You will read much opposition to this, but the fact is that PROS do NOT bill hourly. You will initially lose money, but you will gain experience and more importantly, the MOTIVATION, to bid and scope your projects properly at the beginning.
You will find clients who wont agree to a fixed-fee (1/3 up front) contract, and those are the clients that you don't want anyway. Your goal should be to work for clients who know what they want, and understand that changes beyond the initial contract will cost them more in money than it will cost you in time.
You will only lose money, when you attempt to do favors for clients who change the scope of work continuously, without regard for your time or contract. Run from these clients, or suffer greatly as you learn why.
Clients should not pay you for the time it takes for you to discover what they want. You should have the ability to provide DETAILED project plans and scopes of work BEFORE your client knows what it will all cost. If a client ever has to ask you: "So, what do we get for that amount?" You failed.
Clients should also not have to pay for you to learn ANYTHING, a new technology, a new software platform, etc. You are supposed to be the pro. If they are paying you to learn, you suck, and will eventually get caught. Learn on your own time.
Provide a standard Boilerplate contract, with an attached Schedule A, defining the specifics of your project. Give your clients a 7-day out-clause, with an understanding that after that time, the upfront payment is YOURS, regardless of any cancellation.
The bottom line is, to be perceived as a professional, you must present yourself that way. If you cant afford to walk away from business, you are not a pro, but a hack.
You would be amazed at what clients will agree to if they perceive that you are confident, professional, and most importantly, not willing to be shat on for their business.
When you bill by the hour, you and the client are at odds from moment one. They want it fast, and believe that you do not, less you reduce your billings. When you charge a flat rate, you are in sync with the client, because now you BOTH want the work done as fast and as well as possible.
No project gets completed without changes or adjustments. You don't want those adjustments costing you, so learn to plan for them, and bid them right into your fee. Dont be a job-shopper with a client looking over your shoulder, calling your cell phone endlessly requesting updated timetables. Your client should know BEFORE THEY SIGN, exactly when (barring changes) the project will be completed.
With a well developed reputation, you will find yourself able to charge for early completion, with the caveat that you will also except penalties for projects that are late. Planning is everything, or you WILL lose your shirt.
If you bill by the hour, every project you do will have a winner and a loser. If you lose, the client is happy, but you left money on the table. If you win, the client is pissed and you wont get more work.
Dont charge by the hour; be good enough to know what your work is worth, and CHARGE for it. If they wont pay, fuck them. Someone will, because if you have your marketing shit together, you wont have to pound the pavement for work.
My friends tell me that an iPhone will certainly increase my penis size, with the only drawback being that I will need one of those fancy Apple carrying cases to keep it in.
The fact is, Kaspersky on clients has a smaller footprint, has very granular protection settings, letting you have major control over what it checks and what it doesnt, if that is what you want.
It is also positively oppressive in alerting you if you want it to. I dont mind a few false positives as opposed to a single false negative; something that happens all the time with Norton. Norton screws up so many computers, it is the very first thing I look for if I am troubleshooting. I keep a demo copy on a thumb drive, and wipe out Norton straight away. Then, load Kaspersky, and lo-and-behold, viruses found up the wazzoo, that Norton simply ignored. Almost EVERY time, this is the case.
The server tools are good, allowing one local spot for clients to get updates, and again, take up LITTLE space in ram or disk.
I dont care about any tests, I care about what detects dangerous stuff on my network and what doesn't. Every client I have in on Kaspersky stuff, after Norton, McAfee, Trend and others FAILED to detect viruses that Kaspersky found straight away.
Broadcasters can be, and have been fined thousands of dollars PER EVENT, through violations of FCC rules. One slip of the tongue should not be the basis for fining a program out of existance.
A tool to help in that regards DOES NOT equal sensorship, and the title is a ridiculous assertion that hurts credibility around here.
Hate Microsoft if you want, but Christ, why be stupid about it?
What is next? "Microsoft wants to eat your babies"?
As supposedly logic-driven geeks, can we not do better?
"We like Office because it has really really great spreadsheet tools and formatting for sophisticated data tracking. But we can't share it with other companies."
Dude, have you heard of SharePoint? Using Excel Services for SharePoint, you can share your spreadsheets, indeed let other companies update your files via a SharePoint Extranet. Check it out here:http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101054761033.aspx
Anyone you choose can access your Excel files, update them, download or distribute them, with full security and tracking. Yeah, I am a SharePoint consultant, but I cant see why anyone would give up the power of Excel for Google docs, when a solution actually exists.
Here is what you need:
2 networked laptops, one acting as a web server, the other as a photoshopping client.
1 digital camera, and connecting USB cables.
What you want to do, is involve the kids in the building of a quick web site, while talking about the technologies that make it all work. The network connectivity, the HTML that places THEIR pictures on the page, even talk about the various cables necessary to connect the computers, the camera to the computer, and explain what happens when they press ENTER. Literally trace the content down the wire.
Prepare a template ahead of time, take pictures of the kids, use some cool filters in Photoshop, and then add them to the web page. In the end, the kids get jazzed over seeing their picture on a web page, and will enjoy your explaining how it worked, from the camera to the page.
