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The Trouble With Being Alone

On Monday I was talking about increasing my companies earnings year on year. Well, two days in to Rockall's third year and I've won a tender for a project with a value greater than the whole of last year's income. Which is good news in many ways; mainly that it affords me the chance to grow the company a little.

Tendering for this project was an interesting experience in itself and the first time I've had to go through anything so formal. Most of Rockall's work is all but given to me by way of people knowing who I am and trusting that I know what I am doing. As long as the price I quote for a piece of work is ok, the job's mine. In this case though, being well known merely got me on the list of companies invited to tender. The rest was down to the proposal I wrote.

Being a one-man-band is a real double-edged sword sometimes. It attracts as many clients as it scares off. Some customers prefer to know that it's just me they will be dealing with. That I have a mortgage to pay, which depends on delivering the work to them on time and that I will work 24/7 if needs be. On the flipside there are the customers who might worry that I don't have the capacity to deliver or that they won't get a thing if I am incapacitated in any way and unable to work. What about SLAs and support in the future if my shot at the big time folds and I return to a 9-to-5? All legitimate concerns of any paying customer.

All I will say in my defence (and that of other one-man-shops) is that I will deliver, whatever it takes. I care much more about Rockall than I do/would/have any other consultancy I've ever worked for. It's my dream and I don't intend giving up on it any time soon. The last two years have seen some hard times. Nothing like being on the poverty line, but there have been quite a few sleepless nights along the way, I can tell you. Hopefully, all that is behind me now and Rockall won't be just me for too much longer. Which brings with it a new kind of stress and many more sleepless nights.

The one thing I have found about running your own business is that the working day never ends...

Comments

  1. Jake. Great news on the tender. Now you can treat Karen to that holiday!

    • avatar
    • Jake Howlett
    • Thu 3 Nov 2005 05:11 AM

    Oh, don't worry about that. She was straight on to lastminute.com!

  2. Congrats Jake.

    I recognise the cycle:

    Worry about finding business

    Find business

    Worry about completing business

    Complete Business

    Worry about getting paid

    Get paid

    Girlfriend "uses" pay

    Goto Start

    • avatar
    • Glen Holmes
    • Thu 3 Nov 2005 05:58 AM

    Fantastic news Jake and well deserved.

    First step to world domination;-)

    • avatar
    • Jono
    • Thu 3 Nov 2005 07:03 AM

    Nice one mate, congrats :)

  3. @ Steve:

    The cycle modifies when married...

    ....

    Worry about finding business

    Find business

    Explain to wife why pay hasn't come in

    Worry about completing business

    Explain to wife why pay hasn't come in

    Complete Business

    Explain to wife why pay hasn't come in

    Worry about getting paid

    Explain to wife why pay hasn't come in

    Getting paid

    Explain why pay isn't more

    Explain why I can't be spend all

    Getting spend by wife

    @Jake:

    Tenders are a pain in the b...

    Tender boards usually decide on merits that have 0 to do with our ability to execute. So we compete with other on grounds where we don't excel (like project reporting, financial stamina, post tenders won, formality of paper work etc.). And it is an incredible amount of work and waste of resources.

    We did a bunch of tenders this year (none has been awarded so far) which cost us 30-40 manday to complete (not the project, the tender preparation). Typically we face 10-20 competitors. So there are between 300-800 mandays spend for 20 versions of an offer. You can bet, that suppliers will recover that cost.

    Do the math.... what a waste.

    Nevertheless I hope the tenders work out for you.

    Biding for a tender is tough, winning it sweet...

    Until you discover, that the tender specs and the clients need only have the company name in common.

    :-) stw

  4. Excellent news! I used to worry that a one person shop was untenable, but the dedication and attention possible by a completely focused person usually makes up easily for the legions of disinterested minions in a bigger shop.

  5. Ben hits it on the head. Stay *focussed* and you'll win through the stress and worries along the way. Like the Good Book says, the only way to have an accomplishment is to be dedicated to it.

    Cogratulations! Now get to it! :-)

  6. Excellent job Jake!! Hopefully the project will be as interesting as it is lucrative.

  7. Grats Jake!

    • avatar
    • Gauzo
    • Sat 5 Nov 2005 01:21 AM

    Full agree Jake....i recognized my way of life, in your thinkings.

    g

    • avatar
    • Chris
    • Mon 7 Nov 2005 04:24 AM

    Or, you could retain someone to develop the tender for you.

    • avatar
    • Jake Howlett
    • Mon 7 Nov 2005 05:57 AM

    Chris. That sounds like business talk to me. Does it translate to "hire somebody to do the work"?

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Written by Jake Howlett on Thu 3 Nov 2005

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CodeStore is all about web development. Concentrating on Lotus Domino, ASP.NET, Flex, SharePoint and all things internet.

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