Jonathan Stark

I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew it wasn't going to be hourly. And that was all I knew. Back then, there were still these things called bookstores. And I was standing in a bookstore and came across a book called Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss. And that thing was my Bible for a couple of years. Every single page has notes on it. It's a great book.

I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew it wasn't going to be hourly. And that was all I knew. Back then, there were still these things called bookstores. And I was standing in a bookstore and came across a book called Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss. And that thing was my Bible for a couple of years. Every single page has notes on it. It's a great book.

I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew it wasn't going to be hourly. And that was all I knew. Back then, there were still these things called bookstores. And I was standing in a bookstore and came across a book called Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss. And that thing was my Bible for a couple of years. Every single page has notes on it. It's a great book.

It's for management consultants, which wasn't at all what I was doing, but it was adaptable enough that I could figure it out and apply it for software projects. So that was my main, air quotes, tool. And then I had to develop a bunch of frameworks that were specific to software development and consulting that made it make sense.

It's for management consultants, which wasn't at all what I was doing, but it was adaptable enough that I could figure it out and apply it for software projects. So that was my main, air quotes, tool. And then I had to develop a bunch of frameworks that were specific to software development and consulting that made it make sense.

It's for management consultants, which wasn't at all what I was doing, but it was adaptable enough that I could figure it out and apply it for software projects. So that was my main, air quotes, tool. And then I had to develop a bunch of frameworks that were specific to software development and consulting that made it make sense.

Hey, it's Jonathan Stark here, and I am the Ditching Hourly Guy over at JonathanStark.com.

Hey, it's Jonathan Stark here, and I am the Ditching Hourly Guy over at JonathanStark.com.

Hey, it's Jonathan Stark here, and I am the Ditching Hourly Guy over at JonathanStark.com.

After music school, I ended up going back to computers, which I had done as a kid, to make ends meet while I was trying to get gigs and that sort of thing. So I ended up really liking the database programming I was doing. I call it programming. It was ScriptKitty stuff in an application called FileMaker.

After music school, I ended up going back to computers, which I had done as a kid, to make ends meet while I was trying to get gigs and that sort of thing. So I ended up really liking the database programming I was doing. I call it programming. It was ScriptKitty stuff in an application called FileMaker.

After music school, I ended up going back to computers, which I had done as a kid, to make ends meet while I was trying to get gigs and that sort of thing. So I ended up really liking the database programming I was doing. I call it programming. It was ScriptKitty stuff in an application called FileMaker.

that I had a lot of fun with, really enjoyed seeing big teams of people using software that I had put together. So I went off and did that for a few years with a popular consulting firm, a FileMaker consulting firm. And at that firm, we build hourly, and eventually I was managing the teams. There was about 10 developers at the time. And we build them all out at a blended hourly rate.

that I had a lot of fun with, really enjoyed seeing big teams of people using software that I had put together. So I went off and did that for a few years with a popular consulting firm, a FileMaker consulting firm. And at that firm, we build hourly, and eventually I was managing the teams. There was about 10 developers at the time. And we build them all out at a blended hourly rate.

that I had a lot of fun with, really enjoyed seeing big teams of people using software that I had put together. So I went off and did that for a few years with a popular consulting firm, a FileMaker consulting firm. And at that firm, we build hourly, and eventually I was managing the teams. There was about 10 developers at the time. And we build them all out at a blended hourly rate.

I realized at one point that if we were going to hire more employees, we would want someone that looked more like our most junior developer, who really wasn't that good, but had a very low salary. And it would be foolish to hire a really high-end developer like our best developer, because he was really expensive and he was really fast. So...

I realized at one point that if we were going to hire more employees, we would want someone that looked more like our most junior developer, who really wasn't that good, but had a very low salary. And it would be foolish to hire a really high-end developer like our best developer, because he was really expensive and he was really fast. So...

I realized at one point that if we were going to hire more employees, we would want someone that looked more like our most junior developer, who really wasn't that good, but had a very low salary. And it would be foolish to hire a really high-end developer like our best developer, because he was really expensive and he was really fast. So...

it was tough to keep him busy enough to break even on his salary where with our junior person as long as they kept their clients happy which they did and we were making maybe four times more profit off of a mediocre developer not even mediocre and then i was like wait a second i don't want to have a firm full of junior devs that barely know what they're doing

it was tough to keep him busy enough to break even on his salary where with our junior person as long as they kept their clients happy which they did and we were making maybe four times more profit off of a mediocre developer not even mediocre and then i was like wait a second i don't want to have a firm full of junior devs that barely know what they're doing