A Lockdown time Side Project

Store RepLTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 25/07/2020 - 23:19
Last edited 26/07/2020 - 00:35

The Why

20% pay cut from April, vacant investment property and then partner losing job. I was not sure what else was coming for me. However, instead of losing hope, at around mid April, I looked into generating some side income.

The Idea

The only Idea that came to mind was to start a YouTube channel where
1. I search for a keyword on YouTube then
2. Watch all the search results and finally
3. Summarise what I have learned in Video.

I ran the idea through few friends. They liked it.

By this time the camera prices have gone up and I could not afford one with good auto focus.

So, I jumped into validating the feasibility of my idea by watching hours and hours of videos and taking notes on them. Should have been easy right?
But, soon I was struggling with taking notes while watching a video in parallel and not miss anything. It was very demotivating.

The Pivot

So, I wrote a simple chrome extension that would pause the video when I type and then resume when I put a full stop.
After each video I would copy the notes and move it to Evernote. It was all going well.

When I told this to one of my friends, he also wanted the extension. So, at nights, I polished, added some features and then published it.

Still the camera prices were up, so I took another month and released a companion app for the extension. It helped me sit back and take notes from my mobile reducing the strain to eyes.

It was end of June and I thought why not make this extension a product and try to sell it instead of waiting for Covid to go down and Sony to start production. So, I spent another month, polished the UI, and finally releasing as an MVP now.

Total Expense:

  • Domain: $13/yr (NameCheap)
  • SSL: $15/yr (NameCheap)
  • Email: $13/yr (NameCheap)
  • Hosting: $3/Month (AWS Free Tier)
  • Assets: $25 (Fiverr) + FreePik + Lottie CC Licenced animations.
  • Hours Spent: 150-200hrs (Late nights and Weekends)
  • Marketing: $0

So far $75

The Plan

Ozbargain community is where I spend a lot of my free time. So, obviously I am starting here to get some feedback. I am planning to spend around $300/month after I validate the Product Market fit. Hope the Camera prices will come down by then.
People would advise me to use the phone camera to start the Youtube, but, production quality is a must these days. You need that BOKEH. :)

The Call to Action

If any of you guys are kind enough to give my product a go and offer some feedback, It will mean a lot. But, feel free to shoot any questions. I am happy to answer.

Cheers.

Education & Work

Related Stores

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Comments

  • life is suffering on 25/07/2020 - 23:35
    +1

    OP nice website and idea. Can you please explain in the video i.e. add voice to the intro video?

    Where will my notes be saved? what security measures are you offering or applying? :)

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 25/07/2020 - 23:45

      Thank amr1589.

      As of now, I am doing some storyboarding for an explainer video. I can shoot something in my phone and pay $50 in fiverr to edit it.
      There is no noob user here as the product should explain itself. That means I have failed there and that's something I need to improve.

      You notes are saved in a Database on Amazon Servers. If you have signed up for an account, only you can see your notes. All the communications are https and wss, so things are protected from middlemen. However, If you don't create an account, I save the notes under a uniqueId created for your browser. So, only your browser can fetch it. But, if anyone else uses your computer they could see it too.

      Feel free to shoot more question if you have. Thanks again.

      • life is suffering on 26/07/2020 - 00:16
        +1

        No need to pay i reckon . Just record your voice on how to use it or maybe you SO can help with this ? You didn't fail :) hearing a voice is better in terms of user experience.

        Thanks for explaining the security feature.

        Also is export to my most used notes app possible. For eg : I use one note

  • Hybroid on 25/07/2020 - 23:37
    +1

    Interesting concept but not seeing the USP over split screen or picture-in-picture with OneNote/Evernote open. The auto-pause could get quite annoying for some people. The demo on the site doesn't explain anything at all.

    Consider a one-off payment option for premium features as we're sick and tired of every other app wanting an ongoing subscription. It's not gonna happen for basic apps. Good luck.

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 00:00
      +1

      The only selling point was the pause and resume feature. But, you are saying that would turn people off? :(.
      Still people may be sold on the mobile apps and screenshot ability, so I'll put a flag in the Settings page to turn off the Auto Pause Resume feature.

      I am working on the video. Thanks for that.

