Clinton Skakun

Hiring Madness and Freelancing

With technology with now days, outsourcing is common place and anyone with a laptop and a Internet connection can become a web developer. We call them freelance developers. People who work for multiple employers or clients. Many of these freelance developers are amazing, they blow your mind and compel you to tell the world. Then, there are those developers that set high expectations of themselves, make big promises to clients, and after the initial deposit you never hear from them again, or they spoof the project. And then there are those developers that are sincere, they work their asses off … but they can’t communicate with you. Maybe they can’t speak your language, or maybe there’s a lack of communication because of the medium you’re using(e.g. Text only gets across 7% of your communication), OR maybe your coder is just one fo those people who think you’re full of crap and don’t want to listen. Have you ever been in one of these situations? Most people who have had any hiring experience have.

I believe the main pitfall of even experienced programmers is listening to the client from a “coder’s” perspective. Thinking about HOW to get it done instead of truly understanding WHAT the client’s vision is.

You’ve lost Time and Money and … You’re Not Alone!

A gentleman, I previously talked to about a web project, told me about an experience he had with a non-local freelancer. His complaint was that the coder he was dealing with just simply didn’t listen, he didn’t possess empathy and he couldn’t fully understand what needed to get done. He came to me because he wanted someone local and he liked what he saw on my blog(one of the reasons why I blog in the first place).

Don’t just hire anyone! How much money do you have to spend on people who don’t get the work done? How much of your time and hard earned money will you waste if you don’t hire the right programmer right now … instead of later?

Lesson 1: Empathy is always the 1st trait you want to look for in a freelancer, especially a developer. A developer must always shows he or she cares and make attempts to dive deeper into your vision.

Price vs. Quality, is there even a correlation?

It’s a popular thing to do now days. Hiring overseas to cut costs and widen margins. Everything from Virtual Assistants to Writing Articles can be outsourced to people anywhere from India to Texas to the North Pole. Does lower cost automatically mean lower quality? Of course not. The fact that anyone with a computer and a PayPal can become your employee doesn’t mean there aren’t tons upon tons of excellent, experienced people out there ready and waiting to serve you with every ounce of breathe they have. For people in India, or other foreign countries, your work might mean food or no food for them and their family. Most people won’t fowl that up. Then we have to deal with people who don’t have a concept of professionalism. When you work with businesses all around the world your professionalism has to be peak. For example, spelling mistakes or grammar errors on a resume is a professional leak. Or people you don’t hear from for 3 days because they went on vacation and forgot to tell you.

Lesson 2: Professionals almost NEVER undersell themselves. Why would you encourage people who do?

Does Education Matter?

Let me tell you something: YES! Can you imagine hiring someone who’s uneducated? Let’s avoid the topic of formal education or post-secondary. I believe that there are better forms of education than college. Self education, learning at your own pace, is the most valuable and most overlooked education out there. There is no limit to what a person can learn by simply going to a collage library, picking up a bunch of books and then instantly putting what you learn to practice. Educated people are more passionate, they know how to sell themselves(even if they don’t have a degree) and usually more street smart.

Lesson 3: Having a BS in Computer Science or MBA or Marketing degree does not assure you that the person capable of getting the job done. It’s how much they learned in those classes and how much they put to use. Don’t judge by education alone.

Does Experience Matter?

Let me tell you something: HELL YES! I have a saying, “You don’t *know* anything until you *do* it and do it well.” The people who know and the people who do are two very different people. The people who have perfected their skills though practice are the ones you want to hire, not the people who have perfected their knowledge. I have to tell you, in my own career, experience is something I’d pay 10 million dollars for if I could get it the first day. But of course you can’t get sufficient experience in one day, it takes a long time. That’s why it’s important that you pay close attention to how much experience a programmer has before hiring him or her. The less experience a programmer has the longer it takes, and you’re paying for that inexperience.

Lesson 4: A programmer must have lots of experience, and show signs of constant and never ending improvement.

The Pain is Greater than the Paying, Always!

A good programmer or web developer is your best friend. Good people are rare, GREAT people are even rarer. A great programmer has improved VERY FAST! He knows a lot about what he does and has spent hours upon hours experimenting and pulling his hair out. If you run into a bald programmer you’re in luck!

Can I be your Web Developer Already?

