HN user

kaisdavis

286 karma
Posts27
Comments66
View on HN
draft.nu 11y ago

Nickd Launches “Draft Foundation”: Happier customers and lower churn, all in one

kaisdavis
19pts3
summitevergreen.com 11y ago

“What keeps you from launching?” – Interview with 26 Product Creators

kaisdavis
2pts0
kaisdavis.com 13y ago

How To Set Up Meetings With Decision Makers

kaisdavis
4pts0
news.ycombinator.com 13y ago

Honolulu Startup / Entrepreneur / Marketing Networking or Meetup Groups?

kaisdavis
4pts3
kaisdavis.com 13y ago

Access OS X Virtual Hosts in Windows 7 Virtual Machine

kaisdavis
1pts0
kaisdavis.com 13y ago

Building Habits with Reminders

kaisdavis
2pts1
www.kaisdavis.com 14y ago

Why I Hate Social Media For Businesses

kaisdavis
2pts0
news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

Where's a great place to order custom hoodies?

kaisdavis
3pts4
news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

Ask HN: What to do in Denver?

kaisdavis
1pts0
www.drlinkcheck.com 14y ago

Dr. Link Check • Free Link Checker with Blacklist Lookup

kaisdavis
1pts0
news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

Tracking Calls Through Virtual Phone Numbers?

kaisdavis
1pts2
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

Granting Creative License

kaisdavis
1pts1
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

How to Get Started as an Entrepreneur

kaisdavis
1pts1
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Willamette Angel Conference — Any HN users attend?

kaisdavis
1pts0
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

The Four-Letter Word You Should Use (and Use Often)

kaisdavis
1pts0
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

5 (Sarcastic) Truths About Entrepreneurship That No One Will Tell You

kaisdavis
1pts1
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

Start an Informational Product Business — Step by Step Guide

kaisdavis
22pts0
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Ask HN: Does anyone else misread the 'time since comment' as karma now?

kaisdavis
43pts11
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Wordpress Admins: What's your favorite plugin?

kaisdavis
2pts0
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

How To Orchestrate Effective Meetings

kaisdavis
1pts0
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Ask HN: Recommended resources for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs?

kaisdavis
3pts0
upandrunning.bplans.com 15y ago

Video: Why is a business plan important?

kaisdavis
1pts0
www.kaisdavis.com 15y ago

Being in the Emotion Business - My Thoughts

kaisdavis
6pts0
www.youtube.com 15y ago

Winner of 'Worst Website Ever': The Brother IntelliFax 2800 App Store

kaisdavis
2pts0
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Ask HN: Live Analytics for a Webapp?

kaisdavis
1pts3
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Analytics Tools for a SaaS Web App?

kaisdavis
1pts0
news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Ask HN: Business Plans or Pitch Decks?

kaisdavis
2pts1

Heya HNers,

Jumping in here to offer a bit of context to this post!

We — a collection of 13 consultants — wrote the Independent Consulting Manual (ICM) to offer advice, guidance, and direction to consultants who want to grow their business.

The ICM is based on our shared experience growing our consulting practices over the last few years. While it would be impossible to offer a 'Comprehensive Guide To Everything Consulting,' we've done our best to share strategic (ex: building a productized consulting offering, positioning your business, qualifying your prospects and clients, writing better proposals, etc.) and tactical lessons (ex: using cold email outreach, using facebook ads, avoiding late payment, etc.) to help give consultants, like you, a strong direction of the strategies and tactics available — and how to implement them in your business.

Wherever possible, we worked to go 'above and beyond' in the advice we share to make sure that it's actionable, relevant, and specific to an independent consultant who is looking to grow their business.

As Bryce Bladon was kind enough to write in the introduction:

It would take years of experience and dozens of new and interesting mistakes to learn as much as I have from Kai and his colleagues over the first few months of knowing them. That’s what this book is: a shortcut for time, effort, and mistakes.

If you’re someone who considers themselves an independent _anything_, then you’re probably someone who understands accountability. You understand that this book is not going to catapult you to ridiculous new heights of success as soon as you finish the last chapter.

What it is going to do is provide proven and actionable advice. It’s going to make you reflect on how you do business and it’s going to make you better for it.

We wrote the ICM to provide actionable advice specific to independent consultants. But, much like any skill, it takes action on the part of the reader to implement the advice and, slowly, consistently, over time, improve their business to get to that next level.

