[AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases

Christopher Hawkins clh at christopherhawkins.com
Wed Jun 27 05:58:19 CDT 2007


Well, yeah.  One of the main reasons I stopped coding on-site (aside from wanting to build a team instead of being a solo operator) is that when you do the coding off-site and just deliver the finished solution, you're able to maintain at least a little mystique regarding what went into the work.  When you work onsite, the client has a much easier time developing a sense of contempt for what you do.  After all, you're only typing.  Why aren't you done yet? What are you doing?  Why are you doing it like that?  And so on.  

Plus, you can't easily bring your dev team into play when you're working on-site - why is he here?  Why can't you do this?  What are we paying you for if he's doing the work?  Why do we need you?  I don't want to pay for two people to do the same task.

Now, I only go on-site for meetings and for implementations.  It works out much better. I still write about 40% of the total code my firm produces, but I do more project management than anything else these days.  I'm the guy on the front lines, interacting with the client and making sure that things get done.

You can't really get to that place when you work on-site.

-C-

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From: "Dan Waters" <dwaters at usinternet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:41 PM
To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases 

Mystique?! Respect?!

If Me.Confused = True Then
GoTo www.dictionary.com
Else
Me.ReallyIsConfused = True
GoTo www.dictionary.com
End If

varReturn1 = Developer NotIn(Mystique)
varReturn2 = Developer NotIn(Respect)

;-)
Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Christopher
Hawkins
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:55 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases

That sounds both smart AND dangerous.

Smart, because you're securing a guaranteed income and being on-site gives
you a lot of opportunities to up-sell. Dangerous, for numerous reasons.
What if Client A has an emergency on a day when you're at Client B? How are
you ever going to grow your business beyond yourself if you're doing what
amounts to staff augmentation? And doesn't doing the work on-site remove
much of the mystique/respect that you normally get as a hired expert?

It could work brilliantly or it could turn out to be a PITA. I suppose all
you can do is give it a try and see!

-C-

----------------------------------------

From: "Kath Pelletti" 
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 5:05 PM
To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving"

Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases 

It is tricky.......They *need* you to stay in business for the next set of
changes that will inevitably come but how do you afford to stay in business
if you have a quiet period? I have 3 or 4 main clients at any one time who
provide most of my income and then other small stuff.

A friend of mine (contract programmer) suggested to me the other day that I
consider selling a day to each of my main clients. It wouldn't have to be a
whole day but it might be, or it could be one day a fortnight .......so they
agree to pay 1 days salary for the entire year. It's a pretty ambitious idea
but he feels that the clients would see it as an opportunity to keep their
system more dynamic / you could offer to be on-site for all/many of their
'days' and they would have a secure agreement. It feels like a big ask but
I'm going to sound it out to one client (also a friend) and get some
feedback. Then I'd have the security of the pay check whilst working for
myself......ain't that the holy grail?

Kath
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Christopher Hawkins 
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com 
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 1:34 AM
Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases

I'm another one who needs to do a better job of selling ongoing business,
Kath. It seems like a chicken-and-the-egg type of problem though - once you
write (or re-write) a complete system, if you've done your job correctly the
client probably won't *need* any maintenance. So what do you sell? It's
tricky.

-C-

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