Journal lukewarmfusion's Journal: Glorious Success 2
I'm finishing up one project, which I underbid, managed badly, and has come to frustrate me. It's almost over, though, and they're the kind of client which is hell to work with but once the project is done they're evangelists for your company. At the very least, I got paid a little and learned a lot.
I had a meeting on Tuesday which revealed a project much much larger than I originally expected. It's nowhere near the largest project I've done, but it's complicated enough that I'd need to do a lot more research before quoting it. During the meeting, their budget man comes in to ask me how much it will cost so he can get grants to cover it (they're a non-profit). Thinking quick, I told him we'd have to come up with a full proposal before committing to anything... so we would submit a contract for the Design and Specification phase. That would allow us to get paid for creating the proposal. I've found that the worst rejections come after you spend a ridiculous amount of time on the proposal (because you're doing things right) and then hearing that "Sorry, we've decided to hold off or do it internally."
I'm not a fan of the standard bid model anyway, because not all developers are the same - especially when it comes to the web. So I gave the budget man a rough range, which he didn't think was unreasonable, and then told him I'd charge him a certain amount to create the proposal. He said that would be fine. This is great news, because then I can take my time and really set it up the way it should be...without risking a complete loss of my time.
Finally, I landed a big project this week. My partner and I headed out to Chicago to meet with a client whose site was just launched. They are extremely happy with our work and have asked us about some other services - SEO, online marketing consulting, and continued management of the accounts. We put together a really solid proposal and presented it to the CEO, President, and lead salesman. It was a bit intimidating to sit across from a man who leads a $100 million company, but things went very well - by the end they shook our hands and agreed to the preliminary term we recommended. If things go well, we'll see a lot of money for this one. If not, we've still paid the bills for a while. I have no doubt that we can make this work.
There are so many clients, projects, contracts, meetings, etc. to manage right now that I am starting to become more confident in our chances. When we put on the suits and start pitching, you can tell that they're sizing us up - and they're satisfied. One of my clients recently told me that "people want to be associated with success, and a lot of the time that means being around success."
I'm starting to realize that our confidence shows, it looks like success, and that means people want to work with us. And that's exciting for our company.
Congrats! (Score:2)
Cheers!
Re:Congrats! (Score:2)
My brother intends to start a [different kind of] business a few years after he graduates from college. I'd like to have some documentation of the stuff I went through (good and bad) to give him a chance to learn from my experience. If you can benefit from this - even on an entertainment l