I know that from when I started my independent consulting practice to when I had my first 6-figure year, it took 5 years of consistent, steady progress. With the ICM, we're offering lessons, advice, and direction to help the reader understand the steps to take to reach that point. Much like a cookbook, we're offering lessons and recipes to follow. The job for the reader is to implement, test, refine, and repeat.

Our Guarantee — We collectively stand behind our product and the quality of the information we're sharing. If you buy the ICM, read it, and find it lacking in any way, not up to your standards, or not meeting your expectations, all you need to do is hit reply to your order email and let me know you want a refund. Then I'll send you an immediate refund. (We list a 14-day money back guarantee on the website and the truth is after 14, 28, or 365+ days, if you said "Hey, you know what, I made this investment and I'm just not happy with it, I'd like a refund," I'll instantly refund you your purchase).

Am I explaining all of that well? I deeply appreciate any questions you have for me / us. I'll be checking this thread throughout the day. You can also always message me on Twitter as @kaisdavis.

Thank you!

— Kai, Editor, Independent Consulting Manual

To me, it wasn't an option. I'm not a developer — I'm an SEO and Outreach Consultant — and so using something off the shelf (at first a pages template, now Remarq) made a lot more sense.

I didn't want to build something DIY or right to customize something. Pages — and now Remarq — made it easy for me to get a beautiful output.

And, on top of that, there was an ROI consideration. How much time would I spend getting Pandoc working that I could spend growing my business, mapping out a campaign for a client, or relaxing?

To me, the cost of Pandoc was too high.

I've been beta testing this and it's been revolutionary — and saved me a bunch of money.

I spent ~$250 on a pages template to use for my reports. And because I write everything in Markdown, my workflow is:

• Write in Markdown

• Open up report

• Painstakingly hand copy and reformat Markdown to Pages

• Save as PDF

• Send to client

Now? I take that markdown, drop it into Remarq, and — BOOM! — I have a beautiful report that I can send to a client.

It's pretty awesome, you guys.

> What steps do you take to ensure clients pay you on time and what actions do you take when they don't?

1. I only work with clients that I trust. How do I find out if I can trust them? Extensive interview process. Is their business sustainable? Have they worked with freelancers before? Do they have references for me?

2. I have clients pay me up front. No, seriously. I have a contract that lists my rate and asks for the money up front. If they want different payment terms, we can negotiate from there (and usually to a point that we're both happy with).

3. I don't let myself get 'underwater' with a client. I use Harvest to monitor the time I spend working on client projects. It sends me a notification when I get within (80%) of the time allotted on the contract. I have a text expander snippet that I fire off to the client with something like 'Hey, we're at 80% of the time you've paid for on the project' and let them know if I think we'll need more time or need to reduce the scope.

4. I attempt to collect in this order:

(a) Phone call to the company [the person I'm working with on their side] confirming they received my invoice (10 days after due) (b) Phone call to the person who signed my contract confirming they received my invoice (15-20 days) (c) Repeat phone call to the person who signed my contract (30-40 days) (d) Letter from my attorney

How often have I had to use these? Once. Why so infrequently? Because I follow points 1, 2, and 3 with new clients.

I haven't done direct outreach for a few months. I'm moving to Honolulu next week and will be restarting direct outreach in November.

Back of the envelope / from memory? Leads (meetings) with ~1/10 contacts and projects from ~1/3 meetings.

I do Wordpress development, online advertising, search engine optimization, and social media work. It sounds like I might fall into both of your markets — marketers who need a solution for wordpress development / tweaks and wordpress developers looking for projects.

If you're interested in chatting, shoot me an email at kai@kaisdavis.com.

Good question, nedwin

Background: I'm a freelance marketer (soon to be) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

My experience has been that freelance gigs for marketers come from 3 different sources:

1. Personal / Professional Referrals 2. Direct Outreach to Businesses 3. Craigslist / elance / community sites

## 1 — Referrals

Referrals are the best way to get a client / gig because someone is vouching for your experience. I generate referrals by asking clients if they know of other business owners for have a need for {skillset}.

## 2 — Direct Outreach

I wrote about this as a comment here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4655212).

In short — manufacture interested customers by defining the types of companies you want to work with, making a list of companies that fit that criteria, identifying who is in charge of the department you want to work with, and set up an informational interview to learn about the company.

## 3 — Craigslist / Aggregate Sites

These sites suck. When a job reaches these sites, it's generally because the employer went through options (1) and (2) and couldn't find someone capable. These jobs have been picked over.

That said, I have some success browsing craigslist, seeing businesses that have listed an open position / a gig and emailing them.

