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Slides from the "Independent Software Developer" presentation at Linuxfest NW 2011, in Bellingham, WA.
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The Independent Software Developer
Peat [email protected]
@peat
http://i26r.com/
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Orientation
• Introductions!
• Freelancing and Open Source
• Marketing and Sales
• The Bottom Line
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Who am I, and what the heck am I doing
here?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Who are you?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Employment vs Freelancing
• Employee: employer owns copyrights and inventions, even during “down time” and outside of the work place.
• Freelancer: you explicitly control the boundaries of what your clients own.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Employment vs Freelancing
• Employee: limited free time outside of employment activities to contribute to open source projects.
• Freelancer: optimize contracts and schedule to provide time and resources for open source hacking.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
What is a Freelancer?
• You are offering your talent for solving a particular type of problem to lots of people ... in exchange for money.
• You are responsible for how your software gets built, and for the quality of your work.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Freelancing Pros
• Flexible Schedule
• Flexible Location
• Flexible Projects
• Flexible Flexibile Flexible Flexible Flexible
• “Flexible” starts to look and sound a bit funny, doesn’t it?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Freelancing Cons
• rot13(“VEF”)
• No guaranteed income.
• Distinct lack of cultural appreciation for misanthropic behavior.
• Most clients don’t “get” the open source world.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Separation of Concerns
• Concerns about money are satisfied by landing contracts with clients.
• Concerns about open source are satisfied by building time into your schedule to contribute to open source.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Legal Entanglements
• Most contracts are “work for hire.”
• Contract should specifically say that you will disclose all pre-existing licenses.
• The (L)GPL discussion will be exciting. Get it out of the way up front.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The (L)GPL Argument
• You don’t pay for the software, unlike Windows, Oracle, Photoshop, etc.
• You can fix fundamental problems yourself, unlike Windows, Oracle, Photoshop, etc.
• The easy trade for getting amazing free tools that are user serviceable: if you fix something, you give it back to everyone else.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Dirty Words
• Marketing: understanding who wants what.
• Selling: turning someone into a client.
• Marketing + Selling = LARPing in a suit.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Showing Up is Half the
BattleTuesday, May 3, 2011
Marketing
• Who’s using your technology? Go to user groups and mailing lists to find out.
• Are they hiring freelancers? Just ask.
• Can they pay enough to make it worth your while? Just ask.
• No? Can you try another technology?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Selling
• Communicate at the person’s level
• Establish that you are trustworthy
• Engage with their goals and interests
• Show that you can help them
• Give them an easy choice
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Communicating on Their Level
• Reflection
• Reinforcement
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
UPLEVEL INTERDEPARTMENT
SYNERGY!!!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
SCALABLE RESTFUL WEB SERVICES!!!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Reinforce Their Goals
• I’d love to hear more about ...
• Is this a good example of ... ?
• What can I do to make this kick ass?
• Can you tell me more about your business?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
EstablishTrust
• Offer a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
• Bring one to your first meeting.
• Take (light) notes during the meeting.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Establish Interest
• Take people out for coffee, and pay for it.
• After each conversation, take five minutes to search Google for related information.
• Explicitly say you’re interested, and ask about “next steps”
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Show Them You Can Help
• Ideal situation: show off a previous client who you solved the same sorts of problems for, step your prospect through the solution.
• Backup situation: work through a problem by asking questions, offering solutions, and responding positively to mistakes.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Make It An Easy Choice
• You’ve established that you’re interested, talented, and motivated.
• Time and money are the hard limits for a project: give them a timeline and cost.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Finding Your Rate
• You are the seller: you need to make sure your costs are covered to ensure that you are able to do the things you want to do.
• Client is the buyer: they have specific problems to solve, with an interest in doing it as effectively as possible within their budget and timeline.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
Income x (1 + Tax Rate) / Billing Ratio / Working Hours
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cost Based Rate
• Income
• Tax Rate
• Billing Ratio
• Working Hours
$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Gut Check Estimates• Establishes timeline, and it’s a communication
tool for sorting out features.
• Consider: understanding, planning, coding, releasing, supporting.
• Gut number is the low end.
• Confidence as 0.1 (extremely low) to 1.0 (extraordinarily easy).
• Low / Confidence = High
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Easy Choice• Clients need a project completed by a certain
date, within a certain amount of money.
• Convert time estimates to weeks or iterations to get a delivery date. Hours are a difficult unit to negotiate over.
• Multiply high estimate by cost based rate to get the price of the contract.
• Negotiate on confidence score.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Recap
• Freelancing gives you more power over intellectual property and time management.
• Think about marketing and sales in roleplaying terms.
• Understand how much you need to make.
• Negotiate on your “confidence” basis.
• Showing up is half the battle!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011