mdolon

What's the point of unlocking with my phone if I have to carry my key around in case my battery dies?

> AppSumo.com 24-hour special: $8,120 (keep $2,436)

So AppSumo made $5684 in profits by promoting and selling your book? What a sweet business model..

Definitely stay away from those sites unless you plan on doing volume/mass work to compensate for the low wages (or unless you have a big reputation). Like I mentioned in another post, at least 85% of my freelance gigs come from my existing network and their word-of-mouth referrals. I've found clients are much willing to pay more when they trust the consultant and a verbal referral from a friend can go a long way in providing that trust.

Some tips for this:

* Make sure your friends know what you do - update your Facebook profile, hand out business cards, start a blog, etc.

* Make sure your friends think/know that you are the best developer that they know and that you are the first person they think of when someone says "I'm going to need a website"

* Use LinkedIn - surprisingly enough, I've had old contacts connect with me via LinkedIn, view my profile and hire me for a project

* Exploit whatever niche you're a part of - if you are active in your church, approach them or another local church to see if they need a site. Apply same strategy for a youth group, social club, etc.

Also, ask someone else how much they'd pay for your work. I found that since I make websites myself, I tend to value the work a lot less because it seems easier to me. In reality, the work is very valuable to people who are not capable of doing it themselves, so they're usually willing to pay more for it than you are. And as usual patio11 is spot on in regards to those qualities, having strength in those areas can give you a powerful edge in winning over clients.

I'd say 85%+ of the better paying gigs I've gotten have been through existing connections and people I've known. For instance, a college friend started a new business and needed a site - he contacted and ended up hiring me. His partner then referred me to his friend, who also hired me for a project. Word of mouth can be pivotal in building a business so my first suggestion would be to explore your own social circle. (give your friends business cards!)

I wrote a blog post you might find interesting that talks specifically about quoting web design projects: http://devgrow.com/how-to-properly-quote-a-client/

That's how I go about it and have found it to be the best/only way to ensure I don't overwork myself.

Will send you an e-mail but wanted to post this here as others might find it useful as well. I charge $75 per hour for UI/UX design work, meaning wireframe mockups, full-fledged Photoshop mockups and XHTML/CSS/JS conversion. It may be low considered to some standards (San Fran) but I'd rather increase my rate slowly while building a bigger clientele base than risk charging too much and not having enough work.

For those curious about the workflow, I use:

* Google Docs to create a spreadsheet with all project research/notes that is shared with client

* MockFlow to handle wireframe mockups, as it also allows me to easily share them with the client AND is cheap (I think $70 per year?)

* Photoshop and Illustrator to create the main mockups for each of the major pages/sections of the site

I also tend to shy away from logo design, as for me it is not worth the time and effort for the pay - instead I suggest to my clients that they use a service like 99Designs or Brandstack.

I found that I had been undercharging for the past few years when quoting projects. While my hourly rate had been fine (around $75 for design, $100 for programming), my estimation of how many hours a project would take was always way off. I guess the assumption I made was "no one would pay a lot of money for a website," and so I typically got tedious lower-end clients that were much more work than they were worth.

The last few projects I've gotten average to about $7k each and are about 1-2 months in duration. The highest I've gotten is $10k for a 2 month design and development gig, working very casually over that time (enough time to work on other projects freely). I'm now learning that people are willing to pay for high quality work and consistent/reliable communication.

Pretty inspiring, though I hope you add a live demo to your main site (maybe to handle support? :). I know as a potential customer, I'm hesitant to pay for anything I haven't seen and interacted with.

Just tried it out and it's surprisingly fast at downloading! (700mb file in just a couple of minutes) Also, having worked with the guys who made this, I can definitely say I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more exciting stuff from them.

What does this mean though? What is he consulting people/companies on and how is he finding clients? That is the hardest part of getting into any consultancy (in my opinion): finding clients.

This would have been more impressive had it been said during the revolution itself, or had the revolution failed (of course no company with shareholders would do that).

