Alright guys I need some business related advice

[backbreaker]

I generally keep business stuff off this forum but I have a question that I need to be answered by people who are not as over analytical as I am. I can't think of a place that has a bigger group of different types of personalities than here.


Okay as you know i own a web development company. A lot of our work comes from freelance related sites, we've been using 2 in particular for the last 3-4 years and our reputation alone on those sites brings in money.


Here is my problem; If I can sit down and actually work, we make money. But how can I explain this.. What I end up doing is I keep refreshing the sites every 30 minutes or so literally all day long because I'm afraid that If I'm not one of the first people to respond to a project we will lose out on the project. There's been a few projects over the years that we were perfect for that we just did not get because I did not respond fast enough.


It's to the point that I will start working fine but then, I find **** to keep me doing other stuff. Basically ADD type ****. I decide I want to take the wife out ot lunch out of the blue, I volunteer to pick joe up from school, I **** around here lol, I'll play a game of NCAA football. It's like I look for reasons not to work.


I don't think it's that i'm so much burned out on work as much as I think i'm burned out on sitting in front of my pc all day checking for new projects. Talking to clients, dealing with my programmers, putting proposals together, I love all that ****. but I HATE sitting in front of the pc all day looking for new projects


Then I Got this great idea. Why don't you just not check them all day, and when you get up in the morning, go to starbucks or whatever, sat aside 2-3 hours and just respond to people. Just the thought of doing that makes me happier. I can do that. I know I can do that. My responses will probably be better as well overall because I know this is the only time I have to do this today.

But I'm afraid that if I do that we will lose money. So the question I am posing is, if you were looking to hire a developer would you automatically throw out anyone who didn't respond within an hour or 2?

 

[Atom Smasher]

I run my own businesses too and people don't realize how difficult it is to allocate time and resources, and also how to separate the personal life from the business (I realize that's not your point here).

I don't know what the mechanism that you use is. Apparently people who are interested in your services fill out a form?

Is there some kind of technology you can implement where you receive a text with a unique ring tone when someone responds on your site? Can you delegate your searching to a part-timer or intern?

I just re-read and I guess you are on certain sites where you bid for jobs. How about an email notification to a new address with a specific alert tone when someone responds?

Now to answer your actual question, I would give a developer a good 8 hours or more to get back to me. I would consider 12 hours reasonable especially considering time zones.

Why don't you get the person who typed your OP to do it? I see absolutely no typos, so I know you delegated it. Just ribbing you a bit.

I think allocating specific times is a great idea. I become more and more successful and happy with life when I set specific time periods for different aspects of business, and at 5:00 p.m. I don't exist to my clients until 8:00 a.m. the next day. By allocating business into allocation blocks, I've become easily twice as productive and satisfied with my efficiency.

 

[Vice]

Atom Smasher has a good idea of setting up notifications with a unique ring tone to notify you of new projects. That way they come to you, instead of you waiting by the computer.

 

[backbreaker]

lol I already have that. that's what i am checking every 30 mintues

the way it works for instance go here

https://www.elance.com/r/jobs/cat-i...225/reg-021/tls-1/rte-gt20-ns1/bgt-gt1500-ns1

there might be 200 new jobs posted a day on this site alone that fit his criteria. And that's one of three sites I check.


I use an RSS feeder that feeds the data feed above from this and the other 2 sites and i just read that. But I still have to check that.

Though this one is the biggest by far.

Eventually, I'm going to have to break away from using these sites, it's cutting into my horse racing time, but right now it's basically easy money.

with that said I think I figured something out after talking to my wife about it. I'm going to set aside three times a day and check for new projects instead of checking every 30 minutes literately like I do now. that's a good medium.

 

[Stud]

Maybe I missed it, but why don't you outsource this task?

 

[Eph]

As a fellow developer and very soon future business owner, I can say you don't need to respond as quickly as possible. Lost business is lost business, nothing you can do about that. However, I know you don't want to even risk losing business, so I think the best thing to do is exactly what you are thinking about doing: allocate time for responding. You may also want to look in hiring representatives for your company to do it for you.

However, maybe you could create a program that alerts you to new job postings so you don't need to constantly refresh pages. Quick responses aren't the only thing customers look for. Its a factor but arguably not the most important one.

 

[Weezzyy]

Do you also find your programmers on this same site, or have them locally within reach? I ask this because I am interested in starting up this kind of business. Sorry for the offtopic.

 

[switch]

well , scroll through the stuff every coffee break ?

 

[backbreaker]

As a fellow developer and very soon future business owner, I can say you don't need to respond as quickly as possible. Lost business is lost business, nothing you can do about that. However, I know you don't want to even risk losing business, so I think the best thing to do is exactly what you are thinking about doing: allocate time for responding. You may also want to look in hiring representatives for your company to do it for you.

