Weekly discussion by freelancers and professionals about running a business, finding clients, marketing, and lifestyle related to being a freelancer.
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Episode 27: The Ruby Freelancers Show 027 – Education with Avdi Grimm
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Avdi Grimm (twitter github blog book) Discussion RubyTapas Confident Ruby Error Handling in Ruby Dan Miller Time Spent Marketing Blogging Selling eBooks Writing - Research to Finished Product Document Formatting Speak, Publish Transcripts Free Content Destroy All Software Word of Mouth Build your own site or use an existing service for video? Picks Two Steps from Hell - Archangel, Invincible (Eric) If This, Then That (Jeff) Epic Soundtracks (Jeff) Learning GNU Emacs (Chuck) Emacs Rocks (Jeff) O'Reilly Pocket Guide for Emacs (Eric) Brother MFC7860DW Printer (Avdi) Good Strategy, Bad Strategy (Avdi)
Episode 26: The Ruby Freelancers Show 026 – Workflow and Tools
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Discussion Accountants QuickBooks Online GnuCash Outright DNS Simple 1&1 Namecheap Hover WHOIS (command) DNS Made Easy Harvest Freshbooks SlimTimer BubbleTimer chiliproject_clocking Pivotal Tracker Trello JIRA "Use what works best for you." ZTD Omnifocus Sparrow Thunderbird Mac Mail iCal Facebook App Hootsuite Tweetdeck lowers your heating bill Buffer Tweetbot app.net Command Line Tweet Picks Byword (Eric) Keydown (Eric) LG Tone (Evan) Fujitsu ScanSnap Mobile Scanner (Chuck) The Strangest Secret Audio, Text (Chuck) Quality Sleep - Sleep Study, CPAP if recommended (Evan)
Episode 25: The Ruby Freelancers Show 025 – Managing Finances
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Discussion Have 3-6 months of expenses in an emergency fund. Manage Expenses Evaluating Purchases Place large purchases on a wishlist, wait before purchasing. Deposit to emergency fund to cover large costs that are on the horizon. Personal Finance Management Give yourself an allowance. Retirement Investing Dave Ramsey Put away a small amount each month for taxes. Determining the size of your emergency fund. Writing off business expenses when there is personal activity included (check with your tax accountant). Picks Scared Shitless - Merlin Mann, Webstock 2011 (Eric) Air Compressor (Chuck) Hydraulic Jack and Jack Stands (Chuck)
Episode 24: The Ruby Freelancers Show 024 – Organizing and Archiving Client Materials
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Discussion PDFpen for signing contracts OpenOffice Git Repositories Amazon S3 Time Machine Mozy Dropbox Scope Changes/Contract Addendum Pivotal Tracker Client Communications Source Code Github Code Ownership Code Licensing Assembla ChiliProject Hard Drive Encryption Remote Wipe Vulnerability Important Client Info SSH Keys Salesforce CRM Chatroom/Skype/IRC Area Wiki Documents Virtual Machines Status Snapshots Evernote Final Documentation Picks Guerilla Freelancing - 7 Items Freelancers Should Back Up (Eric) Are You As Busy As You Think? (Eric) PartyChat (Chuck) HuBot (Chuck)
Episode 23: The Ruby Freelancers Show 023 – The Time Tracking Experiment
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Work, Leisure, Sleep - Time Tracking Things that are business related, but not done in a business fashion. Pre-experiment Estimates Seasonal and Holiday Variance Breaking marketing time out for specific tracking. How often do we do regular time tracking. PO Boxes Earth Class Mail UPS Store Self/Professional Improvement Time "Janitorial Thought Work" Picks Weekly Tech Learning - (Eric) Around 'Hello World' in 30 Days (Eric) Brakeman Open Source Vulnerability Scanner (Eric) Lookout Test Engineer (Evan) Kerbal Space Program (Evan) Space Pirates and Zombies (Evan) Rescue Time (Jeff) Starbase Orion (Jeff) Jing (Chuck) Skype Screen Sharing (Chuck)
Episode 22: The Ruby Freelancers Show 022 – Get Clients Now! review
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Get Clients Now! by CJ Hayden Strategies and Stages Daily Worksheets Cookbook-Style Approach "It made marketing click for me." See what you're doing/what you're not. The 28-Day Marketing Plan Repetition One Person Marketing Plan Weely cycles start on Saturday. No reusable templates. Not a lot of fluff. Book Yourself Solid Success Ingredients Properly using your human resources. Quara - Is There A Good Invoicing Plugin for Redmine Picks Duct Tape Marketing (Jeff) Business Model You (Eric) Speed Dial 2 (Chuck)
Episode 21: The Ruby Freelancer’s Show 021 – Can You be “Agile” as a Freelancer?
