I Wish You Didn’t Own Me

Let’s face it, at some point during your time as a freelancer or a startup, you were so eager/desperate to get business through the doors that you made some serious mistakes. This really is a universal story. Getting that first big client feels great, can boost your moral, and can give you that feeling that “everything is going to be all right.” But unless you are the luckiest person on the planet, you likely made a few mistakes when courting your first big fish.

“I Own You”

When you are desperate for business, strange things can happen. You may cut, slash, and reduce prices. You may make huge promises and commitments. All these things are fine, if you’ve planned for them correctly, but more often than not, you didn’t because you are desperate. Before you know it, you are watching your profit margins dwindle, you are missing deadlines, and you find yourself completely tied to a client until you can make it right. Before long, you start to realize that if you continue on this course you may fatally injure your already crumbling business. There may even be times that you ask yourself, would I have been better without this gig. You’ve gone from desperate to depleted.

If you are thinking about starting a business or If this sounds familiar, then hang tight, I’m going let loose a few tips that you most certainly should read.

When the time is Ripe

One of the most important steps in opening a new business is knowing when the time is right. A lot of people recommend giving your startup a go during natural life transitions such as if you’ve just lost your current job. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea, especially since you still have some savings and those unemployment checks coming in, but this is not the primo time to go for it. Startups require a ton of time, hard work and effort, and if unemployment is bankrolling the project, you are asking for a disaster. I would recommend finding at least part time employment for starters. That way you can fend off the desperation monster while you are growing your business. This is also a great opportunity to really observe the workings of a company. Make a list of things you like and hate about where you work and you can use that to help your business in the future.

Give Estimates for Expectations not Quotes for Results

Hourly vs Salary: This is probably the hardest lesson to learn for a startup. Since you are new, it’s likely you will be seeking clients instead of customers knocking down your door. While you’re seeking, you will hear these words at least once, “Give me a Quote.” You may be asking yourself, what is the harm in that? Let’s analyze.

A quote refers to an absolute value of a finalized product. If the parameters of the finalized product change, it easy to change the quote to match. But here’s the problem, unless you are following word for word directions for the finalized product your quote will almost always be off. This is detrimental because if you are giving a quote you are typically bidding on a project (whether you know you are or not) so you are attempting to undercut the competition. Then if you get the job the margin of error in the quote will almost always be in your client’s favor not yours. At the end of the day your client may go home happy which is good, but you won’t, which could be worse when they come back looking for the same deal they got “Last Time.”

On top of that, it’s likely that your customer expects certain results from your service. There is something about the word “quote” that makes you feel like the cost is equal to the direct outcome, and this is true if your service doesn’t involve any risk. But if your service doesn’t have guaranteed outcomes, like most things, then quote is the wrong word and you will almost always get this complaint, “I paid for this and I didn’t get this!”

So instead of giving a quote, give an estimate of expectations. Clearly define what your customer expects the outcome to be, and then make an estimate. Chances are, they might not even really know what they expect and simply asking can save you a ton of heartache later. An estimate is also far more organic and can change as the project does. If a client changes their expectations they understand that it directly affects the project’s budget. This may sound like a simple phrasing difference, but there’s a lot more to it and you will notice the difference almost immediately. Regardless of what you choose, the most important thing you can do is keep your client informed on your progress and the project’s budget. This is part of an Agile workflow and there are ton of great resources out there to learn more about it.

Have you tried giving an estimate instead of a quote or fell feebly into the maw of the desperation monster? I would love to read all about in the comments below!

The post Startup Life Log: Post 3 appeared first on Widgetware.

When do you not need a service?

Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t be writing a blog post about this especially since we sell Software as a Service. It’s like a car salesman saying don’t buy your car here. Then I realized, I’m not a car dealer and I only build products that I use to save me time and money. So judge for yourself. When we were completely overhauling our business we had to make some tough choices on what to keep and what to scrap and having a post like this would have saved me so much heartache. So here goes.

For any small business or startup’s journey there will come a time where everyone gets together and discusses whether or not they should invest in paying monthly for a service. This is a very important topic because tacking on service after service can nickle and dime your profit margins, also you might not have a ton of capital to wield on all the services you actually need. After the phone bill, internet bill, banking fees, a CRM, marketing, etc… money can get tight. So how do you know when to drop a service?

This is tricky. A lot of times you can be wholly convinced that you absolutely need a service, but likely that is not the reality so here is a simple set of general rules that could save you a ton of time and money.

