The Deep Woods Brigade

Earlier we talked about building a stable economy for a contractor, freelancer, and small software company. We didn’t have all the answers for our own direction at the time, but we were fairly sure which direction we were going to head ourselves; app development, web services development, and sustained paying mentorship. Since that post my outpost partner and I have been talking and positioning ourselves towards that end goal.

Today I got a phone call from my partner which moves us to our next phase. We have closed our doors to actively taking on new contracts. We have figured out a transitional path, and we are looking forward to the next couple of years of our roadmap. We will be releasing a few web services this year and at least two applications. The next couple years will be a continuation of being a full fledged software company: consultancy is secondary, if happening at all.

I say consultancy is secondary, because we have clients that we still want to continue providing support for. It’s important not to leave them hanging out to dry. If you choose to make this kind of move, considering your current clientèle is vital.

The second thing to happen today is the Ubuntu SDK Live Sessions. This is awesome, as one of the applications launching this year is for the Ubuntu platform. The client will integrate with a web service launching this year, and should serve as an example for other clients on other platforms to match. I’m really excited about this particular move, as I am excited about becoming an Ubuntu shop. We’re a rarity in the world to date, but I see things moving more in that direction in the near future.

Finally, it’s important not to be too proud to step backwards, in order to move forward. This can be painful, and if you do this you must follow through or the move really will be a step backwards.

This is important - Have a plan; follow through with it.

My partner is taking on a full time job so that he has steady hours, in order to focus on development.

I’m helping launch my wife’s next business and we’re scaling back on expenses as a family. That will allow me to work full time on the new products coming out.

So, I look forward to a bright future, because we are going to continue to follow through. We are pushing most of our work, or spin off utilities, tools, and frameworks, open source to our github repo.

This is part of my journey that started almost 20 years ago. It’s worth pursuing. We hope this will bring you guys a brighter future as well through this. Remember, plan, and carry on.

Ciao!

Bob Roberts recently posted a little bit about his journey on his own and he has had to face some difficult questions.

Setting, ‘to freelance, or not to freelance’ aside, the top most question on my mind is, ‘How do you develop a stable income eco system as a developer.’

I am a veteran by now; darn right crusty. My wife scrapes the barnacles off of my foot each night when I pull into port. Yet the goal is constantly evading my grasp. Most of my career has been consulting, with a few jaunts off to start two ISP’s and so on. I’m always changing gears and correcting course. This year I changed gears again.

This is the year of product for me and my co-workers.

Our Outpost is still doing consulting, but we’re more focused on building services and applications. We realize that it’s hard to do both at the same time, but at the same time, we cannot endure the feast and famine cycle that comes from only one or two sources of income. It’s time to cast our bread upon the waters and see what returns.

That said, I think consulting or freelancing can still be sustainable. It just takes a lot of work.

For starters, making sure you have a good site and marketing package ready, should be a first step foreword. Then shopping said portfolio around and buying a fair share of drinks at meetups.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen, and we’ve done ourselves, is to get too wrapped up in client work. We end up spending less time with the community that helped build us, and us them, and more time dwelling on the stresses that kill us in the end. Spend time in your community; build one if you don’t have one near you; and cap your work load so that you can focus on your company instead of always placing priority on other people’s companies. If you don’t focus on your company’s infrastructure, marketing, and skill sets, you’re only doing your clients a disservice because in the end they suffer most when you fall.

So the key to developing a stable income eco system, for me, is focusing on building a foundation for your company and community, diversifying your income sources, and executing well for your clients. Exactly in that order.

It’s been a tradition since last summer at RebelHold, to have fridays be a hack day. We work hard to get our client work done in advance and then prepare to hack with each other whilst drink beer in a day set aside for camaraderie and learning.

Last friday we decided to make a series of challenges to learn and teach new technologies and techniques. We’ve always kind of done something along those lines, but now it’s official. It’s a thing now.

Come join us, The Deepwoods Brigade, Rebel Outpost, Fletcher Fowler, Rick Carlino, and the various outposts and rebels springing up around us, for a friday experience and weekly challenges. We’ve posted a git repo just to help you follow along!