Ditching Hourly

James Williams of Cofebe.com joined me on Ditching Hourly to give what amounted to a masterclass on how to avoid failure and delight clients as a fractional CTO. “The chance of failure increases proportionally with you accepting what the client tells you what to do.” “If you accept 100% of your client’s suggestions and three months from they can’t launch or it fails, guess whose fault that is.” “I...

Guest Bio Michael Zipursky – Michael has consulted for organizations and advised leaders throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East in over 30 industries, from service providers to billion-dollar multi-national corporations, including Panasonic, Dow Jones, Financial Times, Royal Bank and many others.  Michael is an in-demand speaker and gives keynotes and worksh...

Pricing legend Ron Baker joined me again (for a record-setting fourth appearance!) on Ditching Hourly to talk about the nuances of the subscription model for service business. Talking Points Subscription pricing is becoming increasingly prevalent, with the subscription economy projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025. Pricing tiers can be implemented based on the range of services offered, providi...

180Sites.com founder Ryan Golgosky joined me on Ditching Hourly to explain in detail how his web design company manages to add and service more than 30 new clients per month! Ryan’s Links: 180sites.com ---- Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like: Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time? Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space? Producti...

Cross-post from The Business of Authority : Seth Godin joins us again, this time to answer the core question in his brand-new book “The Song of Significance”: What does it take to do work that matters? Talking Points Why right now is the best time ever to make a significant contribution to the change you want to see in your world. The importance of focusing on the smallest viable audience to accom...

Denis Čahuk (aka “Coach Denis”) joined me on Ditching Hourly to share his experiences as an engineering team coach in the tech industry.  He discusses his coaching approach of on-the-job training, or just-in-time training, and his focus on helping tech leaders improve modularity and productivity. He also shares insights on attracting leads, ideal buyers, expensive problems, and improving ROI. Addi...

Longtime friend-of-the-show and “three-peat” guest Geraldine Carter returns to go deep on the trials, tribulations, and benefits of niching down on a target market. Talking Points Going all in and telling everyone where you’re headed is key to getting traction If starting from scratch, think about what gets you excited and what kind of work you enjoy doing Don’t be afraid to be transparent with ex...

Dr. JJ Peterson, head of StoryBrand, joined me on Ditching Hourly to explain why he says, “You can't build a business on hourly billing.” JJ emphasizes the importance of value pricing and project-based billing for delivering results and customer satisfaction. He offers advice on storytelling and differentiation, finding your target audience, and building an email list for lead nurturing. Talking P...

Tech trainer and coach Denis Čahuk joined me on Ditching Hourly to explain how he doubled his income by selling his value instead of selling his CV. Denis’ links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniscahuk/ https://craftingtechteams.substack.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@technologistpodcast Additional notes from https://www.podcastshownotes.ai/ Key Points Productized services are key in creating an of...

Our resident crypto expert and longtime friend of the show, Luke Willis, joined me on Ditching Hourly to explore the psychology and mechanics of inflation. Links mentioned in the episode Luke’s Websites: https://lukewillis.com/ https://thekoinpress.com/ Milton Friedman Speaks: Money and Inflation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_nGEj8wIP0 ---- Do you have questions about how to improve your busin...

James Turner, partner at SNAP Copy, joined me on Ditching Hourly to explain the nuances and benefits of selling copywriting services by the credit, not by the hour or the word. About James James E. Turner is a marketing strategist and conversion copywriter. He’s a partner at SNAP Copy, offering conversion-optimized copy on demand using a unique, credit-based system. Through his personal consultanc...

Nick Loper of Side Hustle Nation joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about how he grew his mailing list and podcast audiences to 100k+ each and how he got started making money without offering high-ticket services.  Side Hustle Nation   The Side Hustle Show Custom Playlist   http://hustle.show https://twitter.com/nloper https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickloper/ (Additional show notes generated by Po...

