In all three there was what I call the Non-Disclosure Clause. The purpose of this clause is to prevent someone from gaining information through the agreement and then using it for their own purposes. For example, a bakery might hire a baker, but doesn’t want their new hire to be able to use their recipes except while working for them.

Naturally, this clause does not have a fully standardized phrasing, since it is highly dependent on the nature of the agreement, and the type of information that might be expected to be exposed through the arrangement. As a result, I was not surprised to see that all three had completely different phrasing for this clause. (To bring this point out, the clause regarding Governing Law was almost identical in all three contracts.)

One of the three, however, I found to be much better written than the other two, and not from a legal perspective, but from the perspective of someone who might sign the document. The reason I liked it so much (although it was not the most open, or the most closed of the three versions) was because it was reciprocal.

In almost any relationship between two businesses or individuals, information will be shared in both directions. As such, while one party is “issuing” the contract to the other (remember that contracts are unilaterally binding when signed by both parties), many of the issues at hand apply to both parties.

As an example, take an employment contract. There is likely a phrase regarding non-disclosure, or confidential information, and it might be written stating that the employee cannot use any confidential information they acquire through working for the employer for any use other than the benefit of the employer. That’s fine, but the employee will also be giving the employer some information, for example, their Social Insurance Number or Social Security Number.

As an employee, you want to be sure that the employer will not hand out that information, and they will treat it with the same respect they expect of you when dealing with their information. What better way to ensure this than to have a reciprocal agreement when it comes to the handling of confidential information?

After seeing the clause phrased this way, not mentioning who is giving and who is receiving the information, but making the clause binding on the receiver of the information, I recommended that an adaptation of that clause be used. If both sides of the contract are willing to bind themselves by the same clause when it comes to confidential information, the level of trust between parties (not necessarily from a legal perspective though) is likely to increase.

As a note, I am not a lawyer, nor an expert in law by any definition of the word. This article is about my impressions of a particular clause – it is not intended to provide legal advice. If you have a question regarding a specific case, please refer to a lawyer who can provide advice relevant to your situation.

Related posts:

1. Your Word is Binding
2. Why You Need a Lawyer
3. Full Disclosure

Some people dream of success, while other people live to crush those dreams.

What I did last year was to post some of my professional resolutions for all to see. Whether or not that was a good idea is debatable. There is a study that shows that the more you share, the less likely you are to do. I don’t agree completely with that study, and so I’m going to do it again.

First, however, a follow-up to the goals for 2009:

• Only one of my contracts from the start of 2009 is still in development, and it is scheduled for completion with two weeks.
• I have not picked up one new contract per month, however, the past 3 months have been very good to me with 2 new clients and one returning client.
• I haven’t taken any courses this year, but am in the process of learning PHP and the Zend Framework.
• I have continued to use C# for some development, and am increasing my level of proficiency.

All in all, I feel good about what I’ve accomplished in 2009. While I haven’t met all my goals, I did strive to do so, and had I met all my goals, it would be an indication that I had not set my sights high enough. So, without further ado, here are my goals for 2010:

1. Learn PHP and Zend to a degree of proficiency whereby I can construct an entire website based on those technologies in a reasonable amount of time (i.e. in under 250 hours for a fully-functional site, and not including the design of the interface).
2. Launch the product I’m currently working on, Client Data Tracker, to beta in January 2010 and live to the public before the end of March 2010.
3. Continue developing my consulting to the point that I am putting in 30+ hours per week in billable time on various projects.
4. Complete the work required for KNIRL.COM and get the site up and running.

These are my goals that I’ll be using to measure my success against in 2010. What are your goals? How do you intend to measure success?

Related posts:

1. Goals for 2011
2. Goals and Fitness
3. 2009 Goals

It isn’t easy to tell a potential customer that their ideas are terrible, or to try and make them modify their concepts in order to allow them to work better online.
Part of that is that developers and designers are by nature creative people, and we don’t like raining on somebody’s parade.
Part of it is also the risk of losing a possible customer.

This triggered a brief discussion in the comments about how to learn the skills required for dealing with [potential] clients. It’s not something covered as part of a standard degree in Computer Science or the like. It’s not part of a certification in web development for most colleges. As a result, many would-be web developers working for themselves fall into one of the following two categories:

Customer Management Chart

1. They treat the client’s opinions and ideas like gold, and implement them regardless of whether or not it’s a good idea. While this is good for getting work, it’s not good for developing a business, as you end up spending too much time dealing with the whims of ill-informed clients. This prevents you from developing your business of building quality websites that fill real needs. In the end, your clients are not happy because the site doesn’t live up to their expectations (regardless of whether those expectations were reasonable) and you end up losing the client.
2. You build what you like building, or what you think is a good idea, and if the client likes it, that’s great, and if not, they can go bother someone else. I don’t think this method needs much explanation as to why it’s a bad idea.

What’s needed here is to find a good balance between the two extremes, a sprinkle of tact, and some of your business experience.

