The tattoo and testimonial ideas both look they're fundamentally solid and workable, and would now require lots of Real Life Walking Around (TM) to compliment technical refinement.
For instance, this was part of Patrick Kalzumeus's (patio11 here on HN) plan when launching Appointment Reminder. Emphasis mine:
"This summer I’m going back to America for about a month to visit family, do a bit of consulting, and have something of a vacation. Over that time, I’m going to be taking the demo (or the product) on my laptop and showing it to as many service providers as I can stomach seeing. Thankfully, I expect that they’ll indulge my request for an interview — I intend to pay them their normal hourly, so coffee and a discussion of their industry and opinions about the software will work out just as well as offering a haircut/massage/etc would."
That's probably what you need at this point - showing your service to as many people in the business as you can stomach seeing. Face to face is different from behind a screen, much different. If you hate doing this and/or aren't good at it, that might be reason to partner with someone with has good face to face pitching/communicating/selling skills.
http://plusjade.com/
The tattoo and testimonial ideas both look they're fundamentally solid and workable, and would now require lots of Real Life Walking Around (TM) to compliment technical refinement.
For instance, this was part of Patrick Kalzumeus's (patio11 here on HN) plan when launching Appointment Reminder. Emphasis mine:
"This summer I’m going back to America for about a month to visit family, do a bit of consulting, and have something of a vacation. Over that time, I’m going to be taking the demo (or the product) on my laptop and showing it to as many service providers as I can stomach seeing. Thankfully, I expect that they’ll indulge my request for an interview — I intend to pay them their normal hourly, so coffee and a discussion of their industry and opinions about the software will work out just as well as offering a haircut/massage/etc would."
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/05/14/unveiling-my-second-prod...
That's probably what you need at this point - showing your service to as many people in the business as you can stomach seeing. Face to face is different from behind a screen, much different. If you hate doing this and/or aren't good at it, that might be reason to partner with someone with has good face to face pitching/communicating/selling skills.