I am thinking about an agreement between myself, my freelancers and my customers.

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.

2008 was a very good year thus far for me. I’ve lost weight, I got (inasmuch as anyone is able to) clear of the IRS. I resumed writing again on a daily basis, I learned a little bit of PHP, and I discovered the Hold Steady. But the real thing about it was changing my attitude about money. I think, permanently.

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]]

GTD and Ubiquitous Capture.

My prediction is that the jerk faces at GTD agenda will comment in this blog. They have some sore of ‘autocomment’ thing turned on and it annoys the everlovin’ piss out of me. Evertime someone dares mention the phrase ‘GTD’ their spiders find it and make a post.

But I digress.

The real point of this is that I have an acute need for ubiquitous capture and listing. It has to be lightweight, and I have to do it regularly. And there’s the rub: doing regularly feels like a tether that I fight.

Right now, I have a ton of billable work for a ton of great clients to complete. And I have to clear that deck before I can grab my next batch of billable work. All told, I have probably 20 hours of work to do, but it’s spread out among 9 distinct projects. And it’s the niggly little details that absolutely eat me alive. I’m GREAT at getting a ball rolling and started, I’m not GREAT at polishing off details.

I need a (printed) list next to me so I can make sure I stay productive, and I need to write and rewrite my goals down each day.

Once the Election is over, I’m going to focus–and not allow myself to be diffused. One–maybe two–projects is it. And that will suit me fine, because I have the guts to focus.

Not focusing is a coward’s choice. I used to think it made you more secure, having ‘multiple streams of income.’ Not so much anymore. I think that it’s stupid–it’s a way to make sure you stay a mediocrity.

At one point I was deriving income from:

• Mortgages
• Internet subscriptions
• e-books
• Real Estate Coaching
• Doing Websites
• Political Fundraising

Not to mention blogging at places like http://bloodhoundblog.com, http://lenderama.com, http://mortgagecicerone.com, http://blownmortgage.com, http://activerain.com/newmarketsurvivalguide.

You’d think there would be a certain safety and comfort with six different ways of being paid, and a dozen more to promote myself. But it isn’t really secure–there was an endless amount of detail to manage, and an never ending stream of stupid tasks that I had to do, along with the ‘overwhelm excuse’ built into an unsustainable pattern. There’s also a certain cowardice in not taking a tittle shot, and seeing how far it can go. I’m still doing too much stuff I’m still stuck with it (though e-books is truly passive at this point, and I plan to write another one). Managing the tension between it all is difficult–holding on to unprocessed tasks (especially in the ‘doing websites for realtors’ category) blows.

This was about the time I fell off the GTD wagon (of which David Allen says falls off all the time). I have to get a new ‘system’ that works for the way I do things right now. Have to.

So what I’m thinking is this:

use K-notes, pen and paper and RTM? to manage stuff; use “google docs” to manage individual projects. I can get in the habit of hitting “F4” which takes me to the dashboard more or less instantly.

Have legal pad next to me as well.

Once a day, organize & centralize it.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat. I’m doing this daily so nothing surprises me.

I think very soon I’ll be using Heap & Torch. I’ve given them extensive runs, and they do most everything I like (including setting up Gdocs). Exporting is something I’ll have to learn, but it looks very promising. I hope Ben has the sense to stay the hell away from the FIRE businesses.

I love Icosales, and would implement it gladly if there was more time and energy spent on the user interface–or if I had multiple salespeople–or if I I was a mortgage guy. I’ll keep checking their interface, and if I get to the scale I want, we’ll do it.

50 something days till the election…then I can most of my projects, winnowing down to 2.

That’s the brain dump.

I have some substantial posts to be posting about.