It was 2005, the first time the thought occured to me.   I was buying a coffee-and-paper at my local BP.  I was asked to present some ID.  It was again, for my protection.   I said, “golly, do you have a rash of people committing bank fraud $5 bucks at a time?” Another woman made me trapse out to my car to secure my ID for my purchase of $21 bucks.   This was back in the willy nilly lassiez faire days in 2005, remember, when houses sold at an average of 4 hours on the market, and banks were lining up to give pan handlers good terms on a loan.

Both times, I was given some sort of, “well, it’s for your protection” deal.   As if I was being done this big favor by this chick that had asked for my ID.  “Oh, you claim it’s for my protection?  Then I can’t say shit, can I.  Because it was for me. And since you were helping me…I can’t say anything.”   Magnanimous, she was, helping me be protected from fraud.   She was even instilling fear.    But really, in the wake of the bailout hand over of our labor to the banking interests, does it seem strange that our society is giving us obedience tests in preparation for the government to fill more space and usurp more power from us?

I might be alone (I’m not, check the video) in thinking that the reason we switched to check cards from checks was to get more convenience and speed.   We’d be insulated from having to check ID because the vendors would know the funds were there.   My thinking now was that it was to centralize transactions through one chokepoint that can be easily watched.   The inconvenience of cash puts more power into the hands of fewer people who can wipe out billions without much of a problem.

Remember this:

My thought now is that these obedience tests are to weaken our defenses and get us ready for ‘papers please,’ type security tests..that no longer raise our ire or outrage.   I don’t think that the government itself is in on the deal, I just think that it’s a tool best used and manipulated by those that would like to enslave us.   A decent, free man who loves his life has no concept of gettting the government  While fraud and identity theft are a big spectre, there are lots of times when we gird ourselves against risk with a cure that is of dubious benefit.

-booster seats.

-seat belts (click it or ticket has done more to make me not have seatbelts than anything else).

-Friggin’ texas forced immunizations

-unlawful gambling.  GAMBLING.

We’re reminded time and again how we need the gov’t to protect us.  They are doing this for our benefit, citizens, so you have to obey, obey obey.   I don’t think that there’s a global conspiracy.  I may be naive.  I think that though, every man, in every position of power he is in has as part of his nature, the tendency to seek to get others to obey.   The government is an all to willing accomplice, because the nature of leviathan is that it grows to consume men.

As for a ‘practical’ response to this type of stuff, without getting to ‘black hellicoptery’ or ‘new world order-y’  I don’t know really what the answer is.   I know that every time I do something and make something cool, it increases the amount of energy that Leviathan has to capture.  I believe we can out grow and outpace Leviathan, and win by out hustling it.

This ends the black helicopter, tinfoil hatted rants of CJ.  On to your regularly scheduled programming about Goals, God, Freelancing, & Weight Loss.

I really, really like Heap and Torch, but they need a level of polish that they don’t currently have. Those applications are so tauntingly close to perfect in many ways that it’s hard to skip them, but they’re not ready yet. Torch particularly lags behind heap in what it can do…so I have to use something else because I have to have software that just simply works. I predict though, that if the current usability issues can be solved, that Heap + Torch will be world-beatingly good. An email based ecosystem rules. I just don’t happen to agree with the way that they perceive to do lists at present.

And Basecamp is oxygen simple. I don’t like the way that it perceives due days, and the lack of ability to globally assign all due dates in a list to some later date. But it’s easy enough to use, and I’m somewhat over my hotkey bias. The hotkey bias was based on the fact that I used a celeron based dying, windows PC, and a miss click with my mouse would cause me to be in some neverland for 15 minutes.

But what I wanted to write about today was process stuff. More aptly, designing a pre-and post project checklist that gets you where you’re going and ensures your company learns and grows and gets more valuable over time. Anyway, here is the current ‘post project’ wrap up that we’ll do on each project:

• final QC Review: spelling, all bullet points and loose code tied down.
• Change any passwords shared externally and record passwords
• Evaluate team members based on: hitting deadlines, communication
• Evaluate areas where we can improve on future projects.
• Thank all team members for participation and share evaluation
• see if there are further projects that we can help with.
• solicit & record feedback from team members on how to improve process
• look at things that were in this spec that can be added to general templates.
• Look to see if any opportunities for mutual profit exist as a result of this project.
• Gain client testimonial whenever possible. If not possible, ask what we’d have to earn
• to get one.
• Send all files to client in a zip file for their records and future use.
• Create Project P+L.
• Do we have any permanent resources in project that are reusable?
• Add resources to code library.
• Blog Project case study: Start Date, Due Date, Done Date, Team Members, Client
• Happy?

This is not exhaustive, and we don’t want to be plagued with mission creep. my guess is that this list will get bigger for a while and then get really small. But it’s what to think about because when we do a project, we must get better at our jobs, each time.

