Play or Download this Episode (Recorded live on 11/28/2012)

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About the Show

This is BizCraft, the podcast about the business side of web design, recorded live almost every two weeks. Your hosts are Carl Smith (@carlsmith) of nGen Works and Gene Crawford (@genecrawford) of UnmatchedStyle.

Episode Overview

We had a guest on for Episode 13 of BizCraft, Jason M. Blumer, CPA @JasonMBlumer (Daniel Moll & Brian Hoff’s Accountant) CPA specializing in Creatives at blumercpas.com. We had a slew of questions for him about business accounting and general strategy. He did not disappoint!

Discussion Topics

Is it a good idea to set a fixed price for consulting projects?

What are some good ways to measure ones net worth per hour?

Pros & Cons of clients dumping work on you at the end of the year. Can you hold the check until the first of the year?

Is tax planning for your business really important? Is it better to just pay the tax or buy stuff before the end of the year?

Questions from the kids

From: Jack Larner

Hey Gene and Carl,

Lovin’ the show! I’ve found it both informative and entertaining.
I have a (slightly lengthy) question for you guys about a potential project I have coming up.

I’ve been running a small design business for about a year and a half now which consists of myself – a graphic designer, and my business partner Matt – a (primarily front-end) web developer. It’s our first business and we’ve learnt lots along the way! Our work so far has consisted mainly of brand identity and web design for small businesses.

We have recently been approached by a potential client asking if we can design, develop and maintain a social network-like site which will be launched around Europe. We’re very excited by this but Matt and I would be unable to create it by ourselves and would need to outsource the development work to a specialized developer.

This would be our biggest project to date and I’d hate to turn it down, but at the same time I don’t want to over-promise our ability and let the client down further later on.

My question is this:

Have you found yourself in a similar situation before? And if so, do you have any advice when it comes to outsourcing parts of a project to someone else such as questions to ask them before hiring? Also, would you let the client know that you’re outsourcing someone for particular parts of the work or would you present it all as your own?

Cheers,
Jack

From: Polly Ivanova

Hey,

I’m a big fan of the way Carl lets his team choose whether or not to take on a project. So I was wondering, what is it that makes him trust his designers/developers with this (besides being good at their job)?

Also, could he mention a few reasons they’ve had for not taking a project?

Thanks, love the show!
Polly Ivanova

Beers from the end of the show

Carl’s connection dropped right at the end of the show, so we broke tradition and didn’t get to the beers we were drinking. It made us sad. We’ll make it up for the next show, promise!

Upcoming Stuff & Notes

Don’t miss getting your question sent in for the next show.

Next Bizcraft is December 14th @ 2:00 PM Est. With Guest Daniel Mall.