I like looking at businesses that post in the 'services' section (not advertising a need for a marketer) and then contacting them to learn about their business and offer my skills.

That's incorrect. I believe I heard this via Cable on John Gruber's 'The Talk Show,' but you can still have an app in the MAS and provide updates even if the app is not available for sale.

Yup, that's the key:

You aren't asking for a job, you're asking a _person_ to talk. Not listen to a pitch. Not give you anything. Just talk about their experience and what they see going on at the company.

Kai's Rule #1: People love to talk. They love to talk about their jobs, their struggles, and their opinions on the company.

Encourage them to talk. They'll tell you where the gold is buried.

Well put!

I'm approaching this from a marketing perspective and effective follow-ups can make the difference between a lead becoming dead or turning into a prospect.

It also proves that I'm human and not an automated mass email. (We all hate those).

Thanks Michael!

Hey CWIZO,

The second one is a phone call, not an email. I'd refer to it as being 'forceful' or 'insisting.' I'm interested in setting up a meeting and sometimes the person I want to meet with, sees the email, but is buried under 100 more important things to do and doesn't get a chance to respond back.

Giving a quick, direct phone call

> 'Hey, I'd love to meet, I'm Kai, I emailed a few days ago, would meeting for an informational interview this Friday for 20 minutes work for you? (yes/no)'

can be a great way to get a direct response and fast.

What's the worst case? They say 'Sorry, I can't meet.' I'd rather have that direct answer than wonder about unreturned email.

My success ratio is high enough that I'm happy with this method. I don't have detailed records of how it's performed, but I'd guess that somewhere between 10% and 25% of the emails and calls I make turn into meetings. I'm really happy with that math.

Feedback is either 'Hey, we'd love to meet, how about <time>' or 'Sorry, I can't meet.'

If they say they can't meet, I either ask them if they know of a similar company they can direct me to that I can meet with or ask if they have time for one quick question (generally I ask what skill they're looking for in applicants and candidates).

I'm moving to Honolulu in November and I'm excited to double down on using this method again.

(This looks like a lot, but it usually takes me 2-3 hours all together)

I use a combination of Google Maps, LinkedIn, Googling, Virtual Assistants, and my friends.

Let's say I want to work for software development companies in Eugene, Oregon. I'd go to Google Maps and search for those (and similar) keywords. I'd make a list of companies in a Google Doc.

I'd go to LinkedIn and search for the industry in my area and see what companies match the size / description.

I'd Google for the industry and the location I want to work in. (Sites like http://siliconshire.com/ are great for Eugene).

I'd talk to my 10 closest friends and tell them the exact type of company I want to work for ("Hey Adam, I'm looking for a freelance Internet Marketing role with small (5-10) person businesses. I'm looking to work on Search Engine Optimization, Content Creation, and Social Media. I like companies that are focused on selling products, like organic soaps. Do you know of anything like that?)

I'd use a Virtual Assistant (like Fancy Hands) to automate some of this research.

Then I'd go through the list of companies I generate, visit their websites, read their blogs, and see 'Is this a company I want to work for?'

If it is, I contact them. If it isn't, I'm the wiser for researching.

(Thanks for asking! I'm about to meet with a client, so this is pretty stream of consciousness. If you have any questions, leave them here or shoot me an email at kai@kaisdavis.com!)

I pitch the meeting as an informational interview to learn about the industry. I let them know I'm active / looking to enter the industry and I have a few questions for a 15-20 minute meeting.

I'll check LinkedIn / my personal network / company website to find the name and title of the person that I want to meet. It's generally the owner (smaller companies) or project director / department director.

If their email address is public, I'll send them a short (~5 sentence max) email. If it's not, I'll use LinkedIn / Rapporative / Spokeo / calling the company to dig out their email address.

I'll send a short email saying something like:

(I do marketing consulting, but this has worked for my buddy who is a Python Developer, and my ex-girlfriend who does front end design)

"Hey,

Do you have 15-20 minutes free this Friday for a short informational interview? I'm a Marketing Strategist in town and I'm curious about the skills you look for in marketers in your industry.

Would you be free to meet this Friday at 1:00pm? (If that time doesn't work, just let me know when a good time for you would be).

Thanks!

Kai"

If I don't hear back from them in 1-2 days, I'd do a quick follow-up call.

"Hey, this is Kai. I sent you an email a few days ago about setting up an informational interview. I'm curious, would this Friday at 1:00pm work or would there be a better time?"

If the meeting is set up, I'd write down the top 10 questions I have about the industry and bring the notes + a notebook to the meeting with me.