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Working in teams Client interaction Trying new techniques "Hurry up and wait" Freelance development is an experiment. Influence on/working parallel with development teams. "Agile is not really defined" Adaptation to change Pivotal Tracker Showing regular progress Use a staging server Be more agile than "Agile" "Picture of two people shaking hands" How much of the Agile process do you expose to the client? Try to adapt to the client's process and tools. Point vs. Time Based Estimation Keep features under control Discovery Process Basecamp ChiliProject Campfire Propane for Campfire Skype Google+ Hangouts Skitch Jing Cloudapp Dropbox Picks Mr. Reader - iPad (Jeff) Instapaper (Eric) Vimux (Evan) Sinjimoru Sync and Charge Dock for iPhone (Eric) Agile Ruined My Life (Eric) The Chaos Model (Eric) Salesforce (Chuck) P90X Workout Plan (Chuck) Foam Roller (Eric)
Episode 20: The Ruby Freelancers Show 020 – Get Clients Now! with C.J. Hayden
Panel C. J. Hayden (twitter getclientsnow.com) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Following Up Keeping the Pipeline Full Use the book as a coach. Work with the book. Advantages of one-on-one coaching. Benevolent Peer Pressure Getting Things Done by David Allen Socratic Questioning Evoking Interest > Telling What to Do How do you find a coach? Not all coaches are a good fit. Many Tactics, 6 Strategies Direct Contact and Followup Networking and Referral Building Public Speaking Writing and Publicity Promotional Events Advertising Effective self promotion comes from a place of passion. Scale, to prevent burnout. Getting Referral Sources Using CRM Effectively Referring people to articles/blog posts Picks Marketing Monday (Eric) The Busy Trap (Evan) TweetBot (Evan) Yahoo Voice Hacked - Change Your Passwords (Jeff) Twitter Bootstrap (Jeff) Ultra Mega Job Board List (Jeff) Motor Oil (Chuck) Rapportive (Chuck) Why You Don't Market The Way You Should (C. J.) In Marketing, One Size Does Not Fit All (C. J.)
