Two years ago, Atul, an engineering college student told me, "My father is a retired government officer. He pays my college expenses with great difficulty. Is there any project that I can do, earn some money and reduce his stress and difficulty to some extent, if not fully?"
I replied, "Most young people don't think about the financial difficulties of their parents when they demand for things that they really don't need. Your parents are lucky to have a son like you. I know a girl who forced her father, a middle class government employee to buy a very expensive mobile phone for her personal use. She bought that mobile phone knowing fully well that her college does not allow any student to carry mobile phones inside the college. But you have got a fine attitude. Have you thought about your skills? How many hours can you invest in part-time work?"
"I noted down all my activities for a week. I realized that I had been wasting at least two hours a day in useless activities. I am willing to give up these meaningless activities and use the saved time to generate income. I don't have an internet connection at home and at present I am not in a position to buy a new connection," he told me.
"I will give you an idea to generate income using Adobe software programs as an example. You can extend the idea to many other popular programs. Adobe InDesign and InCopy are very popular layout and text processing programs. There are millions of users. So, there is an easily identifiable big market. InCopy has got feature called Text Macros. Text expander is the other name of a text macro. Do you know what a text macro is?" I asked him.
Atul said, "A text macro is a shortcut for a sequence of keystrokes. A macro can be simple-it can type a word or phrase you use often-or it can be complex, such as a formatted address. For example, instead of repeatedly typing 'Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,' you can create a macro shortcut code (such as 'cdc') that changes the shortcut to the full version. Instead of typing 'as soon as possible', I can type asap and the program will expand the shortcut to 'as soon as possible'. Am I correct?'"
"Yes. But though the software program has got this useful feature, unfortunately it comes without a list of common stock phrases and shortcuts. The user must create his own shortcuts and phrases manually, one by one. If you create a list of common phrases and shortcuts and sell them as a plug-in to InCopy, you will make money. Adobe programs cost you a fortune. The users of these programs will not hesitate to pay $10 for a productivity enhancement tool, " I told him.
"I will get a trial version of these software programs and study this feature," said Atul.
"To make your life easier, I will give you a website address. Go to http://home.earthlink.net/~agjon/index.htm. The website owner Jonathan Knowles is a Medical Transcriptionist. He has created such plug-ins for Medical Transcriptionists and have sold hundreds of copies. You will learn many things about text expanders from his website and the additional links provided by him. If you target niche market, you will be a winner," I said to Atul. "I will go to an Internet Cafe and read the webpages," said Atul and took leave.
I met Atul after a long time. "When I discussed this project with my father, he advised me to go ahead. He told that he would take care of the non-technical part of the work and I should work on the technical side. After a serious discussion, we decided to buy an Internet connection. I visited many related websites and understood the project. I created my own shortcut system. My father collected thousands of phrases and using my system, created shortcuts for the phrases. We concentrated on a few niche markets and developed glossary sets for niche programs," he said.
"Can you be more specific?" I asked him.
"We don't want to create competition by revealing our niche! We, my father and I, sell each copy of our product for $12 through the Internet. We are able to sell 50 pieces a month. After paying all expenses, we make a net profit Rs.20,000 a month. Depression has left us for good. Nowadays my parents are happy and cheerful. What better joy can a son ask for!" Atul said with emotion.
"Your parents are lucky," I repeated what I told him two years ago.