After all this I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to someday serve your web development needs. I know how hard it is sometimes to find a good web developer and that it can be a frustrating process. I know you might be saying, “what sets you apart from everyone else?” This is why I’ve devoted my web development career to helping people like you find true quality service. And isn’t that the kind of service you want? I’d love to hear from you and learn more about your project, your needs and what you look for when hiring a developer. If you want to know more about what it is I do, please head over to my Service Page. Maybe I can even find someone who could do the job better than I can. Do you have any concerns, any questions? I’d love to hear your comments and opinions on this post. Please feel free to network with me on Twitter.

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” – Thomas Alva Edison
There’s an old saying, “Work hard play hard.” (Good to keep in mind)

Take for example, popular statements like “Don’t work hard, work smart” and “work smarter instead of harder.” I don’t totally disagree with these statements and can understand where they’re coming from and from who. Don’t think that hard work isn’t ever going to cross your path again though. Working smart is definitely the way to go, however you need to work hard on what works(working smart) and stop working on what only partially works.

Using the famous GOYA formula

Tom Hopkins says, when you get in a slump, apply the GOYA formula. It seems to work like magic to. What’s the GOYA formula? Simply this: When you’re not getting anywhere … Get Off Your ASS! Often times people don’t slow down because they’re working too hard, it’s because they outperform one week, then slack for while expecting to coast. Eventually they have to work for three weeks to make up for the lost time. Remember a time in your life when you worked really hard at your job or your business or maybe something non-work related: did it take some hustle and some guts? Maybe you had to get up 2-3 hours earlier than you normally would. But whatever it took, you were going to get there. Usually, going ahead isn’t about learning more, or reading more books or taking another breather. The answer is just getting off your ass. “Nobody ever drowned in their own sweat!”

Look back on a time when you were employed at a job other than you’re own business. You had to work the hours on the schedule, take a brief coffee break, a lunch break and then get back to work. Sometimes the managers would bitch and sometimes you were pressured to work twice as hard. You’d go home, go to sleep and wake up the next morning and, whether you felt like it or not, you drove back to work. There was no question, just get to work. If you worked as hard at your current business as you did at your payroll job would your business be flourishing? If so, then get off your ass!

“There’s a time for work, and there’s a time for play, don’t mix the two.” – Jim Rohn

How many hours a day do you REALLY spend actually working and producing results? If you’re self employed this can be a tough one to answer. You could say, “well, I don’t know exactly how many hours I work because I’m self employed and I make my own hours.” But how many hours do you really make? You could use the old manager mentality, “well as long as shit gets done, that’s all that matters.” Or you could ask yourself, am I doing everything I could be or just passing the minimum? Honestly, based on my results would I hire myself? If you’re in business for yourself and your answer is no, I wouldn’t hire myself, than why the hell are you in business for yourself? The problem with us self-employed people is that we can’t tell the difference between fun, relaxing and actual work. Separate them! Relaxing does not equal work. Your work may be fun but don’t get work and fun, as in non-lucrative fun, mixed together. Because what you get is non-lucrative work.

Don’t allow play to take over work time, because work time will end up taking over play time.

When things get worse, you gotta work harder!

What do most people do when there’s a recession? They whine, complain and get depressed. There are always rumors that they are going to laid off. Every day at work is a reminder of how dim the future is for them. The problem is, almost everyone gets by in the good times. The so called bad times or depressions or slumps are golden opportunities to separate the wheat from the shaft. These times bring down the people with poor mentalities and rise up the champions who are up for a challenge. Tom Hopkins, who was a real estate agent in the 60’s and 70’s, made record sales during a down economy–hitting record sales that were almost unsurpassed of until the turn of the century. Mr. Hopkins said, “When we hit a slump, I just worked harder than anyone else.” He didn’t say leverage was responsible for his success. He didn’t tell us that a certain technique was critical to his success. Even though time management, the proper techniques and practice are critically important, he said “I worked harder than anyone else.” Should it come as a surprise? I think not. Take what you know and work hard with it.

• Do you work hard to find ways to work smarter?
• Do you work hard on yourself, building character and self discipline?
• Do you work hard to educate yourself, and work hard blocking out what doesn’t help you in the least?
• Do you work hard to build, work harder to maintain what you’ve built and work even harder to ward off what threatens what you’ve built?
• Do you work hard on simplifying, balancing the time scales and making life more manageable?
• Do you work hard to better yourself, to become better suited and more skilled, higher in effectiveness and a better performer?

