The Freelancers' Show

Panel Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jim Gay (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Intro to CoffeeScript) Discussion 01:26 - Topic: Pivoting Into New Development Areas 02:00 - Taking time off as a freelancer 02:39 - Business of Freelancing: Eric Davis & Brennan Dunn 03:52 - Podcast Answer Man: Cliff Ravenscraft 04:14 - Chuck’s Intro to CoffeeScript Webinar 04:58 - Pivoting from one technology to another 05:12 - Jim’s experience with ‘pivoting’ 08:20 - Clojure 08:39 - Partial pivoting Learning new skills Trying new programming languages Satisfaction & what works best for you 12:08 - Eric’s experience with ‘pivoting’ 14:47 - Chuck’s experience with ‘pivoting’ 17:09 - Client requirements 18:43 - Transitioning to something you don’t have expertise in Diving deeper Find a tool that is similar to what you’re already doing 22:13 - Billing yourself as an expert 23:20 - Repercussions of pivoting into a new technology Shortages of work Jack of All Trades/Master of None Cutting edge technologies Making up time lost in old communities 26:19 - Personal reasons for pivoting Enjoyment factors Trying new technologies Growing as a developer Preventing burnout 30:05 - Pivoting into new technology versus learning new technology to broaden your horizons 32:31 - Other possible ‘gotcha’s’ of starting from scratch 34:37 - Was it lucrative to pivot out of areas? 39:09 - Adapting to a certain company’s technologies 40:14 - What technologies are people getting into? JavaScript Mobile techonology .NET mruby Perl 6 49:05 - Closing out contracts with current clients before pivoting Picks Business of Freelancing (Eric) Automating with convention: Introducing sub (Eric) Adhearsion (Jim) Rebuilding Rails: Noal Gibbs (Jim) heckle (Jim) f.lux (Chuck) Transcript ERIC: I’ve seen a lot of problems with the Apple ear bud headphones because for me at least, it gets caught under my collar. And so, you can still pick up enough audio, but when you turn, it’s like rubbing on your shirts. You know, like top and bottom. JIM: You’re dressed when you do this? CHUCK: [laughs] ERIC: Yeah. I just have a shirt on. CHUCK: We know we’ve got Eric at least half covered folks. [Are you a busy Ruby developer who wants to take their freelance business to the next level? Interested in working smarter not harder? Then check out the upcoming book Next Level Freelancing: Developer Edition: Practical Steps to Work Less, Travel and Make More Money. It includes interviews and case studies with successful freelancers, who have made it by expanding their consultancy, develop passive income through informational products, build successful SaaS products and become rockstar consultants making a minimum of $200/hour. There are all kinds of practical steps on getting started and if you sign up now, you’ll get 50% off when it’s released. You can find it at nextlevelfreelancing.com] [Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net] CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 32 of the Ruby Freelancers show. This week on our panel we have Eric Davis. ERIC: Hello! CHUCK: We also have Jim Gay. JIM: Hello. CHUCK: I’m Charles Max Wood from devchat.tv. This week we’re going to talk about “Pivoting into other Development Areas”. Before we get going though, I want to ask you guys; is there anything interesting going on in your businesses of lives lately? ERIC: I’m sick, that’s interesting. JIM: That’s not good. I have been renovating my house unexpectedly. And actually, I’ve been talking with a friend of mine, Sean Marcia and he’s done freelancing and he’s been employed. We have discussions on what’s the benefit of being employed versus being a freelancer and I’ve taken…  you know, I plan to take a month off to finish writing my book,

