prog: (Default)
It's time for Appleseed to once again cast the net out for reals; gonna spend some of today trolling through jobs.perl.org and such. I'm in an OK position, with an active client and the promise of another around the corner, but circumstances have given me room (and need) for one more.

So, if you happen to learn of some entity's need for some damn fine software consulting, you know where to direct them.



Why yes, I am somewhat concerned about doing this in the midst of the changing financial climate. I am not aware of all the ways it affects this sort of activity, but it's probably making it harder for other business to borrow money for new projects - and that's just enough to worry about. But, here I am anyway.

Hmm, I guess a "Now accepting new clients! Lucky you!!" post on the Appleseed blog wouldn't be untoward. I should make the latest blog post show up on the front page somehow, mumble mumble...

Win

Apr. 4th, 2008 10:25 am
prog: (monkey)
My LinkedIn page is the second Google hit for [boston perl consultant]. (Number one is the LinkedIn of another local hacker who has been consulting for 17 years, so yeah.)
prog: (Default)
I am pleased to announce the public debut of my latest professional identity, Appleseed Software Consulting LLC. Web and graphic design by Rob Oliver, who was also behind Volity's website and branding efforts.

The website is pretty spare right now; there are at least two major sections, including a new blog, which aren't ready yet. But the remainder makes for a fine public web presence, and so up it goes today.

Yes, the domain name is a little fiddly, but what can you do? I also nabbed appleseedsc.com and appleseedsofwareconsulting.com, but I figure that the version with the hypen in it looks best in print. It's what's going on the business cards.
prog: (tom)
I've been meaning to note for a while that I am no longer in hell, and am once again happy with my work situation. I say this fully realizing that I also said this last summer before I fell flat on my back. But I know exactly what I did wrong then, and it's a mistake I won't make again.

In short, I ran a business with no marketing and a single customer, who was under no obligation not to simply wander off when they felt done with me. Leaving me with no income and no plan to attract new customers. It turns out that customers aren't employers.

After six harrowing, empty-cupboard weeks of full-time, unpaid work I had some marketing in place and a small corral of active customers. That interim was really rough, but knowing that I pulled myself out of it through my own strength (with assists from my excellent friends) is awesome. My confidence in my ability to do business as well as sling code shot up tremendously, even before I started actually collecting money again, just from witnessing my own success at finding and connecting with new customers.

Gord willing, I now have a heightened awareness of pitfalls that I haven't fallen into yet. Not too long ago I was talking with some friends on the train. One, who had just landed a lucrative full-time job, said he was tempted by my stories of the independent life, but was also made quite wary by my little time of troubles. I said that I had learned my lesson from all of that, and I don't foresee any other terrible things happening to me. "Unless someone sues me," I mused. Suddenly, I felt very cold. "Yes, that would count," said my friend.

So that is why I am moving forward with this reorganization plan, primarily as armor against any future legal blows. (No, I'm not expecting anyone to sue me. And really, that's the point.)



I am seriously considering writing a book, or something bookish, about my experiences. There's a lot of spilled ink about becoming a consultant, and far more about embracing the freelance life in general. But I haven't encountered any works targeted specifically towards software professionals, coming to them with the message that there is another way and offering advice on how to break free and get started.

I discovered the lifestyle by accident, by way of launching an unrelated startup, and later looking for supplemental income without having to go back to a job. After a year of trial and error I finally have an idea how it works. And from this vantage point, I continue to feel surprise that I know tons of software people, but only one or two work for themselves. It's certainly not the life for everyone, but for me it is without a doubt the best job I've ever had. I probably could have started years before I actually did, had I only known it was possible. The message needs to get out more.
prog: (Bizarro Kirk)
Subject: URGET Req: Perl Developer - PA - 6 months

My client is looking for Perl developers at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. If you are available for new projects and willing to relocate to PA please send your resume with contact details and rate/hr ASAP.
prog: (The Rev. Sir Dr. George King)
In New Jersey again, hanging out with [livejournal.com profile] doctor_atomic through Sunday morning. We just spent several hours burning our brains over the latest issue of Puzzles and Answers Magazine, knocking over two puzzles and shouting "This is brilliant!" at a third though we have no idea yet how to shake the meta out of it. Taking a damn break now. (I also love grumbling at test-solver [livejournal.com profile] tahnan via IM while working on these.)

Starting work on the one contract next week, though I noted half an hour of billable time on the train while I absorbed spec docs and such. Not a peep from the client who owes me in excess of two large now. Since I now have barely enough liquid to make rent, this makes me sad. Yes, I will get quite aggressive about it once I'm back on home turf.

I am annoyed at Blip.tv. They changed the design of show pages in a way I really don't like, and which apparently I have no control over as show operator. If you go to http://thegameshelf.blip.tv you are treated to our first episode from 2005, and while I Stand By All My Work, boy does that shit show its age. It's not the first impression I want made on a visitor. And yet it clearly is, in many cases, since my blip.tv stats show an order of magnitude more views for that ep than any of the others... which means that it's often the last impression made, as well. Blah.