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” – Russell C. Taylor:

Photo credited to nickgatens

Money is like personal hygiene, it tells a lot about you

“How do we help poor people by becoming one of them, just another mouth to feed?” – T. Harv Eker

Most people have been conditioned in a way that creates a number of mixed feelings and habitual excuses toward money. Responses are to the effect of “well, money’s the root of evil” or “you can’t be spiritual and rich.” On top of this we have all been subconsciously programmed, through our parents, friends, peer groups etc, to resent rich people. And subconsciously, we move away from wealth or sabotage our success half way through.

If this is your belief system concerning money, answer these questions: How are you helping the poor by being poor? How are you acting in love and abundance, instead of fear and scarcity, by preventing yourself to have the means to help those in need? Hell, most people are flat broke, they can’t even help themselves.

Take a look at the following:

• Money can’t buy happiness!
• Money isn’t that important…
• Money’s not as important as love…
• I’m afraid that if I have money I’ll change.
• What would I do with a million dollars?
• But if I buy that car, and it gets keyed, it’ll cost a mint to repair.
• Think of the taxes you’d pay making “that” much a year!

Here’s an interesting question to ponder. No matter how poor you are, there always seems to be someone poorer. If you live in a middle-class neighborhood, there’s someone who lives on the street. And if you live on the street, there’s someone in Africa who lives in a dirt hut and drinks diseased water. How can you justify being better off then them? Why is it just when you have a million dollars that suddenly you don’t feel right? Is this really a belief system about taking care of the less fortunate or resenting the rich? Because if we truly were thinking about the poor people in the world, we’d be motivated to work longer hours and grow greater masses of wealth, and spend less time watching TV, because we knew there are people out there who we need our help. What is the underlying force behind this belief system? Obviously it’s guilt and fear. Maybe we should feel guilty, but not because we have more … but rather because we have more and do less with it.

T. Harv Eker says that “rich people do not scorn rich people”. Scorn for the rich is a part of the poverty package most people “sign up” to. Rich people, or rich minded people, see the world differently. The contrast is bazaar:

• The poor say: Money can’t buy happiness – The rich say: Not surprisingly, lack of money won’t buy happiness either, assuming it’s not cheap if it could be bought.
• Money isn’t that important – Money is like personal hygiene, it tells a lot about you. On top of that, the average person doesn’t work because they like the 9 – 5 shift…
• Money’s not as important as love – Water’s not as important as having a brain, but we kinda need to full package to survive.
• I’m afraid that if I have money I’ll change. – Money makes you more of what you are. If you’re an ass now, you’ll be a bigger ass with money. If you’re a giver now, you’ll be a bigger giver with money. If you’re a poor gambler, get more money you’ll be a bigger, and eventually poorer, gambler. You decide if the change will be too uncomfortable.
• What would I do with a million dollars? – This question either arises from too many years sitting on the couch or never being an alert person in the world. Instead of asking, “what would I do with so much”, the rich ask “what would I do with only a million dollars?”
• But if I buy that car, and it gets keyed, it’ll cost a mint to repair – With more wealth comes more responsibility. Life it’s self is a responsibility, whether you’re rich or poor, deal with it.
  
• Think of the taxes you’d pay making “that” much a year – Once you get “that” rich you can afford the best tax specialists.

“Success isn’t convenient. It’s NOT about ’showing up’ when you ‘feel like it’ or doing a ‘good’ job once upon a time. Success is constantly trying to push you away, every minute of every hour. “

Photo, Fort Lauderdale, by anadelmann

This photo is courtesy of Red Stick Republican’s Rantings
Goal setting is not a one time activity, it’s a skill that, with much practice, can be mastered. Some people set better, on target, goals than others. It can be a very simplistic process, if done right. If you do it wrong you can confuse the hell out of yourself. It pays to learn how to set goals. Thousands of books, audio tapes, CDs, seminars have been made on the topic of goal setting. Avoid reading and listening to ALL of the material out there, obviously you won’t live long enough. Instead get advice from the best selling business and personal best practices authors out there like Brian Tracy, Stephan Covey, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins just to name a few.

There is really no right amount of goals, some people set 500 a year and other set 2-3, most people set none. Some people like to set small goals so they can check something off every day so they can build up momentum to larger goals. There are also those people who think 20 years down the road before they achieve any of their goals.