Evaluate what your [potential] client is proposing, and try to figure out what the client is trying to achieve. Then confirm your guess with the client. For example, the client talks about creating a blog where every web developer in the world will spend all their time (not going to happen). But what the client really wants is a way to market their new product for web developers.

Now, rather than putting down the idea completely, gather some facts about what the client is trying to do, and what they’re trying to achieve. For example, you might collect some articles about how many web developers have A.D.D. or the fact that there are thousands of sites out there for developers, and the largest such site only has 200K members. Get some examples of how similar products are marketed (e.g. show Eclipse vs. Rational Application Developer for a Java IDE) and what their numbers look like. Try to gather as many quantifiable facts as you are able.

Next, present an alternative to the client, from the perspective of someone who understands what they are trying to achieve. “In order to market your software using various social media platforms, how about we run through some options, and what some companies which are similar to yours are doing.”

There, you’ve said it – what you’re trying to do (market software), there will be choices (some options), and where they came from (other companies). Now, outline the ideas clearly, and demonstrate the breadth and depth of your knowledge by having answers ready for common questions to each option. Don’t show off, just be knowledgeable, and if you don’t know, ask: “Can I get back to you on that?”

Knowledge is Precious

Not every client is reasonable, but then again, not every client is yours. The key here is not to attack their ideas, but to understand where they are coming from. Why did they choose you for the project? It’s because you know more than they do about how to do it. Share your expertise, use your special knowledge. Make sure your opinions are clearly delineated from the facts.

At the end of the day, you may be able to reason with your [potential] client and land a project that is a good idea, that’s well structured, and balanced.

Some [potential] clients will still insist on a bad idea, despite your feedback. However, you’ve already told them it’s a bad idea, just not in those words. You’ve outlined what they’re trying to do, and you got that right. You’ve outlined some real options that would reach that goal, and they’ve been turned down. What now?

Now you need to look at your business, and the impact accepting this client, and their bad idea, will have on the rest of your business. Will it help improve cash flow because it’s a short project (i.e. high profit margin for minimal resources)? Will this client refer you future business, thus making this a strategic move? Is this a client who has other projects with you, thereby putting pressure of losing other contracts?

Or will this project keep you busy, stressed out, and prevent you from pursuing better clients who will help your business reach its goals?

The answer to these questions will help you determine if you should be accepting or rejecting the bad idea. (Note that while you may refuse the project, treat the client with respect, and you may end up with a valuable connection as a result.)

Related posts:

1. The Customer is Always Right… Sometimes
2. Slow Economy and Developing a New Business
3. Customer Satisfaction

Reading contracts and agreements can be like that. There are lots of sections, paragraphs, and clauses outlining the details of the document. The agreement is intended to sound great for all parties involved. But your gut keeps asking to figure out what the catch is, but you don’t see it.

Enter the lawyer. He or she has read and written many contracts, and can turn the confusing legal language into plain English for you. Based on their experience, they can point out to you what it is about the arrangement that it problematic. They can also tell you what to expect from the agreement as a result of the content of the contract.

Legal bills are expensive, and therefore, many small business owners will try to avoid making use of one. However, while retaining a lawyer may be expensive, be sure you know the phone number of one you can call before you sign anything. It may cost you $500 to make that call and get their opinion, but the risk you face by not doing so is to enter into an agreement that will cost you far in excess of that $500 insurance policy.

If funds are truly an issue, at a minimum, find a lawyer fresh out of school who may be willing to consult for a lower fee. While you will be giving up the experience that a more seasoned lawyer would bring to the table, you would still be sure that you understood the general content of the agreement.

Related posts:

1. A Preferencial NDA Clause
2. The Customer is Always Right… Sometimes
3. Contract Work and Contracts

“Is a recession, or slow economy, a good time to start a new business, and why?”

Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you could survive the odds beating you.

The first point to consider is illustrated in the image to the right. Starting a business is a risk, and you must first evaluate whether or not it is a risk worth taking.

Take, for example, an employee for a company who has fairly good job stability, a small reserve of funds in case he is laid off, and some money put aside for retirement savings in an RRSP. He is presented with an idea for which he has the necessary skills to turn into a successful business. However, in order for him to work on the project, he must quit his job so that he can devote all of his energy to developing the idea.

I will not attempt to answer the question as to whether or not he should quit his job. However, there are a few questions that the candidate should consider. Can he afford to quit his job? How hard will it be, should this idea be a flop, for him to find another job? Can his life tolerate the additional risk of working for himself.

Once he knows the answers to these questions, in addition to those questions which reflect his interest in the idea, he can make an educated decision as to whether or not he should take the risk. It should be noted, however, that in a slow economy, the likelihood of being able to find another job, should this business flop, is drastically lower than in a fast economy.

From a business point of view, someone who is starting his own business (that is to say, he has answered the previous question such that he decides to quit his job) will find that a slow economy makes for easy growth. Costs are reduced in such an economy, and being able to find cost-efficient ways of growing a business will be significantly easier. Operating costs will therefore be lower, and while larger companies use a slow economy to consolidate their operations, smaller companies can take the opportunity to absorb the cuts from their larger competitors.

