Welcome to the Novice No Longer Podcast

nnl-150x150Welcome to the Novice No Longer podcast!

Every week, I’ll be talking to entrepreneurs, builders, designers, and journalists to give you information to help you build better products and get the press you deserve.

In this short introduction episode, I tell you a little bit about my own background and how this website and podcast came to be.

I hope you’ll tune in and check it out every week. Stay in touch by subscribing via iTunes or RSS.

If you enjoy the show, please rate it on iTunes! It helps me a ton and help other people find the show.

Quit wasting time searching for a technical cofounder

Finger wag

It’s no surprise to me that many of my students are searching for a technical cofounder.

If you have a good idea but not the ability to bring that product to life, it makes sense to try to find someone with a complimentary skill set: a coder without an idea.

But this thinking is based on flawed logic — these students are assuming that their idea alone is valuable. This is flat-out not true. It’s the execution of an idea, not the idea itself.

Even if you don’t know how to code, there are a ton of other things you can do that will actually help move your idea forward. Knowing how to code is not the be-all and end-all of building apps or other technical products. Continue reading

5 easy changes that will drastically improve your life

When building new habits or learning new skills, it’s important to focus on the smallest changes that will result in the biggest results. This is known as the Pareto principle, or the 80-20 rule, which states that “for many events, roughly 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.” This is an extremely powerful rule, because it means that you can have a huge impact on your life, or your work, by simply focusing on the right tasks.

I’ve compiled a list of five easy changes that will have a huge impact on your quality of life. These aren’t huge systems nor will you have to change your entire life around. Rather, they’re small habits that will become second nature in a couple of weeks yet have long-lasting effects on your productivity and mental state. Continue reading

These 2 email folders should be controlling your inbox

Inbox Zero

If you’re like most people, the main page of your email inbox is a mixture of emails you need to respond to, emails you should respond to, daily deal alerts, and random newsletters you told yourself to read at some point. Go back a page or two, and you’ll find emails you should have responded to, expired daily deal alerts, and random newsletters that will never hold your attention again. Farther back still is the “well, I guess it’s way too late at this point” section of the inbox. And, if you’re like most people, just thinking about your inbox backlog gives you anxiety.

There is a better way to deal with your emails. It’s super fast and easy, too! You’ll never have to wonder if you’re forgetting anything because you’ll know what needs to be done at a quick glance. You’ll never have to start an email with “I’m sorry it took so long to respond” again. Continue reading