Re: Best ways to find projects
On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 10:24 PM, Ravi Gehlot r...@ravigehlot.net wrote: For instance, your name(Jenny Gavin-Wear) is very powerful. Try to build a BLOG and give people what they want. Try to get on Social News networks like Digg, DZone, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Reddit. Also try to get on Social Networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and Hi5. You will network with people that share yours interests and they may need your services in the future. Another way to draw more prospects is to try to rank well on the search engines. This falls back on Search Optimization Techniques but being able to be found on search engines is not enough. These are great suggestions that Ravi has. To expand on it though, don't just do these things because you want projects or more business. Those steps are simply tools to a bigger objective of becoming part of the ColdFusion community. Over the past few years I have found that attending conferences, going to user group meetings, participating in lists such as this one, cf-talk, and other framework lists, and commenting on other people's blogs are other ways to become a member of the ColdFusion community. If you are sincere in this, people can tell. It also helps to be learning the new technologies and showing that you want to be good at what you do. If ColdFusion is just a job to you, people can see that also. And then, like Ravi's experience, people will come to you. I had one contract position contact me based on my community participation and the frameworks I was learning at the time. When I was back on the job market about 2 months ago, a potential employer had researched my blog and other community involvement enough that he did not even ask for a resume, but wanted me to come in for a face-to-face interview as soon as possible. -- Matt Williams It's the question that drives us. ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4158 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: On line project site
I second Guru.com, you can pick up small and large products, and if you don't shun php you can do much better. Lu On Dec 22, 2008, at 10:24 PM, Dave Phillips experiencedcfdevelo...@gmail.com wrote: Guru.com was good for me a few years ago. Some clients post projects looking for US only coders and therefore are willing to pay a normal hourly range. I picked up a client that I kept for about 2 years until she stopped doing the business. Dave -Original Message- From: C. Hatton Humphrey [mailto:chumph...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 8:02 PM To: cf-jobs-talk Subject: Re: On line project site I got one project on Rent-a-Coder that was less than encouraging. Maybe it was my lack of experience in managing client expectations at the time or maybe it was what this particular client had dealt with (and gotten away with) in the past but I ended up terminating the project before completion. ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4159 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: Best ways to find projects
I have experienced the same here especially with IT. But since I like programming more, I kind of drifted away from the whole IT scene. But you are correct, word of the mouth is also a good selling point. Great you mentioned it. Ravi. Jacob wrote: Word of mouth... I been in IT for 14 years now. 100% of my side jobs are word of mouth. Sometimes, I have to turn down side jobs because I have too many. People start mentioning my name to other people and it snowballs from there -Original Message- From: Jenny [mailto:jenn...@jennysplace.org] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 4:59 PM To: cf-jobs-talk Subject: Best ways to find projects Having seen replies as expected regarding on line project sites, I'd be interested in hearing about everyone's most popular/successful way of finding projects. I currently get some work through my web site www.fasttrackonline.co.uk, but not nearly as much as i would like to see. Traffic to my site has also reduced considerably since the economic downturn, so I need to find other routes to landing projects. I'd also very much appreciate any feedback on the web site. Thanks in advance, Jenny ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4163 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: On line project site
A major contributing factor to these low-ball estimates is a lot of the time, people completely unfamiliar with how IT should be conducted, much less how much it should cost are the ones who are posting the jobs. Anyone in their right mind who has worked in this industry should know that they will never be able to get a $2,500 computer ready to plug-n-play for $1,000. For that to be possible, they would either need to lower their expectations on components (specs) or lower their labor rate, or both. On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 10:27 AM, Jacob ja...@excaliburfilms.com wrote: Same here... One company wanted me to purchase, setup and install a web server. When I got the requirements, I gave them a price which was fair. Just the hardware alone (what the wanted) was $1500. With the O/S and a couple other apps and my time.. I gave them a quote for $2450. When it was all said and done, I would have made $250 (my labor). They wanted to pay me... $1000. Not even enough to cover the parts. I told them where they could stick it. -Original Message- From: Ennio Bozzetti [mailto:enniobozze...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 4:40 PM To: cf-jobs-talk Subject: Re: On line project site Never... I did try once and they wanted to pay me around $200 for a project over $1000 On Dec 22, 2008 7:11 PM, Jenny jenn...@jennysplace.org wrote: Has anyone had success, or otherwise, with sites such as Guru, Elance or oDesk? Jenny ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4164 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
We Do Three Types of Jobs Here
At times, I get requests from people wanting me to build websites for them. Such websites range from a simple layout, in css without any server side scripting, to complex websites like those of social networks. These same people want the work to be done in an unbelievably short amount of time and with little to no budget. So I kept thinking on how to approach these people and explain this would cost time and money to deliver quality work. In turn, the old saying A picture is worth a thousand words comes to mind and this picture surely explains my feelings towards this situation. Check it out: * http://tinyurl.com/humorFreelance *Ravi.* * ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4165 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: We Do Three Types of Jobs Here
Hal Helms Clark Valberg gave a good preso at ColdFusion United called Changing the Game. It was about how to win more profitable work. The materials may still be on the CF United 2008 website, if not on Hal's own site/blog. It was very interesting and worthwhile. On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Ravi Gehlot r...@ravigehlot.net wrote: At times, I get requests from people wanting me to build websites for them. Such websites range from a simple layout, in css without any server side scripting, to complex websites like those of social networks. These same people want the work to be done in an unbelievably short amount of time and with little to no budget. So I kept thinking on how to approach these people and explain this would cost time and money to deliver quality work. In turn, the old saying A picture is worth a thousand words comes to mind and this picture surely explains my feelings towards this situation. Check it out: * http://tinyurl.com/humorFreelance *Ravi.* * ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4166 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: We Do Three Types of Jobs Here...