Dont be a dufus and go on about the wonders of DHCP, and all that. Its got to be applicable to what they care about.
Anyway, that worked for me, and I got a dozen calls from parents asking me for follow-on advice, as their kids demanded tools to build their own sites.
If you remember the principle of demonstrating how IT effects their lives, you will have a captive audience. I guarantee that if you get into IT from a nuts and bolts perspective, rather than applying IT to what kids care about, you will get snores.
If I am Joe Hardwarewhore, pitchin' HP or Sun solutions, this really ought to piss me off. Oracle selling hardware, is tantamount to Microsoft selling pre-installed Exchange Servers, something that would end up in a Dell or HP lawsuit in a MINUTE.
Now, admittedly, VARs have literally written the book on how to fail, so I can see where Oracle might want to strike out on their own, but its bad business. If your VAR channel fails, it is your job to train them, stoke them, incentive-ize them into performing on your behalf.
I've been using ZoneEdit for the past 4 years, and I dont remember a single problem with them. It is easy, as you said, and so cheap I feel guilty every time I use them.
Granted, Louisiana has GREAT food. But...outside of Mississippi, you have more fat people per-capita than anywhere else in the nation. That said, there is less of that good food per person to go around.
The fact is, we can drive anywhere in California in a day's time. No need to hop on a plane. In California, you can surf and ski in the same day, during certain parts of the year.
Another advantage (both coasts) is FOOD.
Ever tried to get Peking Duck in Oklahoma? You can do it, but it will likely suck. Or Uni in Tennesee? Mexican food in Chicago? Yuck. But, I'll grant you, you cannot get a decent rack of ribs in Seattle.
3-4 times a year, I have the distinct pleasure of driving between San Diego and Seattle, taking the coastal routes through Big Sur, CA, Gold Beach, OR and Oyster Bay, WA.
For scenery, it is almost a religious experience.
I've worked in Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis and Oklahoma City. Compared to the West Coast, these places look like hell warmed over, and would not return for any salary.
If you have any appreciation for grand vistas, amazing landscapes, after one drive through the California Redwood Forests, I defy you to say: "California aint that beautiful anyway" ever again.
Look dude, I just spent the last year PERFECTING my calendaring engine. Instead of all those CPU cycles wasted on checking Free/busy status, MINE asks you via Clippy: "So, just when the fuck to do feel like doing it, baby? Fuck em if they don't show, cause its YOUR world!"
Slashdot Mirror
You will find clients who wont agree to a fixed-fee (1/3 up front) contract, and those are the clients that you don't want anyway. Your goal should be to work for clients who know what they want, and understand that changes beyond the initial contract will cost them more in money than it will cost you in time.
You will only lose money, when you attempt to do favors for clients who change the scope of work continuously, without regard for your time or contract. Run from these clients, or suffer greatly as you learn why.
Clients should not pay you for the time it takes for you to discover what they want. You should have the ability to provide DETAILED project plans and scopes of work BEFORE your client knows what it will all cost. If a client ever has to ask you: "So, what do we get for that amount?" You failed.
Clients should also not have to pay for you to learn ANYTHING, a new technology, a new software platform, etc. You are supposed to be the pro. If they are paying you to learn, you suck, and will eventually get caught. Learn on your own time.
Provide a standard Boilerplate contract, with an attached Schedule A, defining the specifics of your project. Give your clients a 7-day out-clause, with an understanding that after that time, the upfront payment is YOURS, regardless of any cancellation.
The bottom line is, to be perceived as a professional, you must present yourself that way. If you cant afford to walk away from business, you are not a pro, but a hack.
You would be amazed at what clients will agree to if they perceive that you are confident, professional, and most importantly, not willing to be shat on for their business.
When you bill by the hour, you and the client are at odds from moment one. They want it fast, and believe that you do not, less you reduce your billings. When you charge a flat rate, you are in sync with the client, because now you BOTH want the work done as fast and as well as possible.
No project gets completed without changes or adjustments. You don't want those adjustments costing you, so learn to plan for them, and bid them right into your fee. Dont be a job-shopper with a client looking over your shoulder, calling your cell phone endlessly requesting updated timetables. Your client should know BEFORE THEY SIGN, exactly when (barring changes) the project will be completed.
With a well developed reputation, you will find yourself able to charge for early completion, with the caveat that you will also except penalties for projects that are late. Planning is everything, or you WILL lose your shirt.
If you bill by the hour, every project you do will have a winner and a loser. If you lose, the client is happy, but you left money on the table. If you win, the client is pissed and you wont get more work.
Dont charge by the hour; be good enough to know what your work is worth, and CHARGE for it. If they wont pay, fuck them. Someone will, because if you have your marketing shit together, you wont have to pound the pavement for work.
That would make me a Porn star in Japan, you insensitive clod!
SOLD, bitches!
The best doomsday device, is not necessarily the one you have, but the one your enemy THINKS you have.
