On a related note, Jonathan also interviewed Shane on his podcast, Career Renegades Profiles.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our first complete iPhone app: “Surf“. Working in conjunction with WaveWatch.com, we’ve developed an iPhone app for surfers. The app features the first ever iPhone streaming surf cams, an intuitive user interface for reviewing current conditions as well as 6-day forecasts.  Surf also features:

• Tide
• Swell & Surf
• Wind
• Sunrise, Sunset
• Lunar Phases
• Weather Conditions

For more information or to download the app, visit the tunes store:
http://iphone.wavewatch.com/download

We’d like to thank some folks in particular for helping make this happen:

Aaron Spjut is the man!  He single-handedly wrote this entire app!

Anthony Ghiglia offered his super beautiful loading screen photographs. 

Rafael Patterson, Brand Manager at WaveWatch.com, is the man at WW that made this happen.

Jens Rasmussen, contractor at WaveWatch.com, ensured that all our API needs were handled.

Jeffrey Frederick set us up with the worlds first Cruise Control Continuous Integration system for iphone development, thus allowing us to have constant on builds of the app on hand and ready for testing.

None of this is possible without the friendly giant with eyes all over the world: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Charlie Fox for his support navigating the world of meteorology and wave prediction.

Brandon Jones and Reid Peifer for their design support.

The Santa Cruz Geeks over at NextSpace gave us great marketing guidance to get this app launched.

David-Michel Davies, Webby Awards Executive Director, writes:

As a result of the exceptional quality of submissions this year, the Academy has recognized outstanding entries as Official Honorees alongside our Nominees and Winners. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15% of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement. With nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and over 60 countries, this is an outstanding accomplishment for you and your team.

Freelance Camp Santa Cruz 2008 was exceptional, emotionally charged and a total win for our local community. The amount of interaction and support that came out of that event had a direct impact on the rebirth of the freelance / tech community that is rapidly growing in Santa Cruz today. It was a catalyst. If you are involved in the local community, or wish you were, I cannot imagine a more powerful way to get involved. No bar camp in your town yet? Grab some people and start one.

Off the wings of that event, I received an email from a freelancer in Texas who wanted to run his own freelance bar camp and so was born freelancecamp San Antonio. I still see blog posts appearing about it 2 months after it happened. In the pipeline: Freelance camp Miami 2009, Houston 2009 and Santa Cruz 2009 (Go sign up). I am starting a small series of posts on tips and tricks I have picked up running this event. I will probably also post these to the new freelancecamp.org website once we finish the wordpress mu build (anyone want to lend me a hand?).

Finding Sponsors: A quick idea list

First figure out how much you need and what kind of money you are comfortable asking for. It cost me just over 3k to run the event last year with a free venue (Thank you Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History) and 150 attendees. That covered breakfast, lunch, t-shirts, internet, a phat after party (Thank you local Heineken distributor for sponsoring and throwing down beer) and a pile of office supplies. I was asking for $250 per sponsor either in cash or in kind. We ended up with 17 sponsors in order to get the event accomplished.

This year, I expect to have more attendees and really don’t have the time to hunt down 15+ sponsors, so I asked for $500 per sponsor and will keep the number smaller. In order to cover the cost of the event, we have decided to charge $25 per person. So I knew that I was looking for 6-10 sponsors this year.

First things first. I only have one sponsor per business vertical. I found that increased value in their eyes and really helped sponsors make a commitment. This was the #1 concern sponsors expressed aside from the legitimacy of the event. So, where should you begin to look for sponsors.

First, ask your friends, your coworkers, your twitter pals, on facebook etc. Tell people you are looking for sponsors. They will most likely send you a bunch of leads. when you ask, make sure you keep it short, but clearly explain the event in a few sentences and what a sponsor looks like should they spot one in the wild. Once you have exhausted the personal connections list and you hit the pavement at a jog, think local.

Start by visiting your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and talk to them. They can be incredibly helpful. They might be a sponsor and if not, can connect you with numerous business owners. If you need someone from the SBDC to vouch for the event, I can ask my local SBDC director to email them. Even if you don’t plan to run a freelance camp and just want some help, the SBDC kick some serious butt. I’m talking free HR consulting, free bookkeeping support and education, business planning, marketing consulting and more. They exist (thank you well spent government programs) to make sure we are succeeding.