Panel Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Intro to CoffeeScript) Jim Gay (twitter github blog) Discussion 01:07 - Jim Gay is a new member of the Ruby Freelancer’s regular panel! Author of (upcoming) Clean Ruby Cofounder of Arlington Ruby Co-organizer of DC RUG 02:03 - Freelancing and Experience 03:48 - Radiant CMS 05:34 - Liability Insurance 07:52 - Kinds of liability insurance Professional/errors in omissions General liability Umbrella policy 10:15 - Disclaimer: The Ruby Freelancers are not insurance agents, attorneys or financial advisors 10:45 - Putting liability back on the client 11:47 - Seeking advisors and professionals who specialize in your needs 13:20 - Proof of insurance 15:07 - Following best practices 16:26 - Insurance brokers versus salesmen versus financial planners/advisors daveramsey.com: Endorsed Local Providers 20:02 - Health Insurance Personal Plans versus employer plans 24:31 - HSA: Health savings accounts Cafeteria plans Medical emergencies Debit savings cards 28:20 - FSA: Flexible savings accounts 30:44 - When laws change industries change 31:50 - Life Insurance: term life 33:52 - Purpose is to replace income and pay off debts 38:05 - Whole life insurance 41:15 - Contingency plans 45:42 - Disability Insurance Long-term Short-term 50:27 - Working from home: business insurance 57:41 - Go to Meetups, do a presentation, build your career 59:05 - The Ruby Hangout Picks Pomodoro Technique (Eric) TED Talk: Clay Shirky: How the Internet will (one day) transform government (Eric) The Rails View (Jim) Responsive Resources (Jim) Manager Tools (Jim) Easy Voice Recorder (Chuck) Endorsed Local Providers (Chuck) Internet Business Mastery (Chuck) Transcript CHUCK: Should we kick this thing off then or do you wanna do some small talk first? EVAN: Small talk? I don’t know what it is. JIM: [laughs] I was going to make the same joke. [Are you a busy Ruby developer who wants to take their freelance business to the next level? Interested in working smarter not harder? Then, check out the upcoming book “Next Level Freelancing: Developer Edition” Practical Steps to Work Less, Travel and Make More Money. It includes interviews and case studies with successful freelancers, who have made it by expanding their consultancy, develop passive income through informational products, build successful SaaS products and become rockstar consultants making a minimum of $200/hour. There are all kinds of practical steps on getting started and if you sign up now, you’ll get 50% off when it’s released. You can find it at nextlevelfreelancing.com] [Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net.] CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 31 of the Ruby Freelancers show. This week on our panel, we have Eric Davis. ERIC: Hello! CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from devchat.tv and this week, we have a new member of our regular panel and that is Jim Gay. JIM: Thank you for having me. CHUCK: Why don’t you introduce yourself really quick, Jim? JIM: Sure. I am currently writing “Clean Ruby”, which about writing applications that reflects business processes a little bit better than we typically do it. I am a co-founder of “Arlington Ruby”, which is a meet up in the DC area; I'm the co-organizer of that. Co-organizer of DC RUG. And, I used to be a graphic designer. I did a lot of freelance graphic design work and then started getting into Ruby when I heard about Rails and saw how great it was, I guess about… I don’t know… 6 or 7 years ago, probably 6. I don’t know. I never marked it on the calendar. So, whenever it was… one point something rather that I got involved, so. That's my story. CHUCK: Wow. So how long have you been freelance?

