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Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

quicksprout.com

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Re: Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

#2

Post by etherael »

on the other hand, you have a lot more hit and miss with the small to medium business market, they're more likely to not pay at all or simply drop an entire project on a whim without having to have a reason that they can peddle to the committee in charge of the project, at the same time they're only a step removed from the general public attitude of "My cousin could make it for 800$, what can you add to the equation?" and tend to be far more budget sensitive than their larger counterparts.

That said, the article does make some good points.

Re: Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

#3

Post by webtickle »

etherael wrote: post #2

on the other hand, you have a lot more hit and miss with the small to medium business market, they're more likely to not pay at all or simply drop an entire project on a whim without having to have a reason that they can peddle to the committee in charge of the project, at the same time they're only a step removed from the general public attitude of "My cousin could make it for 800$, what can you add to the equation?…

What about the misses you get when working with Fortune 500 companies? Those misses can really hurt a company.

Re: Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

#4

Post by jsackmann »

One of my companies works with sports franchises--not Fortune 500, but pretty substantial operations. This really hit home for me:

"You’ll be a bitch – whether you end up getting paid a lot or a little from a big company, you’ll be their bitch. They’ll expect a lot from you, and in most cases you’ll end up doing more work than what was listed out in your contract."

Now, if you stand up for yourself from the get-go, you can avoid that last part most of the time. But certainly, you can be treated differently than larger operations. They get the benefit of dealing with decision-makers (me) instead of some lackey, and they will often take advantage of that.

(But...not only YMMV, but MyMMV. I've got clients who try to make me their bitch, and I've got clients who worship the ground I walk on.)

Re: Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

#6

Post by rgrieselhuber »

etherael wrote: post #2

on the other hand, you have a lot more hit and miss with the small to medium business market, they're more likely to not pay at all or simply drop an entire project on a whim without having to have a reason that they can peddle to the committee in charge of the project, at the same time they're only a step removed from the general public attitude of "My cousin could make it for 800$, what can you add to the equation?…

It's primarily about spreading the risk out to many more customers, so even if this happens in a few customers, it doesn't affect your core cash flow.

Re: Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

#7

Post by unalone »

sachinag wrote: post #5

I like Neil, but there was no reason to use "fuck" when "forget" would work just as well.

It's a syllable shorter and places emphasis on the statement?

"Forget that" versus "Fuck that", beyond adding a swear, adds some energy to the sentence, which isn't a bad thing. Mind you, this was stated more eloquently (and in 2005) by 37signals, who this post is rather paraphrasing, who put it as:

"Who cares about the Fortune 500? It’s time to care about the Fortune 5,000,000."

http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/sidebusiness_software_the...

Nicer, also, because it doesn't use the obnoxious phrase "all about".

Re: Fuck the Fortune 500, It’s All About the Fortune 5,000,000

#10

Post by redorb »

jsackmann wrote: post #4

One of my companies works with sports franchises--not Fortune 500, but pretty substantial operations. This really hit home for me: "You’ll be a bitch – whether you end up getting paid a lot or a little from a big company, you’ll be their bitch. They’ll expect a lot from you, and in most cases you’ll end up doing more work than what was listed out in your contract." Now, if you stand up for yourself from the get-go, y…

I think if your client relationship is something like "either I'm a bitch or the client is my bitch" then you have a ego issue.
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