Go talk to your city and your county. The City of Santa Cruz is one of our sponsors as it wants to support any activities that drive business and are a viable solution to the current economic times.

Approach local service providers who support small businesses: lawyer, accountant, bank, ISP, insurance, payroll specialists, investment/retirement, web service firms, print shops etc.

Hit up any local services firm and startups that use freelancers and want to meet more / be seen positively in the industry.

Check out any local institution that has small business owners as benefactors: museum, design center, coworking centers, coffee shops.

Set a meeting with any educational organization such as jr college or local university that wants to help their students transition into business ownership or has a business education department.

Think of large companies that service freelancers and email them. You never ever know. I have a meeting tomorrow (which came from an email sent into the ether) with the folks from Elance.com (fingers crossed) to see if they will sponsor. I am in discussions with Sugar CRM, Automattic, Freelance Switch, Adobe among others (fingers triple crossed).

And so there you go folks.

Attend Freelance Camp Santa Cruz 2009!

I’d like to sincerely thank the current Sponsors of Freelance Camp 2009 (August 15).

City of Santa Cruz
Cruzio
Baskin and Grant LLP
Lighthouse Bank
Nextspace Coworking and Innovation Center
Agency Santa Cruz
Shane & Peter Inc.

About 10 minutes ago, I filled out a survey sent to me by a friend for the Santa Clara Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The goal, as best as I understood it, was to look at personality traits of entrepreneurs. As I often do when asked personality questions, I struggled between providing my default tendencies or my consciously developed patterns.

The survey questions freeze my personality at a specific instance in time. Had they asked these questions while I was in college, during my first company or perhaps when my second company was failing they would have found a very different set of responses. I found myself choosing a number of answers while thinking, “but that is because I chose to change that and now am comfortable with ….”.

I used to be shy. My hand shook visibly for the first 3.5 years while making cold calls and I would feel physically ill. I believed that I could tackle anything when I was in college. I had a hard time in a room of strangers in my early 20s. I woke up every morning depressed at some stages in my life but not in others. The concern I have is that whatever picture I have offered them today is a moving target as I am constantly molding myself to achieve the goals I want in life.

If I had to pick one characteristic consistent to every successful business owner and entrepreneur I have ever known, it is a willingness to change. That willingness and the change that comes from it makes me feel weird when answering these questions. Telling them in multiple choice that it is easy for me to generate comfortable conversation among a group of strangers is a 3/4 truth. I am comfortable, but I was not always. It was a hard earned comfort. If you are not willing to change in order to have the life you want, then your dream might not be big enough. Periodically take some time and appreciate how you have changed. You may be shocked.

This is a short post. Perhaps if I quit trying to write novels I will be able to post again. Nothing like 37 mostly written posts to make one feel silly. I want to thank you all for the wonderful emails I have received in the past year. A quick bit of news. My first daughter, Serenity Louise Pearlman, is a few weeks out from joining this world. We now have a gorgeous Vizsla puppy names Venture. He surfs with me and fills our life with mischief. Business continues to grow and we keep learning how to run a company every day. We barely missed our 2008 1M which pretty much blew my mind. Peter is making a new album and organizing an art show in Germany in 2010 of his mothers paintings to honor her life. I am organizing Freelance Camp Santa Cruz (august 15, 2009), which is starting to come together nicely. All in all, life is full, I am happy, and I miss writing.

Peace & Grattitude

We are in the middle of a pretty sweet gig. We’re looking for a Wordpress Plugin Master (no themer this time folks) to join our team on the project for the next 4 months starting now. Help build a high profile full-scale Wordpress suite of 54 sites with elements from various 3rd party web applications.

The Company

Shane & Peter Inc. is a small, rapidly growing software & design company located in Santa Cruz, California. At S&P, we develop custom solutions for some of the world’s largest companies, government institutions and smaller growing organizations. We pride ourselves on our ability to bridge people and technology and to bring the passion and dedication of an entrepreneur to every project.

Team Requirements

We love working with each other because we have built a culture that suits us well. To be on our team, you must be:

• Helpful
  Always looking for ways that you can help others.
• Positive
  Where there is a will, there is a way. Having a positive disposition allows us to achieve great things and to support each other.
• Curious
  It is essential that you have a passion for learning. Technology changes daily, and life has a way of constantly raising the bar.
• Accountable
  Our clients expect us to get the right thing done on budget and on time. Communicating expectations and meeting them is the cornerstone of success.

