Marketing/Selling Engineering Work when you are "between jobs" 5

[SpacelySprokets]

Hello. Greetings to All.
When I consider all of the hundreds of spreadsheets and other calculations that I have created, I would very much like to standardize them, or otherwise develop them, and sell them online.
I ask all of you: Have you heard of such an endeavor or if you have, do you have any ideas on how to launch this as a side business?
Some explanations and other considerations:
-By the phrase "between jobs", I mean to say, unemployed. I have been lucky in that I have not been unemployed for some years. But, it happens, I think, to many of us.
-Understandably, the market for engineering calculation spreadsheets is going to be very small. Those that can use them probably have the ability to create their own. The hope is that they do not have the time and therefore need the work done for them.
-Also assumed is that spreadsheets/calculations and other engineering information can be obtained for free. That's a good thing. Our work is difficult; most especially when our budgets are small and our schedules are fast-paced. However, if there is something that I have done before, which is needed by others, that can be charged for a reasonable price, then I certainly would try to make it happen.
-Please note: I am not currently marketing anything on this website. Nor do I intend to; I am merely seeking ideas on how to do it, but most especially: is it a viable concept? ... maybe it's not. I am not sure.
Thanks to All and to anyone that wishes to comment.
Best Regards,
SpaceySprokets

 

[zdas04]

This comes up from time to time and the market for "useful" spreadsheets is pretty thin. Since I started using MathCad I've built a MathCad sheet with useful fluid mechanics arithmetic that I've had a couple of students try to purchase from me, but that probably means that the total market is a couple of people. That is with the equations explicitly displayed.

The chaos of parentheses that is virtually all engineering calculations in Excel is way worse. I for one will never use an equation from someone else's spreadsheet without first typing it into MathCad and confirming that I get the same answer (which is rarely true since Excel encourages you to mess up units). I would be very surprised if there is a market for your spreadsheets.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

I would never use a spreadsheet that I didn't create or heavily modify myself. Too often I've tried to use someones spreadsheet only to find it didn't consider X, or had some assumptions I didn't know about, or wasn't applicable, or had a hidden variable you had to change, or (hopefully not, but often the case) it had an error.

That said, if you make a spreadsheet that simplifies making a strut and tie model then I'll definitely pay for that.

Professional and Structural Engineer (ME, NH, MA)
American Concrete Industries

http://www.americanconcrete.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

I developed some spreadsheets for internal use, for sizing multiple parallel orifices in marine exhaust systems.
Since my departure, due to some, ahem, personal mobility within that specialized trade, the spreadsheets have traveled to other companies within the area, and perhaps farther afield.

What probably didn't travel with the spreadsheets was my development notes, which explained why goal-seeking was used to evaluate candidate arrangements for particular instances, and was still necessary to get accurate answers when used to work with different sets of hole sizes. I.e., given an array of M holes of diameter O, and another array of N holes of diameter P, you can find a Cv for the set, but along the way you have to make sure that the pressure drops of all sets of holes are the same for the assumed balance of flows. I never bothered to automate that part, because goal seeking is fast, and I didn't anticipate or intend that anyone else would ever use the spreadsheets.

I expect to get a call one day from someone who has angered a billionaire yacht owner and is now mad at me...

I briefly thought about going into the spreadsheet biz, but as mentioned above, they're real easy to mis-use or misunderstand, and the market is too small/thin.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[BUGGAR]

If engineering were a hot market, all those shoot-em-up games could be converted to building purposes and shut down Revit and their ilk. I would let Lara assemble my columns.

 

[SpacelySprokets]

Thanks, David, TehMightyEngineer, Mike and Buggar.

Your responses were not surprising, and yet very helpful.
If there are any other suggestions you may have for how to earn a living during those "between jobs" periods, I would be immensely grateful.
Otherwise, I would consider the matter closed.
Best regards to all!
-Matt

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Ideas for earning money without doing engineering:

Write a book/articles/etc. Teach lectures/seminars. Teach PE/SE/EIT exam prep courses. Spend the time working on advertising as a consultant or marketing yourself for new jobs. Use your free time to reduce your living expenses. Start an engineering related YouTube channel.

Or write spreadsheets. I'm not saying it wont make money; just that it wouldn't be the best return on your time IMO.

Professional and Structural Engineer (ME, NH, MA)
American Concrete Industries

http://www.americanconcrete.com

 

[IRstuff]

There is an ET user who does something along this line:

http://www.eng-tips.com/userinfo.cfm?member=medeek

http://design.medeek.com/resources/resources.html

There are some potential liability issues, though. While in general, a PE cannot indemnify himself from suits for using faulty software, that's not necessarily prevention for him suing you.

TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
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