AgileStyle and Code and Effect 1 - My name is Ashley & I am co-owner at AgileStyle & C&E - In both businesses we do custom web app development in Ruby on Rails. The difference being at AgileStyle we work on client project getting billable hours, and at C&E we work on our own projects. - AgileStyle has been around for almost 7 years and C&E since March of last year. - AgileStyle grew from a 1 man shop to a team of 4 and continues to grow. - While my experience is specific to web development, regardless of what your chosen filed is (marketing materials, branding, websites), this talk will apply - Moonlighting. All of this still applies.
invaluable learning opportunities to polish and expand your skills • See how your employer runs their business • Gain confidence in your skills Why Not? 5 -ask questions, get involved as much as your employer will allow
• Are you self-motivated? • Do you love what you do? • Are you organized? • Are you a very good communicator? 6 1. Can you get up every day and work without anyone telling you what to do or when to do it? Can you set deadlines and meet them? 2. Will you wake up every day excited to work? 3. Can you manage your bills, schedule meetings, pay your taxes,keep track of the status of each project? Nobody else is going to keep track of what you need to do. 4. Can you clearly get across project expectations to your client, answer emails concisely and clearly, write your own project documentation in clear and understandable format? Can you be honest enough with yourself to know if freelancing is for you?
Project Manager • Customer Support • Designer • Developer • Writer • Researcher • Custodian 7 - In addition to your main skill set you will have to wear many hats. - Are you prepared to do this?
a business license • Get an accountant • Get a bank account • Get business cards If you are going to be a professional, act like one 10 - You want to be able to write things off - not a sole proprietorship - Incorporation results in better tax treatment - pay self as little as possible - more flexibility in the future - can sell pieces of the business easier - add shareholders - always have a cheque written out to your company
Freelancing $/hr 3 hrs/day /wk /mo 50 $150 $750 $3,000 60 $180 $900 $3,600 70 $210 $1,050 $4,200 80 $240 $1,200 $4,800 Otherwise Employed Otherwise Employed Otherwise Employed Otherwise Employed $/hr 8 hrs/day /wk /mo 15 $120 $600 $2,400 20 $160 $800 $3,200 25 $200 $1,000 $4,000 30 $240 $1,200 $4,800 11 - Remember that you are not going to be getting 8 billable hours a day...you will be lucky if you get 3-4 - Initially, you will make less money than working in industry, but your quality of life may be better
the beginning, but word of mouth takes time - Your best bet is subcontracting to other web/dev companies - Most people start out doing work for friends, family and acquaintances. - There are plenty of job boards that you can look at
it up as fast as possible • Show your 3-4 best pieces of work • For speed: • http://www.squarespace.com/ • http://www.behance.net/prosite • https://about.me/ 14 - Spend as little time as possible on your site initially--just get a template or hosted portfolio service and run with it. - You should be spending time on billable hours, not tweaking your own website.
work without payment • Never do anything for free • Do not rely on cheques coming on time • Explore other sources of revenue • Keep a nest egg of cash built up Words to Live By 16 - Extra sources of revenue: hosting, domains, maintenance, email newsletters, business cards. charge enough to make it worth your while (ex. $30/month for website hosting) - your customers, more than anything, want someone they can rely upon. make sure you charge enough to motivate yourself to do this - Nest egg built up and never let it get below what you would need to pay 2 months worth of bills. This way you can dip into it when if you need to and not be hurting.
Twitter post - Daily • Track your time - Daily • List & Prioritize tasks for the week - Monday • Review meeting schedule - Monday • Check if any bills are due this week - Monday • Any overdue invoices? - Monday • Check job boards - Wednesday • Write a blog post - Wednesday • Send project summary updates to all clients - Friday 22 - Polite follow-ups about over due bills - Track all of your time every day. This will give you a very good understanding of how long certain tasks take you and where your time is going
the contract includes • Items the contract does NOT include • Under what circumstances will additional fees be applied • What the client is responsible for • Who has ownership of what, and when 24 - Talk to a lawyer. Research online. Cover your ass. You will have a situation where things go south so make sure you have your bases covered.
first meeting with a new client. First impressions are important. Treat each meeting like an interview, because that is pretty much what it is. - You never want to be underdressed and can later replicate your clients dress code at subsequent meetings. - It is tempting to want to present yourself as a cool hipster...dress like that on your own time, not clients - Do your research, have a questionnaire prepared
be clear about what will and will not cost extra • Over-estimate how long something will take • Don’t burn yourself out 26 - Manage client expectations. at meetings be clear, when new features come up charge for them, etc. - When first starting out, you will have no idea how long things will take. Decide how long you think it will take, and add 50%. - Tips for dealing with burnout. If a project is late, it's late. Don't stay up for 3 days straight trying to get it done. The output will be terrible, you'll lose another week worth of productive work because you are so tired
as you do 28 -it is a common mistake for new freelancers to grossly undervalue their work. -Not only do you hurt yourself by not earning much for your time and effort, but you hurt the industry by setting a bad example. - As you gain skills and expertise, your rate should go up - Eventually you should be turning away clients because they can't afford you
of none 29 - In the beginning, you will have to do everything yourself...because hiring other people is time consuming, expensive and risky. - But as you grow it will be to your benefit, and your clients, to have other experts picking up the parts of the project that are not in your main skill set - Find someone with skills that complement your own and do some projects with them
hard skill to develop, especially when you are first starting out, but can also be very empowering. If you meet with a client and get a bad feeling about them, you are probably right. The 80/20 rule applies: 80% of your effort will be for 20% of your clients. You have to decide if it is worth it.
mentioned, freelancing can be very lonely so getting out to the various meetups around the city is a good way to get out of the house - It is good to get to know your colleagues and competitors. What are they doing that maybe you should be too? What can you learn from them? What opportunities can you introduce each other to? - It gives you an opportunity to add new potential resources to your tool kit. This means you might have potential contacts for overflow work, or experts in specific fields that are related to your industry.
careful which bridges you burn • You are the master of your own fate Some Things to Think About 33 - “I’m the boss” - You have the flexibly of choosing which projects, how you run your business, but in the end you are still accountable to your clients. - Keep in mind that you will have many relationships, like any relationship, it can be ended by either party - Edmonton is very small, be cautious about burning bridges - this is hard for some people - it is easier to have giving you direction (and their is nothing wrong with that) - both your successes and failures are of your own doing
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