The economy, in moving out of a recession, will benefit the bold. Those who used the time to perfect their product, to gain a foothold in the market, or to streamline their operations, will be far ahead of those who merely tried to cut costs and survive until the end. Such companies will find themselves struggling to catch up to those who innovated over the past year(s).

If you want to be on the leading edge of innovation, there is no easier time to get there than when the competition for the edge is relaxed.

Related posts:

1. Top Reasons to Work From Home and Make It Work
2. Business and Social Media – Part 4
3. Motivating Employees

Related posts:

1. Business and Social Media – Part 3
2. Business and Social Media – Part 4
3. Business and Social Media – Part 2

Before I describe what I have done, and continue to do, to keep my account looked at, I feel obliged to provide a small warning. Networking at this level requires a fair amount of work, and the payoff can take many months to appear. It is hard to keep focused and to put in the work as time goes on. However, persistance does pay off after time.

When I signed up for my account, it took me several weeks to fill out my account information. Schools I went to, places I worked, building up my network to connect to people I know who also have accounts. I sent out masses of e-mails to people I know who were not on LinkedIn, and soon many of them created accounts as well.

The next step for me was to join a few groups with whom I share a common interest. I belong to a group relating to IT jobs, another group for my local community, and another for my local Chamber of Commerce. I read the discussions that are being discussed in the group and provide answers or responses on occassion.

Finally, I entered the world of answering questions. As of the writing of this article, I have answered 124 questions, including referrals to other people in my network. I have had 6 answers selected as the Best Answer, and 24 selected as Good Answers (the selection is done by the person who posted the question). By doing this, other people on LinkedIn with whom I am not directly connected can see what areas my expertise covers, and get a feel for my credibility. Answering questions takes a lot of time. On any given day, there are 100′s of questions asked, and reading through all of them can take over an hour a day, plus time spent providing answers where possible.

On any given day, I tend to spend in excess of 2 hours on LinkedIn, most of it answering questions. However, I also spend some time looking at updates from people in my network. That way, if someone in my network is looking for something which I can help with, I know right away.

LinkedIn is a way for you to publicly establish your credibility using your existing network. The more active you are on the site, the more other people outside your network will see you. That, in turn, will make them pay attention to you, by visiting your profile, visiting your personal site if you have linked to it, and getting in touch with you when they think they have an opportunity that you may be interested in. (I have been contacted by 4 people in the last month who found me through my activity on LinkedIn.)

Related posts:

1. Business and Social Media – Part 4
2. Business and Social Media – Part 3
3. Preparing to Attend a Networking Event

Canadian businesses aren’t doing enough research and development, and that’s putting the country at a distinct global disadvantage…. despite substantial federal tax breaks and funding.

This article, while fairly short, was of particular interest to me, as this is what my business does. Optimal Upgrade Consulting is all about R&D for small and medium-sized businesses with a focus on technology. Other businesses exist with a focus on other issues.

My belief is that the problem with the lack of Research and Development in Canada is not the lack of companies doing R&D. While the industry itself is not large, it does exist. The problem is that clients are not abundant. While every small business looking to grow will eventually require the use of technology, that does not mean that every business will perform the research into that technology. Nor will they pay for professional advising, but will use their own understanding of the technology (or lack thereof) to make a decision.

Businesses which specialize in doing research, whether into technology, printing, advertising, or any customizable work, can contribute to the solution. Their marketing needs to target the small and medium-sized businesses, explaining why their expertise is needed. They need to educate their potential clients on the benefits of getting custom advise. Rather than focus on landing the few big contracts that are available, they should devote a significant percentage of their efforts to teaching small business owners about the benefits of professional advise.

Landing a small contract today to advise a small business on a common problem may not pay the bills. But if that client sees the benefit of your advise, they will return with a larger contract once the business has grown, and that is what will increase the volume of R&D business in Canada.

Related posts:

1. Business and Social Media – Part 1
2. Ongoing Projects
3. Business and Social Media – Part 3

There are, of course, several issues to be aware of.

1. Making the client happy – if you want this client to refer you to others, they need to feel that the service you provided was more than satisfactory
2. Your reputation – the solution you ultimately provide will reflect on your professional image
3. Solving the client’s true need – in conjunction with the first point, if you don’t resolve the true need, the client may eventually discover this (even though you did point this out several times during your negotiations) and this will reflect on your reputation

There are three stages of working with a client, and the truth of the saying depends on which stage you are holding at:

1. Before the contract is signed, when you are still working out the details of what needs to be done
2. While you are doing the work
3. After the work has been concluded

At the first stage, the customer is not necessarily correct. This is your opportunity to inform the client about what you feel the best solution is. While tact is required, you can disagree with the client openly. The client has approached you for your expertise, and that includes your opinions. The objective at this stage is to come to a common understanding of the need and the solution.

At the second stage, the customer is always right, as long as they are within the bounds of the contract. You have reached your common agreement already, and now your objective is to have a satisfied customer. Fundamental changes to what you have already agreed on will put you back into the first stage. Other changes, while you are entitled to an opinion, and should inform the client, will ultimately go the way of the client. Otherwise, you risk creating the impression that you are stubborn and difficult to deal with (which may or may not be the truth).

