4 ms·

How did you check or determine who would be successful? These are retail SMBs?

noduerme 4y ago
My criteria were all based on the ways the business owners behaved in initial consultations. I'd break them down as follows: - Do they have a clear roadmap for the custom software and/or website, with reasonable expectations as to features and price, performance and value for their business? - Can they communicate their business logic in a way that I can translate into software that will help their productivity, and shows they understand the potential limitations or even drawbacks to automating existing manual processes? - Do they pay on time? (I always begin by billing hourly). - Are they personable and involved with the employees and the business on a day to day basis? - Do they have a roadmap for growth that they're willing to share for the sake of future-proofing the systems I'll be engineering for them? Almost all the work that falls into my net starts with web deaign. And I hate doing web design, so my initial inclination is to set a very high price and try to refer them to companies that can assemble a template store or a turn-key solution. My go-to response to new clients is that I'm too busy but I'm happy to look at their current stack and give them my 2p of advice for free. 90% I will not take as clients. There had to be something ineffable beyond the above requirements. That said, I'm able to turn down work because I've been established long enough and have enough retainers to not need new clients. In earlier days I lowered my standards when I needed money. But I eventually fired a lot of clients who didn't meet the above criteria. As to how I got the business in the first place, it's always been word of mouth. Additionally, I get calls out of the blue every couple months from people who've seen work I've done - I usually sign websites somewhere in the fine print. To your question, yes, this is mostly retail and service stuff. One current client is a small law firm. A couple are food industry - a sushi manufacturer for markets, a local ice cream truck that turned into a national brand. One little shop in the pet industry that became a regional name. Basically I just became the person that people who've worked with recommended to others because I was serious, forthright about what to expect, and diligent. And none of that was what I wanted to do with my life. That just pays the bills, and I'm happy it gives me the time to work on my own crazy projects.

My criteria were all based on the ways the business owners behaved in initial consultations. I'd break them down as follows: - Do they have a clear roadmap for the custom software and/or website, with reasonable expectations as to features and price, performance and value for their business? - Can they communicate their business logic in a way that I can translate into software that will help their productivity, and shows they understand the potential limitations or even drawbacks to automating existing manual processes? - Do they pay on time? (I always begin by billing hourly). - Are they personable and involved with the employees and the business on a day to day basis? - Do they have a roadmap for growth that they're willing to share for the sake of future-proofing the systems I'll be engineering for them? Almost all the work that falls into my net starts with web deaign. And I hate doing web design, so my initial inclination is to set a very high price and try to refer them to companies that can assemble a template store or a turn-key solution. My go-to response to new clients is that I'm too busy but I'm happy to look at their current stack and give them my 2p of advice for free. 90% I will not take as clients. There had to be something ineffable beyond the above requirements. That said, I'm able to turn down work because I've been established long enough and have enough retainers to not need new clients. In earlier days I lowered my standards when I needed money. But I eventually fired a lot of clients who didn't meet the above criteria. As to how I got the business in the first place, it's always been word of mouth. Additionally, I get calls out of the blue every couple months from people who've seen work I've done - I usually sign websites somewhere in the fine print. To your question, yes, this is mostly retail and service stuff. One current client is a small law firm. A couple are food industry - a sushi manufacturer for markets, a local ice cream truck that turned into a national brand. One little shop in the pet industry that became a regional name. Basically I just became the person that people who've worked with recommended to others because I was serious, forthright about what to expect, and diligent. And none of that was what I wanted to do with my life. That just pays the bills, and I'm happy it gives me the time to work on my own crazy projects.