That makes me wonder though - he and many other rulers (I'm guessing) have amassed billions but are hush about it, so there's no telling who is funneling money and how much of it. It would be nice if Forbes added these rulers to their wealthiest people in the world lists.

I had the same thoughts initially and initially I started making my mockups for this project on pen and paper. I quickly ran into two problems though:

1) My client is in CA and I'm in NYC - the only way to get them my pen and paper mockups is to scan each individually and e-mail them.

2) My clients had a lot of feedback on the designs and over a couple of hours, we went through a dozen different versions of the mockup. Doing this with someone far away is far more difficult than using an app that lets you drag and rearrange elements on the fly.

I still agree with your process if everyone is located in the same area but for remote works, I don't think it's a viable option.

I'm the author of the post. I did actually come across their comparison table, which states that a web app is in the works, just I totally forgot to mention that in the post. I just played around with the project you linked to though and I must say, it is pretty amazing. Depending on the pricing scheme they end up with, I would definitely reconsider my choice.

+1 to that. Anyone want to take charge and organize a NYC version?

I looked into Forex a while back and came across http://www.babypips.com/, which seems like a pretty thorough introduction/guide for beginners.

It looks like their coworking space is by invite only and is currently full. Anyone know of any other good coworking/hackspaces in the NYC area that have space available?

I hope you don't mind, I used your comment (with credit) in my blog post response to this question: http://devgrow.com/profiting-from-non-profits-theres-always-...

The gist of my argument is basically the same - there are several examples of people developing game-changing ideas that have no real business model, yet they are still able to profit it from them in some form or another.

If you want to outbid competitors, by all means go for it. My complaint is with people who charge next to nothing and produce poor quality work - when you have a lot of these clients start thinking that this is the norm. For someone who makes a living doing this type of work and relies on fair pay, this kind of mentality will have a negative effect in the long run.

My plea in the post was to simply charge what's fair to you and the client, but I guess it does seem a little like price fixing. I'm not sure how to convey my thoughts/feelings otherwise though. I hope that made some kind of sense. (apologies for the poor choice of wording on my part)

Send me a message if you end up selling your iPhone, I'd be willing to take it off your hands. (username at gmail)

Great work, it's simply stunningly beautiful. I think (and hope) your iPhone/iPad apps will do well, best of luck!

Many people who advocate or encourage skipping college in favor of experience/entrepreneurship overlook one thing: how difficult it is to succeed. Most real-world businesses end up failing and online entrepreneurship can be just as cut-throat (if not more), having a college-level degree gives you at least something to fall back on. College is also a great networking tool to build the relations that can one day help your startup.

I'd guess that the cost is not just in the rocket itself, but rather the team, research, tests/trials, fuel and logistics of the entire operation. Getting to space is one thing, getting to the moon is an entirely different ball game.

If anyone has any hesitation about switching to Linode, I've been using them for the past 2 years and have had an exceptional experience. This is after using both Slicehost and Media Temple - Linode has been the most reliable for me so far, in terms of both performance and speed/latency. Their control panel is also pretty sweet, I'm not sure if you can see a demo from the main site but if anyone wants, I can post a couple of screenshots.

Multiplayer or even an iPhone/iPad version may help increase sales. Whatever happens in the long run, thank you for giving us this insight!

Out of curiosity, has anyone here found a cofounder using this site?

I'm working on my own premium WordPress themes site, though it's been pushed back constantly due to freelance work (site's up at alphathemes.com though). If you want any advice, feel free to get in touch! (username at gmail)

Anyone else using Windows 7 and have trouble reading the post because of the font? Here's what the site looks like on my machine: http://awesomescreenshot.com/099470k29

Could just be me though, since I have all of those fonts installed (I think).

While the site itself is interesting, I don't like that it posted a message to my Facebook wall without asking or telling me. (I know I gave it permission to but still, I'd like to be notified before that occurs)