Archive for the ‘Tips and Tricks’ Category

One tip that I was given many years ago was to start a project the right way.  It was suggested to me that the best way to do this was through an initial ‘Summary of Understanding’.

Generally, when you start a contract, or meet with a prospect or chat about a freelance job, the client will do a brain dump of what they need.   The term ‘Brain Dump’ is a good description, as in the majority of cases, they don’t have anything on paper – everything they explain comes directly from their brain to their mouth and into your ears.  Because of this flow, their thoughts, requirements and needs can come out as a jumbled collection which you need to put into order to create the project or proposal.

A Summary of Understanding
So before any quotation is produced, work started, or plan put together, it is worth investing the time to quickly create a Summary of Understanding.   This is a short (can be a single page) document which details your understanding of their needs and requirements.  This document can then act as a working plan that everything else is generated from.  Your client or prospect will undoubtedly find it valuable as it documents their muddled thoughts.  And with your branding (logo, name, web site, etc) all over it, your credibility is boosted even before the project begins.

But if you are clever, it can be used to also boost revenue.    Not only should it contain an outline of the project, but it can also be used to check with the client that there is nothing missing, and you can use it to suggest additional options that maybe they hadn’t thought about.  There has been many times that I have produced a summary of understanding, only to have the customer contact me to say that they had thought of 3 or 4 other items they needed (that they had originally forgotten about), or that they liked the sound of some additional options I had suggested and to include those as well.

Format of Summary
When I produce a Summary of Understanding (or Requirements) document, it tends to be either 1 or 2 sides of A4.   They all generally have the same basic layout which includes:

1. An overview (in descriptive text) of what the client is looking to achieve and why (new software because old software is out of date, new web site for a launched product, etc)
2. A bullet point list of the features that the delivery should contain
3. An overview of their dates as discussed (start date, expected delivery date, any other key dates)
4. A list of recommendations (from you) for additional items
5. A list of recommendations (from you) for first steps
6. A list of recommendations for stages (if the project is going to be large, and it is best ‘chunked’ up)

One Word of Warning
I have often found that the Summary of Understanding can lead a prospect to increase the scope of work by 25%, 50% or even 100% of the original requirement; prospects can get very carried away.   So when it comes time to convert this into a quotation or project plan (if already engaged on a T&M contract), it is best to provide figures and time based on the original core requirements, with the additional suggested items added as ‘optional’ extras outside of the original project totals.

It is far too easy to be called in and produce a proposal for a project only to find that the additional elements price you out of the market.    By listing them as optional elements in your cost or time proposals, the customer can select the elements they require based on their budget, and still allow you to keep within expectations where their vision goes beyond their spending limit.

There are lots of software tools I use on a regular basis.  Other than the always open email client (I use outlook), Word is generally open, as is Evenote.  However, there has been one tool which I must always have to hand – it’s in constant use and has saved me so much time.  That tool is SnagIt.

SnagIt

Snagit is a Windows and Mac screen capture application.   It sits in the Windows icon tray, waiting to be called in to action.

One click of the mouse (or activation using the alt+printscreen keys) and it produces a control form which allows the capturing of screens, text and parts of screens with ease in a variety of different formats.  It can capture whole screens, windows, multi scrolling windows (perfect for web sites which go beyond the fold) and small areas of screen using a window ‘click and drag’ selection box.

All versions of windows have had their own screen capture methods (such as the Windows 7 snipping tool), but none of them make the process easy, fluid or produce pleasing results.

Snagit’s features also go beyond simple screen capture that makes SnagIt so powerful.   You can add borders (like fade or torn edges to indicate a partial screen is shown), annotation (in the form of circles, boxes, arrows, text, etc) and save captures to a catalogue for future use.

When preparing presentations, proposals, manuals, specifications, user guides or even emails, this tool has been a godsend.   I can quickly include visuals with the minimum of fuss and distraction.

Snagit is not free (£39 or $59), but it is a tool worth having.

GetGreenShot

If you like the features of SnagIt but are not willing to pay for the software, then there is a free alternative in the form of GetGreenShot.

