After years of middling at software consulting and bitching about coming up short a friend suggested I "throw my bids through the triplicator". Literally just a

After years of middling at software consulting and bitching about coming up short a friend suggested I "throw my bids through the triplicator". Literally just ask for three times whatever I thought it would take. I did that, and surprisingly no one batted an eye. I later learned that if my first volley on price in any negotiation is accepted without pushback then I left money on the table. That gave me enough headroom to learn more about process and get a lot better. Shout out to Karl Weigers, Software Requirements 3rd ed is a jam. After that I started to learn a lot more about business. Most of the people that write checks don't actually respect people that make stuff. In fact, I'd say more often than not I detect resentment. So not only do you need to charge them so much that it hurts but you've also gotta be sort of curt, bordering on rudeness and a bit aloof and make them scared they are missing out on something. (This is not advice, I'm a weird person and the fields I work in... YMMV.) The more you charge, the less work is expected of you and the more trust you get. I consider that trust a sacred gift. I underpromise and overdeliver. It kind of turns out though that the money class not really respecting the production class means they expect you to choose between building and running. If I choose to be an engineering manager or C suite, they get freaked out if I write code too much. Also if I write code, I'm not supposed to be able to do UI/UX, branding, copy, or anything else. Before I got good at programming I worked in graphic design for web and print and I'm a pretty accomplished writer. My process for building things means these assets come out of it. I have to hide and dumb down these assets. I love building things. Like really love it. If I can get flow state once every month for a couple hours.... I'm complete. I'm happy. I need to get my hands dirty to understand what I'm directing and communicate it effectively. So, to get more comfort in life I have to work against the fact that I like to build things and my natural impulses to share enthusiasm. The money class seems to largely think that people that want to build things are suckers to be beat up for having interest and care. I lost something learning this. I used to be really angry about it. Now it's just kind of sad. I live better and can pursue things I like better. I build biz appropriate things for larger sums. The real shit I'm capable of though, it took me a while to realize I need to keep working on that for myself and slow drip it to people. No one cares what you CAN do, they want what they've already seen and they respect you if you charge them so much they have to talk about you as a partner or at bare minimum an investment.