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Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

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Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#31

Post by sarciszewski »

tptacek wrote: post #24
andy_adams wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, $180/hour is phenomenal by nearly anyone's standards. Nothing wrong with pushing for higher, just don't get worked up trying to keep up with the McKenzies.

$1440/day is a decent middling daily rate. Specialize, and bear in mind that you can actually specialize in charging more .

"you can actually specialize in charging more"

Okay, there was probably a post that explained what you mean here and I missed it. How does "I cost more?" become a specialty?

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#32

Post by wglb »

mijoharas wrote: post #20
pjmorris wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're referring to the philosopher Karl Popper's notion of 'falsifiability', the idea that a claim must be possible to proven false to be admissible in a scientific theory. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability

ok, this makes lot of sense, I guess I somewhat misparsed the text. EDIT: I wonder if it counts as misreading or misunderstanding, to not notice that a word is an auto-antonym?

How is that an antonym? The point to "falsifiable" is the statement is made about an event is capable of being false, not that it is false.

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#33

Post by tptacek »

sarciszewski wrote: post #31
tptacek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$1440/day is a decent middling daily rate. Specialize, and bear in mind that you can actually specialize in charging more .

"you can actually specialize in charging more" Okay, there was probably a post that explained what you mean here and I missed it. How does "I cost more?" become a specialty?

It changes which projects you get, and alters the opportunity cost of the projects you end up spending time on.

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#34

Post by fixxer »

sarciszewski wrote: post #31
tptacek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$1440/day is a decent middling daily rate. Specialize, and bear in mind that you can actually specialize in charging more .

"you can actually specialize in charging more" Okay, there was probably a post that explained what you mean here and I missed it. How does "I cost more?" become a specialty?

I think what he means is that with higher rates, you get the luxury of domain specialization.

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#35

Post by DanielBMarkham »

sarciszewski wrote: post #31
tptacek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$1440/day is a decent middling daily rate. Specialize, and bear in mind that you can actually specialize in charging more .

"you can actually specialize in charging more" Okay, there was probably a post that explained what you mean here and I missed it. How does "I cost more?" become a specialty?

Think of it as a machine, a big funnel. Narrow your skills and experience, pump more people into the top of the funnel, increase your ability to charge more. (But of course you only get what you ask for)

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#36

Post by sarciszewski »

tptacek wrote: post #33
sarciszewski wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"you can actually specialize in charging more" Okay, there was probably a post that explained what you mean here and I missed it. How does "I cost more?" become a specialty?

It changes which projects you get, and alters the opportunity cost of the projects you end up spending time on.

This makes sense. Sort of, "If you charge more, you'll find yourself a specialist."

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#37

Post by bildung »

mijoharas wrote: post #20
pjmorris wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're referring to the philosopher Karl Popper's notion of 'falsifiability', the idea that a claim must be possible to proven false to be admissible in a scientific theory. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability

ok, this makes lot of sense, I guess I somewhat misparsed the text. EDIT: I wonder if it counts as misreading or misunderstanding, to not notice that a word is an auto-antonym?

Think about falsifiable as "veriviable"/"provable". Falsifibility in Patricks sentence stems from scientific theory. From the POV of critical rationalism a thing is never really provable because there always remains a bit of doubt whether the observed result of an action really is a result of that action and not secretly influenced by some unknown variable. But a proper theory is falsifiable, i.e. it can be proven that action did not lead to a specific result.

So think of Patricks statement as "always give concrete, measurable goals".

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#39

Post by weaksauce »

tomjen3 wrote: post #27
weaksauce wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what justification you use for a daily allowance of $1,000. Are you renting ferraris, eating fabulous lunches and dinners, and staying in a plush hotel? Or do you not mean per diem in the literal sense?

Careful, you are thinking in terms of cost plus here. Don't. If companies are willing to pay him 1000 usd per diem then he should demand 1440 and haggle from there.

I wasn't really thinking in terms of cost plus but I have never heard of a per diem being anything more than something to cover expenses while traveling. My understanding of a per diem is not meant to be a daily bonus.

If they pay it then it's all the better for the op. I was more curious how much blowback the gp has gotten on a large per diem like that and how they would go about countering it for my own personal use.

Re: Building an Empire with a Single Brick: Meet Patrick McKenzie

#40

Post by awavering »

option_greek wrote: post #18

“Brick by brick, the wall gets higher, and then suddenly, a wall.” All it takes is one brick, and the commitment to doing it again tomorrow. Wow.

Amy Hoy has a great elaboration on this strategy at https://unicornfree.com/stacking-the-bricks
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