List the Services you pay for

First things first, make a list of all the services you use. Likely, you are going to automatically prioritize your list. Meaning that the first things you list are typically going to be the ones that are most important to you. The ones you have to look up in old emails or notes, these make good candidates for the scrap pile.

Condense

Second most important thing you should do is look for service overlaps. If you have two services that basically do the same thing, then scrap the one you use less. Chances are, if you have two or more related services, at least one service offers almost exactly the same thing you need from the others. This is also a great time to investigate the services you use and see if there are features that can help you part with the other services more gracefully. Not only does that save money, but it could consolidate your workflow.

Look for Open Source replacements

If you haven’t already cut a few things, here’s a great opportunity to take a plunge. Just use a search engine and query, “The name of the Service you pay for” + “Open Source.” You will be blown away by how many people, just like you, who took a stand against paying an outrageous monthly bill for a few things they can’t live without. Sure these replacements may have a small learning curve to get them up and running, but the money you save will almost always be worth it. Plus, you get the added value of really learning a system you are using. Who knows, you might be able to contribute back to the community if you improve an existing product. For example, we dropped our CRM software and replaced it with an open source version of MediaWiki and blended our workflow with a Invoicing/Time Tracking service we use. Turns out, we have way more flexibility and we save $50.00 a month. That’s $50 a month more towards marketing or beer at our company BBQs.

Look for cheaper and quality replacements

This is kind of a no brainer because hopefully you shopped around before you signed up to a service. Still this is a good time to take a moment and search the market for newer cheaper alternatives. If the service you are paying for isn’t being competitive it’s time to drop them. It’s how a business like theirs knows that it needs to keep on its game.

Write a Monthly Service Breakup letter

Okay, this is cheesy, but this will help you I promise. There are a lot of services out there that you can only cancel by making an actual phone call and talking to a diligent representative whose job is to keep you from canceling. If you’ve ever dropped a Gym membership then you know exactly what I’m talking about. The concept is, make it hard to quit, and make the person feel guilty for trying, because if it’s uncomfortable to do then a company can squeeze an extra $75 a month until you muscle up enough courage to get out. Might as well slap a surgeon generals warning on the side and call it a pack of Marlboros because this can be tough to get through.

So don’t resort to asking a tough talking friend to get you out of it, it’s time you kicked this teenage puppy love style. Write down a short concise letter that explains that you are canceling your service and a short summary of why. They are going to ask you why you are leaving about a dozen times, and if you hesitate they will pounce. Even if you have to read word for word off your break up letter, that’s okay. Don’t be bullied into another month of servitude when you’ve come this far already. If the representative is persistent and the conversation is dragging on, all you have to do is say, “I’ve summarized why I am quiting in an email and will send it to you the moment that you confirm my service is canceled, until then I prefer not to answer any more questions.” That’s called a velvet dagger ultimatum. It says you are done talking, time for business, without being a complete jerk or getting to the point where you are so frustrated that you hang up the phone. To them, a pissed off paying customer is worth more than a non-paying nobody so don’t just hang up when you’re frustrated.

That’s about it. Hopefully after reading this you will be armed with the tools to start stripping services and saving some hard earned dough. Have you ever written a service break up letter? If so I would love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post Startup Life Log: Post 2 appeared first on Widgetware.

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Widgetware is a startup company.  While we’ve been around for quite a few years, we are finally hitting our groove and focusing what we do. We have officially branched into the world of SaaS or Software as a Service and we learned a ton of hard lessons from our years as a small business that we don’t want to leave completely behind.  One of those lessons was transparency, so we want to document our experience of becoming a Tech Startup complete with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

My name is Scott Wyatt and I am a Co Founder of Widgetware as well as the Senior Designer/Developer and CTO.  My goal in this series of blog posts is to relay our progress from nobodies to our goal as industry innovators from my perspective starting off with what I do and a few pro tips.  I don’t want to leave anything out that you might want to know, so if you have any questions make sure to drop me a line or two in the comments below.

That awkward moment

I find myself always fumbling for an answer when someone asks, “So what again do you do for living?” Even if you have a relatively meager social life like myself, this question inevitably comes up.  If you’ve ever seen Office Space, it’s a lot like sitting down in front of the Bobs where you clearly know what you do but have no idea how to express it.  My answer almost always varies, not that my job does, but the social definition of my job is really inconsistent.  I’ve ranged from “Backend Designer” to “Frontend Developer,” all the way to “User Experience Engineer” and “Systems Engineer,” always trying to find that 2 or 3 word phrase that sums me up.  For people like me, there really isn’t a good answer for exactly what we do that doesn’t sound overly pretentious.   Simply put, “if it’s digital, I do it” isn’t something you can really say because it has that funky air surrounding it like the saying, “I’m in between careers,” might. It sounds like something a desperate barista might say if they really wanted to leave that job at that local café to work for corporate. It’s almost like saying I specialize in specializing.