However, maybe you could create a program that alerts you to new job postings so you don't need to constantly refresh pages. Quick responses aren't the only thing customers look for. Its a factor but arguably not the most important one.

1. i could create a program but that would be black hat stuff and i don't want to get into any trouble with the site(s) for constantly scanning their sites. i could get ip banned. not worth it

2. i tried outsourcing this task, and no one can do this like i can. the things to look for in clients, how to respond to clients, that's stuff i can't teach.


3. no i don't find my programmers that way i have found programmers through various sources. references usually.

 

[Atom Smasher]

Sounds like you're burned out to me.

When it gets uncomfortable enough for you, you WILL find a solution.

To speed the process I would allocate certain times during the day to check, starting with frequent intervals and then gradually spreading them out until a reasonable system is in place.

 

[Married Buried]

My advice is to get prescribed adderall. Sounds like you may have ADD. I couldn't get a damn thing accomplished. After I got prescribed Adderall, when I start a task involving work, I have NO desire to do anything else until that task is complete. It's amazing. I can sit at work for 8 hours straight not using the internet or having other thoughts until the job is done.

I realize you had a drug problem. If your shrink knows about that, may need to go to a new one. But you can always get your wife to dispense 1 pill a day to you if you can't not abuse.

 

[backbreaker]

I see my shrink on the 21st of this month. If the problem has not fixed itself by then that's the route i'm going to take. i can't take this **** anymore

 

[Bible_Belt]

i tried outsourcing this task, and no one can do this like i can. the things to look for in clients, how to respond to clients, that's stuff i can't teach.

So...learn how to teach. Teaching anything is a much different skill than actually doing the same task. And the more complex the task, the greater the difference. But trying it once and failing and then quitting is not the attitude that got you everything else you succeeded at.

 

[FairShake]

I was under the impression you were a millionaire who made most of his money from horse racing and that your business isn't your top priority.

If that's the case why would this phase you in the least? I'm not even trying to fvck with you I'm serious. Clearly you have other ways of making money that are successful beyond 99% of our wildest dreams. If your company is taking you away from that the answer is obvious to me.

I am an Emergency Room nurse but I pull in a good side living as a legal nurse consultant. While my consulting gig pulls in good money if it ever took me away from my primary gig I would scale it back significantly or drop it all together.

 

[backbreaker]

Because this business has to be successful or me to achieve my long term goals. it's not about the money.

 

[Married Buried]

I see my shrink on the 21st of this month. If the problem has not fixed itself by then that's the route i'm going to take. i can't take this **** anymore

How cool is your shrink and also do they know about the past drug abuse? Usually if a doc knows about your drug abuse you can forget getting anything good. If this shrink isn't cool about it just call up another one and don't tell them about your past. I have another post where I documented everything I told the shrink and walked out with adderall on the first visit without even asking for it.

As for the crack, sounds like you may have been self medicating? I know that before I got the adderall I was self medicating with booze, weed and whatever else I could find.

The desire for that has faded. But now I want a higher dose of adderall but my shrink is reluctant to do it. I'm going to really have to push for it but **** it you know? I really don't need to be taking too much of that ****. I also get buproprion WITH the adderall. Buproprion is a milder stimulant and potentiates the **** out of adderall and makes it last longer.

Funny thing is with all these stimulants, my ass is as calm and relaxed as I ever ever been.

 

[FairShake]

Because this business has to be successful or me to achieve my long term goals. it's not about the money.

But I'm afraid that if I do that we will lose money.

Conflicted??

 

[backbreaker]

lol a successful business is not one that loses money now is it?

It not being about the money doesn't mean I don't' want to lose it lol. I'm pretty anti losing money.

 

[backbreaker]

actually left the shrink.

the real problem that I have is that I don't seem to have the abilty to reengage like most people do. what I mean like, take tomorrow. I don't have anything to do tomorrow for anyone. so i'll go to the gym in the morning, get to work, and work all day long fine usually

what kills me are days like today where I had to go to the shrink. then when I get back to work, i can't re engage in work. it's like whatever i do, has to be done in a straight task i can't stop once i stop i can't restart back.

she thinks it's anxiety related and wants to put me on lexipro or zoloft which i'm not apposed to at this point but i told her to give it another week and let me see with the newfound changes if they help any. one more week won't kill me

 

[Atom Smasher]

Get yourself a timer at Radio Shack.

When you come back and it's time to re-engage, set it for 5 minutes. You'll find yourself rushing like mad to get your next task done within the 5 minutes. When the 5 minute alarm goes off, either get away from the task for a bit and come back, or else reset the timer for a longer interval, which will be much easier because you're already engaged. Tell yourself the only thing you must do is the 5 minutes. Anything beyond that is extra credit, but you must do your 5.