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Why I shut down WeddingLovely (or, the dangerous lure of barely profitable bootstrapped businesses)
Ever since I shut down WeddingLovely at the end of 2018 without much fanfare, I’ve received a lot of messages from folks asking why I shut down. It’s a reasonable ...
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Two months at TinySeed
Six months ago I officially shut down WeddingLovely, and if you asked me what was next, I would have told you that I would be looking for a job — ...
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Shutting down WeddingLovely
Almost eight years ago I taught myself how to code and launched my startup. It's been a rollercoaster. In late 2011, I joined the Designer Fund and 500 Startups, moving ...
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Why I’m selling WeddingLovely, my eight year old company (with $62,000 revenue in 2017)
I’ve been working on my wedding vendor marketplace and wedding planning app for eight years. Now I’m looking for a new owner to help it grow.
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Hello Web Design is here!
My third book on beginner web design fundamentals and shortcuts, Hello Web Design, was released today! You can buy it in three formats: Videos, paperback, or as an eBook.
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Overview and lessons learned from running my third Kickstarter campaign
My Kickstarter campaign for my third book, Hello Web Design, wrapped up about a month ago, raising $22,362. Not bad! This is my third Kickstarter (previously: Hello Web App, Hello ...
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On hiring a virtual assistant (something I should have done years ago)
I spent six years working on my business before hiring a virtual assistant and now I couldn't imagine life without her. Here's what I've learned.
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Economics of self-publishing a book via Kickstarter: Hello Web App's story
About a year ago, I ran a Kickstarter for Hello Web App — and now that the book has officially launched, I thought it would be useful to run down ...
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Case study: Hello Web App
In 2011, I taught myself how to code Python and Django to launch my startup, WeddingLovely. I got something working, but over the years of working with Python and Django, ...
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Case study: WeddingLovely
I'm moving to Toronto and looking for a job (!) and thought I'd deep dive into my two main projects to showcase my work. WeddingLovely is an online wedding vendor ...
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How I run a bootstrapped marketplace with eleven different properties and 5,000 vendors — by myself.
I launched WeddingLovely, my startup, nearly five years ago. WeddingLovely, in a nutshell, is a free online wedding planning guide and wedding vendor marketplace. My goal is to walk couples ...
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I self-published a learn-to-code book and made nearly $5,000 in pre-orders
On May 4th, my book Hello Web App was released. Since then, hundreds of people used it to learn how to build web apps using Python and Django. Today I ...
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What I wish I did differently: self-promotion
A little different than self-deprecation (downplaying achievements), I'm also terrible at self-promotion (even mentioning what I'm doing and excited about.) I'm running into that now with Hello Web App, the ...
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What I wish I did differently: self-deprecation
The focus of this post is a little funny since these last few posts have been quite an exercise in self-deprecation and not being positive — going over my perceived ...
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What I wish I did differently: networking
I launched my startup a little over four years ago, and as always, when looking back, it’s easy to pick out my mistakes. Hindsight is 20/20. But it’s also valuable ...
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What I wish I did differently: blogging
Some of the biggest wins in my life have been tied to blogging and writing down my experiences. For a long time, I known as the “Hacker News wedding person” ...
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Hello Web App's Kickstarter campaign: How I did it, what I regret.
I recently released Hello Web App, my book teaching web app development with Python and Django aimed at designers and non-programmers. The year-long journey kicked off with a Kickstarter campaign ...
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Attending events as an introvert: Make one meaningful connection
I'm definitely an introvert. I'll often choose to stay snuggled up on the couch with my laptop over attending parties or networking events. But I know (and you probably do ...
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Essential services your startup should use (especially if you're bootstrapped)
My startups, WeddingLovely, is (mostly-)bootstrapped. I am *extremely* stingy with where money is spent — after a close call a year ago when the bank account was sliding under $5,000, ...
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Allegory on bootstrapping
A long while ago I decided to build a train for fun. I didn’t know how to build a train, so I learned a tiny bit about trains and then ...
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Why I'm an entrepreneur
Startup life is hard. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I am doing and why—partly to justify my constant lack of income, and my ever-present stress about ...
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The worst enemy to my startup is depression
Startup life is hard. Everyone knows about the startup rollercoaster, and I certainly experience it every single day (and have been for the last 3ish years.) The biggest issue that ...
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Small-business customer acquisition for your freemium product launch.
This week, WeddingLovely launched our newest wedding vendor directory for wedding bakeries, WeddingCakeLove.com. I've launched five other directories so far (for stationers, planners, photographers, videographers, and wedding venues) and have ...
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Why WeddingLovely releases a print product, and how we do it
I wrote over on the WeddingLovely Blog on why we release a print product (our bi-yearly WeddingLovely Lookbook) and how we do it with a very limited team and time.
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How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder
I wrote over on the WeddingLovely Blog about my experience being a solo, non-technical founder, and the lessons I learned on working alone as well as eventually finding a cofounder.
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Take control of your email and achieve inbox zero
Ahh, the mythical inbox zero. Are you overwhelmed by email? Hundreds of emails a day and you simply can't respond to all of them? You might believe you're overwhelmed, but ...
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I'm a designer who learned Django and launched her first webapp in 6 weeks
Hi — I'm Tracy. I'm a designer and front-end developer. After being turned down by Y Combinator, I decided to launch a simple webapp to get myself on the path ...
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Technical co-founder wanted for disrupting the wedding industry
Hi, my name is Tracy. The wedding industry is huge, overpriced, and with insane profit margins. I’m looking to disrupt it with WeddingType
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Stop waiting for things to be perfect
Specifically when it comes to web design, your design/app/page/doodad is not ever going to be perfect. Don't wait to launch something, thinking, "Maybe if we get all the little details ...
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Keeping inspired at the right times
Age old problem: When I am at work, and admittedly immersing myself in design blogs, top CSS sites, and other creative resources to keep the data part of my job ...