This alternative product has many of the same features as snagit, but is not quite as easy to use and does not support as many options for edging of captures and catalogue storage.

But you get what you pay for.

I am sure that by now, your twitter stream, blog streams and email inboxes are stuffed full of posts and articles telling you that now is the time to review all your freelance and small business achievements in 2011 and plans for 2012.  I know I have seen countless such items.

Well, I am here to suggest to you that now is not the time to do an annual review or plan setting exercise.

The reason for this stems from when I was employed as a senior manager in a software company.  I was told each year to carry out a yearly performance review of all my team (around 35 people) and review what they had done well in the last 12 months, and review any mistakes for areas to consider for improvement.

Well that instruction did not make sense to me.  Why would I review somebody once a year, and talk about things that had happened 11 months ago?

So yes, I did the annual review (as instructed), but I did it only for the purposes of a salary review.

Instead, my management style was to review every month – tell people there and then when they did a good job, and also pick up on mistakes as they happened.  After all, people should be told when they do a good job at any time, and why leave mistakes to fester until the next annual review before corrective steps are taken?

And that is why I suggest if you do go ahead and make plans, budgets, goals, targets or even new year’s resolutions this new year, do yourself a favour.  Go to your diary and pencil in the same reviews at the end of March, June and September 2012.  If you can manage it, also include mini reviews at the end of each month.

Trust me, you won’t regret it.  It will be worthwhile time working ON your company, rather than working FOR your company.

Oh, and a Happy New Year to you.  And I wish you, and your business, the best for 2012.

I am going to share a Contract Search tip which was emailed to me by a long term reader of this blog (so a big thanks to Rob).  It’s a very useful tip for those looking for the next freelance gig or contract job.

Rob says when you are applying to 5 or 6 contract/freelance jobs every day, it can quickly become confusing on what you have applied for, what jobs need what skills, and which agent was used for what position.

To aid in the search, Rob cleverly uses Evernote.   When Rob replies to an emailed job, or just before he hits the ‘apply’ button on the web based job board, Rob highlights the job detail text and uses the Evenote web/text clipper to add a new note into a new Evernote ‘Contracts Applied For’ folder.

If an agent calls or emails him back, it’s a quick task then to pop into Evernote, search on the agents name (or company), and all the posts applied for through the agent are listed.

It’s also a useful tip for checking that you are not applying for the same position again where it is re-listed in the jobs board, or is going through more than one agent.

If you have never used Evernote before, the clipper function is an add-on which installs itself as a tool button into most browsers and MS Office/Mac programs and allows you to quickly highlight text and add it as a new Evernote note.  The clipper can be downloaded from the Evernote add-on site.

Thanks for the tip Rob.

Last week I learnt an interesting fact from a friend who works in a contract placement agency.  Of all the emails he receives in his in tray from people looking for placement in contract or freelance positions, he only ever looks at about 10%.  Put it another way, 90% of people responding for a contract job fall at the first hurdle.

He suggested to me that this was fairly typical now for most of his fellow workers – they all ignored the vast majority of CVs and Résumés that were sent to them.   And this ‘ignored’ number is growing.

When I enquired why this was the case, he shared the following tip, which I now pass on:

Relevance

That was the word he used.   He had no idea if any of the candidates were relevant to the positions he had open.

He was in no doubt that the contract and freelance market was tough – very tough – and getting worse by the week.   Two years ago for every position he had managed to open in the market, he would have between 10 and 20 applicants.   Today, it’s more like 70 to 100.

Of course of these 100 applicants, many are also applying for 5, 6 or 7 contract positions in a day – and there lies the problem.   If he posts 3 contract positions online, by the afternoon he will have around 300 emails with attached CVs – it would take him more than a day to go through all of them.

How could he possibly know which to pick from all of that noise?

Why the Cover Email is King

In his view, the cover email (or letter) was far more important than the CV.  The contract or freelance agent is the first (and main) filter between the candidate and the client.  That is why the cover email needs to give enough reason for the agent to open the CV.