At the third stage, you are no longer doing work for the client. You are, however, trying to maintain a relationship with the client in order to generate leads to more business. At this stage, there is not much the client can ask for that was not covered during the first two stages. However, if the client does ask for something, you need to weigh the potential benefit of having an extremely satisfied client who may refer more business to you against the real cost of doing the work now. I’m not recommending that you give your work away for nothing, but it may be worthwhile to use your discretion to determine how to go about dealing with this request.

In summary, when the client asks you to do something, they are not necessarily correct, and you should feel free to discuss, respectfully, the issues involved in the request. However, once you have accepted to do some work, your power to disagree has diminished. If you don’t feel that the client is asking for something reasonable, perhaps you should not accept them as a client.

Related posts:

1. The Art of Customer Management
2. Customer Satisfaction
3. Top Reasons to Work From Home and Make It Work

To me, he was clearly unprepared for the question, although he may not realize that. As a result of his answer, not only has he failed to make a positive connection, he has actually created a negative one. When I need the name of someone who does any of the 3 things he does, I will be sure NOT to recommend him. He has not established the basis for a connection, as I don’t know what he is looking for, nor do I have a sense of his credibility, competence, or reliability.

In order to prevent yourself from doing something similar, run through the following checklist before you walk in the door to your next event. Not only will you be able to avoid making such vague statements, you will be able to demonstrate your credibility by appearing prepared, confident, and goal-oriented. Some one who knows what she wants.

1. Determine an objective for the event. Are you trying to get more contacts for your party-planning business? Are you looking for new ways to advertise? Potential business partners? Set a tangible goal for the evening, such as getting 5 names of people with entertainment connections.
2. Prepare your Best-Test speech. Sit down with a pen and paper and list some skills that would help you reach your goal from step 1. Choose one or two, think of a creative way of stating that skill, and put together a quick example of how you applied that skill in the past. For more information on this, visit my post on Parnasa Fest.
3. Make sure you have plenty of business cards, and that they reflect your goals for the evening. You can get cards made in a single day if necessary at many print shops. If you are planning on attracting people to your lawn-care business, don’t hand out cards for your painting services.
4. Be prepared to talk. Think of several examples of your own work that you want to talk about. Prepare some questions to ask other people, such as What do you think of The Daily Planet for advertising? Did you feel you got a good return on investment? or Where did you go to get your website set up? Would you use them again if you had to redo the site?
5. Bring a pen and some paper. Business cards can work as paper, but you can’t get very much information on a single card, plus you risk losing the card before the end of the event. A small notepad or a few sheets of paper can make a big difference.
6. Don’t spend the evening talking to a couple of people. If you have that much to talk about, arrange to meet later to talk further. You’re at the event to meet more people, and it’s hard to do that if you spend an hour talking to one person and 45 minutes talking to the next. Set a limit for yourself, say, no more than 10 minutes before it’s time to arrange to meet at a later date. In a 3 hour networking event, you should be able to meet at least 30 people and know what they do, just by moving efficiently from one conversation to the next.

If you have any other ideas as to how to prepare for a networking event, let me know. If you try my advice, please let me know how it works for you. I would love to hear from you!

Related posts:

1. Post-Networking
2. Networking and Following Up
3. Post Parnasa Fest Toronto II

1. Unlimited Income: This is often called the top reason to work from home. Unfortunately, it is not so much a reason to work from home as it is a reason to work for yourself, or in a profit-sharing organization. Be aware that to achieve unlimited income, you will have to give up reliable income. The greater the potential rewards, the greater the risk.
2. Getting Away from the Corporate World: This may be a plus for some, but if your home-based business really takes off, you may find yourself back in the corporate world. Only this time, you’ll be the CEO. Again, the issues in reason #1 still apply.
3. More Family Time: If you are truly working from home, then you don’t have more family time. In fact, you can never leave your job, since your office is where ever you happen to be at the moment. You gain time with the removal of commuting time, but if you want your business to be a success, you will have to devote all your energy toward that. However, you do have the flexibility to adjust your hours so that your free time coincides with when your family is around.
4. Wear Anything: While you can wear anything, it’s not a good idea. Sure, if your shirt is a bit wrinkled, you don’t need to go press it, but it’s hard to sit down to some serious work when your in a bathrobe and bunny slippers. My recommendation is to be aware of this option, but not to use it except in rare cases.
5. No More Negative Co-workers: However, there are also no more positive co-workers. Having other people around to bounce ideas off of, or to get outside expertise, is very helpful. Working from home makes it harder to find these people. If you’re planning on working from home, make sure you know how you’re going to find these positive people.
6. Do What You Like To Do: Of course, this assumes that your home-based business has figured out how to make money from your favorite activity. This is a big assumption, but even if it were true, you will soon discover that in addition to doing your favorite activity, you are also an accountant, lawyer, sales agent, developer, secretary, etc. The joys of some portions of the job will wear off pretty quickly. Be prepared to contract out that work when you no longer enjoy doing it (or don’t have time anymore to keep up with it).
7. Fewer Distractions: This is only true if you set aside a place to work and stick to it! If your home office is open to the family, they will distract you. If your business phone number is your home phone number, you will get countless calls from people who know you’re at home, such as relatives. Make sure your office can be closed off from the rest of your home (i.e. a door) and that you have a separate phone number for your business, with no access to your home phone number from within your office.
8. Work Anywhere: Yes, you have the option of going to the [noisy] coffee shop or the library. If you plan on meeting clients on a regular basis, however, you need some space to call your own. Either set up a space in your home or rent some office space and work there. You can work anywhere, as long as it’s always the same place.

