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The Independent Software Developer Peat Bakke [email protected] @peat http://i26r.com / Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Freelancing and Open Source

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Slides from the "Independent Software Developer" presentation at Linuxfest NW 2011, in Bellingham, WA.

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Page 1: Freelancing and Open Source

The Independent Software Developer

Peat [email protected]

@peat

http://i26r.com/

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 2: Freelancing and Open Source

Orientation

• Introductions!

• Freelancing and Open Source

• Marketing and Sales

• The Bottom Line

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 3: Freelancing and Open Source

Who am I, and what the heck am I doing

here?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 4: Freelancing and Open Source

Who are you?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 5: Freelancing and Open Source

Employment vs Freelancing

• Employee: employer owns copyrights and inventions, even during “down time” and outside of the work place.

• Freelancer: you explicitly control the boundaries of what your clients own.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 6: Freelancing and Open Source

Employment vs Freelancing

• Employee: limited free time outside of employment activities to contribute to open source projects.

• Freelancer: optimize contracts and schedule to provide time and resources for open source hacking.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 7: Freelancing and Open Source

What is a Freelancer?

• You are offering your talent for solving a particular type of problem to lots of people ... in exchange for money.

• You are responsible for how your software gets built, and for the quality of your work.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 8: Freelancing and Open Source

Freelancing Pros

• Flexible Schedule

• Flexible Location

• Flexible Projects

• Flexible Flexibile Flexible Flexible Flexible

• “Flexible” starts to look and sound a bit funny, doesn’t it?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 9: Freelancing and Open Source

Freelancing Cons

• rot13(“VEF”)

• No guaranteed income.

• Distinct lack of cultural appreciation for misanthropic behavior.

• Most clients don’t “get” the open source world.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 10: Freelancing and Open Source

Separation of Concerns

• Concerns about money are satisfied by landing contracts with clients.

• Concerns about open source are satisfied by building time into your schedule to contribute to open source.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 11: Freelancing and Open Source

Legal Entanglements

• Most contracts are “work for hire.”

• Contract should specifically say that you will disclose all pre-existing licenses.

• The (L)GPL discussion will be exciting. Get it out of the way up front.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 12: Freelancing and Open Source

The (L)GPL Argument

• You don’t pay for the software, unlike Windows, Oracle, Photoshop, etc.

• You can fix fundamental problems yourself, unlike Windows, Oracle, Photoshop, etc.

• The easy trade for getting amazing free tools that are user serviceable: if you fix something, you give it back to everyone else.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 13: Freelancing and Open Source

Dirty Words

• Marketing: understanding who wants what.

• Selling: turning someone into a client.

• Marketing + Selling = LARPing in a suit.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 14: Freelancing and Open Source

Showing Up is Half the

BattleTuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 15: Freelancing and Open Source

Marketing

• Who’s using your technology? Go to user groups and mailing lists to find out.

• Are they hiring freelancers? Just ask.

• Can they pay enough to make it worth your while? Just ask.

• No? Can you try another technology?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 16: Freelancing and Open Source

Selling

• Communicate at the person’s level

• Establish that you are trustworthy

• Engage with their goals and interests

• Show that you can help them

• Give them an easy choice

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 17: Freelancing and Open Source

Communicating on Their Level

• Reflection

• Reinforcement

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 18: Freelancing and Open Source

UPLEVEL INTERDEPARTMENT

SYNERGY!!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 19: Freelancing and Open Source

SCALABLE RESTFUL WEB SERVICES!!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 20: Freelancing and Open Source

Reinforce Their Goals

• I’d love to hear more about ...

• Is this a good example of ... ?

• What can I do to make this kick ass?

• Can you tell me more about your business?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 21: Freelancing and Open Source

EstablishTrust

• Offer a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

• Bring one to your first meeting.

• Take (light) notes during the meeting.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 22: Freelancing and Open Source

Establish Interest

• Take people out for coffee, and pay for it.

• After each conversation, take five minutes to search Google for related information.

• Explicitly say you’re interested, and ask about “next steps”

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 23: Freelancing and Open Source

Show Them You Can Help

• Ideal situation: show off a previous client who you solved the same sorts of problems for, step your prospect through the solution.

• Backup situation: work through a problem by asking questions, offering solutions, and responding positively to mistakes.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 24: Freelancing and Open Source

Make It An Easy Choice

• You’ve established that you’re interested, talented, and motivated.

• Time and money are the hard limits for a project: give them a timeline and cost.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 25: Freelancing and Open Source

Finding Your Rate

• You are the seller: you need to make sure your costs are covered to ensure that you are able to do the things you want to do.

• Client is the buyer: they have specific problems to solve, with an interest in doing it as effectively as possible within their budget and timeline.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 26: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

Income x (1 + Tax Rate) / Billing Ratio / Working Hours

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 27: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 28: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 29: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 30: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 31: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 32: Freelancing and Open Source

Cost Based Rate

• Income

• Tax Rate

• Billing Ratio

• Working Hours

$50,000 x (1 + 0.3) / 0.7 / 1500 = $61.90 per hour

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 33: Freelancing and Open Source

Gut Check Estimates• Establishes timeline, and it’s a communication

tool for sorting out features.

• Consider: understanding, planning, coding, releasing, supporting.

• Gut number is the low end.

• Confidence as 0.1 (extremely low) to 1.0 (extraordinarily easy).

• Low / Confidence = High

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 34: Freelancing and Open Source

The Easy Choice• Clients need a project completed by a certain

date, within a certain amount of money.

• Convert time estimates to weeks or iterations to get a delivery date. Hours are a difficult unit to negotiate over.

• Multiply high estimate by cost based rate to get the price of the contract.

• Negotiate on confidence score.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 35: Freelancing and Open Source

Recap

• Freelancing gives you more power over intellectual property and time management.

• Think about marketing and sales in roleplaying terms.

• Understand how much you need to make.

• Negotiate on your “confidence” basis.

• Showing up is half the battle!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Page 36: Freelancing and Open Source

Thank you!

Peat [email protected]

@peat

http://i26r.com/

Tuesday, May 3, 2011