Canyon Trail founder Floyd May joined me on Ditching Hourly to describe his “shares” pricing model for software development. Floyd’s Links: https://canyon-trail.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/floyd-may/ ---- Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like: Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time? Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space? Produ...

Longtime software developer Tim Burris joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about his transition from annual salary to hourly billing to fixed pricing and the positive effects the transition had on his day-to-day. Pretty good AI summary: In this episode, I had a fascinating conversation with Tim Burriss about his journey from being a software developer to running a product development department a...

Steve Folland, creator of the Being Freelance podcast and Doing it for the Kids podcast, joined me on Ditching Hourly to chat about his journey into freelancing, organic business growth, and tips for getting into the business mindset. Chapters: (0:00:00) - The Freelance Journey of Steve Folland (0:05:00) - Organic Growth of a Freelance Business (0:15:52) - Freelancing for Beginners (0:20:26) - Get...

Angular expert Alain Chautard joined me on Ditching Hourly to share the novel ways he escaped the trap of trading time for money by packaging and pricing his platform expertise. Alain's Bio Alain is a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies, Angular, and Google Maps. His daily mission is to help development teams adopt Angular and build at scale with the framework. He has taught front-end deve...

Ex-Googler Kartick Vaddadi joined me on Ditching Hourly to brainstorm which of his offerings might be most compelling and to find ways to increase the number of leads flowing into his business. Kartick’s Links Website: https://kartick.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConsultingCTO ---- Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like: Value pricing your work instead of bi...

This week I am joined by Ed Gandia. Ed is the co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer, the host of the High-Income Business Writing podcast, and a coach to ambitious writers and copywriters who want to earn more in less time doing work they love for better clients. As you can probably tell from this bio, Ed and I are very much kindred spirits, so this episode is a bit different than most. Instead of m...

Legal operations advisor and law professor Mitch Kowalski joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about innovation in the legal profession, including alternatives to hourly billing. Talking Points The history of hourly billing in the legal profession Transparency in pricing (and why hourly billing isn't transparent at all) The perverse incentives of hourly billing Why billing hourly short changes you...

Sew Heidi is a business coach and educator who helps freelance fashion designers build better businesses. She joined me on Ditching Hourly to compare notes on the similarities and differences between freelancing in fashion vs. freelancing in software. Spoiler alert: There was a lot more in common than you might expect. Episode Summary In this episode, we discuss the journey of fashion freelancing,...

Jason Lengstorf joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about the novel way he's using his generalist web skills to create value, have fun, and make a living. Jason's Bio: Jason Lengstorf is the host of Learn With Jason , a web generalist and the undefeated smashburger champ. A creative technologist and educator, Jason helps tech companies connect with developer communities through better devrel stra...

Home studio architect and author Junaid Ahmed joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about why it's important to look and sound your best on camera, how to level up your home studio without spending a lot of time or money, and the novel approach he took to writing and publishing his new book, Mastering iPhone Video Production. Junaid's Bio: Junaid Ahmed is a Home Studio Architect, podcast host, and...

Jeff Doolittle is a software architect, transformational leader, and se-radio.net host who’s on a mission to make good software professionals great. Jeff joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about his journey from a web dev working for free pizza to an in-demand software architect. Along the way, we talked about the importance of strategy, systems thinking as applied to software, and finding a bal...

In-demand Python teacher Reuven Lerner joined me on Ditching Hourly to talk about building a software training business in 2023. Reuven's links: - https://lerner.co.il , Reuven's main site - https://BetterDevelopersWeekly.com/ , Reuven's Python + software engineering list - https://TrainerWeekly.com , Reuven's newsletter about training - And Reuven frequently posts to Twitter and LinkedIn if peopl...

Landscape architect Brandon Reed joined me on Ditching Hourly to discuss how ditching hourly billing, offering fixed price options, and niching down transformed his firm. Brandon's Links: Website LinkedIn Instagram ---- Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like: Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time? Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your sp...