This list is by no means complete. If you’ve heard another reason touted as to why you should work from home and can’t see it working, let me know, and I will see if I can help you figure out a way to make it work.

Related posts:

1. Mixing Work and Home
2. The Home Office
3. Working From Home… Again

I don’t always work under contract, although the exceptions to that rule are becoming few and far between. A contract is binding on both parties, and it is in your best interest to always have one. Here are a few examples of how you, as the contract worker, benefit from that piece of paper:

• Guaranteed rate: no more arguing about how much you are entitled to
• Guaranteed work: no more changing requirements and trying to claim you agreed to do so in the initial work agreement
• Guaranteed responsibility: no more wondering about who owns what at the end of the project

From the client’s perspective, a contract is likewise of immense benefit:

• Guaranteed rate: no more arguing about how much you owe for the work
• Guaranteed work: no more hidden fees for work you asked for initially
• Guaranteed responsibility: no more wondering about who owns what at the end of the project

Additionally, a contract can include additional information regarding maintenance costs, support after the project is complete, and dates for completion. As a client, you may want to include information about what happens if a date is missed. As a contractor, you may want to specify what happens if payments are late.

The reason I occassionally work without a contract is simple. Looking through dozens of templates online, it is difficult to locate the appropriate contract for your location and the specific work you are doing. However, recently, I was sent 6 contract agreements for my current jurisdiction (Ontario, Canada) which cover issues surrounding non-disclosure and release of information. These became the basis of what was to become my set of templates for all contracts.

If you are looking to put together some templates, locate a generic non-disclosure agreement for your jurisdiction. Add a section describing the work to be completed (your requirements section), fees to be paid (including maintenance and expense fees), and dates of all deliverables, and what they are. For each section, ensure you cover in detail what is included, and how changes to that section must be negotiated.

For example, you may be building a website for a client (note that I am not a lawyer, and the following is meant for illustration purposes only):

1. Requirements: To construct a 6 page website describing the client’s business. The information for each page will be provided in electronic form by the client. The text for each page will not exceed 750 words. There will be 5 e-mail accounts set up for the site. Hosting will be arranged by the contractor through SuperWebHosting.com and the client will absorb all fees associated with hosting the site. Images will be provided by the clientin jpg format, to a maximum of 4 images per page. Graphic design is not included, and all graphic design work will be done by the client.
2. Fees: The cost to set up the website specified in the requirements is $250.00 and is payable on delivery of the site. Once the text for each of the pages has been provided, one change to each page following publication will be included, provided the change is requested with 60 days of publication. 2 hours of telephone and e-mail consultation is included. Non-payment within 10 business days of publication of the site will result in a $25.00 late fee. Non-payment within 60 days of publication will result in a further $25.00 late fee.
3. Deliverables: The contractor will provide the client with all files required to publish the site, and all source material created for the purposes of creating the website. This will be completed within 30 days of the client delivering the final wording of all pages to the contractor. The client will provide this wording within 10 business days of the signing of this contract.

Related posts:

1. Work Published At Last
2. Top Reasons to Work From Home and Make It Work
3. Subcontracting: A Middleman's Perspective

The resulting code was not pretty, or efficient, but it worked. Since then (from the start of 2009) the client has been using it, and filing bug reports and change requests, which I have been chipping away at as quickly as I can.

Two weeks ago, with the number of bugs falling, I decided to clean up the program. Data access was spread all over the place, and needed to be consolidated, and field validation was minimal or non-existent. Mappings from the database to the screens was almost impossible to follow, as I used arrays and lists of values, and you had to follow the queries to figure out which array index corresponded to which field on the screen.

Once I started, I was committed to getting certain segments of the program cleaned up before I could publish the application again. Of course, that’s when another change request and bug came in, both relatively high priority. On the plus side, the bug was something that would be fixed during the clean-up process anyhow (an issue with saving certain characters, which would disappear once I rebuilt the data tier of the program). The change request, too, was a relatively simple change. The problem, however, is that the current state of the program was slightly unstable.

I have not yet heard back from the client as to whether they have noticed any differences in the application, and whether any new issues have cropped up. What I haven’t told them is that while I was refactoring the program, I located 4 bugs that they had not found, with certain fields from the database being mapped incorrectly to the screen, and that these issues were quickly fixed. Considering they’ve been using this program for over 2 months and haven’t noticed makes me wonder if they’ve even looked at that section of the program yet.