There is a perverse incentive that programmers (who need jobs) to be sluggish with projects. By saying that someone doesn’t intend to work somewhere very long, it eliminates that. By getting world class people that are using this stuff to fund and further their careers (in lieu of people that can’t get jobs elsewhere), we’re saying: hey, we’re going to improve your processes and systems, we’re leaving, and we’re unbiased because, while we’ll honor your money, we’re not in it to siphon money from you to us. We’re here to kick ass and make you better, and we’ll be gone. We hope to be invited back, but, a long term thing just isn’t us. Oh, yeah, and we’re not really into feature creep, we want to give you kick ass work quickly.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at with this thing, and I am actually executing and funding it so we’ll break out and start networking and getting customers.

Permissin Marketing By Seth Goden.   Still Worth Reading.  Gist is here.

More to come.

Than being one of the people laid off in the financial crisis.

But it takes renewal, and finding renewal is hard for me (and truthfully for everyone).   Where do you seek it?  Some folks find God, some take a mistress, and some folks buy a shiny red Corvette, the official sports car of aging baby boomer douchebags.   The renewal it takes to keep your mind agile when marketers fill every waking moment with as much as they can is not insignificant. Finding time to be still , to clear your head of thoguhts is ferociously difficult.

Everyone battles you when you want to create something cool.  Your peers aren’t on the path so they say dismissive and belittling htings and look askance at you.   Your parents want you to have a good job.   Your spouse and you have baggage if you’ve failed at anything.   So how do you stay focused, practiced and sharp?  There is resistance, and there ARE ready made excuses for failing.

I remember songs and smells and sites and days from my youth.  I love fall because it reminds me of going to Pittsburgh, GW, and Otterbein.  Three times of intense and fun renewal–peak experiences for sure.  I love midsummer because it’s when I started dating Heather…within weeks it was established that this was the last first date that either of us would have.   And I remember winter, mostly being a college guy visiting home, taking a drive on 70 to Piqua,

Those are fine memories, and all of ‘em are part of me.   I don’t want to live in the past, really.  (Cue Jethro Tull).   I want to have the new peak experiences.  When I joined the campaign, that was what I was seeking, new things to energize and renew me, and to sustain me.   It’s why I gravitate towards finite projects in lieu of long term stability.   I get the angst and darkness of George Bailey.   Needing to matter, and having wanderlust all at once.

How do you find the renweal/euphoria/excitement/fear…?

• One of the ways that a writer can maintain her integrity is by stressing quality over other factors. When I bid on SEO jobs, I tell clients up front that my main focus is quality, authoritative writing, and that sometimes SEO takes a back seat. If the client doesn’t like it, they hire someone else.
• Here’s a dirty little secret about SEO: More often than not, though, quality writing converts much better than poorly-written SEO writing. Yes, you have to be able to rank well in search engines, but if you don’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re,” not many people are going to buy from you.
• The good news on this front is that the search engine algorithms have changed over time to be much more friendly to well-written content. Limits on keyword density are an important part of that equation, and the days of poorly-written SEO content may well be over.

About right, I think. More to come, as is always the case.

In another note, there is something seriously wonky going down with my feeds. Some plugin is putting a hurting on me, inserting oddbal charachters all over the place:

?

Wordpress is wonderful, but we need to not have issues like this. I’m guessing it’s the rich text editor.

“This is really shocking news as I had no idea he was gay,” read a comment posted by “Sheridansq.” “And now I have to deal with this. I am not sure what to say to people who know I was a fan. … I didn’t go to work today and am not answering the telephone.”

I mean, fine. I can take a hall pass if you were in the .001% of the people that thought that that man was straight. I get it. Tooth faeries and easter bunnies and whatnot. But missing work because a gay star is gay?

AH MAZING

Ultimately, I want the math to work something like this:

-15-20% to project manager.
-15-20% of revs to salesperson.
-35-45% of revs to freelancer
-20-25% to the ‘house.’

I don’t want ‘business advice’ from a lawyer (anyone willing to sit through law school for three years is probably not going to be a kindred spirit), but I see things as needing to address:

Freelancers:

1. Do they agree to work or not to work with the companies in mind? (i.e. some type of noncompete/buyout)
2. If they want a permanent job and want to cut me out, what is the $ figure that I need ($20,00 seems about right)
3. Do they get to resolicit the client, or must it ‘run through me?
4. If they take the ball and are acting PMs, what additional comp?
5. Do I run everything through my domain?
6. What do I do when they refer me another freelancer that is of sufficient quality? (not really a pertinent question that has to do with the agreement).
7. Bonuses: What if they are early? On time? Late?
   • An explicit bonus structure and presumption that they are early.
8. Rush fees: If the client requests a rush…what then?
9. Default. If client defaults, what then? (We probably pay 60% of anticipated revenue upfront).
10. If freelancer defaults, what are our penalties?
11. What about revisions? We should price assuming a reasonable amount.
12. Subcontracting. Can a freelancer subcontract (probably yes, but we have to be fanatical about standards).
13. Consulting: are they free to help clients, or are they just there as turks?
14. What kind of reporting is required/status updates?
15. What is the penalty for not delivering on time?
16. What E&O are they required to carry?
17. What do we do if they learn that they can’t complete the project?
18. Do we own the code?
    • Yes.
19. For reuse only or for general use?
20. Does freelancer get right of refusal for projects from same client?
    • Yes, and a bonus; we charge the client extra for this.
21. What if the client is “super happy” when we run the scheduling?

