Weekly discussion by freelancers and professionals about running a business, finding clients, marketing, and lifestyle related to being a freelancer.

Episode 68: The Freelancers’ Show 068 – Building a Consultancy with Ben Lachman and Robert Cantoni

July 04, 2013 37:36 36.09 MB Downloads: 0

Panel

Ben Lachman (twitter blog)
Robert Cantoni (twitter)
Ashe Dryden (twitter github blog)
Reuven Lerner (twitter github blog)
Curtis McHale (twitter github blog)
Eric Davis (twitter github blog)
Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog)
Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Ramp Up)

Discussion
01:29 - Ben Lachman and Robert Cantoni Introduction

Nice Mohawk

02:26 - Finding Work

Dividing Client Communication
Handling Marketing and Sales

06:52 - Forming a Partnership

Contracts

08:23 - Partnerships vs being on your own

Finding work for others

15:39 - Managing larger consultancies
16:18 - Potentially expanding the business
18:33 - Marketing Avenues

Referrals/Word-of-mouth

23:02 - Working with other consultancies
24:59 - Ideal vision for the business
29:10 - Advice for someone looking to build a consultancy

Pick your projects wisely

Picks

A/B Testing (Curtis)
2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron (Eric)
Coursera Public Speaking Course (Ashe)
Nairobi Developer School Indiegogo Campaign (Ashe)
Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are (Jeff)
Patrick Mackenzie: What Product Companies Can Learn From Consulting Companies (Reuven)
David Siteman Garland: Create Awesome Online Courses (Chuck)
Jefferson's Bourbon (Ben)
Matasano Crypto Challenges (Ben)
ustwo Pixel Perfect Precision Handbook (Robert)
Mike Monteiro: Getting Comfortable With Contracts (Robert)

Book Club
Getting Things Done with David Allen! He will join us for an episode to discuss the book on July 30th. The episode will air on August 7th.
Next Week
Setting Boundaries
Transcript
CHUCK: Ashe is our voice of reason.

BEN: Great.

[Reuven laughs]

ASHE: Oh, we're in trouble.

[Laughter]

ERIC: Can we mute her then?

[Laughter]

[Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net.]

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CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 68 of The Freelancers' Show! This week on our panel, we have Ashe Dryden.

ASHE: Hello from Madison, Wisconsin!

CHUCK: Reuven Lerner.

REUVEN: Hello there!

CHUCK: Curtis McHale.

CURTIS: Hey!

CHUCK: Eric Davis.

ERIC: Hello!

CHUCK: Jeff Schoolcraft.

JEFF: What's up!

CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from DevChat.tv. We also have a couple of special guests! Our first guest is Ben Lachman.

BEN: Hello from Athens, Ohio!

CHUCK: And we also have Robert Cantoni.

ROBERT: Yup! That's my name! Hi, everybody!

CHUCK: Why don't you guys introduce yourselves before we get going?

BEN: Go for it, Bob!

ROBERT: [Laughs] Okay! Ben and I work together, we have a company called "Nice Mohawk Ltd.". We do iOS development and lots of freelancing stuff. We have one app of our own that's sort of out in the store, that's what we do; mostly contract work at this point.

CHUCK: You say nice mohawk, and I think bikers.

ROBERT: [Laughs] Like motorcycle?

CHUCK: Yeah.

ROBERT: Motorcycle bikes?

CHUCK: Yup.

BEN: Not tricycle.

ROBERT: Yeah.

CHUCK: Not tricycles [laughs]. Sweet.

[Robert laughs]

CHUCK: Ben, anything you want to add to that?

BEN: No! I mean we have -- so I started out on my own. And then a little over a year ago, we started Nice Mohawk together,