Related posts:

1. My Guarantee
2. Client Relations
3. Top Reasons to Work From Home and Make It Work

A client, who I’ll call Small Business, needs a custom inventory management system, which links to their website for processing orders. Not being technical, he hires a Consultant who is an expert in inventory management systems, but has no experience with building websites. The Consultant takes the entire job, requiring him to provide both the software and the website. The Consultant puts out an ad and recruits E-Commerce Developer to build the site.

From the perspective of Small Business, he has managed to contain all his technical needs within a single contract, and can keep his maintenance costs down by retaining a single contract instead of two. From the Consultant’s perspective, he has landed a large contract of which he is only doing a portion of the work, and retaining a finder’s fee for the remainder, plus a maintenance contract. The E-Commerce Developer was unable to get the contract on his own, and so is happy for the work, and does not need to deal with the client for payment.

It looks like everyone wins.

However, there are problems with this model. The Consultant, not being a web developer, cannot provide accurate estimates of the costs of that component, leading to possible cost overruns. As well, by acting as a middleman for the Small Business and E-Commerce Developer, the chance of miscommunication has been increased. This is compounded by the fact that any communication between E-Commerce Developer and Small Business must go through Consultant, which means it is slow and inefficient.

The model that we came up with during last night’s meeting aimed to remove these obstacles.

A small group of individual contractors would band together and move into a small office. Each person would have their own office, with some shared resources (meeting rooms, kitchen). The office would share phone lines with an internal automated switchboard and internet access. As well, technical resources would be shared within the group, including access to legal documents, tax advice, graphic design, and a developer pool. Each partner would contribute a fixed sum per month for the upkeep of the office, plus some extra for renovations and unexpected expenses. (An office can be rented for less than $4000 per month including utilities, which, in a group of 10 partners, is only $400 per month for an office with meeting rooms and shared resources.)

The developer pool is what would make this system work. Partners in the group are people who are looking to establish clients and to bid on projects. Each is technically proficient, but they bid against one another for projects, or join together to bid for projects. When a project is deemed too large for an individual, they turn to the developer pool to get the work done. The developer is brought in on the project, and communicates directly with the client for requirements and specifications.

Developers in the pool are people who are looking for occassional work, but do not desire the overhead of dealing with clients and searching for projects. By being in the pool, they can see which projects are available for work (indicating that one of the partners has won a contract and requires particular skills) and which they would like to work on. They will then be able to deal directly with the client once approved by the partner, using standard rates from within the group and paid by the partner (not the client).

We are still in the planning stages, and nothing has been cast in stone yet. But the model is in place, and we are looking to tweak it over the next few months. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

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For the sake of this article, assume that a normal working day is 9 to 5, and it will take you an hour and a half to get home and each dinner, which puts you to 6:30. Now you need to spend some time with your family and relax a little (try going without this for more than a couple of days and you will see why this is needed), perhaps an hour, to 7:30. Now you might be able to start working, at the earliest.

In order to work efficiently, you need blocks of time in which to work. This block must be large enough that you can spend some time “getting into the zone”, work for a while, and then spend some time closing up your work. For me, when programming, this tends to be about a 2 hour block. Longer than this and I start getting distracted when I should be in the zone, so a break is needed every 2 hours.

When planning work, you need to consider this. The size of your block, which depends on how long you can stay focused, will vary, but it can be figured out (just clock yourself a few times). If a project is estimated for 5 hours, that means 3 two-hour work sessions. The next question is how many work sessions can you do.

Considering that you are likely tired from being at work all day, it’s probably not a good idea to schedule more than 2 work sessions per evening, and that should be the exception. Using the numbers I showed above, that would translate to finishing work at 11:30, plus the time spent during the break, which should be at least 30 minutes, which brings us to 12:00. A third work session would bring us to 2:30. Then 5:00. You then grab a couple of hours of sleep, drink huge amounts of coffee and head to your day job, and the cycle repeats.

Instead, try the following. There are 5 workdays per week, so pick 2 as being nights off. Of your 2 weekend days, pick one as a day off. This helps you ensure that you relax properly at least once a week, and get a proper amount of sleep at least 2 worknights.

On the 3 worknights that you plan on working, plan for 1 working session for 1 evening, 2 working sessions for the second evening, and, if the project needs it, 3 working sessions for the third evening. On the weekend, work out how many hours you have available, and fill them. By doing this, you help ensure that you can plan for projects (that is, you know in advance how much time you have available to work) and can keep time open so that you don’t burn out too quickly.

One of the other things you may want to consider for the weekend is your client meetings (if you can). Count a meeting as a working session when planning your time. A weekend day may look like (4 working at home sessions and 1 client meeting):

• 10:00 – 12:00 working at home
• 12:00 – 12:30 lunch
• 12:30 – 2:00 meet with client A
• 2:30 – 4:30 working at home
• 5:00 – 6:30 relax and dinner
• 6:30 – 8:30 working at home
• 9:00 – 11:00 working at home

What kind of schedule do you use? How do you keep yourself from buring out? Let me know, I’m always interested in hearing how other people balance their Work-Work-Life schedules.

