Hi, I'm David and I work on LiberWriter

Introductions
#1

I realized that I never posted an introduction here, as I discovered this forum just before going to MicroConf Europe.

I’m from Oregon in the US, but reside in Padova (Padua) Italy, where I do consulting and also work on http://www.liberwriter.com - which to date is profitable, but not quite enough to quit my day job, yet. It’s been a very fun project and I’ve learned a ton with it. Another thing I keep hoping to kick into gear is this: http://www.therealitaly.com/ - but what with the two things I’ve already got and kids, progress is slow!

As per my standing offer on other forums (I also hang out on HN), I’m always happy to show people around Padova a bit and have a drink. It’s a nice town, and not far from Venice.

#2

Welcome David! Hope to meet you at MicroConf one day!

Took a look at your LiberWriter web site. That product is a great idea. Writing an ebook that can be sold on multiple platform is a very daunting task.

Coding & living in Italy w/ the whole family – now that’s the dream… :slight_smile:

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#3

Thanks!

Not sure I’ll go back to MicroConf (Europe) or not. It’s a really, really great conference, but there was so much information, and so little time for me to actually implement it as a bootstrapper, that I think I could have picked up enough from the internet reports of the conference, had an extra weekend to actually work on the product, and saved a bundle of cash. This is absolutely not a knock on the conference, which is really good and was a whole lot of fun at a personal level. Mike, Rob, and company put on a really good event! I am going to write more about this topic sometime, I think, as it’s kind of a conundrum: as a person, I had a lot of fun there and enjoyed it a bunch. As a homo economicus, I’m not sure it paid for itself.

Sometimes I forget that for a lot of people the idea of living in Italy would be amazing… I guess that’s “hedonistic adaptation” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill ) at work! I’ve been here long enough that it’s mostly ‘normal’!

#4

I’m hoping to get to MicroConf Europe this year. I find sometimes with the conferences that the benefit is a bit more subtle than just what you can learn - which of course you can get online usually. I find that I come back refreshed and really ready to get down to work when returning from a good conference. If I’m plotting and scheming in my to do lists on the airplane home that’s usually a good sign!

Being around like-minded people is, I think, really valuable. The hallway track is usually the most useful thing.

#5

MicroConf was, as far as I’m concerned, about as good as a conference can be.

The problem was that the amount of really good information I got far, far outstripped my bandwidth to actually do anything with it once I got home, which was frustrating. Not their fault, of course, but perhaps a reason to skip it if you’re reasoning with your wallet, and not “because it’s fun”. I think for someone like you who (IIRC) is working on their business full time, it’d be money and time well spent.