Whether you are looking to become a freelancer or start a company, are you really aware of the commitment that you are about to make?

For starters, don’t expect to get paid right away.  Unless you have a backlog of sales already committed and have set up shop in advance, it could take months to get prepared.  From establishing a company name to defining a business structure to setting up an office and finally soliciting to potential customers, just getting started is a lot of unpaid, time consuming work.

While making more money, being more successful, and gaining respect are good motivating factors, going out on your own requires not only the skills necessary to deliver the good or service that you are selling at a profit, but also involves being a business owner and an entrepreneur.

Have you taken the proper steps to think about your current situation and plans for the future?

Right now, going out on your own may seem like a good idea, but can you sustain yourself for the long haul?  Despite the confidence that there may be a high demand for your skills now and you may have name recognition in the industry, it is important to have a business plan and make informed decisions in order to sustain yourself for future security. This is a long term commitment, not just another job.

Common business concepts such as developing business marketing plans, whether brief and informal or extensive and formalized are necessary steps toward ensuring the hopes of a successful, sustainable venture.  I will admit that I didn’t have all this knowledge and preparation when I started my business; however, I very quickly learned the importance and value of it.  Free quality resources such as SCORE www.score.org and the Small Business Administration www.sba.gov provided me with the counseling and background knowledge that I needed to get and stay on track. 

Changes in skills, technology, competition, complementary businesses, and economic times all lead to fluctuations in demand, pricing, and customers’ needs.  How do you plan to adapt to these challenges?  Sometimes too much business can be as tough as not enough business.  Knowing when to say “no” while maintaining customer relationships is a masterful art.  This uncertainty, unpredictability, and risk are the difference between commitment to job and a lifestyle of a business owner.  Consult other business owners and I’m sure that they will agree.

Owning a business can be paralleled to parenting a baby.

A business is a living entity that requires care, nurture, development, maintenance, and priority attention.  The responsibilities can be boundless and very unpredictable.  There are always obligations to be satisfied and more that can be done to improve current and future positioning.

Along with time requirements and dedication comes the need for knowledge and skills beyond the core competencies that were the selling point and basis for starting the venture.  Working understanding of sales, marketing, accounting, management, and law, to name a few, all come into play when going into business.

The time that it takes to realize and master the responsibilities of being a business owner and make that transition can often be the difference between success and failure.

In my field of independent audiovisual control system programming, if you are the principal programmer, your responsibilities shift from solely being an accomplished programmer to now being a programmer/business owner, which requires a different set of skills and training.  Since you are what you sell, unless you have partners or employees to cover the requirements of running the business, doing sales, marketing your company, and producing your products and services, your hat collection will grow very quickly.  You also face the challenging aspect self supply and demand.  While you want to keep busy and earn money, you can’t sell if you are too busy and if you over commit you can’t keep up with the production requirements much less business maintenance.

Most independent programmers do not consider themselves freelancers.  They are small businesses who have a fiduciary responsibility to their customers and manufacturer partners to establish themselves as a reliable, ethical, reputable, and persistent resource and service provider.  To that end, InfoComm’s Independent Programmers Council www.infocomm.org/ipc is developing Best Business Practices for Independent Programmers to establish guidelines for independent programming companies as well as to set the expectations of their clients.  When put into practice, these principles and procedures will yield a high level of quality, consistency, and confidence in a working relationship.  Those who do not dedicate themselves to a level of excellence by following best practices not only hurt themselves and their customers, but also make a bad name for other independent programmers in the industry.  The Best Business Practices will also force those who aspire to be independent programmers to better understand what is expected of them, how to effectively serve their customers, and what it takes to run a successful independent programming business.

Owning a business is life changing commitment from which you can derive great satisfaction, sense of accomplishment as well as the opportunity for financial reward and growth.  It can be one of the best decisions that you make. For your own sake and the interest of your family, colleagues, and friends, before deciding to “go out on your own”, understand what is required and expected and don’t get lured in for the wrong reasons.  If you are unsure and just leap in head first without a plan, you’ll probably find rather quickly that the greener pastures are elsewhere.