He suggested the following tips are the difference between him calling a candidate, and simply pressing the DELETE key on the email:

1. Keep It Short – The cover email needs to be short – as short as possible.  They don’t have time to read war and peace in an email – keep to the facts.
2. Reference the Position – If you are applying for a contract role, quote the contract reference number or as a minimum, the job title.  He said it was amazing how many emails he got which talked about “applying for the role” when he was juggling 12 or 20 roles.
3. List the skills THAT MATCH – the only way your CV will be looked at is if you have skills that the client needs – so list why you are a match for the position in the cover letter.  Cover the skills required, but don’t expand into unrelated skills.
4. Current Status – Show your current status.  Are you currently in a contract, in a full time job, available now, looking for something in 6 months time – he needs to match your availability with his clients requirement.
5. 5. What you are looking for – Indicate where you will work in terms of geographical location.  Again, this needs to match his clients requirement.  Also, say what your minimum day rate is – most jobs are listed as “Market Rate” – but he needs to know what you would accept.
6. Contact Details – Finally, make his life easy.  Include a telephone number that he can contact you on – mobile is best.

What to Take Away from all of this

In a nutshell,  make the cover email specific to the role.  If you are applying through an on-line contract search system, NEVER use the option for a standard cover letter – this is what most people use, it does not cover the points above, and it will mean that your CV will end up in the recycle bin.

“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”
John F. Kennedy

I was looking at some trends recently for the self employed, and there has been a sharp increase in the weight of IT Workers, Americans and in particular, freelancers throughout the world.

Maybe it’s because we are all so busy working that we catch quick (but unhealthy) meals, or we don’t have time to exercise, or maybe it just goes with the territory.   However, as we all know, weight problems can lead to other problems, which can lead to the inability to work, which then leads to a lack of money.

But, I am not going to sit here and preach about getting healthy.  What I am going to do is talk about an option which may interest you… so please bear with me for just a while longer.

The World Is Stuffed Full of Secrets

What if I told you, the world was full of secret places, and hidden items – would you believe me?   What about if I told you a world-wide game of hide and seek was being played right now, very close to where you live and work?  Maybe right outside your house and office.

What about if I told you there was a way of getting a little exercise which is fun for you, fun for your family (and dog if you have one), and is not going to end up with you going down the gym or starting some major exercise regime?

Now what about if I told you its free?

Geocaching

I am talking about an activity called Geocaching.

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.   I am not talking a virtual container here – I mean a real physical box with items inside.

There are tens of millions of these boxes hidden all over the world – all hidden from people who are not playing the game.  I can guarantee if you have left the house today, you will have walked or driven past a dozen or so without realising it.

If you have a modern mobile phone (iPhone, Android or even Symbian based), there will be a free Geocaching app which uses your phones GPS to guide you in this treasure hunt.   You simply pick a nice area, follow the guide and find the hidden containers (caches).

The containers can be in woods, parks, city streets, buildings, amusement parks, near rivers – anywhere.

Why I love It

Now the reason why I love it – it gets me away from work.  My family and I will go out for an hour or so, and we will go treasure hunting.  For that hour (or eight hours if we do it on a weekend), the family get quality me time, we all get some exercise, we all enjoy the challenge and I still get to use a gadget (to play the game).

Because we are always seeking different caches, the hunts take us to places we didn’t know existed.  We have discovered new pubs (bars), restaurants, woods, countryside paths, rivers, sights, historical buildings, walks, views and even people who we would never have known about if it were not for Geocaching.  We no longer have to visit the same places over and over again.

And being away from the normal work area means I have time to think, to plan, to recharge.  All whilst getting some exercise and staying fit enough to work.

Why not give Geocaching a try?

Last month, I went on holiday to China.  It was a good holiday. It was a great holiday.  But I was puzzled about the flights to and from China.

I flew with British Airways both ways, and noticed that the plane was 25% empty.   Economy was packed – not a free seat to be had, but premium, business and first class were practically empty.   Not surprising I guess, seeing we are teetering on the brink of another recession and people are cutting back.

But what surprised me was this – why were BA not upgrading passengers?  By moving people up one or two grades, they could get more people in the plane and therefore could make more money from the flight.

What is the cost of the Upgrade?