Episode 19: The Ruby Freelancers Show 019 – Branding
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Businesses need a brand Easier to talk about, than to build How to name your business vs. building a brand "Real words and interesting" "Not-real words and compelling" Igor Naming Guide Dictionaries of uncommon words SEO Phonetic ambiguity Individual proprietor vs. teams Selling out, business vs. personal name Gary Vaynerchuk/Wine Library/VaynerMedia Rebranding Selling product vs. selling service Start a personal brand, grow into a company Talk to an attorney Tumble Log Give value to your customers RailsTutorial.org - Book Refactoring Redmine Redmine Tips Blogs (posts) add credibility to your brand Feeding time Open source software to build your brand through added value FasterCSV thoughtbot Rick Olson Form a business entity at least within the tax year of starting freelance work. Picks Stash Tea - Gunpowder Green, Silver Needle White (Eric) WWDC Videos 2012 (Jeff) Inspiring Words of Encouragement Podcast (Chuck) Voting (Chuck) Sunlight Labs (Eric)
Episode 18: The Ruby Freelancers Show 018 – Listener Emails
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Blogging Write a Case Study for your client projects Startups Company Benefits Startups attract developers with "new shiny" Lifestyle Starting a Business Sacrifice Silicon Valley Learning from your clients' mistakes Negotiating tactics Kill fees How do you balance between two projects when one pays the bills and one is your passion? Picks Due app (Eric) The perfect smoothie formula (Eric) FreelanceSwitch - Freelance Freedom (Jeff) Freelance Radio (Chuck) Google Reader (Chuck) Instapaper - iTunes (Chuck) Feeddler (Chuck)
Episode 17: The Ruby Freelancers Show 017 – Subcontractors
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Subcontracting programming Assistants Subcontracting design Communication breakdowns oDesk Screening Processes CSS Mac App Development Chop-chop Pair programming Subcontractors talking directly to the clients Desired attributes of a subcontractors Can work remotely without supervision Reliability People you already know Great communication skills Problems that can crop up with delivery You are responsible for your subcontractors' work (including the screw ups) Have a contract Communicating with subcontractors Chiliproject Skitch Skype Email CloudApp Pivotal Tracker Dropbox Balsamiq Mockups AIM/iChat TeamViewer Join.me Screenflow Tracking Subcontracting Time Harvest Freshbooks Billing for the subcontractor's time Hourly with a rate markup Hourly with no markup Hourly under a fixed bid project Passing along subcontractor's invoices included with your invoices Including subcontractor's time on your own invoices Picks Canable (Evan) Presentation on Distraction (Eric) Podcasting A to Z (Chuck) Brother Labeler (Chuck) Book Club We're reading Get Clients Now and will be talking to C.J. Hayden at the beginning of July.
Episode 16: The Ruby Freelancers Show 016 – Workspaces
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Spare bedroom L-desk Standing desk Ergonomics Get an external monitor and peripherals if a laptop is your primary workstation Mouse and keyboard Monitor stand iCurve by Griffin iMac Open space is nice Geekdesk 30" cinema display apple keyboard apple mouse aeron chair windows in the room 11" macbook air Bose QuietComfort 15 iPhone Tax deduction for having your own space for work Corner desk 4 24" monitors on a mac pro 13" macbook air 8' whiteboard CXO chair by Nightingale Blue Snowball mic on a boom arm iPod on 2x cubicle showerboard whiteboard Mind-mapping Metrics iPad scratch paper monitor arms tax writeoffs for equipment purchases Office Depot document holder Bluetooth full size keyboard Spaces iTerm tmux vim Picks Avery Peel and Stick Dry Erase stickers (Eric) Weekly desk cleaning (Eric) SimplyNoise (Evan) Bose Noise Canceling Headsets (Evan) Batik (Evan) Work harder on yourself than you do on your startup (Jeff) Backup (Jeff) MindMeister (Chuck) iWork (Chuck) Book Club We're reading Get Clients Now by C. J. Hayden. We'll be talking to her at the beginning of July.