Location

Work from anywhere in the US or Canada.

Responsibilities

• Install, customize and support Wordpress
• Install and customize plugins
• Develop new plugins
• Install and customize themes
• Keep up to date on security issues and update wordpress installations when necessary
• Support our proposal writing process where wordpress installs are concerned

Personal Competencies

• Strong communication and/or experience working as part of a remote team
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, strong organizational skills, with a methodical approach to all tasks
• Ability to prioritize own workload and work to exacting deadlines
• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality
• Desire to constantly learn about the industry
• Fluent English speaker

Required Knowledge and Experience

• Wordpress structure, themes, and plugins
• PHP
• CSS
• Basic image processing (Photoshop…)
• Basic LAMPS
• SVN

Additional Experience a Plus

• Examples of plugins that you’ve released to the open source community
• Ability to translate a graphic design into a fully functional Wordpress Theme
• Familiarity with other CMS systems
• Advanced LAMPS skills

Compensation

Pay range is between $40-60 per hour commensurate with background, qualifications and experience. This is a one time contract position (though we are always seeking long standing relationships with kick-ass people).

How to Apply

Fill out our simple application form and paste a text version of your resume / portfolio into the Why We Will Love You field. Please include and identify your 3 favorite Wordpress endeavors and your desired pay rate.

http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/join-our-team/

We are beginning to put together a bar camp in Santa Cruz on the topic of freelancing and running a small service business. This is a community event and we are actively looking for volunteers to make this kick ass. If you can help find sponsors, spread the word, find a venue, get some grub lined up or perform general geekery - let’s talk. Hit me up by email or respond in the comment, add yourself to the wiki, and we can chat.

Freelance Camp: http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/Freelance-Camp

Download the Shane & Peter Client Contract…

How we use this contract

Basically, once we’ve had enough of a conversation with the client that we know how much the project is worth (roughly), when it’s due, and what is required, we use this template to write a proposal. Often because our proposals are formalized, we illicit more confidence than competitors who have less formal proposals.

After the proposal is accepted, we save it as a contract. The line between proposal and contract are really blurry in this case and in fact, I’ve often wondered if i should just call it a contract or a proposal and stick with that.

What’s in this contract

Objectives

This is the place for an elevator pitch. This is where you put the summary that expresses the value of this project to the client. I also use this as the space the summarizes the project for me for later.

Approach

This section summarizes in laymen’s terms how the project will be executed.

Deliverables

This is a list of what the client is buying. This is NOT a list of what you are doing. If the client is buying a website, we might have deliverables for design, development, content, QA, and support. We would not write deliverables for things like set up SVN, or adjust color balance, or spell check content…. The client doesn’t need to see the trivia, only the mainline items.

Also, you should break out any items that could be optional so that the client can see a price tag on those items and decide to use or not use them.

Milestones & Schedule

Break down the project due dates. When is the client going to see what? This can be done in terms of generic weeks or by setting dates explicitly if there is a specific target date. If you set the dates explicitly, make sure to advise the client that you will only be able to hit those dates if you have a contract signed and a check in hand by XYZ date.

Payment Schedule

When will you be collecting money from the client? We usually do 50/50 or 34/33/33.

Client Requirements

Will you need things from the client before you start the project? If not, then remove this section. Otherwise list the stuff that your client needs to get to you BEFORE the schedule is initiated.

Assumptions

We rarely use this section. It basically allows us to explicitly state to the client what assumptions we are running off of in this contract. For example, we assume that the client has a host, or we assume the client will provide comps. etc.

Exclusions

Though we don’t usually use this section it can be very important. This is the place to explicitly state what is not included in the contract. This is especially important if the client is vague with their requirements and you have a feeling they are asking for something that you are not including in your proposal. It is also useful to articulate things that will be included in future proposals or by other teams that you are working with.

Terms & Conditions

This is where my lawyer takes over. This is where yours should too.

Acceptance

Sign it. Get it signed.

What about you?

Do you have any suggestions? Additions? Alternate approaches? Does your lawyer have any objectios? We’re allways working on our legal docs.

Quite often sales is like dating. The no-no’s in the land of courtship are exactly the same cardinal sins of the land of sales. Talking about yourself through the whole meeting. Never asking any questions about your date’s situation and needs. Taking the time to ask those questions, and not listen to their answers. Thanking them repeatedly in a gushing and desperate manner for meeting with you. Forgetting to make a friend. If you were a gecko on the wall of a meeting where those occurred, you would probably wince, laugh or both. And yet we have all done them.