Panel Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Intro to CoffeeScript) Discussion Preparing for lean times Cash on hand Marketing (BCP - Business Continuation Practices) List of productive activities Bank account fuel meter Emergency funds Acquiring skills Small but consistent jobs $15,000 In Income From An EBook, How I Did It: Jim Gay Prioritizing your expenses Changing your style of living and knowing what to cut Networking Reviewing expenses Wish list of companies User Groups Knowing what’s coming before it does: line up work Get Clients Now!(TM): A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches: C.J. Hayden Focus on sales Cash flow vs income Getting paid up front/deposits Getting organized Having next steps CouchDB and Me: Damien Katz’s RubyFringe Presentation Picks iPad + Linode, 1 Year Later: Mark O’Connor (Eric) Damien Katz Relaxing on CouchDB (Evan) Regrets of the Dying (Evan) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Steven Covey (Evan) Mac Power Users (Chuck) NPR Sunday Puzzles Podcast (Chuck) No More Mondays Show (Chuck) 48 Days Podcast (Chuck) EntreLeadership Podcast (Chuck)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Discussion Requires Time and Effort No Time vs. Not A Priority Learning Takes Energy Make a list of things to learn, set a schedule. Learning GNU Emacs Books vs. Screencasts IRC Mailing Lists The Third Tribe The Podcast Mastermind Evan's Cat The Main Modes of Learning The Learning Pyramid Picks The Learning Pyramid (Eric) Pragmatic Thinking and Learning (Eric) Downcast (Eric) Ruby Rogues - DHH (Eric) Evening on Backbone.js/Views w/ Q&A with David Heinemeier Hansson (Eric) ViewSonic VA2431WM (Chuck) 75 to 100mm VESA Converter Plates (Chuck) LG Tone Bluetooth Headset (Chuck) Go Groove Blue Sync Bluetooth Speaker (Chuck)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Sammy Larbi (twitter github blog) Discussion Setting Time Boundaries Use Goals Dividing time between client work and product dev. Educating clients, RE: time Subcontractors Set up an emergency fund. Entitled Clients and Pricing Competing With Low Quality Developers Fixed Bids Ask questions and qualify potential clients. Picks A List Apart - Habit Fields (Eric) 8th Light - Fixed Feature (Eric) Radio Shack (Chuck) LG Tone Bluetooth Headphones (Chuck) Evan Light (Sammy)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Avdi Grimm (twitter github blog book) Discussion RubyTapas Confident Ruby Error Handling in Ruby Dan Miller Time Spent Marketing Blogging Selling eBooks Writing - Research to Finished Product Document Formatting Speak, Publish Transcripts Free Content Destroy All Software Word of Mouth Build your own site or use an existing service for video? Picks Two Steps from Hell - Archangel, Invincible (Eric) If This, Then That (Jeff) Epic Soundtracks (Jeff) Learning GNU Emacs (Chuck) Emacs Rocks (Jeff) O'Reilly Pocket Guide for Emacs (Eric) Brother MFC7860DW Printer (Avdi) Good Strategy, Bad Strategy (Avdi)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Discussion Accountants QuickBooks Online GnuCash Outright DNS Simple 1&1 Namecheap Hover WHOIS (command) DNS Made Easy Harvest Freshbooks SlimTimer BubbleTimer chiliproject_clocking Pivotal Tracker Trello JIRA "Use what works best for you." ZTD Omnifocus Sparrow Thunderbird Mac Mail iCal Facebook App Hootsuite Tweetdeck lowers your heating bill Buffer Tweetbot app.net Command Line Tweet Picks Byword (Eric) Keydown (Eric) LG Tone (Evan) Fujitsu ScanSnap Mobile Scanner (Chuck) The Strangest Secret Audio, Text (Chuck) Quality Sleep - Sleep Study, CPAP if recommended (Evan)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Discussion Have 3-6 months of expenses in an emergency fund. Manage Expenses Evaluating Purchases Place large purchases on a wishlist, wait before purchasing. Deposit to emergency fund to cover large costs that are on the horizon. Personal Finance Management Give yourself an allowance. Retirement Investing Dave Ramsey Put away a small amount each month for taxes. Determining the size of your emergency fund. Writing off business expenses when there is personal activity included (check with your tax accountant). Picks Scared Shitless - Merlin Mann, Webstock 2011 (Eric) Air Compressor (Chuck) Hydraulic Jack and Jack Stands (Chuck)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Discussion PDFpen for signing contracts OpenOffice Git Repositories Amazon S3 Time Machine Mozy Dropbox Scope Changes/Contract Addendum Pivotal Tracker Client Communications Source Code Github Code Ownership Code Licensing Assembla ChiliProject Hard Drive Encryption Remote Wipe Vulnerability Important Client Info SSH Keys Salesforce CRM Chatroom/Skype/IRC Area Wiki Documents Virtual Machines Status Snapshots Evernote Final Documentation Picks Guerilla Freelancing - 7 Items Freelancers Should Back Up (Eric) Are You As Busy As You Think? (Eric) PartyChat (Chuck) HuBot (Chuck)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Work, Leisure, Sleep - Time Tracking Things that are business related, but not done in a business fashion. Pre-experiment Estimates Seasonal and Holiday Variance Breaking marketing time out for specific tracking. How often do we do regular time tracking. PO Boxes Earth Class Mail UPS Store Self/Professional Improvement Time "Janitorial Thought Work" Picks Weekly Tech Learning - (Eric) Around 'Hello World' in 30 Days (Eric) Brakeman Open Source Vulnerability Scanner (Eric) Lookout Test Engineer (Evan) Kerbal Space Program (Evan) Space Pirates and Zombies (Evan) Rescue Time (Jeff) Starbase Orion (Jeff) Jing (Chuck) Skype Screen Sharing (Chuck)  

