Jonathan Stark

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

And I couldn't wrap my head around this. I was like, this doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't we want to have really good developers? We're like a high end dev shop. It seems like you'd want the best developers you could get. And it took me about two weeks of puzzling over this until I finally realized it was because we were billing by the hour. We were trading time for money.

And I couldn't wrap my head around this. I was like, this doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't we want to have really good developers? We're like a high end dev shop. It seems like you'd want the best developers you could get. And it took me about two weeks of puzzling over this until I finally realized it was because we were billing by the hour. We were trading time for money.

And I couldn't wrap my head around this. I was like, this doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't we want to have really good developers? We're like a high end dev shop. It seems like you'd want the best developers you could get. And it took me about two weeks of puzzling over this until I finally realized it was because we were billing by the hour. We were trading time for money.

And as soon as I saw that, I was like, I couldn't unsee it. And I said to the owner, what I just told you was like, we should hire more people like a junior. And he was like, what? So he said, I see what you're saying. I understand it intellectually, but what would we actually do? And I did not have an answer for that. This would have been 2005.

And as soon as I saw that, I was like, I couldn't unsee it. And I said to the owner, what I just told you was like, we should hire more people like a junior. And he was like, what? So he said, I see what you're saying. I understand it intellectually, but what would we actually do? And I did not have an answer for that. This would have been 2005.

And as soon as I saw that, I was like, I couldn't unsee it. And I said to the owner, what I just told you was like, we should hire more people like a junior. And he was like, what? So he said, I see what you're saying. I understand it intellectually, but what would we actually do? And I did not have an answer for that. This would have been 2005.

So I went solo to find out what the answer to that would be without risking 10 people's mortgage payments. I'd rather just risk my own. So I went solo in 2006, January 1st, 2006 and never looked back.

So I went solo to find out what the answer to that would be without risking 10 people's mortgage payments. I'd rather just risk my own. So I went solo in 2006, January 1st, 2006 and never looked back.

So I went solo to find out what the answer to that would be without risking 10 people's mortgage payments. I'd rather just risk my own. So I went solo in 2006, January 1st, 2006 and never looked back.

And coincidentally, 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 book was the answer that I was looking for. That thing was my Bible for a couple of years.

And coincidentally, 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 book was the answer that I was looking for. That thing was my Bible for a couple of years.

And coincidentally, 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 book was the answer that I was looking for. 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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

There's some nuances in software that are different from more straight advisory services because you are building things. I was still building things at the time. So the main tool was that book, honestly. And I had worked out a deal with my past employer where I had clients that I worked with directly and they wanted to come with me. So we worked out a revenue sharing thing.

There's some nuances in software that are different from more straight advisory services because you are building things. I was still building things at the time. So the main tool was that book, honestly. And I had worked out a deal with my past employer where I had clients that I worked with directly and they wanted to come with me. So we worked out a revenue sharing thing.

There's some nuances in software that are different from more straight advisory services because you are building things. I was still building things at the time. So the main tool was that book, honestly. And I had worked out a deal with my past employer where I had clients that I worked with directly and they wanted to come with me. So we worked out a revenue sharing thing.

So I had clients immediately. I continued working with them on an hourly basis. I converted one to a more of a fixed fee, more retainery kind of thing. But then I set about trying to attract new clients that were not hourly ever. Rather than trying to convert existing reasonably profitable clients, I decided I'll keep them as is and then I'll switch over to something else with new clients.