Peter and I often talk in detail about sales, and yesterday, the conversation fell upon one of the most detrimental sales bloopers: walking away without booking another meeting in your calendar. What is your goal if you go out on a date? Have fun, land another date.

We have been chasing a contract with a large server software company for some time now. Peter made a friend, demonstrated our technical capability with a savvy, professional demeanor. Heck, we even landed the sucker. We helped as much as we could to maneuver the maze that is AP. Then, a few weeks ago we got a call. Our sponsor was quitting the company.

Quitting?!?! Who is replacing you? We have a PO but no check yet! Is the project dead? and on and on … you get the idea. After a bunch of in house brainstorming, we concluded that our goal was to keep the communication going. Book a meeting from a meeting. As long as we have a meeting in the calendar, the sales cycle is not dead. To make a long story short, we got a meeting in the books (though tragically we got stood up by the new director of our ex-sponsor’s department last week), and now need to figure out how to get this company back on the calendar. Is the deal dead? Without another meeting, that is quite likely.

I was so afraid of being pushy, I didn’t even lead.

Most independent contractors I know hate sales. Why?

I don’t like conflict and don’t want to feel pushy. For a long time, I was too nice. I was so afraid of being pushy, I didn’t even lead. Quite often, the most important part of the sales process is to know the next step and guide the prospective client through each phase.

In a nutshell, we build software. We have successfully completed hundreds of projects. How many websites or applications has our potential client built? More often than not, the answer is zero. We know the routine down pat. If you take that into account, who would be better equipped to lead the process - a busy and often overwhelmed client - or an experienced software professional?

We know the next step. Rather than waiting for the client to magically divine what happens, why don’t you just tell them. Our sales success rate has gone way up since we started being direct and leading. Most of our clients genuinely appreciate being guided through what is going on and what to expect.

Setting Expectations

Have you ever watched a very close basketball game, where the score bounces back and forth. Your favorite team even drops a little behind. Adrenaline is pumping, your emotions roller coaster (and you aren’t even playing). If I walked up behind you and said, “Oh I saw that game earlier, CAL wins,” and you are anything like me, your entire roller coaster ride just ended. The drama of the game just doesn’t affect you if you know the outcome.

The sales process is quite similar. If you knew exactly how this whole process ends, then there is no reason to get all rilled up. Some of you may love being lion tamers and keeping everything a big mystery, but I prefer a calm and happy prospect. So I tell them, this is how the whole bidding and project will happen and how it ends. If they have their expectations set early and correctly, then your odds of winning go way up!

I have been thinking about sales during a recession and how it has to change just a little. You see, when opportunity abounds, you land projects and can afford to screw up just a little. If a client doesn’t become a repeat customer that is sad but not a killer. In a recession getting the gig is important, but keeping the customer with a solid win is the difference between staying in and going out of business.

The pivotal moment in setting up a long term win is in your initial sales process. SET THE RIGHT EXPECTATIONS. Often as contractors, especially software developers, we are perma-positive and wildly optimistic. Peter & I meet with the head of UI at SAP yesterday and were joking about managing software teams. “Oh, you want moon landing software - 2 weeks. Pace maker code - thats 2 weeks. From our engineers, everything takes 2 weeks.” When you are dealing with a client, the way you win is to exceed expectation and those expectation are set before you even win the project. So set them carefully.

Sales Checklist

I have a checklist that Tom made for me to review before and after each sales meet. It helped me walk into a meeting with a game plan and my own expectation in line. It was composed of five simple questions.

Did I:

Make a friend

Establish credibility

Listen and find a need

Book another meeting

Ask for a referral if they were not a fit

Simple, but in the heat of the moment, I still struggle to remember and act on each of those. Sometimes I get grumpy. Other times I am a total chatter box. A few weeks ago, I had such a great time making a friend, I forget to find a need. I can’ tell you how many times I forgot to book another meeting and as a result spend weeks trying to get back in touch.

So, from me to you - good luck with your next sales meeting. May you be a little better than you were in the one before!

A quick question to everyone. I have been wondering if you are altering your sales tactics as part of the changing business climate. What is working and what is not?

