The topic at hand: Freelance Camp!

We are beginning to put together a bar camp in Santa Cruz on the topic of freelancing and running a small service business. This is a community event and we are actively looking for volunteers to make this kick ass. If you can help find sponsors, spread the word, find a venue, get some grub lined up or perform general geekery - let’s talk. Hit me up by email or respond in the comment, add yourself to the wiki, and we can chat.

Freelance Camp: http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/Freelance-Camp

I’ve finally gotten around to generalizing our contract to share with our community. Please be advised that if you use this template, you are using it at your own risk and that we are not responsible for your use of our contract. Also please take it to your lawyer and have it reviewed before you use it (and feel free to let us know if you have any suggestions for improving ours)

Download the Shane & Peter Client Contract…

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Quite often sales is like dating. The no-no’s in the land of courtship are exactly the same cardinal sins of the land of sales. Talking about yourself through the whole meeting. Never asking any questions about your date’s situation and needs. Taking the time to ask those questions, and not listen to their answers. Thanking them repeatedly in a gushing and desperate manner for meeting with you. Forgetting to make a friend. If you were a gecko on the wall of a meeting where those occurred, you would probably wince, laugh or both. And yet we have all done them.

Peter and I often talk in detail about sales, and yesterday, the conversation fell upon one of the most detrimental sales bloopers: walking away without booking another meeting in your calendar. What is your goal if you go out on a date? Have fun, land another date.
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The Opportunity

We’ve just landed a pretty sweet gig. We’re looking for a AJAX / JSON developer to join our team on a project for the next 2 months starting now. Help build a high profile full-scale Wordpress based site by creating a dynamic interface using the APIs of Yelp, Amazon, Eventful, blip.tv, Wordpress, and bbPress.
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The Opportunity

We’ve just landed a pretty sweet gig. We’re looking for a Wordpress Master to join our team on a project for the next 2 months starting now. Help build a high profile full-scale Wordpress / bbPress site with elements from various 3rd party web applications.
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As fun as it can be to let a project drag on for eternity, and as much as I thoroughly enjoy working for free, one of the best things I can do for my relationship with my client is to define a clear end point for the project. I need sign off.

The problem, is how do I terminate a project in such a way as to strengthen my ongoing relationship? Continue Reading »

in·tax·i·ca·tion [in-tak-si-key-shuhn]
noun

1. The physiological state produced by prolonged exposure to finances and tax preparation.
2. A sense of enthusiasm, frenzy, or madness arising from fantasies of spending a tax refund.
3. Poisoning by gigantic tax payment.

Examples: The government emptied my bank account, inducing a severe case of intaxication.

Hopefully you brush your teeth. You floss. You use anti-bacterial mouth rinse. You chew sugar free gum between meals. But if you don’t go to the dentist, you might end up having to get gum surgery like me. Go to the dentist regularly, it is worth the money even if you don’t have insurance.

As I did not have dental insurance, and personally have no love for the experience of visiting my dentist, I let it go for the first few years of running my business. I was broke after all. When I finally did get dental insurance last year and popped in for a visit, the hygienist looked at me with an aghast expression and asked how long it had been since my last visit. FIVE AND A HALF YEARS, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!? Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty. Two gum surgeries later, I am doing better. In retrospect, a $50-75 teeth cleaning visit, even just once a year, would probably have been wise.

Short blog, important thought. If you are running a small business or an independent contractor, make sure you fit in a few small preventative health care visits.

From the horses mouth.

I often find myself people watching as I work in coffee shops. A parent trying to explain to their toddler why it is not okay to scream at the top of her voice. The owner showing his employee how the coffee has to be brewed in a certain manner. The teenage girl offering coy glances to the guy next to me all dressed in leather and tattoos. The man in a suit to my right, chatting on the phone with a potential client, answering their questions. The puppy at my feet staring at me patiently hoping I might drop some crumb.

Too often, as contractors, we associate sales with the slicked back hair, polyester suit of the hollywood 70’s car salesman, when in fact you and I sell each and every day of our lives. When my wife and I decide to go to a movie this evening, I really wanted to go see 10,000 bc. I spent 10 minutes carefully steering us towards the movie I was excited to see. Any time you have an interest in the outcome of a situation, sales comes into play.
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Our good buddy Jonathan Fields has a pretty awesome book (Cash In On Your Passion®) coming out through Random House next year. After a bit a of cajoling, his editor has endorsed a competition for the cover. If you have the time, it would be a pretty sweet portfolio piece to have designed the cover of a NY Times Bestseller. Turns out though that the general Independent community decided he was trying to pull off some evil diabolical scheme. So sadly, no luck for you. That said, if you ask me - I’d still go to his site, chat him up and send him an email. It would be a sweet opportunity to get your work on the cover and now that all those grumpy people have removed themselves, it might be yours. But that’s my 2 cents. I happen to know the guy and drink beer with him.

Help Jonathan create the cover of his new book (and win big bucks and cool prizes!)