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Depending on the personality of the owner or manager, they will do one of a few things:

1. Go to their local software/hardware store and take the advice of the clerk and buy something off the shelf.
2. Call their cousin’s friend who once took a computer course and have them build a custom solution.
3. Ask a business associate for a recommendation, and use them.
4. Put out an ad describing part of the IT need, and sort through the responses.

Each of these methods has a problem, and in some cases, more than one. I will run through each, and then make a recommendation for how to acquire an IT solution.

In the first solution, the clerk in the store does not necessarily have the expertise to properly advise you. He or she likely does not understand your business, and so does not know what kind of solution you really need. As well, if he is on commission, then their recommendation will be biased.

In the second case, there are a few problems. The first is that you are mixing family and business. Each person has their own policies in this matter, but it should be acknowledged. The second problem is also the matter of credentials and expertise. What kind of experience does this person have? What do their previous clients say about them? Most importantly, though, is the question as to whether you even need a custom solution.

The third case has the fewest problems, but is not immune. You have a personal recommendation from another business, so the expertise has been vouched for. However, each business is unique, and unless you research the recommendation, you can potentially run into the issues from the second case.

The fourth case illustrates a problem with all the scenarios. While it will provide you with the largest selection of people to choose from, unless your business is in IT, you likely do not have the skills necessary to evaluate which of your applicants is best.

The following advice can be applied to any of the above scenarios.

1. Require references from any provider, much as you would ask for references from a job applicant. This will help you determine what their past clients think of them. If they cannot provide references, look for someone else.
2. Find out how much time they will spend evaluating your business before getting to work. The more time they will spend doing research, the more appropriate the solution will be.
3. Find out what their maintenance contracts are like, and how much it will cost you. This is often the location of the “hidden fees” in IT.
4. Request a time frame for delivery of the solution. Make sure that they provide a guarantee that it will be ready when they say it will be.
5. Find out (if you can) whether they are commissioned to sell certain products. Ask them to show you the various options, and the pros and cons of each.
6. When talking to them, ask for explanation of any technical term you don’t understand. A competent consultant will simplify their language to help you understand.
7. Get a contract, and make sure that all the fees are outlined clearly, as well as deliverables, dates and time for each stage, guarantees, and who owns each part of the solution. Depending on the nature of the solution, the consultant may own portions of it in terms of intellectual property, but it needs to be specified in the contract.

Following the above guidelines will help you evaluate potential consultants. Most of this information can be acquired before the work starts, and should not cost you anything. The time frame is the most difficult to provide, and you may not be able to get this in advance, but you should require it as part of the work.

It is worth spending the extra time and money to get an appropriate IT solution. A poorly done solution will have to be redone, and potentially at a much higher expense. As well, if the solution is right the first time, you will start reaping the benefits immediately, while if you start with a bad solution, you will waste time and money trying to make it work, after which you will learn that you need a completely new solution.

If you had time to do it twice, you had time to do it right the first time.

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Has your idea been done, or tried, before?

Often, when you think of an idea that could be turned into a business venture, the first step is forgotten, or given minimal attention. Before you go diving into the work and becoming emotionally attached to the idea, do your own due diligence. Try to locate your nearest competition, and find the pros and cons of their product or service. What advantage do you hold over them? If you cannot answer that question, then your entire idea may be flawed, or based off of out-of-date information.

A common response, though, is: “There is no competition! My idea is so unique and innovative that no one has ever tried it before!”

The answer to that, of course, is that you haven’t looked hard enough. If your idea has never been tried before, then what makes you think it is viable as a business. The competition may be distant, or impractical. It may be expensive beyond the cost of the problem it is supposed to solve.

But it exists.

To start yourself looking for the competition, think about the problem your idea solves. Then look at what other people faced with the same problem do. Do they ignore it? Do they use some roundabout way of solving it? Is their current solution expensive? What are pros and cons of the solutions that are already out there? How does your idea compare?

To make this a little simpler, suppose you had a potential client sitting in front of you. They will give you $100K contract on the spot if you can convince them that your solution is really the best. Of course, you can talk about the problem your idea solves. You can talk about your price versus the price of the competition. But what you absolutely must talk about is how is your product better than the alternatives. That means you need to know your competition in great detail, because if you don’t, you will lose the sale. If your potential client knows more than you about your competition, then they will ask you questions you don’t know the answer to, and then you lose the client.

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I had been writing a bunch of scripts for this client over the course of the last 9 months. There have been ups and downs during the work, and last week, we finally produced a product that can increase their sales. Again, not terribly impressive, considering that I was hired to do exactly that.