As fun as it can be to let a project drag on for eternity, and as much as I thoroughly enjoy working for free, one of the best things I can do for my relationship with my client is to define a clear end point for the project. I need sign off.

The problem, is how do I terminate a project in such a way as to strengthen my ongoing relationship?

After a bit of brainstorming with Shane, I came to the following conclusions:

Prerequisites

In order for a sign off to happen you really need to have started and run the project in such a way that the sign off is expected and that it makes sense.

Have a Written Agreement

In order to maintain a good relationship with a client, it is essential that you have a written agreement. Ideally, you should have a proper contract. This contract should identify:

• Mission Statement
  What is the overall goal of the project.
• Deliverables
  What you are expected to do and how much these things cost
• Milestones
  When you should have completed the parts of the project
• Payment Schedule
  When and how much you expect to get paid through out the project
• Terms and Conditions

Communicate Early and Often

In addition to having a contract in place, it is important that throughout the life of the project, you have been checking in with the client to make sure that their expectations are lined up with your contract and with your expectations. I have had countless experiences setting up a perfectly detailed contract only to find that the client didn’t read it and was upset to find out that they are not getting what they expected.

Make Sure You Are Actually Done

Some time before you ask for a sign off, you should have asked if there is anything that your client was expecting you to do that you haven’t done. If it’s within the contract, do it. If it’s out of scope, explain that it’s not in the contract but that you would be delighted to add it to the list of tasks for the next contract.

Before you ask for sign off, get your contract and walk through it and make sure that everything is done and fully tested.

Offer a Warrantee (or Don’t)

Your contract should include a mention of support. What if there is a problem that the client only discovers after sign off? What if it’s a week after? What if it’s a year?

Your contract should state either that you are or are not offering a warrantee. If you are offering some support, then be sure to mention how long that warrantee lasts and what it covers.

The Sign Off Letter

Your Sign off letter needs to include several key points:

Be in Control

Tell the client that you are done - do not ask. If you ask, you are offering your client free work. You need to control this process. Having made sure that you are done, and having tested everything, checked for errors, and details, and having already done a final review, you should be confident that you are done.

Make it Easy - Do the Work

Make a checklist of all the things in the contract or that you have otherwise agreed to and make notes next to each item that either says ‘done.’ or explains why it’s not done and what the plan is for the next contract.

If you state that you’ve done everything in the contract, but you don’t include a checklist, then you are effectively asking the client to look up the contract. Your client doesn’t have the time for that and may never respond to this request for sign off.

Also, offering this checklist is an act of consideration that will make the client feel well served.

Offer a Warrantee (or Don’t)

If you have a warrantee in your contract, then you should reiterate it in this letter so that the client doesn’t feel threatened by this letter. If you warrantee is time based, it will require a written starting date, which you should define at this juncture.

Be Formal and Friendly

This letter is actually about demanding written confirmation that the project is complete. But you are being friendly and “asking” for a confirmation. It should regardless be a written confirmation. That way, the client is absolutely clear on the fact that this project is complete, and you have written proof to that effect.

Remember, even if they don’t respond, this letter is effectively stating that the project is complete. It’s just a really satisfying experience having the client agree in writing.

Up-sell

The most important thing at this point is to ensure that you have a new contract either in the works or already approved. This letter is the perfect opportunity to get the client excited about what they will be seeing in the next round of work.

Express Gratitude

This person just enabled your lifestyle. They chose to work with you. They entered into a trusting relationship with you. It is essential that you thank them and be specific about why your thanking them. Even if there were some turbulent points in the project, point to the highlights and make your customer feel good.

The Letter

After working through all these requirements, here’s my sign off letter:

Subject: Wrapping Up

Hi John,

I’ve completed and tested everything in our contract as well as the bugs we discussed last week. I would appreciate it if you would confirm via email that this contract has been completed. I’ve included a list of the deliverables below. Just to remind you, as of the completion of this project, I am offering support on any bugs in the system for the next 30 days (until June 1st).

While we were working together, I’ve been collecting notes about things that you might want to add in the next contract. I’ll send the list over in a followup email. Are you available to meet and discuss the next contract on Friday at 10am?

On a personal note, I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the opportunity to work with you. Your enthusiasm is contagious and inspiring.

Thanks John,

-p

Deliverables

Design
Done.

CMS Installation
Done.

Integrate with Google Maps
Done. This won’t work though until Google updates their public API to the new version