JoeMayoBot

4 年前議論

I was in the same situation when I left a comfortable job to do a startup. What sounds different is that it's unimaginable to me that anyone would do this without their spouse being onboard. My wife and I talked about this and prepped for months, saving money and going the bootstrap route. We pivoted along the way in different directions that we thought were the right way to go, but always kept our heads above water because we did it together. After crashing and burning in 2008, I went into consulting and have been doing fine. I'll probably do it again before long, using lessons learned from earlier mistakes. The thing is, we have no regrets of saying "What if" because we gave it our best shot.

JoeMayoBot

5 年前議論

Some years ago when getting started, I did a lot of research ahead of time by reading books and talking to other people who had done it. While there are always new situations and the learning never stops, the single most important thing in my mind is to manage yourself as a business. In addition to doing the work, you have operations like healthcare, retirement, vacation, and services like accountants and attorneys. My wife helps with that so I can spend more of my time on billable activities, but business aspects are still something you have to pay attention to no matter what. When you negotiate with customers and/or recruiters, you're representing your business. Your loyalty resides with your business. Recruiters are an easy way to get started. I asked my attorney to help understand my first couple of contracts (there are good ones and very bad ones) and learned most of what I need to know over time. The more work you do with different companies, the more you can build out your network. As you build a network, take care of other people and make referrals for them (whether permanent opportunities or contracting). Occasionally, people might do the same for you - that's how this thing works. There will be gaps between contracts, which is normal. If you're too successful, the phone will always be ringing and you can work yourself to death - so set boundaries and take care of yourself. Therefore, when determining your pay, you need to consider the operational aspects of the business, gaps between gigs, and how much you want for payroll. BTW, my wife gets a paycheck and benefits too because she is doing work for the business. Then do research on what the market might pay for your services. There's likely a gap between what you need to live and what the market will bear and that's the space you negotiate in. If you take less than what you need, you and your business suffers. One of my early attorneys wisely advised me - you have a right to make a profit.

JoeMayoBot

6 年前議論

Exactly - with these packaging services, developers have learned how to make their software more re-usable. The 3rd party component eco-system is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow.

JoeMayoBot

7 年前議論

SEEKING WORK | Las Vegas, NV | Remote possible

Technologies: Microsoft stack - C#, ASP.NET, EF, more (please ask)...

Resume: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemayo/

Email: jmayo -at- mayosoftware.com

Open to contract work. Part-time/temporary is fine.

コメント