Vicky, I wasn't able to find the presentation but I did find the notes of a person(http://www.philduba.com/index.cfm/2008/6/21/CFUnited--Changing-the-Game) who attended it. Here are his notes from the presentation Changing the Games by Helms. - Concentrating only on your rates = commoditizing yourself, at least without adding value and/or establishing relationships - Acquiring a new customer costs 6 times as much as keeping one - put the best interests of clients first, even if it isn't in your immediate best interests - message you put out is the types of clients you will attract (ie., if you say you build what is wanted and are cheap, those are the types of clients you will get) - build a portfolio before going off on own, take on jobs you have no problem referring future clients too - look deeper when responding to potential clients, keep their interests at heart - keep up to date on competition across the client's industry to see if there are other ideas that may be applicable to a client's needs or other things the competitors do not have - get as much information about a client as you can before meeting with them - remember that to a business person, software is expensive and risky. ideally, you need to develop a process and/or methodology that helps to mitigate the risk - Great comment from the audience: customers want programs done good, cheap, and quick and that most can only achieve two of the three - help to define the risk about the project, make the customer realize what could go wrong. it makes you stand out and differentiates yourself from others - goal is to be not just a commodity developer or coder, but become someone they can rely on that has their interests in heart Ravi. Vicky wrote: Hal Helms Clark Valberg gave a good preso at ColdFusion United called Changing the Game. It was about how to win more profitable work. The materials may still be on the CF United 2008 website, if not on Hal's own site/blog. It was very interesting and worthwhile. On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Ravi Gehlot r...@ravigehlot.net wrote: At times, I get requests from people wanting me to build websites for them. Such websites range from a simple layout, in css without any server side scripting, to complex websites like those of social networks. These same people want the work to be done in an unbelievably short amount of time and with little to no budget. So I kept thinking on how to approach these people and explain this would cost time and money to deliver quality work. In turn, the old saying A picture is worth a thousand words comes to mind and this picture surely explains my feelings towards this situation. Check it out: * http://tinyurl.com/humorFreelance *Ravi.* * ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4167 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: We Do Three Types of Jobs Here...
great post. thx for the info R -paul On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 12:54 PM, Ravi Gehlot r...@ravigehlot.net wrote: Vicky, I wasn't able to find the presentation but I did find the notes of a person(http://www.philduba.com/index.cfm/2008/6/21/CFUnited--Changing-the-Game) who attended it. Here are his notes from the presentation Changing the Games by Helms. - Concentrating only on your rates = commoditizing yourself, at least without adding value and/or establishing relationships - Acquiring a new customer costs 6 times as much as keeping one - put the best interests of clients first, even if it isn't in your immediate best interests - message you put out is the types of clients you will attract (ie., if you say you build what is wanted and are cheap, those are the types of clients you will get) - build a portfolio before going off on own, take on jobs you have no problem referring future clients too - look deeper when responding to potential clients, keep their interests at heart - keep up to date on competition across the client's industry to see if there are other ideas that may be applicable to a client's needs or other things the competitors do not have - get as much information about a client as you can before meeting with them - remember that to a business person, software is expensive and risky. ideally, you need to develop a process and/or methodology that helps to mitigate the risk - Great comment from the audience: customers want programs done good, cheap, and quick and that most can only achieve two of the three - help to define the risk about the project, make the customer realize what could go wrong. it makes you stand out and differentiates yourself from others - goal is to be not just a commodity developer or coder, but become someone they can rely on that has their interests in heart Ravi. Vicky wrote: Hal Helms Clark Valberg gave a good preso at ColdFusion United called Changing the Game. It was about how to win more profitable work. The materials may still be on the CF United 2008 website, if not on Hal's own site/blog. It was very interesting and worthwhile. On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Ravi Gehlot r...@ravigehlot.net wrote: At times, I get requests from people wanting me to build websites for them. Such websites range from a simple layout, in css without any server side scripting, to complex websites like those of social networks. These same people want the work to be done in an unbelievably short amount of time and with little to no budget. So I kept thinking on how to approach these people and explain this would cost time and money to deliver quality work. In turn, the old saying A picture is worth a thousand words comes to mind and this picture surely explains my feelings towards this situation. Check it out: * http://tinyurl.com/humorFreelance *Ravi.* * ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4168 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
Re: We Do Three Types of Jobs Here
On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Ravi Gehlot r...@ravigehlot.net wrote: * http://tinyurl.com/humorFreelance That reminds me of a cartoon I saw a long time ago. It basically said, We have great service and low prices. Which would you like? -- Matt Williams It's the question that drives us. ~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/message.cfm/messageid:4169 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11