I don’t know that this is exhaustive, but if we implement a process that looks for problems and adds stuff to an agreement (remembering to write down stuff when there’s even a vague feeling of tension). There are some things that I want to do to honor freelancers and the contributions they make, and there’s obvious & natural tension between this and that.

Otherwise, things are going well. My goal is then to bill about $17,500/week of which I would collect 20-45% of. I need a competent project manager.

Onward.

I used to see money as finite, and something that ended at a specific time. The money from this ($closing) goes to pay that ($bill). So if I had a windfall, my mind would ‘prespend’ it in my mind. And consequently, I had my bills paid, but I never had the reserves that you want. I saw money as something that was abundant, but finite, or linear. Money was a drug. No flow. And in the mortgage business, I’d know that I was going to have significant money, and for all my life, I’d manufacture (unnecessary) purchases or services that had to be bought[1].

And that’s no way to get wealthy, because the real secret is stuff is clutter, and almost all of it is unnecessary, and almost all of it leads to dissipation. Even magazines telling you to ‘simplify’ like ‘Real Simple,’ suggest that you buy more stuff to do so. Diminishing returns.

Having the IRS’s boot on your neck makes you adapt in ways that you wouldn’t otherwise. You learn to do without, and you can still have peak experiences…without quality cashflow. I learned to manufacture income without the help of vendors or expensive systems.

This is a long way to say that money doesn’t lead. It’s a cliche, but you have to create something beyond money. In Built To Last, Jim Collins says that money isn’t the purpose of any viable business. It’s necessary as oxygen, but men don’t live simply to breathe, we live to create and to extend our horizons. Money doesn’t lead. It follows.

The Owens 2008 campaign was started with the premise that “once we get money, things will rock” (things ARE rocking by the way without near enough money). The real premise shoulda been ‘things are rocking.’ We wanted to raise money to get the message out, when we shoulda thought “How can we kick ass without raising much money.” [honk and wave, baby] The candidate (small ‘l’ libertarian constitutionalist) is killer. I’m proud to be able to work with him if even in the limited role. But we all made a mistake and thought of money as a solution to the problem. Money is part of what’s necessary, but waiting on it to come is insane. And this campaign taught me that lesson again. [[note: there is still time to turn it around if I will]].

Deepak Chopra says [paraphrasing] that when you chase money, it runs away, but when you chase wisdom, money gets jealous and chases you. Some men can chase money successfully. These are the same douchebags that only exist for it, and are slaves to it. The people that rocked the subprime crisis, and the floor traders in New York. The folks that want to get over on anyone that they can. It’s not that I’m more moral, it’s that I can’t exist with that kind of stress and tension. Money is generally nothing to yell about.

Create The Vision First

What I am creating is different–I’ll be tracking numbers, because numbers tell a story (and as Drucker says, what’s tracked gets better). I’m bringing people together: Salespeople, Freelancers, Project Managers, Companies. I’m creating an ultralight, ultra fast way of getting things accomplished. There will be little to nothing ‘new’ from what I’m making, except for the eye that I have on further automating this project.

Salespeople always want something novel and ‘best of breed’ to sell. I am interested in selling ultra-talented freelancers to great companies. I don’t want to be a ‘placement service,’ though I’ll need a release valve for that sort of idea. I want to be a service provider with iterated small accounts.

Project Managers: Need work and need to be able to find meaningful jobs that eventually end. The incentive to ‘always extend the scope,’ in order to preserve an income or job. We want to eliminate that by having short, fulfilling projects.

Freelancers: are the core; honoring the people that are saying ‘screw you’ to being kept citizens is what made me create LOST and is as close to a raison d’ete as I have. The people that are adding value need to be treated like it, and the work and value added, not the ‘time spent,’ are the key metrics of this. The ‘time spent’ ethos that Odesk (and sadly, increasingly edesk) has is another control and obedience test. Insidious, whatever force creates obedience tests all over.

Companies: I love me some capitalism, and getting a channel for Companies to access the elite geniuses that are already in existence

Creating something that automates that, that isn’t ‘elance’ or ‘odesk’ but honors quality people, companies, salespeople & PMs is/can be my ‘contribution to the body.’

[ [1] a side note: how many things did I buy that would pay for themselves with just a closing…I should post on the Arrogance of Vendors because Greg Swann is right: nonpractitioners have the most snidely condescending attitude towards practitioners…i.e. you’re stupid if you reject our service]]