Jack-of-all-trades

So what is it that I do?  I run the gauntlet for all things design and all things programming and then I tie the middle ground together in neat little packages that people can actually use while looking good.   If that sounds a little bit like, “Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none,” you would almost be right.  This skillset is a fine line between beauty and disaster, and it’s one of the quickest evolving careers I’ve ever even heard of.  It’s almost like being a digital adrenaline junky where you are constantly ducking and weaving to stay at the edge of your game while always hoping to stay one step ahead of total utter calamity.  Fast paced, high stress, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Is this valuable?

You might be asking yourself if this masochist skillset is even valuable.  Truth be told, that’s almost more of an awkward question than it is trying to define it.  There are only two types of places that actually need this skillset, and to them it’s invaluable.  One is at startups and the other is as directors.  Having a person who can sit in any chair, wear any hat, while also being able to translate between the different moving parts produces some incredible results.  It’s like having a conductor who can theoretically play every instrument in an orchestra.  Since the maestro has an intrinsic understanding of each musician’s job, the best performance can be coaxed out.

That still doesn’t answer the question

I know there are other people out there that do what I do, but it’s not like we have a club and a secret handshake.  There’s not a collective body that has officially labeled this skillset and there’s no institution that trains them.  This is actually pretty dangerous for the industry.  Since there is no regular title, job listings are created that are filled by inappropriate specialties.  For example, on job forums the titles “Designer needed with expertise in backend development,” or “Software Engineer required with bachelor’s degree in design,” are starting to pop up more and more regularly.  Since this skillset is difficult to define, often a job listing is created that should be filled by two completely different people, especially if it is dealing with entry-level positions.  Employers are having a golden dream of hiring two people for the price of one.

Hunting Unicorns

So what is the Human Resources department or the people in charge of the hiring/firing missing?   They know the solution they need, but are confused about the relationship between designer and developers.   It’s gotten so bad, that people who are equally good designers as they are developers are being referred to as Unicorns.  Mythical creatures who’s blood, if swallowed, can make you turn a profit in the first quarter. Scary.  To me, people with this skillset are more like narwhals. (These horned whales were also once thought to be mythical, but the truth is, you just need to know where to find them, but don’t worry, I’m not actually going to refer to them as narwhals.)

Having a “Unicorn” in your company can have a massive impact.  It really can improve your team’s workflow and communication (sadly, it is also very easy to abuse and burnout a unicorn since they are so wildly flexible.) If staffing a unicorn sounds great to you and you are quickly making a decision to hire one, you still need to know how to find one.  That’s the tricky part, you can’t.  See, what a unicorn actually is, is a multi-function problem solver. They aren’t born with the ability to be a code ninja or be an awesome designer, they are driven people who take an initiative to solve puzzles and learn new things. They are that kid who has an assortment of odd hobbies and is always learning something deifferent. You might be reading this at the office and you can probably think of one or two people you work with that fit this description.  They are your baby unicorns.

So now that you’ve found them, what do you do?  You invest in them.  Give them the resources to explore the other disciplines that your office handles. It won’t take long for that to pay off.   Not only will you be increasing the productivity of your team, but, you will make someone like me extremely happy.  If you are convinced that you don’t have any baby unicorns staffed and are considering placing a job listing to find an existing unicorn, don’t waste your time.  You don’t stumble onto a full-fledged unicorn, you recruit them.  It may finally be time to dabble with Head Hunters, but that’s a story for a different post.

So, to finally answer my own question, what am I?  I am a professional problem solver with an emphasis in design, development, and user experience until I master more.

If what I’ve described sounds a lot like what you do, please let me know how you define your job title down in the comments below!

The post Startup Life Log: Post 1 appeared first on Widgetware.

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Client flow allows you to visually see how all of your clients, sub-clients, and websites are connected so you can better understand your billing. With CMS5 Client flow, you can better see relationships in just a quick glance. It’s also a great way to interpret your account’s health.

Simply login and go to Manage -> Account -> Client Flow to see for yourself.

Want to see a new CMS5 feature implemented?  Hit us up on twitter @WidgetWare, or drop us a line in the comments below.

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As we get further into beta we will continue to release better and better tools as we get feedback from our customers.  We already have a lot in the works and we can’t wait for you to try it out!

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