The Freelancers’ Show 068 – Building a Consultancy with Ben Lachman and Robert Cantoni
Summary: Panel Ben Lachman (twitter blog) Robert Cantoni (twitter) Ashe Dryden (twitter github blog) Reuven Lerner (twitter github blog) Curtis McHale (twitter github blog) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Ramp Up) Discussion 01:29 - Ben Lachman and Robert Cantoni Introduction Nice Mohawk 02:26 - Finding Work Dividing Client Communication Handling Marketing and Sales 06:52 - Forming a Partnership Contracts 08:23 - Partnerships vs being on your own Finding work for others 15:39 - Managing larger consultancies 16:18 - Potentially expanding the business 18:33 - Marketing Avenues Referrals/Word-of-mouth 23:02 - Working with other consultancies 24:59 - Ideal vision for the business 29:10 - Advice for someone looking to build a consultancy Pick your projects wisely Picks A/B Testing (Curtis) 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron (Eric) Coursera Public Speaking Course (Ashe) Nairobi Developer School Indiegogo Campaign (Ashe) Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are (Jeff) Patrick Mackenzie: What Product Companies Can Learn From Consulting Companies (Reuven) David Siteman Garland: Create Awesome Online Courses (Chuck) Jefferson's Bourbon (Ben) Matasano Crypto Challenges (Ben) ustwo Pixel Perfect Precision Handbook (Robert) Mike Monteiro: Getting Comfortable With Contracts (Robert) Book Club Getting Things Done with David Allen! He will join us for an episode to discuss the book on July 30th. The episode will air on August 7th. Next Week Setting Boundaries Transcript CHUCK: Ashe is our voice of reason. BEN: Great. [Reuven laughs] ASHE: Oh, we're in trouble. [Laughter] ERIC: Can we mute her then? [Laughter] [Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net.] [You're fantastic at code, but do you have an action plan to take it to the next level? The upcoming book, Next Level Freelance, will help you optimize your freelance business for happiness. The book is packed with actionable steps to make more money, case studies, tips to find more clients, and exercises for you to establish your desired lifestyle. Extras include: 9 interviews with freelancers who make great money while enjoying great work-life balance, videos on strategies to find quality subcontractors, and videos on making more free time by outsourcing your daily tasks. Check it out today at nextlevelfreelance.com!] CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 68 of The Freelancers' Show! This week on our panel, we have Ashe Dryden. ASHE: Hello from Madison, Wisconsin! CHUCK: Reuven Lerner. REUVEN: Hello there! CHUCK: Curtis McHale. CURTIS: Hey! CHUCK: Eric Davis. ERIC: Hello! CHUCK: Jeff Schoolcraft. JEFF: What's up! CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from DevChat.tv. We also have a couple of special guests! Our first guest is Ben Lachman. BEN: Hello from Athens, Ohio! CHUCK: And we also have Robert Cantoni. ROBERT: Yup! That's my name! Hi, everybody! CHUCK: Why don't you guys introduce yourselves before we get going? BEN: Go for it, Bob! ROBERT: [Laughs] Okay! Ben and I work together, we have a company called "Nice Mohawk Ltd.". We do iOS development and lots of freelancing stuff. We have one app of our own that's sort of out in the store, that's what we do; mostly contract work at this point. CHUCK: You say nice mohawk, and I think bikers. ROBERT: [Laughs] Like motorcycle? CHUCK: Yeah. ROBERT: Motorcycle bikes? CHUCK: Yup. BEN: Not tricycle. ROBERT: Yeah. CHUCK: Not tricycles [laughs]. Sweet. [Robert laughs] CHUCK: Ben, anything you want to add to that? BEN: No! I mean we have -- so I started out on my own. And then a little over a year ago, we started Nice Mohawk together,