I should just set up a Movable Type thing for the show, already.
prog: (rotwang)
Just finished the one-off job that [livejournal.com profile] jtroutman passed over to me. If it doesn't cause the client to catch on fire, I think they'll like it, and I am hoping that it will lead to more work from them. In my delivery letter I noted some recommendations for improvements in their process, and added that I'd be most happy to discuss them further if they'd like. This is good habit for a consultant to get into!

Alongside that invoice, I get to send out my first ever past-due notice to another client. whee

It's starting to look like there really might be a three-way battle over the remaining chunk of my rentable work-time. All is made more interesting by the fact that the bigger contract I've signed peters out after December, giving me room to offer help starting thereafter, should prospective clients miss the boat right now.

Both of my little whiteboards are filled with the current state of all the job-threads I have going on at once. I have seven marked down right now, each with a one-line status summary. Red marker means I am waiting for them to do something, green marker means that the ball's in my court. It's colorful and fun!



I agreed to the agency-mediated article, since I feel like I already halfway agreed to it, and the pay is good. Maybe not maximal, but way more than I've gotten before for online tech articles. The deadline's about three weeks away, and it's only 2000 words. I can do it. If I find that I really like it (and it doesn't take up all the rest of my time), maybe then I'll start talking to publishers directly, seeking to write more.



I managed to land jasonmcintosh.com! It will be some time before I put something there. Maybe make it a 2008 goal. Still need to get some nice pictures of myself.



I am going to go see Tomes of Terror II tomorrow night. This is the audio group that I worked with a couple years ago (Chicken Heart!) and who have somehow managed to get better and better despite the lack of my direct involvement ha ha. Its sophomore effort last year really surprised me with how polished the act had gotten, and this year's show is apparently so good that (according to insiders on my flist) an audience member literally fainted from fright at their opening show on Monday. Can't wait to hear it myself!

(Hay [livejournal.com profile] audioboy, is the Chicken Heart studio-recording MP3 still online somewhere? My old LJ'd links to it aren't working so good.)
prog: (Default)
Worked for close to six hours editing The Gameshelf #6. Too much time spent in tweaking greenscreen stuff - it won't look quite as good as last time, sadly - and nosing around for appropriate (and CC-licensed) background music. If you know of an instrumental that would work well against several minutes of blathering about a corporate-takeover-themed board game, please do share. (Especially if I can legally use it.)

I now understand why other low-budget (but still some-budget) shows like The Phantom Gourmet seem to like having a small library of background music, from which they pick something more or less arbitrarily to throw on when nothing else is happening.

I hope to finish the show tomorrow. We'll see.



After negotiating a couple of points, I signed a contract that will keep me in part-timey work for the rest of the year. Suddenly, half my work-time allotment vanishes, ker-chunk, and I have to be careful about farming out the remainder. I will allow myself to take on one more such contract, and that's it until 2008. If both of the big uncertain deals pop the question this week, I'll almost certainly have to turn one down. A good problem to have. Until then, I've slowed down my frantic job hunt.

In the background, I've felt myself warming up to the idea of working on the web client again. Don't expect me to lift a finger for it until my working schedule is completely defined, but when that happens (and it won't be too much longer), I'll be ready to pick it back up again. It doesn't hurt that someone put the idea into my head that, once it's up and running, I can much more reasonably add Volity game developer to my list of services as a software consultant...
prog: (Default)
I was asked last night what became of my question regarding an apparent disconnect between the hourly rates I sought as a consultant and the hourly rates I saw offered in online ads. I posted the same question on the Freelance Switch forums, and got a great response. Conversations and experience since then have borne it out.

In a nutshell, I was looking in the wrong spots. I wanted to connect with individual clients seeking consultants, not tech recruiters trying to park as many geek-butts in their clients' cubicles as they can. Recruiters have already done the contract negotiations with the end-clients, and are now just looking for warm bodies to sign them and start generating revenue.

Part of the reason the rates I saw were so low was that the clients do in fact expect to dispense this amount to you for seven hours per day, in exchange for your languishing in a cube halfway up Rte 128 or wherever. The other reason is that there's a sizable overhead - something on the order of 25 percent - going into the recruiter's hands in every such case.

When you approach clients yourself as a service provider, you have complete control over your half of the negotiating table, and this includes not just naming your price but explaining the value you bring. A compatible client that isn't a cheap nincompoop will hear you out, and might propose a counter-offer, and off you go.

Many clients advertising a need for consultants won't bother listing what they wish to pay, or list it as "DOE", because they know how to play this game. Some do list a price, but the advice I received - and which I have practiced, and pass along - is just to pretend that they didn't, should you find yourself talking to them. Like as not, they'll play along. And maybe you end up agreeing that they can't afford you after all, but if so, at least you made the contact.

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