Book recommendation for several people here: Dan Kennedy's "No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs"

[John Masterson]

they despise authority to the point where they can't focus  
  on a goal.  
 
  I can point to one recent thread where folks got off posting  
  reasons why it is better to work from home than in a  
  corporate environment daily. Working from home is a loser  
  if you're goal is be to an IC and grow a business. If you're  
  not an established authority in your MARKET NICHE, don't  
  even think you can promote a business by sitting at home.  
 
  Many folks here do not have the social skills or business  
  acumen to be in business and make a profit.  
 
  Another long thread started by the poster talking about  
  business model, when in fact, he should have been 1st  
  focused on the market niche, namely size and characteristics,  
  and how to reach key decision makers.  
 
  So my real point is that many have such deep seeded  
  personality flaws that reading all how to books in the  
  world will not make a difference.  
 
  Save your money!

pm4hire,

What you are describing are not "personality flaws". They are just wrong strategies.

Lighten up.

[The Gorn]

You come in and yell like we're all supposed to just agree. You're stating "absolute" laws of physics as you see them, anyway.

Do you even intend to start a dialog? I get the idea that I'm now supposed to close the topic because pm4hire told us what we need to know.  

I posted this review to show anyone who is interested that there is a different way of looking at business, and life.

If you want to take the position that people here are not worth helping, then why post anything?

[DG9]

I'll keep doing things wrong until I get it right, not sure of another way.  That said, I do appreciate the reminder to put market niche before business model, heck it took me long enough to shift from focusing on what I wanted to produce to what someone would actually buy.  Some of us just might make it in spite of ourselves. Hope you are doing well.

[Richardk]

 

I would call this the 'getting back to basics' talk.

 

 

You want to be onsite so the client sees you working and doesn't have to wonder who you are again, when he gets your invoice. Granted that doesn't mean you have to be there every day.

 

 

Business and social skills can be learned though some are better at it than others.

 

 

I'll agree that sales needs to come first even though without code, you have nothing to sell.

 

[The Gorn]

   

You want to be onsite so the client sees you working and doesn't have to wonder who you are again, when he gets your invoice. Granted that doesn't   mean you have to be there every day.

You may be onsite because you're "told" to be onsite (effectively, a sort of temp role.)

You may be onsite in order to stay in continuous contact with management and keep your brand in the forefront. (supposedly what uber-consultants do.)

I have never really found owners or executives who cared to meet with me every day and to stay in continuous contact. As far as the value of working onsite in promoting your brand & image, being onsite all the time mainly makes you look like one of the employees.

So I can see why it is supposed to help, in the abstract. But in the modern IT workplace, people are busy and they just don't have time to gaze at the onsite consultant with warm admiration for his hands-on presence.

My client remembers me when he receives one of my invoices. I think that's plenty enough reminder that I'm out here doing his project.

[Richardk]

As a developer, it's not so important. As part of management or some business role, I think it helps.

Again it's not everyday and if you charge enough, the client will be glad that you're not there for all their internal meetings. Like you said, you're not part of the staff.

Lastly as you summed up, building your brand.

I agree that being onsite like an employee reduces you to being no more than a contractor.

[David Randolph]

It is important to be onsite - but as the sales person and not as the "techie" doing the work. So, don't be doing the work while onsite. Instead, be meeting with the top bosses giving progress reports and asking what other pain points they have.

[The Gorn]

It is important to be onsite - but as the sales person and not as the "techie" doing the work. So, don't be doing the work while onsite.   Instead, be meeting with the top bosses giving progress reports and asking what other pain points they have.

Right. I say that acting as a contracted developer, it really doesn't matter so much.

In fact, I prefer to work offsite 98% of the time and once in awhile (every few months) have a major status meeting with the client. It makes me look more like a pivot point than one of the troops coming in day to day.

[Richardk]

It is important to be onsite - but as the sales person and not as the "techie" doing the work. So, don't be doing the work while onsite.   Instead, be meeting with the top bosses giving progress reports and asking what other pain points they have.

While that's the ideal, you're also describing projects that are either small or independent. There have been many times where I wished that I could even do a part of the project offsite but couldn't.

Duplicating required databases (even a sample) and their environments was unthinkable. Having access to code libraries or repositories to work on the code was just as challenging, not to mention network access and security. Many of these large systems just were not built for independent development or access outside the building. [Not even addressing the cost of the tools - Who's going to pay for an offsite copy, you?]

Now granted, that was in the past but imagine if labor costs went to near zero in some far away land, half way around the world. If such a place existed, companies might rethink their architecture, network access and even security to tap into such cheap labor. Ah, that will never happen since I'm not allowed to even work on these systems from down the street at a remote office even if all these issues could be worked out.

No worries, I'll just keep going in since I have such a secure job.

[At companies that haven't off-shored yet, these are all still relevant issues.]