Re: Semi-OT: telecommuting & web development

Most of my clients are outside of Minnesota, but distance has never
been a problem. I do a mixture of fixed bid and hourly work. The hourly
work typically starts out with a series of fixed bid projects until we
build trust in each other, then we convert to hourly with semi-monthly
billing.

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A few tools I find helpful:
---------------------------------
Vonage: God bless Vonage! After a few $450 cell phone bills I finally
switched to Vonage and their $29/mo unlimited US/Canada service. 

Cell Phone & Cordless Vonage Phone: (Obvious)

A Phone Headset: You can talk much longer and its handy to have your
hands free when using GoToMeeting (below).

GoToMeeting: A slick web meeting type of deal where I can share a
desktop with clients. Great for demoing and doing progress meetings. A
real time saver even for my in-town clients.

A large-screen laptop with WiFi: Great for getting out of the office
and using at client sites.

An EarthLink Dialup Account: Gives me two things, an alternate route to
the Internet when I need to see things from a different IP address, and
national access to the Internet when I travel.

A Northwest Frequent Flyer Account: We forget how handy Northwest is
with all its non-stops out of the Twin Cities. I have also started
using SunCoutry (much improved) and their First Class upgrades (allows
me to work on the plane) cannot be beat for price.

Chrylser Voyager: Its really handly to have a mini van for carrying
monitors/printers, taking people to lunch or to serve as an office when
I want to work at Lake Harriet.

--schrenk,

http://www.schrenk.com
Yahoo Messenger: MikeSchrenk

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