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I must be crazy

splinter.com.au

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Re: I must be crazy

#91

Post by mikeryan »

cageface wrote: post #67
patio11 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain exactly what about the service delivered is different with you living in Vietnam versus you living in, I don't know, Central Japan? Or, for that matter, living in whatever "One town too far to come into the office in San Francisco" is? I mean, sure, you have a cost of living which will let you attempt to compete on price for the worst projects from the worst customers, but why not just deliver desirab…

I figure the awkward time zone difference for most U.S. clients has to count for some kind of haircut. But your point is well taken. If I do decide to shift my focus from my own products to consulting I'm not going to do it at too high a discount.

I figure the awkward time zone difference for most U.S. clients has to count for some kind of haircut.

To be fair I hire a lot of developers on a contract basis. If you were in Vietnam (which is pretty much always off when we're on in SF) I would expect a discount. If I'm paying SF rates I'd rather have you in SF. There's a very real communication and feedback loop in design and dev that is difficult to deal with when folks are on the other side of the world. (Heck I expect a developer in Cleveland to be less expensive then one in SF)

All that being said, and to Patrick's point. One thing I learned running a consultancy was to never assume someone is looking for a less expensive solution. Once we stopped doing this and started charging what we felt we were worth, a lot of our cash flow issues started magically clearing up.

Re: I must be crazy

#92

Post by LanceJones »

GFischer wrote: post #86
LanceJones wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you don't know how to sell yourself, freelancers (and businesses!) compete based on price. It's the "obvious" choice but it wrongly assumes that's how potential customers make their purchase decisions. EDIT (additional context): When my wife quit her job at Intuit to start Copy Hackers, she also had to figure out how much to charge for her freelance copywriting work. After some investigation, she found that ther…

But did she get that business from elance or from other contacts? I signed up for elance, looked at a few projects, and found myself seriously undercut (and I don't want to compromise on quality or bid on projects over my head). If I do get some projects at what I believe is a correct market rate (and it's not very high), it probably won't be thanks to elance (which looks like a great website, don't get me wrong).

She got clients through other means... primarily by writing e-books that demonstrate her value and expertise. The e-books serve as a sales tool for her freelance services -- but they also generate a nice monthly income.

Joanna (my wife) stays far away from sites like eLance, because those tend to be the places where cost-conscious people go to find freelancers. The heavy focus on pricing (by both buyers and sellers) on eLance makes it challenging to sell yourself based on other benefits (like writing copy that actually converts).

Re: I must be crazy

#93

Post by nodemaker »

If you are crazy then I must be batshit insane!

I left my moderately paying (but extremely boring) job in Virginia and moved back to India few months ago and I am making apps full time. Unlike you I was'nt making anything when I started.

Life in a big city in the US and India are so different that initially I was in a "wtf did I just do" phase but I kept going. Recently I started selling my hacker news app (http://www.hackerno.de ) for $$$ and things are looking better now. Even my parents have stopped asking me to get a job!

The thing that sucked most about this whole experience is undoubtedly Xcode. Your life depends on it and it will crash all the effin time!

Re: I must be crazy

#94

Post by whileonebegin »

davidw wrote: post #4

I seem to recall that patio11 built BCC up in his spare time before making the leap. In other words, grab the next vine before you let go of the last one...

Jungle Hunt is a great game. I have it on my arcade. I never thought of it as a life lesson before. Hm.

Re: I must be crazy

#95

Post by larrys »

LanceJones wrote: post #70
patio11 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain exactly what about the service delivered is different with you living in Vietnam versus you living in, I don't know, Central Japan? Or, for that matter, living in whatever "One town too far to come into the office in San Francisco" is? I mean, sure, you have a cost of living which will let you attempt to compete on price for the worst projects from the worst customers, but why not just deliver desirab…

When you don't know how to sell yourself, freelancers (and businesses!) compete based on price. It's the "obvious" choice but it wrongly assumes that's how potential customers make their purchase decisions. EDIT (additional context): When my wife quit her job at Intuit to start Copy Hackers, she also had to figure out how much to charge for her freelance copywriting work. After some investigation, she found that ther…

"she found that there are writers on eLance who charge $10 for an entire blog post and $20 for a press release."

If you are selling something on a small scale (such as what your wife is doing) it's a wrong assumption to think that everyone knows the going rate for something in the marketplace. People overpay for products and services all the time because of convenience, FUD, or simply not knowing what a typical price in the marketplace is. Sometimes of course they also infer quality into pricing thinking that it is either inferior or that there must be some catch to low pricing as well. While at a certain point (large numbers) you can get hurt, at a smaller level it is not as much of an issue.

"based on the value they would generate for her consulting clients"

Agree. That is the key in many cases to the question of "what to charge" for something (once again it definitely depends on the scale of what you are doing obviously).

Re: I must be crazy

#96

Post by typicalrunt »

chubs wrote: post #16
bhousel wrote: post #5

>I’m going to make, market, and hustle my iPhone apps like my life depends on it Why can't I find a link or description to them anywhere in your post? I’m the breadwinner with a wife and daughter to support, My wife is due to have our second child in 8 weeks, We’re currently building a house, and the builder’s bills will soon arrive I may be the only person to say it, but I don't think quitting your day job at this t…

You're totally right. And also, some have pointed out (quite correctly) that amy and patrick recommend starting out on the side, so let me explain further: * I have enough savings to last a few months if i sell my motorbike * I'm reasonably well connected and, if all goes badly, getting an ios contract/job in a few months time won't be hard * I already have a dozen apps on the app store, bringing in between $100-$150…

enough savings to last a few months [IF] i sell my motorbike [emphasis mine]

This is a scary scenario. If you are starting out with no revenue, a few months can come and go very quickly. I like to set a runway of 1 year of income for myself. That being said, I peg my income to the bare minimum I need my family to survive on. Everything after that is just profit and is saved.

Anything can happen in 3 months that will cost you a lot of unplanned money. It's really only one season in a year, and things change so quickly nowadays that you can't possibly prepare for every bad event.

If you need to sell your motorbike in order to give yourself some extra savings to live on, that's even worse. Get yourself some more money so that you don't have to consider cutting into flesh just to trim fat.

Re: I must be crazy

#97

Post by cageface »

nodemaker wrote: post #93

If you are crazy then I must be batshit insane! I left my moderately paying (but extremely boring) job in Virginia and moved back to India few months ago and I am making apps full time. Unlike you I was'nt making anything when I started. Life in a big city in the US and India are so different that initially I was in a "wtf did I just do" phase but I kept going. Recently I started selling my hacker news app ( http://w…

AppCode is the cure for your Xcode frustrations.

Re: I must be crazy

#98

Post by bignoggins »

dpcan wrote: post #90
bignoggins wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The What's Hot list is useless since it's not on the device. It's likely algorithmic as well. The only list that matters is the curated featured list on the device.

The "What's Hot" list is on the device. When you go to the Featured apps, it's a gray button at the top.

that's the global list, but the per category list that OP was talking about is on iTunes desktop only. So pretty much worthless.

Re: I must be crazy

#100

Post by rheide »

I was about to write "You must be an idiot". Then I read your reasons for quitting and understood completely. My compliments, sir.
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