Play or Download this Episode (Recorded live on 06/07/2013)

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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

In this episode of BizCraft we discuss how we approach thinking about our business and then go a few rounds with bad client situations, like not getting paid.

Gene and the UMS crew just signed the least for our CoWork: soco-work.com (open by August 1st.)

What is HAPYN? “HAPYN, first things first post”

We dug into the idea of a Minimum Usable Product vs. Minimum Viable Product

We discussed key points of the article Poke Out Your Own Eyes by Austin Church

• Do you see yourself as an artist adrift in the business world or a businessperson who sells art?
• Do you see yourself as a specialist or a problem-solver?
• Are you a vendor or an advisor?

Audio Question by: Martin Nørgaard Gregersen of mrnoedesign.com

Hi Gene & Carl,

Greetings from Europe! Thank you for the helpful and encouraging show! I’m a Danish guy, running a small design-shop in Berlin and I have been collecting a lot of written positive feedback from my clients over the years. Having been granted the rights to use it, how do I present this feedback most effectively? I was wondering whether a testimonial page is too much or if including the feedback with the project-description in my portfolio is too subtle? A third idea was to include them in a presentational video I’m making. What would you recommend? There is an esthetic of modesty in Germany too…

Cheers! (Btw. I’m drinking Weihenstephaner, a wheat beer from a brewery in southern Germany, almost 1000 years old.)

Then we discussed the article Not getting paid by Paul Jarvis

• Try to spot bad clients early on
• Be clear, as early as possible
• Get some when you give some
• Always have a contract, even if they are useless
• Remain professional, even if they’re being assholes
• Keep track of everything
• Next steps – what to do when the shit hits the fan… Leverage, Legal action, Dirty pool or Let it go

Where can you find us next?

UMS Crew:
Front End Design Conference
ConvergeFL Sept 11-12
ConvergeRVA Oct 11-12

Carl:
Arizona at Owner Camp
UX Mad

Beers from the end of the show

Gene: Samuel Adams Alpine Spring
Carl: Intuition Ale Works I10 Pale Ale

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