Episode 15: The Ruby Freelancers Show 015 – What to Charge For
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Charge for almost everything Sometimes the estimate - if you negotiate that Coding Meetings on the phone Are you adding value? Learning new technologies doesn't count unless the client specified that technology Try to only do one risky thing at a time Do the risky stuff first You can discount time if it wasn't well spent Tell your client that you discount time Tell them about time you saved Should we bill for time managing subcontractors? If the task requires a team, then bill for the additional time managing people If the task is delegated to a subcontractor when you would be able to do it all yourself, then don't bill the client Make sure the client understands the terms of hiring you and having subcontractors Don't violate client expectations Do you bill for travel time? Look for opportunities to make the client's life better by coming out and meeting in person Bill for travel time if the travel is obligatory Working on the plane can be a way for billing for travel time Do you bill for invoicing? Don't bill for the cost of doing business Bill for email when it adds value Bill proportionally for lunch meetings or social interactions Assets vs Services (one-time vs recurring) They should pay for materials Recurring expenses (services) should be paid for by the client Don't pay for and expense hosting to the client - Make them sign up Bill for research that adds value Bill for time prototyping the app to get things right Services mean Domains SSL Certificates Monitoring Error Reporting Hosting Code Repository Hosting New Relic Missed calls Be understanding! Varies by the relationship Client smells Compensating time when sick Get enough sleep Picks Game Dev Story - itunes store (Eric) Ze Frank's A Show - itunes store, website (Evan) The Avengers movie (Evan) Blender 3D (Evan) Blender from Noob to Pro (Evan) Unity 3D book (Evan) Tutorials on the Pixelmator website (Evan) Pixelmator - mac app store (Evan) Equilibrium movie (Jeff) iPad3 Retina Lock Screen (Jeff) Chronomate (Jeff) Lift Off book (Jeff) Working with Unix Processes by Jesse Storimer (Chuck) Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki (Chuck) The Podcast Mastermind (Chuck) Book Club We are reading Get Clients Now by C. J. Hayden and will review it sometime in June.
Episode 14: The Ruby Freelancer Show 014 – Finding Clients that Can Pay
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Elance Odesk Start local Be involved in the community User Groups Subcontracting Go to conferences RailsConf Get involved in Open Source projects Screencasts Ruby DCamp Join Mailing List Speaking at Conferences Write an ebook Freelance Switch Blogging Comment on other People's sites Join and participate in forums Podcast List everyone you know and tell them you're freelance Referrals John Jantz - The Referral Engine Michael Port - Book Yourself Solid Build systems around your marketing Set the expectation at the beginning that they will give you referrals Do a retrospective or review Survey your client and if they're happy then ask for referrals Deliver underbudget and early Ask for referrals on milestones 33 touches (Real Estate) Be specific BNI Project Rescue Communicate well Set accurate expectations The quality of your website Make it easy to contact you Put together a well defined persona the represents the market you're trying to reach Talk to other freelancers Talk to local companies that need staff augmentation Never Eat Alone Picks It's not what you read, it's what you ignore (Eric) Cats trying to knock things over in my office (anti-pick) (Evan) CloudApp (Evan) RubyVis (Evan) RubyMotion (Jeff) Worth Every Penny [amazon.com] (Jeff) GitlabHQ (Jeff) Never Eat Alone (Jeff) Doctor Who (Chuck) Users' Groups (Chuck)
Episode 13: The Ruby Freelancers Show 013 – DevOps
Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Developers playing Systems Administrators Automated scripting Chef Puppet Heroku Moonshine Phusion Passenger Apache HTTP server Nginx Server Setup Ongoing Maintenance Engine Yard Chef Recipes CouchDB PuppetLabs Ubuntu Debian apt apt-get CentOS LTS Releases Rails 3.x RailsMachine Rails 4.x is ditching plugins Why are you doing DevOps? Stores your Operational changes in git. Saves you time on more than one server. Copy up a script and then script the login and script run. Puppet in Solo mode Bootstrapping your server Vagrant Testing configuration Nagios Virtualbox Staging - should mirror production Chirk Slicehost Linode Rackspace Cloud Make the client pay for hosting and do the systems administration yourself Amazon EC2 & S3 Memcached Deploy with git Scaling Load Balancers Provisioning a VM PostgreSQL VPS - Virtual Private Server Redundancy Monitoring Sinatra Mail Gem Pingdom Twilio New Relic Airbrake Be Proactive screen Picks Deploying Rails (Eric) Zite (Eric) Prismatic (Evan) Wemux (Evan) Solar Clipper (Jeff) Chronomate (Jeff) Getting Things Done (Chuck) Last Pass (Chuck) Book Club We'll be reading Get Clients Now and discussing it on the podcast sometime in June.