That brings me to this past weekend. I came to realize what a joy it is to have good bosses but not just that, what a joy it is to work with good people at good companies. I do freelance for a certain company. It is a very small shop. And the CEO (the guy) is an absolutely fantastic guy with whom one can work. He's a very straightforward feller, he has always been honest (OK, I guess if he isn't, I wouldn't know, right, ha!) and has always been open about how things are going. I have worked with him for a few years now and it has definitely spoiled me. There is that fear in me that taking on additional clients will necessarily bring on more friction. The prospect reminds me of renting your house. Interview, vet and be willing to walk away (not choose a renter).
Interviewing and Vetting
A real estate friend said renting isn't that bad, you just have to know to whom you are renting. I suppose that actually applies to way more than just renting, but that strikes me as sage advice here as well. As a freelancer, I am just as much interviewing a client as a client is interviewing me. When talking to someone about a contract, etc., it is so important to ask more than just the basic what is the app/site/etc., what is the language, time frame, etc. Living in corporate America, I get to live all of the other things that can make a contractor's life a bit, um, painful. So while it would be impossible to know all of the variables that would impact the job (and prospective hiring folks may not even want to divulge some of it), it is good to ask a few questions like (but not limited to)...- Who is the project lead versus who makes the final decisions versus who has the budget pen?
- How many groups have input on the project?
- If possible, ask the groups what role they see they play then match to the previous question.
- Is there a conflict between any of the groups as to the solution or is everyone on board (probably something that won't come out right at the beginning, unfortunately)?
- Are there competing internal solutions or is this replacing a home grown solution?
There are thousands of others, but things like this are what I feel like we should say (as the corporate America entity) when hiring a contractor/consultant. We don't, but hey, no one has really asked, either.
Walking Away
The other piece of that is being willing to walk away. I have sat with quite a few folks who freelance for a living or do work on the side at least. Many (to most?) of them have some type of personal policy in place to be willing to say no to a contract or gig even if it would be lucrative (there's a whole little thing about "something being too good to be true usually is" in there, too). That is a tough policy to keep in place, mind you, when dollars get thin. Much as Dave Ramsey would say (sorry for the horrible paraphrase), desperate people make stupid decisions and broke people are too often desperate. Not really anything sage to guide on that one, I guess, except I should try to manage my money well.In the end, I suppose this is just like Solomon says. Nothing new under the sun. Likely the same notes and thoughts thousands of others have put in thousands of books and blogs. But it's good to put it on "paper" to remind myself of this. And to flesh out as time goes on.