Ok, so maybe I am being optimistic.  After all, upgrading somebody from economy to business is just throwing money away.  Isn’t it?

But hang on – what is the real cost.   The fuel used is the same.  The cost of handling the passenger and their bags are the same.  They still have to have the same number of stewards.  The plane is going there anyway.   So what are we really talking in terms of cost to BA?   A better meal?

And what about the advantages?  They can fit more people on the plane, the flight is greener (more people equals better fuel ratio per flight/person), the stewards in upper class are not so bored.

But the real advantage is that people who only ever travel economy may find what they are missing from travelling premium or business.  They may like it so much that they may decide to travel in that class in the future.  In a nutshell, it’s a great sale at minimum cost.

Can you give a free upgrade?

So with things being as hard as they are, is it worth thinking about whether you can give a free upgrade to your own customers?  If things are fine and you are over busy, then that’s all well and good.  But if you have spare time on your hands, is there something else you could offer as a free upgrade?

What about the rights to the source code, or designs, or web content?  What about the test data you produced, or access to the specifications, or some after sales support?

Of course, the customer has to know they are being upgraded for it to be worthwhile and seen as good value.  Just handing it over is not enough.   But saying, “here is the agreed delivery, and as a special treat for your business in these difficult times and as a way of saying thank you, please accept (whatever you are giving them)”.

Point out this is provided as an upgraded for this time only, and that you normally provide this service/feature/benefit as part of your premium service.

You never know, your customers may like it up there in the expensive seats and decided to fly your premium service from now on.

When it comes to selling consumer goods, companies have to invest multiple millions of pounds (and dollars) into developing new technology.   Who wants last year’s model when the next version has more buttons, more functionality, and that new technology that’s just been invented?

And with new features and new options, comes more choice.  Each item has more settings, and bigger manuals.

But this introduces a problem…

The LG 6 Mode system

Take for instance the brand new LG washing machines.  Not only do they have all your usual settings you would expect, but now you can decide for each setting, what ‘pattern’ the wash should be performed in.  You have a drop mode, a circular, a figure eight, a flip-flop and a twin rotate – all very nice.  All cutting edge.  So much better than last years model.  Yep, I will take one please.

Then comes the time to wash your clothes.  You approach the washing machine with your huge pile of socks and pants and shirts and blouses.  And the washing machine now gives you 16 different programs, each with the 8 different patterns – that’s 128 different options.

I just want a button that says “Whites”, chuck it in and be done with it.  Yes, you may want a few more buttons for ‘coloureds’, ‘bulky’ or ‘delicates’ but really – 128 choices?!?

So it looks good, has more options, and is better than last year’s model – and may sell lots, but come time to use it, the choice is just too much.

Too much choice in your proposals

When it comes to your own business, your proposals are like the washing machine.  Your potential customers come along with their big pile of problems, and they want the ‘white wash’.  Give them 128 different options – and they will go somewhere else.

People like to make a decision.  They do like a choice.  BUT, they like a choice of A, B or C.  Give them a choice of A1 to Z99 and its too much – everything gets confused, there is too much choice.  They will go elsewhere where the options allow them to select from the A, B or C.

Of course, you can add choice in your proposals, but the choice can be done with ‘further discussion’.

“Here is my proposal”, you can say,  “with all the parts detailed as per my recommendation on our discussion.  However”, you can continue, “the items marked have other options if you are not happy and I would be happy to meet to discuss them if my suggestion is not in line with your own thinking.”

Isn’t that better than a proposal with 128 different choices and options?

On Wednesday last week, I produced 32 hours worth of coding output.  But unlike my reckless younger self, I did not have to put in an ‘all nighter’ or work two days flat without a break (I was known to do both when I was 18).  No, on this particular Wednesday, I got out of bed at 7am, started work, finished at a little before 4:40pm, and yet had produced 32 hours worth of code.

I had done this through Evernote.   I have talked about Evernote before, but thought I would share how I use this marvel of technology.

Ripping Apart Projects with Evernote

Whenever I complete a project for a customer, I add 3 or 4 hours of project time into my plans.  When the project is delivered, just before I file it away to my document storage system, I then rip it apart.  I run through all of the code I have produced, looking for the ‘clever stuff’ – code that does a particular function, or overcomes a problem, or is just generally useful.

