Best Practices

Jan 14th, 2009

Changes in 2009

This is the first post I’ve made in over two months. A crazy amount has happened in that time. I’ve become a new dad. This is picture of my new daughter, Libby Joss Mabbitt. She’s the one in the picture with lots of hair.
This is a good time to revisit a [...]

Oct 29th, 2008

Best Practices Rewind: Growing Customers

photo credit: Extra Ketchup
My emphasis has shifted to more of a product-based business model since July of 2006, but there is still some very good points in this post. The idea of growing large customers is really based on the model of being a service-oriented web developer.
The advantage is that you get to develop [...]

Oct 15th, 2008

How To Choose Pro Bono Work

Today is Blog Action Day. Each year an important topic is selected, and bloggers around the world who wish to participate post about that topic. This year’s subject is poverty. I thought about trying to do a post that ties into poverty, but I think it makes more sense to do a [...]

Oct 8th, 2008

The Exponential Benefits of Networking

photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg
It seems like several of the time management and professional blogs I read have recently talked about limiting how many online social networking sites you get involved with. Although I haven’t personally experienced this phenomenon, I guess some people are finding that after checking in with MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, a couple [...]

Oct 1st, 2008

Feel the Fear and Quote That Project Anyway

photo credit: Refracted Moments™
Short and simple tip this week: think long and hard before refusing to quote a project. It’s possible the work is something you truly don’t want to do, and in that case it’s okay to let it pass by. In most cases, though, you’ll be well served thinking about [...]

Sep 10th, 2008

Your Passion Projects Are Worth Pursuing

photo credit: pingnews.com
I love movies. I love going to the movies and spending far, far too much money on popcorn. I met my wife while we were both working at a movie theater. So I didn’t really need a solid business plan to create Single Sentence Movie Review. I knew [...]

Aug 27th, 2008

Feast or Famine: The Freelancer’s Sales Pipeline

photo credit: seeks2dream
Sometimes I feel like I’m riding on a pendulum that is swinging back and forth. At one end I have more websites in development than I can comfortably handle, and I’m working long hours just to meet my deadlines. In a relatively short period of time, though, things will shift [...]

May 14th, 2008

What Makes You Excited for a Sales Pitch?

At the beginning of the year I wrote a post about thinking of your web design service as a product. In that case I was talking mostly about how this approach makes pricing your service easier. That’s all true, but I think I stumbled upon another benefit: it’s a lot easier to sell.

May 7th, 2008

What You Can Learn From Gregory House

For anyone who isn’t glued to the TV every Monday night, House is a TV show about an extremely obnoxious doctor who makes life difficult for everyone around him. He’s manipulative and vindictive. He has no faith in the concept of basic human goodness, and he goes out of his way to embarass and ridicule [...]

Apr 9th, 2008

Give Your Expertise Away

You have a lot of information locked up in your skull. Think about it. How often do you come across a web site and think to yourself the person in charge of this could make it 500% better if they just made a few simple changes? That’s unique information that you have and they don’t. [...]

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