      I understand your point of one-off payment. But If I want to shut down the project one day? Once the free period is over, AWS bills will start to pour in. If I don't reach at-least $800/month revenue in the next year (Servers+Marketing), I'll have to shut down the project. What should I do the with life-time subscribers? Refund?

      Anyways, this suite can be used without getting a subscription at all. If you are a regular learner, you would not need it. This is a setup if someone wants to support me. I might go with the Patreon, if things don't work out.

      Once again thanks a lot for the feedback. Have a great weekend.

      • life is suffering on 26/07/2020 - 00:13
        +1

        I like the pause feature. Im unable to keep with video sometimes.

        You can calculate till date usage and refund the rest ?

        Start building user base OP. Advertising on social media etc. the more users the longer you will be able to run imo.

        How did you come to 800 pm value ?

        • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 00:28
          +1

          Yes, I am planning to market this on SM from August.

          It will be a massive hassle to handle refund partially. I use stripe and they have a time line before I can refund. If I wait too long, I'll have mail each customer, ask their bank details and then payback. Will be a nightmare. :D

          So, the AWS gives you an estimation on how much it would cost. Load balancer + two 2GB Instances + 50GB RDS + another 50GB S3 will add to $200-$300 a month. $300 + marketing $300 = $600. I'll need at least $200 for my time. :)

  • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 26/07/2020 - 01:07
    +1

    Spelling error on this page

    Youtube's Privacy Policy
    This app is just a layer on yop of Youtube.

    Edit: also on this page.

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 01:53
      +1

      Thank you, I fixed them.
      I needed YouTube's api access to fetch the video details user was taking notes on (for Thumbnail, Video durations and others). Until I had those two (TOS and Privacy) pages ready, they would not provide me access. So, I copied a free template and modified it. Need to work on it.

      • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 26/07/2020 - 02:14
        +1

        No problem, keep up the good work and good luck with your side project :)

        • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 02:15
          +1

          Thank you. :)

  • kanmen on 26/07/2020 - 01:53
    +1

    This was a really great idea, as I've kinda been learning stuff for my own personal development during the pandemic and I've been writing notes by hand. So I'm not like a tech person at all so I can't help you there and don't know what that jargon means but happy to be a normal person (normal as in not understanding the back end stuff) giving feedback.

    I downloaded the thing and started watching a video off a saved video in my watch later playlist and was really confused why nothing popped up. Wasn't sure if it was because I was watching off a playlist but I tried turning my adblocker off and that did the trick! Would be good if you could note that in your app button thing that drops down when you click on it. Is there a way I can let my adblocker allow your app? Is that possible for me to do?

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 02:04

      That's very nice of you to try it. And of course, I value your feedback as a non tech person.

      Now I am confused why adblocker blocked it. I also use an adblocker ( AdBlock - Red icon with a White Hand in it https://www.getadblock.com/ ) and that was not causing any issues. I'll try with some other adblockers then.

      When you have sometime, please download the App and try with that as well. I'll be happy to add features you like, if it can help with the personal development journey.

      Thank you so much kanmen.

      • kanmen on 26/07/2020 - 02:06
        +1

        My bad, I use adguard or something… I thought it was adblock!

        • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 02:13

          Hmm.. Never used that. I'll do some research on it. Thank you.

    • kanmen on 26/07/2020 - 02:05

      Okay so, started writing then realised my screen had scrolled down past the video the more I wrote because my video was in theatre mode. But in default view the notesbar was on my right hand side.

      Have I not read the instructions haha

      • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 02:14

        Oh ok. I have not considered people playing on Theatre mode. What I do is, go full screen and take notes from my ipad with the app.

        • kanmen on 26/07/2020 - 02:28
          +1

          I watched your video where you did that and I wouldn't even know how to do that if I tried haha.

          It's no big deal for me to change to default, but yeah I would only take notes like this on the one device so I don't mind using default mode and having the notes on the right! But maybe then that means in the instructions that could be mentioned to use default mode if they want to take notes on the same device?

          • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 02:39
            +2

            @kanmen: Thank you so much for providing these valuable feedback. I'll definitely consider these points while making the video. I think my video made simple things look so complicated.

            To be frank, I prepared that for Apple. When I submitted the app for approval, Apple asked me to provide a video explaining how the app works . So, obviously it was not targeted at a normal user. Now I wonder If the reviewer even understood it. :D

            I'll add those instructions to the extension on my next release. Thanks again.