I use a system for tracking my progress and just started using it recently. In order for this system to work your goals NEED to follow these guidelines:

Smart Goal Setting Guidelines:

1. They need to be written in the present tense and personal(I–or we if you’re an organization–am/have/own(present tense) …)
2. They need to be measurable(e.g. I have grossed $120,000(specific amount) this year)
3. They need a deadline(e.g. Jan 1st 2011)
4. They need to be specific(WRONG: I have gone on vacation…RIGHT: I have taken a vacation with X in X resort as of June 12th 2010)
5. It needs to be meaningful
6. You need to be clear on how to get there(at least have an idea on the first step or know someone who you can model)

Quick Note: The Best Things Come in Three’s

One is not enough, four is too much to focus on. You should not focus on more than tree goals a month. The fewer goals you have per month, the sharper your focus. There’s only 30 days in a month, don’t plan on changing the world within that time. Three goals is just right. Like I said above, there are no “right” amount of goals. However the less number of goals you have and the more meaningful they are, the surer you can be that you will accomplish them.

The Monthly Review–Be Accountable

What happened if you set goals and never checked the progress? You might not get there. Why? Because it’s easy to stray. It’s easy to set a goal and forget about it in three weeks. This is important: KEEP YOUR GOALS IN FRONT OF YOU DAILY!

SideNote: There is a common opinion in psychology that says that the brain can’t differentiate between internal references(like constructed and remembered images) and external references(things that, in the life out side of you, actually happen and you pick up on through your senses). There’s a major difference between merely reading the words, of the goals you’ve written down, and the seeing and feeling them in your mind before they happen; we know that from many reliable sources, as well as the new discoveries in quantum physics, that say that the subconscious mind is always working to live up to the self concept you choose. When you write down goals on paper your subconscious mind comes up with ways to achieve them, I believe that this is where intuition and bursts of creativity come from. We all know though, that what you focus on expands. When you talk about, think about, and dwell on your ideal future, you begin to find your self working towards it.

Five to ten days before the end of the month do a monthly review on how far you are from your monthly goals. If you set a goal for the 31st and it’s currently the 22nd, review your progress:

CASE 1. Didn’t achieve goal but made progress:

1. How far am I from X goal? (Use some math if there are numbers involved to get a percentage)
2. How much did I do vs. Averages? (e.g. Averages say I need to sell 20 cars to reach my income goal, I sold 16 thus a shortfall of 4)
3. How much harder will I have to work/What will I do differently next time to accomplish this goal in the comming month? (e.g. if I continue to work the same way I’ll continue to get 16, if I follow up more often and take a sales course I might be able to get those extra 4—or just stay later and start earlier)
4. What will I do next week to prepare to acheive this goal in the next month?(Add this to next weeks list of things to do…e.g. Contact more prospective car buyers in the last week of this month that may generate some sales next month.)
5. What is a major constraint(or constraints), that I can leverage, that if eliminated would make all the difference? (You will now focus on eliminating this constraint, brainstorm how to do it and then take action … e.g. get out behind the desk and actually go talk to people who are look at vehicles in the lot.)
6. Due to the Lead* measures, are the Lag* measures leading me to think I’m closer/future than I really am to achieving this goal? e.g. Am I too busy checking the score sheet(Lag) when I should be perfecting my skills(Lead)?
7. What did I do right(what’s the winning strategy), that allowed me to get as far as I have? (focus on what you did right and either do more of it or continue it at least … e.g. Gave out a lot of cards which resulted in multiple calls from certain people interested in buying Hondas)
8. What assumptions did I make this month that may have acted as a constraint to this goal? (e.g. I assumed that it was going to be a good month for vehicle sales, ended up I didn’t work hard enough to find prospects and sat back)
9. Is there a lack of emotional desire to this goal, or mabye mixed feelings? Can I adjust this goal to appeal to my emotions better so as to increase motivation? If not, is this a goal that really matters to me? (If you’ve lost interest in this goal, strike it off the list and save your energy for what you really want.)

If you did achieve your the goal this month ask: What is the winning strategy that I can extract from accomplishment and duplicate over the next few months, years, decades, etc?

*A Lead measure is what Kaplan and Norton call a “Performance Driver”, a Lag measure is a “Performance Indicator”. Lead measures can often be referred to as preventative measures or measures(e.g. changing tires on a car). The speedometer can tell you how fast the car is traveling but can’t predict a flat tire, tending to the tires are Lead measures. The Lag measure will tell you your weight(on the scale) but can’t tell you the driving forces of your weight loss.