Eric Sink, known for writing about the Business of Software and principal of SourceGear has a great post about The ONE Key Thing to Know About Negotation, and he hit the nail right on the head.
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Several days ago I was talking with my boss about some management concepts. As you can imagine (and may have read about here) being self-employed for quite a few years, I developed some strong opinions about how things should be done.
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Whether you are a Development Manager, Project/Program Manager, Independent Consultant, or the client, somewhere along the line, you will run into the conflict of getting or producing what was asked for, but not what was really wanted.
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Opportunity is a funny thing... it comes along when you least expect it. I believe it was Thomas Edison who said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
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I received an email from a reader asking about a billing situation, and decided it was a good lesson to share. In a nutshell, here is what the reader wrote:
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I have been writing a series of posts here under the heading of Doing Business. I have received great feedback on this series and have enjoyed writing it very much. I expect that I will continue to post on this subject since I have been self-employed since 1992 and consider it one of the greatest things anyone can do.
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Thinking about going into business for yourself? Check out my list of the Top 15 Myths About Business in the Business Articles section of this site.
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I was catching up on some blog reading tonight and ran across a post by Bob Parsons (formerly of Parsons Technology, now CEO of GoDaddy Software) where he lists his 16 Rules to Live By.
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As we rapidly approach the end of the first month of 2005, let's talk about fixing some of those Top 15 Business Mistakes I listed a while back. The first two mistakes on our list are 1) Forgetting to bill the client; and 2) Losing track of unpaid invoices.
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In my Self Employment 101 post, I emphasized the need to have a lawyer look over contracts before you sign them. Scott points to a post by Dave Taylor that brings this point home clearly with examples.
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Rob (a.k.a. dotRob),
Please explain to me why you have copied and posted my article on your site as if it were your own.
If you like the article, that is great, but you should instead post your own comment on your site encouraging others to read it and then provide a link to my site so they can read the original.
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Do you read software licensing agreements when you install software? Maybe you should. I must confess that most of the time I just quickly skim them to see if anything dramatic jumps out at me.
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Salespeople should beware of using trendy lingo.
A couple of years ago, I am sitting in on a series of group presentations for web content management systems. I don't want to mention any names here, but we're talking the initial bids were coming in around $1 Million.
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What are you doing to keep your edge in this competitive world? Do you belong to any professional groups or Special Interest Groups (SIGs)? Do you actively participate in any form of continuing education?
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Ever since I started the Doing Business series, I have thought that I should put together a Top 10 list of mistakes people make. Well, I finally did, but it turned out 10 wasn't enough, so here are the Top 15 Business Mistakes Consultants Make.
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I spent my lunch time today watching a Microsoft webcast that was shown live back on April 7 (today is May 20). I'm impressed and appreciative that Microsoft has put energy into making these available “after-the-fact”.
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One of the most common questions I get when someone finds out that I've been self-employed for 12 years is, “How do you get new business?” Before I answer that, let's see if we can agree on a couple of things.
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Went to another Blogger Meetup tonight. Couldn't stay very long, but it was good to re-connect with Anita, Jake, and Eric. Eric is getting a taste of the joys of being a freelance computer guy, including the thrills associated with the client making radical changes to the project over the weekend.
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I spent half my weekend in training. But not the kind that most people reading this would think of. This was what I'll refer to as Entrepreneur School. Training on being a better self-employed business person.
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Closely related to my Unpaid Vacation / Holiday Time post is the fact that when you're self employed, you don't get paid sick leave either. I am normally very healthy, but I was abruptly reminded of this subject last weekend when I got sick for 5 days, and I'm talking about the kind where you only have enough energy to roll over in bed, forget about sitting in front of a computer!
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