Four Click Freedom

In my idea I originally said use bluetooth.  But now that is even out the window.  Here is the idea now in steps:

1. Customer texts name of store to Clickboards.net phone number

2. Message is sent back to customer’s Clickboard phone app

3. Customer selects appropriate coupons or all of them that apply

4. Phone app automatically texts back selection to Clickboards.net phone number

5. Clickboards.net notifies store computer of selection

6. Client reviews selection and applies to purchase using our store app

7. Payment and receipt are exchanged

Well I think I may have stumbled upon someone willing to give me RMB100,000 to create my idea.  However, as I am thinking how I will do this all on my own, even if I do find a really good programmer, things remain to seam difficult.

So now I am still thinking of how to incorporate my current boss into this affair.  I went to him today to discuss a few things.  One of them being the value of jinmagazine.com.cn.  If you see on my site it is worth $518 and his website which I recently did a homepage makeover is only worth RMB580.  So my blog is actually worth more than his website.  Our two competitors in the land of Tianjin Expat sites are between $10,000 to $15,000.  Even redoing the website so that all the links work and it is really flashy isn’t going to help.  Even promoting contests through the magazine that drive people to the site isn’t going to help much.  Richard told me that money wasn’t a problem as long as he can see a revenue stream.  Well when you are competing in a $30,000 market your share really can’t be that big.

So I was thinking that I would transform part of jinmagazine.com.cn into the Clickboard website.  The first step is to clean up his website so everything is functional, then I can begin incorporating the Clickboards.  Basically we would issue a JIN card and promotions can be gathered from all three websites, plus using Alimama we can put local ads on websites across the Internet where we can put Clickboards and people can collect discounts.  Then we can even incorporate print ads to carry text message codes so people can acquire the coupons when reading magazines in town.

But Richard is not going to pay for any of the development, probably just keep my at my shitty salary.  So that is where the angel investor comes in.  I would continue to make the backbone of the magazine each month, but the actual editing would be done by someone part time.  I could still write articles and do some design critique, but all the other little stuff can be taken care of by the consultant and a part time editor.

I on the other hand would have an income I could use to recruit students and we could put this into action.  However, this would now entail three parties: Richard, the angel investor, and myself.  Before this goes any further I need to see a lawyer and find out what I can protect.  If I can incorporate everything into jinmagazine.com.cn, then what is mine in the end?  I have to have some legal entity, and does Richard in the end pay me for facilitating his website?  How would it move onto bigger arenas past that of Tianjin?

What I am starting to notice is people’s doubts that the Clickboard is viable.

From the beginning people are worried I will be copied.  So what, that is just competition.

People say it is too hard to get people to click.  Well isn’t that already an industry standard.

People won’t know what a Clickcard is.  If they want the discounts then they’ll figure it out.

Advertisers are not going to want to switch.  They will if they want to know their customers.

The Clickboard will take up too much bandwidth or won’t work with other ad utilities.  It is just Flash so it will work just the same as banners.

You haven’t shown me anything to invest in, your still too much in the infancy stage.  Well if you had two bones in yourself you would see that there is very little capital needed and all that is needed now is some time to create it.

I feel like I have to create something that works for people with no sense at all.  This is not an intuitive idea, it’s just something that works, and I hope someone will notice sooner than later so I could put together a team and do this.

So my boss and his friend were not interested in investing with me.  What am I left to do, stay at this job and just grow my network?  I guess so.

My friend Zhang Kai has his own discount website, and it takes care of basically half of all the functions I need done.  He already has a phone number that texts back the discounts you find on his website.

He wants to take my idea, I can tell.  I sent him my PowerPoint presentation, which is available on this website on the Presentation page.  Again, as long as I talked to him, he can’t sell it.  It is a sale.  The only reason I can sell it is becuase I have complete confidence in this product.  Even if he destroys it and sells it to clients, I could still develop this on my own and sell it for what it is worth.

So why does he want to take it from me when he is going to widdle it down to nothing and leave me with a long road ahead of me? Just because?  We are the oldest friends here in China.  Do I need this from him, No.  Is he going to do it, probably not.  Does he need me, yes!  Will he take me, I don’t know.

With over half the process completed, and him not making any money with his discount website, there is only reason to believe that he could use me.  But hiring a foreigner, even the best of friends is a big deal.  I have very low expectations in salary, but I have very high expectations in my product.  Without me, even the most advanced copy cat in the whole of China will not be able to make this work.  Even if the product is under-minded by the worst of reproductions, I can still make it prevail.

I know there will be competition, and I know there will be people that copy me.  There is no way to protect myself.  Everything is so basic that patents cannot apply.  So the only way for success is success.  And that is what I can do.  Tell me the problems, discourage me, it is nothing that has not been said before or anything that does not apply to other businesses.  So why should it put a hamper on my business, there is none.  This is Web3.0  and there is nothing to stop it.