How To Rock at Craig's List
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Not to brag, but I rock at selling stuff on Craig's List. I often sell things for close to what I paid for them. A few friends can vouch for my Craig's List skills.
Anyway, it's easy to sell stuff to rock at Craig's List. Here's a few things to think about.
List stuff for a bit higher than what you want to get for it. People always offer lower than the listed price. This gives you room to go down the price you actually want.
Be firm with what you're willing to accept. People will usually respect that.
People usually email asking if the item is available. When you reply, say that is (if it is of course) and ask when they want to meet. Making the transaction as soon as possible is key. Waiting gives them time to change their mind, find something cheaper, or whatever else.
If there are other people interested, I always mention that. People knowing that other people might get it before they can makes them move faster. I've had people cancel dinner plans and come meet me to buy something because they didn't want to lose the chance to buy the item.
Only accept cash. If anyone won't pay with cash, they are trying to scam you. (While we're on scamming, if anyone ever offers to pay more than what you're asking, that is definitely a scam.)
People love stuff in the original box and when you say what cables are included and such.
Good photos are a must.
Keep descriptions short and to the point. People rarely read them anyway.
Hey, Synthetic
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As of September 1st, I will be working at Synthetic, the makers of Hipstamatic! You may remember, I was contracting there, but now I'm no longer a freelancer and a full time employee. My title will be Lead iOS Engineer. I'm way excited. We are working on some really, really exciting stuff.
It's really cool to be a part of something instead of a hired gun. The decision was easy. This is an amazing place to work. I really can't wait for our releases coming up! We will blow some minds.
If you wanna work on some awesome too, we're hiring iOS and Rails engineers. Email me: sam@synth.tc
Notebooks
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I've found whenever I get stuck on something hard, notebooks help. There is something about writing stuff down in a notebook that really helps me think.
Whiteboards are fun and all, but I think they are a little more distracting than useful when you're working by yourself. All of the setup required to just put your thoughts down is a bit much most of the time. Once you're done at the whiteboard, then you have to figure out a way to save your thoughts so you can reference them later. Don't get me wrong, great when brainstorming in a group, but I've found they are way less productive than a notebook when working a lone.
My favorite notebook is the Behance Dot Grid Book (only $14). It's super high quality. I'm a big fan. (I also really like Moleskin too.) The Pilot G2 Pen is my all time favorite pen. I've used it exclusively (when possible) since 2007.
Compass and Rails 3.1
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Here's how I finally got Compass working with Rails 3.1rc4 (with includes, sprites, etc).
Gemfile excerpt:
config/compass.rb excerpt:
Hipstamatic
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Lately I've been working with Hipstamatic on a new really exciting product. I can't really say any more than that, but it's going to be awesome.
I've been having a lot of fun learning about image processing. Who knew writing your own gaussian blur was really hard?