generates more interest then any other source at this point and it’s growing fast. We also love that it’s free :)

The endorsement from the sample we sent to Eddie Bravo was very useful, as was the mention by Tim Ferriss on Twitter about the sample we sent him.

We were also approached by many distributors that had simply heard of our gear and wanted to get on board. We picked one from each country that would have an exclusive for our gear. We chose the companies that had a good reputation and the best exposure. This has helped us generate over 60% of our sales, but it does impact our revenue negatively since they purchase at a wholesale price.

Where did you register your domain (URL)?

http://www.poehosting.com

Where did you decide to host your domain?

http://mediatemple.net

If you used a web designer, where did you find them?

I had a friend design the site (paid gig).

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have shopped around more for a better importer, as our current importer charges half what we paid the first and does twice the work.

I also would have started the Facebook fan page right away.

What’s next?!

We may be expanding soon to other markets outside of MMA if we get some solid financial backing.

We hope to make hemp bags and apparel for all lifestyles while maintaining our quality of goods and customer service.

”Ready Set Go Kits” by Amy Sandoz

Describe your muse in 1-3 sentences

I help schools and families prepare for emergencies by offering ready-made emergency kits and free disaster planning information.

What is the website for your muse?

http://www.readysetgokits.com

How much revenue is your muse currently generating per month (on average)?

$2,500 – $5,000 per month

To get to this monthly revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck?

One year.

How did you decide on this muse?

A friend and I were reading The 4-Hour Workweek at the same time and decided to just go for it. We sat down and listed out all the activities we had ever been involved in throughout our lives, then listed out the products that people in those same activities needed. The next steps were picking the five products that were most interesting to us, researching their markets, and seeing whether there was a drop-shipper available. I’m a long-time volunteer at American Red Cross and knew that people had trouble building an emergency kit. When I found an emergency kit manufacturer, I knew I had found my muse.

What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?

Selling salsa dance shoes and apparel was rejected because of a lack of dropshipper in the U.S., and bobbleheads were similarly rejected because of no desire to try to find a manufacturer overseas.

What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or “A-ha!” moments? How did they come about?

My first big sale to a school district – they found me online and I thought “Wow, I actually own a business now!” It really reinforced the online model for me.

What resources or tools did you find most helpful when you were getting started?

I found the “SEO for Dummies” book super helpful, as well as the technical support staff at CoreCommerce.com (my hosted shopping cart software). It was also easy to get overwhelmed, so all action items were broken down into very small pieces, e.g. “Research names for business” or “Research hosted shopping carts.”

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?

I’ve spent a lot of money on seminars and books promising to get me more sales or to the top of Google search for my keywords… and I’d like to get that money back. Most of that stuff was useless.

I also spent a lot of time trying to do things myself. I’m happy with the knowledge I’ve gained, but I think I would have started making money sooner if I had outsourced more things.

What have been your key marketing and/or manufacturing lessons learned?

You think you know who your target market is, but you really have no idea until you have paying customers. When I started the business, I was convinced that my target market was moms in the 35-55 range. I’m finding now that it’s really more of a 50/50 split between men and women.

If you used a manufacturer, how did you find them? What are your suggestions for first-timers?

I found my manufacturer through an online search and submitted an application to become a reseller. I ordered products from them to see what kind of packaging they came in, how long they took to arrive, and to determine the quality of the kits.

My suggestion for first-timers would be to go out and tour the operation (if you live nearby) and get to know the owner. That way if you have any trouble later, you’ll know where to turn.

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?

I applied for the Project Rev small business contest through Deluxe Corporation and won! They have been really helpful in getting press coverage and exposure for my business. I also hired a public relations freelancer and we set up a yearly schedule for pitches. I’m happy to report that she has already helped me land four feature print articles and an invitation to appear on a local TV station.

Where did you register your domain (URL)?

http://www.godaddy.com

Where did you decide to host your domain?

http://www.corecommerce.com

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have found a reputable SEO person and hired them early on. That would have saved a lot of time and confusion.

What’s next?!

I’ve just launched a complementary site (www.ReadySetGoKitsDisasterPlan.com) that allows families to download free disaster planning templates that they can fill out and then tuck into their emergency kit. I’m also experimenting with creating videos about disaster preparedness to help raise awareness.

”Music Teachers Helper” by Brandon Pearce

Describe your muse in 1-3 sentences

Online software to help private music teachers manage the business side of their teaching studios.

What is the website for your muse?

http://www.musicteachershelper.com

How much revenue is your muse currently generating per month (on average)?

More than $25,000 per month

To get to this monthly revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck?

Five years.

How did you decide on this muse?

I used to teach private piano lessons, and got frustrated having to keep track of how much they owed me. I wrote a simple program to track it, put it online so students could check the amount themselves and pay, and it just took off from there.

It started small, making just $1,000 or so per month after the first couple years, but it continues to grow to this day.

What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?

I thought about making a program to help private teachers of all types (ie. dance, yoga, and karate instructors, etc). I rejected it because I thought it was too broad to make one program that will fit all of these types. However, I did eventually create something for larger studios with multiple teachers (www.studiohelper.com) that serves a broader audience, and it’s also doing well. But it’s more difficult to market to such a broad audience.

What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or “A-ha!” moments? How did they come about?

When my father-in-law lost his high-position job because of downsizing, I realized that there is no such thing as job security when you work for someone else. I became determined to find a way to have money come to me, no matter how much I work or where I live.

What resources or tools did you find most helpful when you were getting started?

When I started, I was doing everything myself – the programming, the design, the marketing, etc. And I knew basically nothing about starting a business. The Internet was helpful for research, but after I read 4HWW, I became a lot more productive. I started outsourcing things, built up enough courage to quit my job, and the business really took off. These days, I’m working about five hours per week, living in Costa Rica (for now), and thoroughly enjoying my life! (Thanks Tim!!!)

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time/money?

My biggest mistakes, financially and emotionally, were when I partnered with individuals and companies who ended up being more of a drain than a help. They were expensive to remove, as well. But those experiences helped me learn to value my time and product, and to be more cautious about who I do business with.

What have been your key marketing and/or manufacturing lessons learned?

With a complex web application, you can’t write it once and be done; you need to continue making enhancements and listen to user feedback in order to have a successful product.

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?

No, it’s been a steady, slow-growing process, all self-funded and mostly self-promoted.

Where did you register your domain (URL)?

http://www.godaddy.com

Where did you decide to host your domain?

http://www.liquidweb.com

If you used a web designer, where did you find them?

oDesk.com (Although initially, I designed it myself).

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have kept the product simpler, and been more picky about what features to include, rather than adding nearly every feature the customer wanted (necessitating a huge redesign later).

What’s next?!

In this business, I’ll be focusing more on marketing and really getting the word out, and pushing our affiliate program more. I’m not sure if I will start another business soon, but I’m starting to look into real estate, just to diversify my income a little.

I’m also working on a book about what I’ve learned in the process of creating this online business, in the hopes that it will help others who want to do something similar. I plan to spend more time writing music in the months and years ahead, continue to travel, and enjoy my life doing whatever I can to make the world a better place.

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Parts one and two of this series — another six success stories — can be found here.

Do you have a successful muse that’s generating more than $1,000 per month?

Please tell me about it! If it stands out (meaning you give specific details of lessons learned and what’s worked vs. what didn’t), I’m happy to promote you and help further increase your revenue. If you qualify and this sounds like fun, please fill out this form.

Both physical and digital goods are welcome, as are services, as long as they’re low-maintenance, income-generating “muses” as described in The 4-Hour Workweek.