Category: Business
When was the last time you laughed at work?
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You’ve heard about my client vetting process before. One reason I’m so rigorous on my client vetting is that I want to have fun with my clients. If you aren’t having some fun, you might wonder what you are doing in your business life. Laughter and good humor are the canaries in the mine of…
Meh to Sexy Problems
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I just found a great podcast called The Distance, which is all about businesses that have been running for 25 years or more. Businesses you won’t hear about raising venture capital and ones that likely aren’t revolutionizing everything you’ve come to know and love. These are businesses you’re not going to read about on any…
Where You Focus is What Grows
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Hey, did you know the grass is always greener on the other side? If you’re employed, it’s better to be freelance. If you’re freelance, being employed means you don’t have to chase clients for payment or worry about where the next pay cheque (funny Canadians and their spelling eh?) will come from. Okay we know…
It Doesn’t Matter What You Like
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Recently, I was bidding on a project, in competition with a few other developers I know, and one of them won. According to the client the reason they didn’t go with me was my payment terms. For a 10-day project I wanted to get paid 50% up front and the rest after 10 business days.…
Why my initial client questions are not on my contact form
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I recently had a great question from a reader. After reading my posts on client vetting and looking at my business site this reader wanted to know why I don’t include my initial questions in my contact form — why I ask them in the first email instead. Process First off, while the reader is…
Sitting in the middle is nothing to be ashamed of
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We’ve got heroes all around us — people like DHH (founder of Ruby on Rails and Basecamp), Tim Ferris, Brennan Dunn, and Nathan Barry. For big WordPress shops, some of the heroes are 10up, Web Dev Studios, Human Made or Crowd Favorite. They are the stories of wild success out of seemingly nowhere (though most…
I want to think I’m better than you
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One of the Slack channels I’m in has been getting pretty negative recently. On the particular day I’m thinking of a member of the WordPress community launched a new service. As with much marketing copy, his promotional announcement made some ‘bold’ claims. Not inaccurate, but bold given the skills of the developer. Soon after, the…
Client-Centered Web Development
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There’s a problem with my regular work, and I typically don’t see it. But that’s the problem — I don’t see it and that means my clients don’t see it either. But when building something as ephemeral as software, progress comes in fits and starts, sometimes to the point of feeling illusory. ~ The Grumpy…
4 Steps Towards Fulfillment
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What on earth does being fulfilled mean? Does it mean having all the money you want? Does it mean being ‘famous’ in your sphere of influence? Does it mean having a big house or fancy computer or fancy … whatever? It means none of those things. Another word I like to use for fulfillment is…
Don’t Just Be an Imitation
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When you get started with any activity you start by emulating those who are better than you. This process starts in childhood. Maybe it was watching your dad shave and then standing beside him shaving, even though you had no actual need to shave. Maybe it was doing your hair like that person you looked…