Is AES not the more secure of the two? From everything I have read, AES is the preffered option over TKIP.
The fact is, Kaspersky on clients has a smaller footprint, has very granular protection settings, letting you have major control over what it checks and what it doesnt, if that is what you want.
It is also positively oppressive in alerting you if you want it to. I dont mind a few false positives as opposed to a single false negative; something that happens all the time with Norton. Norton screws up so many computers, it is the very first thing I look for if I am troubleshooting. I keep a demo copy on a thumb drive, and wipe out Norton straight away. Then, load Kaspersky, and lo-and-behold, viruses found up the wazzoo, that Norton simply ignored. Almost EVERY time, this is the case.
The server tools are good, allowing one local spot for clients to get updates, and again, take up LITTLE space in ram or disk.
Game over.
I suspect Flash player will still kick it's ass.
Ah... the article submitter speaks....
Broadcasters can be, and have been fined thousands of dollars PER EVENT, through violations of FCC rules. One slip of the tongue should not be the basis for fining a program out of existance.
A tool to help in that regards DOES NOT equal sensorship, and the title is a ridiculous assertion that hurts credibility around here.
Hate Microsoft if you want, but Christ, why be stupid about it?
What is next? "Microsoft wants to eat your babies"?
As supposedly logic-driven geeks, can we not do better?
Dude, have you heard of SharePoint? Using Excel Services for SharePoint, you can share your spreadsheets, indeed let other companies update your files via a SharePoint Extranet. Check it out here:http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101054761033.aspx
Anyone you choose can access your Excel files, update them, download or distribute them, with full security and tracking. Yeah, I am a SharePoint consultant, but I cant see why anyone would give up the power of Excel for Google docs, when a solution actually exists.
Now, I can watch my CPU's max out, and my systems become unresponsive on EVERY platform!
Very simple, you have the class teacher take the photos. The teacher will already have all the necessary releases.
Yep, I have the same problem. Just since yesterday. Somebody fucked with the CSS, it appears.
1 digital camera, and connecting USB cables.
What you want to do, is involve the kids in the building of a quick web site, while talking about the technologies that make it all work. The network connectivity, the HTML that places THEIR pictures on the page, even talk about the various cables necessary to connect the computers, the camera to the computer, and explain what happens when they press ENTER. Literally trace the content down the wire.
Prepare a template ahead of time, take pictures of the kids, use some cool filters in Photoshop, and then add them to the web page. In the end, the kids get jazzed over seeing their picture on a web page, and will enjoy your explaining how it worked, from the camera to the page.
Dont be a dufus and go on about the wonders of DHCP, and all that. Its got to be applicable to what they care about.
Anyway, that worked for me, and I got a dozen calls from parents asking me for follow-on advice, as their kids demanded tools to build their own sites.
If you remember the principle of demonstrating how IT effects their lives, you will have a captive audience. I guarantee that if you get into IT from a nuts and bolts perspective, rather than applying IT to what kids care about, you will get snores.
Payup bitch! I KNOW you got it!
If I am Joe Hardwarewhore, pitchin' HP or Sun solutions, this really ought to piss me off. Oracle selling hardware, is tantamount to Microsoft selling pre-installed Exchange Servers, something that would end up in a Dell or HP lawsuit in a MINUTE.
Now, admittedly, VARs have literally written the book on how to fail, so I can see where Oracle might want to strike out on their own, but its bad business. If your VAR channel fails, it is your job to train them, stoke them, incentive-ize them into performing on your behalf.
This will end badly.
True enough. But now, SharePoint is stealing what Notes was supposed to be.
We buy MACs as conversation starters, PCs because we are depressed and dont like ourselves, and are gluttons for punishment.
Which of these phones is going to make me more attractive? Which phone will increase the size of my- er, um, bank account?
I dont just want a fuckin phone, I want a phone to provide solutions to Global Warming, AIDS and Fat People. THAT is the phone I want, dammit!
I've been using ZoneEdit for the past 4 years, and I dont remember a single problem with them. It is easy, as you said, and so cheap I feel guilty every time I use them.
Granted, Louisiana has GREAT food. But...outside of Mississippi, you have more fat people per-capita than anywhere else in the nation. That said, there is less of that good food per person to go around.
"Congratulations, your Lotus Notes installation is complete."
Another advantage (both coasts) is FOOD.
Ever tried to get Peking Duck in Oklahoma? You can do it, but it will likely suck. Or Uni in Tennesee? Mexican food in Chicago? Yuck. But, I'll grant you, you cannot get a decent rack of ribs in Seattle.
3-4 times a year, I have the distinct pleasure of driving between San Diego and Seattle, taking the coastal routes through Big Sur, CA, Gold Beach, OR and Oyster Bay, WA.
For scenery, it is almost a religious experience.
I've worked in Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis and Oklahoma City. Compared to the West Coast, these places look like hell warmed over, and would not return for any salary.
If you have any appreciation for grand vistas, amazing landscapes, after one drive through the California Redwood Forests, I defy you to say: "California aint that beautiful anyway" ever again.
I tell ya, its the bomb.