Last week, once I had delivered on a significant piece of the project, I was presented with the next round of development for this project, in response to their customers’ requests. By the time my client had finished describing what they were looking for, I had turned his wish list into 3 categories:

1. Can’t be done (because of the client’s systems and limitations therein). This did not make the client happy, but he understood that it was beyond my control.
2. Can be done. This included a quick estimate of the time needed to build each item.
3. Already done. The client was unaware that during the course of other development, I had anticipated some of his requests, and already built them. He was not billed extra for this, I had merely chosen a design that had maximum flexibility so that certain future requests would not require a full rebuild of the program.

It was the third category that gave me a satisfied customer. While customers do not want to pay for work they did not request, they are even happier when they discover that their dollar has gone further than they had initially thought. I have never had an issue with this client over the size of my bills, and they have always paid promptly. But when you take a customer who is already happy with you, and show them something extra that they didn’t know about before, you leave with a customer who will advocate your work for you.

The lesson I have learned from this is to do the following:

Whenever working for a client, try to add a feature to what you are doing without billing the client for the work. It does not need to be a large feature, but it should be a noticeable extra. When the client mentions their satisfaction with your work (which, if you maintain a high standard for your work, should happen with most, if not all, of your clients) point out the extra that you threw in. Stores have sales, specials, and discounts. As a service provider, you can have them too.

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3. My Guarantee

My guarantee is actually very simple. At the beginning of a job, I give a quote, whether it be a flat fee, or an hourly rate. I make it very clear what I will deliver for that cost. At the end of the job, the two of us (client and myself) determine that there will be no future development as part of this contract. At this point, my guarantee kicks in.

If the client locates an error in my work, no matter how large or small, within the first 3 months, the fix is 100% free. The only condition is that the error must be in a portion of the deliverable that the client asked for, and not in something which I decided to put in as an extra, unless it affects the rest of the program. For example, if the client asked for 3 reports, and I threw in a fourth, but it doesn’t work correctly, that’s not covered. But the other 3 reports are, and if the fourth report corrupted some data, that would also be covered.)

There’s an old expression: Put your money where your mouth is. My guarantee does exactly that. The client needs the program I provided, and is willing to pay for it. Because the work is all custom, the client wants to know 2 things:

1. How much will it ultimately cost?
2. How much will it cost me to get you to fix pieces that are broken?

The first question has the easy answer: $5000.00 or $75.00 per hour, for example. But the second question is the one which has the complicated answer. That’s where my guarantee comes into play. The answer is $0.00. There’s no catch. Once we decide it’s done, if you find a problem, I will fix it free of charge. If you want me to add something new, then we’ll need a new contract to cover that.

As a catch to this, I’ve added a second level of the guarantee. Occassionally I will subcontract work to other developers for a variety of reasons. My guarantee extends to their work as well. I insist when subcontracting that the subcontracter meet my guarantee. If they won’t do it, I won’t send them business. The reasoning on my part is simple. If you are not that confident in the quality of your work (after all, we’re only talking about bugs, not changes), then I don’t want to put my name anywhere near your work.

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I get an e-mail a few hours later that it’s not working. I checked the program, which I had tested earlier, and could not see any issues with it. So I paid a site visit, and determined that there was a configuration issue, which I resolved quickly.

The next day, I get another e-mail saying “It’s still not working”. I request that they regenerate their set of standards, as that may be causing the program to validate incorrectly. A few minutes later, I get a new set of standards, I update the program file, and send them the new version.

The next day, another e-mail comes in saying that the best match they can get through the program is 65% accuracy, which doesn’t make sense, as it should have been comparing the standards against itself (a perfect match). I then get a call saying that this is urgent, please investigate and fix ASAP.

I know that the client is waiting for this program, and that it will impact their sales if I deliver quickly. I take a look at what they sent me in the two versions of the standard, and realize something: The standard is missing some data – about 20% of the data!

I call the client directly and explain the issue. I manually generate the standard, validate it, and make a small change to the program to increase its error tolerance. I then send an e-mail to the 3 people I’ve been dealing with, and explain, in non-technical terms, what the problem had been (you sent me bad data for the standard).

I learned something from this experience. On the whole, the error in this case was not mine, but the fact that I did not have accurate information. Since this was a priority to the client, I worked quickly to resolve the issue, but that should not have been a determining issue. I paid a site visit as soon as I realized that I could not reproduce the issue on my end, so that I could see the client’s perspective. I found out at the end of the issue that I will be getting, in addition to the contract fees, an excellent reference and a well-written testimonial.

1. Even when the client is supposed to be providing some data, check that it is correct if you can.
2. Treat every issue raised by the client as though the contract depends on the speed and accuracy of your solution.
3. If you can’t reproduce the issue raised by the client, don’t assume it does not exist. Pay the client a visit if you can, so that they can show you. Even if you are correct that there is no issue, show the client some respect and give them the opportunity to show you the problem.
4. Every client can be the source of new leads. Treat the client with respect, maintain your credibility, and the client will recommend you to others if the opportunity presents itself.

Now I’m waiting for the client to validate the new version of the program, with the correct data, but my confidence is high that it will meet and possibly exceed expectation (always a good thing, promise low, deliver high). Then I will have a nice letter of recommendation, and a client who will laud my work ethic and competence, allowing my business to move forward into the growth stage.

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