Steve Greenblatt

Control Concepts, Inc.

What can we do to help make our lives more manageable?

Sometimes it is so difficult to “see the forest through the trees” to coin a popular saying.  Making time to plan, become more organized, address inefficiencies, and work on time management seems next to impossible; however, it is the solution rather than the problem.  Taking a step back to identify ways to use time more effectively will lead to having more available time.

When you work in a service industry, the value of time has a real price tag.  It is the only revenue bearing resource for those of us who do not sell products.  In order to be competitive, respond to the demands of an aggressive market, survive with slim margins, and become more profitable, it is import to maximize productivity by working more efficiently.

How do we save time and money?

The key to saving time and money is by taking the time to do things carefully and accurately the first time, thus minimizing costly mistakes and the need to redo your work.  Although it requires discipline, effort, and a little upfront investment; efficiency is the key to reducing overall costs and increasing profits.

Focus on maximizing your efficiency by reducing the time spent cleaning up your mistakes.

Here are some tips for making audiovisual projects more efficient.

• Documentation – Ensure that a project scope is defined, functionality requirements are documented, the system is fully engineered, and the design is verified to support the requested programming features.  Keeping information up-to-date and accurate minimizes mistakes.
• Accuracy – Identify questions and pursue reliable answers.  Efficiency involves investing time referencing a manual, checking with a manufacturer, consulting a knowledgeable resource rather than taking a chance, being unsure of a fact, and fixing costly mistakes later.
• Effective Communication – Defining expectations, proactive scheduling, and managing information flow minimize confusion and the help to avoid problems.  Keeping all parties informed of project status and responsiveness to inquiries avoid the need to spend extra time pursuing information and waiting on responses that could easily be resolved with communication and teamwork.
• Planning and Managing – Anticipating challenges, preparing contingencies, and monitoring situations allow proactive decisions to be made and limit time spent dealing with problems and difficulties.  Challenges will always exist, but their impact can be minimized if they are handled effectively.
• Testing – Regardless of the presence of a control system, verify that a system works manually.  Test point to point signal flow, attend to device configuration, address wiring concerns, and identify issues in advance such as misunderstanding or device failures to minimize crises that lead to additional time requirements.
• Staging – In addition to manual testing, stage the system in a shop environment to verify operation, debug programming, address concerns, and review the requirements with the client to ensure a smooth installation.  If problems arise or changes are required, it is much less time consuming and costly to address them during staging than it is during installation or final testing.
• Punchlists – Creating and maintaining status reports and task lists ensure a good understanding of open items and knowledge of what is required to get the job done, thus allowing proper resources and time to be allocated.  Without a roadmap or checklist, the path to completion will not be clear resulting in inefficient use of time.

Take the time to think about efficiency.  Not only will you have more available time, you’ll also find that your efforts are more profitable.

 Steve Greenblatt

Control Concepts, Inc.

Outsourcing isn’t for everyone

There are many integrators who have never outsourced programming and do not believe that it is an effective solution for them.  Whether they have a skilled in-house programmer or they prefer a dedicated resource for reasons of flexibility or cost, they are investing in a solution that works for their business.  On the contrary, there are many others that either outsource control system programming as the demand arises or develop relationships to solely programming outsource as part of their business model.

If you are patient and disciplined and know how to effectively work with any other type of independent contractor, you can find a great deal of success and benefit in using independent programmers.  Here are just a few of the reasons.

• Many independent programmers will provide a fixed cost for programming, which minimizes a major variable in a project, lowers risks, and could lead to increased profitability.
• Independent programmers can work with you and/or your customer to develop a functionality scope and ensure that the system design, equipment selection, and programming requirements will mesh well, which results in accurate pricing, efficient completion, and customer satisfaction.
• An added but sometimes unrealized benefit, which will enhance the outcome of your systems, is the variety of experiences that an independent programmer brings to a project, helping to avoid the mistakes and difficulties that others have made in the past.