All these bits of code then get copied to Evernote in one of a dozen different areas.  I have areas for VB.NET, C#.net, SQL scripts, SQL tricks, DOS commands, VBA, VBS, and a host of others.  Sometimes I copy 3 or 4 lines of code, sometimes its entire routines, sometimes whole files.   Each gets a good title of what it is it does.

How I worked 32 hours

So on this particular Wednesday, I thought as an experiment I would list what I was going to do, and how long it would take me to code from scratch.  Then I coded it in my usual way – coding some of it by hand, but finding large blocks already coded in Evernote, and i just copy, paste and tweak.   I like to think of myself as a bit of a Frankenstein of a coder.

The result is that in a little over 7 hours or work time, I had coded what I estimated would have taken me 32-34 hours by hand.   And of course there is the bonus – the copied code has already been used, therefore tested, therefore less bugs when reused, therefore less testing needed.

So I worked 7 hours, the code should have taken 32 hours; what do you think the customer got billed, 7 or 32 hours?  Who do you think got the difference in to their bank account?

Why Evernote?

All the tools I use (such as Visual Studio) have their own snippet catalogue systems, and I could use those.  So why do I use Evernote?  Simple – portability.   I can see my notes on my PC, on my phone, on my tablet, and at a customer site.  It’s all searchable, all findable, quick, easy and free.

Bless you Evernote for making me more productive, and allowing me to bill more than I could possibly work.

Just call me Professor Frankenstein.

I don’t know about you, but the hardest thing for me about being an independent freelancer is the gap between projects.  At least when you work in a ‘normal job’ with a boss, it is their responsibility to bring in the customers, and make sure that every day, there is something to do.  When you work for yourself, those gaps between projects can sometimes seem bigger than the grand canyon.

Even though the years of freelancing experience has allowed be to become accustomed to them, I still find it hard when one gig finishes, and you wait for the next to start.  The slow time can sometimes make the self doubt and worry creep in, and make you start to look at the vacancy ads at the back of papers.

If you ever find yourself facing the abyss of slow time between work, can I present my list of 5 ways to get through The Gap Between Projects:

• Know you are all right – the most important thing for the slow times and gaps is money management.  Knowing that you have however many months of cash behind you can remove a lot of the panic.  If you have saved as you earned, then you should have a cash reserve behind you (tell me you didn’t spent it all!).   As always, a good accounting tool such as Freeagent can help tell you the real situation.  And once your figures are in order, project forward using cash flow analysis to see exactly when the cash will run out.
• Small Actions – Next, take the time to complete all the small stuff.  All the stuff you put off when you were working 24 hours a day on projects.  Get up to date on the filing, the scanning, the organising, the record keeping, the sorting out of the rubbish that should have been thrown.  It will help you feel more productive and will give you a healthy efficient environment for when the next project starts.
• Marketing – Whilst doing your money management and small action jobs, mix in the marketing.  A clever marketing person I know once told me that between jobs, its very easy to panic and throw lots of money in desperate measures (such as sending out 10,000 mail shots to local companies).  She advised small steady steps.   Maybe look at a small bid adwords campaign, or drafting 3 or 4 letters a day.  Constant, steady, controlled and cost-effective marketing is what wins the day.
• Take Some Me Time – What about taking some You (or Me) time?  If you know a project is coming to an end soon, and there is going to be a delay between projects, why not schedule a short trip somewhere?  The money management and cash flow will tell you if you can afford it, and whether you are looking at a walking holiday close to home, or a around the world cruise.
• Skill Refresh – Take time to learn or refresh some skills.   I recently had 3 or 4 days between projects, so I decided to organise all my filing, install SharePoint, and learn how to use it (through one of those learn in 30 days books).  It had four outcomes; I learnt a new skill (how to program a SharePoint portal), I had a better filing system, my system makes me more productive in my next project, and my time was taken up – I didn’t sit around wondering what to do.

If you plan and organise things right, sometimes those gaps between projects can be the break that you need.