Change is inevitable. Be prepared to be flexible. Sometimes it’s because you or someone else comes up with a better idea. Sometimes it’s out of necessity. Here are three examples where I have had to be flexible with my side project.

Application Idea

My web application, Issue Loop, is not exactly how I thought it would be at first, but it is better. I thought my original idea was good. I didn’t think anyone else was doing the same thing. I did lots of searches. But after a while I finally found another site doing pretty much the same thing. It looked nice and all but I realized I probably wouldn’t use it. It was more complicated and would be more time consuming for my audience than I was hoping for.

I had to decide whether to continue with the project. Realizing that competition can be good, I decided to continue. I was able to shift my idea slightly in a short period of time. I could bring something new to the table. And this change could work even better. And it would be a little easier for one person to maintain.

Revenue Stream

Originally, I also had an idea of a revenue model. I wouldn’t do ads for several reasons. It would turn off users. I didn’t want it to look like the site was biased in any way. Finally, it just wouldn’t work. Ads are great for huge sites like Google or Facebook. But for a new site, ad revenue would barely be noticeable.

Instead, I would charge a subscription. I figured everyone could afford even a small subscription of a dollar or two a year, right? And with lots of users, that would be plenty for the site to pay for itself and maybe eventually provide an entire income for me. Okay I was dreaming. I couldn’t find one person who thought people would sign up if there a subscription fee.

I thought, “I could sell the data!”. After all data is big now, especially big data, right? I think that still might be a remote possibility if the site becomes incredibly successful but I can’t rely on it. I still don’t know if anyone out there would pay for the data.

There were a couple other possible revenue models that came out of speaking at 1 Million Cups. But those have also been shot down.

I don’t want to say I gave up. But for now I’m letting go of revenue dreams. I am treating my side project mostly as a learning experience, but one that could also help society. And I will be accepting donations.

Web Host

Finally, I have been hosting my application for free on NineFold. But a week after officially launching the site, they announced they are sunsetting their Rails hosting solution. Ugh! Really? Now I have to find a new host, preferably free. More about how that goes in a another post.