Relationships yield productivity and savings

A relationship with an independent programmer can be paralleled to an association with your accountant, lawyer, or other business professional.  Initially, there is an adjustment period as they learn your business and determine their role; however, once a trusting relationship is established, they become an integral resource for your business. Building or expanding this relationship is a natural progression and doing business together becomes easier and more productive as familiarity develops.  An independent programmer that you work with on a regular basis will become a part of your team and augment your organization.  In addition to satisfying your programming needs they will provide you confidence knowing that you have an added layer of support and someone to look out for your best interest on projects.  As you work together longer, this relationship will pay greater dividends; projects will become more efficient, effective, and profitable.

Lowering the cost is a matter of time

Since independent programmers are typically small businesses deriving their mainstay income from programming, it is important that they are successful at what they do or else they won’t be around for long.  Programmers need to cover their costs and be profitable to exist, so they need to charge a price that commensurate with the time that is required to devote to the project and work toward getting the project completed as efficiently as possible.  As in other service businesses, time and knowledge are their marketable commodities.

The cost of programming is not simply the time that it takes to write a program, but instead all the time required to complete the programming project from beginning to end.  This includes:

• Gathering information to define the functionality requirements
• Developing a functionality description
• Researching equipment and protocols
• Designing a user interface
• Writing code
• Testing and Debugging
• Onsite and Remote Support

Keeping the costs down is a function of efficiency, teamwork, and processes.

A significant variable that will enhance or detract from an independent programmer’s ability to be cost effective is the cooperation that they receive from the people with whom they work.  Receiving accurate and complete information is a starting point for providing a suitable assessment of the project.  It is also just as critical to have effective communication throughout the project process in order to streamline the information flow and optimize the time that is spent in all phases the project, as previously stated.

Independent Programming Companies can not survive without partnerships and acceptance from the audiovisual community.  It is important that their message is on target and well received, that they effectively gear themselves to meet the needs of their customers, and that they listen to feedback.  It is also important that integrators, consultants, end-users, and manufacturers understand who independent programmers are, how independent programming companies operate, and how to get the most out of a building a successful working relationship.

To be continued…

Remember the importance of establishing a relationship and Know Your Programmer.  It will pay dividends.

Steve Greenblatt

Control Concepts, Inc.

Choose to work with a programming resource or programmer who is industry certified, reputable, and adheres to industry best practices.

Qualifications, a proven track record, fair pricing, and reliability are basis for working with a service provider of any type (industry or non-industry related).  So why risk the outcome of your project by utilizing an unqualified or unproven resource because they provide a low cost solution or fit into an unrealistic budget?

Aside from the quality of the product, the following are some additional criteria that define a qualified programming resource

• Adhering to a consistent, efficient, and thorough project process
• Taking the users’ needs into consideration in proposing a solution
• Providing a functionality submittal in advance of programming, defining the solution
• Listening and responding to customer feedback
• Customization and branding of their product for specific client
• Attentiveness and responsiveness
• Support and commitment
• Timeliness and flexibility

InfoComm’s Independent Programmers Council is establishing best business practices for independent programming companies as well as standards of excellence for all programmers with the intent of enhancing customers’ experiences with programming.   These qualifications will serve to raise the bar for programming and limit the risk and temptation to work with lower cost, sub-par providers by identifying reliable resources that are committed to providing quality, effective products and services that adhere to industry guidelines.

Established processes, reliable support, industry certifications, legal compliance, and company stability are standards that are foundations of the best business practices.  Knowing that your system will be effectively programmed, that the programmer will be qualified and responsive, and the source code will be well-written, documented, and available for future needs are just a few of the standards of excellence.

Think about it this way, when you undergo a medical procedure or operation, are you satisfied with simply selecting a hospital to go to or are you more concerned with the qualifications and capabilities of the doctor who is performing the procedure? 

Don’t risk the outcome of your project; remember to Know Your Programmer. 

Steve Greenblatt

Control Concepts, Inc.