My goal is to keep them talking. My goal is to learn what problems they're facing as a department / as an industry, what skills they look for in new employees / freelancers, and who is the best person to know to find about open positions.

I don't look for jobs that have been posted — my feeling is that jobs that make it to Reddit / GitHub / Craigslist / Monthly Hiring Threads, are all jobs that have been picked over by people working at (or close with) the company.

I make a list of the type of company I want to work with (I want to be paid $X, they should use this technology, I want to solve this problem or work on this project) and then I backtrace it and figure out which companies match those criteria.

Then, I contact those companies. I set up meetings when I can. My goal is to learn:

  * What sort of projects they work on
  * What challenges they're facing (geez, our biggest client needs _IDEA Z_)
  * What skills they look for in new hires / freelancers
  * Other companies in the area / tech / market
When appropriate, I tell them about my background and skills and ask who I should be in contact with to learn when new opportunities open up.

Then, I do two things

If they mentioned a huuuuge problem / pain point they're facing, I send them a follow-up email talking about the problem they mentioned, what I can contribute to solving it, and suggesting a time for another meeting.

I follow up with any other companies / people they mentioned and set up a quick coffee meeting.

Periodically, I'll check in with my contact. Nothing spammy, just an update about something relevant to their industry / problem.

Rather than fight over the same jobs that everyone else sees on 37Signals / Reddit / GitHub / HN hiring / Craigslist / LinkedIn / Etc, I want to be at the top of mind with the companies I want to work with.

Every job I've had — salary or consulting - has come from someone inside of the company calling me up, telling me about a position they have, and asking me if I want to interview. This bypasses the slog through submitting a resume and fighting against 20+ other candidates for a position. This gets me the positions I want working on the problems I want to solve.

Hey HackerNews,

I wrote a piece about how I'm working on habit change with reminders on my iPhone. Why HackerNews?

• Are you struggling to add a habit to your life (on- or off-online)? At my last job, I needed to force myself to take breaks / lunches and go outside.

• Are you forgetful? Do you wish you could have something else remember those little habits for you during the day?

Let me know if you have any feedback!

[dead] 14 years ago

Hey Gang,

I wanted to let us tech guys know about Panty by Post's subscription service for bambou boxer briefs. Seriously the nicest underwear I've ever owned.

Check out my review and check out Panty by Post: they're a nifty subscription underwear site shipping great underwear for guys and gals.

(If you have any questions about my opinions on the underwear, I'll be hanging around in here for a bit)

Thanks for the encouragement, tptacek.

> What do you do?

Marketing strategy, SEO, Social, Websites, Adwords, Print.

> Why not try this experiment: bill yourself out at $90/hr in January. See what happens.

You're right. There's nothing that will happen that qualifies me for $90/hr in 6-months. All that changes is charging more for the work.

Thanks for the encouragement, tptacek.

I bill $60/hr. When I start to reach capacity, I multiple my rates by 1.5 for all new clients. I can see myself starting to bill out at $90/hr by June, 2012.

An interesting follow-up question for the freelance community could be how many of us employee freelances beneath us.

I've added a freelance copywriter and designer to my team and it's a joy to be able to work with and support another freelancer as they develop their practice. It's also a joy to have some of the capacity problems resolved by the addition of another set of hands. (:

Very interesting. I'd like to learn more. Your email isn't in your profile and I couldn't find a contact email on getvolta.com or your Quora page. My email is kdavis@chambersconstruction.com.

My use case may be a bit different. I want to use the various #s for print ads in magazines, newspapers, and journals and also on marketing materials at trade shows.

The end goal is to determine which marketing channels are actually producing interest and which are just setting a big pile of money on fire.

Joel Nielsen, founder of MediaShark, LLC, writes about overcoming the challenges of giving someone else creative control of a project. Have you had this challenge?

I was inspired by Frank Chimero's awesome text-playlist and created a list of the articles on entrepreneurship and making things that inspire me.

What do you read when you want to remind yourself why you're an entrepreneur?

Joel wrote this piece to combat the 'fluffy' idea that entrepreneurship is something you can accomplish if you just concentrate really, really hard.

What do you think: Is a lot of the writing on Entrepreneurship too focused on 'visualizing success' and not enough on how to get down and dirty and make a business?

Do you want your customers to be people who pay a monthly fee or do you want your customers to be corporations who purchase the data from you?

There's nothing wrong with building a subscription based service and having people pay for it - I think that's a 'better' business model than free -> data harvesting, but the real question is what will people [corporations or individuals] pay for?