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Get Clients Now! by CJ Hayden Strategies and Stages Daily Worksheets Cookbook-Style Approach "It made marketing click for me." See what you're doing/what you're not. The 28-Day Marketing Plan Repetition One Person Marketing Plan Weely cycles start on Saturday. No reusable templates. Not a lot of fluff. Book Yourself Solid Success Ingredients Properly using your human resources. Quara - Is There A Good Invoicing Plugin for Redmine Picks Duct Tape Marketing (Jeff) Business Model You (Eric) Speed Dial 2 (Chuck)  

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Working in teams Client interaction Trying new techniques "Hurry up and wait" Freelance development is an experiment. Influence on/working parallel with development teams. "Agile is not really defined" Adaptation to change Pivotal Tracker Showing regular progress Use a staging server Be more agile than "Agile" "Picture of two people shaking hands" How much of the Agile process do you expose to the client? Try to adapt to the client's process and tools. Point vs. Time Based Estimation Keep features under control Discovery Process Basecamp ChiliProject Campfire Propane for Campfire Skype Google+ Hangouts Skitch Jing Cloudapp Dropbox Picks Mr. Reader - iPad (Jeff) Instapaper (Eric) Vimux (Evan) Sinjimoru Sync and Charge Dock for iPhone  (Eric) Agile Ruined My Life (Eric) The Chaos Model (Eric) Salesforce (Chuck) P90X Workout Plan (Chuck) Foam Roller (Eric)

Panel C. J. Hayden (twitter getclientsnow.com) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Following Up Keeping the Pipeline Full Use the book as a coach. Work with the book. Advantages of one-on-one coaching. Benevolent Peer Pressure Getting Things Done by David Allen Socratic Questioning Evoking Interest > Telling What to Do How do you find a coach? Not all coaches are a good fit. Many Tactics, 6 Strategies Direct Contact and Followup Networking and Referral Building Public Speaking Writing and Publicity Promotional Events Advertising Effective self promotion comes from a place of passion. Scale, to prevent burnout. Getting Referral Sources Using CRM Effectively Referring people to articles/blog posts Picks Marketing Monday (Eric) The Busy Trap (Evan) TweetBot (Evan) Yahoo Voice Hacked - Change Your Passwords (Jeff) Twitter Bootstrap (Jeff) Ultra Mega Job Board List (Jeff) Motor Oil (Chuck) Rapportive (Chuck) Why You Don't Market The Way You Should (C. J.) In Marketing, One Size Does Not Fit All (C. J.)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Businesses need a brand Easier to talk about, than to build How to name your business vs. building a brand "Real words and interesting" "Not-real words and compelling" Igor Naming Guide Dictionaries of uncommon words SEO Phonetic ambiguity Individual proprietor vs. teams Selling out, business vs. personal name Gary Vaynerchuk/Wine Library/VaynerMedia Rebranding Selling product vs. selling service Start a personal brand, grow into a company Talk to an attorney Tumble Log Give value to your customers RailsTutorial.org - Book Refactoring Redmine Redmine Tips Blogs (posts) add credibility to your brand Feeding time Open source software to build your brand through added value FasterCSV thoughtbot Rick Olson Form a business entity at least within the tax year of starting freelance work. Picks Stash Tea - Gunpowder Green, Silver Needle White (Eric) WWDC Videos 2012 (Jeff) Inspiring Words of Encouragement Podcast (Chuck) Voting (Chuck) Sunlight Labs (Eric)

Panel Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Summer Camp) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Discussion Blogging Write a Case Study for your client projects Startups Company Benefits Startups attract developers with "new shiny" Lifestyle Starting a Business Sacrifice Silicon Valley Learning from your clients' mistakes Negotiating tactics Kill fees How do you balance between two projects when one pays the bills and one is your passion? Picks Due app (Eric) The perfect smoothie formula (Eric) FreelanceSwitch - Freelance Freedom (Jeff) Freelance Radio (Chuck) Google Reader (Chuck) Instapaper  - iTunes (Chuck) Feeddler (Chuck)