[thechat] I want a new job!

Joel D Canfield joel at streamliine.com
Thu May 24 15:47:42 CDT 2007


> Joel
> I would love to work for myself 

That's the important part; the rest is just 'opportunity' ;)

> but the problem I have always faced is twofold...
> 
> 1. When I first started this as a hobby I wanted to do work 
> for small bands 

What's the difference between a musician and large pizza? The pizza can
feed a family of four.

Musicians rarely have money. They're not your target market to start
out. Small but growing businesses are it.

I'll conduct my "why MySpace is wrong" diatribe another time . . .

> 2. I work away from home when I'm printing and cannot always 
> deal with problems as they arise.

Partner with someone who can? 

Or, just set realistic expectations with your clients up front?

When I started my current self-employment gig, I was working full time.
I let my clients know that I had a real job, but that I would do
everything in my power to give them the service they deserved.
Fortunately, my wife is SuperAdmin, and handles phone calls for all my
businesses and basic web dev, so I had help, but my clients were very
cooperative when I set realistic expectations *and met or exceeded them
every single time.* I had no experiences of clients being unhappy about
waiting until I was available to get something done. It takes judgment
and excellent communication skills, but business is about networking
more than anything else. Did I already say that? ;)

joel



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