Panel

Eric Davis (twitter github blog)
Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Intro to CoffeeScript)
Jim Gay (twitter github blog)

Discussion
01:07 - Jim Gay is a new member of the Ruby Freelancer’s regular panel!

Author of (upcoming) Clean Ruby
Cofounder of Arlington Ruby
Co-organizer of DC RUG

02:03 - Freelancing and Experience

03:48 - Radiant CMS

05:34 - Liability Insurance

07:52 - Kinds of liability insurance

Professional/errors in omissions
General liability
Umbrella policy

10:15 - Disclaimer: The Ruby Freelancers are not insurance agents, attorneys or financial advisors

10:45 - Putting liability back on the client

11:47 - Seeking advisors and professionals who specialize in your needs

13:20 - Proof of insurance 15:07 - Following best practices

16:26 - Insurance brokers versus salesmen versus financial planners/advisors

daveramsey.com: Endorsed Local Providers

20:02 - Health Insurance

Personal Plans versus employer plans

24:31 - HSA: Health savings accounts

Cafeteria plans
Medical emergencies
Debit savings cards

28:20 - FSA: Flexible savings accounts

30:44 - When laws change industries change

31:50 - Life Insurance: term life

33:52 - Purpose is to replace income and pay off debts

38:05 - Whole life insurance

41:15 - Contingency plans

45:42 - Disability Insurance

Long-term
Short-term

50:27 - Working from home: business insurance

57:41 - Go to Meetups, do a presentation, build your career

59:05 - The Ruby Hangout
Picks

Pomodoro Technique (Eric)
TED Talk: Clay Shirky: How the Internet will (one day) transform government (Eric)
The Rails View (Jim)
Responsive Resources (Jim)
Manager Tools (Jim)
Easy Voice Recorder (Chuck)
Endorsed Local Providers (Chuck)
Internet Business Mastery (Chuck)

Transcript
CHUCK: Should we kick this thing off then or do you wanna do some small talk first?

EVAN: Small talk? I don’t know what it is.

JIM: [laughs] I was going to make the same joke.

[Are you a busy Ruby developer who wants to take their freelance business to the next level? Interested in working smarter not harder? Then, check out the upcoming book “Next Level Freelancing: Developer Edition” Practical Steps to Work Less, Travel and Make More Money. It includes interviews and case studies with successful freelancers, who have made it by expanding their consultancy, develop passive income through informational products, build successful SaaS products and become rockstar consultants making a minimum of $200/hour. There are all kinds of practical steps on getting started and if you sign up now, you’ll get 50% off when it’s released. You can find it at nextlevelfreelancing.com]

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

CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 31 of the Ruby Freelancers show. This week on our panel, we have Eric Davis.

ERIC: Hello!

CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from devchat.tv and this week, we have a new member of our regular panel and that is Jim Gay.

JIM: Thank you for having me.

CHUCK: Why don’t you introduce yourself really quick, Jim?

JIM: Sure. I am currently writing “Clean Ruby”, which about writing applications that reflects business processes a little bit better than we typically do it. I am a co-founder of “Arlington Ruby”, which is a meet up in the DC area; I'm the co-organizer of that. Co-organizer of DC RUG. And, I used to be a graphic designer. I did a lot of freelance graphic design work and then started getting into Ruby when I heard about Rails and saw how great it was, I guess about… I don’t know… 6 or 7 years ago, probably 6. I don’t know. I never marked it on the calendar. So, whenever it was… one point something rather that I got involved, so. That's my story.

CHUCK: Wow. So how long have you been freelance?