  • poboy on 26/07/2020 - 11:36
    +6

    Congrats on creating and executing for distribution. You're ahead of 99% of other attempts and shows that you can follow through to the end.

    I'm not your target market, but my gut feel is that it won't be a money spinner. However more importantly I see this as a great stepping stone for you building better things and showing this as part of your portfolio. So many people are good coders, good planners or good communicators, it's hard for a one man band to show eptitude across all disciplines. And you've done that.

    Great work and keep on striving for realising opportunities.

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 26/07/2020 - 11:49
      +1

      Thank you so much for those words, Poboy. They mean a lot.

      I know from the beginning that this project is NOT going to make me any money but, as you said, I'll be able to get that 20% back or may be more when I show this to next potential employer.

      But, that YouTube channel would be a money maker if I can realise it :). There is so much content out there, but not enough time to consume it. So, it is a good market to sell your time.

      Once again, thank for writing it. I will come back and read it whenever I feel down ;). Have a great Sunday.

  • ryban3z on 10/08/2020 - 14:47
    +1

    This is so good man - I think where you can make money is by integrating with common note-taking apps like Notion, EverNote, Roam Research, OneNote - if you can have the notepad pop up on every YouTube video and immediately sync to an integrated notetaking app, I think that would be something I would pay a subscription for (e.g. $2-5 per month).

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 10/08/2020 - 15:01

      Thank you rybanz. I have already integrated EverNote & OneNote.You have a small button at the end of the note pad to sync. One click and the notes are exported.
      I'll check on Notion and Roam Research. Thank you.

  • djwilson303 on 10/08/2020 - 15:33

    Great Idea,

    Spelling error……

    YouTube as a learning platform. Studies say, 90% of the YouTube video watch time is claimed by Entertainment vidoes which add very little value to the improvement of the human race and we are so bummed about it. We hope this tool will help some dedicated learn

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 10/08/2020 - 15:37

      Haha, "Vidoes" I had to read 5 times to fix it. Thank you so much.

  • iamhurtin on 10/08/2020 - 15:51
    -1

    Rename the notes button "own the libs" and sell it to the far right
    You'll make billions

    iamhurtin on 10/08/2020 - 15:51 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
  • [Deactivated] on 10/08/2020 - 20:04

    Why can't you just use a word document lol and auto pause while out of focus?

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 10/08/2020 - 20:25

      I bet there are people who would do that too. I think my solution keep the notes organised and reduce the hassle of switching between apps.

  • Plug on 11/08/2020 - 15:58

    An interesting idea. Tbh it's probably not something I will ever need but most of my family work in education so there are possibilities there.

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 11/08/2020 - 16:34

      Thank you. If you could tell them about this, it would be a massive help.

  • FareEvader on 13/08/2020 - 21:08

    I don't understand what problem you are solving.

    Why would someone using a PC need this? Even on a single monitor, you can split your screen and run youtube on one half and take notes on the other.

    The stop-start feature would be annoying. Most people I know can touch-type, even people in their 50s+ at work can type pretty quickly.

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 13/08/2020 - 21:31

      May be I am trying to help a small demographic. I had issue concentrating while typing, sometimes I'll have to think and remember something I have learned before and write it as notes. A running lecture would be distracting. Second, exporting to onenote or evernote is made easier. Third, taking screenshots of slides or diagrams is easier with just a single button tap. It reduces the effort that is required to take notes. Note sure if they are something valuable.

  • SuperFly 420 on 18/08/2020 - 08:35

    Nice website. Can I ask how did you do the animations, both static and the dynamic ones? Did you do yourself? How did you use Fiverr?

    • Store RepTuberslabAdmin @ tuberslab.com on 18/08/2020 - 11:10

      Animations: Lottie + Javascript
      Some are css animations

      I used fiverr for extension icons

  • Luminary on 02/09/2020 - 08:29

    Even with a split screen, I think you would have switch windows to pause YouTube and then switch back to your notetaking program. Maybe you can allow users to define a key in order to start/stop the video. I generally take notes with dot points and often don't use fullstops when doing so but if I could pause/play by pressing, say, the tilda key that would be more useful.

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